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before explaining the present invention in detail , it is important to understand that the invention is not limited in its application to the details of the apparatus illustrated and described herein . the invention is capable of other embodiments and of being practiced or carried out in a variety of ways . it is to be understood that the phraseology and terminology that is employed herein is the for the purpose of description and not of limitation . referring now to the drawings wherein like reference numerals indicate the same parts or steps throughout the several views . fig1 shows an exploded view of the three - wedge double block isolation chamber 100 of the present invention . fig1 depicts the isolation chamber 100 with flow - through wedge assembly 102 therein . fig2 depicts an alternate blind wedge assembly 104 . the three - wedge double block isolation chamber 100 includes a body 108 with chamber 109 therein . chamber 109 is sized and configured to receive a wedge assembly such as flow - through wedge assembly 102 or blind wedge assembly 104 as required . a cover such as cover 2 ( or cover 12 ) can be secured to body 108 to retain wedge assembly 102 ( or 104 ) within chamber 109 . an inlet flange 106 and an outlet flange 110 are secured to body 108 to allow three - wedge double block isolation chamber 100 to be installed in a pipeline . inlet flange 106 and outlet flange 110 are bolted to opposing pipeline flanges through bolt holes 113 and 113 ′ respectively . inlet flange 106 and outlet flange 110 retain the pipeline in substantial alignment even when the wedge assemblies are removed from body 108 . inlet flange 106 includes an inlet orifice 107 to allow fluid to enter body 108 so that the pipeline is in fluid communication with chamber 109 . fig3 depicts body 108 from a side view to which inlet flange 106 and outlet flange 110 are secured . fig4 depicts body 108 from a top view with cover 2 and flow - through wedge assembly 102 removed . the top surface 115 of body 108 is substantially flat to receive top cover 2 ( or 12 ). a plurality of holes , collectively 114 , are drilled and tapped into top surface 115 of body 108 in order to receive a plurality of bolts , collectively 10 ( fig1 ), for the purpose of securing cover 2 onto top surface 115 of body 108 . with cover 2 ( or 12 ) removed , chamber 109 is open and extends into body 108 . a groove 116 may be cut into top surface 115 of body 108 for the purpose of receiving a seal 9 ( fig1 ) which substantially encircles chamber 109 . referring next to fig5 , a cutaway view of body 108 with inlet flange 106 and outlet flange 110 secured thereon . in the preferred embodiment , inlet flange 106 and outlet flange 110 are molded integrally with body 108 . as shown in fig5 , inlet orifice 107 of inlet flange 106 extends into chamber 109 through inlet 120 such that chamber 109 is in fluid communication with the pipeline to which inlet flange 106 is attached . also , as shown , outlet orifice 111 extends from an outlet 122 in chamber 109 through body 108 and outlet flange 110 . in this way , chamber 109 is in fluid communication with the pipeline to which outlet flange 110 is secured . a drain 124 may be drilled through body 108 into chamber 109 to allow any fluid which may be present in chamber 109 to be released to atmosphere . drain 124 may be fitted with a valve or a pressure release valve as required to seal chamber 109 during flow - through or metering operation . when blind wedge assembly 104 is installed in chamber 109 , drain 124 may be opened so as to provide an escape for any fluid which may leak into chamber 109 . fig6 is a cross - sectional view depicting chamber 109 of body 108 . in the preferred embodiment , chamber 109 includes a squared - bottom surface 126 . fig7 depicts an alternate embodiment where chamber 109 includes a radius - bottom surface 128 . the bottom surface of chamber 109 may be squared as in the preferred embodiment of fig6 for ease of manufacture or may alternately be radiused as in 128 of fig7 so as to match the radius of the wedge assembly inserted therein . fig8 depicts inlet flange 106 from an end view , including bolt holes 113 , inlet orifice 107 , and inlet face 117 . inlet face 117 provides a sealing surface with a pipeline flange bolted thereto . outlet flange 110 includes an outlet orifice 111 to allow fluid to exit body 108 so that chamber 109 is in fluid communication with the pipeline . an outlet face 118 provides a sealing surface with an outlet pipeline flange bolted thereto . thus , the three - wedge double block isolation chamber may be instilled in - line on a pipeline . referring back to fig1 , wedge assembly 102 is inserted into chamber 109 of body 108 . in the embodiment of fig1 , isolation chamber 100 is depicted with a flow - through wedge assembly 102 positioned therein . in its preferred embodiment , flow - through wedge assembly 102 can be configured in a 2 ″ or 3 ″ configuration matching the size of the pipeline into which isolation chamber 100 is installed . however , wedge assembly 102 can be configured to fit any pipeline i . d . as other suitable configurations are contemplated without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention . flow - through wedge assembly 102 includes , generally , a flow - through force wedge 3 positioned between a pair of flow - through wedges 4 and 4 ′, a pair of spring seals 5 and 5 ′, and a cover 2 capable of being secured onto the top 115 of body 108 by a plurality of screws , collectively 10 and washers 11 . ten such screws 10 and washers 11 are depicted in fig1 for the purpose of exemplification . referencing fig1 in combination with fig1 , 19 , and 20 , an upstream wedge 4 includes a seal 5 installed in channel 134 or upstream surface 135 is inserted into chamber 109 adjacent inlet 120 concentric with inlet orifice 107 . upstream wedge 4 includes a central orifice 136 of a diameter substantially equal to the diameter of inlet orifice 107 ( and the i . d . of the pipeline ). downstream wedge 4 ′ is substantially identical to upstream wedge 4 but is inserted into chamber 109 such that seal 5 ′ positioned on downstream surface 139 is adjacent outlet 122 . downstream wedge 4 ′ including a downstream seal 5 ′ is positioned in chamber 109 adjacent outlet flange 110 concentric with outlet orifice 111 within outlet flange 110 . both upstream wedge 4 and downstream wedge 4 ′ include a taper on their interior surfaces which mate the taper of flow - through force wedge 3 which is inserted between upstream wedge 4 and downstream wedge 4 ′. specially , downstream surface of wedge 4 includes a taper which mates the taper on upstream surface 140 of flow - through force wedge 3 and upstream surface of wedge 4 ′ includes a taper which mates the taper on downstream surface 142 of flow - through force wedge 3 . flow - through force wedge 3 is depicted in fig2 - 23 . in the preferred embodiment , a taper of 3 ° has been deemed particularly suitable , however , other tapers are contemplated . an orifice 144 in flow - through force wedge 3 is preferably concentric with those in upstream wedge 4 and downstream wedge 4 ′ to allow an unimpeded flow of liquid from inlet passage 107 past inlet 120 through chamber 109 past outlet 122 and out through outlet passage 111 . flow - through force wedge 3 includes holes 146 and 146 ′ to receive dowel pins 6 and 6 ′ ( and dowel springs 7 and 7 ′) respectively . force wedge 3 may also include a hole 148 drilled and tapped therein to receive a bolt extending through cover 2 . flow - through force wedge 3 includes a taper which mates the taper of upstream wedge 4 on its downstream face 137 and downstream wedge 4 ′ on its upstream face 138 such that when flow - through force wedge 3 is pressed firmly in chamber 109 between upstream flow - through wedge 4 and downstream flow - through 4 ′ a seal is obtained between seal 5 and inlet 120 inside chamber 109 and seal 5 ′ in outlet 122 inside chamber 109 . a pair of dowel pins 6 and 6 ′ which each include a dowel spring 7 and 7 ′ surrounding dowel pins 6 and 6 ′ respectively are positioned in holes 146 and 146 ′ in flow - through force wedge 3 between flow - through force wedge 3 and cover 2 when flow - through valve 102 is inserted into chamber 109 . dowel pins 6 and 6 ′ force and retain flow - through force wedge 3 between upstream 4 and downstream wedge 4 ′ such that the holes in upstream wedge 4 , flow - through force wedge 3 , and downstream wedge 4 ′ remain concentric . the upper surface of body 108 may include locator pins 8 and 8 ′ thereon for accurately locating cover 2 onto body 108 . a seal 9 may be positioned between cover 2 and body 108 . seal 9 is shown in detail in fig2 and 25 and is preferably constructed of an elastomeric material and available commercially . seal 9 is positioned in channel 114 ( fig1 , and 5 ). fig1 and 17 depict cover 2 which retains flow - through wedge assembly 102 within chamber 109 . cover 2 includes a plurality of bolt holes , collectively 130 , drilled therethrough to receive bolts 10 of fig1 . cover 2 also includes holes 132 and 132 ′ drilled partially therethrough to receive locator pins 8 and 8 ′ respectively . referring back to fig1 , bolts 10 and washers 11 are inserted to retain cover 2 onto body 108 so as to provide an upper surface which forces dowel pins 6 and 6 ′ and thereby flow - through force wedge 3 into concentric arrangement with upstream flow - through wedge 4 and downstream flow - through wedge 4 ′ as described above . three - wedge double block isolation chamber 100 of the present invention also includes a blind wedge assembly 104 ( fig2 ) which is interchangeable with flow - through valve assembly 102 ( fig1 ) when it is desirous to prevent the flow of fluid through the pipeline and specifically through isolation chamber 109 . blind wedge assembly 104 includes , generally , blind force wedge 13 , upstream blind wedge 14 , downstream blind wedge 14 ′, compression bar 12 and force bolt 15 . when interchanged with flow - through wedge 102 , blind wedge 104 is inserted into chamber 109 of body 108 such that blind force wedge 13 is positioned between upstream block wedge 14 and downstream blind wedge 14 ′. upstream blind wedge 14 is depicted in fig1 - 13 and includes a channel 150 to receive seal 16 ( fig2 ) therein . seal 16 is the same type of seal as seal 5 depicted in fig2 and 27 and described above with regard to flow - through wedge assembly 102 . upstream block wedge is solid to prevent the flow of fluid . upstream blind wedge 14 is positioned in chamber 109 such that upstream surface 152 including seal 16 is adjacent inlet 120 such that upstream blind wedge 14 blocks the flow of liquid from entering chamber 109 through inlet 120 . likewise , downstream blind wedge 14 ′ is positioned in chamber 109 adjacent outlet 122 and includes a seal 16 ′ so as to block the flow of liquid to / from outlet 122 . downstream blind wedge 14 ′ is substantially identical to upstream wedge 14 but is inserted into chamber 109 such that seal 16 ′ is positioned against outlet 122 . blind force wedge 13 is shown in fig1 and 15 . blind force wedge 13 is positioned between upstream blind wedge 14 and downstream blind wedge 14 ′ and provides pressure to upstream blind wedge 14 and downstream blind wedge 14 ′ to retain a tight seal between inlet 120 and outlet 122 , respectively , thereby effectively blocking the flow of liquid through isolation chamber 100 . both upstream blind wedge 14 and downstream blind wedge 14 ′ include a tapered surface which mates a taper on the faces of blind force wedge 13 . specifically , downstream surface of block wedge 14 includes a taper which mates the taper on upstream surface 160 of blind force wedge 13 , and upstream surface of wedge 14 ′ includes a taper which mates the taper on downstream surface 162 of blind force wedge 13 . a taper of 3 ° has been found particularly suitable for the preferred embodiment , however , other suitable tapers are contemplated . blind wedge assembly 104 is secured in chamber 109 by compression bar 12 . compression bar 12 is shown in greater detail in fig9 and 10 . compression bar 12 includes a plurality of holes 164 drilled therethrough to receive bolts and washers ( such as bolts 10 and washers 11 of fig1 ) which are screwed into holes 114 of body 108 . compression bar 12 also includes holes 166 and 166 ′ to receive locator pins 8 and 8 ′ of body 108 . a central hole 168 is drilled and tapped in compression bar 12 to receive a force rod 15 ( fig2 ). as can be seen in fig9 and 10 , a cutout 170 and 170 ′ on each side of compression bar 12 . in addition , compression bar 12 includes an arched portion 172 therein . the purpose of cutouts 170 and 170 ′ and arched portion 172 is so that compression bar 12 does not seal against body 108 . since chamber 109 is not sealed , in the event that upstream block wedge 14 or downstream bock wedge 14 ′ were to leak , fluid would enter chamber 109 and exit around compression bar 12 into the atmosphere rather than through the other seal . as a result , fluid would not leak past the secured seal . upon assembly , blind wedge assembly 104 is inserted into chamber 109 of body 108 such that compression bar 12 is secured to the top of body 108 using bolts 10 and washers 11 . force rod 15 is threaded through compression bar 12 to force blind force wedge 13 between upstream blind wedge 14 and downstream blind wedge 14 ′. this , in turn , forces upstream surface 152 of upstream wedge 14 against inlet 120 of chamber 109 and downstream surface 150 of downstream wedge 14 ′ against outlet 122 of chamber 109 . as an alternative , the flow - through wedge assembly of fig1 may be replaced with a meter wedge assembly in chamber 109 . the meter wedge assembly includes a flow - through wedge with a bore diameter that is smaller than the i . d . of the pipeline and inlet orifice 107 . the bore diameter of the meter wedge assembly is known . either the pipeline or isolation chamber 100 are fitted with instrumentation ( known in the art ) to measure the line pressure before the meter wedge assembly and after the meter wedge assembly in order to obtain the pressure drop . from this , known standards are consulted ( such as api standards for differential pressure equations ) in order to determine the liquid flow rate through isolation chamber 100 . while the invention has been described with a certain degree of particularity , it is manifest that many changes may be made in the details of construction without departing from the spirit and scope of this disclosure . it is understood that the invention is not limited to the embodiment set forth herein for purposes of exemplification , but is to be limited only by the scope of the attached claim or claims , including the full range of equivalency to which each element thereof is entitled .
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the instrument rest of the present invention is a unique style of stand for guitars or other instruments that uses a different concept from all other stands of today . the instrument rest of the present invention is a holder or rest for guitars and other instruments . the instrument rest of the present invention is designed so that a musician can rest the bottom of an instrument on / in the rest , while resting the neck and / or headstock backwards against another object ( such as an amplifier , speaker , chairs or even just a bare wall ). the instrument rest of the present invention is preferably made of either a molded polyurethane foam , ester # 3 , urethane foam , # 1570bl , or some similar but not always chemically the same as , yet providing a similar working effect of , a foam type material , and may consist of several different compounds all together . the instrument rest of the present invention is designed to hold a wide range of instruments no matter the shape , size or weight ( electric guitars , box guitars , bass guitars , violins , horns , etc .). factors such as color , density , texture and actual dimensions will be determined upon manufacture and will be influenced by the type of instrument for which the rest is designed . the instrument rest of the present invention will eliminate the sense of insecurity and inconvenience of contemporary stands , by allowing the musician to rest his or her instrument in places not allowed by contemporary stands ( on top of amps , behind or beside amps , behind doors , on shelves — just about anywhere where conventional stands will not fit , the instrument rest of the present invention will ). the instrument rest of the present invention will accommodate instruments that do not fit properly in contemporary stands . the instrument rest of the present invention is preferably of one - piece construction , and is preferably compact and lightweight . the uniqueness of the design of the instrument rest of the present invention allows for better weight support , superb balancing , and convenience of placement for an instrument . the instrument rest of the present invention can be carried in most standard guitar cases , without damaging the instrument . the instrument rest of the present invention will protect the finish of the instrument , by virtue of its design . the instrument rest of the present invention can be made in extreme color variations , and in unique designs . when using the instrument rest of the present invention , usually the instrument must be leaned against another object — the instrument rest of the present invention is usually not designed to solely support the instrument ( it usually does not make the instrument free - standing — though some light guitar - like instruments will stand up in the instrument rest of the present invention with no other support ). the instrument rest of the present invention provides a lean - anywhere resting place . the instrument rest of the present invention frees up valuable floor space . the instrument rest of the present invention is compact , lightweight and durable . the instrument rest of the present invention is preferably colorful and stylish , with a leather - like feel ( when made with molded urethane foam , for example ). cords will never tangle on the instrument rest of the present invention . no assembly is required for standard models of the instrument rest of the present invention . the strap pin locations will vary in location , size , and number . as used herein , “ guitar - like instrument ” refers to stringed musical instruments such as electric guitars , box guitars , bass guitars , banjoes , mandolins , fiddles , violins , but excluding free - standing instruments such as harps . the following is a list of parts and materials suitable for use in the present invention : 10 instrument rest of the preferred embodiment of the present invention 10 a - 10 n and 10 p - 10 v are instrument rests of alternative embodiments of the present invention 35 instrument rest of an alternative embodiment of the present invention 45 instrument rest of an alternative embodiment of the present invention 55 instrument rest of an alternative embodiment of the present invention 70 neck rest pad of the preferred embodiment of the present invention ( can be compressed between amp 61 and speaker 62 ) 71 compression holes in neck rest pad 70 ( will vary in size and quantity ) 87 strap of neck rest pad 85 ( preferably nylon or velcro brand hook - and - loop fastener material ) 90 headstock rest pad of the preferred embodiment of the present invention 95 headstock rest pad of an alternative embodiment of the present invention 110 freestanding guitar rest of an alternative embodiment of the present invention ( it cradles more of the guitar than a standard rest 10 ) 135 instrument rest of an alternative embodiment of the present invention 145 instrument rest of an alternative embodiment of the present invention 210 instrument rest of an alternative embodiment of the present invention 223 raised rear of rest body to provide upright support 310 instrument rest of an alternative embodiment of the present invention 323 raised rear of rest body to provide upright support 410 instrument rest of an alternative embodiment of the present invention 431 tripod holes preferably completely through the body 420 to allow rest 410 to be slipped onto a conventional forked tripod stand 66 510 instrument rest of an alternative embodiment of the present invention 531 strap ( nylon , e . g .) for connecting the left and right pieces of body 520 610 instrument rest of an alternative embodiment of the present invention 631 strap ( nylon , e . g .) for connecting the left and right pieces of body 520 710 instrument rest of an alternative embodiment of the present invention 810 instrument rest of an alternative embodiment of the present invention 910 instrument rest of an alternative embodiment of the present invention this product may optionally have an exterior coating applied depending upon the type of foam used by the manufacturer . the coatings may vary from a urethane to a synthetic cloth type material depending on coatings market technology . the following are exemplary values for the following dimensions of the rest when used with a standard electric guitar : f — 15 - 20 degrees ( chosen to allow the instrument to rest in a backwards position , against another object ) the following are exemplary values for the following dimensions of the rest when used with a standard large box guitar : all measurements disclosed herein are at standard temperature and pressure , at sea level on earth , unless indicated otherwise . the foregoing embodiments are presented by way of example only ; the scope of the present invention is to be limited only by the following claims .
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fig1 is a bubble - pack - scrim laminated blanket assembly having polyethylene layers 112 , 114 , 116 and 118 and scrim layer 126 with nylon tapes 124 laminated between layers 112 and 114 . adhered to outer layer 112 is a metallized pet layer 12 . fig1 and 16 represent the embodiment of fig1 but , additionally , having an aluminum foil layer 122 laminated to layer 112 in fig1 and to layer 118 , via a polyethylene layer 136 in fig1 . the following numerals denote the same materials throughout the drawings , as follows : 12 — 48 gauge aluminum metallized polyester ( pet ) film ; 14 — adhesive ; 16 — 1 . 2 ml polyethylene film ; 18 — 2 . 0 ml polyethylene film ( bubbled ); 20 — 1 . 2 ml ethylene vinyl acetate - polyethylene film ; 22 — 2 . 0 ml polyethylene film ; 24 — aluminum foil ; 26 — polyester scrim ; fr denotes 18 % w / w antimony oxide fire retardant ; w denotes presence of tio 2 pigment ( white ). the bubble pack layer is preferably of a thickness selected from 0 . 5 cm to 1 . 25 cm . the other polyethylene layers are each of a thickness , preferably , selected from 1 to 6 mls . the fire retardant material of use in the preferred embodiments was antimony oxide at a concentration selected from 10 - 20 % w / w . insulation material no . 1 was a prior art commercial single bubble pack assembly of a white polyethylene film ( 1 . 2 mil ) laminated to a polyethylene bubble ( 2 . 0 mil ) on one side and aluminum foil ( 0 . 275 mil ) on the other . insulation material no . 2 was a metallized polymeric material of use in the practise of the invention in the form of a bubble pack as for material no . 1 but with the aluminum foil substituted with metallized aluminum on polyethylene terephthalate ( pet ) film ( 48 gauge ) adhered to the polyethylene bubble . a blow torch was located about 10 - 15 cm away from the insulation material ( 5 cm × 10 cm square ) and directed at each of the aluminum surfaces . material no . 1 started to burn immediately and continued burning until all organic material was gone . flame and smoke were extensive . for material no . 2 , where the flame was directly located , a hole was produced . however , the flame did not spread outwards of the hole or continue to burn the material . flame and smoke were minimal . single bubble metallized material reacts better to the flame , that is the material burned where the flame was situated but did not continue to burn . clearly , this test shows the advance of the metallized insulation material according to the invention over its prior art aluminum foil counterpart . this example illustrates the testing of the bubble - pack assembly shown in fig1 — being commonly known as a metallized - double bubble - white poly ( fr ) in accordance with nfpa 286 standard methods of fire tests for evaluating contribution of wall and ceiling interior finish to room fire growth . the test material was mounted on the lhs , rear , rhs walls to a height of the test room as well as the ceiling of the test room . the sample did not spread flames to the ceiling during the 40 kw exposure . the flames did not spread to the extremities of the walls during the 160 kw exposure . the sample did not exhibit flashover conditions during the test . nfpa 286 does not publish pass / fail criteria . this specimen did meet the criteria set forth in the 2003 ibc section 803 . 2 . 1 . the test was performed by intertek testing services na , inc ., elmendorf , tex ., 78112 - 984 ; u . s . a . this method is used to evaluate the flammability characteristics of finish wall and ceiling coverings when such materials constitute the exposed interior surfaces of buildings . the test method does not apply to fabric covered less then ceiling height partitions used in open building interiors . freestanding panel furniture systems include all freestanding panels that provide visual and / or acoustical separation and are intended to be used to divide space and may support components to form complete work stations . demountable , relocatable , full - height partitions include demountable , relocatable , full - height partitions that fill the space between the finished floor and the finished ceiling . this fire test measures certain fire performance characteristics of finish wall and ceiling covering materials in an enclosure under specified fire exposure conditions . it determines the extent to which the finish covering materials may contribute to fire growth in a room and the potential for fire spread beyond the room under the particular conditions simulated . the test indicates the maximum extent of fire growth in a room , the rate of heat release , and if they occur , the time to flashover and the time to flame extension beyond the doorway following flashover . a calibration test is run within 30 days of testing any material as specified in the standard . all instrumentation is zeroed , spanned and calibrated prior to testing . the specimen is installed and the diffusion burner is placed . the collection hood exhaust duct blower is turned on and an initial flow is established . the gas sampling pump is turned on and the flow rate is adjusted . when all instruments are reading steady state conditions , the computer data acquisition system and video equipment is started . ambient data is taken then the burner is ignited at a fuel flow rate that is known to produce 40 kw of heat output . this level is maintained for five minutes at which time the fuel flow is increased to the 160 kw level for a 10 - minute period . during the burn period , all temperature , heat release and heat flux data is being recorded every 6 seconds . at the end of the fifteen minute burn period , the burner is shut off and all instrument readings are stopped . post test observations are made and this concludes the test . all damage was documented after the test was over , using descriptions , photographs and drawings , as was appropriate . digital color photographs and dv video taping were both used to record and documents the test . care was taken to position the photographic equipment so as to not interfere with the smooth flow of air into the test room . the test specimen was a metallized / double bubble / white poly ( fr ) insulation . each panel measured approximately 4 ft . wide × 8 ft . tall × ⅛ in . thick . each panel was white in color . the insulation was positioned using metal c studs every 2 ft . o . c . with the flat side of the stud facing the interior of the room . the insulation was attached to the c studs using screws and washers . all joints and corners in the room were sealed to an airtight condition using gypsum drywall joint compound and / or ceramic fiber insulation . the data acquisition system was started and allowed to collect ambient data prior to igniting the burner and establishing a gas flow equivalent to 40 kw for the first 5 minutes and 160 kw for the next 10 minutes . events during the test are described below : the specimen began to melt at 4 ft . above the specimen . the specimen began to melt away at 6 ft . from the test corner . the specimen was completely melted on the top portions along all three walls . on the lower lhs wall , the specimen was still intact and appeared to have no visible damage . the lower rear wall appeared to have melting 4 ft . from the test corner , with the specimen intact from 4 - 8 ft from the test corner . the lower rhs wall was melted 4 ft . from the test corner and appeared intact from 4 ft . to the doorway . the specimen on the ceiling panels was observed to have been 100 % melted . the sample submitted , installed , and tested as described in this report displayed low levels of heat release , and upper level temperatures . the sample did not spread flames to the ceiling during the 40 kw exposure . the flames did not spread to the extremities of the 12 - foot walls during the 106 kw exposure . the sample did not exhibit flashover conditions during the test . nfpa 286 does not publish pass / fail criteria . one must consult the codes to determine pass fail . this specimen did meet the criteria set forth in the 2003 ibc section 803 . 2 . 1 . the test described under example 1 was repeated but with a metallized double bubble / white poly not containing fire retardant as shown in fig2 . the sample did not spread flames to ceiling during the 40 kw exposure . the flames did spread to the extremities of the walls during the 106 kw exposure . the sample did not exhibit flashover conditions during the test . nfpa 286 does not publish pass / fail criteria . however , this specimen did not meet the criteria set forth in the 2003 ibc section 803 . 2 . 1 . flame spread at 2 ft . horizontally at 4 ft . above the test burner . flames on the lhs wall reached 10 ft . from the test corner . the specimen was 100 % melted from the c studs along all the walls . the gypsum board behind the specimen was flame bleached and charred in the test corner . along the rear wall , the bottom of the wall was charred the length of the wall . on the rhs wall , 5 ft . of specimen was still intact near the doorway . the insulation on the lhs wall was melted completely with the exception of a small 2 ft . section attached to the c stud near the doorway . the insulation on the ceiling was 100 % melted exposing the c studs . the sample submitted , installed , and tested as described in this report displayed low levels of heat release , and upper level temperatures . the sample did not spread flames to the ceiling during the 40 kw exposure . the flames did spread to the extremities of the 12 - foot walls during the 160 kw exposure . the sample did not exhibit flashover conditions during the test . nfpa 286 does not publish pass / fail criteria . one must consult the codes to determine pass - fail . this specimen did not meet the very strict criteria set forth in the 2003 ibc section 803 . 2 . 1 . examples 3 - 6 underwent tests carried out in accordance with test standard method astme84 - 05 for surface burning characteristics of building materials , ( also published under the following designations ansi 2 . 5 ; nfpa 255 ; ubc 8 - 1 ( 42 - 1 ); and ul723 ). the method is for determining the comparative surface burning behaviour of building materials . this test is applicable to exposed surfaces , such as ceilings or walls , provided that the material or assembly of materials , by its own structural quality or the manner in which it is tested and intended for use , is capable of supporting itself in position or being supported during the test period . the purpose of the method is to determine the relative burning behaviour of the material by observing the flame spread along the specimen . flame spread and smoke density developed are reported . however , there is not necessarily a relationship between these two measurements . it should be noted that the use of supporting materials on the underside of the test specimen may lower the flame spread index from that which might be obtained if the specimen could be tested without such support . this method may not be appropriate for obtaining comparative surface burning behaviour of some cellular plastic materials . testing of materials that melt , drip , or delaminate to such a degree that the continuity of the flame front is destroyed , results in low flame spread indices that do not relate directly to indices obtained by testing materials that remain in place . table 1 gives detailed observations for the experiments conducted in examples 3 to 15 . the test specimen consisted of ( 3 ) 8 ft . long × 24 in . wide × 1 . 398 in . thick 17 . 50 lbs metallized / double bubble / white poly ( no - fr ) reflective insulation , assembly of fig2 secured to 1 . 75 in . wide × 1 in . thick , aluminum frames using ¾ in . long , self - drilling , hex head screws and washers . the nominal thickness of the reflective insulation was 5 / 16 in . thick . the white poly was facing the flames during the test . the specimen was self - supporting and was placed directly on the inner ledges of the tunnel . the test results , computed on the basis of observed flame front advance and electronic smoke density measurements were as follows . this metallized - double bubble - white poly having no fire - retardant assembly of fig2 was most acceptable in this e84 - 05 test to permit use in class a buildings . during the test , the specimen was observed to behave in the following manner : the white poly facer began to melt at 0 : 05 ( min : sec ). the specimen ignited at 0 : 07 ( min : sec ). the insulation began to fall from the aluminum frames at 0 : 08 ( min . sec .). the test continued for the 10 : 00 duration . after the test burners were turned off , a 60 second after flame was observed . after the test the specimen was observed to be damaged as follows : the specimen was consumed from 0 ft .- 9 ft . the white poly facer was melted from 19 ft .- 24 ft . this embodiment is a repeat of example 3 , but with a metallized / single bubble / white poly ( no - fr ) reflective insulation assembly as shown in fig3 substituted for the material described in example 3 . the specimen consisted of ( 3 ) 8 ft . long × 24 in . wide × 1 . 100 in . thick 16 . 60 lbs metallized / single bubble / white poly ( no - fr ) reflective insulation , secured to 1 . 75 in . wide × 1 in . thick , aluminum frames using ¾ in . long , self - drilling , hex head screws and washers . the nominal thickness of the reflective insulation was 3 / 16 in . thick . the white poly was facing the test burners . the specimen was self - supporting and was placed directly on the inner ledges of the tunnel . during the test , the specimen was observed to behave in the following manner : the poly facer began to melt at 0 : 03 ( min / sec ). the poly facer ignited at 0 : 06 ( min : sec ). the insulation began to fall from the aluminum frames at 0 : 07 ( min : sec ). the insulation ignited on the floor of the apparatus at 0 : 07 ( min : sec ). the test continued for the 10 : 00 duration . after the test the specimen was observed to be damaged as follows : the insulation was consumed from 0 ft .- 20 ft . the poly facer was melted from 20 ft .- 24 ft . the polyethylene bubbles were melted from 20 ft . to 24 ft . this embodiment is a repeat of example 3 , but with a metallized / double bubble / metallized ( no fr ) reflective insulation substituted for the material described in example 3 . the specimen consisted of ( 3 ) 8 ft . long × 24 in . wide × 1 . 230 in . thick 17 . 40 lbs metallized / double bubble / metallized no fr reflective insulation assembly of fig4 , secured to 1 . 75 in . wide × 1 in . thick , aluminum frames using ¾ in . long , self - drilling , hex head screws and washers . the nominal thickness of the reflective insulation was 5 / 16 in . thick . the specimen was self - supporting and was placed directly on the inner ledges of the tunnel . during the test , the specimen was observed to behave in the following manner : the metallized insulation began to melt at 0 : 06 ( min : sec ). the metallized insulation began to fall from the aluminum frame at 0 : 10 ( min . sec .). the metallized insulation ignited at 0 : 11 ( min . sec ). the test continued for the 10 : 00 duration . after the test burners were turned off , a 19 second after flame was observed . after the test , the specimen was observed to be damaged as follows : the metallized insulation was consumed from 0 ft .- 16 ft . the polyethylene bubbles were melted from 16 ft .- 24 ft . light discoloration was observed to the metallized facer from 16 ft .- 24 ft . this metallized - double bubble - metallized assembly of fig4 met the e84 standard for building reflective insulation . this embodiment is a repeat of example 5 , but with a metallized / double bubble / metallized ( fr ) reflective insulation assembly as seen in fig5 substituted for the material described in example 5 , fig4 . the specimen consisted of ( 3 ) 8 ft . long × 24 in . wide × 1 . 325 in . thick 17 . 70 lbs metallized / double bubble / metallized ( fr ) reflective insulation assembly , secured to 1 . 75 in . wide × 1 in . thick , aluminum frames using ¾ in . long , self - drilling , hex head screws and washers . the nominal thickness of the reflective insulation was 5 / 16 in . thick . during the test , the specimen was observed to behave in the following manner : the metallized facer began to melt at 0 : 04 ( min : sec .). the specimen ignited at 0 : 06 ( min : sec .). the metallized insulation began to fall from the aluminum frames at 0 : 11 ( min : sec ). the floor of the apparatus ignited at 6 : 41 ( min : sec ). the test continued for the 10 : 00 duration . after the test burners were turned off , a 60 second after flame was observed . after the test the specimen was observed to be damaged as follows : the insulation was consumed from 0 ft .- 16 ft . the polyethylene bubbles were melted from 16 ft .- 24 ft . light discoloration was observed to the metallized facer from 16 ft .- 24 ft . the metallized - double bubble - metallized ( fr ) reflective insulation assembly of fig5 passed this astm e84 - 05 test for class a building insulation . in the following embodiments examples 7 - 9 , less stringent astm e84 test conditions were employed . an aluminum foil - single bubble - aluminum foil / poly with polyester scrim reflective insulation assembly , without a fire - retardant was stapled to three 2 × 8 ft . wood frames with l - bars spaced every 5 feet o . c . was tested . the reflective insulation was secured to the l - bars by using self - drilling screws . aluminum foil - single bubble - aluminum foil with fire - retardant reflective insulation assembly was stapled to ( 3 ) 2 × 8 ft . wood frames , l - bar cross members on 5 ft . centers , stapled to wood on sides and screwed to l - bar . the sample was self - supporting . this assembly as shown in fig7 , failed this e84 test conditions for building insulations , for having a flame spread index of 55 and a smoke developed index of 30 . aluminum foil - single bubble - white poly ( fr ) as shown in fig8 was attached to nominal 2 × 2 wood frames with l - bar cross members spaced every 5 ft . o . c . the sample was self - supporting . the specimen had a flame speed index of 65 and a smoke developed index of 75 to not be acceptable as class a building material . the following embodiments describe astm 84 - 05e1 surface burning characteristics of building materials . the following modified astm e84 - 05e1 test was designed to determine the relative surface burning characteristics of materials under specific test conditions . results are again expressed in terms of flame spread index ( fsi ) and smoke developed ( sd ). the tunnel was preheated to 150 ° f ., as measured by the floor - embedded thermocouple located 23 . 25 feet downstream of the burner ports , and allowed to cool to 105 ° f ., as measured by the floor - embedded thermocouple located 13 ft . from the burners . at this time , the tunnel lid was raised and the test sample placed along the ledges of the tunnel so as to form a continuous ceiling 24 ft . long , 12 inches . above the floor . the lid was then lowered into place . upon ignition of the gas burners , the flame spread distance was observed and recorded every 15 seconds . flame spread distance versus time is plotted ignoring any flame front recessions . if the area under the curve ( a ) is less than or equal to 97 . 5 min .- ft ., fsi = 0 . 515 a ; if greater , fsi = 4900 /( 195 - a ). smoke developed is determined by comparing the area under the obscuration curve for the test sample to that of inorganic reinforced cement board and red oak , arbitrarily established as 0 and 100 , respectively . the reflective insulation was a metallized - double bubble - metallized assembly with fire - retardant , as shown in fig9 . the material had a very acceptable ofsi and 85 sd . the sample began to ignite and propagate flame immediately upon exposure to the test flame . maximum amounts of smoke developed were recorded during the early states of the test . the test conditions were as for example 10 but carried out with a metallized / bubble / single bubble , white ( fr ) as shown in fig1 , substituted for the material of example 10 . the white face was exposed to the flame source . the material had a very acceptable 0 fsi and 65 ds . the sample began to ignite and propagate flame immediately upon exposure to the test flame . maximum amounts of smoke developed were recorded during the early states of the test . the test conditions were as for example 10 but carried out with a metallized - single bubble as shown in fig1 , substitute for the material of example 10 . the test material had a very accept 0 fsi and 30 sd . the sample began to ignite and propagate flame immediately upon exposure to the test flame . maximum amounts of smoke developed were recorded during the early states of the test . the test conditions were as for examples 7 - 9 , with a self - supporting aluminum foil - single bubble containing fine retardant as shown in fig1 . an unacceptable fsi of 30 and a sdi of 65 was observed . the test was conducted under astm e84 - 00a conditions in jan . 22 , 2002 , with layers of aluminum foil - double bubble - aluminum foil , according to the prior art as shown in fig1 . the specimen consisted of a 24 ″ wide × 24 ′ long × 5 / 16 ″ thick ( nominal ) 3 . 06 lbs sheet of reflective insulation - foil / double pe bubble / foil . the specimen was tested with a ⅛ ″ wide × 24 ′ long second of the foil facer removed from the center to expose the core material directly to the flames . during the test , the specimen was observed to behave in the following manner : steady ignition began at 0 : 35 ( min : sec ). flaming drops began to fall from the specimen at 0 : 45 and a floor flame began burning at 0 : 46 . the test continued for the 10 : 00 duration . upon completion of the test , the methane test burners were turned off and an after flame continued to burn for 0 : 19 . after the test , the specimen was observed to be damaged in the following manner : the specimen was slightly burned through from 1 ft . to 3 ft . the pe bubble was melted from 0 ft . to 24 ft . and the foil facer had a black discoloration on it from 2 ft . to 24 ft . the sample was supported on ¼ ″ steel rods and 2 ″ galvanized hexagonal wire mesh id not meet the criteria see for this e84 - 00a test for a building insulation . during the test , the specimen was observed to behave in the following manner : steady ignition began at 0 : 54 ( min : sec ). flaming drops began to fall from the specimen at 0 : 58 and a floor flame began burning at 1 : 03 . the test continued for the 10 : 00 duration . after the test , the specimen was observed to be damaged as follows : the foil was 80 % consumed from 1 ft . to 3 ft . and lightly discoloured from 3 ft . to 24 ft . the bubble core was melted / collapsed from 0 ft . to 24 ft . although the results were an improvement over example 14 material , they were still not satisfactory . standard surface emittance ( reflectivity ) tests ( astm c 1371 - 04a —“ standard test method for determination of emittance of materials near room temperature using portable emissometers ”) with the embodiments shown in fig3 and fig1 gave a measured emittance of 0 . 30 ( 65 % reflectance ) for the dull surface of the metallized coated pet material and a value of 0 . 06 ( 96 % reflectance ) for the shiny surface . the 0 . 5 ml thick nitrocellulose solvent based lacquer coated metallized coated pet surface also gave an acceptable reflectance of 96 %. the test specimen was a self - supporting rfoil reflective insulation , metallized / double bubble / white poly ( m / db / polyethylene )- non - fr product of ( 3 ) 8 - ft . long × 24 in . wide × 1 . 2450 in . thick , radiant barrier secured to galvanized metal frames using hex head screws . the white polyethylene was exposed to flame with air gap toward the tunnel lid . conditioning ( 73 ° f . & amp ; 50 % r . h . ): 18 days specimen width ( in ): 24 specimen length ( ft ): 24 specimen thickness : 1 . 2450 in . material weight : n / a oz ./ sq . yd total specimen weight : 16 . 7 lbs . adhesive or coating application rate : n / a the reflective insulation began to melt at 0 : 05 ( min : sec ). the reflective insulation ignited at 0 : 07 ( min : sec ). flaming drops were observed at 0 : 08 ( min : sec ). the floor of the apparatus ignited at 0 : 10 ( min : sec ). the test continued for the 10 : 00 duration . after the test burners were turned off , a 60 second afterflame was observed . after the test the specimen was observed to be damaged as follows . the reflective insulation was consumed from 0 ft .- 5 ft . the reflective insulation was melted from 5 ft .- 24 ft . the specimen was a rfoil ( white poly / single bubbled / metallized ), nominal 5 / 16 inches thick . metal 2 in .× 4 in . c studs were placed every two feet on the walls and ceiling with the flat side of the stud facing the wall . the specimen was attached to the flat surfaces of the c studs using screws and washers spaced no closer than 2 ft . o . c . all joints and corners in the room were sealed to an airtight condition using gypsum drywall joint compound and / or ceramic fiber insulation . at an ambient temperature of 49 ° f . with a relative humidity of 82 %, the thermocouples and other instrumentation were positioned in accordance with the standard and their outputs verified after connection too the data acquisition system . the data acquisition system was started and allowed to collect ambient data prior to igniting the burner and establishing a gas flow equivalent to 40 kw for the first 5 minutes and 160 kw for the next 10 minutes . events during the test are described below : the specimen began to melt 2 ft . from the test burner / flames began to reach 6 ft . along the rhs wall / the lhs along the back wall , the specimen was flame bleached approximately 8 ft . above the test burner . the panels were melted 4 ft . horizontally along the wall . the top panel along the wall was completed melted . the remaining sections were still in tact along the c - studs . the top panel along the lhs wall , was completely melted approximately 11 . 5 ft . from the room corner . the remainder of the panels were intact but slightly melted and showed some discoloration . the specimen along the rhs wall was flame bleached to the ceiling and melted horizontally 3 - 4 ft . from the rest corner . the top panel along the rhs wall was completely melted extending the entire length of the wall . the remaining panels were intact and slightly discolored . the ceiling panels were completely melted extending the entire length of the room . the sample displayed low levels of heat release and upper level temperatures . the sample did not spread flames to the ceiling during the 40kw exposure . the flames did not spread to the extremities of the 12 - foot walls during the 160 kw exposure . the sample did not exhibit flashover conditions during the test . this example describes the test and results of measuring the emittance of an aluminum metallized pet containing 15 % w / w antimony oxide fire - retardant reflective insulation film having a nitrocellulose coating of 0 . 3 g / m 2 , according to the invention . the test protocol was in accordance with astmc 1371 - 04a “ standard test method for determination of emittance of materials near room temperature using portable emissometers ”. the results were obtained using a model ae emissometer manufactured by devices and services company of dallas , tex . the emissometer is powered to provide a warm - up time prior to use . a warm - up time of one hour is conditioned laboratory has been found to be acceptable . calibration at high and low emittance was performed after the warm - up period . test specimens were placed in good contact with the thermal sink that was part of the apparatus . a drop of distilled water between the test specimen and the thermal sink improved the thermal contact . the measurement head of the emissometer was placed on the test specimen and held in place for 90 seconds for each measurement . the apparatus provided emittance to two decimal places . the emissometer was calibrated prior to use and calibration was verified at the end of testing . the reported emittance is the average of three measurements . the 95 % reproducibility as stated in section 10 of astm c 1371 - 04a is 0 . 019 units . the result shows the acceptable emittance property of the test material , according to the invention . this example describes the test and results of measuring the corrosivity of the metallized pet fire - retardant reflective insulation film as used in example 19 . the test protocol was in accordance with “ astm d3310 - 00 “ standard test method for determining of corrosivity of adhesive materials ”. samples of the metallized film ( sample 2a ) one embedded in adhesive and one without adhesive , were placed in a screw can jar with an inert cap liner . the caps were tightened and the jars placed in a forced draft circulating oven at 71 ± 2 ° c . these samples were used as controls . a second set of samples , one embedded in adhesive and one without adhesive , were placed in a similar jar each with a small open jar half filled with distilled water . the second jars were also tightly closed and placed in the oven . the samples were removed and examined after intervals of 1 , 3 and 7 days in the oven . a series of experiments were conducted to develop a fire resistant reflective insulation material meeting class a and class i flame resistant standards . the following series of tests consisted of locating the flame of a blowtorch at a distance of about 10 - 20 cm away from 1 m × 1 m sample film and observing whether the burnt with a flame and disintegrated in its entirety , or merely melted at a localized spot without a flame . whenever an exposed polymer film face was present in the sample the blowtorch was directed on that surface because it is the polymer surface that is exposed to the interior of the walls and ceiling of a building and which surface is generally , initially , subject to a fire within the building . 1 . ( single bubble ) aluminum foil ( 2 . 75 mil ) adhesive polyethylene film ( 1 . 2 mil ) polyethylene bubble ( 2 mil ) polyethylene film ( 2 mil ) 2 . ( double bubble ) aluminum foil ( 2 . 75 mil ) adhesive polyethylene film ( 1 . 2 mil ) polyethylene bubble ( 2 mil ) eva ( 1 . 2 mil ) polyethylene bubble ( 2 mil ) polyethylene film ( 1 . 2 mil ) 3 . ( single bubble ) aluminum foil ( 2 . 75 mil ) adhesive polyethylene film ( 1 . 2 mil ) polyethylene bubble ( 2 . 0 mil ) polyethylene film ( 1 . 2 mil ) adhesive aluminum foil ( 2 . 75 mil ) 4 . ( double bubble ) aluminum foil ( 2 . 75 mil ) adhesive polyethylene film ( 1 . 2 mil ) polyethylene bubble ( 2 . 0 mil ) eva ( 1 . 2 mil ) polyethylene bubble ( 2 . 0 mil ) polyethylene film ( 1 . 2 mil ) adhesive aluminum foil ( 2 . 75 mil ) the above tests were repeated with various amounts ( 5 - 20 % w / w ) of various fr ( fire retardant ) compounds present in each of the polymer films . the above tests under series a and series b were repeated on the same samples but with heavier gauge aluminum foil ranging up to 5 . 00 mil . in all of the above tests , the product failed as determined by the total disintegration with a burning flame in less than 10 seconds . it was , initially , believed that the inadequacy of the product in satisfying the regulatory burn test was due , solely , to the polymer , and that the foil had no part in the destruction of the product . accordingly , because of the financial cost and inconvenience in preparing such foil products for testing , a series of tests were subsequently conducted on polymer films in the absence of an aluminum foil layer , while varying the nature and amounts of fr compounds in the polymer . analogous films to those of series a and series b without an aluminum foil layer were subjected to the blowtorch test . most surprisingly , the blowtorch flame caused the film to merely melt at the localized spot to create a typical 8 - 10 cm hole — with no burning . the size of the hole did not increase unless the torch was re - directed . these observations and surprising results showed the tests to be highly successful . the films of series d — test 1 were then adhesively laminated with aluminum foil to provide reflective products and tested . the products having a foil backing with the blowtorch directed on the polymer surface , lit - up extensively , burnt and disintegrated . samples of the foil - backed films of test 2 were then delaminated by peeling to remove the foil and tested . that the presence of the aluminum foil in the sample product causes the product to fail the burn test . the reason for this is not known . a series of burn tests with analogous products to those samples in series a and series c but having the adhesive bonded foil layer substituted with a 2 mil metallized pet ( polyethylene terephthate ), metallized polyethylene , or polypropylene layer were tested . the samples did not burn , flame or disintegrate , but merely incurred the typical 8 - 10 cm hole . that a metallized polymer layer is , most surprisingly , superior to and aluminum foil adhered layer in reflective polymer insulation , and satisfies the class a and class i standards . although this disclosure has described and illustrated certain preferred embodiments of the invention , it is to be understood that the invention is not restricted to those particular embodiments . rather , the invention includes all embodiments , which are functional or mechanical equivalence of the specific embodiments and features that have been described and illustrated .
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fig1 shows a diagrammatic and somewhat simplified perspective view of an outlet nozzle 1 which is produced according to the present invention . according to a preferred embodiment , the outlet nozzle 1 is of the type which is used in rocket motors for conducting the combustion gases out of a combustion chamber ( not shown ) belonging to the rocket motor . the present invention is preferably intended for use in rocket motors of the type which are driven with a liquid fuel , for example liquid hydrogen . the method by which such rocket motors operate is known per se , and is therefore not described in detail here . the outlet nozzle 1 is of the type which is cooled with the aid of a cooling medium , which is preferably also used as motor fuel in the particular rocket motor . the present invention is not , however , limited to outlet nozzles of this type , but can also be used in those cases in which the cooling medium is dumped after it has been used for cooling . the outlet nozzle 1 is manufactured with an outer shape which conforms in general with those of the prior art , that is to say substantially bell - shaped . furthermore , the outlet nozzle 1 according to the present invention is made up of two walls , more precisely an inner wall 2 and an outer wall 3 , which encloses the inner wall 2 . the inner wall 2 and the outer wall 3 are separated by special distancing elements or spacers 4 . these distancing elements 4 are configured according to a first embodiment of the present invention such that a number of longitudinal grooves are first configured , preferably by milling , in the inner wall 2 . the distancing elements 4 are thereby formed as a number of protruding elements 4 extending substantially at right - angles out from the inner wall 2 and to the outer wall 3 , that is to say in the radial direction in relation to an imaginary axis of symmetry through the outlet nozzle 1 . according to the following description , the method according to the present invention is based upon the distancing elements 4 being joined together by laser - welding . according to one embodiment , the distancing elements 4 are joined together against the outer wall 3 . a number of cooling ducts 5 are thereby formed , extending substantially in parallel in the longitudinal direction of the outlet nozzle 1 from the inlet end 6 of the outlet nozzle 1 to its outlet end 7 . in fig1 such a cooling duct 5 is illustrated by dashed lines , which indicate the distancing elements which constitute the limits of the cooling duct 5 in the lateral direction . the materials which are used for the inner wall 2 , the outer wall 3 and the distancing elements 4 constitute weldable materials , preferably stainless steel of the type 347 or a286 . alternatively , nickel - based alloys can be used . examples of such materials are inco600 , inco625 and hastaloy x . according to further variants , cobalt - based alloys of the type haynes 188 and haynes 230 can also be used in the present invention . fig2 is a perspective view of a portion of the wall structure of the outlet nozzle 1 , which wall structure substantially constitutes an inner wall 2 , an outer wall 3 and a number of distancing elements 4 , which are configured as protruding elements by milling of the inner wall 2 . according to the present invention , the wall structure is joined together by means of laser - welding of the distancing elements 4 against the outer wall 3 , whereupon a number of substantially parallel and somewhat recessed grooves 8 appear on the outside of the outer wall 3 . moreover , the abovementioned , substantially parallel cooling ducts 5 are in this case formed , through which a suitable cooling medium is intended to flow during running of the particular rocket motor . in the laser - welding , a nd : yag laser is preferably used , but other types of welding apparatus , for example a co 2 laser , can also be used according to the present invention . it can be seen from fig2 that a weld joint 9 is formed along each section in which the respective distancing element 4 is joined together with the outer wall 3 . as the result of precise coordination of the welding method and the dimensions of the components making up the wall structure , a substantially t - shaped and softly rounded shape is obtained in the respective weld joint 9 on the inside of the respective cooling duct 5 , which in turn yields a number of advantageous properties of the completed outlet nozzle , for example good cooling properties , high strength and simplicity of manufacture . a cross section through the wall of the outlet nozzle 1 , according to the first embodiment , can be seen in detail in fig3 . the cross section of the above - described weld joints 9 is illustrated in fig3 by dashed lines . the present invention is based upon laser - welding being carried out such that the outer wall 3 is joined together with the respective distancing element 4 . it is assumed that the distancing element 4 has a predetermined thickness t 1 , which according to this embodiment is on the order of magnitude of 0 . 4 to 1 . 5 mm . the outer wall 3 further has a predetermined thickness t 2 , which is also on the order of magnitude of 0 . 4 to 1 . 5 mm . through precise coordination of , inter alia , the dimensions of the two walls , 2 and 3 , and the distancing elements 4 , according to the present invention a weld joint 9 is obtained having the abovementioned t - shape , in which a soft rounding 10 of the inner wall in the respective cooling duct 5 is obtained . through laser - welding , a radius r of this rounded seam 10 on the order of magnitude of t 1min & lt ; r & lt ; t 1max is obtained , which with the above - stated dimensions corresponds to a radius r within the range 0 . 4 to 1 . 5 mm . a depth t 3 of the joint in relation to the top side of the outer wall 3 is further obtained . this depth t 3 is maximally on the order of magnitude of 0 . 3 × t 2 , which corresponds to the range 0 . 12 to 0 . 45 mm . in fig4 it is shown how an outlet nozzle can be manufactured by use of a second embodiment of the present invention , according to which an inner wall 2 ′ and an outer wall 3 are used . the outer wall 3 is of the same type as in the abovementioned embodiment , but the inner wall 2 ′ is not configured with any milled - out ducts or the equivalent . in this second embodiment , a number of separate distancing elements 4 ′ are instead used , which are fixed to the inner wall 2 ′ prior to execution of the laser - welding operation . these distancing elements 4 ′ are thereby used as demarcation of a number of cooling ducts 5 ′, through which the particular cooling medium can flow . according to this second embodiment , the laser - welding is carried out on both the outside and the inside of the wall structure . a number of weld joints , 9 and 9 ′, are thereby obtained , extending on both sides of the completed wall structure . as in fig3 , these weld joints , 9 and 9 ′, are illustrated in fig4 by dashed lines . the weld joints , 9 and 9 ′, have the same substantially t - shaped cross section as in the abovementioned first embodiment . the advantage with the second embodiment is that no milling is required of the inner wall 2 ′, thereby affording time and material savings . in this embodiment , the distancing elements 4 ′ must instead be fixed in a suitable manner between the inner wall 2 ′ and the outer wall 3 , after which welding is realized on both sides of the wall structure . in fig5 , a portion of an outlet nozzle 1 according to the present invention is shown , more precisely a portion of the inner wall 2 with associated distancing elements . where this structure has been manufactured according to the abovementioned first embodiment , these distancing elements are configured by milling . according to fig5 , the distancing elements are divided into a first set of distancing elements 4 a and a second set of distancing elements 4 b , in which the second set is positioned somewhat displaced in the longitudinal direction of the outlet nozzle . this produces a distribution and control of the cooling medium flow in a first cooling duct 5 a , which is divided into a second cooling duct 5 b and a third cooling duct 5 c . a host of advantages are offered by the present invention . above all , it can be stated that the method according to the present invention provides very good flexibility in the configuration of an outlet nozzle . for example , the cross - sectional shape of the respective cooling duct 5 can readily be varied by altering parameters such as depth and width in the abovementioned milling of the inner wall 2 . the outlet nozzle can thus be easily dimensioned in a manner which is adjusted according to the thermal load upon the outlet nozzle , which load normally varies along the longitudinal direction of the outlet nozzle . this results , in turn , in an increased working life for such an outlet nozzle . furthermore , no increase in weight is obtained in the various weld joints which are formed between the respective distancing elements 4 , the inner wall 2 ′ and the outer wall 3 . a further advantage thereof is that any defective weld joint is relatively simple to repair . in addition , very favourable flow ratios of the cooling medium are obtained by virtue of the rounded shape of the weld joints , 9 and 9 ′. the present invention is not limited to the illustrative embodiments described above and shown in the drawings , but can be varied within the scope of the following claims . for example , the present invention can be used irrespective of whether the outlet nozzle is round in shape or is configured as a polygon .
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an indoor unit according to the invention is shown in fig1 . the component parts as those of the present preferred embodiment are designated by the same reference numbers as the corresponding parts of the conventional embodiment of fig8 - 12 , but a detailed description of those parts will be omitted . the indoor unit comprises a front case 10 having a front intake opening 11 and an outlet opening 13 , and a rear case 50 housing a heat - exchanger 51 , a fan 55 , and a motor 53 . a motor mounting plate 52 , shown in fig7 comprises bearing members 59 ( only one being shown ) mounted on the rear case 50 for supporting couple of shafts 57 , which are formed on both ends of the motor 53 . further , once a shaft 57 is placed in its bearing member 59 , a bracket 61 is attached to the bearing member 59 by bolts or similar functional fastening means , bracket covers the shaft 57 . furthermore , a plate 54 is provided on the upper surface of the bracket 61 . the plate 54 carries a wire holding member 60 and a collecting panel 62 for installing the wire 56 and various circuit parts 58 . next , in the lower portion of the motor holding plate 52 , or adjacent to the outlet opening 13 , an electrical components mounting board 67 is provided , and placed on a supporting member 68 . the upper edge of the supporting member 68 , or the edge adjacent to the plate 54 slopes upwards . lips 72 are formed on upper edge of the supporting member 68 , while a gripping member 74 is provided on the lower edge thereof . the gripping member 74 grips the front area of the mounting board 67 and the upper portion of the gripping member 74 can flexibly move in front and rear directions . if the board 67 is supported beneath the lips 72 and held by the gripping member 74 , the board 67 can not move in front and rear directions . when the gripping member 74 is pulled toward the lower wall of the rear case 50 , the mounting board 67 can be easily disassembled from the supporting member 68 . a protuberance 76 is uprightly mounted in the supporting member 68 . the mounting board 67 has a slot 78 which allows the introduction of the protuberance 76 . as the board 67 is placed in the supporting member 68 , while being restricted by the lips 72 and the gripping member 74 , the protuberance 76 can be inserted into the slot 78 . thus , the lips 72 and the gripping member 74 prevent the board from moving in a frontwards or backwards direction , or sideways along the side wall of the rear case 50 , and the protuberance 76 and the slot 78 restrict the movement of the board 67 in right or left directions , or sideways along the shaft extending direction . in addition , the board 67 provides a plurality of lamps 69 comprised of l . e . d . in the central portion of the board 67 , for displaying the operation condition . the display of the lamp 69 can be seen through the visual window 12 formed on the front case 10 ( fig1 ). users can identify the condition of the operation . further , adjacent to the central upper edge of the board 67 , an operation switching component 71 is provided , for selecting the automatic mode -- controlled by the remote controller , or the manual mode , for the operation of the indoor unit . that is , the front case 10 can be opened and the switching component 71 can be moved in a right or left direction , i . e . to select the automatic or manual mode . in the indoor unit built as described , the upper edge of the supporting member 68 slopes upward . further , in the respective upper front and rear areas of the supporting member 68 , a gripping member 74 and lips 72 are formed . thus , the gripping member 74 and lips 72 retain the board 67 . further , the slot 78 receives the protuberance 76 when the board 67 is placed on the supporting member 68 . in other words , by means of a gripping member 74 and lips 72 , which are formed on the front and rear wall of the supporting member 68 respectively , the board 67 can not move in front or rear directions . when the protuberance 76 is inserted through the slot 78 , the board 67 is no longer able to move in left or right directions . further , since the upper wall of the supporting member 68 slopes upward , the controlabilty is simple . that is , with the body hung on the wall , and the supporting member 68 , mounted at the rear surface of the grill member 20 , is slopedly shaped , the handling is easy . on the right side of the motor mounting plate 52 i . e . the inner side wall of the rear case 50 , a couple of opposing recesses 82 are provided . the recesses 82 secure the circuit board 84 , which has various electronic components , parallel to the side wall of the rear case 50 . an auxiliary or top intake opening 11a is provided in the upper portion of the rear case 50 ( fig1 and 3 ), through which the air is introduced into the heat - exchanger 51 . further , a couple of filter guiding members 24 , 26 protrude toward the front case 10 , so that the filter 22 can extend upward toward the opening 11a ( fig2 and 3 ). the outer surface of the filter 22 slides on the outer filter guiding member 24 , while the inner surface of the filter 22 slides on the inner filter guiding member 26 . a long the filter guiding members 24 , 26 , the upper edge of the filter 22 is guided to the inner upper surface of the front case 10 and finally reaches the inner upper surface 50a of the rear case 50 , which finishes the installation of the filter . the grill member arranged on the front case 10 is provided as shown in fig5 . a couple of brackets 44 are integrally formed by injection molding on both upper side ends of the grill member 20 . in the front case 10 a couple of openings 36 , for accessing the bracket 44 of the grill member 20 , are provided . further , another couple of brackets 34 are also integrally formed by injection molding on the inner portion of respective openings 36 . brackets 44 , 34 have respective openings 42 , 32 . both openings 42 , 32 are linked by a pin 38 having an enlargement 40 on the leading portion . once the pin 38 is inserted , the pin 38 can not fall out freely . furthermore , a protrusion 46 is provided on the side surface of the bracket 44 of the grill member 20 , i . e . opposite to the bracket 34 of the front case 10 . a supporting member 48 is provided in the access opening 36 of the front case 10 . the protrusion 46 rests on the supporting member 48 when opening the grill member 20 , and as a consequence , the grill member 20 can not be closed freely or by a mere lightly applied force . the brackets 44 , 34 are assembled as shown in fig6 . the bracket 44 of the grill member 20 is inserted into the opening 36 of the front case 10 . in this condition , the right side of the bracket 44 of the grill member 20 contacts the left side of the bracket 34 of the front case 10 . after aligning the openings 42 , 32 the pin 38 is inserted . when the enlargement 40 of the pin 38 inserted into the openings 42 , 32 , the enlargement 40 is squeezed smaller . after the enlargement 40 of the pin 38 passes through openings 42 , 32 , the enlargement 40 swells back to the natural shape , thereby preventing the pin from slipping out freely . therefore , by use of a pin 38 , the bracket 44 of the grill member 20 is attached to the bracket 34 of the front case 10 in a hinged condition . during the air intake process through the intake opening 11 , dust or foreign materials are collected in the filter 22 ( fig3 ). when a certain amount of dust has gathered in the filter 22 , the grill member 20 can be swung upward about the pin 38 , whereupon the bracket 44 of the grill member 20 passes through the opening 36 . after the opening of the grill member 20 , the supporting member 48 of the front case 10 is elastically deformed by the protrusion 46 on the bracket 44 . next , the protrusion 46 is supported on the supporting member 48 . in this condition , the user &# 39 ; s hand which is holding the grill member 20 , is released . that is , since the protrusion 46 is resisting on the supporting member 48 , the grill member cannot be closed freely . with the grill member 20 in the open condition , the filter 22 is removed from the grill member 20 and dust is swept off the filter 22 . the cleaned filter 22 is reinstalled into the grill member 20 . as a downward force is applied to the grill member 20 , the protrusion 46 pushes past the supporting member 48 and re - enters the access opening . finally , the grill member 20 is closed . as shown in fig4 a platform 15 is formed on the rear upper edge of the front case 10 , while an overlapping member 73 is formed on the front upper edge of the rear case 50 . that is , the front case 10 is assembled with the rear case 50 in such a condition that the overlapping member 73 rests on the platform 15 . further , a plurality of ribs 86 are provided on the under - surface of the overlapping member 73 to support the platform 15 . that is , the overlapping member 73 is placed on the platform 15 and the ribs 86 support the underside of the platform 15 . as the rear case 51 approaches the front case 10 in a horizontal manner , the ribs 86 and the overlapping member 73 receive the platform 15 in a slot formed therebetween . in an assembled condition , when an external force f is applied to the upper portion of the rear case 50 , the platform 15 deflects with the overlapping member 73 without creating a gap between the platform 15 and the overlapping member 73 . further , if the external force f1 is applied to the upper portion of the front case 10 , the ribs 86 support the platform 15 to prevent the creation of a substantial gap between the platform 15 and the overlapping member 73 . according to the structure of the indoor unit of an air conditioner , this invention has a variety of advantages as follows . since the indoor air is drawn in through the intake opening , formed on the front and rear portion of the indoor unit , heat - exchange efficiency can be increased . further , the air can be drawn on a diverging surface so that noise generated from the intake process is reduced . furthermore , formed on the inside of the front case are the guiding members , between which the filter can easily be mounted to the rear surface of the grill member is greater conformance to the opening formed therein . this leads to increased efficiency of the air cleaning process . because the circuit board can be placed on the upper portion of the bracket covering the motor , various circuit parts and wires can be mounted on the upper surface of the board . as a result there is no need to maintain additional space for installation of the components , thus the indoor unit is more compact . further , the electrical components mounting board which includes a lamp displaying the operation condition of the indoor unit , and operating switching components for selecting the automatic or manual modes , is placed on the sloped supporting member , so an additional box for receiving the mounting board is not needed . furthermore , respective brackets are integrally formed on the front and rear case by injection molding , and a pin having a neck is inserted into the openings of the respective brackets . thus the front case is assembled with the rear case in a hinging manner , consequently achieving quick assembly and reducing the number of components . finally , a plurality of ribs are integrally provided under the overlapping member of the rear case and upon which the platform of the front case can rest . therefore , upon the application of an external force to the front case cannot form a gap between the front and rear cases .
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the initial steps in preparing the slurries of this invention comprise forming a slurry of inorganic oxide particles and then milling and separating particles from the slurry under conditions and in a manner sufficient to create a dispersion comprising particles having a particle size distribution suitable for chemical mechanical polishing , e . g ., polishing silica dielectric layers . typically , the final slurry has a particle size distribution which is essentially less than one micron . inorganic oxides suitable for preparing the slurry include precipitated inorganic oxides and inorganic oxide gels . it is preferable that the inorganic oxide is soluble . slightly soluble inorganic oxides can be used as well if the heating steps described later below are appropriately adjusted to alter the abrasivity of the selected inorganic oxide at the ph conditions needed to solubilize that inorganic oxide . the initial inorganic oxide slurries are referred to herein as “ parent inorganic oxides ,” “ parent particles ” or “ parent dispersions ”. amorphous silica gels are particularly suitable parent inorganic oxides . the dispersion can also be prepared from mixed inorganic oxides including sio 2 · al 2 o 3 , mgo · sio 2 · al 2 o 3 . mixed inorganic oxides are prepared by conventional blending or cogelling procedures . in embodiments comprising gels , the dispersions are derived from porous inorganic oxide gels such as , but not limited to , gels comprising sio 2 , al 2 o 3 , alpo 4 , mgo , tio 2 , and zro 2 . the gels can be hydrogels , aerogels , or xerogels . a hydrogel is also known as an aquagel which is formed in water and as a result its pores are filled with water . a xerogel is a hydrogel with the water removed . an aerogel is a type of xerogel from which the liquid has been removed in such a way as to minimize any collapse or change in the gel &# 39 ; s structure as the water is removed . silica gels commercially available as syloid ® grade gels , e . g ., grades 74 , 221 , 234 , 244 , w300 , and genesis ™ silica gels are suitable parent inorganic oxides . methods of preparing inorganic oxide gels are well known in the art . for example , a silica gel is prepared by mixing an aqueous solution of an alkali metal silicate ( e . g ., sodium silicate ) with a strong acid such as nitric or sulfuric acid , the mixing being done under suitable conditions of agitation to form a clear silica sol which sets into a hydrogel , i . e ., macrogel , in less than about one - half hour . the resulting gel is then washed . the concentration of inorganic oxide , i . e ., sio 2 , formed in the hydrogel is usually in the range of about 10 and about 50 , preferably between about 20 and about 35 , and most preferably between about 30 and about 35 weight percent , with the ph of that gel being from about 1 to about 9 , preferably 1 to about 4 . a wide range of mixing temperatures can be employed , this range being typically from about 20 to about 50 ° c . the newly formed hydrogels are washed simply by immersion in a continuously moving stream of water which leaches out the undesirable salts , leaving about 99 . 5 weight percent or more pure inorganic oxide behind . the porosity of preferred parent silica gels can vary and is affected by the ph , temperature , and duration of the water used to wash the gel . silica gel washed at 65 - 90 ° c . at ph &# 39 ; s of 8 - 9 for 15 - 36 hours will usually have surface areas ( sa ) of 250 - 400 and form aerogels with pore volumes ( pv ) of 1 . 4 to 1 . 7 cc / gm . silica gel washed at ph &# 39 ; s of 3 - 5 at 50 - 65 ° c . for 15 - 25 hours will have sa &# 39 ; s of 700 - 850 and form aerogels with pv &# 39 ; s of 0 . 6 - 1 . 3 . these measurements are generated by n 2 porosity analysis . methods for preparing other inorganic oxide gels such as alumina and mixed inorganic oxide gels such as silica / alumina cogels are also well known in the art . methods for preparing such gels are disclosed in u . s . pat . no . 4 , 226 , 743 , the contents of which are incorporated by reference . fumed inorganic oxides such as silicas and aluminas can also be chosen as the parent inorganic oxide . the production of fumed silicas and aluminas is a well - documented process and involves the hydrolysis of suitable feedstock vapor , such as silicon tetrachloride or aluminum chloride , in a flame of hydrogen and oxygen . once an inorganic oxide is selected for the parent dispersion , an dispersing medium for the slurry of the selected inorganic oxide is chosen . the slurry can be prepared using residual water in inorganic oxide gels which have been drained , but not yet dried , and to which additional water is added . in another embodiment , dried inorganic oxides , e . g ., xerogels , are dispersed in water . in general , the parent dispersion should be in a state that can be wet milled . the size of the parent particles only needs to be sufficient such that the mill being used can produce a dispersion having the desired particle size distribution . in most embodiments , the parent dispersion has a median particle size approximately in the range of 10 to 40 microns . in embodiments prepared from a drained inorganic oxide gel , the drained gel may first be broken up into gel chunks and premilled to produce a dispersion of particles in the range of 10 to 40 microns . the parent dispersion is then milled . the milling is conducted “ wet ”, i . e ., in liquid media chosen as the dispersing medium . the general milling conditions can vary depending on the feed material , residence time , impeller speeds , and milling media particle size . suitable conditions and residence times are described in the examples . these conditions can be varied to obtain the particular particle size distribution , typically below one micron . the techniques for selecting and modifying these conditions are known to those skilled in the art . the milling equipment used to mill the parent inorganic oxide particles should be of the type capable of severely milling materials through mechanical action . such mills are commercially available , with hammer and sand mills being particularly suitable for this purpose . hammer mills impart the necessary mechanical action through high speed metal blades , and sand mills impart the action through rapidly churning media such as zirconia or sand beads . impact mills can also be used . both impact mills and hammer mills reduce particle size by impact of the inorganic oxide with metal blades . the milled slurry is then centrifuged to separate the dispersion into a supernatant phase , which comprises the particles of the final product , and a settled phase , which comprises larger particles which we usually remove to prepare the final abrasive slurry . the supernatant phase is removed from the settled phase , e . g ., by decanting , with the supernatant being further processed according to the invention . conventional centrifuges can be used for this phase separation . a commercially available centrifuge suitable for this invention is identified in the examples below . in some instances , it may be preferable to centrifuge the supernatant two , three or more times to further remove large particles remaining after the initial centrifuge . the particles of the slurry recovered from the milling and centrifuging are porous . silica gel slurries recovered from these steps typically have pore volumes similar to that of the parent inorganic oxide . the porosity of particles recovered from milling and centrifuging of other parent inorganic oxides depends on the inorganic oxide and how it is made . for example , slurries prepared from parent precipitated and fumed inorganic oxides have pore volumes less than that of the parent inorganic oxide . the centrifuged slurry then is thermally treated under conditions sufficient to alter and adjust the distribution of inorganic oxide within the pore structure of the particles , thereby altering the hardness or abrasiveness of the particles . as indicated earlier , it is believed that in heating conditions such as those in an autoclave , inorganic oxide , e . g ., silica , preferentially dissolves from sharply convex surfaces , i . e ., those found around the edges ( rims ) of pores , and redeposits at sharply concave surfaces , such as those at the juncture of ultimate particles which form the pores of the inorganic oxide particles . it is believed that repositioning inorganic oxide to these junctures strengthens the particle structure and as a result creates a harder and more abrasive particle . treating the centrifuged slurry in an autoclave is one method of thermal treatment that can be used to make the inventive slurry . by “ autoclave ” it is meant a pressure reactor which allows for heating of the slurry above the ambient pressure boiling point of the slurry &# 39 ; s solution phase . for aqueous slurries , this temperature is about 100 ° c . the ph of the slurry is adjusted before it is placed in the autoclave and depends on the inorganic oxide selected for the slurry . the ph is adjusted so as to optimize the solubility of the inorganic oxide , thereby decreasing the residence time in the autoclave . however , the ph should not be such that the amount of inorganic oxide solubilized results in unwanted agglomeration and precipitation of secondary inorganic oxide particles when the slurry is cooled to ambient temperature . for example , slurries of silica can be adjusted to a ph of 8 - 10 prior to thermal treatment and depends on the substrate which will be planarized by the final slurry . the autoclave conditions used depend on the desired hardness and the type of inorganic oxide selected for the slurry . it has been found that the more severe the autoclave conditions used , e . g ., higher temperature and / or longer residence time in the autoclave , the harder the particles become , thereby increasing the abrasiveness of the particles . for water based slurries , the temperature employed for the autoclave should at least be 100 ° c . when preparing silica - based abrasive slurries for polishing dielectric silicon layers , the slurry can be heated at 120 - 180 ° c . for 20 - 30 hours . in general , silica embodiments become unstable at temperatures higher than 200 ° c . and should be avoided if surfactants cannot be added to the desired abrasive slurry to reduce the instability . likewise , heating the inorganic oxide to temperatures below 100 ° c . require longer heating times to affect redeposition of the inorganic oxide . as indicated earlier , the abrasiveness of the particles increases and the bet surface area measured for the particles is reduced as heating severity increases . as mentioned earlier , it is believed that the surface area reduction is caused when inorganic oxide dissolves and repositions to the junctures between ultimate particles . the data in the examples below show that pore volume and surface area are reduced after autoclaving , and it is believed that the repositioning occurs at the expense of pore volume and the surface area associated with the pores lost . particles having bet surface areas less than 120 m 2 / g and preferably less than 60 m 2 / g can be prepared according to this invention . the pore volume of these particles is typically in the range of 0 . 2 to 0 . 6 cc / g , as measured by nitrogen porosimetry at 0 . 967 p / po . accordingly , a method for imparting a desired abrasivity for a selected inorganic oxide slurry can be carried out by first identifying an abrasivity or abrasivities as determined by a polishing rate ( s ) of a substrate , e . g ., a silica substrate . bet surface area for those particles are also determined . then once an abrasivity or polishing rate has been selected for a substrate to be worked upon one can reproduce a suitable slurry by preparing a slurry of porous inorganic oxide particles having a measurable bet surface area and then heating the slurry to obtain the particle bet surface area which was identified and associated with the desired abrasivity . as indicated , the surface area referred to herein is that measured using conventional n 2 bet surface area techniques . to measure the surface area ( and pore volume ) for these slurries , the ph is adjusted to minimize surface area reduction that can occur during drying . the slurries also have to be dried to make these measurements and are dried using conventional techniques , e . g ., heating the slurries to about 90 to about 130 ° c . for periods long enough to dry the slurry to a powder . the examples below show that the abrasivity of silica slurries , as measured by silicon dielectric removal rates , can be varied widely . the examples below show that silica removal rates of at least 150 , at least 200 and at least 250 mm per minute can be obtained . this method is an advantage when a manufacturer is faced with polishing a variety of materials and each of the materials require a different abrasive material and / or polishing rate . with applicant &# 39 ; s invention , the slurries used to polish these materials can be prepared from one material , e . g ., silica , without having to add other essential abrasives . accordingly , once the slurry has been adjusted to a suitable ph , the slurry of the invention can consist essentially of dispersing medium and the inorganic oxide particles of the invention . as indicated earlier , substantially all of the particle size distribution for the final abrasive slurry should be less than one micron . the data below indicates that the particle size distribution of the slurry after heating is substantially the same as the distribution of the slurry after milling . preferred embodiments have a median particle size less than 0 . 5 microns and in the range of 0 . 1 to about 0 . 3 microns . the particle size distribution is measured using conventional light scattering instrumentation and methods . the sizes reported in the examples were determined by a la900 laser scattering particle size analyzer from horiba instruments , inc . the solids content of the dispersion varies and depends on the solids content of the feed particle dispersion . the solids content of the dispersion is generally in the range of 1 - 30 % by weight and all other ranges encompassed therein . a solids content in the range of 10 to 20 % by weight is particularly suitable when using silica gel for polishing dielectric layers . in general , the dispersion &# 39 ; s viscosity should be such that the dispersion easily flows between the wafer to be polished and the polishing pad used to polish the wafer . the ph of the slurry is dependent upon the inorganic oxide selected and the substrate to be planarized by the slurry . silica slurries of this invention are particularly suitable for polishing silica substrates such as silica dielectric layers . silica dielectric layers prepared from tetraethyoxysilane are illustrative . slurries used to polish such layers are adjusted to a ph in the range of 10 - 11 . alumina slurries are typically used to polish metal conductive layers such as tungsten or copper . those slurries are adjusted to a ph in the range of 4 - 6 . the ph can be adjusted using standard ph modifiers . the slurries of the invention can also be modified to include additional chemistry such as hydrogen peroxide as an oxidant for polishing copper . the slurries of this invention can be used with conventional polishing equipment and pads . the examples below illustrate the performance of this invention using a strasbaugh 6ca polisher unit using a suba 500 pad . these examples , however , are merely illustrative of certain embodiments of the invention and are not intended to any way limit the scope of this invention as recited in the claims appended hereto . approximately 30 gallons of an aqueous suspension of an intermediate density ( id ) hydrous gel were prepared . the term “ id gel ” is used to refer to hydrogel which is washed in a ph range of 5 - 10 after it has been initially formed and as a result has a density which is slightly less than gels prepared from hydrogels which are washed under more acidic conditions . these latter gels are referred to as regular density ( rd ) gels . a slurry was prepared by dispersing the id hydrogel , milling it in an acm mill and partially drying the hydrogel to prepare a hydrous silica gel having a 55 % by weight total volatiles content . the hydrous gel slurry was then milled further in a netzsch media mill ( 12 liters , 1 . 2 mm zirconium silicate media ) at a rate of 1 gallon per minute . this milled slurry was then centrifuged using a dorr - oliver disc - nozzle type centrifuge ( 9 . 3 inch disc diameter ) at about 9000 rpm &# 39 ; s ( correlates to about 10 , 000 g &# 39 ; s ). the resulting slurry was designated as base silica slurry a . base silica slurry a was measured to have 90 % of the particles at or below 0 . 4 microns . a second sample of a similar gel was prepared , except that the hydrous silica gel slurry had a 50 % by weight total volatiles content . this hydrous gel slurry was then media milled using the same netzsch mill while being fed at 0 . 2 - 0 . 25 gallon per minute . this milled slurry was then centrifuged under more severe conditions to yield a finer particle size colloid designated as base silica slurry b . specifically , this slurry was centrifuged a second time at 90 minutes at around 1 , 500 g &# 39 ; s . the particle size distribution of silica slurry b was measured to have 90 % particles at or below 0 . 2 microns . three 3 gallon samples of the base silica slurry a and one 3 gallon sample of base silica slurry b were diluted to approximately 12 . 7 % solids , ph adjusted to 9 . 5 ( koh ), then sealed in a stainless steel bomb and then aged at the time / temperature conditions given in the table below . particle size , ph , and n 2 porosimetry evaluations of the autoclaved products are also given . the slurries were adjusted to a ph of 6 before drying and conducting the n 2 porosimetry measurements . this adjustment minimizes surface area reduction during the drying process necessary to measure the surface area , thereby making the measurements more accurate . the samples were dried for these measurements using conventional techniques , e . g ., heating the slurry to 105 ° c . until dry . autoclaving results in a significant surface area loss for each of the base silica suspensions , but substantially no change in particle size . prior to polishing rate evaluation , a sample of the base silica slurry a was diluted with di water to 12 . 7 % solid . this is the data reported for base silica a in fig1 . then , this sample as well as each of the autoclaved slurries a - 1 through a - 3 and b - 1 , were adjusted to a ph range of 10 . 7 - 10 . 9 with koh . these samples and a sample of a commercial slurry of fumed silica ( ild 1300 slurry from rodel ) were evaluated for sio 2 removal rate using 4 inch sio 2 coated si wafers . polish rate tests were made using a strasbaugh 6ca polisher with a suba 500 pad employing a two minute polish time . the distance between the center of the polishing pad and the center of the wafer was set at five inches . different polishing conditions ( pressure ( p ), and angular velocity ( v ) of the polishing pad ) were used . these conditions and the results are reported in fig1 showing sio 2 polish ( removal ) rate for the base silica slurries as a function of polishing severity ( pressure times angular velocity of the polishing pad ). pressure is presented as pounds per square inch ( psi ) and angular velocity is presented as revolutions per minutes ( rpm ). the data show a significant increase in polish rate with increase in autoclave severity . the rates range from approximately 50 % of the commercial polish slurry rate for the non - autoclaved silica gel product to approximately twice the rate for the commercial polish slurry rate . furthermore , a strong correlation between observed polish rate and reciprocal surface area of the autoclaved silica gel slurries is shown in fig2 . this data indicates that the abrasiveness of inorganic oxide particles can be adjusted by altering the surface area of the particles using the autoclave and modifying the conditions to obtain a certain surface area and the abrasive properties associated with that particular surface area . a three gallon 25 % by weight solids aqueous suspension of rd silica xerogel ( 7 μmps , 0 . 4 cc / g n 2 pore volume , 650 m 2 / g bet surface area ) was prepared and then adjusted to ph 9 . 4 using koh . the slurry was then media milled ( netzsch mill ) and centrifuged ( dorr - oliver ) in a manner according to example 1 . the resulting slurry had 15 . 5 % solids and a median particle size of 0 . 24μ . the slurry was then autoclaved in a manner according to example 2 at conditions of 150 ° c . for 24 hours . the resulting slurry was adjusted to 12 . 0 % solids and ph 11 . 5 using koh . properties of the slurry are summarized below . evaluation of autoclaved rd gel slurry for sio 2 removal rate the slurry of example 4 was evaluated for sio 2 removal rate using 6 inch diameter sio 2 coated si wafers . polish rate tests were made using a strasbaugh 6ca polisher with a suba 500 pad employing a two minute polishing time . different polishing conditions ( pressure , p ; pad rotation speed , v ) were used . in all cases a five inch separation distance between the pad center and wafer center was maintained during polishing . results of this polishing rate study are summarized below .
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reference will now be made to embodiments of the invention , one or more examples of which are illustrated in the figures . the embodiments are provided by way of explanation of the invention , and are not meant as a limitation of the invention . for example , features illustrated or described as part of one embodiment may be used with another embodiment to yield still a further embodiment . it is intended that the invention encompass these and other modifications and variations as come within the scope and spirit of the invention . fig1 is a flowchart of a method for making coffee beverage according to one embodiment of the present disclosure . fig4 illustrates a coffee machine 400 that may be configured to perform the method illustrated in fig1 . at block 102 , a warming up unit 402 of coffee machine 400 may be attached to a container of the coffee machine 400 , and may be configured to warm up coffee beans in the container . at block 104 , grinding unit 404 may be configured to grind the warmed up coffee beans into coffee grounds . at block 106 , brewing unit 406 may be configured to brew the coffee grounds into coffee beverage . in one embodiment , the coffee beans warmed up at block 102 may be beans of a pre - determined roasting level and said warming up operation performed by warming up unit 402 may not change the pre - determined roasting level of the coffee beans . therefore , in one embodiment , a warm - up temperature of the coffee beans achieved by warming up unit 402 may be no higher than 190 degrees celsius to avoid strong maillard reaction that may change the roasting level of the beans . in another embodiment , the coffee beans contained in the chamber may be half - roasted beans and warming up unit 402 may be configured to increase the warm - up temperature to achieve the pre - determined roasting level . in another embodiment , coffee machine 400 may further comprise a determining unit 408 configured to determine the warm - up temperature based on a desired flavor of the coffee beverage . for example , if the desired flavor is stronger , the warm - up temperature may be higher . in one embodiment , warm - up time of the coffee beans may be determined by the warm - up temperature , desired flavor of coffee beverage as well as many other factors including initial temperature of the beans , weight of the beans , or type of the coffee beans etc . for example , for beans from room temperature and beans from the refrigerator , the warm - up time may be different . also , greater amount of beans may require longer warm up time to reach a pre - determined warm - up temperature . table 1 ( a ) provides flavor comparison between columbia sp coffee beans with and without being warmed up prior to brewing , wherein two groups of the coffee beans having different initial temperatures are used as examples . according to table 1 ( a ), the flavor of coffee beverage made from warmed up coffee beans may be rich and obvious and taste better than coffee beverage made from beans taken out of a refrigerator or even beans at room temperature . similar results may be obtained for brazil french coffee beans as illustrated in table 1 ( b ). fig5 illustrates another coffee machine 500 in accordance to one embodiment of the present disclosure . coffee machine 500 may comprise a sub - container in addition to a main container , configured to hold coffee beans enough to make one or two cups of coffee , for example 10 to 20 grams of coffee beans . coffee machine 500 may further comprise a sub warming up unit 503 attached to the sub - container , which may or may not be part of warming up unit 502 attached to the main container , configured to warm up the coffee beans contained in the sub - container . in one embodiment , at block 102 warming up unit 502 may be configured to warm up the coffee beans in the main container to , for example 60 ° c ., and warming up unit 503 may be configured to warm up coffee beans in the sub - container to , for example 80 ° c ., based on instructions from determining unit 508 . at block 104 , grinding unit 504 may be configured to grind the coffee beans warmed up by warming up unit 503 . at block 106 , brewing unit 506 may be configured to brew coffee grounds from grinding unit 504 to make one or two cups of coffee beverage . fig2 illustrates a flowchart of another method for making coffee beverage in accordance with one embodiment of the present disclosure . fig6 illustrates a coffee machine 600 which may be configured to perform the method illustrated in fig2 . in one embodiment , coffee machine 600 may comprise a warming up unit 602 attached to grinding unit 604 . at block 202 , grinding unit 604 may be configured to grind coffee beans into coffee grounds . at block 204 , warming up unit 602 may be configured to warm up a mixture of coffee beans and coffee grounds contained in grinding unit 604 . at block 206 , brewing unit 606 may be configured to brew coffee grounds into coffee beverage . in one embodiment , coffee machine 600 may further comprise a determining unit 608 configured to determine a warm - up temperature of the mixture of coffee beans and coffee grounds in grinding unit 604 warmed up by warming up unit 602 . fig3 illustrates a flowchart of yet another method for making coffee beverage in accordance with one embodiment of the present disclosure . fig7 illustrates a coffee machine 700 which may be configured to perform the method illustrated in fig3 . in one embodiment , coffee machine 700 may comprise a container configured to hold coffee grounds . coffee machine 700 may further comprise a warming up unit 702 attached to the container . at block 302 , coffee grounds may be obtained first . in one embodiment , coffee machine 700 may optionally comprise a grinding unit 704 configured to grind coffee beans into coffee grounds . in another embodiment , coffee grounds may be in commercially available format . at block 304 , warming up unit 702 may be configured to warm up the coffee grounds . at block 306 , brewing unit 706 may be configured to brew the warmed up coffee grounds into coffee beverage . in one embodiment , coffee machine 700 may further comprise a determining unit 708 configured to control said warming - up unit 702 by determining a warm - up temperature and warm - up time of the coffee grounds . in various embodiments of the present disclosure , heating mechanism adopted by said warming up unit may be induction heating , light - wave heating , heating plate / spring , or other possible means that may be configured to increase temperature of coffee materials . in various embodiments , coffee machines in the present disclosure may further comprise a thermometer ( not shown ) configured to measure the warm - up temperature of the coffee materials . it should be noted that the above described embodiments are given for describing rather than limiting the invention , and it is to be understood that modifications and variations may be resorted to without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as those skilled in the art readily understand . such modifications and variations are considered to be within the scope of the invention and the appended claims . the protection scope of the invention is defined by the accompanying claims . in addition , any of the reference numerals in the claims should not be interpreted as a limitation to the claims . use of the verb “ comprise ” and its conjugations does not exclude the presence of elements or steps other than those stated in a claim . the indefinite article “ a ” or “ an ” preceding an element or step does not exclude the presence of a plurality of such elements or steps .
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fig3 is a top end view of a gravel pack apparatus 100 , according to one embodiment of the present invention , positioned within wellbore 14 . fig3 a is a sectional view , taken along line 3 a - 3 a of fig3 , of the gravel pack apparatus 100 positioned within wellbore 14 adjacent the highly permeable area 15 of a formation . although apparatus 100 is shown in a horizontal wellbore , it can be utilized in any wellbore . apparatus 100 may have a “ cross - over ” sub 33 ( see fig1 ) connected to its upper end which , in turn , is suspended from the surface on a tubing or work string ( not shown ). apparatus 100 can be of one continuous length or it may consist of sections ( e . g . 20 foot sections ) connected together by subs or blanks ( not shown ). preferably , all components of the apparatus 100 are constructed from a low carbon or a chrome steel unless otherwise specified ; however , the material choice is not essential to the invention . apparatus 100 includes a wellscreen assembly 105 . as shown , wellscreen assembly 105 comprises a base pipe 110 having perforations 120 through a wall thereof . wound around an outer side of the base pipe 110 is a wire wrap 125 configured to permit the flow of fluids therethrough while blocking the flow of particulates . alternatively , wellscreen assembly 105 may be any structure commonly used by the industry in gravel pack operations which permit flow of fluids therethrough while blocking the flow of particulates ( e . g . commercially - available screens , slotted or perforated liners or pipes , screened pipes , prepacked screens and / or liners , or combinations thereof ). also disposed on the outside of the base pipe 110 are two shunts 145 . the number and configuration of shunts 145 is not essential to the invention . the shunts 145 may be secured to the base pipe 110 by rings ( not shown ). at an upper end ( not shown ) of the apparatus 100 , each shunt 145 is open to the annulus . each one of the shunts 145 is rectangular with a flow bore therethrough ; however , the shape of the shunts is not essential to the invention . disposed on a sidewall of each shunt is a nozzle 150 . fig3 b is a schematic of one of the shunts 145 showing the placement of nozzles 150 along the shunt 145 . as shown , a plurality of nozzles 150 are disposed axially along each shunt 145 . each nozzle 150 provides slurry fluid communication between one of the shunts 145 and an annulus 16 between the wellscreen 105 and the wellbore 14 . as shown , the nozzles 150 are oriented to face an end of the wellbore 14 distal from the surface ( not shown ) to facilitate streamlined flow of the slurry 13 therethrough . disposed on the outside of the base pipe 110 are a plurality of centralizers 130 that can be longitudinally separated from a length of the base pipe 110 that has the perforations 120 and the wire wrap 125 . additionally , a tubular shroud 135 having perforations 140 through the wall thereof can protect shunts 145 and wellscreen 105 from damage during insertion of the apparatus 100 into the wellbore . the perforations 140 are configured to allow the flow of slurry 13 therethrough . in operation , apparatus 100 is lowered into wellbore 14 on a workstring and is positioned adjacent a formation . a packer 18 ( see fig1 ) is set as will be understood by those skilled in the art . gravel slurry 13 is then pumped down the workstring and out the outlet ports in cross - over sub 33 to fill the annulus 16 between the wellscreen 105 and the wellbore 14 . since the shunts 145 are open at their upper ends , the slurry 13 will flow into both the shunts and the annulus 16 . as the slurry 13 loses liquid to the high permeability portion 15 of the formation , the gravel carried by the slurry 13 is deposited and collects in the annulus 16 to form the gravel pack . if the liquid is lost to a permeable stratum 15 in the formation before the annulus 16 is filled , the sand bridge 20 is likely to form which will block flow through the annulus 16 and prevent further filling below the bridge . if this occurs , the gravel slurry will continue flowing through the shunts 145 , bypassing the sand bridge 20 , and exiting the various nozzles 150 to finish filling annulus 16 . the flow of slurry 13 through one of the shunts 145 is represented by arrow 102 . fig4 is a sectional view of a nozzle assembly 150 , according to one embodiment of the present invention , disposed on one of the shunts 145 . fig4 a is an enlargement of a portion of fig4 indicated by the dotted oval labeled 4 a . the nozzle assembly 150 comprises an insert 160 with a flow bore therethrough , that features a lip 160 a that extends into a drilled hole 170 in a wall of the shunt 145 , thereby lining a surface 145 a of the shunt wall that defines the hole 170 . preferably , the insert is made from a hard material , e . g ., carbide , relative to the material of the shunt 145 . as shown , the length of the lip 160 a is substantially the same as the wall thickness of the shunt 145 . however , the lip 160 a may be substantially longer or shorter than the wall thickness of the shunt 145 . preferably , the lip 160 a features a slight taper on an outer surface 160 c for seating on the surface 145 a of the shunt wall , thereby providing a slight interference fit ; however , the taper is not essential to the invention . the insert 160 also features a shoulder 160 b which seats with a surface 145 b of the shunt wall proximate the hole 170 , thereby providing a rigid stop limiting the depth to which lip 160 a can penetrate the shunt 145 . an outer jacket 155 having a flow bore therethrough and a recess configured to receive a portion of the insert 160 may then be easily slipped on and secured to the shunt 145 with a weld 165 . preferably , the outer jacket 155 and insert 160 are tubular members ; however , their shape is not essential to the invention . preferably , the hole 170 is not perpendicular to the surface 145 b of the shunt proximate the hole ; however , the hole may be perpendicular to the surface of the shunt proximate the hole . assembly of the nozzle assembly 150 is as follows . the insert 160 is inserted into the hole 170 until the taper of the outer surface 160 c of the hard insert 160 is press fit with the shunt surface 145 a defining the hole 170 and the shoulder 160 b is seated on the shunt surface 145 b proximate the hole 170 , so that the lip 160 a lines the surface 145 a and the insert 160 is secured to the shunt 145 . in other words , the smallest end of the taper is inserted into the hole 170 first , and the tapered surface of the insert 160 self - centers until it becomes snugly seated against the side of the hole 170 at the surface 145 a . this contact occurs in the approximate area of surface 160 c on the carbide insert . the outer jacket 155 can be disposed over an outer surface of the insert 160 and securely welded with minimal handling . assembly time is greatly reduced , as is the required skill level of the assembler . once seated , the nozzle assembly 150 is restrained from translating or rotating relative to the shunt 145 . alignment of the insert bore and the jacket bore with the drilled hole 170 in the shunt 145 is assured . sand slurry 13 exiting the tube , represented by arrows 175 , passes through the lip 160 a of the hard insert , not the surface 145 a of the hole 170 . the possibility of flow cutting the surface 145 a of the hole 170 is greatly diminished . fig5 is a sectional view of a nozzle assembly 250 , according to another embodiment of the present invention , disposed on one of the shunts 145 . the nozzle assembly 250 comprises an insert 260 with a flow bore therethrough . preferably , the insert 260 is made from a hard material , e . g ., carbide , relative to the material of the shunt 145 . a proximal lip 260 a of the insert 260 extends into an aperture 270 in a wall of the shunt 145 , thereby lining a surface 245 a of the shunt wall that defines the aperture 270 . the proximal lip 260 a can include any of the features described above with respect to the lip 160 a of the nozzle assembly 150 illustrated in fig4 such that the nozzle assembly 250 is assembled in the same manner with the proximal lip 260 a serving the same functions . an outer jacket 255 of the nozzle assembly 250 includes a bore therethrough configured to receive the insert 260 . specifically , a recess 256 along an inner diameter of the outer jacket 255 proximate the aperture 270 accommodates an outer diameter of a medial length of the insert 260 . a distal extension 260 d extends from an opposite end of the insert 260 than the proximal lip 260 a and has a reduced outer diameter with respect to the medial length of the insert 260 to form an outward shoulder 261 . accordingly , the outer jacket 255 easily slips over the insert 260 and secures to the shunt 145 with a weld 265 . once welded , an inward shoulder 258 defined by the recess 256 of the outer jacket 255 mates with the outward shoulder 261 of the insert 260 to prevent outward movement of the insert 260 with respect to the aperture 270 . the insert 260 and the outer jacket 255 preferably share a common terminus due to a sufficiently sized length of the distal extension 260 d of the insert 260 . in other words , the insert 260 concentrically disposed within the outer jacket 255 lines substantially the entire length of the inner diameter of the outer jacket 255 . threads 259 on an outside end of the outer jacket 255 can replace inner threads to enable securing of a cap ( not shown ) to the nozzle assembly 250 if desired . preferably , the outer jacket 255 and insert 260 are tubular members ; however , their shape is not essential to the invention . as with other embodiments described herein , sand slurry 13 exiting the shunt 145 , represented by arrows 275 , passes through the proximal lip 260 a of the insert in order to reduce wear on the surface 245 a of the aperture 270 . in addition , sand slurry 13 exiting the nozzle assembly 250 passes through the distal extension 260 d of the insert 260 without flowing through and contacting an end of the outer jacket 255 , which may be made of a softer material similar to the shunt 145 . in this manner , the distal extension 260 d protects the shoulders 258 , 261 that cooperate to keep the insert 260 from escaping and causing failure at the nozzle assembly 250 . thus , the insert 260 can provide a carbide conduit that protects all other portions of the nozzle assembly 250 from flow cutting since sand slurry exiting the shunt 145 passes substantially entirely through the carbide conduit . the possibility of flow cutting the surface 245 a of the aperture 270 or the end of the outer jacket 255 is greatly diminished . fig6 shows a nozzle assembly 350 disposed on a shunt 345 . the nozzle assembly 350 includes an insert 360 , an outer jacket 355 , and a cap 357 that all provide a flow bore exiting the shunt 345 at an aperture 370 in a wall of the shunt 345 . the insert 360 may be made from a hard material , e . g ., carbide , relative to the material of the shunt 345 . a proximal end 363 of the insert 360 extends into the aperture 370 in the wall of the shunt 345 , thereby lining a surface of the shunt wall that defines the aperture 370 . the insert 360 may extend to terminate substantially flush with an inner diameter of the shunt 345 at the proximal end 363 of the insert 360 . the outer jacket 355 may define a tubular shape that receives the insert 360 and may be secured to the shunt 345 with a weld 365 . a distal end 361 of the insert 360 includes an enlarged outer diameter portion that creates an outward facing shoulder 367 . a mating surface such as a distal terminal face 358 of the jacket 355 abuts the outward facing shoulder 367 of the insert 360 since the inner diameter of the jacket 355 is smaller than the enlarged outer diameter portion of the insert 360 . the jacket 355 thus retains the insert 360 from further inward movement into the aperture 370 and ensures that the proximal end 363 of the insert 360 lines the aperture 370 due to the corresponding lengths of the jacket 355 and of the insert 360 from the proximal end 363 to the outward facing shoulder 367 . an annular nut or otherwise open cap 357 prevents outward movement of the insert 360 with respect to the aperture 370 of the shunt 345 . once the nozzle assembly 350 is put together , the insert 360 becomes trapped by the jacket 355 and the cap 357 from sliding movement relative to the jacket 355 . the cap 357 includes internal threads 353 threaded with external threads 359 on the jacket 355 and a central opening 352 aligned with a bore of the insert 360 . the cap 357 extends beyond the enlarged diameter portion of the insert 360 and has an inward facing shoulder 351 retaining a mating surface such as a distal terminus 369 of the insert 360 . sand slurry ( represented by arrows 375 ) exiting the shunt 345 passes through the insert 360 in order to reduce wear on the shunt 345 at the aperture 370 . the sand slurry 375 passes through the nozzle assembly 350 without contacting the outer jacket 355 , which may be made of a softer material similar to the shunt 345 . for some embodiments , the cap 357 may also be constructed of a hard material , e . g ., carbide , like the insert 360 . the cap 357 further enables replacement of the insert 360 without removing the jacket 355 from the shunt 345 such that a selected type of the insert 360 or a new replacement of the insert 360 may be installed at any time . fig7 illustrates the jacket 355 prior to placement of the insert 360 inside the jacket 355 . since the nozzle assembly 350 is oriented with an angled aspect on the shunt 345 , both the jacket 355 and the insert 360 must align with a mating rotational orientation to seat flush on the shunt 345 . a rotational keyed arrangement between the insert 360 and the jacket 355 ensures that the insert 360 is installed with a long side of the insert 360 corresponding to a long side of the jacket 355 and that this alignment is maintained during operation . for some embodiments , the keyed arrangement includes a longitudinal slot 335 in the enlarged outer diameter portion of the insert 360 at a circumferential location around the distal end 361 . the circumferential location matches a respective circumferential location of the jacket 355 where a pin 325 extends from the distal terminal face 358 of the jacket 355 . fig8 shows the insert 360 disposed inside of the jacket 355 . the jacket 355 supports the distal end 361 of the insert 360 with the proximal end 363 of the insert 360 extending beyond the jacket 355 . further , the pin 325 on the jacket 355 engages with the slot 335 on the insert 360 to lock the insert 355 rotationally with respect to the jacket 355 and in proper orientation with the aperture 370 in the shunt 345 . as shown , the nozzle assemblies 150 , 250 , 350 are used with a shunt of a gravel pack apparatus ; however , the nozzle assemblies described herein may be used with various other apparatuses . while the foregoing is directed to embodiments of the present invention , other and further embodiments of the invention may be devised without departing from the basic scope thereof , and the scope thereof is determined by the claims that follow .
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shown in fig1 is the adjustment knob assembly ( 1 ) attached to the turret ( 2 ) of a scope ( 3 ). a rubber washer ( 4 ) is placed between the turret ( 2 ) and the adjustment knob assembly ( 1 ) to create a weatherproof seal between the turret ( 2 ) and the adjustment knob assembly ( 1 ). a knurl knob ( 6 ) is placed above the lock down nut ( 5 ). the knurl knob ( 6 ) has a hollow groove ( 7 ) on its side for receiving a pin ( 8 ). a turn knob ( 9 ) is placed over the knurl knob ( 6 ) and lock down nut ( 5 ) to form the adjustment knob assembly ( 1 ), as shown in the transparent view of fig2 c . once the turn knob ( 9 ) is placed over the knurl knob ( 6 ) and the lock down nut ( 5 ), a pin ( 8 ) is placed through the turn knob ( 9 ) and is received by the hollow groove ( 7 ) on the side of the knurl knob ( 6 ), which prevents the knurl knob ( 6 ) and turn knob ( 9 ) from disengaging during the push - pull movement . when the turn knob ( 9 ) is pushed down over the lock down nut ( 5 ), the annular grooves ( 11 ) on the lock down nut , as shown in fig2 b , prevent the turn knob ( 9 ) from moving forward or backward , thus locking the knurl knob ( 6 ) and turn knob ( 9 ) in place . when the turn knob ( 9 ) is pulled up , the turn knob ( 9 ) is disengaged from the lock down nut , and the turn knob ( 9 ) and knurl knob ( 6 ) may freely rotate to make the necessary adjustments for windage and elevation . once the desired adjustment has been made , the user simply pushes the turn knob ( 9 ) down over the lock down nut ( 5 ) causing the turn knob ( 9 ) to engage the lock down nut ( 5 ) and prevent any further rotation of the turn knob assembly ( 1 ). shown in fig2 a is a side view of the turn knob ( 9 ) showing a hole ( 10 ) in the side of the turn knob ( 9 ), which receives the pin ( 8 ) after the turn knob ( 9 ) is placed over the knurl knob ( 6 ) and the lock down nut ( 5 ) in order to prevent the knurl knob ( 6 ) and turn knob ( 9 ) from disengaging during the push - pull movement . the turn knob ( 9 ), lock down nut ( 5 ) and knurl knob ( 6 ) form the adjustment knob assembly ( 1 ) as shown in the transparent view of fig2 c . the lock down nut ( 5 ), as shown more closely in fig3 a and 3b , has annular grooves ( 11 ) on the outside , which lock the knurl knob ( 6 ) and turn knob ( 9 ) in place to prevent the turn knob ( 9 ) from moving forward or backward when the turn knob ( 9 ) is pushed down over the lock down nut ( 5 ). the knurl knob ( 6 ), as shown more closely in fig4 a , 4b and 4 c , has annular grooves ( 12 ) for mating with the inside of the turn knob ( 9 ) and a hollow groove ( 7 ) for receiving a pin ( 8 ) placed through the turn knob ( 9 ) once the turn knob has been placed over the knurl knob ( 6 ) and lock down nut ( 5 ) to prevent the knurl knob ( 6 ) and turn knob ( 9 ) from disengaging during the push - pull movement .
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the present invention provides a dual function control lever apparatus for either retrofitting to a jet propulsion pump of a boat or including during manufacture of the boat . fig1 illustrates one type of a marine jet propulsion pump 10 with a reverse thrust bucket 12 installed in the transom 14 of a boat 16 . the bucket 12 is held up and controlled with a yoke 18 via a yoke rod 19 and a bucket shift rod 20 , respectively . the steering rod 21 controls the direction of the jet nozzle 22 for steering the boat 16 . the bucket 12 is positioned over the pump &# 39 ; s water jet nozzle 22 for operation in the reverse mode . fig2 and 4 show , respectively , a front view ( hidden parts in shadow ), a rear view ( hidden parts in shadow ) and a top view of the control unit 24 . the control unit 24 can be mounted either on an inner side of the hull or on a dashboard . a frame or housing 26 has a top wall 28 , an extensive outside or front wall 30 with corner holes 32 for mounting on a surface , a left sidewall 34 , a right sidewall 36 , a bottom wall 37 , and a bottom limited inside or rear wall 38 . a combined throttle and shift lever 40 having a knob 42 on a shaft 44 is rotatably movable on an axle 46 which also rotates a planar truncated circular cam 48 . the cam 48 has a curvilinear groove 50 with a base portion c and two legs at a to b and d to e ( shown in fig2 ) which approach each other at its ends a and e , and form an acute angle with the base portion c . the cam 48 has an indented portion 52 for placement of a set screw 54 in fig4 to affix the position of the cam 48 on the axle 46 . fig2 and 3 show a dog - leg shaped planar cam follower arm 56 having a narrow end 58 attached inside the control unit 24 to the rear wall 38 by a pivot pin 60 . a median portion has a follower roller pin 62 which follows the groove 50 of the cam 48 . the opposite wide end 64 has a removable ball joint stud 66 for attachment of the throttle cable 68 from a jet engine . the rear wall 38 being limited in height as aforementioned provides clearance for the cam follower arm 56 and the ball joint stud 66 . the travel of the throttle and shift lever 40 is approximately 180 ° from a horizontal position . the axle 46 extends through the rear wall 38 of the housing 26 and is welded at one end to a first connector element 70 which has a narrowed portion with indentations 72 on both sides which cooperate with stops or bolts 74 placed in a series of apertures ( not shown ) in the rear wall 38 to limit the throw of the throttle and shift lever 40 to approximately 180 °. the first connector element 70 is connected to two other connector elements to the yoke cable 19 . the second connector element 78 is cylindrical and pivots from the opposite end of the first connector element 70 on a ball joint 76 . an opposite end of the second connector element 78 pivots on another ball joint 76 of a third connector element 80 which is planar and shaped with a finger 82 at one end and rotatably attached to the rear wall 38 at the top wall 28 on a large pin 84 . the rear wall 38 is configured to have a planar extension 86 seen in fig2 and 4 . an extension bracket 88 is fastened on the end portion of the extension 86 by a hold - down bracket 90 to support the bucket shift cable 23 . the rear wall 38 has a long rectangular support bracket 92 attached to it for supporting the bucket shift 23 by two hold - down brackets 90 . a spacer block portion 94 rotatably secured by a pin 96 separates the support bracket 92 from the rear wall 38 as best seen in fig4 . the clearance is necessitated by the space required by the connector elements 70 , 78 and 80 . the operation of the control unit 24 will now be explained . the movement of the throttle and shift lever 40 vis - a - vis the movement of the follower roller pin 62 of the cam follower arm 56 in the groove 50 of the cam 48 and the resulting controlling motions of the throttle cable 68 and the bucket shift cable 23 will be explained with reference to points a , b , c , d , and e as shown in fig2 . at point a , the throttle and shift lever 40 is fully forward and in a horizontal position as viewed from the front wall 30 of the control unit 24 . the bucket shift cable 23 ( connected to the bucket shift rod 20 in fig1 ) and the reverse thrust bucket 12 are fully retracted , but the throttle cable 68 is extended slightly to continue idling the engine 10 . at point b , the bucket 12 has been moved slightly down by an extension of the bucket shift cable 23 approximately one - sixth of its extendible length , and the throttle cable 68 has been extended approximately half its length . at point c which is the center of the path in the groove 44 , the bucket shift cable 23 has been retracted another one - sixth of its length to lower the reverse thrust bucket 12 another distance . the throttle cable 68 has not been moved . at point d , the bucket shift cable 23 has been extended two - thirds of its length , and the bucket 12 has moved further over the jet pump nozzle 22 . the throttle cable 68 has been retracted approximately one - fourth of its length . at point d , the bucket shift cable 20 has been extended approx - imately two - thirds of its extension length , and the bucket 12 has almost covered the jet pump nozzle 22 . the throttle cable 68 has been retracted two - thirds of its length . at point e , the throttle and shift lever 40 is back to horizontal with the bucket shift cable 23 fully extended for complete coverage of the jet pump nozzle 22 by the reverse thrust bucket 12 with the bucket shift cable 20 fully retracted . in summarizing the rotation movement of the throttle and shift lever 40 , the lever shaft 44 is first rotated 15 ° for a reversing position . the lever shaft is then rotated 105 ° for a shifting or neutral position . finally , the lever shaft is rotated 60 ° for a forward throttle position . the significant advantages of the present invention are as follows . the shift - throttle lever of the prior art devices must use greater leverage for shifting to reverse by rotating the lever only 60 °, whereas the throttle and shift lever 40 of the present invention must rotate at least 120 ° or twice the arc . since the control unit 24 has no breakaway point and no dead time where the bucket shift cable 20 stops travelling during the throttling mode , the reverse mode can be more efficiently utilized in the operation of a marine jet propulsion pump 10 . in the reverse mode starting from the top of the stroke , there is no movement of the bucket shift cable 20 , and only one - third of the throttle rpm need be used to prevent cavitation . in the forward mode , once the reverse thrust bucket 12 is above the stream of water , the boat 14 is moving forward . it is to be understood that the present invention is not limited to the embodiment described above , but encompasses any and all embodiments within the scope of the following claims .
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a split - backplane power supply scheme is described that enables telco switching equipment that requires large amounts of power to be used with existing power distribution panels in telco facilities . the split - backplane scheme enables a single switching device / system to be supplied concurrently from multiple power sources , thereby lowering the amperage requirement for each of the power sources . in order to implement this strategy , various detection circuits are described to ensure that undesired power conditions do not occur at the split - backplane . for example , an undesired power condition occurs if power is supplied to only one - half of a split - backplane , while the other half does not receive power . under this situation , the transceiver circuitry of logic cards connected to the backplane may be damaged . one embodiment of the invention is depicted in fig1 . in this configuration , power is provided from a set of redundant battery power sources “ a ” and “ b .” a single power source with multiple service points could be used , and the power sources could be batteries or other dc sources , such as ac - powered dc power supplies , as well as ac sources . each service point provides up to 60 amps of current at − 48 volts dc , corresponding to a current limit typically available at the distribution panels of many telco facilities . power from battery source a is received by a first dc power entry module ( pem ), labeled “ pem a ,” through a pair of terminal blocks 10 and 12 . terminal blocks 10 and 12 preferably comprise 3 - position , 75 amp rated terminal blocks . similarly , power from battery source b is received by a second dc pem labled “ pem b ” through terminal blocks 14 and 16 . each pem includes a pair of substantially identical power supply conditioning circuits , wherein the conditioning circuits for pem a are labeled “ pem - a 1 ” and “ pem - a 2 ,” and the conditioning circuits for pem b are labeled “ pem - b 1 ” and “ pem - b 2 .” the function provided by each of pems a and b is identical . accordingly , the following will describe additional details of pem a , which will be understood to also apply to pem b , and the references corresponding to components of each of the pems is labeled with a suffix of “ a ” or “ b ” in fig1 as appropriate . the − 48 v from each of the entry points from power source a is routed to respective poles 18 a and 19 a of a double - pole 50 amp magnetic circuit breaker . the two poles on the circuit breaker are mechanically interlocked , forming an interlocked circuit breaker 21 a . each of the poles of interlocked circuit breaker 20 a comprises a 50 amp series trip coil , while one of the poles includes an auxiliary switch 21 a . the other pole has a remote voltage trip coil , similar to a relay trip coil , the operation of which is explained below . auxiliary switch 21 a is wired in series to the remote voltage coil so that the remote coil becomes de - energized once activated to trip . the load side of each of circuit breaker poles 18 a and 20 a is connected to a respective emi filter 22 a and 23 a , followed by respective “ oring ” diodes 24 a and 25 a . the anode side of each of oring diode 22 a , 23 a is connected to a respective “ d - sub ” output connector 26 a , 27 a that provides output power to one - half side of a system backplane 28 via respective power cables 30 a and 31 a and connectors 32 a and 33 a . preferably , each of connectors 26 a , 27 a , 32 a and 33 a provide multiple pins for power supply and signal feedback purposes , further details of which are provided below . system backplane 28 supplies power to and couples signals to and from circuitry in sets of logic cards 34 and 36 , which are contained within an electronic equipment rack 38 , via backplane connectors 40 and 41 , and card connectors 42 and 43 . logic cards 34 and 36 provide switching circuitry for performing telco switching functions . system blackplane 28 comprises a multilayer circuit board in which the power distribution routing is split into two halves , labled 44 and 46 , while the signal routing for connecting the circuitry of logic cards 34 and 36 are contiguous across the backplane . in addition , system backplane 28 includes fuses 48 and 50 to protect logic cards 34 and 36 for overcurrent conditions , and each of the logic cards includes protection circuitry for similar purposes ( not shown ). pem a comprises a first power source , while pem b comprises a redundant power source . accordingly , power routing circuitry is included in system backplane 28 and the pems to enable concurrent operation of the redundant power sources . in particular , this circuitry includes a pair of diodes 52 and 53 in system backplane 28 and oring diodes 24 a , 24 b , 25 a and 25 b in the pems . the oring diodes enable power to be supplied from the redundant power sources , whereby if one of the power sources failed , the other power source will still provide adequate power to system backplane 28 , and both pems a and b may be connected to system backplane 28 without affecting the operation of the other pem . a single pem can be used to supply power to system backplane 28 if redundancy is not required . a detailed isometric drawing corresponding to an exemplary mechanical configuration of a pem is shown in fig2 with the suffixes of the reference numerals removed . note that the mechanically interlocked circuit breaker 20 further includes an activation lever to enable someone to manual disable power from being delivered by the pem . there are various , problems associated with supplying a single backplane with power from multiple power sources . in the configuration of fig1 a primary problem occurs if only one - half of the backplane is provided with power , while the other half is not . this scenario can occur , for example , if the battery feeds become inactive , power cables get disconnected , or one of the power planes fails in a shorted condition . the result of having power to only one half of the backplane is that the plug - in cards ( e . g ., cards 34 and 36 ) with power will be interfaced to the pluin cards without power via common connections on system backplane 28 . this may cause damage to transceivers and the interface logic on the cards . in order to prevent such occurences , the pems are designed to detect when the have inadequate input supply power , or their power output falls below an accepted range , whereupon power to both planes of system backplane 28 is immediately removed . to address these problems , pems a and b include circuitry to detect under - voltage and voltage differential conditions , whereby if either an under - voltage or differential condition is sensed , both pems are automatically shut down to remove power from system backplane 28 . as shown in fig3 these circuits are shown as a differential detection circuit 54 and an under - voltage detection circuit 56 . further details of both circuits 54 and 56 are described below . each of differential detection circuit 54 and under - voltage detection circuit 56 receives a pair of input signals comprising a − 48 volt a 1 sense signal 58 and a − 48 volt a 2 sense signal 60 . − 48 volt a 1 sense signal 58 is connecteed on system backplane 28 via a jumper 62 to the − 48 volt power input provided by battery service a 1 , while − 48 volt a 2 sense signal 60 is connected on the system backplane via a jumper 64 to the − 48 volt power input provided by battery service a 2 . in addition , differential detection circuit 54 produces an output control signal 66 and under - voltage detection circuit 56 produces an output control signal 68 that are received by a trip coil drive circuit 70 to activate a remote trip coil 72 to trip interlocked circuit breaker 21 . each pem also provides four discrete power supply voltages : vee , 24v , vdd , and 5v . vee is generated by diode oring − 48 volt inputs a 1 and a 2 , as depicted by diodes 70 and 72 in the figure . vee is used to reference the circuitry to the lowest potential as well as providing a source voltage for generating the other power supply voltages . the 24v power supply ( not shown in fig3 ), is generated by regulating the circuit gnd down to 24vdc above the vee potential level . the 24v power supply preferably comprises a linear supply used to energize the remote trip coil . normally , the power supply does not provide any output power . however , if a failure of one of 48v services a 1 or a 2 is detected at system backplane 28 , the 24v power supply provides 1 a of output power to remote trip coil 68 long enough ( e . g ., & lt ; 30 ms ) to trip circuit breaker 21 . further details of the 24v power supply circuit are described below . vdd is a reference voltage supply that is 5v below the gnd potential ( i . e ., a − 5v supply ). the 5v power supply is a reference supply voltage that is 5v above the vee potential . a schematic diagram of an exemplary circuit 74 corresponding to differential voltage detection circuit 54 is shown in fig4 . circuit 74 receives 48v a 1 sense signal 58 and − 48v a 2 sense signal 60 as inputs . each of the input signals are tied to a common ground through a resistor r 1 , and are connected in series with a resistor r 2 . preferably , r 1 comprises a pair of 2 . 2k ohm resistors in parallel , and r 2 comprises a pair of 470 ohm resistors in series . the inputs are connected to opposite sides of a bridge circuit comprising four diodes d 1 , d 2 , d 3 , and d 4 . the bridge circuit further includes an opto - isolator 76 , a zener reference 78 , a 1k resistor r 2 , and a 1 uf capacitor c ,. preferably , zener reference 78 comprises a linear technologies lt1431 programmable reference . the output of opto - isolator 76 is connected to output signal 66 , which is coupled to vee through a 10k resistor r 4 , and includes a filter comprising a 10k resistor r 5 connected in series and a 0 . 1 uf capacitor c 2 tied between output signal 66 and vee . circuit 74 operates in the following manner . zener reference 78 is set to a predetermined reference level that is a few volts below the desired voltage differential set point . for example , for a 26 volt differential set point , zener reference 78 should be set to 20 . 3 volts . if a difference between the voltage levels of the − 48v a 1 and a 2 sense signals exceeds the predetermined reference level , opto - isolator 76 is activated , creating a drive current on output signal 66 , which will activate trip coil 72 through the use of trip coil drive circuit 70 , as explained below . an exemplary circuit 80 for sensing under - voltage conditions and for preventing such conditions from being detected during normal power - up and power - down conditions in accord with under - voltage detection circuit 56 is shown in fig5 . the primary sensing elements of circuit 80 comprise a plurality of hysteresis - type comparators 82 , 84 , 86 , 88 , 90 , 92 , and 94 , which are preferably provided by means of quad comparators 96 and 98 . each of quad comparators 96 and 98 include a reference voltage output that is preferably set at 1 . 22 volts ( vdd ) ( i . e ., relative to vdd , which is set at − 5 volts nominally ). the 1 . 22 ( vdd ) reference voltage is received at the non - inverting inputs of comparators 82 , 84 , 90 , 92 , and 94 , and the inverting inputs of comparators 86 and 88 . exemplary quad comparators that may be used in circuit 80 include an ltc1444 quad comparator manufactured by linear technologies . circuit 80 includes multiple diodes for signal conditioning purposes , including diodes d 5 , d 6 , d 7 , d 8 , d 9 , d 10 , d 11 , d 12 , d 13 , d 14 , and d 15 , and further includes resistors r 6 , r 7 , r 8 , r 9 , r 10 , r 11 , r 12 , r 13 , r 14 , r 15 , r , 16 , r 17 , r 18 , r 19 , r 20 , r 21 , and r 22 . preferably , resistors r 6 and r 7 are 86 . 6 kohm , resistors r 8 , r ., and r 14 are 90 . 9 kohm , resistors r 10 , r 11 , r 12 , r 13 , r 5 , r 17 , r 19 , r 21 , and r 22 are 10 kohm , resistors r 16 and r 18 are 2 mohms , and resistor r 20 is 5 kohm . as will be recognized by those skilled in the art , resistors r 10 , r 11 , r 12 , and r 13 comprise a voltage divider network , while diodes d 9 , d 10 , d 11 , and d 12 comprise a set of clamping diodes . circuit 80 operates in the following manner . under normal operating conditions , i . e ., when the voltage level − 48v a 1 and a 2 sense signals is approximately − 48v , the voltage appearing at the inverting terminals of comparators 82 , 84 , and 94 is approximately vdd , or 0v ( vdd ). accordingly , the output of each of these comparators is set such that the output of an opto - isolator 100 is deactivated under normal conditions . in contrast , if either of − 48v a 1 and / or a 2 sense signals falls below a threshold voltage level of approximately − 36 . 5 v , the voltage level at the inverting terminals of comparators 82 and / or 84 , as appropriate , will exceed the 1 . 22 v ( vdd ) reference voltage , and the output of one or both of the comparators will be set such that the output of opto - isolator 100 is activated , thereby setting a trip condition on output signal 68 . it is desired to disable sensing of under - voltage condition during normal power - up and power - down operations . during power - up , the voltage senses on a 1 and a 2 will be less than the threshold voltage level , setting the outputs of comparators 82 and 84 , which are commonly tied together . this would normally cause a trip condition . however , note that the inverting input of comparator 94 is is tied to vdd through a 47 uf capacitor c 3 , and tied to ground through a 10k resistor r 22 , and the output of comparator 94 is tied to the control side of opto - isolator 100 . as a result , when the pem is powered up , capacitor c 3 discharges for approximately six seconds , thereby preventing opto - isolator 100 from being activated . if only one of the pem &# 39 ; s − 48v dc outputs is enabled during a power - up condition , this condition will be detected by differential detection circuit 54 . circuit 80 also disables under - voltage sensing during power - down conditions . normally , this will not be necessary , since a powering down a pem will merely comprise opening a dc breaker , thereby shutting off input power to the pem , which will immediately remove power received by logic cards 34 and 36 . however , in the case of an ac source , a trip condition might occur upon shutdown . this condition is prevented by the combination of comparators 86 , 88 , and 90 . since resistors r 8 and r 9 have higher resistances than resistors r 6 and r 7 ( 90 . 9k vs . 85 . 6k ), comparators 86 and 88 will detect an under - voltage conditions at a higher voltage level than comparators 82 and 84 . the outputs of comparators 86 and 88 are commonly tied to the input of comparator 90 , while the output of comparator 90 is tied to the control side of opto - isolator 100 . as a result , during a power - down condition , the output of comparator 90 will be set so as to deactivate the undervoltage sensing provided by comparators 82 and 84 . an exemplary circuit 102 that may be implemented for trip coil drive circuit 70 is shown in fig6 . circuit 102 comprises an operational amplifier ( op amp ) 104 , transistors 106 and 108 , and a diode d 15 . the circuit additionally includes a plurality of resistors , including resistors r 23 ( 1 kohm ), r 24 ( 470 ohm ), r 25 ( 10 k ohm ), r 26 ( 940 ohm ), and r 27 ( 10 kohm ). circuit 102 operates as follows . an input signal , corresponding to output signals 66 and 68 is received at the non - inverting input of op amp 104 , while the inverting input of op amp 104 is tied to vee through 1 k resistors r 23 . note that each of signals 66 and 68 is produced by respective opto - isolators 76 and 100 . as a result , when the opto - isolators are deactivated ( i . e ., a non - trip condition ), signals 66 and 68 comprise a high impedance , and the output of op amp 104 is set such that transistor 106 is not turned on . this will also shut off transistor 108 , causing the low side of remote trip coil 72 to float , thereby disabling the remote trip coil . in contrast , if a trip condition appears on either or both of signals 66 and 68 , op amp 104 produces an output that activates transistor 106 , which then activates transistor 108 , causing the low side of remote trip coil 72 to be connected to vee , thereby producing a voltage differential across remote trip coil 72 , which will activate the trip coil , causing interlocked circuit breaker 20 a to be tripped . upon being tripped , auxiliary switch 21 a with be opened , thereby deactivating remote trip coil 72 . numerous types of circuits commonly used to activate relay coils or other devices with similar loads may be used in place of circuit 102 . for instance , remote trip coil 72 coil be activated by a relay circuit , or a power mosfet or similar type of high - power solid - state switch . in the foregoing specification , the invention has been described with reference to specific exemplary embodiments . it will , however , be evident that various modifications and changes may be made thereto without departing from the broader spirit and scope of the invention a set forth in the following claims . the specification and drawings are , accordingly , to be regarded in an illustrative rather than a restrictive sense .
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referring now to fig4 a most basic embodiment of the invention is shown . an rf ( or any frequency ) signal is inputted via input terminal rfin , into detector network 630 . detector network 630 comprises at least two basic components — a diode detector 610 and a voltage multiplier 620 . those skilled in the art will recognize that the diode used in the diode detector 610 may be utilized as a part of the voltage multiplier 620 , or the detector may be separate from the voltage multiplier . in the preferred embodiment the voltage multiplier is a voltage doubler , comprising of the detector diode and a multiplier diode , however any number of diodes may be used , to provide voltage multiplication of any factor . divider network 650 is coupled to the output of the detector network at junction 640 , and as it is coupled to the circuit ground ( equivalently referred to as ground in these specifications ), it forms a voltage divider together with the detector network . the divider network contains the same number of diodes as used in the detector network . it can be seen that the same dc current passes through the divider and detector network , and that the divider network dynamic impedance , dictated primarily by the diodes , will equal the dynamic impedance of the detector network . as the detected signal is taken before the divider network , temperature compensation is achieved . preferably , the voltage divider cuts the output voltage in ( about ) half , however as the detected voltage was doubled , the total output remains the same as that of a single diode . higher order multipliers of order m offer detection efficiency increases of m / 2 . [ 0033 ] fig5 shows a more detailed circuit example of the preferred embodiment of the invention . one terminal of capacitor c 3 receives the signal to be decoded , and the other terminal is connected to the anode of diode d 3 and the cathode of d 1 . the cathode of d 3 is coupled to ground . the anode of d 1 is connected to capacitor c 1 , which has its second terminal connected to ground . optionally the anode of d 1 is also coupled to one terminal of resistive element r 1 which may be a resistor or a fet transistor . the other terminal of resistive element r 1 , or the anode of d 1 if r 1 is not used , is connected to the output terminal v out . also coupled to v out is the divider network . if r 1 is used it is highly desirable that the divider network will contain a resistive element as well r 2 preferably being equal in value to r 1 . if so , one terminal of r 2 is connected to the v out terminal and the other terminal is connected to two diodes connected in series , d 2 and d 4 . the other terminal of the two series diodes is connected to ground . if r 2 is not used , the two diodes are connected in series between the vout terminal and ground . as mentioned above , the polarities shown and described may be reversed , and the circuit will operate in a similar manner . rf signal is inputted from the input terminal rfin , via capacitor c 3 that is used both for dc blocking and as a part of the voltage doubler . the ac signal is connected to diodes d 1 and d 3 which form a full wave detector , which in conjunction with c 1 and c 3 double the detected voltage as compared to a single diode detector . the output of the detector / multiplier is connected via junction 640 to the output terminal vout and to the divider network which comprise d 2 and d 4 which are connected in series to ground . capacitor c 1 is acts as an integrating capacitor as well as provide rf return path and noise reduction . capacitor c 2 and capacitor c 4 are used to shunt any remaining rf signal in the divider network . resistors r 1 and r 2 provide additional stability and linearity of the output curve , and limit the power required by the circuit under optional biasing . it should be noted that the resistive elements might have different resistance but the preferred embodiment employs equal resistances . it should also be noted that only diodes d 1 , d 2 , d 3 and d 4 , together with capacitors c 1 and c 3 are needed to achieve the desired circuit behavior . thus only passive components ( or components wired to act as such ) are necessary to achieve the invention objective . an analysis of the circuit shows that the same dc current will flow in d 3 , d 1 , r 1 , r 2 , d 2 and d 4 , which form the current loop via ground . therefore the dynamic impedance of all the diodes will be equal assuming the diodes are well matched . thus the temperature effects of the diodes are mutually canceled . additionally , the diodes may be forward biased as known to improve the detection range of the circuit . this can be achieved by many ways , one of which is shown schematically in fig6 by battery b 1 . other ways will include introducing a positive or negative voltage where appropriate , via a bias resistor , or other source as known . since the impedance of the loop will be temperature dependent , the preferred embodiment would be a temperature compensated constant - current source . where vdet = detected voltage , m = number of series connected diodes in either the divider or detector networks , and rdiode = dynamic resistance of a diode . therefore r 1 = r 2 will provide the best balanced detector circuit . in order to expose all diodes to similar environment and in order to achieve maximum possible matching between the diodes it is desirable to place all the diodes in the circuit on the same substrate , or at least consist of diodes from adjacent locations from a common source wafer and isothermally located in the same package . it should also be noted that all components of the circuit may be embedded within a single integrated circuit . [ 0040 ] fig6 shows an embodiment that better fits for integration and embedding the circuit within an integrated circuit . as shown resistive elements r 1 and r 2 are replaced by fet transistors q 1 and q 2 , with the gate and drain connected together . those skilled in the art will recognize that the transistors q 1 and q 2 then will act as resistors , but will consume less space and simplify the integrated circuit design . while the drawing shows the packaging of the diodes d 1 , d 2 , d 3 , and d 4 in a separate package pkg from fet transistors q 1 and q 2 in package pkg 2 , it is desirable to have a single package to include as many of the circuit component as possible . most preferably , the package is heat conducting such as a metal case . [ 0041 ] fig7 shows a general embodiment of an m th order multiplier where m is even . a plurality of full wave rectifiers are placed in series and capacitively coupled to a common input signal via capacitors c 1 , . . . c m , etc . the rf signal is returned to ground between each full wave rectifier segment by capacitors c 2 , . . . c m , etc . the plurality of full wave rectifiers has a conversion factor m times larger than a single diode detector . capacitor c m performs the integrating function . resistors r 1 and r 2 optionally control external and self biasing of the circuit . diodes d m + 1 through d 2m provide the temperature compensating divider leg . the related case in which m is odd may be implemented by replacing one full wave rectifier with a single diode detector segment and removing a corresponding diode from the divider branch of the circuit . the uses of the present invention are many and varied . it may be deployed , inter alia , as general purpose envelope detector , and an rf power to voltage converter . the circuit is small , efficient , passive and offers stable compensated operation over a large temperature range . it provides special advantages in large number of devices ranging from bolometers , to cellular telephones . it can be used in automatic gain control ( agc ) circuits , especially in digital radios . as common modulation methods of digital data require precise agc , a stable small and efficient demodulator or power meter based on the detector described herein presents a significant advantage over the present state of the art . any instrumentation that requires rf power measurements may also benefit from the unique characteristics present by a detector according to the present invention . most specifically , many piezoelectric sensors require measurements of input and / or output power , as the characteristics measured by the sensor directly effect the insertion loss or power transmission characteristics of the sensor . oftentimes considerations of temperature range , power requirements space and cost require the use of an efficient detector . therefore the invention further extend to detecting power in conjunction with a piezoelectric sensor . the invention is especially adaptable to piezoelectric sensors that measure the phase and power level shifts of an ultrasonic wave caused by a chemical or physical property of the surrounding environment . piezoelectric sensors are favored in many applications due to their ability to operate in harsh physical and chemical environments , often exceeding the ability of active electronic components . while it is possible to place such sensors at the end of a cable and perform data analysis at the remote end of the cable from the harsh sensing environment , it is very advantageous that the power level measurements be made at the location of the piezoelectric sensor . the present invention addresses this specific need , by allowing a detector that is able to withstand and operate over wide temperature ranges in close proximity to the piezoelectric sensor while providing a robust , temperature - compensated , output signal that can be measured across a meaningful length of standard cable . the skilled artisan will recognize that other components , both active and passive , may be added as desired to improve certain characteristics of the circuit such as dynamic range , signal to noise , and the like without detracting from the invention . some clear alterations include incorporating electrical matching networks , biasing circuitry , active buffer amplifiers , and the like . it will be appreciated that the invention is not limited to what has been described hereinabove merely by way of example . while there have been described what are at present considered to be the preferred embodiments of this invention , it will be obvious to those skilled in the art that various other embodiments , changes , and modifications may be made therein without departing from the spirit or scope of this invention and that it is , therefore , aimed to cover all such changes and modifications as fall within the true spirit and scope of the invention , for which letters patent is applied .
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system , method and computer - readable storage medium to locate a prefix hijacker of a destination prefix within a one - hop neighborhood are disclosed . in the following description , for the purposes of explanation , numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of example embodiments . it will be evident , however , to one skilled in the art , that an example embodiment may be practiced without all of the disclosed specific details . fig1 is a block diagram of an example distribution topology 100 configured to distribute ip traffic to a destination as # 134 over a transmission network 102 before hijacking of a destination prefix 108 of the destination as # 134 . the transmission network 102 may be the internet . while the example distribution topology 100 illustrates nine ases # 4 , # 6 , # 51 , # 67 , # 134 , # 635 , # 850 , # 1257 and # 1258 , for brevity , clarity and to aid understating , it is understood that the distribution topology 100 may include substantially more ases that may be disposed in substantially different relationships than shown in the distribution topology 100 of fig1 . as will be described below in relation to fig2 , each of the illustrated ases # 4 , # 6 , # 51 , # 67 , # 134 , # 635 , # 850 , # 1257 and # 1258 includes at least one border gateway protocol ( bgp ) router . the bgp router of each of the ases is configured to communicate with bgp routers of its neighboring ases to transmit ip traffic . for example , in the distribution topology 100 of fig1 , a bgp router of as # 1257 is configured to communicate with bgp routers of neighboring ases # 4 , # 850 . the bgp router of each of the ases includes a routing table that maintains for a certain destination prefix , such as destination prefix 108 of the destination as # 134 , a next hop as in a route from that as to the destination prefix and an as - level path from that as to the destination prefix ( e . g ., destination prefix 135 . 207 . 122 / 24 ). in the illustrated distribution topology 100 of fig1 , a prefix hijack monitor 104 is disposed at as # 4 and a prefix hijack monitor 106 is disposed at as # 6 . while two prefix hijack monitors 104 , 106 are shown for illustration purposes , it is understood that a substantially larger number of prefix hijack monitors may be disposed in the transmission network 102 . the prefix hijack monitors 104 , 106 are configured to monitor the destination prefix ( e . g ., destination prefix 135 . 207 . 122 / 24 ), determining and reporting as - level paths from the ases at which the prefix hijack monitors 104 , 106 are disposed ( e . g ., ases # 4 , # 6 , respectively ) to the destination prefix ( e . g ., destination prefix 135 . 207 . 122 / 24 ) across the transmission network 102 . the prefix hijack monitors 104 , 106 may execute a traceroute program to determine the as - level paths from the ases at which the prefix hijack monitors 104 , 106 are disposed to the destination prefix across the transmission network 102 . the example distribution topology 100 of fig1 is illustrated before a prefix hijacker hijacks the destination prefix 108 of the destination as # 134 . the as - level paths generated and reported by the prefix hijack monitors 104 , 106 before hijacking of the destination prefix 108 of the destination as # 134 are illustrated in fig4 a . the as - level path from the prefix hijack monitor 104 disposed at as # 4 is [ 4 , 1257 , 850 , 635 , 134 ] and the as - level path from the prefix hijack monitor 106 disposed at as # 6 is [ 6 , 1258 , 51 , 67 , 134 ]. fig2 is an example autonomous system ( as ) 200 in accordance with fig1 . as 200 includes at least one intra - domain network 202 that interconnects at least one bgp router 204 , at least one interior gateway protocol ( igp ) router 208 and optionally a prefix hijack monitor 210 . the at least one bgp router is configured to maintain and exchange inter - domain routing information with bgp routers of the neighboring ases to facilitate routing of ip traffic to and from the neighboring ases , as illustrated in fig1 , for example . the bgp router 204 includes a routing table 204 that maintains : ( 1 ) a destination prefix ; ( 2 ) a next hop as ; and ( 3 ) an as - level path . as an example , as 200 may be as # 4 of fig1 . in this example , the destination prefix of the routing table 204 is the destination prefix 108 ( e . g ., 135 . 207 . 27 / 24 ) of destination as # 134 . the next hop as associated with the destination prefix 108 is as # 1257 , and the as - level path from the as # 4 to the destination prefix is [# 4 , # 1257 , # 850 , # 635 , # 134 ]. as another example , as 200 may be as # 6 of fig1 . in this example , the destination prefix of the routing table 204 is destination prefix 108 ( e . g ., 135 . 207 . 27 / 24 ) of destination as # 134 . the next hop as associated with the destination prefix 108 is as # 1258 , and the as - level path from the as # 6 to the destination prefix is [# 6 , # 1258 , # 51 , # 67 , # 134 ]. each of other ases # 1257 , # 850 , # 635 , # 1258 , # 51 and # 67 of the distribution topology 100 of fig1 includes the destination prefix 108 ( e . g ., 135 . 207 . 27 / 24 ) of destination as # 134 , a next hop as toward the destination prefix 108 ( e . g ., 135 . 207 . 27 / 24 ) of as # 134 and an as - level path to the destination prefix 108 of destination as # 134 . the at least igp router 208 is configured to maintain and exchange intra - domain routing information with the at least one bgp router 204 and / or between other multiple igp routers to facilitate routing of ip traffic via the at least one intra - domain network 202 . the at least one bgp router 204 is further configured to communicate ip traffic from a neighboring as and destined for the at least one intra - domain network 202 of as 200 to the at least one igp router 208 . the prefix hijack monitor 210 is configured to monitor a destination prefix ( e . g ., 135 . 207 . 122 / 24 ) of a destination as ( e . g ., as # 134 ) using a traceroute program . for example , by generating and transmitting traceroute messages of increasing time - to - live ( ttl ) value along a path to the destination prefix of the destination as , the prefix hijacker monitor 210 is able to discover a router - level path towards the destination prefix by observing “ ttl - reached - 0 ” error messages transmitted back by intermediate routers as they decrement the ttl value of the traceroute messages when forwarding such messages . such a router - level path is then converted to as - level path based on which routers belong to which ases . the prefix hijack monitor 210 transmits traceroute messages to ases over the transmission network 102 via the intra - domain network 202 and the at least one bgp router 204 . fig3 is a block diagram of an example distribution topology 300 configured to distribute ip traffic to a destination as # 134 over a transmission network 302 after hijacking of a destination prefix 108 of the destination as # 134 . as illustrated in the distribution network 300 , a prefix hijacker as system # 93 is , for example , configured to maliciously hijack the destination prefix ( e . g ., 135 . 207 . 27 / 24 ) of the destination as # 134 to route ip traffic destined for the destination prefix through the prefix hijacker as # 93 . to hijack the destination prefix , a bgp router ( e . g ., bgp router 204 of fig2 ) of prefix hijacker as system # 93 is configured to generate and distribute an announcement message to ases # 1257 and # 1258 , neighbor ases to prefix hijacker as # 93 , announcing a fake as - level path to the destination prefix ( e . g ., 135 . 207 . 27 / 24 ) of the destination as # 134 . an example announcement message may include an originator as ( e . g ., as # 93 ), a destination as ( e . g ., destination as # 134 ), an as - level distance from the originator as to the destination as ( e . g ., one hop ), and an as - level path from the originator as to the destination as ( e . g ., as path =[# 93 , # 134 ]). in response to receiving the announcement message from the bgp router of as # 93 , bgp routers of ases # 1257 , # 1258 ( e . g ., bgp router 204 of fig2 ) are configured to determine whether the announced as - level path to the destination as # 134 ( e . g ., as path =[# 93 , # 134 ]) is a better path than their original as - level paths ( e . g ., original as - level path of as # 1257 =[# 1257 , # 850 , # 635 , # 134 ]; original as - level path of as # 1258 =[# 1258 , # 51 , # 67 # 134 ]), as particularly shown in the distribution topology 100 of fig1 . in this example , the as - level path announced by the prefix hijacker as # 93 is shorter than the as - levels paths of ases # 1257 , # 1258 . for example , the original as - level path from as # 1257 to the destination as # 134 is three hops , ases # 850 , # 635 , # 134 , while the as - level path through the prefix hijacker as # 93 is two hops , ases # 93 , # 134 . similarly , the original as - level path from as # 1258 to the destination as # 134 is three hops , ases # 51 , # 67 , # 134 , while the as - level path through the prefix hijacker as # 93 is two hops , ases # 93 , # 134 . in this example , as - level hop distance is used as a criterion to determine which as - level path is better . alternate or additional criteria to determine which as - level path is better may be utilized . based on this determination , the bgp routers of ases # 1257 , # 1258 are configured to update their respective routing tables ( e . g ., routing table 206 of bgp router 204 of fig2 ) for the destination prefix ( e . g ., 135 . 207 . 27 / 24 ). more specifically , the next hop as is updated to as # 93 and the as - level paths are updated to reflect paths through the prefix hijacker as # 93 , as illustrated ( via wide arrows ) in the topology of the distribution network 300 of fig3 . the bgp router of as # 1257 , is further configured , either concurrently with or after the determination , to generate and distribute an announcement message to ases # 4 , # 850 , neighbor ases to as # 1257 , announcing its updated as - level path ( path through prefix hijacker as # 93 ) to the destination prefix ( e . g ., 135 . 207 . 27 / 24 ) of the destination as # 134 . similarly , the bgp router of as # 1258 , is further configured , either concurrently with or after the determination , to generate and distribute an announcement message to ases # 6 , # 51 , neighbor ases to as # 1258 , announcing its updated as - level path ( path through prefix hijacker as # 93 ) to the destination prefix ( e . g ., 135 . 207 . 27 / 24 ) of the destination as # 134 . the example distribution topology 300 of fig3 is illustrated after the prefix hijacker hijacks the destination prefix 108 of the destination as # 134 . using the traceroute program described above , the prefix hijack monitors 104 , 106 generate and transmit traceroute messages of increasing time - to - live ( ttl ) value to other ases along paths ( illustrated via wide arrows ) to the destination prefix of the destination as # 134 . upon successfully reaching the destination prefix 108 of as # 134 , the prefix hijack monitors 104 , 106 generate and report as - level paths to a prefix hijacker location system 302 . the as - level paths generated and reported by the prefix hijack monitors 104 , 106 after hijacking of the destination prefix 108 of the destination as # 134 are illustrated in fig4 b . the as - level path from the prefix hijack monitor 104 disposed at as # 4 is [# 4 , # 1257 , # 93 , # 134 ] and the as - level path from the prefix hijack monitor 106 disposed at as # 6 is [# 6 , # 1258 , # 93 , # 134 ]. now with reference to the prefix hijacker location system 302 , prefix hijacker location system 302 is configured to locate a prefix hijacker as # 93 of a destination prefix ( e . g ., 135 . 207 . 27 / 12 ) within a one - hop neighborhood using reported as - level paths from prefix hijack monitors 104 , 106 . prefix hijacker location system 302 includes a monitor selection module 301 , a receiver module 304 , an initialization module 306 , a neighborhood generation module 308 , a suspect set generation module 310 , a one - hop suspect set generation module 312 , and a prefix hijacker determination module 314 . the monitor selection module 301 is configured to select plural prefix hijack monitors for a prefix hijack monitor set ( m ) from multiple candidate prefix hijack monitors that have been deployed on transmission network 302 for the destination prefix . for example , a certain number of the candidate prefix hijack monitors that have monitored the destination prefix ( e . g ., destination prefix of 135 . 207 . 122 / 24 ) may be selected . as an example , prefix hijack monitors 104 , 106 may be selected for the prefix hijack monitor set ( m ). assuming for example , if a multiplicity of prefix hijacker monitors were employed in the distribution topology 300 of fig3 , any subset that includes plural prefix hijacker monitors or all prefix hijacker monitors may be selected . the receiver module 304 is configured to receive periodic or on - demand as - level paths from the prefix hijack monitors 104 , 106 . for example , the receiver module 304 receives the example as - level paths of fig4 b from the prefix hijack monitors 104 , 106 after hijacking of the destination prefix ( e . g ., destination prefix of 135 . 207 . 122 / 24 ) of the destination as # 134 . more specifically , the as - level path received from the prefix hijack monitor 104 is [# 4 , # 1257 , # 93 , # 134 ] and the as - level path received from the prefix hijack monitor 106 is [# 6 , # 1258 , # 93 , # 134 ]. the initialization module 306 is configured to initialize a suspect prefix hijacker as set ( h ), a covered count set ( c ) and a total distance set ( d ) to empty or null sets . the suspect prefix hijacker as set ( h ) will include ases resulting from a union of all one - hop neighborhoods of each received as - level path after hijacking . the generation of suspect prefix hijacker as set ( h ) is described below with reference to the suspect set generation module 310 . in the example distribution topology 300 of fig3 , there will be two one - hop neighborhoods , one for each prefix hijack monitor &# 39 ; s as - level path , as particularly described below . the covered count set ( c ) will include a covered count entry for each as in the suspect prefix hijacker as set ( h ) to indicate how many times each as appears in the one - hop neighborhoods of the as - level paths . the total distance set ( d ) will include a total distance entry for each as in the suspect prefix hijacker as set ( h ) to indicate a total distance of each as from the ases in which the prefix hijack monitors 104 , 106 are disposed . the generation of the covered count set ( c ) and the total distance set ( d ) for each as in the suspect prefix hijacker as set ( h ) is also described below with reference to the suspect set generation module 310 . the neighborhood generation module 308 is configured to generate a one - hop neighborhood for each prefix hijack monitor &# 39 ; s as - level path . the one - hop neighborhood for the as - level path from prefix hijack monitor 104 is [# 4 , # 1257 , # 850 , # 93 , # 1258 , # 134 ] and the one - hop neighborhood for the as - level path from prefix hijack monitor 106 is [# 6 , # 1258 , # 51 , # 93 , # 1257 , # 134 ]. the suspect set generation module 310 is configured to generate suspect prefix hijacker as set ( h ) from the one - hop neighborhoods of prefix hijack monitors &# 39 ; as - level paths . as mentioned above , the suspect prefix hijacker as set ( h ) will include ases resulting from a union of the one - hop neighborhoods of the as - level paths . for example , the suspect prefix hijacker as set ( h ) includes the following ases [# 4 , # 1257 , # 850 , # 93 , # 1258 , # 6 , # 51 ]. because as # 134 is the destination prefix , it is not included in the suspect prefix hijacker as set ( h ). the suspect set generation module 310 is also configured to determine the covered count set ( c ) indicating how many times each as of the suspect prefix hijacker as set ( h ) appears in the one - hop neighborhoods of the as - level paths . for example , because as # 93 appears twice in the one - hop neighborhoods of the as - level paths , the covered count entry for as # 93 in covered count set ( c ) will have a value of two ( 2 ). the suspect set generation module 310 is further configured to determine the total distance set ( d ) indicating a total distance of each as in the suspect prefix hijacker as set ( h ) from the ases in which the prefix hijack monitors 104 , 106 are disposed . for example , the total distance entry of total distance set ( d ) for prefix hijacker as # 93 will have a value of four ( 4 ), e . g ., prefix hijacker as # 93 is two hops away from as # 4 of prefix hijack monitor 104 and two hops away from as # 6 of prefix hijack monitor 106 . for an as that is a neighbor of an as - level path but not included on the as - level path ( e . g ., neighbor as ), a distance from the neighbor as to an as in which a prefix hijack monitor is disposed may be determined as a distance from the as in which the prefix hijack monitor is disposed to a nearest as that is both included on the as - level path and is a neighbor of the neighbor as plus one ( 1 ). for example , a total distance for as # 850 , as a neighbor of an as - level path from as # 4 in which prefix hijack monitor 104 is disposed to the destination prefix ( e . g ., destination as # 134 ), is determined to be a distance from as # 1257 ( nearest neighbor of as # 850 and on the as - level path ) to as # 4 plus one ( 1 ) ( e . g ., value of two ( 2 )). based on the foregoing example , the suspect set generation module 310 generates a suspect prefix hijacker as set ( h )=[# 4 , # 1257 , # 850 , # 93 , # 1258 , # 6 , # 51 ]. the suspect set generation module 310 further determines for each as in the prefix hijacker as set ( h ) its covered count in covered count set ( c ) and its total distance in total distance set ( d ) as illustrated table 1 below : the one - hop suspect set generation module 312 is configured generate a one - hop suspect set that locates a prefix hijacker as of a destination prefix ( e . g ., 135 . 207 . 27 / 12 ) to within a one - hop neighborhood . more specifically , the one - hop suspect set generation module 312 is configured to determine a one - hop suspect set of ases ( a ) in the suspect prefix hijacker as set ( h ) that includes ases having the highest covered count in covered count set ( c ) and the highest total distances in total distance set ( d ). for example , ases # 1257 , # 93 and # 1258 of the suspect prefix hijacker as set ( h ) are determined to have the highest covered counts in covered count set ( c ) and the highest total distances in total distance set ( d ), shown in gray color in table 1 above . thus , the one - hop suspect set of ases ( a ) generated by the one hop suspect set generation module 312 includes ases # 1257 , # 93 and # 1258 , which have the highest covered counts in covered count set ( c ) and the highest total distance in the total distance set ( d ). the foregoing ases are within a one - hop neighborhood of a prefix hijacker as ( e . g ., prefix hijacker as # 93 ), and therefore , are most suspicious as suspects of being the prefix hijacker as . a fundamental concept of the foregoing is a determination of common ases amongst hijacked monitor - to - destination as - level paths . in a case in which the prefix hijacker as ( e . g ., as # 93 ) does not try to conceal its identity , the prefix hijacker &# 39 ; s as will show up in the altered as - level paths . therefore , the prefix hijacker as is amongst the ases which are common ( e . g ., common ases ) to all hijacked monitor - to - destination as - level paths . more specifically , among the common ases , the prefix hijacker as is an as that is closest to the ases of the prefix hijacker monitors because for all hijacked as - level paths the portions of the as - level paths after the prefix hijacker as are the same . in another case , a monitor - to - destination as - level path may be reported as hijacked but which was in fact altered because of another reason . in such a case , there may not be common ases other than the destination as of the destination prefix . the determination of common ases amongst monitor - to - destination as - level paths may not be adequate . therefore , a determination of a covered count for each suspect as is performed . in other words , ases common to a greatest number of monitor - to - destination as - level paths are determined . in a more complex case , the prefix hijacker ( e . g ., as # 93 ) attempts to conceal its own as from the monitor - to - destination as - level paths by using fake identities to respond to the traceroute messages used by the prefix hijack monitors in generating monitor - to - destination as - level paths . even in such a case , the identity of an as ( e . g ., as # 1257 or # 1258 ) immediately preceding the prefix hijacker ( e . g ., as # 93 ) on each as - level path is still accurate . therefore , the prefix hijacker ( e . g ., as # 93 ) must be present in the one hop suspect set of each monitor - to - destination as - level path . the prefix hijacker determination module 314 is configured to refine the one - hop suspect set of ases ( a ) determined to include most suspicious as suspects ( e . g ., ases # 1257 , # 93 and # 1258 ) by determining a center of one - hop neighborhoods of each as in the one - hop suspect set of ases ( a ), which is likely to indicate the prefix hijacker as ( e . g ., prefix hijacker as # 93 ). the prefix hijacker determination module 314 is configured to determine a one - hop neighbor set for each as in the one - hop suspect set of ases ( a ). this one - hop neighbor set for each such as includes only the one - hop neighbors of the as , not the as itself . for example , a one - hop neighbor set of as # 1257 includes ases # 4 , # 93 , and # 850 ; a one - hop neighbor set of as # 1258 includes ases # 6 , # 93 , and # 51 ; a one - hop neighbor set of as # 93 includes ases # 1257 and # 1258 . from the one - hop neighbor sets , the prefix hijacker determination module 314 is further configured to select an as that appears most ( e . g ., highest covered count ) in the one - hop neighbor sets , as the center as of the one - hop neighbor sets . the center as most likely indicates the prefix hijacker as . in the foregoing example , as # 93 appeared twice ( e . g ., covered count is 2 ) and ases # 1257 and # 1258 appeared once ( e . g ., each as &# 39 ; s covered count is 1 ) in the one - hop neighbor sets of the ases in the one - hop suspect set of ases ( a ). these covered counts may be accumulated with the covered counts in the respective covered count entries of the covered count set ( c ) because a highest covered count of an as from all ases of the suspect prefix hijacker as set ( h ) is important for determination of the prefix hijacker . for example , the total covered count in covered count set ( c ) for as # 93 will be four ( 4 ), and for each of ases # 1257 and # 1258 , the covered count in the covered count set ( c ) will be three ( 3 ). the as that has the highest covered count in covered count set ( c ) ( e . g ., as # 93 ) may then be selected . therefore , the prefix hijacker determination module 314 selects as # 93 as the center and therefore the most likely prefix hijacker as of the destination prefix . fig4 a illustrates example as - level paths generated and reported by the prefix hijack monitors 104 , 106 of fig1 before hijacking of the destination prefix 108 of the destination as # 134 . the as - level path from the prefix hijack monitor 104 disposed at as # 4 is [# 4 , # 1257 , # 850 , # 635 , # 134 ] and the as - level path from the prefix hijack monitor 106 disposed at as # 6 is [# 6 , # 1258 , # 51 , # 67 , # 134 ]. fig4 b illustrates example as - level paths generated and reported by the prefix hijack monitors 104 , 106 after hijacking of the destination prefix 108 of the destination as # 134 . the as - level path from the prefix hijack monitors 104 disposed at as # 4 is [# 4 , # 1257 , # 93 , # 134 ] and the as - level path from the prefix hijack monitors 106 disposed at as # 6 is [# 6 , # 1258 , # 93 , # 134 ]. fig5 is a flowchart that illustrates an example method 500 to locate a hijacker of a destination prefix to within a one - hop neighborhood using reported as - level paths from plural prefix hijack monitors . the method 500 starts at operation 502 . at operation 504 , prefix hijack monitors for a prefix hijack monitor set ( m ) are selected . as an example , monitor selection module 301 may include prefix hijack monitors 104 , 106 in the prefix hijack monitor set ( m ). at operation 505 , a monitor - to - destination autonomous system ( as ) path from each prefix hijack monitor in the prefix hijack monitor set ( m ) is received . for example , receiver module 304 may receive the as - level paths prefix hijack monitor 104 , 106 . at operation 506 , a suspect hijacker as set ( h ), covered count set ( c ) and distance set ( d ) are initialized to empty or null sets . for example , the initialization module 306 may initialize the h , c and d sets . at operation 508 , a one - hop neighborhood of monitor - to - destination as path is generated for each prefix hijack monitor of the prefix hijack monitor set ( m ). for example , the neighborhood generation module 308 may generate the one - hop neighborhood of monitor - to - destination as path for each prefix hijack monitor of the prefix hijack monitor set ( m ). as an example , the one - hop neighborhood of an as path from as # 4 ( at which prefix hijack monitor 104 is disposed ) to destination as # 134 of the destination prefix ( e . g ., 135 . 207 . 122 / 24 ) is [# 4 , # 1257 , # 850 , # 93 , # 1258 , # 124 ]. as another example , the one - hop neighborhood of an as path from as # 6 ( at which prefix hijack monitor 106 is disposed ) to destination as # 134 is [# 6 , # 1258 , # 51 , # 93 , # 1257 , # 134 ]. the following operations 510 - 528 may be performed by the suspect set generation module 310 of fig3 . at operation 510 , a prefix hijacker monitor is selected from the prefix hijack monitor set ( m ). as an example , prefix hijack monitor 104 may be selected from the prefix hijack monitor set ( m ). at operation 512 , an as is selected from the one - hop neighborhood of the monitor - to - destination as path for the selected prefix hijacker monitor . at operation 514 , a determination is made as to whether the selected as is in the suspect hijacker as set ( h ). if at operation 514 , it is determined that the selected as is not in the suspect hijacker as set ( h ), the method 500 continues at operation 516 , where the selected as is inserted into the suspect hijacker as set ( h ). at operation 518 , a covered count entry that is associated with the selected as is inserted into the cover count set ( c ). the inserted covered count entry is initialized to a value of zero ( 0 ). at operation 520 a distance entry that is associated with the selected as is inserted into the distance set ( d ). the inserted distance entry is initialized to an as - level distance from the as of the selected prefix hijack monitor to the selected as . the method 500 continues at operation 526 described below . if at operation 514 , it is determined that the selected as is in the suspect hijacker as set ( h ), the method 500 continues at operation 522 , where the covered count entry in covered count set ( c ) for the selected as is incremented by one ( 1 ). at operation 524 , the distance entry in the distance set ( d ) for the selected as is incremented by an as - level distance from the as of the selected prefix hijack monitor to the selected as . the method 500 continues at operation 526 described below . at operation 526 , a determination is made as to whether there are more ases in the one - hop neighborhood for the monitor - to - destination as path of the selected monitor . if at operation 526 , it is determined that there are more ases in the one - hop neighborhood for the monitor - to - destination as path of the selected monitor , the method 500 continues at operation 512 , and operations 512 - 526 are iteratively repeated until it is determined that there are no more ases in the one - hop neighborhood for the monitor - to - destination as path of the selected monitor , at operation 526 . if at operation 526 , it is determined that there are no more ases in the one - hop neighborhood for the monitor - to - destination as path of the selected monitor , the method continues at operation 528 , where a determination is made as to whether there are more prefix hijack monitors in the prefix hijack monitor set ( m ). if at operation 528 , it is determined that there are more prefix hijack monitors in the prefix hijack monitor set ( m ), the method 500 continues at operation 510 , and operations 510 - 528 are iteratively repeated until it is determined that there are no more prefix hijack monitors in the prefix hijack monitor set ( m ), at operation 528 . if at operation 528 , it is determined that there are no more prefix hijack monitors in the prefix hijack monitor set ( m ), the method 500 continues at operation 530 , where a one - hop suspect set of ases ( a ) of the suspect hijacker as set ( h ) is determined . the one - hop suspect set of ases ( a ) includes ases of the suspect hijacker as set ( h ) that have the highest associated covered counts in covered count set ( c ) and the highest associated total distances in total distance set ( d ). the one - hop suspect set of ases ( a ) locates a prefix hijacker of a destination prefix to within a one - hop neighborhood ( e . g ., ases # 1257 , # 93 , # 1258 ). the method ends 500 at operation 532 . fig6 is a flowchart that illustrates an example method 600 to locate a prefix hijacker of a destination prefix from a one - hop suspect set of ases ( a ) of the suspect hijacker as set ( h ) determined in method 500 of fig5 . the one - hop suspect set of ases ( a ) includes ases # 1257 , # 93 and # 1258 , illustrated in table 1 with the highest covered counts and total distances . operations 604 - 618 may , for example , be performed by the prefix hijacker determination module 314 of fig3 . the method 600 begins at operation 602 . at operation 604 , a one - hop neighbor set for each as in the one - hop suspect set ( a ) of the suspect hijacker as set ( h ) is generated . the one - hop neighbor set for each as of the one - hop suspect set ( a ) includes its neighbors only , but does not include each as . for example , for as # 1257 the one - hop neighborhood is [# 4 , # 93 , # 850 ]; for as # 93 the one - hop neighborhood is [# 1257 , # 1258 , # 134 ]; and for as # 1258 the one - hop neighborhood is [# 6 , # 51 , # 93 ]. at operation 606 , an as ( s ) is selected from the one - hop suspect set of ases ( a ). for example , as # 1257 is selected . at operation 608 , an as ( t ) is selected from the one - hop suspect set of ases ( a ). for example , as # 1257 is selected . at operation 610 , a determination is made as to whether as ( s ) is equal to as ( t ). if at operation 610 , as ( s ) is equal to as ( t ), the method 600 continues at operation 608 and operations 608 and 610 are performed to select a next as ( t ) from the one - hop suspect set of ases ( a ). for example , as # 93 is selected . if at operation 610 , as ( s ) is not equal to as ( t ), the method 600 continues at operation 612 . at operation 612 , the covered count entry in covered count set ( c ) is incremented by one ( 1 ) for the selected as ( s ) from the one - hop suspect set of ases ( a ), if the selected as ( s ) is included in the one - hop neighbor set of as ( t ). for example , the covered count for as # 1257 is incremented from two ( 2 ) to three ( 3 ). at operation 614 , a determination is made as to whether there are more ases for as ( t ) in the one - hop suspect set of ases ( a ). if there are more ases to be selected for as ( t ) at operation 614 , the method 500 continues at operation 608 and operations 608 - 614 are performed iteratively for the selected as ( s ) and all possible as ( t ) from the one - hop suspect set of ases ( a ). if at operation 614 , there are no more ases to be selected for as ( t ), the method 500 continues at operation 616 , where a determination is made as to whether there are more ases for as ( s ) in the one - hop suspect set of ases ( a ). if there are more ases to be selected for as ( s ) at operation 616 , the method continues at operation 606 and operations 606 - 614 are performed for all possible as ( s ) from the one - hop suspect set of ases ( a ). if there are no more ases to be selected for as ( s ) at operation 616 , the method 500 continues at operation 618 . at the completion of all iterations of operations 606 - 616 , the covered count of as # 1257 is three ( 3 ), the covered count of as # 93 is four ( 4 ), and covered count of as # 1258 is three ( 3 ), as compared to the covered counts in table 1 . at operation 618 , an as is selected from the one - hop suspect set of ases ( a ) of the suspect hijacker as set ( h ) that has the highest covered count in the covered count set ( c ). for example , as # 93 has the highest covered count of four ( 4 ), indicating that as # 93 is a center of the one - hop neighborhoods of the ases in the one - hop suspect set of ases ( a ), and thus as # 93 is the most likely prefix hijacker of the destination prefix . the method 600 ends at operation 620 . fig7 is a block diagram that illustrates a general computer system 800 . the computer system 700 may include a set of instructions that may be executed to cause the computer system 700 to perform any one or more of the computer based functions or methods disclosed herein . the computer system 700 , or any portion thereof , may operate as a standalone device or may be connected , e . g ., using a network , to other computer systems or peripheral devices . in a networked deployment , the computer system 700 may operate in the capacity of a bgp router , an igp router , a prefix hijack monitor , or a prefix hijacker location system . the computer system 700 may also be implemented as or incorporated into various devices , such as a personal computer ( pc ), a tablet pc , a personal digital assistant ( pda ), a mobile device , a palmtop computer , a laptop computer , a desktop computer , a communications device , a wireless telephone , a land - line telephone , a control system , a camera , a scanner , a facsimile machine , a printer , a pager , a personal trusted device , a web appliance , a network router , switch or bridge , or any other machine capable of executing a set of instructions ( sequential or otherwise ) that specify actions to be taken by that machine . further , while a single computer system 700 is illustrated , the term “ system ” shall also be taken to include any collection of systems or sub - systems that individually or jointly execute a set , or multiple sets , of instructions to perform one or more computer functions . as illustrated in fig7 , the computer system 700 may include a processor 702 , e . g ., a central processing unit ( cpu ), a graphics - processing unit ( gpu ), or both . moreover , the computer system 700 may include a main memory 704 and a static memory 706 that may communicate with each other via a bus 726 . as shown , the computer system 700 may further include a video display unit 710 , such as a liquid crystal display ( lcd ), an organic light emitting diode ( oled ), a projection unit , a television , a flat panel display , a solid state display , or a cathode ray tube ( crt ). additionally , the computer system 700 may include an input device 712 , such as a keyboard , and a cursor control device 714 , such as a mouse . the computer system 700 may also include a disk drive unit 716 , a signal generation device 722 , such as a speaker or remote control , and a network interface device 708 . in a particular embodiment , as depicted in fig7 , the disk drive unit 716 may include a computer - readable medium 718 in which one or more sets of instructions 720 , e . g ., software , may be embedded . further , the instructions 720 may embody one or more of the methods or logic as described herein . in a particular embodiment , the instructions 720 may reside completely , or at least partially , within the main memory 704 , the static memory 706 , and / or within the processor 702 during execution by the computer system 700 . the main memory 704 and the processor 702 also may include computer - readable media . in an alternative embodiment , dedicated hardware implementations , such as application specific integrated circuits , programmable logic arrays and other hardware devices , may be constructed to implement one or more of the methods described herein . applications that may include the apparatus and systems of various embodiments may broadly include a variety of electronic and computer systems . one or more embodiments described herein may implement functions using two or more specific interconnected hardware modules or devices with related control and data signals that may be communicated between and through the modules , or as portions of an application - specific integrated circuit . accordingly , the present system encompasses software , firmware , and hardware implementations . in accordance with various embodiments , the methods described herein may be implemented by software programs tangibly embodied in a processor - readable medium and may be executed by a processor . further , in an exemplary , non - limited embodiment , implementations may include distributed processing , component / object distributed processing , and parallel processing . alternatively , virtual computer system processing may be constructed to implement one or more of the methods or functionality as described herein . the present application contemplates a computer - readable medium that includes instructions 720 or receives and executes instructions 720 responsive to a propagated signal , so that a device connected to a network 724 may communicate voice , video or data over the network 724 . further , the instructions 720 may be transmitted or received over the network 724 via the network interface device 708 . while the computer - readable medium is shown to be a single medium , the term “ computer - readable medium ” includes a single medium or multiple media , such as a centralized or distributed database , and / or associated caches and servers that store one or more sets of instructions . the term “ computer - readable medium ” shall also include any medium that is capable of storing , encoding or carrying a set of instructions for execution by a processor or that cause a computer system to perform any one or more of the methods or operations disclosed herein . in a particular non - limiting , exemplary embodiment , the computer - readable medium may include a solid - state memory such as a memory card or other package that houses one or more non - volatile read - only memories . further , the computer - readable medium may be a random access memory or other volatile re - writable memory . additionally , the computer - readable medium may include a magneto - optical or optical medium , such as a disk or tapes or other storage device to capture carrier wave signals such as a signal communicated over a transmission medium . a digital file attachment to an e - mail or other self - contained information archive or set of archives may be considered a medium that is equivalent to a tangible storage medium . accordingly , the application is considered to include any one or more of a computer - readable medium and other equivalents and successor media , in which data or instructions may be stored . although the present application describes components and functions that may be implemented in particular embodiments with reference to particular standards and protocols , the application is not limited to such standards and protocols . such standards and protocols are periodically superseded by faster or more efficient equivalents having essentially the same functions . accordingly , replacement standards and protocols having the same or similar functions as those disclosed herein are considered equivalents thereof . thus , a system , method and computer - readable storage medium to locate a prefix hijacker of a destination prefix within a one - hop neighborhood on a network have been described . although specific example embodiments have been described , it will be evident that various modifications and changes may be made to these embodiments without departing from the broader scope of the invention . accordingly , the specification and drawings are to be regarded in an illustrative rather than a restrictive sense . the accompanying drawings that form a part hereof , show by way of illustration , and not of limitation , specific embodiments in which the subject matter may be practiced . the embodiments illustrated are described in sufficient detail to enable those skilled in the art to practice the teachings disclosed herein . other embodiments may be utilized and derived therefrom , such that structural and logical substitutions and changes may be made without departing from the scope of this application . this detailed description , therefore , is not to be taken in a limiting sense , and the scope of various embodiments is defined only by the appended claims , along with the full range of equivalents to which such claims are entitled . such embodiments of the inventive subject matter may be referred to herein , individually and / or collectively , by the term “ invention ” merely for convenience and without intending to voluntarily limit the scope of this application to any single invention or inventive concept . thus , although specific embodiments have been illustrated and described herein , it should be appreciated that any arrangement calculated to achieve the same purpose may be substituted for the specific embodiments shown . this application is intended to cover any and all adaptations or variations of various embodiments . combinations of the above embodiments and other embodiments not specifically described herein , will be apparent to those of skill in the art upon reviewing the above description . the abstract is provided to comply with 37 c . f . r . § 1 . 72 ( b ) and will allow the reader to quickly ascertain the nature of the technical disclosure of this application . it is submitted with the understanding that it will not be used to interpret or limit the scope or meaning of the claims . in the foregoing description of the embodiments , various features may be grouped together in a single embodiment for the purpose of streamlining the disclosure of this application . this method of disclosure is not to be interpreted as reflecting that the claimed embodiments have more features than are expressly recited in each claim . rather , as the following claims reflect , inventive subject matter lies in less than all features of a single disclosed embodiment .
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there is thus provided , in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention , a polymerizable composition which comprises a plurality of polymerizable monomers , a polymerization initiator , at least one filler , and a polymerizable resin comprising a thermoplastic resin and a dendritic molecule , and optionally a cross - linked , wherein said composition contains at least about 40 - 95 wt . % of the filler , and from about 0 . 1 to about 10 . 0 wt . % of the dendritic molecule and 0 . 01 % wt . nano - fibers . in a preferred embodiment of the invention , the polymerizable monomer is chosen from the group consisting of mono - and multifunctional acrylates or methacrylates , preferably methyl methacrylate , triethylene glycol dimethacrylate ( tedma ), 2 - hydroxyethyl methacrylate , hexanediol methacrylate , or dodecanediol dimethacrylate . in one preferred embodiment of the invention , the monomer is substantially the only monomer present . in another preferred embodiment of the invention , the monomer is present as part of a mixture of monomers . the monomer is polymerizable by free radical polymerization . in one preferred embodiment of the invention , the free radical polymerization may be initiated by visible light radiation . in another preferred embodiment of the invention , the free radical polymerization may be initiated by an oxidation - reduction reaction , preferably by reaction of an amine with a peroxide . in a preferred embodiment of the invention , the monomer contains one or more functional groups selected from the group consisting of urethane , amine , acrylic , carboxylic , amide and hydroxyl . in a preferred embodiment of the invention , the at least one monomer is present in the composition in an amount of between about 12 and about 20 wt . %. in a preferred embodiment of the invention . the thermoplastic resin is comprised of the group consisting of bisphenol - a - dimethacrylate , bisphenylglycidyl methacrylate ( bis - gma ), mono - and multi - functional aliphatic and aromatic urethane acrylate oligomers , epoxy - acrylate oligomers , urethane di - methacrylate or urethano - acrylate oligomers . it should be noted that the thermoplastic resin is actually the result of the polymerization of the monomers and / or oligomers that it is comprised of , although in some embodiments such resin may also be added to begin with . preferably , units of which the thermoplastic resin is composed have an average moleular weight ( mw ) of between about 500 and about 3000 . in one preferred embodiment of the invention , the thermoplastic resin comprises substantially only one type of oligomer . in another preferred embodiment of the invention , the thermoplastic resin comprises a mixture of oligomers . in one preferred embodiment of the invention , the free radical polymerization may be initiated by visible light radiation . in another preferred embodiment of the invention , the free radical polymerization may be initiated by an oxidation - reduction reaction , preferably by reaction of an amine with a peroxide . in a preferred embodiment of the invention , the thermoplastic resin contains one or more functional groups selected from the group consisting of urethane , amine , acrylic , amide , and hydroxyl . in a preferred embodiment of the invention , the thermoplastic resin is present in the composition in an amount of between about 10 and about 18 wt . %. in a preferred embodiment of the invention , the dendritic molecule is a dendrimer . in a preferred embodiment , the dendrimer has from about 1 to about 20 generations of at least one monomeric or polymeric branching chain extender . in a preferred embodiment of the invention , the terminal units of the dendrimer contain functional groups which can react with functional groups on the monomer , the thermoplastic resin or the cross - linker . in a preferred embodiment of the invention , the dendrimer has a molecular weight between about 1 , 500 and about 25 , 000 . in another preferred embodiment of the invention , the dendritic molecule is a hyperbranched molecule . in a preferred embodiment , the hyperbranched molecule has from about 1 to about 20 generations . in a preferred embodiment , the hyperbranched molecule has at least one terminal unit which can react with a functional group on at least one of the monomer , the thermoplastic resin or the crosslinker . in a preferred embodiment of the invention , the hyperbranched molecule contains functional groups selected from the group consisting of hydroxyl , amine , carboxylic , ester , amide , sulfide , carboxylate , fatty acid and any reactive functional group . in a preferred embodiment of the invention , the hyperbranched molecule has a molecular weight between about 1 , 500 and about 25 , 000 . in a preferred embodiment of the invention , the filler nanofiber or nanosphere is selected from the group consisting of carbon , silica , alumina and other glass oxides and ceramics , or thermoplastic polymers like nylon , polyurethanes , polyvinyl alcohol ( pvoh ), polylacticacid , polyglycolic - acid and copolymer of those , silk , cellulose and the like , natural as well as synthetic polymeric nanofiber . the nanofiber may be treated by special surface treatment based on sylanization reaction , preferably having an average diameter of between about 1 nm and 300 nm . in one preferred embodiment of the invention the nanofiber filler are coated with a coupling agent to bond to the resin matrix , preferably with a coating containing silyl groups or the nanofiber filler are uncoated . in another preferred embodiment , prior to mixing in the composition of the invention the nanofiber filler are optionally treated with hyperbranched polymers or dendrimers in order to enhance interfacial adhesion to the resin matrix . in a preferred embodiment of the invention , the composition comprises an oxidizing initiator selected from the group consisting of benzoyl peroxide , lauryl peroxide , benzoin , benzophenone , alpha - diketones . in a preferred embodiment , the oxidizing initiator is present in an amount of between about 0 . 3 and 1 . 5 wt . %. a preferred oxidizing initiator for use in self - cured polymerization is benzoyl peroxide . a preferred oxidizing initiator for use in photopolymerization is camphor quinone . in a preferred embodiment of the invention , the composition also comprises a reducing initiator selected from the group consisting of tertiary amines . reducing initiators are preferably used as reducing agents in combination with oxidizing initiators such as benzoyl peroxide , lauryl peroxide , or α - diketones , to effect more rapid generation of radicals . preferred reducing initiators for self - cured polymerization are n , n - dimethyl - p - toluidine and n , n - dimethyl - sym - xylidine . preferred reducing initiators for use in photopolymerization are ethyl - 4 - dimethyl - aminobenzoate ( edb ) and diethyl - aminoethyl methacrylate . preferably , the ratio of photoiniator to amine is about 1 : 1 . in a preferred embodiment of the invention , the composition comprises a cross - linker . the inclusion of a cross - linker is especially preferably when the composition will be polymerized to function as an adhesive . in a preferred embodiment , the cross - linker contains functional groups which can cross - link one or more of the monomer , oligomer and dendritic molecule . in a preferred embodiment , the cross - linker contains functional groups selected from the group consisting of hydroxyl and acrylic . in a preferred embodiment , the cross linker is selected from the group consisting of multifunctional acrylates , preferably tri - or tetrafunctional acrylates . in a preferred embodiment , the cross linker is present in the composition in an amount of between about 0 . 5 and 2 . 0 wt . %. in a preferred embodiment of the invention , a filler is selected from the group consisting of quartz or silica - glass . silica - glass preferably containes strontium , barium , zinc , boron and yttrium , aluminoborosilicate glass , colloidal silica or various other types of silica . in a preferred embodiment the caged macromolecule is polyhedral oligomeric silsequioxanes ( poss ). poss are nonostructed organic / inorganic hybrid compounds that have been used as reactive nanofillers to form nanocomposites . silsesquioxanes are a class of compounds with the empirical formula rsio1 . 5 . the caged silica may possess a variety of functional groups ( r group ) that can potentially react with the host matrix . a variety of poss structures from cage size 6 through 12 are available , generally , the cage size 8 is mostly used . poss monomers are designed to be copolymerizes or grafted into / onto the polymer chains to provide molecular level reinforcement . there is no limit to the type of functionality that can be placed on the cage , anywhere from one to eight groups . several commercial hyperbranched additives are available on the market such as hybrane ( made by dsm of the netherlands ) and boltorn ( made by perstorp corp . of sweden ). other suitable hyperbranched additives are hyperbranched polyesteramide ( such as those described in u . s . pat . nos . 6 , 387 , 496 and 6 , 392 , 006 ) and hyperbranched polyester . the hyperbranched additive may be a hyperbranched or dendritic macromolecule built up of hydroxyl units . the hydroxyl units may be combined with amide molecules having nitrogen atoms as branching points . likewise the hyperbranched additive may be a hyperbranched or dendritic macromolecule with a reactive group , wherein the reactive group is comprised of hydroxyl , amine , carboylic , ester , amide , sulfide , carboxylate or fatty acid . suitable electrospun nanofibers include fibers spun from polyvinyl alcohol ( pvoh ), poly - l - lactic acid ( plla ) and polyamides ( pa ). suitable electrospun nanospheres include spheres spun from pvoh . commonly used monomer suitable for the invention are bisphenylglycidyl methacrylate ( bis - gma ), triethylene glycol dimethacrylate ( tegdma ), 2 - hydroxyethyl methacrylate , hexanediol methacrylate , or dodecanediol dimethacrylate , bisphenol - a - dimethacrylate , 2 , 6 - di - tert - butyl - 4 - methylphenol ( bht ), 2 - hydroxyethylmethacrylate ( hema ) or n , n - dimethyl - p - toluidine . molecules built from bis - gma such as those described in u . s . patent application publications 2006 / 0058415 and 2006 / 0058418 are also suitable for the invention . preferably , the filler is in the form of particles , preferably having an average diameter of between about 30 nm and 30 μm . in one preferred embodiment of the invention the filler particles are coated with a coupling agent to bond to the resin matrix , preferably with a coating containing silyl groups ( sometimes referred to as “ silanized ” filler as is known in the art ). in another preferred embodiment of the invention the filler particles are uncoated . in another preferred embodiment , prior to mixing in the composition of the invention the filler particles are optionally treated with hyperbranched polymers or dendrimers in order to enhance interfacial adhesion to the resin matrix and nono - fibers for reinforcement of the nano - composite . in a preferred embodiment of the invention , the filler contains matter which is radiopaque . there is also provided , in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention , a process for forming a dental material , comprising the steps of ( a ) providing a polymerizable composition comprising at least one polymerizable monomer , a polymerization initiator , at least one filler , and a polymerizable resin comprising a thermoplastic resin and optionally a cross - linker wherein said composition contains at least about 40 - 95 wt . % of the filler , and from about 0 . 1 to about 10 . 0 wt . % of the dendritic molecule and ( b ) polymerizing said composition . in one preferred embodiment of the invention , the material formed is a dental composite . in another preferred embodiment of the invention , the material formed is a dental adhesive . there is also provided , in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention , a denial material having a compressive strength of at least about 200 mpa , preferably at least about 250 mpa as determined by the method of iso 9917 and linear shrinkage of less than about 2 %, preferably less than about 1 . 5 %, the dental material being the result of polymerization of a composition comprising at least one polymerizable monomer , a polymerization initiator , at least one filler , and a polymerizable resin comprising a thermoplastic resin and a dendritic molecule , and optionally a cross - linker , wherein said composition contains at least about 40 - 95 wt . % of the filler , and from about 0 . 1 to about 10 . 0 wt . % of the dendritic molecule . there is also provided , in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the invention , a primer for pre - treating a tooth or other dental surface prior to application of an adhesive to said dental surface , comprising a solvent acceptable for use in dentistry and between about 1 - 30 wt . % of a hyperbranched dendritic macromolecule having a core which is built up by polycondensation so that the hyperbranched molecule has functional groups , for example , hydroxyl units in the terminal units and has amide nitrogen atoms as branching points . there is also provided , in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the invention , a process for pre - treating a tooth or other dental surface prior to application of an adhesive to said tooth or dental surface , comprising ( a ) providing a solution comprising a solvent acceptable for use in dentistry and between about 1 - 30 wt . % of a hyperbranched dendritic macromolecule having a core which is built up by polycondensation of cyclic anhydrides with diisopropanolamine , so that the hyperbranched molecule has hydroxyl units in the terminal units and has amide nitrogen atoms as branching points , and ( b ) applying said solution to said tooth or other dental surface . in addition , 0 . 01 - 5 % wt . nano - fibers of various type ( see above ) can be added . a nanomaterial , such as a nanoclay may also be used in the dental material . one such type of nanoclay is alkyl quaternary ammonium bentonite also known by its trade name of cloisite and manufactured by southern clay products . it preferred embodiments , the present invention provides polymerizable compositions which yield dental materials having improved compressive strength and shrinkage properties vis - a - vis dental materials known in the prior art . in additional preferred embodiments of the invention , the dental materials may be formulated to have additional improved properties , such as water sorption or bonding to tooth substrates as expressed in measured shear bond strength . a common feature to all the preferred embodiments of the present invention is the incorporation into the polymerizable composition of an amount of a dendritic polymer combined with nano - fibers which upon curing is effective to impart to the composition , in conjunction with the other components in the composition , the desired properties of compressive strength and shrinkage . thus , for example , suitable combinations of monomers , thermoplastic resins and mono - or / and multifunctional acrylates or methacrylates such as methyl methacrylate , triethylene glycol dimethacrylate , 2 - hydroxyethyl methacrylate , hexanediol methacrylate , dodecanediol dimethacrylate , as the monomer , bisphenol - a - dimethacrylate , bisphenylglycidyl methacrylate , mono - and multi - functional aliphatic and aromatic urethane acrylate oligomers , epoxy - acrylate oligomers and urethano - acrylate oligomers , preferably having mw between 500 and 3000 as the thermoplastic resin , and dendritic molecules having functional groups selected from the group consisting of hydroxyl , amine , carboylic , ester amide , sulfide , carboxylate and fatty acid as the terminal groups . it has been found that when the dendritic molecule used is a dendrimer , it is preferably for the dendrimer to have between about 3 and about 770 terminal groups , and / or to contain between about 0 and 8 generations . preferably , when the dendritic molecule used is a hyperbranched polymer , the hyperbranched polymer has a degree of branching between about 0 . 4 and 0 . 9 . in preferred embodiments of the invention , the interior the dendritic molecule is built up from units containing hydroxyl or amine groups . examples of pairs of initiators suitable for use in accordance with the present invention are benzoyl peroxide , camphor quinone as oxidizing initiators and amines , preferably n , n - dimethyl - p - toluidine , ethyl - 4 - dimethylaminobenzoate and their derivatives , as reducing initiators . when cross - liners are used , these are preferably molecules capable of cross - linking the groups b on the terminii of the dendritic molecules with the thermoplastic resin and / or the at least one monomer . preferably , the initiator and cross - linker are each independently present in an amount of between about 0 . 3 and about 1 . 5 wt . %. examples of fillers suitable for use in accordance with the present invention are silanized glass and other dental fillers as are well known in the art , such as , quartz or silica - glass containing at least one of strontium , barium , zinc , boron , and yttrium , aluminoborosilicate glass , and colloidal silica and caged silica ( poss ). preferably , the fillers are coated with a dendritic molecule , preferably the same dendritic molecule used in the remainder of the composition of the invention . the fillers preferably have an average particle size of between about 10 nm and about 30 μm , and may be present a mixture of particles having a range of sizes . it has been found that dental materials prepared in accordance with the present invention exhibit low shrinkage , generally below about 2 . 0 % and preferably below about 1 . 5 %, measured by the method described below . at the same time , and in contrast to dental materials known in the prior art , including those prior art dental materials prepared from mixtures of monomers and / or oligomers and dendritic polymers , the dental materials obtained in accordance with the present invention also exhibit good compressive strength , generally at least about 200 mpa and preferably at least about 300 mpa . in one preferred embodiment of the present invention , a tooth or other dental surface to which an adhesive is to be applied may be pre - treated with a dendritic polymer as described above . such application may be made , for example , by contacting the tooth or dental surface with a solution containing from about 1 to about 30 % dendritic polymer and 0 . 01 - 5 % wt . nano - fibers in a dentally acceptable solvent , such as ethanol or another alcohol or propylene glycol or another glycol . examples of some preferred embodiments of the invention will now be illustrated through the following illustrative and non - limitative example . a highly filled dental cement is formed from a composition consisting of two parts , mixture a ( base ) and mixture b ( catalyst ) which are mixed in equal amounts and oxidatively polymerized . mixture a : to a mixture of 1 . 4000 g of bishpenylglycidylmethacrylate ( bis - gma ), 1 . 7 mg 2 , 6 - di - tert - butyl - 4 - methylphenol ( bht ) and 1 . 5000 g 2 - hydroxyethylmethacrylate ( hema ) were added 0 . 0400 g of n , n - dimethyl - p - toluidine and 7 . 0583 g of silanised glass filler at room temperature . this mixture was then ground . mixture b : to a mixture of 1 . 3400 g of bisphenylglycidylmethacrylate ( bis - gma ), 2 . 0 mg bht and 1 . 3080 g tetraethylglycidylmethacrylate ( tegdma ) were added 0 . 0400 g of benzoyl peroxide and 7 . 3100 g of silanised glass filler at room temperature . this mixture was then ground . mixtures a and b were stored separately for at least 24 hours at room temperature prior to use . a dental cement was prepared by polymerizing a mixture consisting of 2 . 500 g of mixture a and 2 . 500 g of mixture a . the procedure of example 1 was followed except that in each of mixtures a and b , 0 . 01 g of bis - gma ( representing 0 . 1 wt . % of the total weight of each mixture ) was replaced with a dendripolyamide oligomer based on a six - valent semi - flexible core ( molecular weight 12 , 100 ; h - functionality size 45 mole − 1 ; h - functionality type as versamide 125 ). the compressive strength of the resulting cement was found to be in the range of 150 . 0 ± 20 . 0 mpa . water sorption was at the range of 16 . 0 ± 2 . 0 μg / mm 3 . the result complies with iso 4049 : 2000 ( e ) requirements . linear shrinkage was in the range of ± 3 . 6 %. the procedure of example 1 was followed , except that in each of mixtures a and b , 0 . 01 g of bis - gma ( representing 0 . 1 wt . % of the total weight of each mixture ) was replaced with a hyperbranched polyesteramide . the compressive strength of the resulting cement was found to be in the range of 303 . 7 ± 20 . 0 mpa . water sorption was found to be within iso 4049 : 2000 ( e ) requirements . linear shrinkage determined as described in example 1 was ± 0 . 8 %. the procedure of example 3 was followed , except that 0 . 03 g of the same hyperbranched polyesteramide used in example 3 ( representing 0 . 3 wt . % of the total weight of each mixture ) was used in each of mixtures a and b . the compressive strength of the resulting cement was found to be in the range of 386 . 0 ± 20 . 0 mpa . water sorption was found to be within iso 4049 : 2000 ( e ) requirements . linear shrinkage determined as describe in example 1 was ± 1 . 5 %. the procedure of example 3 was followed , except that 0 . 05 g of the hyperbranched polyesteramide ( representing 0 . 5 wt . % of the total weight of each mixture ) was used in each of mixtures a and b . the compressive strength of the resulting cement was found to be in the range of 227 . 0 ± 20 . 0 mpa . water sorption was at the range of 16 . 0 ± 2 . 0 μg / mm 3 . linear shrinkage was in the range ± 2 . 3 %. the procedure of example 1 was followed , except that in each of mixtures a and b , 0 . 05 g of bis - gma ( representing 0 . 5 wt . % of the total weight of each mixture ) was replaced with a dendripolyamide oligomer with a four - valent semi - flexible core ( molecular weight 6 , 500 ; h - functionality size 30 mole − 1 ; h - functionality type as versamide 125 ). the compressive strength of the resulting cement was found to be in the range of 201 . 0 ± 20 . 0 mpa . water sorption determined was at the range of 30 . 0 ± 2 . 0 μg / mm 3 . linear shrinkage determined as described in example 1 was at the range ± 2 . 4 %. mixture a : to a mixture of 1 . 3600 g of bisphenylglycidylmethacrylate ( bis - gma ), 1 . 7 mg 2 , 6 - di - tert - butyl - 4 - methylphenol ( bht ), 0 . 0300 g by perbranched polyesteramide 1 . 5700 g of 2 - hydroxyethylmethacrylate ( hema ) were added 0 . 0400 g of n , n - dimethyl - p - toluidine and 6 . 9983 g of filler containing a mixture of colloidal silica . silanised glass , borosilicate glass and fluorine - releasing filler at room temperature . the core composite composition consists of the same components as the model one , but the filler level is different for two parts of composition and contains silanized glass , colloidal silica , borosilicate glass mixture , and fluorine - releasing filler . the changes in filler content were dictated by aesthetic demands and desired additional properties , easy handling , thermal conductivity , fluorine - release etc . this mixture of components was then ground to form mixture a . mixture b : to a mixture of 1 . 3400 g of bis - gma , 1 . 3 mg bht , 0 . 0270 g hyperbranched polyestramide 1 . 3000 g of tetraethylglycidylmethacrylate ( tegdma ) were added 0 . 0400 g of benzoyl peroxide and 7 . 2917 g of filler containing a mixture colloidal silica , silanised glass , borosilicate glass and fluorine - releasing filler at room temperature . the mixture of components was ground to form mixture b . mixtures a and b were stored separately for at least 24 hours at room temperature prior to use , and then 2 . 5 g of mixture a was mixed with 2 . 5 of mixture b and allowed to cure for 10 minutes . the dental material obtained after curing was found to have a compressive strength of 250 . 0 ± 20 . 0 mpa , linear shrinkage of 1 . 50 ± 0 . 50 %, and water sorption 23 . 8 μ / mm 3 . a comparison between the dental material obtained in example 7 and core build - up materials prepared from commercially available compositions was carried out under identical conditions . the results of physical and mechanical evaluations , measured as described above , are summarized in table 1 : mixtures a and b were stored separately for at least 24 hours at room temperature prior to use , and then 2 . 5 g of mixture a was mixed with 2 . 5 of mixture b and allowed to cure for 10 minutes . the dental material obtained after curing was found to have a compressive strength of 251 . 0 ± 20 . 0 mpa , linear shrinkage of 1 . 20 ± 0 . 15 %, and water sorption 30 . 0 μg / mm 3 . a comparison between the dental material obtained in example 8 and core build - up materials prepared from commercially available compositions was carried out under identical conditions . the results of physical and mechanical evaluations , measured as described above , are summarized in table 2 : a liquid light - curable dental adhesive was prepared by mixing 2 . 100 g of tetrathylglycidylmthacrylate ( tegdma ), 2 . 700 g 2 - hydroxyethylmethacrylate ( hema ), 4 . 200 g urethane di - methacrylate oligomer , 0 . 500 g phosphonate as a bonding agent , 0 . 446 g triacrylate monomer as a cross - linking agent , 0 . 025 g ethyl - 4 - dimethylaminobenzoate ( edb ) as a polymerization accelerator , and 0 . 029 g camphor quinone as a polymerization initiator and exposing to light of 450 - 500 nm wavelength , as described below . after bonding and curing the sample , specimens were placed in water at 37 ° c . for 24 hours . the shear bond strength ( sbs ) of the dental adhesive was found to be 6 . 3 ± 2 . 0 mpa . the procedure of example 9 was repeated , except that 0 . 020 g ( 0 . 2 wt . %) of a hyperbranched polyesteramide was added to the adhesive composition . the shear bond strength ( sbs ) was 10 . 5 ± 2 . 0 mpa . the procedure of example 9 was repeated except that 0 . 065 g ( 0 . 65 of wt . %). of the hyperbranched polyesteramide was added to the adhesive composition . the shear bond strength ( sbs ) was found to be 11 . 6 ± 20 mpa . the procedure of example 9 was repeated , except that 0 . 150 g of the hyperbranched polyesteramide was added to the adhesive composition . the shear bond strength ( sbs ) was found to be 10 . 7 ± 20 mpa . the procedure of example 9 was repeated , except that 0 . 020 g of dendripolyamide oligomer with a six - valent semi - flexible core ( molecular weight 12 , 100 ; h - functionality size 45 mole − 1 ; h - functionality type as versamide 125 ) were added to the adhesive composition . the shear bond strength ( sbs ) was found to be 5 . 5 ± 2 . 0 mpa . dental adhesives may be used for final cementation of crowns and bridges , for inlays and onlays , for posts and cores , for ceramic crowns and maryland bridges , or for bonding metal , plastic or ceramic orthodontic attachments to teeth . adhesives may also be used for amalgam restoration , veneering of alloys , and for the implantation of prostheses . this and the following two examples compare dental adhesives prepared without and with dendritic molecules . the adhesives are “ dual curable ”, i . e . polymerization may be initiated by combining the two component mixtures a and b of the adhesive , but the rate polymerization can be increased by exposing the combined components to light . mixture a : to a mixture of 1 . 240 g 2 - hydroxyethylmethacrylate ( hema ), 3 . 660 g urethane di - methacrylate oligomer and 0 . 200 g triacrylate monomer cross - linking agent were added 0 . 030 g n , n - dihydroxyethyl - p - toluidine ( dhept ), 0 . 030 g camphor quinone , 0 . 030 g ethyl - 4 - dimethylaminobenzoate ( edb ), and 4 . 810 g strontium - alumino - fluoro - silicate glass at room temperature . these components were then mixed to form mixture a . mixture b : to a mixture of 2 . 200 g bisphenylglycidylmethacrylate ( bis - gma ), 0 . 200 g of triacrylate monomer cross - linking agent and 1 . 700 g tetraethylglycidylmethacrylate ( tegdma ) were added 0 . 080 g benzoyl peroxide , 0 . 200 g aromatic acrylate monomer derivative coupling agent and 5 . 620 g strontium - alumino - fluoro - silicate glass at room temperature . these components were then mixed to form mixture b . mixtures a and b were stored separately for 24 hours at room temperature , and then 2 . 5 g of mixture a was mixed with 2 . 5 g of mixture b and allowed to cure for 1 hour . the dental material obtained after curing was found to have a shear bond strength of 3 . 4 ± 1 . 3 mpa and a compressive strength of 222 . 0 ± 20 . 0 mpa . the procedure of example 14 was repeated , except that 0 . 100 g ( 1 . 0 wt . %) of a hyperbranched polyesteramide was added to each of mixtures a and b . the shear bond strength ( sbs ) measured as in example 12 was 6 . 5 ± 1 . 3 mpa and compressive strength measured as in example 1 was 117 . 0 ± 20 . 0 mpa . the procedure of example 14 was repeated , except that 0 . 150 g ( 1 . 5 wt . %) of the hyperbranched polyesteramide was added to each of mixtures a and b . sbs was found to be 5 . 0 ± 1 . 3 mpa and compressive strength found to be 96 . 0 ± 20 . 0 mpa . mixture a : to a mixture of 3 . 840 g 2 tetraethylglycidylmethacrylate ( tegdma ), 5 . 630 g bisphenylglycidylmethacrylate ( bis - gma ) were added 0 . 180 g n , n - dihydroxyethyl - p - toluidine ( dhept ), 0 . 150 g camphor quinone , 0 . 110 g ethyl - 4 - dimethylaminobenzoate ( edb ), and 0 . 090 g hyperbranched polyesteramide without the conventional strontium - alumino - fluoro - silicate glass filler , as at example 14 , at room temperature . these components were then mixed to form mixture a . mixture b : to a mixture of 5 . 920 g bisphenylglycidylmethacrylate ( bis - gma ), 3 . 880 g tetraethylglycidylmethacrylate ( tegdma ) were added 0 . 110 g benzoyl peroxide , 0 . 090 g hyperbranched polyesteramide and without the conventional strontium - alumino - fluoro - silicate glass filler , as at example 14 , at room temperature . these components were then mixed to form mixture b . mixtures a and b were stored separately for 24 hours at room temperature , and then 2 . 5 g of mixture a was mixed with 2 . 5 g of mixture b and allowed to cure for 1 hour . unfilled dental adhesive composition with dendritic polymer and pvoh nanofibers and nanospheres mixture a : to a mixture of 3 . 840 g 2 tetraethylglycidylmethacrylate ( tegdma ), 5 . 630 g bisphenylglycidylmethacrylate ( bis - gma ) were added 0 . 180 g n , n - dihydroxyethyl - p - toluidine ( dhept ), 0 . 150 g camphor quinone , 0 . 110 g ethyl - 4 - dimethylaminobenzoate ( edb ), and 0 . 090 g hyperbranched polyesteramide without the conventional strontium - alumino - fluoro - silicate glass filler at room temperature . these components were then mixed to form mixture a . to mixture a 0 . 01 % of electrospun nano - fibers based on poly vinyl alcohol ( pvoh ) ( 2 various diameters ) were incorporated by shear mixing . mixture b : to a mixture of 5 . 920 g bisphenylglycidylmethacrylate ( bis - gma ), 3 . 880 g tetraethylglycidylmethacrylate ( tegdma ) were added 0 . 110 g benzoyl peroxide , 0 . 090 g hyperbranched polyesteramide and without the conventional strontium - alumino - fluoro - silicate glass filler at room temperature . these components were then mixed to form mixture b . to mixture b 0 . 01 % of electrospun nano - fibers based on pvoh ( 2 various diameters ) were incorporated by shear mixing . mixtures a and b were stored separately for 24 hours at room temperature , and then 2 . 5 g of mixture a was mixed with 2 . 5 g of mixture b and allowed to cure for 1 hour . results ( compressive strengths , flexural strengths and linear shrinkage ) are represented in table 3 - 5 respectively . the variants are based on the same formulation as example 18 and its properties are given also in table 3 - 5 . mixture a : to a mixture of 3 . 840 g 2 tetraethylglycidylmethacrylate ( tegdma ), 5 , 630 g bisphenylglycidylmethacrylate ( bis - gma ) were added 0 . 180 g n , n - dihydroxyethyl - p - toluidine ( dhept ), 0 . 150 g camphor quinone , 0 . 110 g ethyl - 4 - dimethylaminobenzoate ( edb ), and 0 . 090 g hyperbranched polyesteramide without the conventional strontium - alumino - fluoro - silicate glass filler , as at example 14 , at room temperature . these components were then mixed to form mixture a . to mixture a 0 . 01 % of electrospun nano - fibers based on poly - 1 - lactic acid ( plla ) ( 2 various diameters ) were incorporated by shear mixing . mixture b : to a mixture of 5 . 920 g bisphenylglycidylmethacrylate ( bis - gma ), 3 . 880 g tetraethylglycidylmethacrylate ( tegdma ) were added 0 . 110 g benzoyl peroxide , 0 . 090 g hyperbranched polyesteramide and without the conventional strontium - alumino - fluoro - silicate glass fiber at room temperature . these components were then mixed to form mixture b . to mixture b 0 . 01 % of electrospun nano - fibers based on poly - 1 - lactic acid ( plla ) ( 2 various diameters ) were incorporated by shear mixing . mixtures a and b were stored separately for 24 hours at room temperature , and then 2 . 5 g of mixture a was mixed with 2 . 5 g of mixture b and allowed to cure for 1 hour . results ( compressive strengths , flexural strengths and linear shrinkage ) are represented in table 6 - 8 respectively . the variants are based on the same formulation as example 19 and its properties are given also in table 6 - 8 . mixture a : to a mixture of 3 . 840 g 2 tetraethylglycidylmethacrylate ( tegdma ), 5 . 630 g bisphenylglycidylmethacrylate ( bis - gma ) were added 0 . 180 g n , n - dihydroxyethyl - p - toluidine ( dhept ), 0 . 150 g camphor quinone , 0 . 110 g ethyl - 4 - dimethylaminobenzoate ( edb ), and 0 . 090 g hyperbranched polyesteramide without the conventional strontium - alumino - fluoro - silicate glass filler at room temperature . these components were then mixed to form mixture a . to mixture a 0 . 01 % of electrospun nano - fibers based on polyamide 6 ( pa6 ) were incorporated by shear mixing . mixture b : to a mixture of 5 . 920 g bisphenylglycidylmethacrylate ( bis - gma ), 3 . 880 g tetraethylglycidylmethacrylate ( tegdma ) were added 0 . 110 g benzoyl peroxide , 0 . 090 g hyperbranched polyesteramide and without the conventional strontium - alumino - fluoro - silicate glass filler at room temperature . these components were then mixed to form mixture b . to mixture b 0 . 01 % of electrospun nano - fibers based on polyamide 6 ( pa6 ) were incorporated by shear mixing . mixtures a and b were stored separately for 24 hours at room temperature , and then 2 . 5 g of mixture a was mixed with 2 . 5 g of mixture b and allowed to cure for 1 hour . results ( compressive strengths , flexural strengths and linear shrinkage ) are represented in table 9 . the variants are based on the same formulation as example 20 and its properties are given also in table 9 . mixture a : to a mixture of 3 . 840 g 2 tetraethylglycidylmethacrylate ( tegdma ), 5 . 630 g bisphenylglycidylmethacrylate ( bis - gma ) containing 50 wt % of surface - modified , synthetic , sio2 - nanospheres of very small size ( diameter 20 nm ) and narrow particle size distribution were added 0 . 180 g n , n - dihydroxyethyl - p - toluidine ( dhept ), 0 . 150 g camphor quinone , 0 . 110 g ethyl - 4 - dimethylaminobenzoate ( edb ), and 0 . 090 g hyperbranched polyesteramide without the conventional strontium - alumino - fluoro - silicate glass filler at room temperature . these components were then mixed to form mixture a . mixture b : to a mixture of 5 . 920 g bisphenylglycidylmethacrylate ( bis - gma ), 3 . 880 g tetraethylglycidylmethacrylate ( tegdma ) containing 50 wt % of surface - modified synthetic sio2 - nanopheres of very small size ( diameter 20 nm ) and narrow particle size distribution were added 0 . 110 g benzoyl peroxide , 0 . 090 g hyperbranched polyesteramide and without the conventional strontium - alumino - fluoro - silicate glass filler at room temperature . these components were then mixed to form mixture b . mixtures a and b were stored separately for 24 hours at room temperature , and then 2 . 5 g of mixture a was mixed with 2 . 5 g of mixture b and allowed to cure for 1 hour . unfilled dental adhesive composition with dendritic polymer , nanospheres silica and nanofibers mixture a : to a mixture of 3 . 840 g 2 tetraethylglycidylmethacrylate ( tegdma ), 5 . 630 g bisphenylglycidylmethacrylate ( bis - gma ) containing 50 wt % of surface - modified , synthetic , sio2 - nanospheres of very small size ( diameter 20 nm ) and narrow particle size distribution were added 0 . 180 g n , n - dihydroxyethyl - p - toluidine ( dhept ), 0 . 150 g camphor quinone , 0 . 110 g ethyl - 4 - dimethylaminobenzoate ( edb ), and 0 . 090 g hyperbranched polyesteramide without the conventional strontium - alumino - fluoro - silicate glass filler at room temperature . these components were then mixed to form mixture a . to mixture a 0 . 01 % of electrospun nano - fibers based on pvoh ( 2 various diameters ) were incorporated by shear mixing . mixture b : to a mixture of 5 . 920 g bisphenylglycidylmethacrylate ( bis - gma ), 3 . 880 g tetraethylglycidylmethacrylate ( tegdma ) containing 50 wt % of surface - modified , synthetic sio2 - nanospheres of very small size ( diameter 20 nm ) and narrow particle size distribution were added 0 . 110 g benzoylperoxide , 0 . 090 g hyperbranched polyesteramide and without the conventional strontium - alumino - fluoro - silicate glass filler at room temperature . these components were then mixed to form mixture b . to mixture b 0 . 01 % of electrospun nano - fibers based on 250 nm diameter pvoh were incorporated by shear mixing . mixtures a and b were stored separately for 24 hours at room temperature , and then 2 . 5 g of mixture a was mixed with 2 . 5 g of mixture b and allowed to cure for 1 hour . results ( compressive strengths , flexural strengths and linear shrinkage ) are represented in table 10 . the variants are based on the same formulation as example 22 and its properties are given also in table 10 . it will be appreciated by persons skilled in the art that the present invention is not limited by what has been particularly shown and described hereinabove . rather the scope of the present invention includes both combinations and subcombinations of the features described hereinabove as well as modifications and variations thereof which would occur to a person of skill in the art upon reading the foregoing description and which are not in the prior art .
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in the following paragraphs , the present invention will be described in detail by way of example with reference to the figures . throughout this description , the preferred embodiment and examples shown should not be considered as limiting the scope of the present invention . the whole - cell patch clamp technique was used in mouse cortical neuronal cultures in order to screen for nmdar antagonists in danshen , the root of salvia milthiorriza bunge . danshen water extracts contained high potency , non - competitive nmdar antagonists with a readily reversible mode of action . the nmdar antagonists were identified as tanshinones . tanshinones are plant - derived diterpenoid quinones . compounds of the generic structures shown in fig5 and 6 are also expected to work in the present inventory and can be tested using various assays described herein or known in the art . chemical definitions of terms used in fig5 and 6 are defined below . as used herein , the term “ alkyl ” denotes branched or unbranched hydrocarbon chains containing between one and six , preferably one and four , carbon atoms , such as , e . g ., methyl , ethyl , n - propyl , iso - propyl , n - butyl , sec - butyl , iso - butyl , tert - butyl , and 2 - methylpentyl . these groups may be optionally substituted with one or more functional groups which are attached commonly to such chains , such as , e . g ., hydroxyl , bromo , fluoro , chloro , iodo , mercapto or thio , cyano , alkylthio , heterocycle , aryl , heteroaryl , carboxyl , alkoxycarbonyl , alkyl , alkenyl , nitro , amino , alkoxyl , amido , and optionally substituted isothioureido , amidino , guanidino , and the like to form alkyl groups such as trifluoromethyl , 3 - hydroxyhexyl , 2 - carboxypropyl , 2 - fluoroethyl , carboxymethyl , 4 - cyanobutyl , 2 - guanidinoethyl , 3 - n , n ′- dimethylisothiouroniumpropyl , and the like . the term “ alkenyl ” denotes an alkyl group as defined above having at least one double bond , e . g ., allyl , 3 - hydroxy - 2 - buten - 1 - yl , 1 - methyl - 2 - propen - 1 - yl and the like . the term “ alkynyl ” denotes an alkyl group as defined above having at least one triple bond . the term “ aryl ” denotes a chain of carbon atoms an which form an least one aromatic ring having preferably between about 6 - 14 carbon atoms , such as , e . g ., phenyl , naphthyl , indenyl , and the like , and which may be substituted with one or more functional groups which are attached commonly to such chains , such as , e . g ., hydroxyl , bromo , fluoro , chloro , iodo , mercapto or thio , cyano , cyanoamido , alkylthio , heterocycle , aryl , heteroaryl , carboxyl , alkoxycarbonyl , alkyl , alkenyl , nitro , amino , alkoxyl , amido , and the like to form aryl groups such as biphenyl , iodobiphenyl , methoxybiphenyl , anthryl , bromophenyl , iodophenyl , chlorophenyl , hydroxyphenyl , methoxyphenyl , formylphenyl , acetylphenyl , trifluoromethylthiophenyl , trifluoromethoxyphenyl , alkylthiophenyl , trialkylammoniumphenyl , amidophenyl , thiazolylphenyl , oxazolylphenyl , imidazolylphenyl , imidazolylmethylphenyl , cyanophenyl , pyridylphenyl , pyrrolylphenyl , pyrazolylphenyl , triazolylphenyl , tetrazolylphenyl and the like . the term “ amino ” denotes the group nrr ′, where r and r ′ may independently be alkyl , aryl or acyl as defined above , or hydrogen . the term “ carbonyl ” denotes compounds with a carbon to oxygen double bond ( c ═ o ), including aldehydes and ketones . the term “ halide ” denotes a binary combination of a halogen with another element , such as potassium iodide ki , or an organic compound in which halogen atoms replace one or more hydrogen atoms , for example ch 3 cl . description cite ischemic damage koroshetz w . j ., moskowitz m . a . emerging treatments for stroke in humans . tips 1996 ; 17 : 227 - 233 . animal models hunter a . j ., mackay k . b ., rogers d . c . to what extent have functional studies of ischemia in animals been useful in the assessment of potential neuroprotective agents . tips 1999 ; 19 : 59 - 66 . neurodegeneration lipton s . a ., rosenberg p . a . excitatory amino acids as a final common pathway for neurologic disorders . n . engl . j . med . 1994 mar 3 ; 330 ( 9 ): 613 - 22 . glaucoma and aids lipton s . a . retinal ganglion cells , glaucoma and related dementia neuroprotection . prog . brain res . 2001 ; 131 : 712 - 8 . kaul m ., garden g . a ., lipton s . a . pathways to neuronal injury and apoptosis in hiv - associated dementia . nature 2001 apr 19 ; 410 . lipton s . a . neuronal injury associated with hiv - 1 : approaches to treatment . annu . rev . pharmacol . todicol . general nicotera p ., lipton s . a . excitotoxins in neuronal apoptosis and necrosis . j . cereb . blood flow metab . 1999 jun ; 19 ( 6 ): 583 - 91 . jonas s ., ayigari v ., viera d ., waterman p . neuroprotection against cerebral ischemia . a review of animal studies and correlation with human trial results . ann . n . y . acad . sci . 1999 ; 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( eds ) animals and clinical techniques in drug evaluation . year book med . publ . 1964 , vol . 1 : 348 - 352 . systemic convulsant leander j . d ., lawson r . r ., ornstein p . l ., zimmerman d . m . n - models methyl - d - aspartate acid induced lethality in mice : selective antagonism by phencyclidine - like drugs . brain res . ( 1988 ) 448 : 115 - 120 . pollack g . m ., shen d . d . a timed intravenous pentylenetetrazol infusion seizure model for quantitating the anticonvulsant effect of valproic acid in the rat . j . pharmacol . meth . ( 1985 ) 13 : 135 - 146 . snead iii o . c . γ - hydroxybutyrate model of generalized absence seizures : further characterization and comparison with other absence models . epilepsia ( 1988 ) 29 : 361 - 368 . stone w . e . systemic chemical convulsants and metabolic derangement . in : purpura d . p ., penry j . k ., tower d . b ., woodbury d . m ., walter r . d . 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( 1979 ) 38 : 2399 - 2404 . dba / 2 mouse carling r . w ., leeson p . d ., moore k . w ., smith j . d ., moyes anticonvulsant c . r ., mawer i . m ., thomas s ., chan t ., baker r ., foster a . c . 3 - nitro - 3 , 4 - dihydro - 2 ( 1h )- quinolones . excitatory amino acid antagonists acting at glycine - site nmda and ( rs )- alpha - amino - 3 - hydroxy - 5methyl - 4 - isoxazolepropionic acid receptors . j . med . chem . ( 1993 ) 36 ( 22 ): 3397 - 408 . neuropathic pain inoue t ., mashimo t ., shibata m ., shibuta s ., yoshiya i . radip development of nitric oxide - induced hyperalgesia depends on an alternate to the cgmp - mediated pathway in the rat neuropathic pain model . brain res . ( 1998 ) 792 ( 2 ): 263 - 70 . stevens c . w . an amphibian model for pain research . lab animal ( 1995 ) 24 : 32 - 36 . stevens c . w . alternatives to the use of mammals for pain research . life sciences ( 1992 ) 50 : 901 - 912 . kavaliers m . k ., ossenkopp k . p ., sanberg p . r . ( eds ), animal models of nociception and pain ( 1997 ) r . g . landes co . : austin . the particular compound that affects the disorder of interest can be administered to a patient either by themselves , or in pharmaceutical compositions where it is mixed with suitable carriers or excipient ( s ). in treating a patient exhibiting a disorder of interest , a therapeutically effective amount of a agent or agents such as these is administered . a therapeutically effective dose refers to that amount of the compound that results in amelioration of symptoms or a prolongation of survival in a patient . toxicity and therapeutic efficacy of such compounds can be determined by standard pharmaceutical procedures in cell cultures or experimental animals , e . g ., for determining the ld 50 ( the dose lethal to 50 % of the population ) and the ed 50 ( the dose therapeutically effective in 50 % of the population ). the dose ratio between toxic and therapeutic effects is the therapeutic index and it can be expressed as the ratio ld 50 / ed 50 . compounds which exhibit large therapeutic indices are preferred . the data obtained from these cell culture assays and animal studies can be used in formulating a range of dosage for use in human . the dosage of such compounds lies preferably within a range of circulating concentrations that include the ed 50 with little or no toxicity . the dosage may vary within this range depending upon the dosage form employed and the route of administration utilized . for any compound used in the method of the invention , the therapeutically effective dose can be estimated initially from cell culture assays . for example , a dose can be formulated in animal models to achieve a circulating plasma concentration range that includes the ic 50 as determined in cell culture ( i . e ., the concentration of the test compound which achieves a half - maximal disruption of the protein complex , or a half - maximal inhibition of the cellular level and / or activity of a complex component ). such information can be used to more accurately determine useful doses in humans . levels in plasma may be measured , for example , by hplc . the exact formulation , route of administration and dosage can be chosen by the individual physician in view of the patient &# 39 ; s condition . ( see e . g . fingl et al ., in the pharmacological basis of therapeutics , 1975 , ch . 1 p . 1 ). it should be noted that the attending physician would know how to and when to terminate , interrupt , or adjust administration due to toxicity , or to organ dysfunctions . conversely , the attending physician would also know to adjust treatment to higher levels if the clinical response were not adequate ( precluding toxicity ). the magnitude of an administrated dose in the management of the oncogenic disorder of interest will vary with the severity of the condition to be treated and to the route of administration . the severity of the condition may , for example , be evaluated , in part , by standard prognostic evaluation methods . further , the dose and perhaps dose frequency , will also vary according to the age , body weight , and response of the individual patient . a program comparable to that discussed above may be used in veterinary medicine . depending on the specific conditions being treated , such agents may be formulated and administered systemically or locally . techniques for formulation and administration may be found in remington &# 39 ; s pharmaceutical sciences , 18th ed ., mack publishing co ., easton , pa . ( 1990 ). suitable routes may include oral , rectal , transdermal , vaginal , transmucosal , or intestinal administration ; parenteral delivery , including intramuscular , subcutaneous , intramedullary injections , as well as intrathecal , direct intraventricular , intravenous , intraperitoneal , intranasal , or intraocular injections , just to name a few . for injection , the agents of the invention may be formulated in aqueous solutions , preferably in physiologically compatible buffers such as hanks &# 39 ; s solution , ringer &# 39 ; s solution , or physiological saline buffer . for such transmucosal administration , penetrants appropriate to the barrier to be permeated are used in the formulation . such penetrants are generally known in the art . use of pharmaceutically acceptable carriers to formulate the compounds herein disclosed for the practice of the invention into dosages suitable for systemic administration is within the scope of the invention . with proper choice of carrier and suitable manufacturing practice , the compositions of the present invention , in particular , those formulated as solutions , may be administered parenterally , such as by intravenous injection . the compounds can be formulated readily using pharmaceutically acceptable carriers well known in the art into dosages suitable for oral administration . such carriers enable the compounds of the invention to be formulated as tablets , pills , capsules , liquids , gels , syrups , slurries , suspensions and the like , for oral ingestion by a patient to be treated . agents intended to be administered intracellularly may be administered using techniques well known to those of ordinary skill in the art . for example , such agents may be encapsulated into liposomes , then administered as described above . liposomes are spherical lipid bilayers with aqueous interiors . all molecules present in an aqueous solution at the time of liposome formation are incorporated into the aqueous interior . the liposomal contents are both protected from the external microenvironment and , because liposomes fuse with cell membranes , are efficiently delivered into the cell cytoplasm . additionally , due to their hydrophobicity , small organic molecules may be directly administered intracellularly . pharmaceutical compositions suitable for use in the present invention include compositions wherein the active ingredients are contained in an effective amount to achieve its intended purpose . determination of the effective amounts is well within the capability of those skilled in the art , especially in light of the detailed disclosure provided herein . in addition to the active ingredients , these pharmaceutical compositions may contain suitable pharmaceutically acceptable carriers comprising excipients and auxiliaries which facilitate processing of the active compounds into preparations which can be used pharmaceutically . the preparations formulated for oral administration may be in the form of tablets , dragees , capsules , or solutions . the pharmaceutical compositions of the present invention may be manufactured in a manner that is itself known , e . g ., by means of conventional mixing , dissolving , granulating , dragee - making , levitating , emulsifying , encapsulating , entrapping or lyophilizing processes . pharmaceutical formulations for parenteral administration include aqueous solutions of the active compounds in water - soluble form . additionally , suspensions of the active compounds may be prepared as appropriate oily injection suspensions . suitable lipophilic solvents or vehicles include fatty oils such as sesame oil , or synthetic fatty acid esters , such as ethyl oleate or triglycerides , or liposomes . aqueous injection suspensions may contain substances which increase the viscosity of the suspension , such as sodium carboxymethyl cellulose , sorbitol , or dextran . optionally , the suspension may also contain suitable stabilizers or agents which increase the solubility of the compounds to allow for the preparation of highly concentrated solutions . pharmaceutical preparations for oral use can be obtained by combining the active compounds with solid excipient , optionally grinding a resulting mixture , and processing the mixture of granules , after adding suitable auxiliaries , if desired , to obtain tablets or dragee cores . suitable excipients are , in particular , fillers such as sugars , including lactose , sucrose , mannitol , or sorbitol ; cellulose preparations such as , for example , maize starch , wheat starch , rice starch , potato starch , gelatin , gum tragacanth , methyl cellulose , hydroxypropylmethyl - cellulose , sodium carboxymethylcellulose , and / or polyvinylpyrrolidone ( pvp ). if desired , disintegrating agents may be added , such as the cross - linked polyvinyl pyrrolidone , agar , or alginic acid or a salt thereof such as sodium alginate . dragee cores are provided with suitable coatings . for this purpose , concentrated sugar solutions may be used , which may optionally contain gum arabic , talc , polyvinyl pyrrolidone , carbopol gel , polyethylene glycol , and / or titanium dioxide , lacquer solutions , and suitable organic solvents or solvent mixtures . dyestuffs or pigments may be added to the tablets or dragee coatings for identification or to characterize different combinations of active compound doses . pharmaceutical preparations which can be used orally include push - fit capsules made of gelatin , as well as soft , sealed capsules made of gelatin and a plasticizer , such as glycerol or sorbitol . the push - fit capsules can contain the active ingredients in admixture with filler such as lactose , binders such as starches , and / or lubricants such as talc or magnesium stearate and , optionally , stabilizers . in soft capsules , the active compounds may be dissolved or suspended in suitable liquids , such as fatty oils , liquid paraffin , or liquid polyethylene glycols . in addition , stabilizers may be added . dosage amount and interval may be adjusted individually to provide plasma levels of the active moiety which are sufficient to maintain the kinase modulating effects , or minimal effective concentration ( mec ). the mec will vary for each compound but can be estimated from in vitro data ; e . g ., the concentration necessary to achieve a 50 - 90 % inhibition of the kinase using the assays described herein . dosages necessary to achieve the mec will depend on individual characteristics and route of administration . however , hplc assays or bioassays can be used to determine plasma concentrations . dosage intervals can also be determined using the mec value . compounds should be administered using a regimen which maintains plasma levels above the mec for 10 - 90 % of the time , preferably between 30 - 90 % and most preferably between 50 - 90 %. 578902vl several preferred embodiments in accordance with the invention are described using the following examples for illustration : nmda - evoked currents in cultured mouse cortical neurons were blocked effectively in the presence of 1 % ( v / v ) aqueous danshen extract ( fig1 a ). the major components in aqueous extracts of the salvia miltiorrhiza roots are water - soluble compounds such as tanshinol , rosmarinic acid , and salvianolic acid ( table 1 ; fig1 b ). however , none of these major chemical components of the aqueous extracts showed nmdar antagonist activity even at millimolar concentration . aqueous danshen extracts contain only very small amounts of tanshinones . in order to investigate whether tanshinones were the effective components in the water extracts , a series of purified tanshinones were tested in the patch - clamp assay . cryptotanshinone , miltirone , tanshinone i , tanshinone iia , and tanshinone iib produced a strong , but readily reversible inhibition of the nmda - induced currents similar to the effect of the aqueous extracts ( fig1 c , d ). the present example examined whether tanshinones inhibited currents of ampa and gaba a receptors evoked by ampa or gaba , respectively . currents activated by ampa ( 10 μm ) in mouse cultured cortical neurons showed either no , or only a small , inhibition by tanshinones ( 6 ± 3 % at 100 nm tanshinone iia ). similarly , currents activated by gaba ( 20 μm ) were blocked by 10 ± 3 % ( n = 3 ). the concentration dependence of the steady - state block of nmda - induced currents was determined in order to obtain the dose / response curve of the nmdar antagonist action of the tanshinones ( fig2 ). the data were fit according to a logistic equation and the concentration at which 50 % of the nmda - evoked response was blocked ( ic 50 ) was calculated from the equation . the ic 50 values ( 95 % confidence interval ) were 1 . 1 nm ( 0 . 5 - 1 . 6 nm ) for tanshinone iib , 1 . 7 nm ( 1 - 2 . 4 nm ) for cryptotanshinone , 2 . 1 nm ( 1 . 5 - 2 . 6 nm ) for miltirone , 3 . 4 nm ( 2 . 6 - 4 . 2 nm ) for tanshinone ii a and 3 . 7 nm ( 2 . 7 - 4 . 7 nm ) for tanshinone i . the electrophysiological determined ic50 values of the tanshinones are up to two orders of magnitude smaller than those of other nmdar antagonists . concentration - response curves were obtained in the presence of a saturating dose of tanshinone and increasing amounts of nmda in cultured mouse cortical neurons ( fig3 a ). the data indicated that the degree of inhibition of the nmda - evoked current by a fixed dose of tanshinone was independent of the dose of co - applied agonist . similarly , nmdar inhibition by tanshinones was not affected by increasing concentrations of co - agonist glycine . thus , tanshinones act as non - competitive blockers of nmdars . consistent with the lack of competition with nmda and glycine , no whole - cell currents were observed when danshen water extracts were either co - applied with nmda ( 200 μm ) in the absence of glycine or with glycine in the absence of nmda . these data indicate that it is unlikely that tanshinones act as partial agonists at the glutamate or glycine recognition sites . the voltage - dependence of the inhibitory effects of the tanshinones was assessed by constructing current / voltage ( i / v ) plots in the presence or absence of the drugs ( fig3 b ). the reversal potential of nmda - induced currents was close to 0 mv . similar to the effect of the water extract , the inhibition of the nmda - induced whole - cell currents by cryptotanshinone , miltirone , and tanshinones ii a , ii b , and i was voltage - independent . tanshinones had no discernible effect on nmda - evoked currents when they were added to the patch - pipette internal solution . the lack of voltage - dependence of inhibition makes it unlikely that the tanshinones act as channel blockers . this example also compared the blocking efficacy of the tanshinones in transiently transfected human embryonic kidney ( hek ) 293 cells expressing recombinant nmdars containing either the nr1 / nr2b or nr1 / nr2d subunit combinations . addition of danshen water extract ( 1 % v / v ) or purified tanshinones ( 20 nm ) reversibly inhibited approximately 80 - 90 % of the nmda - induced current in the absence of tcm in recombinant nmdars composed of the nr1 and nr2b subunits . in contrast , only little blocking activity was observed in nmdars composed of the nr1 / nr2d subunits upon co - application of nmda and glycine in the absence of mg 2 + with either cryptotanshinone ( 100 nm ; 10 ± 1 %, n = 3 ), miltirone ( 100 nm ; 11 ± 2 %, n = 3 ), or tanshinone i ( 100 nm ; 4 ± 1 %, n = 3 ). even concentrations that were two orders of magnitude higher than the ic 50 of these compounds in nr2b containing receptors did not significantly block nr2d containing receptors . however , tanshinones ii a ( 100 nm ) and ii b ( 100 nm ) blocked 61 ± 11 % and 52 ± 11 % of the nmda - induced current in nr2d containing nmdars ( fig3 c ). the inhibition produced by tanshinone iia in recombinant receptors containing the nr2d subunit was voltage - dependent with greatly reduced efficacy at positive potentials ( fig3 c ). this is in contrast to the voltage - independent inhibitory effect of the drug in recombinant nmdars containing the nr2b subunit suggesting a subunit specific molecular blocking mechanism of the drug in the two types of nmdars . one skilled in the art would readily appreciate that the present invention is well adapted to carry out the objects and obtain the ends and advantages mentioned , as well as those inherent therein . the molecular complexes and the methods , procedures , treatments , molecules , specific compounds described herein are presently representative of preferred embodiments and are exemplary and are not intended as limitations on the scope of the invention . changes therein and other uses will occur to those skilled in the art which are encompassed within the spirit of the invention . it will be readily apparent to one skilled in the art that varying substitutions and modifications may be made to the invention disclosed herein without departing from the scope and spirit of the invention . all patents and publications mentioned in the specification are indicative of the levels of those skilled in the art to which the invention pertains . all patents and publications are herein incorporated by reference to the same extent as if each individual publication was specifically and individually indicated to be incorporated by reference . the invention illustratively described herein suitably may be practiced in the absence of any element or elements , limitation or limitations which is not specifically disclosed herein . thus , for example , in each instance herein any of the terms “ comprising ”, “ consisting essentially of ” and “ consisting of ” may be replaced with either of the other two terms . the terms and expressions which have been employed are used as terms of description and not of limitation , and there is no intention that in the use of such terms and expressions indicates the exclusion of equivalents of the features shown and described or portions thereof . it is recognized that various modifications are possible within the scope of the invention . thus , it should be understood that although the present invention has been specifically disclosed by preferred embodiments and optional features , modification and variation of the concepts herein disclosed may be resorted to by those skilled in the art , and that such modifications and variations are considered to be within the scope of this invention . one skilled in the art will appreciate that the present invention can be practiced by other than the preferred embodiments which are presented in this description for purposes of illustration and not of limitation , and the present invention is limited only by the claims that follow . it is noted that equivalents for the particular embodiments discussed in this description are also within the scope of the present invention .
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referring to fig1 an ice detector of the present invention is indicated generally at 10 , and it is mounted onto the sidewall or skin 12 of an aircraft . the ice detector is formed with a cylindrical strut 14 that is mounted onto the aircraft . alternatively , the strut could be of a more aerodynamically shaped cross section . the strut has a first ice detector probe 16 protruding therefrom and extending laterally into airflow , the direction of which is indicated by the arrow 18 . a second ice detector probe 20 is positioned ahead of an air dam 22 that is mounted on the end plate 24 of the cylindrical strut 14 . the probes 16 and 20 can be substantially the same size and length , as shown . the air dam 22 has a radiused leading edge 25 with a front surface 26 . tapered trailing walls 28 join leading edge 25 to smooth out turbulence and aid in airflow patterns and continues surface 26 around the air dam 22 . the air dam 22 can be hollow , and can include heaters indicated generally at 30 to deice the walls of the air dam . the probes 16 and 20 , and strut 14 also can have deicing heaters thereon used in a conventional manner when ice has been detected . the first probe 16 is connected to a suitable signal conditioning circuit 32 , which will provide excitation to the probe to cause it to vibrate at its natural frequency , which changes when ice accretes or accumulates on the probe . as the natural frequency changes , this change in frequency is sensed by circuit 32 to indicate that ice is accumulating . the greater the accumulation , the greater the change in frequency . circuit 32 then outputs a signal along a line 34 to a computer or other processing circuitry 36 that is used , as will be explained , for determining not only that ice is accumulating on the probe 16 but also to compare the rate of accumulation of ice , as indicated by the rate of change of frequency , with the output from a circuit 38 that is connected to the probe 20 . the circuit 38 provides the probe 20 with excitation to vibrate it at its natural frequency , and provides an output when the frequency changes because of ice accumulation on the probe . the output from the circuit 38 that indicates icing on probe 20 is along the line 40 to the processing circuit 36 . the outputs on lines 34 and 40 are processed to determine the rate of change of the frequencies , which indicates the rate of ice accumulation or accretion on the probes . this rate of change or rate of ice accumulation is compared between the two probes to determine the relative rate of accumulation between the two probes . the air dam 22 will be intercepting supercooled water droplets carried in the airflow indicated by arrow 18 , and the smaller droplets in this airflow will tend to flow around the air dam 22 and the probe 20 , while the larger , greater inertia droplets , which are supercooled large water droplets , will tend to impact the probe 20 or the air dam 22 , rather than being carried around the air dam . the ice accreting on the probe 20 will be biased toward the supercooled large droplets , since the airflow separates to go around the air dam and the small droplets entrained will tend to be carried with the airflow . the stand alone probe 16 , or in other words the probe that is not associated or affected by the air dam 22 , will provide a small frontal area that serves as an efficient collector of all droplet sizes of supercooled water in the air , and thus will ice up at a higher rate than the probe 20 , which is biased to collect the supercooled large droplets . the ratio of rates of ice accretion , between the probes will give an indication of the presence of supercooled large droplets . if there is little or no ice accreting on probe 20 , while ice is indicated as present on probe 16 , the droplet sizes are indicated as being relatively small . the accumulation will be greater on the probe 16 than on the probe 20 . an increased ice accretion rate for probe 20 relative to probe 16 indicates an increased presence of supercooled large droplets . the positioning or spacing of the probe 20 relative to the front surface 26 of the air dam 22 provides a bias of airflow that will cause the probe to be biased to collect larger droplets . while aircraft velocity also influences the probe accretion rate , the present device is relatively insensitive to changes in aircraft velocity , as compared to the effects of the air dam because the accretion rates of the two probes are ratioed . however , if velocity is available from another source , such as an air data computer , for input into the ice detector signal processing circuitry , ice detector accuracy can be further enhanced . another variant of the invention depicted in fig1 is also recognized . in this variant 10 a , shown in fig3 probe 20 is eliminated and its function is integrated into an air dam acting as a probe 22 a . that is , the probe 22 a is a large probe that has direct ice sensing capabilities and has an excitation and sensing circuit 38 a connected thereto . the probe 22 a is effectively a larger version of the stand - alone probe 16 , and is inertially biased to collect supercooled large droplets in place of probe 20 . processing to determine the ratio of ice accumulation rates for detecting supercooled large droplets is done in the same manner as with probe 20 . again , the relative size difference between the two probes 16 and 22 a allows discernment of supercooled large droplets due to inertia effects as reviewed previously . also , the cross sectional shape of the probe does not have to be an airfoil , but can be a circular cylinder or other geometrical shape such as triangular , or other polygon . the processing circuitry 36 includes software that provides indications of the presence of the supercooled large droplets , and can also provide warning signals , or similar outputs to alert a pilot to conditions that can cause icing that would not be controllable by deicing boots or similar deicing equipment , particularly on smaller aircraft . fig4 and 5 show another form of the invention , and in this instance , an ice detector for determining the presence of supercooled large droplets made according to the present invention is indicated generally at 50 , and it comprises a flow duct or channel 52 that is mounted onto an aircraft skin or wall 54 using a strut 56 . the strut 56 can be airfoil shaped or other configurations that are desired , and its length can be varied as desired to minimize the effects of the aircraft wall on airflow through the duct or channel . as shown , the duct 50 is made so that it has an inlet opening 58 of desired size and cross sectional shape , and the inlet opening is defined in the present invention as a rectangular shaped opening having sidewalls 62 converging in the direction of airflow , which is indicated by the arrow 60 . the sidewalls 62 are generally tapered inwardly , and curved aft of the inlet and upstream of the narrow section of the channel to improve aerodynamics . the inlet is closed with parallel top and bottom walls 64 and 66 , as shown , to form a channel inlet 63 . the sidewalls 62 converge to a rectangular shaped narrow flow channel 70 which is of smaller cross sectional size than the inlet opening 58 . thus the airflow through the narrow or smaller cross section flow channel 70 will be at a greater velocity than it will at the inlet portion . a first ice detecting probe 72 is mounted in an area upstream of maximum constriction , or in other words in the channel inlet 63 upstream of the plane indicated at 76 defining the entry of upstream end of the narrow flow channel 70 . a second probe 74 is mounted downstream from the junction line or plane indicated at 76 . probe 74 is in a region slightly aft of the converging side walls in the smaller cross sectional size flow channel 70 . the probe 72 is connected to suitable processing circuitry 78 , through a line 80 , and the probe 74 is connected through a line 82 to processing circuitry 84 . the circuitry 78 and 84 is conventionally known , to provide excitation for vibrating the probes at their natural frequencies , and then to sense the change in natural frequency as ice accumulates . the outputs from the circuits 78 and 84 are provided to a processor or computer 86 that will use the signals from the circuitry 78 and 84 to indicate when icing occurs for example on the probe 72 , and when it occurs on the probe 74 , and also to calculate the ratio of the rate of change of frequency and thus the ratio of the rate of ice accretion on two probes . as was stated , the droplets that are entrained in the airflow that enters the narrow flow channel 70 have different trajectories when they move into the constricted flow channel 70 , as a function of their size . the smaller droplets will follow the air stream flow lines easily , while the larger droplets are delayed in responding to changes in airflow direction induced by converging sidewalls 62 because of relatively greater inertia . this results in the larger droplets tending to be directed towards the center of the constricted flow channel 70 , providing a heavier concentration of supercooled large droplets slightly downstream from the junction of the sidewalls 62 with the walls that define the constricted or narrow flow channel 70 . probe 74 is positioned at this location just downstream of the upstream end of the narrow flow channel , where the supercooled large droplets will be concentrated if they are present . ice detector probe 74 thus is going to have an amplified sensitivity to supercooled large droplets . an increase in the relative icing rate between the probes , which is determined by the rate of change of the natural frequency of vibration due to icing , will indicate that there are supercooled large droplets in the airflow and will indicate a supercooled large droplet ( sld ) icing condition . the contracting flow channel sidewalls 62 , have heaters 89 on the sides for deicing purposes , and the walls 62 also have openings or bleed holes 90 that will bleed off heated boundary layer air to prevent heating influences on the ice detector probes 72 and 74 . the heaters used are conventionally controlled for ice detector use . the current magnetostrictive ice detector signal conditioning circuits and software can be adapted to drive the probes , and by utilizing a processor computer for determining the ratio of the rate of change of the icing on the probes , an output can be provided that will indicate or annunciate supercooled large droplet conditions . an ice detector 110 made according to a third variation of the present invention is shown in fig6 and 8 . the ice detector has a large strut 112 that is mounted onto the side of an aircraft and supported on the aircraft skin 114 . the ice detector 110 protrudes into the air stream , which is flowing as indicated by the arrow 116 . the strut 112 mounts a large transverse dimension or large diameter probe 118 . probe 118 is a magnetostrictive probe that will be excited to oscillate at its natural frequency , when driven by a suitable excitation / sensing circuit 120 . the probe 118 is made of a suitable material , and can have deicing heaters if desired . probe 118 is mounted on an outer end wall 122 of the strut 112 , as shown , and adjacent to leading end 112 a of the strut relative to airflow direction . a second smaller strut 124 is mounted on the end wall 122 of the larger strut 112 to the rear of the leading end 112 a of the large strut 112 . the strut 124 extends laterally outwardly from wall 122 . second smaller strut 124 mounts a smaller transverse dimension or diameter probe 126 on the outer end wall 125 of the strut 124 . probe 126 projects into the air stream . the strut 124 positions the probe 126 essentially out of any disrupted or turbulent airflow caused by the larger diameter probe 118 . the probe 126 is also a magnetostrictive type probe , preferably , and it is excited to its natural frequency through an excitation and sensing circuit 128 . the circuits 120 and 128 , in addition to providing excitation for magnetostrictive vibration of the probes , are used for determining changes in frequency of vibration of the respective probes . as ice accretes on the probes , the natural frequency changes , and this change in frequency is sensed and provided as an output from the circuits 120 and 128 . the outputs from circuits 120 and 128 are provided to a processor 130 . it should be noted that both of the struts 112 and 124 can be suitably shaped , generally as elongated ovals , but could be true airfoil shape or circular if desired . the leading ends 112 a and 124 a are rounded to provide for relatively streamlined airflow around them . the probes 18 and 26 are in the airflow , so that any supercooled water droplets , regardless of size , will impinge on both of the probes . however , since the probes have different lateral dimensions or diameters , they will have different ice collection efficiencies . for small droplet size the collection efficiency of the smaller diameter probe 126 will be higher than the larger diameter probe 118 . as the supercooled water droplet size increases the collection efficiency of both probes will increase , but the larger diameter probe 18 will have its collection efficiency rise much faster . the amount of ice that accumulates on a probe is directly related to the collection efficiency of the probe , so that as the droplet size increases , the difference in the ice accretion or the ice accumulation rates on the two probes will decrease . the collection efficiency is dependent upon the inertia of the droplets , probe diameter , and air velocity . the efficiency can be described as follows ( from langmuir and blodgett , 1974 ): the two probes 118 and 126 are made so that they have similar thermodynamic properties which will prevent variations in the probe surface temperatures as ambient temperatures or other environmental conditions change . the probes are made to have similar mass and thermal capacity even though they are different size . as shown , the lengths of the probes extending from the respective struts are substantially equal . the circuits 120 and 128 provide an indication of the ice that is accumulating or has accumulated on each of the probes . this information can be provided to processor 130 , which will monitor the rate at which the ice accumulates on the probes as well as the total amount of ice accretion . the rate of change of frequency is an indication of the rate of ice accumulation , and the sensed frequency is an indication of the total amount of ice accretion . this information can be provided as an output 132 to the flight crew , or the output can be used for activating automatic systems for the deicing equipment . also , the output can be calibrated so that it will classify the rate of icing as either light , moderate or severe for a particular aircraft . the indications can be different for each model of aircraft , and can be determined by wind tunnel tests . thus , by utilizing an ice detector that has dual probes , of substantially similar mass , but different cross sectional size or frontal size presented to the airflow , information relating to the types of icing can be obtained easily , and the information about rate of icing or icing severity also can be obtained . comparison of the rates of icing on the two probes will indicate presence of large supercooled water droplets . the ice detector can be used with known excitation and sensing circuitry , as well as known processor software for obtaining the outputs that are desired . referring to fig9 and 10 , an ice detector 150 is mounted onto the side wall skin 152 of an aircraft . the ice detector in this form of the invention has an airfoil shaped strut 154 that protrudes from the aircraft skin , and as shown the leading end is rounded . the airflow direction is indicated by the arrow 156 . the strut 154 can be relatively short in axial length , that is in the direction of protrusion from the aircraft skin . the strut has a top wall 158 that is substantially planar and mounts a leading ice detector probe 160 and a trailing ice detector probe 162 . probes 160 and 162 both are generally cylindrical probes that can be of known design utilizing measurements of frequency change for determining when ice is accumulating on the vibrating probe . the probes are separated from each other in flow direction , and between the probes there is a flow deflector 164 which is generally airfoil shaped . the flow deflector 164 has a pressure side 166 and a flow guide side 168 . the probe 160 is positioned so that the flow around the airfoil shaped flow guide 164 is substantially laminar . the flow guide 164 provides for a smooth flow of particles , both large and small , around the leading end 170 of the airfoil shaped flow guide 164 . the small particles or droplets with less inertia will tend to remain close to the airfoil shaped guide as they reach the trailing side , but the larger particles will tend to separate because of their inertia , and will strike the trailing probe 162 . thus , when there are large super cooled droplets in the airflow , the change of icing rates between the two probes will indicate when the larger super cooled water droplets increase in number or density , because the trailing probe 162 will show a greater rate of accumulation of ice when larger drops are present . as can be seen in fig1 , a circuit 174 can be used for determining the change of frequency of each of the probes , 160 and 162 individually , and then a processor 176 can receive these signals and can calculate the ratio of icing between the two probes to determine the presence of super cooled water droplets . this circuitry is known as is the same as that used with the other forms of the invention . the concept of the present invention is to provide a pair of probes , one of which is an ice detecting probe that provides an indication of icing from all sizes of water droplets in the airflow , and a second probe in which the airflow around the probe is altered such that the trajectory of droplets is modified to bias the second probe to collect supercooled large droplets . the supercooled large droplets have greater inertia and account for a greater percentage of the ice mass accumulating on the second probe than on the first probe . this can be done , as shown , by having one probe substantially larger , or causing the smaller droplets to follow flow around an air dam , or concentrating the supercooled large droplets by using flow guides . inertia , causes a greater percentage of ice on one probe to be formed by large droplets . stated another way , the pair of probes are constructed or oriented so that the ice collecting on a second of the probes is formed by a greater percentage of the supercooled water droplets than the first probe . the first probe is in the free standing or free stream region . even though the second form of the invention shows that the first probe is in the inlet portion of a constricting flow , the air stream that is hitting the probe is substantially a free stream airflow because the inertial effects of the flow along the converging walls that causes the supercooled large droplets to concentrate just aft of the junction of the narrow channel 70 and the converging walls 62 . in fact , the first probe could be located in the free stream air outside of the duct . the term “ large ” droplet again is defined as a droplet that is 50 microns in diameter or greater . droplets that are smaller than 50 microns in diameter are small droplets . although the present invention has been described with reference to preferred embodiments , workers skilled in the art will recognize that changes may be made in form and detail without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention .
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fig1 and 2 show a valve switchbox 10 in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention attached to the mounting plate 12 of a butterfly valve 14 . this attachment may be accomplished by a plurality of screws or bolts extending up through the mounting plate 12 into threaded apertures in the switchbox 10 , drawing the switchbox 10 into close mechanical engagement with the mounting plate 12 . alternatively , the mounting plate 12 could utilize a plurality of threaded studs or the switchbox 10 could have a plurality of apertures therein to allow bolts to secure the switchbox 10 to threaded apertures in the mounting plate 12 . the valve 14 has a body 16 in which a shaft - mounted disc 18 articulates to open and close a throat 20 through which a fluid may pass ( when open ). in this disclosure , “ fluid ” would include liquids , gases and flowable solid particulates , etc . a handle 22 on the switchbox 10 is used to control the position of the disc 18 in the valve throat 20 . typically , a valve , such as valve 14 , would be provided with a handle that would be attached directly to the shaft supporting the disc 18 . as shown in fig1 , the valve switchbox 10 of the present disclosure can be positioned to intermediate between the handle 22 and the valve 14 . an optional aspect of the present disclosure is that the handle of an existing valve 14 can be utilized with the switchbox 10 in instances when the switchbox 10 is retrofitted to the valve 14 . in this manner , the handle will likely be properly sized for the given application , e . g ., long enough to provide sufficient leverage to allow operation , as well as properly marked and colored , e . g ., with indicia and colors symbolic of valve function , for identifying the composition of the fluid that is controlled by the valve 14 , as well as open and close directions , warnings , etc . alternatively , a new handle can be utilized with the switchbox 10 , which has attributes more appropriate for the task it must perform . as shown in fig1 , 2 and 3 , the handle 22 may be provided with a position lock release 24 , e . g ., having a trigger lever that releases a positioning tooth 40 from an associated detent 36 to allow the valve 14 to be selectively locked in position and unlocked to allow re - positioning . the switchbox 10 features a lock plate 26 that turns in unison with the handle 22 and is positionable in alignment with lock tabs 28 or 30 such that when the aperture 26 a of the lock plate 26 is aligned with either aperture 28 a or 30 a , a pin , padlock , cable or other lock may be inserted there through to hold valve 14 in a specific position . these features may be utilized as safety features , e . g ., to retain a valve 14 in the closed position while maintenance is conducted down - line of the valve 14 ( to prevent someone from opening the valve inadvertently ). alternatively , the valve may need to be locked open to provide essential supply of material or cooling fluid down - line . the lock plate 26 may also have a configuration that allows it to function as a motion limiter . more particularly , the lock plate 26 shown may be limited to a range of motion between stop surface 34 ( valve closed position ) and stop surface 32 ( valve open position ). alternatively , the switchbox 10 may be configured to allow full rotation of the valve 14 or embody different limits on the range of motion of the valve 14 by varying the position of the stop surfaces 32 , 34 , the shape and dimensions of the stop plate 26 , or by utilizing moveable stop surfaces 32 , 34 on adjustable ( moveable ) stops . as shown in fig2 and 3 , detents 36 may be provided on the switchbox 10 to enable the handle 22 ( and disc 18 ) to be movably positioned to a selected position ( representing an associated degree of openness of the valve 14 ). the detents 36 permit the valve 14 to be positioned at a selected intermediate position between the opened and closed positions and to retain that selected position notwithstanding the force of fluid flow through the valve ( until purposely repositioned by an operator ). a spring or other resilient member ( not shown ) may be used to bias the tooth 40 into engagement with a detent 36 . the various positions of the valve , instructions for use and other information may be expressed by indicia 38 a - d that may be embossed or otherwise placed on the switchbox 10 . fig4 - 11 show that the switchbox 10 has a cover 42 and a base 44 , which may be attached by bolts or other fasteners 46 distributed around the periphery of the switchbox 10 . alternatively , the cover 42 may be glued or fused to the base 44 , which would prevent access to the interior of the switchbox , which may or may not be preferred , depending upon the application , e . g ., considering the non - adjustability and reliability of internal components , cost and other factors . a shaft 48 extends through the cover 42 for fitting to a handle or other turning apparatus , such as a motor driven member . the shaft 48 may be provided with a threaded aperture 50 for receiving a bolt or screw to hold the handle 22 on the shaft 48 . alternatively , the shaft 48 may retain the handle 22 by means of an interference fit , a set screw or other conventional means . the opposing mating surfaces 52 , 54 , respectively of the cover 42 and the base 44 have a generally complementary castellated shape , which prevents relative shearing motion and allows the fasteners 46 ( disposed proximate the corners of the switchbox 10 ) to be recessed below the upper surface 56 of the cover 42 without substantially thinning the cover thickness . recessing the fasteners below the surface permits the lock plate 26 to pass there over , as well as facilitating handle operation ( without hitting knuckles or the handle 22 ) on upstanding fasteners 46 and also resists contaminant infiltration at the fastener openings 42 b , 44 b in the cover 42 and base 44 , respectively ( see fig1 ). the upper surface of the cover 42 features a recessed area 58 defining the area through which the lock plate 26 can be articulated and delimited by the stop surfaces 32 and 34 . the lock plate 26 shown is generally triangular in shape , but could be other shapes , depending upon the shape of the recessed area 58 . when rotated to abut stop surface 34 ( illustrated to be the closed position for the valve 14 ) the aperture 26 a aligns with aperture 28 a ( see fig4 and 5 ) in lock tab 28 , allowing a lock ( not shown ) to be slipped through the aligned apertures 26 a , 28 a , preventing the lock plate 26 , shaft 48 , handle 22 and valve 14 from being turned from the closed position . as shown in phantom view , the lock plate 26 can be rotated counter - clockwise to a position abuting stop surface 32 to the open position and locked there via lock tab 30 . detents 36 communicate with a relief groove 60 that communicates with the recessed area 58 of the cover 42 and optionally may extend across the recessed area ( see fig1 ). the relief groove 60 permits materials , e . g ., fluids , which spill or condense on the cover in the area of the detents 36 to flow out of the detents 36 , onto the recessed area 58 and off the cover 42 . the recessed area 58 may also incorporate a groove or gutter ( not shown ) to channel fluids off the cover 42 . in this manner , the likelihood of fluid intrusion into switchbox 10 or damage of the switchbox 10 by solvents is reduced and any fluids which could otherwise fill and obstruct the detents 36 , e . g ., after drying and hardening , is drained before drying . as shown in fig4 , the lock plate 26 may incorporate reliefs 26 b and 26 c to accommodate portions of the handle 22 in a retrofit application . the lock plate 26 has a shaft aperture 26 d which mates with the shaft 48 to assure conjoint rotation . as shown more clearly in fig1 , the shaft 48 has a bead 48 d accommodated in a mating recess in the shaft aperture 26 d which assures a specific shaft - to - lock plate assembly orientation . fig5 shows that the bottom surface 62 of the switchbox 10 may have a plurality of mounting apertures , 64 , e . g ., for accommodating studs or screws ( not shown ). in the instance where the switchbox 10 is attached to a valve mounting plate 12 via bolts , the apertures 64 may be threaded . a plurality of apertures 64 may be provided to match a variety of bolt / fastener patterns and permit the switchbox 10 to be mounted to a variety of valves ( mounting plates or adapters ). an output socket 66 extending from or coupled to the shaft 48 has a central aperture 68 adapted to matingly accommodate a valve shaft in order to transfer rotational motion to the valve shaft . alternatively , the central aperture 68 can be fitted with an adapter bushing 70 ( see fig1 ) for intermediating between the shape of the central aperture 68 and the shape of a given existing valve shaft . an adapter bushing 74 ( see fig1 ) may also be utilized to adapt a given shaft 48 to a given handle 22 . fig7 shows that the base 44 may be provided with an opening 72 to accommodate electrical wiring and may be adapted to receive and cooperate with electrical conduit to protect electrical wires entering the switchbox 10 and prevent intrusion of contaminants into the switchbox 10 . alternatively , quick - disconnect electrical connectors , such as hirschmann connectors , pin connectors or the like may be used to connect external wiring to electrical components , e . g ., switches 76 , 78 ( see fig1 ) inside switchbox 10 . fig1 shows that the fastener 46 may be a bolt that interacts with a nut captured in base 44 . fig1 shows the interior contents of the switchbox 10 , i . e ., within the interior hollow 10 a thereof . the shaft 48 has an upper portion 48 a adapted to couple to a handle 22 and a lower portion 48 b , the outer exterior surface of which functions as a cam . a bottom portion 48 c extends through a bore 44 a in the base 44 to couple to a valve shaft ( not shown ) directly , or via an adapter 70 . while a one - piece shaft 48 is depicted , the cam shape of the lower portion 48 b could be executed as a separate element which could be glued , welded , keyed or otherwise retained on shaft 48 so as to turn in unison with the shaft 48 . in the instance of a removable , separate cam element , a variety of cam shapes could be fitted to the shaft 48 in order to accommodate a variety of different switchbox applications . the lower portion 48 b turns relative to switches 76 , 78 , which are mounted on corresponding mounting plates 80 , 82 , respectively , which feature recesses 80 a , 82 a , respectively for matingly receiving and holding the switches 76 , 78 in a stable position . the switches 76 , 78 may be retained in the recesses 80 a , 82 a by screws , rivets , glue or any conventional means . the mounting plates 80 , 82 are retained by screws that thread into the base 44 . slotted holes 84 in the mounting plates 80 , 82 permit adjustment along the range limited by the slotted holes 84 , such that the switches can be positioned to actuate at a particular angular position of the cam . during installation , the valve 14 can be placed in a selected position , then the position of the switches 76 , 78 adjusted . proper operation can be verified based on switch 76 , 78 output . terminal blocks 86 , 88 are retained in retainers 90 extending from the interior of the base 44 to retain wires ( not shown ) entering the switchbox 10 through opening 72 . alternatively , the terminal blocks 86 , 88 could be retained in the switchbox 10 by screws , rivets , glue or any other conventional means , or the wiring could be connected directly to the switches 76 , 78 without connecting to terminal blocks 86 , 88 . seals 92 a , 92 b and 92 c seal the cover 42 and the base 44 to the shaft 48 and the cover 42 to the base 44 , respectively , preventing intrusion of contaminants into the switchbox 10 . fig1 and 14 show the switches 76 , 78 mounted to the mounting plates 80 , 82 , which are attached to the base 44 . the terminal blocks 86 , 88 are retained by retainers 90 . ( no wires are shown running between the exterior and the terminal blocks 86 , 88 or between the switches 76 , 78 and the terminal blocks 86 , 88 for simplicity of illustration .) the shaft 48 has a lock plate mounting area 48 e featuring a bead 48 d that mates with a corresponding relief in the lock plate aperture 26 d to establish a specific assembly orientation of the lock plate 26 relative to the shaft 48 and the lower portion 48 b ( cam ). the switches 76 , 78 may be used to signal the position of the shaft 48 by the cam shape of lower portion 48 b , i . e ., by being turned on / off due to cam action on the switches , moving a switch actuator lever or button . alternatively , switch operation may be a signal to turn an associated device , e . g ., a pump , on / off . for example , a pump which pushes fluid through the valve 14 may be disabled by a switch 76 or 78 when the shaft 48 is turned to a position representing a closed position of the valve 14 , preventing the pump from exercising the fruitless function of attempting to urge a fluid through a closed valve . using the same example , the open position of the valve 14 may cause a switch 76 , 78 to enable running of the pump . the switches 76 , 78 may also be used to inform an operator or computer controller that the valve has achieved a specific position , corresponding to a degree of openness . for example , a closed valve 14 may cause a switch 76 , 78 to signal to a controller that the valve is in a closed condition , such that the controller ( human or automatic ) will terminate pump operation . further , if a signal is given to move the valve to the open condition , a switch 76 , 78 may inform a controller that the valve 14 has achieved the desired state of openness . the switchbox 10 can accommodate more or fewer switches , each switch potentially performing indicating functions and / or enabling / disabling functions at selected positions of the valve 14 . the switchbox 10 may be used for data collection ( pertaining to valve position over time ) and for process tracking . fig1 shows the switchbox 10 used in conjunction with a ball valve 94 with a t - handle 96 , which , as shown , does not incorporate a detent engagement apparatus . alternatively , the t - handle could incorporate a mechanism to engage detents 36 . fig1 - 18 show the switchbox 10 coupled to a mounting plate adapter 98 having a primary mounting plate 98 a which would be coupled to a valve , like valve 14 or 94 , a secondary mounting plate 98 b which couples to the switchbox 10 , and an intermediate portion 98 c connecting the primary and secondary mounting plates 98 a and 98 b . the coupling of the mounting plate adapter 98 to the valve 14 , 96 may be by screws , nuts and bolts , studs or bolts threadedly received in apertures 64 , 98 d , clamps or other conventional means . fig1 shows a switchbox 10 which utilizes an adapter bushing 74 on the upper portion of the shaft 48 a to receive a mating handle , such as handle 22 ( see fig1 ). the adapter bushings 70 ( see fig1 ) and 74 , mounting plate adapter 98 ( see fig1 ) and the provision of a plurality of mounting aperture 64 patterns , promote the universal use of the switchbox 10 to a variety of valve applications with either the original valve handle or a replacement handle 22 . in the instance that the original handle incorporates lockout features that are incompatible with the switchbox 10 , the switchbox 10 provides any necessary lockout feature , i . e ., via the interaction of a lock with the lock plate 26 and lock tabs 28 , 30 ( through alignment of the aperture 26 a , with aperture 28 a or 30 a and insertion of the lock through the aligned apertures ). it is understood that a manual valve may have lockout features whereas an automated valve may not , in that , a locked - out condition of a manually operated valve will be observable to the operator of the valve and no effort would be expended in futilely attempting to turn the valve . in the instance of an automated valve , the automated valve actuator may not have a means to sense that the valve is locked and the actuator may futilely attempt turning resulting in damage to the valve or the actuator . fig2 shows a switchbox 110 wherein one of the switches is replaced with a potentiometer 111 . the potentiometer 111 can signal a variable resistance based upon rotational displacement , such that a potentiometer gear 113 which is rotated by a shaft - mounted gear 115 can be utilized to ascertain the rotational position / displacement of the shaft 148 ( and an associated valve ( like valve 14 or 94 ) via electronic interpretation of the potentiometer output , such as by an analog - to - digital converter . in this manner , the position of the shaft and associated valve can be determined at any position and is not restricted to discrete positions associated with cam - induced switch signaling . the potentiometer 111 and potentiometer gear 113 can be retrofitted to a shaft 148 having a configuration like that of shaft 48 shown in fig1 and can optionally be used in conjunction with one or more cam - driven switches 176 . because a potentiometer output may be stored or interpreted as zero at any given angular position of turn , there is no need to adjust the angular mounting position of the potentiometer 111 within the switchbox 110 , e . g ., by way of an adjustable mounting plate , such as 80 , 82 ( see fig1 ). a mounting plate , 80 , 82 of an appropriate thickness could be utilized to establish the alignment of potentiometer gear 113 and shaft - mounted gear 115 by setting the height of the potentiometer 111 . the switchbox 10 , 110 may be made from metal or plastic and such material may be selected to be corrosion - resistant and compatible with a given piping system , e . g ., plastic construction for a plastic piping system . plastics which may be used include pvc , cpvc and gfpp . plastic composition is often lighter and may be preferred in applications requiring lighter weight . these comments as to material of composition apply to the cover 42 , base 44 , mounting plates 80 , 82 , as well as the shaft 48 , 148 . the shaft 48 , 148 may also be made from 300 or 400 series stainless steel or aluminum depending upon the application . the switchbox 10 provides electronic indication / control based upon valve position . these features can be conferred on a mechanically operated valve and the switchbox is retrofittable to a manual valve which originally did not have such indication and control capability . it should be appreciated that a manually - operated valve 14 may be driven by automated apparatus or vice versa , by subsequent connection / disconnection from automated apparatus , such as a motor . for example , an automated valve may have the automatic rotating equipment disconnected and a handle installed either temporarily or permanently , in its place . in either case , the switchbox may be incorporated on the valve intermediate either the manual handle or the automated turning apparatus , either permanently or temporarily .
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fig1 illustrates an embodiment of a photoacoustic laser sensor . the methods disclosed herein here may be extended to any modulation based laser spectroscopy such as photodetector - based laser spectroscopy . in an embodiment , a laser spectroscopic sensor is configured to apply a modulated light signal to a sample and to detect the resulting acoustic signal using a phase - locked detector such as a lock - in amplifier . by way of example , reference is made to fig1 , in which a laser spectroscopic sensor 100 comprises a light source 112 configured to emit a beam of radiation into a sample cell 118 . according to at least one embodiment , all elements of laser spectroscopic sensor 100 are mounted on a small footprint circuit board . light source 112 typically comprises a laser . however , any light source capable of emitting a modulated beam of light may be used . in a preferred embodiment , light source is a near infra - red semiconductor diode laser . other examples of suitable lasers that may be used include without limitation , lead salt diode lasers , quantum cascade and interband cascade lasers , fiber lasers , solid - state lasers , other semiconductor lasers , or gas lasers . filters ( not shown ) may be provided between light source 112 and sample cell 118 if desired . laser spectroscopic sensor 100 generally comprises a sample cell 118 which encloses a detector 120 and contains a sample compound of interest . however , in some embodiments , laser spectroscopic sensor 100 comprises detector 120 without sample cell 118 . sample cell 118 may be a multipass cell or any other absorption chamber if using a non - photoacoustic method . sample cell 118 can comprise a number of materials known to persons of ordinary skill in the art , and preferably comprises a sample compound substantially transparent to the wavelength ( s ) of light emanating from light source 112 . preferred sample compounds for sample cell 118 will accordingly vary depending on the wavelengths of light utilized in the spectroscopic apparatus . sample compound may be a fluid or a gas and may substantially fill sample cell 118 . sample compound can , for example , comprise a gas stream in which it is desired to detect the presence of a contaminant gas or impurity . thus , in some embodiments , sample cell 118 includes a pump ( not shown ) to adjust flow of a sample into sample cell 118 . in an embodiment , a pressure sensor 121 such as a resistive bridge pressure transducer is coupled to sample cell 118 to measure the pressure within sample cell 118 . in addition , other sensors may be coupled to sample cell 118 to measure temperature , ph , etc . the detector 120 may be mounted within sample cell 118 and in acoustic communication with a sample . detector 120 preferably comprises an acoustic transducer such as , for example , a piezoelectric element or a microphone and is mounted such that a sample compound is provided between a surface of detector 120 and sample cell 118 . in the embodiment shown , detector 120 comprises a quartz tuning fork . however , the detector 120 may comprise any suitable piezoelectric or resonant crystal material . in alternative embodiments ( not shown ), detector 120 can be any type of detector ( e . g . photodetector ) capable of detecting the absorption of light by a compound . detector 120 may be mounted on the inside or outside wall of sample cell 118 . detector 120 is typically removably mounted into sample cell 118 . in an embodiment , detector 120 additionally comprises a resonator ( not shown ) to further amplify the acoustic signal from detector 120 . the resonator is typically cylindrical in configuration , but may comprise any suitable geometry . typically , sample cell 118 also comprises a collimator 127 to focus the beam of light to detector 120 . detector 120 is in electrical communication with a preamplifier 122 , which is preferably in electrical communication with a first lock - in amplifier 152 . preamplifier 122 is used to convert and amplify the signal from detector 120 to the appropriate level for detection by first lock - in amplifier 152 . in an embodiment , preamplifier 122 is a transimpedance preamplifier . lock - in amplifiers are well - known in the art and typically comprise a low pass filter and a phase - sensitive detector . both lock - in amplifiers 148 and 152 are preferably integrated into the laser spectroscopic sensor . as such , any lock - in amplifiers or other demodulation devices known in the art may be used with embodiments of the sensor . first lock - in amplifier 152 is coupled to microprocessor 124 . in certain embodiments , microprocessor 124 processes the amplified signal from first lock - in amplifier 152 as described in further detail below . in a further embodiment , laser spectroscopic sensor 100 comprises a reference cell 144 . reference cell 144 generally contains a reference concentration of the target compound of interest . typically , a photodetector 146 is coupled to reference cell 144 . however , any device may be coupled to reference cell 144 to detect absorption . photodetector 146 senses the absorption by the reference concentration in reference cell 144 . photodetector 146 is also in electrical communication with a second lock - in amplifier 148 . in some embodiments , a preamplifier ( not shown ) may be disposed between photodetector 146 and second lock - in amplifier 148 . both first and second lock - in amplifiers 152 , 148 are preferably dual phase lock - in amplifiers . a beam splitter 126 may be included in the sensor and can be configured to facilitate division of the through beam of light . beam splitter 126 splits the light signal into a first and second beam , where first beam is directed at sample cell and second beam is directed at reference cell . in further embodiments , beam splitter 126 splits beam into more than two beams . beam splitter 126 may be any suitable device known in the art . in a preferred embodiment , the sensor 100 comprises a single microprocessor 124 such as a low - power digital signal processor . for example , the microprocessor 124 may be a msp430 - class dsp processor commercially available from texas instruments , inc . however , any suitable microprocessors may be used with the laser spectroscopic sensor . other examples of suitable processors include without limitation , field programmable gate arrays , microcontrollers , programmable logic devices , application specific integrated circuits and the like . the microprocessor 124 controls all the sub - systems or functions of the laser spectroscopic sensor 100 including without limitation , diode laser temperature control , diode laser current control , sample gas temperature , sample gas pressure , signal conditioners , waveform generation , etc . it is preferred that all sub - system controls of the laser spectroscopic sensor are integrated on a single microprocessor . integration of all controls in a single microprocessor eliminates the need for a bulky external controlling device such as a computer , or external control hierarchy . in addition , using a single microprocessor 124 consumes less power and reduces complexity in the laser spectroscopic sensor 100 . however , it is contemplated that additional embodiments of the laser spectroscopic sensor 100 may utilize more than one microprocessor . in embodiments , microprocessor 124 includes memory 191 . memory 191 may comprise volatile ( e . g ., random access memory ) and / or non - volatile memory ( e . g ., read only memory ( rom ), electrically - erasable programmable rom ( eeprom ), flash memory , etc .). in a preferred embodiment , memory 191 is flash memory . memory 191 may be used to store data or code ( e . g ., software , discussed below ) that is executed by the microprocessor 124 . the executable code may be executed directly from the non - volatile memory or copied to the volatile memory for execution therefrom . laser spectroscopic sensor 100 may also include memory external to microprocessor 124 . this external memory is generally coupled to microprocessor 124 and may comprise either volatile or non - volatile memory . in another embodiment , a plurality of frequency dividers ( not shown ) are coupled to microprocessor 124 . as defined herein , a frequency divider is any module or circuit which divides a waveform or signal into a lower frequency waveform or signal . in a preferred embodiment , the plurality of frequency dividers are asynchronous counters . however , the frequency dividers may comprise other types of frequency dividers known in art . the frequency dividers are used to divide the waveform generated by microprocessor 124 as will be described in more detail below . it is contemplated that many sensing devices or modules may be in electrical communication with microprocessor 124 to form multiple control loops . for example , in further embodiments , a current controller module 161 and a thermoelectric module 163 are in electrical communication with microprocessor 124 . current controller module 161 and thermoelectric module 163 are also in electrical communication with light source 112 . microprocessor 124 controls current controller 161 to adjust current of light source in response to changes in resonant frequency of detector . current controller module 161 is also responsible for adjusting the central wavelength and the wavelength modulation of light source 112 . thermoelectric module 163 controls the temperature of light source since temperature affects the frequency of the light signal emitted from light source . in certain embodiments , a temperature sensor ( not shown ) is coupled to light source 112 which transmits temperature data to microprocessor 124 . according to one embodiment , the microprocessor draw less than about 0 . 05 w , more preferably less than about 0 . 02 w . low power consumption is an important aspect of the laser spectroscopic sensor 100 , as the less power is used or drawn from microprocessor , the longer the sensor may be used in portable applications . thus , in preferred embodiments , the sensor 100 is powered by a battery such as a lithium ion battery ( not shown ). microprocessor 124 may be coupled to a variety of different communication devices ( not shown ). in an embodiment , microprocessor 124 is coupled to an rf or wireless antenna . alternatively , microprocessor 124 is coupled to a wireless chip . in addition , microprocessor 124 may be coupled to a communications port such a universal serial bus port , a serial port , a parallel port , firewire port , etc . in another embodiment , the laser spectroscopic sensor 100 includes input devices allowing a user to input parameters for using laser spectroscopic sensor 100 . the input devices may be coupled to microprocessor 124 to program microprocessor or adjust laser spectroscopic sensor 100 parameters . example of input devices include without limitation , keypads , jumpers , touch sensors , and buttons . in a preferred embodiment , the laser spectroscopic sensor 100 including all of its individual modules ( e . g . detector , microprocessor , light source , etc .) is mounted or is capable of fitting on a single circuit board . thus , another novel feature of the disclosed sensor 100 is its ultra - compact size . it is envisioned that embodiments of laser spectroscopic sensor 100 will be no larger than a personal digital assistant or a portable mp 3 player , thus , allowing placement of many such sensors 100 in remote locations . in general , laser spectroscopic sensor 100 including light source 112 , microprocessor 124 , and all other electronics consumes no more than 5 w of power , preferably no more than 1 w of power . in operation , a beam of light is generated by light source 112 according to a signal from microprocessor 124 and is passed through sample cell 118 to excite the molecules within the sample compound in sample cell 118 . the microprocessor 124 generally provides a reference electrical signal in the form of a sine wave or rectangular wave synchronized to the light modulation . nonradiative decay or molecular rearrangements cause expansions and / or contractions of a material within sample cell 118 to generate acoustic waves passing from sample to detector 120 . in photoacoustic embodiments , detector 120 detects the resulting acoustic waves and passes signals corresponding to , for example , gas pressure changes in the acoustic waves to first lock - in amplifier 122 . alternatively , detector 120 is a photodetector which measures the intensity of the beam of light after absorption by the sample compound . the change in intensity is proportional to the concentration of the target compound in the sample . both first and second lock - in amplifiers 152 , 148 generally comprise two channels and produces two outputs ( dc voltage levels , x and y ) corresponding to in - phase and quadrature ( e . g . 90 degrees ), components of the detector signal with respect to the reference signal . however , the lock - in amplifiers 152 , 148 may also be single channel amplifiers . the signal from first lock - in amplifier 152 is then sent to microprocessor 124 for acquisition and processing . an output device may be coupled to sensor 100 ( not shown ) and be configured to convert information obtained from microprocessor 124 to , for example , a graphical or numerical display . as mentioned above , beam splitter 126 divides the beam of light into a first beam and second beam , in which second beam is directed at reference cell 144 . reference cell 144 contains a reference concentration of the target compound to be measured . photodetector 146 provides a signal at the wavelength at which the target compound absorbs the light . the signal is relayed through second lock - in amplifier to detect the wavelength error . the wavelength error measurement is then sent to microprocessor 124 . microprocessor 124 performs a computation on the wavelength error signal , and sends this error factor to current controller 161 to adjust the wavelength of light source 112 . this feedback loop ensures that the light source 112 is emitting light at the appropriate wavelength corresponding to the absorption line of the target compound . this wavelength control is also known as “ line - locking .” in additional embodiments , microprocessor controls the wavelength modulation of light source 112 via current controller module 161 . in a further embodiment , software executable on microprocessor 124 allows for data acquisition and processing from detector 120 . as microprocessor 124 receives a signal from detector 120 via first lock - in amplifier 152 , the software instructs microprocessor to store the signal level in memory 191 . the software also enables microprocessor 124 to calculate the concentration of the target compound in the sample using the acquired data ( i . e . signal level ). furthermore , the software may instruct microprocessor to send the calculated concentration to an output device through any communications devices coupled to microprocessor 124 such as a usb port or wireless chip . in embodiments utilizing an acoustic detector , software executable on the microprocessor 124 matches the modulation frequency of the light source 112 and the lock - in amplifier frequencies with the resonant frequency of the detector 120 . the resonant frequency of the detector 120 is variable because of changes in temperature and pressure in the sample chamber 118 . in order to maximize the signal from the detector 120 , the modulation frequency of the light source 112 is tuned to match the resonant frequency of the detector 120 . in addition , the lock - in amplifiers 152 , 148 are tuned or programmed to the detector resonant frequency in order to amplify only signals at the detector &# 39 ; s resonant frequency . a power - efficient and novel method for performing the aforementioned calibration is described below . as shown in fig2 , in a preferred embodiment , the software causes the microprocessor 224 to periodically calibrate or tune the modulation frequency of the light source to the resonant frequency of an acoustic detector 220 . in an embodiment , the software causes the microprocessor to check the resonant frequency every 1 minute to 20 minutes , preferably 10 minutes . however , the period between frequency calibrations or tunings may be any suitable time period . in an embodiment , the software causes the microprocessor to calibrate the resonant frequency continuously . referring now to fig2 , to begin the calibration process , the microprocessor synthesizes or generates a first waveform that is divisible into a plurality of different waveforms at lower frequencies in block 210 . furthermore , the software may cause the microprocessor to shut off light source during the calibration or tuning process . in a preferred embodiment , microprocessor 224 generates a waveform that is divisible into 5 lower frequency waveforms . typically , f is initially the modulation frequency of the light source from the previous calibration . according to at least one embodiment , the first waveform has a frequency of 12 f . however , waveforms of any suitable frequency may be generated . in at least one embodiment , the software causes the microprocessor 224 to generate the first waveform using a direct digital synthesis algorithm ( dds ). however , any suitable methods may be used to synthesize the waveform such as programmable and controlled oscillators , direct - analog synthesis or indirect synthesis . the generated waveform is sent to a plurality of frequency dividers to divide the first waveform into a plurality of synchronized waveforms . that is , the plurality of waveforms may be formed in parallel ( i . e . simultaneously ) or with some other timing pattern . as mentioned above , the plurality of frequency dividers may be a plurality of digital counters . other frequency dividers may also be used . preferably , the 12 f waveform is sent to 5 different digital counters which divide it into 5 respective waveforms in block 211 . in an embodiment , each of the 5 waveforms has one of the following frequencies : f , 2 f , 2 f + 90 degrees , 3 f , 3 f + 90 degrees , where f is the modulation frequency of light source 212 . alternatively , the first waveform may be divided into any waveform having a frequency that is a multiple of f ( i . e . 2 f , 3 f , 4 f , 5 f , etc .). the 2 f and 2 f + 90 degree waveforms are sent as reference signals to the reference and quadrature channels of the first lock - in amplifier 252 , respectively . in addition , the 2 f waveform signal may be sent to detector 220 to excite the acoustic detector 220 if laser excitation does not provide a strong enough signal . the 3 f and 3 f + 90 degree waveforms are sent to the reference and quadrature channels of second lock - in amplifier 248 , respectively . the f waveform is sent to the light source current controller where the modulation frequency is adjusted or tuned to match the detector resonant frequency . therefore , the software executable on microprocessor 224 is optimized such that the only function for frequency calibration performed by the microcontroller 224 is to iteratively generate a first waveform divisible into the 5 specific waveforms . accordingly , a novel aspect of the software is that a plurality of synchronized waveforms may be generated with minimal processing and power draw by microprocessor 224 . a preamplifier 122 converts the signal from the detector to sufficient voltage levels for the first lock - in amplifier 252 to detect . that signal is connected to the first lock - in amplifier 252 . first lock - in amplifier 252 and light source 212 must be tuned to the resonant frequency of the detector in order to generate and amplify the signal from acoustic detector 220 . if first lock - in amplifier 252 and light source 212 are not provided with the correct reference frequency , the signal from acoustic detector 220 will not be maximized . if microprocessor 224 determines that the signal from first lock - in amplifier 252 has not reached a maximum value in block 213 , microprocessor 224 iterates another frequency in block 215 and generates another first waveform at this different frequency . this waveform is continuously divided by digital counters and sent to each respective module i . e . light source , lock - in amplifiers , etc . the software causes the microprocessor 224 to continue iterating and generating new waveforms with different frequencies until microprocessor 224 determines that the signal from first lock - in amplifier 252 has reached a maximum value . in an embodiment , the software utilizes a binary search algorithm to determine whether the signal from lock - in amplifier 252 is maximized . without being limited by theory , it is believed that once the signal from lock - in amplifier 252 is maximized the modulation frequency of light source 112 is matched with the resonant frequency of the acoustic detector 220 . once an amplified signal from the first lock - in amplifier 252 at the specific resonant frequency of the acoustic detector is detected by microprocessor 224 , the software halts the tuning or calibration process . if the signal to noise ratio is high enough , the modulation frequency may itself be modulated and a lock - in amplifier may be used to lock in the resonant frequency . referring back to fig1 , in embodiments of laser spectroscopic sensor 100 utilizing a photodetector ( not shown ), the frequency of the first waveform generally is not iterated or adjusted . instead , the microprocessor 124 is programmed to repeatedly generate a first waveform at a constant first frequency . for example , in embodiments of sensor 100 having first and second lock - in amplifiers 152 , 148 and a photodetector , the first waveform is still divided into a plurality of different waveforms using a plurality of frequency dividers . each waveform from the plurality of frequency dividers is sent to the respective channels of the lock - in amplifiers as well as light source control . however , the frequency of each of these waveforms does not change over time because the frequency of the first waveform remains constant . as a result , the disclosed techniques may increase the power efficiency for photodetection embodiments of the sensor 100 as only one waveform at a single frequency needs to be generated by the microprocessor 124 . nevertheless , it is contemplated that the calibration method for acoustic detectors described above may also be used with a photodetector if desired . the software executable on microprocessor may further utilize pulse width modulation ( pwm ) to control individual sub - systems of laser spectroscopic sensor 100 . in another embodiment , software executable on microprocessor causes the microprocessor to automatically perform pwm power conversion from a power supply for the light source or to use pwm to heat and cool the light source . the cost effectiveness and low - power utilization of the disclosed sensor 100 allows for the application of many sensors as nodes in a wireless sensor network . the sensors may be integrated into common handheld devices with other functionality ( e . g ., cell phones or personal digital assistants ( pdas )) which may be used in self - diagnostic health applications or personal air quality control ( helpful in urban or industrial environments ). a wireless network on the scale of hundreds of nodes would enable applications such as source localization for fire detection , or wide area monitoring for environmental applications . these sensors may also be capable of utilizing environmentally friendly energy sources ( e . g . solar , wind , vibration ), and work together to determine optimum duty cycles for each member of the network . although the present invention and its advantages have been described in detail , it should be understood that various changes , substitutions and alterations may be made herein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims .
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in the description to follow , the phrase injection event refers to a complete injection event , which may comprise sub - events , such as , by way of one example , a pre - injection , followed by a main injection , either as a single main injection , or a series of smaller injections . an injection event may begin at any time after the end of a combustion cycle ( power stroke ) and will end before the end of the next combustion cycle ( power stroke ). thus successive injection events in an engine operating in a two stroke or two cycle mode will occur each engine crankshaft rotation ( each 360 degrees of crankshaft rotation ), while successive injection events in an engine operating in a four stroke or four cycle mode will occur each pair of engine crankshaft rotations ( each 720 degrees of crankshaft rotation ). first referring to fig1 , a cross section of one embodiment injector in accordance with the present invention may be seen . the injector includes a needle 20 , normally held in the closed position by a spring 22 acting on a member 24 pushing against the top of the needle 20 . the injector is an intensifier type injector with intensifier piston 26 actuated by lower pressure actuation fluid acting against the top of plunger 28 , with coil spring 30 and fuel inlet pressure through a check valve ( not shown ) returning the intensifier piston 26 and plunger 28 to their unactuated position between injections . at the top of the injector is a single solenoid actuated three - way spool valve generally indicated by the numeral 32 , with spring return 34 , which valve when in a first position will couple actuation fluid through port 36 to the region above the intensifier piston 26 or , alternatively , when in the second position , will couple the region above intensifier piston 26 to vents 38 . a second smaller spool valve generally indicated by the numeral 40 is coupled to the side of the injector for direct needle control . in a preferred embodiment , spool valve 40 is a three - way magnetically latching spool valve , magnetically latching on actuation , and releasing for spring return on receipt of a small reverse current , though other types of valves , including other spool valves may be used if desired . in the embodiment disclosed , the valve either couples actuation fluid pressure in line 42 to line 44 when actuated , or alternatively , blocks the flow of actuation fluid in line 42 and couples line 44 to a low pressure vent 46 when the spool is released . through the three - way valve 40 , pressure in line 44 controllably pressurizes the region under piston 48 , which in turn controls actuator pin 24 . the area above piston 48 is permanently coupled to the source of actuation fluid under pressure , and accordingly is always pressurized when the engine is running . for piston 48 and the intensifier , the actuation fluid is preferably engine oil , though some other actuation fluid may be used , such as fuel . in operation , with the area under piston 48 vented , spring 22 and actuation fluid pressure above piston 48 will hold the needle closed , even against intensified fuel pressure in the needle chamber . when injection is to occur , needle control valve 40 is actuated to couple actuation fluid pressure to the region below piston 48 , which pressure balances the piston , allowing intensified fuel pressure in the needle chamber to force the needle open against spring 22 . of course at the end of injection , the needle control valve 40 is released , to again vent the area under piston 48 to allow actuation fluid pressure over piston 48 to force the needle closed . of course the needle control valve 40 may be operated more than once , first to provide a pre - injection , followed by a second injection , or even to provide pulsed injections . of particular importance to the present invention are the large storage volumes 50 , also shown in the cross section of fig2 , the generous porting 52 and the ( ball ) check valve 54 . this is contrary to the prior art , where this would be considered energy wasting volume because of its constant pressurization and depressurization . in the present invention , the storage of fuel at the intensified pressure is facilitated by check valve 54 , which prevents depressurization of the intensified fuel pressure when the intensifier is recycled . instead , injection is controlled by the needle control valve 40 . thus the pressurized actuation fluid may be left acting on intensifier piston 26 until recycling the intensifier after it begins to reach the limit of its stroke . this allows essentially all fuel having a pressure intensified by the intensifier , including that stored in the storage volumes 50 and generous porting and that still in the intensifier below plunger 28 , be used for injection , typically during multiple successive injection events . the intensifier need only be recycled on an as required basis , rather on each injection event . the electronic control system that controls injection may also keep track of the amount of fuel injected on each injection event , and recycle the intensifier when required . at idle and during low power settings , the intensifier need only be recycled after numerous injection events . even at a maximum power setting , preferably the storage provided is adequate for multiple injection events . this can allow injection to actually occur during recycling of the intensifier , albeit with a temporarily decreasing injection pressure . this can be useful when an engine goes from a low power setting wherein the fuel at the intensified pressure is adequate for multiple further injections , to a high power setting requiring the injection of more fuel than is left under the plunger 28 . even at a fixed power setting , this can allow letting the intensifier approach the limit of its travel before recycling during an injection event . depending on the relative volumes , initially the intensifier may need to be cycled more than once to adequately pressurize the fuel in the storage volume 50 . alternatively , a sensor such as a hall effect sensor may be used to sense when the intensifier reaches or approaches the limit of its travel to trigger intensifier recycling , regardless of whether injection is occurring or not , or between injection events . as a further alternative , the intensifier may have a displacement less than the volume of fuel injected during an injection event at maximum engine power , and be operated multiple times between and during an injection event at maximum power . the present invention provides all the advantages and eliminates the disadvantages of a fuel rail at high injection pressures . in that regard , preferably the total storage volume , intensifier plus storage in porting and storage 50 , is less than that that would cause a hydraulic lock in the engine cylinder is dumped into the cylinder on breakage of the injector tip . also , the storage volume should not be so large as to jeopardize the structural integrity of the injector . of course , while one exemplary form of direct needle control has been disclosed for purposes of setting the environment for the present invention , substantially any form of direct needle control may be used . also while the check valve 54 is shown as a ball valve , other forms of check valves may also be used . the exemplary embodiment of injector disclosed herein also uses intensifier actuation fluid for direct needle control . alternatively , intensified fuel pressure may be used for direct needle control . this is not preferred however , because of the valving difficulties at the intensified pressure . of course , substantially any method of direct needle control may be used with the present invention , as it is the combination of direct needle control , however done , together with the ability to store fuel at the intensified pressure , that provides the performance and efficiency characteristics of the present invention . now referring to fig3 , and alternate embodiment of the present invention may be seen . this embodiment is functionally the same as the previously embodiment , though has a more convenient mechanical arrangement . the embodiment of fig3 includes a needle 20 with large storage regions 50 and generous porting 52 between the needle 20 and the storage regions 50 . the major difference between the embodiment of fig3 and fig1 , however , is the general arrangement of the intensifier and direct needle control . in particular , needle control pins 56 and 58 extend upward along the axis of the injector to a direct needle control piston 62 adjacent the top of the injector . in the embodiment of fig3 , the intensifier piston 26 ′ is concentric with the needle control pin 58 and operates against multiple plunger pins 60 . in one embodiment , this comprises three plunger pins ( see fig3 a ), plumbed together and ported to storage regions 50 through porting not shown in the figure . between the plunger pins 60 are additional storage volumes 64 , which are also plumbed to the storage volumes 50 . the upper needle control pin 58 in this embodiment is encouraged to its downward most position by a relatively light spring 66 , with an additional return spring 68 for the intensifier piston 26 . the return of the plunger pins 60 is by way of fuel pressure provided underneath the plunger pins 60 from a relatively low pressurized fuel source through a ball valve which subsequently seals against intensified fuel pressures , as is well known in the art . the operation of the embodiment of fig3 is as follows . engine oil under pressure is provided through port 70 to a small spool valve 72 , shown schematically , and a larger spool valve 74 , also shown schematically . the two spool valves 72 and 74 are preferably three - way valves . the spool valve 72 provides direct needle control , and when porting the engine oil through port 70 to the top of piston 62 , holds the needle 20 down against the needle seat to seal the same against fuel at intensified pressure . thus as before , spool valve 74 may be used to port engine oil through port 70 to the top of intensifier piston 26 ′ to intensify the fuel pressure , with the intensification remaining typically through a plurality of injections as controlled by the needle control spool valve 72 . when the intensifier piston 26 ′ approaches the bottom of its range of travel , spool valve 74 is actuated to cut off engine oil communication between port 70 and the top of the intensifier piston 26 ′, and instead will couple the region above intensifier 26 ′ to a vent or low pressure oil sump , typically directly or indirectly back to the engine crankcase . during this time a ball valve 76 similar to ball valve 54 of fig1 is used to retain the intensification pressure on the remaining intensified fuel while the intensifier is cycled to intensify another charge , preferably between injection events . the preferred method of operating the present invention is to operate the intensifier throughout the full duration of the injection event , recycling the intensifier only between injection events . this has the advantages of maintaining the highest pressure , and a uniform pressure , throughout the injection event , providing maximum atomization and repeatability in the injector operation . thus one aspect of the present invention is that it can very substantially reduce the energy loss of prior art intensifier type fuel injectors and methods of operation thereof by using ( injecting ) all or substantially all the fuel at the intensified pressure before intensifying another fuel charge . this may allow a single intensification for use over multiple injection events ( injection over multiple combustion cycles ), particularly at low engine power settings , where depressurizing ( de - intensifying ) and re - intensification a large part of the intensified fuel not used in an injection event is particularly wasteful of the quite substantial energy used for intensification . while certain preferred embodiments of the present invention have been disclosed and described herein for purposes of illustration and not for purposes of limitation , it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes in form and detail may be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention .
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in order for the key 50 to cooperate with the device , an insertion movement of the key 50 into the receptacle 11 is required which is illustrated by arrow 59 in fig1 and 2 . in this connection , the key contacts the cover 14 . this is the axial position 50 . 0 as indicated in a dash - dotted line in fig1 and 2 . in this way , the key is immersed with its front piece 58 in a corresponding cutout of the cover 14 which is an additional part of the receptacle 11 arranged downstream in the housing 10 . this position 50 . 0 of the key 50 will be referred to in the following for short as “ contact position ”. starting from this position , all further stroke positions of the key will be described with the aid of fig5 through 7 . after an initial insertion movement 59 corresponding to a travel stroke 51 indicated in fig5 the key reaches the first axial stroke position identified in fig5 at 50 . 1 . in this connection , as has already been mentioned , the cover 14 is pushed back and contacts its second end stop 29 in the interior of the slide 20 . the opening 13 of the receptacle is exposed but is now closed by the inserted key 50 . the cover 14 is in its insertion position 14 . 2 . in this stroke position 50 . 1 , the key 50 is secured non - positively in its receptacle 11 for which purpose securing elements 21 , 22 , 55 are provided whose configuration can be seen best with the aid of fig1 . the slide 20 is cup - shaped wherein the cup wall comprises , over portions thereof , a radially springy tongue 21 which forms a first securing element . this tongue 21 is initially a first component of the snap - in lock present between the key 50 and the slide 20 . at the end of the tongue 21 a radial projection 22 is provided which represents a further securing element of the snap - in lock . this projection 22 may also provide the already mentioned stop function of the ejection position 14 . 1 of the cover 14 . upon insertion 59 of the key 50 , the tongue 21 performs for a short period of time a radial spreading movement until the projection 22 seated on the tongue 21 engages non - positively a matching catch recess 55 on the key . this is illustrated in fig5 . the catch recess 55 is also a component of the aforementioned snap - in lock . in the following , this first stroke position 50 . 1 will be referred to for short as the “ initial position ” of the key . in this initial position 50 . 1 a non - positive securing action of the key in the receptacle 11 is present . the aforementioned spreading movement of the tongue 21 upon insertion 59 of the key is possible even though the tongue 21 has a radial counter projection 23 at its side opposite the snap - active projection 22 . in this area the housing 10 has a radial cutout 16 illustrated in fig1 into which this counter projection 23 can radially deflect upon key insertion 29 . as illustrated in the plan view of fig4 the opening 13 of the receptacle is surrounded by a cover 17 which has guide means 18 for the key 50 . they are comprised of two oppositely arranged stays 18 on the cover 17 . the correlated guide means 54 on the key are comprised of a longitudinal groove , as illustrated in fig1 and 2 . these longitudinal grooves 54 on both sides provide a good axial insertion action 59 of the key 50 , even when the outer surfaces of the key are not embodied axis - parallel for style reasons . by the way , the aforementioned securing - active catch recess 55 is arranged in the area of this longitudinal groove 54 . the key 50 , in its initial position 50 . 1 of fig5 can be manually retracted by hand in the direction of arrow 57 of fig5 . now the cover 14 returns into its ejection position 40 . 1 of fig1 . the key can be inserted also in a position rotated by 180 °. the removal 57 of the key is however prevented when the key , starting from its initial position 50 . 1 of fig5 has been moved by a further substantial travel stroke 52 into the second axial stroke position 50 . 2 illustrated in fig6 . now the key 50 is even positive - lockingly secured in the receptacle 11 . this positive - locking action is realized initially by the same securing elements 21 , 22 , 55 as in the case of the snap - in lock which previously provided the non - positive connection of the slide 20 and the key 50 . the counter projection 23 provided on the springy tongue 21 of the slide 20 in this stroke position 50 . 2 will contact a radial support surface 19 in the housing 10 which is illustrated in fig6 . this support surface 19 is located below the radial recess 16 which was previously aligned therewith in the initial position 50 . 1 . in the stroke position 50 . 2 the key 50 is thus positive - lockingly secured in the receptacle 14 . removal 57 in the direction of the arrow , also indicated in fig6 is not possible . in the following , the second stroke position 50 . 2 of the key will be referred to for short as “ center position ”. the axial position of the slide 20 of fig5 or 6 is achieved by a further insertion movement 59 of the key 50 . in fig5 the slide 20 is in the initial position identified at 20 . 1 which is the outer position of the slide in the housing 10 . this initial position 20 . 1 is by the way also present in fig1 or fig2 where the key 50 has been removed completely or contacts 50 . 0 the cover 14 . the reached stroke position 50 . 2 of the key 50 is initially secured because the slide 20 , in which the key 50 is received , is locked in the corresponding axial position 20 . 2 . for this purpose , a springy pawl 30 in the form of a latch is provided which has a locking arm 31 and a control arm 32 fixedly connected thereto . the latch 30 is stationarily but pivotably supported at 33 in the housing 10 and projects with its locking arm 31 into the movement path of a shoulder 24 which is also moved upon axial movements of the slide 20 . in this embodiment , the shoulder 24 is provided on a cam which is a component of an axial projection 25 , shown in fig5 of the slide 20 . upon movement of the slide 20 along the travel path 52 , the axial projection 25 penetrates in a telescoping way into a sleeve 45 fixed on the housing . the housing sleeve 45 and the axial projection 25 serve by the way also for receiving a strong restoring spring 40 which has the tendency to secure the slide 20 in its initial position 20 . 1 . for this purpose , it is expedient to embody also the axial projection 25 on the slide 20 of a tubular configuration , and the axial projection has an inner collar 26 on which the upper end of the restoring spring 40 is supported . the upper area of this tubular axial projection 25 , in turn , can serve as a receptacle for the already described cover pressure spring 15 which , in comparison , is much softer . the restoring spring 40 exerts onto the slide 20 a restoring force which is illustrated in fig5 by arrow 41 . in this way , the slide 20 is forced against the end stop 42 fixed on the housing which in this embodiment is formed by the inner surface of the described cover 17 . this stop 42 determines the initial position 20 . 1 of the slide 20 . the cam with the shoulder 24 is still axially above the pawl 30 in the initial position 20 . 1 of the slide 20 . the shoulder 24 acts with the pawl 30 like a so - called “ directional lock ”. the locking arm 31 is positioned with its locking end in the movement path 27 of the shoulder 24 illustrated by the dotted line 27 in fig5 . upon insertion movement 59 of fig5 the cam supporting the shoulder 24 moves against the locking arm 31 of the pawl 30 and pushes it away until the shoulder 24 has reached its position illustrated in fig6 . now the locking arm 31 snaps into place in front of the shoulder 24 and secures the slide 20 against the axial spring load 41 in the axial position 20 . 2 . a return movement of the slide 20 into the preceding axial position 20 . 1 is initially not possible . the axial position 20 . 2 of the slide 20 corresponding to the center position 50 . 2 of the key 50 of fig6 is to be referred to as “ working position ”. in this center position 50 . 2 an electronic control unit of the device detects first , for example , electrically or electro - magnetically , that the correct key 50 has been inserted . the identification means in the present case is a transponder 43 integrated into the housing 10 which is a component of the electric control device , not illustrated in detail in this context . when it has been determined that the key 50 matches the device , the control unit activates its electrical outputs and / or inputs . a locking function of the vehicle steering mechanism , which has been possibly active up to this point , is released . primarily , sensors 44 are activated which belong to an actuator 35 which in this case is manually operated . by means of these sensors 44 the desired different functions of the vehicle are selected . the actuator 35 is comprised in the present case of a pushbutton which , as can be seen in fig2 and 8 , may be integrated into the neighboring area of the same housing 10 . the pushbutton 35 , as a result of an axial guide 34 , can be axially actuated in the direction of the pressure arrow 36 of fig8 and is returned by means of a restoring spring 37 and corresponding end stops into its initial position of fig2 . which actuations result in which functions within the vehicle depends on programming of the electric control unit . one possibility resides in that for a first pushing action 36 of the pushbutton 35 a radio as well as an electronic device in the vehicle are switched on , for example , the parking light , the drive for the window opener , the motor - driven seat adjustment , and the sliding roof . also , other generally conventional control members in the vehicle can be part of the functional control of the electronic device , for example , the foot brake . the aforementioned radio adjustment is carried out in this case without actuation of the foot brake . the further functions of the vehicle can be triggered in the following way . as a result of a second pushing action 36 of the pushbutton 35 , without simultaneous actuation of the foot brake , the ignition of the motor is carried out , for example . when the pushbutton 35 is pushed 36 and at the same time the foot brake is activated , the engine is started . when the pushbutton 35 is pushed again 36 , the motor is turned off . the latter action can be performed with or without actuation of the foot brake . these functions can also be indicated optically in the area of the sensor 35 , as can be seen best with the aid of fig8 . by means of the electronic control device , for the function “ start ” a first diode 46 is activated which illuminates a part of a field 38 with lettering of the pushbutton 35 according to fig4 . light partitions 39 ensure that a partial illumination at the visible side of the pushbutton 35 is possible . when the function “ stop ” is present , the control unit , on the other hand , supplies a second diode 46 ′ with current so that in the neighboring field 38 ′ with lettering the illumination is switched on and the inscription at the exposed side of the pushbutton 35 can be read . locking of the key 50 in the center position 50 . 2 is carried out , as disclosed above , by the locking arm 31 of the pawl 30 which , by means of the shoulder 24 , also secures the slide 20 in its corresponding working position 20 . 2 . the pawl 30 , as a result of a torsion spring load , not illustrated in detail , and the corresponding rotational stops , is normally in its locking position of fig6 . the key 50 is primarily arranged in the receptacle 11 so as to be immersed and projects only with a minimal end piece 56 from the receptacle 11 according to fig6 . in order to be able to release the key 50 from the center position 50 . 2 , the key 50 must first be pushed into a deeper stroke position 50 . 3 according to fig7 in the direction of the shown insertion arrow 59 . this stroke position 50 . 3 is named for short “ end position ”. in fig7 the preceding stroke positions 50 . 0 to 50 . 2 are also indicated in dash - dotted lines . for the transition from fig6 to fig7 the key 50 is pushed only by a relatively small third travel stroke 53 according to fig7 against the axial spring force 41 . the key then reaches its lowermost third stroke position 50 . 3 which , of course , corresponds also to a matching end position 20 . 3 of the slide 20 . this end position 20 . 3 is detected by a further sensor 47 which belongs to the control unit according to the invention . in the response situation , the control unit switches on a drive 48 which is comprised of an electric lifting magnet in this embodiment . this lifting magnet 48 moves a plunger 49 or the like into a working position in which it impacts on the aforementioned control arm 32 of the pawl 30 . because the control arm 32 is fixedly connected to the locking arm 31 , this pivot movement according to fig7 moves the locking arm 31 away from its current locking position . the shoulder 24 is released . the blocking of the slide 20 is thus canceled . as a result of the spring force 41 acting thereon , the slide 20 is automatically returned in the direction of movement arrow 57 of fig7 . the locking arm 31 remains in its release position of fig7 as a result of the action of the lifting magnet 48 until the shoulder 24 moveable together with the slide 20 has passed its locking end , i . e ., up to a point shortly after the center position 50 . 2 of the key illustrated in fig6 . after the release according to fig7 the axial spring force 41 moves the slide 20 and with it the key 50 until the conditions of fig5 result again . the slide 20 stops first in its initial position 20 . 1 illustrated therein where the spring force 41 is received by the aforementioned end stop 42 for the slide 20 . the key 50 however is still located in its receptacle 11 . however , the key 50 now projects with a larger partial piece 28 from the receptacle 11 . it can be easily gripped by hand and can be completely pulled out manually in the direction of arrow 57 . in the initial position 50 . 1 of fig5 the described non - positive securing action of the key 50 in the slide 20 is again present . if a sudden return movement of the slide 20 from the end position into the initial position 20 . 1 of fig5 occurred , the key 50 could be subjected to acceleration forces which would catapult it out of the receptacle 11 , past its non - positive initial position 50 . 1 of fig5 . this can be prevented easily by a suitable damping device 60 . it is comprised in the present case of a damping wheel 60 which is stationarily but rotatably supported in the housing 10 at 61 , as shown in fig1 and 2 . the damping wheel 60 is in tooth engagement via a spur gear 62 with a toothed rack 63 which is moveable together with the slide 50 . the toothed rack 63 can be integrated into the aforementioned axial projection 25 according to fig1 and 2 , where also the cam for the shoulder 24 is located . inasmuch as the sensor 47 is in the form of a microswitch , the corresponding switching cam 64 can be seated on this projection 25 . the aforementioned control unit is connected by means of plug - in contacts 65 provided on the lower housing end with the electrical components in the interior of the housing 10 . for this purpose , a printed circuit board 66 , illustrated also in fig8 can be used which , by means of suitable intermediate bottoms 67 , can be secured in its position in the interior of the housing according to fig3 . as has been mentioned before , the key 50 is released from its positive - locking engagement in fig6 via fig7 in an electro - mechanical way and is returned automatically into its initial position 50 . 1 of fig5 . the prerequisite for this , which is monitored by the aforementioned electric control unit , is that the motor of the vehicle is turned off . when , with the motor turned on , the key 50 in the center position 50 . 2 is pushed in , the described lifting magnet 48 is not activated ; the pawl 30 remains active in the locking sense and catches the key again in the center position 50 . 2 of fig6 . accordingly , an erroneous operation of the device according to the invention is prevented . an alternative can however be provided in that , for the vehicle at rest where the wheels no longer turn , the motor is still running . this is also registered by the electric control unit . when , in the sense of fig7 the key 50 is again pushed in , the motor can be switched off by means of an impulse circuit breaker . the described positive - locking connection of the key 50 is then again released electro - mechanically and can be removed manually via the non - positive catch from the initial position 50 . 1 in fig5 . as has been mentioned before , fig9 through 14 show the configuration and operation of a second embodiment of the device according to the invention which has its independent inventive importance . for naming analog components the same reference numerals as in the first embodiment are used so that in this respect the above description applies . it is sufficient to point out only the differences . in this device , the key 50 has the form of a check card . the opening 13 at the end face of the receptacle 11 provided here is comprised of a slot in the housing 10 . the cover 14 ′ of the opening 13 is in the form of a flap whose open position is illustrated in fig1 in solid lines and whose closed position with removed key is illustrated in fig1 in a dash - dotted lines . identification means for the key 50 are integrated in the housing 10 and are comprised also in the present case , for example , of a transponder 43 . a slide 20 , as provided in the first embodiment , is not present . the holding means and locking means interact directly with the key 50 whose check card contour 68 , as illustrated best in fig1 , is profiled in a suitable way . in this case also , the key 50 can be transferred and positioned within the receptacle 11 in three stroke positions 50 . 1 , 50 . 2 , and 50 . 3 . these three stroke positions are illustrated in fig9 by horizontal lines and are illustrated together with the cooperating components in fig1 to 14 . upon insertion 59 of the key 51 first the initial position 50 . 1 of the key 50 , illustrated in fig1 , is reached where the key 50 is non - positively secured in the housing 10 by a snap - in lock 70 . in this case also , the securing element 71 is comprised of a radial springy tongue but , in contrast to the first embodiment , it is stationarily positioned within the interior of the housing . the snap - in lock 70 also includes a catch recess 55 in the key 50 which is generated by a corresponding edge profile of its aforementioned edge contour 68 . a radial projection 75 on the tongue 71 engages from below non - positively a securing edge 76 on the catch recess 55 . because in this case , as mentioned , a slide is not present , the return forces 41 indicated in fig9 act directly on the key 50 . playing a decisive role for this purpose are the doubly provided restoring springs 40 , 40 ′ which can press via a corresponding plunger 74 and 74 ′ on the lower edge 69 of the key contour 68 . in fig1 one of the plungers 74 is exactly in edge contact and exerts only a minimal restoring force 41 . the non - positive securing force of the springy tongue 71 is in any case sufficient in order to ensure the initial position 50 . 1 of the key 50 of fig1 . a removal 57 of the key is possible against the action of the snap - in lock 70 in fig1 . in this second embodiment the key 50 can also be moved 59 from the initial position 50 . 1 by a travel stroke 52 into the second center position 50 . 2 in the receptacle 11 of the device , as illustrated in fig1 . in this case also , a positive locking connection results in the center position 50 . 2 . the securing elements 81 provided for this are , in contrast to the first embodiment , not a component of the snap - in lock 70 but belong to a separate lock 80 which fulfills several functions . this lock is comprised in the present case of a pawl 80 which is pivotably supported on a stationary bearing 84 in the housing 10 . a pawl spring load 85 has the tendency to secure the pawl 80 in its position illustrated in fig1 where it acts by means of its control arm 82 on the actuator 73 of the sensor 72 formed as a microswitch . this is the case already for the key being removed according to fig1 . this control arm 82 is fixedly connected with the afore described securing element 81 of this locking device 80 . in the initial position 50 . 1 of the inserted key 50 illustrated in fig1 , the securing element 81 of the pawl 80 comes into contact with the profiled area 79 of the circumferential contour 68 by which the pawl 80 is returned against its restoring force 86 . accordingly , the actuator 73 of the pawl sensor 72 is released by the control arm 82 . this is recognized by an electrical control unit provided in this device to which this pawl sensor 72 is connected . the aforementioned transponder 43 is activated and detects whether the “ correct key ” is adjusted . only for the correct key , the first functions in the vehicle are already switched on by the control unit , for example , the current supply for a radio , for the parking light , for a drive of the window opener , a motor - driven seat adjustment , and a sliding roof . upon pushing 52 the key 50 farther into the aforementioned center position 50 . 2 of fig1 , a positive - locking connection is realized in that the securing element 81 has a hook end 87 which engages behind a shoulder 88 of the key 50 . in this way , a removal of the key in the direction of arrow 57 is blocked . by carrying out the movement 52 of the key 50 from fig1 to fig1 , stroke work against the restoring force 51 exerted by the restoring spring 40 has been carried out . however , in fig1 the other restoring spring 40 ′ will come to rest with its plunger 74 ′ 0 against the lower edge 69 of the key profile 68 . the shoulder 88 belongs to an edge cutout 89 of the check card contour 68 . as a result of its return pivot force 86 the pawl 80 is thus again in the initial pivot position , already described in fig1 , where its control arm 82 pushes on the actuator 73 of the pawl sensor 72 . in this center position 50 . 2 of the key the corresponding electric control unit switches on the ignition of the engine in the vehicle . in the center position 50 . 2 of fig1 the non - positive securing action of the lock 70 is no longer important . a radial projection 75 provided on the springy tongue 71 engages still the aforementioned catch recess 55 of the key 50 , but this projection 75 , in contrast to fig1 , is positioned at a spacing from the securing edge 76 providing the non - positive connection of fig1 . based on fig1 , the key 50 can be transferred by a further travel stroke 53 into the end position 50 . 3 illustrated in fig1 . this requires a higher force because the insertion 59 is counteracted not only by the aforementioned restoring spring 40 but also by the second restoring spring 40 ′. the end position 50 . 3 is determined by a further sensor 77 . it is comprised in the present case also of a microswitch whose actuator 78 is pushed on by the lower edge 69 of the key profile . this key sensor 77 is , of course , also connected to the electrical control unit . at the same time , the control unit in fig1 determines the pressed state of the pawl sensor 72 . as a result of its programming , the control unit turns on the starter of the motor . the engine is started . this can be realized in a time - controlled fashion . as a further prerequisite , the electrical control can monitor the pedal actuation of a foot brake . in this way , an accidental start of the engine can be prevented when the foot brake is not suppressed . moreover , in the present case the end position 50 . 3 of the key is reached only in a pulsed fashion , as can be taken from the following condition in fig1 . the afore described securing arm 81 of the pawl 80 can axially move with its hook end 87 away from the shoulder 88 , which effects locking , within the correspondingly broad edge cutout 89 of the key . despite the engagement of the pawl 80 in the edge cutout 89 , this locking action 80 of fig1 is a “ directional lock ” which prevents the removal 57 of the key 50 from the center position 50 . 2 of fig1 but allows a deeper insertion 59 of the key into the end position 50 . 3 . this is a similar action as had to be provided by separate means 30 , 31 , 24 in the first embodiment . in this second embodiment , the securing means 81 , 88 , 89 of the positive - locking lock device 80 take over simultaneously the function of this “ directional lock ”. the afore described further downward stroke 59 of the key is also not impaired by the elements of the snap - in lock 70 . as illustrated in fig1 , the size of the catch recess 55 allows a corresponding undisturbed movement of the radial projection 75 on the corresponding springy tongue 71 . the free space at 89 in the area of the pawl 80 , on the one hand , and at 55 in the area of the snap - in lock 70 , on the other hand , makes possible that the restoring force 41 exerted by the restoring springs 40 , 40 ′ returns the key 50 from the position in fig1 again into the center position 50 . 2 of fig1 . this is so because the center position 50 . 2 is secured by the securing element 81 of the pawl 80 which acts as a “ locking arm ”; the hook end 87 engages again from behind the shoulder 88 of the key 50 . now the position “ ignition ” of the motor as already described in connection with fig1 , is present again . the motor which has been started according to fig1 continues to run in fig1 . in order to turn off the motor , starting from the center position 50 . 2 of the key 50 in fig1 , the key 50 must only be pressed again , a second time , into its end position of fig1 . in this connection , it is not important whether the foot brake is also suppressed or not suppressed . instead , the electrical control can sense via a sensor the brake contact or the wheel rotation of the vehicle . the electrical control unit however also switches a drive 48 according to fig9 which acts on the pawl 80 . it is comprised in this second embodiment also of a lifting magnet 48 which acts via a plunger 49 on a release arm 83 which is fixedly connected with the pawl 80 . the pawl 80 is transferred into the release position 80 ′ illustrated in dashed lines in fig9 . now the shoulder 88 is released . because the restoring spring 40 exerts a restoring force 41 , it moves the key 50 from the center position 50 . 2 of fig1 or 9 again into the initial position 50 . 1 of fig1 . now the positive locking engagement is canceled . according to fig1 , the locking device 80 is unlocked by the described profile area 79 . accordingly , only the non - positive connection of the snap - in lock 70 is present . the manual removal 57 of the key 50 is possible again without problems in fig1 . the actuator 73 is again in the unsuppressed state at the pawl sensor 72 . starting from the initial position 50 . 1 of the key 50 in fig1 , the key 50 , of course , can also be moved alternatively by a renewed two - step pushing action 59 , via the center position 50 . 2 of fig1 in which the ignition is switched on by the control unit , into the end position 50 . 3 according to fig1 in which the motor is started . an erroneous operation is impossible . in this second embodiment the lifting magnet 48 cooperating with the pawl 80 can be used also in order to remove a “ wrong key ” from the device . initially , the securing position 50 . 1 of fig1 and possibly also the end position 50 . 2 of fig1 can be reached with the wrong key . however , at the latest at this point in time , the transponder 43 , or the like , identifies the “ wrong key ”. subsequently , the electrical control unit switches on the lifting magnet 48 which , via the plunger 49 , moves the pawl 80 into its described release position 80 ′. the restoring force 41 exerted by the restoring spring 40 forces the wrong key into the initial position 50 . 1 of fig1 . the motor cannot be started with the wrong key . inasmuch as the vehicle is provided with an “ automatic transmission ”, the selector shaft must be moved into the position “ b ” or the position “ n ” ( both idling positions ) for removing the key 57 in the initial position 50 . 1 of fig1 . moreover , in this device , as in the first embodiment , an electrical steering column lock is provided which , when the key is removed , results in a locking of the steering wheel . when the correct key , which is detected by the transponder 43 , is received in the receptacle 11 , the steering wheel lock is then deactivated . moreover , a sensor in the area of the receptacle 11 is provided , not shown in detail , which , in both embodiments , prevents a locking of the steering wheel as long as the key 50 is in one of its three stroke positions 50 . 1 , 50 . 2 , or 50 . 3 . only when the key 57 has been removed completely from the housing 10 , the steering column lock is activated . also , in all driving positions of an automatic transmission an ejection movement of the key 50 in the center position 50 . 2 is not triggered and the steering column lock is not transferred into the locking position . in this way , erroneous operation can be easily prevented . in the housing an illumination 90 may be provided , as illustrated in fig9 and 10 , which , when opening the door , is activated for a certain amount of time . in this way , the insertion slot 13 is illuminated and facilitates the insertion of the card 50 . 14 . 1 ejection position of 14 ( fig1 ) 14 . 2 insertion position of 14 ( fig6 through 7 ) 20 . 1 first axial position of 20 , initial position ( fig1 through 5 ) 20 . 2 second axial position of 20 , working position ( fig6 ) 20 . 3 third axial position of 20 , end position ( fig7 ) 22 first end stop for 14 , securing element for 50 , springy projection 36 pressure actuation arrow for pushbutton actuation of 35 ( fig8 ) 38 ′ remainder of field with lettering of 35 for 46 ′ 40 ′ restoring spring for 20 ( fig1 through 8 ) or for 50 ( fig9 through 14 ) 40 further restoring spring for 50 ( fig9 to 14 ) 41 arrow of the axial restoring force on 20 or 50 , axial spring load 50 . 0 contact position of 50 ( fig1 ) 50 . 1 first axial stroke position of 50 , initial position ( fig5 ) 50 . 2 second axial stroke position of 50 , center position ( fig6 ) 50 . 3 third axial stroke position of 50 , end position ( fig7 ) 56 projecting end piece of 50 in 50 . 2 ( fig6 ) 57 arrow of return stroke , removal movement of 50 from 11 68 card contour of 50 ( fig1 ), key profile
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the following description sets forth numerous specific configurations , parameters , and the like . it should be recognized , however , that such description is not intended as a limitation on the scope of the present invention , but is instead provided as a description of exemplary embodiments . in the present application , a liquid reflector may be used to increase the light output of an led package . the liquid reflector may increase the light efficiency of the led package without using additional optics , such as half - ball lenses and solid reflectors . as a result , some of the drawbacks of using half - ball lenses and solid reflectors may be avoided . fig1 illustrates a cross - sectional view of an exemplary led package 100 in accordance with the present application . the led package 100 comprises a substrate 110 , a frame 120 , one or more chips ( 130 and 131 ), a liquid reflector 140 , and an encapsulation 150 . the one or more chips ( 130 and 131 ) may be any led chips . in one exemplary embodiment , the led package 100 may include a plurality of led chips , the led chips being of one or more different colors . for example , the led package 100 may include one blue , one red , and two green led chips for multi - color mixing , resulting in a broad - spectrum white light . further information on such multiple chip packages can be found in u . s . pat . no . 7 , 479 , 660 and us publication no . 2009 / 0206758 , which are incorporated herein by reference . in another exemplary embodiment , the led package 100 may include a blue led coated with phosphor for converting monochromatic blue light into broad - spectrum white light . it is contemplated that the liquid reflector may be used in other light emitting packages with light emitting chips , e . g ., lasers and photodiodes . the led package 100 includes a substrate 110 for supporting the one or more chips ( 130 and 131 ). the substrate 110 may be , but is not limited to , any thin film ceramic substrates , thick film ceramic substrates , isolated metal substrates ( ims ), and different kinds of printed circuit boards ( pcbs ). the substrate 110 may further include die attach pads ( not shown ) for attaching the one or more chips ( 130 and 131 ) onto the substrate 110 . for example , a layer of adhesive may be used to attach the one or more chips ( 130 and 131 ) onto the die attach pads above the substrate 110 . the substrate 110 may also include wire bond pads for attaching wire bonds . the led package 100 includes a frame 120 positioned on the top surface of the substrate 110 . the frame 120 surrounds the one or more chips ( 130 and 131 ). the frame maybe formed integrally with the substrate . alternatively , the frame 120 may be a separate element attached to the substrate and can made of different materials , including but not limited to plastic , ceramic , and metal . one of the functions of the frame 120 is to act as a mold for forming the liquid reflector 140 and the encapsulation 150 . as will be described in greater detail below , the height and shape of the frame 120 may affect the surface curvature of the liquid reflector 140 , which may in turn affect the light output and efficiency of the led package 100 . accordingly , the frame 120 may be a variable form frame . the frame &# 39 ; s geometry may be varied according to the specific application . for example , the geometry of the frame 120 may be modified based on different factors , including the number of chips ( 130 and 131 ), the size of the light emitting spot , the shape of the liquid reflector , and the like . in one exemplary embodiment , the frame 120 may be a cylinder or a ring positioned on top of the substrate 110 , surrounding the one or more chips ( 130 and 131 ), wire bonds , wire bond pads , and the like . however , those skilled in the art will recognize that frames in other shapes and sizes may be used as well . the led package 100 includes a liquid reflector 140 for increasing the light output . the liquid reflector 140 is formed by dispensing a liquid medium within and bound by the frame 120 , in a first preferred embodiment , the liquid medium is filled with particles for scattering light . the liquid medium is then cured to form the liquid reflector 140 . as shown in fig1 , the liquid reflector 140 covers a portion of the substrate 110 lying between the one or more chips ( 130 and 131 ) and the frame 120 without any clearance from the portion of the substrate 110 . the liquid reflector 140 surrounds the one or more chips ( 130 and 131 ) without covering the active area of the one or more chips ( 130 and 131 ). also as shown in fig1 , the shape of the upper surface 145 of the liquid reflector 140 is curved . the curvature is caused by the surface tension or surface energy of the different materials within the liquid medium . it should be recognized that the curvature of surface 145 may be modified by adjusting different factors , including the amount of liquid medium dispensed into the frame 120 , the content of the liquid medium , the concentration of the particles , the viscosity of the liquid medium , the geometry ( e . g ., the height and shape ) of the frame 120 , the surface roughness of the frame 120 , and the like . the liquid medium may be , but is not limited to , any lacquer , epoxy , silicone , or glue . for example , silicone may be used as the liquid medium . silicones are mostly two - component ( liquid a and liquid b ), addition - cure silicone rubber designed for the encapsulation of leds , photodiodes , optical waveguide connectors , solar cells , and the like . particles are added to the liquid medium for scattering light . the term scattering is used herein its broadest sense to include both specular and diffuse reflections . in a preferred embodiment , the particles suspended in the liquid medium may include aluminum oxide , titanium oxide , silicium oxide , and the like . these particles create diffuse scattering . alternatively , metal or metal coated particles might be used which reflect light . in one preferred embodiment , aluminum oxide , titanium oxide , or silicium oxide is suspended in a transparent silicone to form a white silicone liquid medium . for example titanium oxide particles with a diameter of a few micrometers are mixed with a silicone material using e . g ., a speed mixer system . the concentration of titanium oxide may be in the range of 5 to 30 percent . the concentration will influence the viscosity and the reflectivity of the liquid reflector . the viscosity can be around 5000 mpa / s and may be adjusted by varying the amount and type of silicone used or the amount of additives ( e . g ., titanium oxide ) added to the silicone . the silicone material should have a low viscosity to permit good flowability . it should also be transparent and should cure quickly . table 1 below illustrates some of the desirable properties . the led package 100 includes an encapsulation 150 for protecting the one or more chips ( 130 and 131 ), the wire bonds , and the like . the encapsulation 150 covers the liquid reflector 140 and the active area of the one or more chips ( 130 and 131 ). the encapsulation 150 may cover a portion of a wire bond without a clearance from the wire bond . the encapsulation 150 may be formed by dispensing an encapsulating material onto the liquid reflector 140 after the reflector has been cured . the encapsulation is then cured . the encapsulation 150 may be a transparent material , such as any lacquer , epoxy , silicone , glue , and the like . it should be recognized in some exemplary embodiments , the led package 100 may not include an encapsulation 150 ; the led package 100 includes a transparent plate ( not shown ) placed on top of the frame 120 and covering the one or more chips ( 130 and 131 ). the liquid reflector 140 increases the light output of the led package 100 because light reflected back into the led package 100 ( e . g ., from the encapsulation - air boundary due to total internal reflection ) is again reflected by the curved surface 145 on the liquid reflector 140 out of the led package 100 . for example , as shown in fig1 , a light ray 160 emitting from chip 130 approaches the encapsulation - air boundary at an angle of incidence greater than the critical angle . as a result , the light ray 160 is totally reflected and scattered back into the encapsulation 150 as a light ray 161 . as the light ray 161 hits the curved surface 145 on the liquid reflector 140 , the light ray 161 is reflected back as a light ray 162 , which passes through the boundary and out of the led package 100 . note that unlike the light ray 160 , the light ray 162 reflected by the curved surface 145 has an angle of incidence less than the critical angle , and as a result , the light ray 162 passes through the boundary while the light ray 160 is totally reflected . the liquid reflector 140 further increases the light output of the led package 100 because light reflected back into the led package 100 by total internal reflection is again reflected by the particles of the liquid reflector 140 out of the led package 100 . for example , as shown in fig1 , a light ray 163 emitting from chip 130 approaches the encapsulation - air boundary at an angle of incidence greater than the critical angle . as a result , the light ray 163 is totally reflected back into the encapsulation 150 as a light ray 164 . as the light ray 164 hits the particles suspended in the liquid reflector 140 , the light ray 164 is scattered by the particles as a plurality of reflected light rays , each with a different angle of incidence . since many of the reflected light rays have angles of incidences less than the critical angle , these reflected light rays pass through the encapsulation — air boundary , thus increasing the light output of the led package 100 . in addition , unlike solid reflectors and half - ball lenses , the liquid reflector 140 increases the light output of white leds as well . as discussed above , when phosphor is illuminated by a blue led , a fraction of the light undergoes the stokes shift and is transformed from shorter wavelength to longer wavelength light , which is emitted in all directions . typically , only half of the emitted light is transmitted in a forward direction and half is transmitted in a backward direction , i . e ., towards the chips ( 130 and 131 ) and the substrate 110 . the emitted light transmitted in the backward direction is mostly absorbed by the substrate 110 . since a half - ball lens is positioned on top of the led package 100 , it cannot reduce the light absorbed by the substrate 110 . by contrast , the liquid reflector 140 covers the substrate 110 ; thus , the particles may scatter the emitted light originally transmitting in the backward direction , thereby altering the light &# 39 ; s direction , sending it back out of the led package 100 , and avoiding it from being absorbed by the package 100 . in one exemplary embodiment , an led package for white emitting leds with a liquid reflector achieves approximately 40 % greater light output compared with an led package without any liquid reflector . further , the liquid reflector 140 has a number of advantages . it increases the light efficiency of the led package 100 without using additional optics , such as half - ball lenses and solid reflectors , thus making the led package 100 more cost effective . unlike solid reflectors , the liquid reflector 140 covers and protects the wire bonds ( and other components ) without putting high mechanical stress to the wire bonds . there is no minimal tolerance between the liquid reflector 140 and the wire bonds . as a result , cost and labor intensive mounting may be avoided . in addition , with no gaps between the liquid reflector 140 and the one or more chips ( 130 and 131 ) and any frame surrounding the led chips , more light may be reflected by the liquid reflector 140 out of the led package 100 . fig2 a - 2d illustrate the different views of an exemplary led package 200 in accordance with the present application . fig2 a illustrates the cross - sectional view of the led package 200 along axis c in fig2 b . fig2 b illustrates the top view of the led package 200 . fig2 c illustrates the perspective view of the led package 200 . fig2 d illustrates the perspective view , partially in section , of the led package 200 . the led package 200 comprises a substrate 210 , a frame 220 , four led chips 230 , a liquid reflector 240 with a curved surface 245 , an encapsulation 250 , a plurality of pads 260 for electrical connection , and a plurality of wire bonds 270 . as shown in fig2 a , the wire bonds 270 are partially covered by the liquid reflector 240 and partially covered by the encapsulation 250 . in this exemplary led package 200 , the frame 220 is a cylinder or a ring positioned on top of the substrate 210 , surrounding the led chips 230 , the liquid reflector 240 , the encapsulation 250 , and the wire bonds 270 . fig3 illustrates an exemplary process 300 for manufacturing the led package 100 ( see fig1 ) described in the present application . at 310 , the substrate 110 is prepared by methods known in the art . the substrate 110 can be , but is not limited to , a thin film ceramic substrate , a thick film ceramic substrate , and any kind of ims or printed circuit board . at 320 , die - attach glue is applied . the glue may be applied with dispensing , stamping , or printing approaches . at 330 , the one or more chips ( 130 and 131 ) are mounted on the substrate 110 manually or using a semi - automatic or automatic die - attach machine . for example , the chips ( 130 and 131 ) are die - bonded and the dies are cured or soldered . at 340 , wire bonds are added to the substrate 110 manually or using a semi - automatic or automatic die - attach machine . at 350 , the frame 120 is mounted onto the substrate 110 using epoxy or silicone , and the epoxy or silicone is cured . at 360 , a liquid medium is dispensed into the frame 120 , wherein the liquid medium is filled with particles . at 370 , the liquid medium is cured to form the liquid reflector 140 . at 380 , an encapsulating material is dispensed on top of the liquid reflector 140 . at 390 , the encapsulation material is cured to form the encapsulation 150 . it should be recognized that process 300 can be preceded by any number of processes performed as part of an assembly process . for example , in one preceding process , the substrate 110 may be processed with cavities and / or embosses for the chips ( 130 and 131 ) to sit on . also , any number of processes may be performed subsequent to process 300 as part of the assembly process . for example , in one subsequent process , the led packages 100 may be tested in matrix form or individually . it is contemplated that some of the acts described in process 300 may be performed in slightly different orders or may be performed simultaneously . some of the acts may be skipped . for example , some exemplary embodiments may not include any encapsulation 150 . accordingly , some of the steps in process 300 may be modified or skipped . in the embodiments discussed above , the reflections at the interface between the reflector 140 and the encapsulation 150 are created by adding particles to the reflector while it is in liquid form , prior to curing . similar performance could be achieved without adding particles to the reflector if a scattering interface can be created between the top surface of the reflector and the bottom surface of the encapsulation . this type of scattering interface has been observed where the materials used to form the reflector and the encapsulation are different . the exact nature of the scattering interface has not been determined . however , one skilled in the art will understand that that a mismatch of indices of refraction or imperfections such as bubbles at the interface can cause the light to scatter when impinging on the interface . although the present invention has been described in connection with some embodiments , it is not intended to be limited to the specific form set forth herein . rather , the scope of the present invention is limited only by the claims . additionally , although a feature may appear to be described in connection with particular embodiments , one skilled in the art would recognize that various features of the described embodiments may be combined in accordance with the invention . furthermore , although individually listed , a plurality of means , elements or process steps may be implemented by , for example , a single unit or processor . additionally , although individual features may be included in different claims , these may possibly be advantageously combined , and the inclusion in different claims does not imply that a combination of features is not feasible and / or advantageous . also , the inclusion of a feature in one category of claims does not imply a limitation to this category , but rather the feature may be equally applicable to other claim categories , as appropriate .
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the connecting pipe 2 , which is mounted on one side , extends from the cylinder - shaped housing 1 into the shower head 3 . the connecting pipe 2 is oscillated at an angle around its middle axle l -- l in the housing . the broad - jet nozzles 4 are arranged in the shower head 3 which is turnable on the connecting pipe 2 . the turbine wheel 5 and the reducing gear 12 are mounted inside the housing 1 , which also serves as a handle . the rotary force of the turbine wheel 5 via the reducing gear 12 is transformed into an oscillating movement by means of the eccentric means 13 , 14 and 15 . said oscillating movement is transmitted to the connecting pipe 2 carrying the shower head 3 . the connecting pipe 2 oscillates as said around its longitudinal center axis l -- l , preferably by an angle of between 50 ° and 80 °. this means that the connecting pipe 2 makes alternately incomplete rotations . the shower head 3 is fastened to the connecting pipe 2 by means of the grooved eye screw 7 , thereby being turnable around 360 °, and is sealed by means of a collar . a nozzle 8 is arranged at the entrance point of the water feed to the housing 1 , said nozzle 8 directing the water jet onto the turbine wheel 5 . the speed of the oscillating movement is controlled by control means 9 with the deflecting plate 10 , which is adapted to deflect the water jet from the turbine wheel 5 partially or completely , whereby in the latter case the water is exclusively fed to the nozzles . by means of the holding device 11 , which is a hinge member , the shower apparatus can be attached to a mandrel . the alternative embodiments comprising the rotating nozzle are shown in fig3 and 5 . the shower head 16 is fastened to the connecting pipe 2 in the same manner as the broad - jet shower head 3 , whereby the connecting pipe 2 is preferably shorter . the turbine wheel 17 is mounted in the housing 16 , the inlet nozzle 18 for the water feed being directed towards said turbine wheel 17 . the reducing gear 19 is subordinated to the turbine wheel 17 , said reducing gear effecting the rotation of the rotating nozzle 20 by means of nozzle bores 21 . the water is through the nozzle 20 internally fed to the nozzle bores 21 , which are conically directed to the outside . the collar 22 prevents the water from exiting between the rotating nozzle 20 and the housing 16 . as shown in fig5 a worm gear 24 can be provided as a driving means from the turbine wheel 23 to the rotating nozzle 25 . the embodiment of the present invention comprising the rotating nozzles 20 , 25 is a particularly attractive shower apparatus . the oscillating shower apparatus can also be combined with prior art nozzles producing bubbling or pulsating water jets . these nozzles may alternatively be replaced by the shower heads 16 or 3 .
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fig2 a - 2 c provide an overview of the benefits of user control over task priority . fig2 a is a flow chart that illustrates what happens when a malfunction in a high - priority task occurs and how user control over task priority is useful to correct the malfunction , or minimize its damage . first , a malfunction occurs 220 with a high priority task . this malfunction causes a processor to execute instructions of that high priority task to the exclusion of executing instructions for lower priority tasks . this “ starves ” the lower priority tasks and prevents them from being executed . for example , one lower priority task may be a user interface ( ui ) services application . when a ui services application is not executed , the user interface for a computer does not function , making it appear to a user that the computer has “ frozen ” and completely stopped operating , even though the high priority task may still be executing in the background . fig2 b and 2 c are timing diagrams 200 , 214 showing how a higher priority task being executed by thread a and a lower priority task being executed by thread b are executed normally , and how the tasks are executed when a problem or malfunction occurs . fig2 b and 2 c also illustrate how that problem is addressed in one embodiment of the present invention . since two threads perform the tasks , thread a and thread b , much of the discussion below discusses the threads , rather than the tasks . thread a initially has a higher priority than thread b , as shown in fig2 c . a higher priority level means that if both threads compete for processor resources , the higher priority thread will receive them . at first , both threads are being executed normally , as shown to the left of time 210 in fig2 b . during normal execution , instructions 206 of thread a and instructions 208 of thread b are executed in turn . at time 210 , the malfunction occurs 220 with the high priority task : there is a problem with thread a . after the problem , thread a requests all the available processing power . since thread a has a higher priority than thread b , this results in only instructions for thread a being executed , and no instructions for thread b being executed . as described above with respect to fig1 and 2 a , this can result in the freezing of the program of which thread b is a part , as well as the appearance of a completely frozen computer . returning to fig2 a , the user notices that there has been a malfunction . the threads are not both being executed correctly . the user may notice that a software program is not executing correctly , or that the computer is frozen , as described above . the user may then enter 222 a predetermined command . this predetermined command causes alteration 224 of task priorities . returning to fig2 b and 2 c , the user enters 222 the predetermined command at time 212 . in response to the predetermined command , the priority of thread b is altered 224 , in this case elevated , as shown in fig2 c . thus , at time 212 , thread b is no longer lower priority than thread a . while a higher priority thread can use all or most of the cycles executed by processor , this is not typically true when two threads are of the same priority level . threads of the same priority level typically have instructions executed by the processor in a round - robin or similar schedule . because thread b has been elevated to the same priority as thread a , and instructions of threads of the same priority are typically executed in a round - robin schedule , instructions 206 , 208 of both thread b and thread a are executed after time 212 , as shown in fig2 b . in another embodiment , the malfunctioning task is lowered in priority . in yet another embodiment , an additional thread may run at a high priority that monitors the execution of other threads and may automatically initiate procedures to allow user control of task priority , or may modify priority of tasks automatically . thus , if thread b is a word processing program as discussed in the example of fig1 above , even if thread a malfunctions , it is possible for a user to cause the word processing program to work correctly by altering 224 the priority of threads . further , additional threads , such as user interface threads , can be elevated in priority just as thread b is , either automatically or through user commands . this means that the problems caused by a malfunction in thread a to other threads can be rectified . additionally , since after raising the priority of thread b malfunctioning thread a is still running it is possible for the user or technical support to determine what has gone wrong with thread a , correct the problem , and / or reduce future problems . in one embodiment , thread b returns to its original priority level after a predetermined time . returning again to fig2 a , after the task priorities have been altered 224 , the user may perform 226 other desired actions . for example , if thread b is a word processing program , the user may save an open document . the user may then shut down or reboot the system without fear of information entered in the word processing program being lost . the user may also enter other commands to lower the priority of the malfunctioning task , to quit the malfunctioning task , to attempt to determine the cause of the malfunction , to record the malfunction for later technical support , or perform 226 other desired actions . in some embodiments , these actions may be aided by a repair application that eases task priority management , and / or automatically repairs or troubleshoots the problem . as an alternative or in addition to performing 226 other desired actions , predetermined troubleshooting actions may also be performed automatically . after the user has performed 226 desired actions , the priorities of tasks are returned 228 to their normal level , in one embodiment . this may occur after the problem with malfunctioning application has been repaired , or the malfunctioning application has been ended , to prevent it from again starving other applications for instructions . alternatively , the priorities of tasks may be returned 228 to their normal level after a preselected time has passed . returning 228 task priorities to their normal level returns the system to its normal operation . fig3 is a block diagram of a system 300 for providing user control of thread priority according to one embodiment of the present invention . the system 300 is part of a computer system , such as a personal computer system . the system 300 includes an operating system kernel 314 . the operating system kernel 314 is a part of the operating system that typically remains in main memory , and provides services for the rest of the operating system and other programs , including managing memory and task management . the operating system kernel 314 includes connections to ports 320 for receiving user input from user input devices . the ports 320 may be universal serial bus ( usb ) ports , apple desktop bus ( adb ) ports , or other types of ports 320 . the input is received in the form of interrupts , such as signals from typing on a keyboard 322 or other user input devices . as illustrated , these user input devices include a keyboard 322 and a mouse 324 , although other user input devices could also be used . the input received from the ports 320 from the user input devices are sent to the human interface device ( hid ) system 316 within the operating system kernel 314 . the hid system 316 allows user input to be properly routed and used by the system 300 . the hid system 316 receives the input from the ports 320 , identifies whether they are different types of events , and if so , passes the identified events to an event thread module 312 . the event thread module 312 is part of a window server 308 . the window server 308 controls the drawing and content of windows to be displayed on the video output screen on behalf of programs running on the computer . some threads of the window server 308 may have a low priority so that the computer appears frozen to the user , while other threads of the window server 308 may have a high priority . the event thread module 312 receives events , processes them to determine the program for which the event is meant , and sends the event to the correct program . there are one or more programs , or applications , that are connected to the window server 308 and the event thread module 312 . in the illustrated embodiment , the programs that are connected to the event thread module 312 include the system user interface ( ui ) services application 304 , the font server application 306 , the repair application 326 , and other applications 302 . the ui services application 304 controls the user interface presented to the user . this includes ui aspects such as sound volume , screen brightness , and other aspects . if instructions of the ui services application 304 are not being executed , the computer will appear to have “ frozen ” to the user . the font server application 306 is another application that helps provide the user interface to the user . the font server application 306 provides fonts for use in the user interface windows of other applications . the repair application 326 is an application that allows the user to enter commands to diagnose or repair the malfunction . for example , the repair application 326 can allow the user to examine files , save information to prevent its loss during troubleshooting , change the priority of applications or threads to temporarily stop the instruction starvation and allow completion of tasks , stop execution of an application or thread , and perform other actions . thus , this repair application 326 may provide an easy way for the user to diagnose , record , or report the malfunction , end the malfunctioning thread , lower the priority of the malfunctioning thread , and / or perform other troubleshooting actions . alternatively , the repair application 326 may automatically repair the malfunctioning thread or perform other troubleshooting actions . when task priority is altered , tasks being executed are not arbitrarily stopped , so the state of the processor , related memory , and tasks being executed by the processor remains known . thus , after altering the task priority to avoid “ freezing ” the computer , the user has access to full functionality of the computer system without extra danger of corrupting data structures or causing other problems that could occur if the state of the processor , related memory , and tasks being executed were unknown . this allows the user to perform such actions as saving data , changing task priority to allow lower priority tasks to function correctly , investigate the cause of the malfunction , and other actions , providing much more freedom to perform actions and avoid problems than the prior art . the system 300 also includes a thread list 310 . in one embodiment , the thread list 310 is within the window server 308 , while in other embodiments , the thread list 310 is stored in a thread scheduler 318 or another location rather than in the window server 308 . in one embodiment , the thread list 310 stores a preselected list of threads that are to be elevated in priority in response to user input requesting such priority elevation . in another embodiment , the thread list 310 stores a list of threads that a user has caused to be elevated in priority , or that have automatically been elevated in priority but were not preselected . in yet another embodiment , the thread list 310 stores both a preselected list of threads and additional threads elevated in priority either automatically or by a user . the thread list 310 can communicate with the thread scheduler 318 in the operating system kernel 314 . the thread scheduler 318 schedules instructions from threads to be executed and thus determines how threads are executed . the thread scheduler 318 preferentially schedules higher priority threads over lower priority threads . the thread scheduler 318 is capable of receiving instructions to schedule threads that are normally low priority as if they are high priority threads . high priority threads are typically executed according to a “ round robin ” schedule , where instructions from each high priority thread are executed in turn . fig4 is an event diagram that illustrates how the components described above with respect to fig3 operate together to allow user control of task priority . in a first embodiment , the input device , such as a mouse 324 , keyboard 322 , or other input device , sends an interrupt , known as a user control interrupt 402 to a port 320 in response to a predetermined user action . this user control interrupt 402 initiates actions that allow the user control of task priority . the user action that prompts generation of the user control interrupt 402 sent to the port 320 can be arbitrarily predetermined . for example , any combination of keystrokes on the keyboard 322 could be used as the predetermined user action . other input devices , or even a dedicated “ task priority ” input device can also be used to generate the user control interrupt 402 . the port 320 to which the input device is connected receives the user control interrupt 402 . the user control interrupt 402 causes the port 320 to which the input device is connected to send a signal 404 , referred to as a user control signal 404 , to the hid system 316 of the os kernel 314 . the hid 316 receives the user control signal 404 , recognizes the signal 404 as a user control event 406 , and sends notification of the user control event 406 to the event thread module 312 in the window server 308 . events , as well as the event thread module 312 , have a high priority . the high priority of the event means that even if a high priority task has starved lower priority tasks and prevented them from functioning correctly , the user control event 406 is processed correctly . the user control event 406 causes the event thread module 312 of the window server 308 to send a request 408 to the thread list 310 to elevate the priority of the threads stored in the thread list 310 . the thread list 310 then sends a scheduling request signal 410 to the thread scheduler 318 to elevate to high priority the threads in the thread list 310 . this means that instructions of the threads in the thread list 310 will be executed , and not be starved of instructions by a malfunctioning high priority thread . in another embodiment , the window server 308 may receive the list of threads to be elevated in priority from the thread list 310 and send the scheduling request signal 410 in addition to the list of threads to be elevated in priority to the thread scheduler 318 . alternatively , the window server 308 may send the scheduling request signal 410 to the thread scheduler 318 and the thread list 310 send the list of threads to be elevated in priority to the thread scheduler 318 . alternatively , the malfunctioning thread may be lowered in priority . in one embodiment , the thread list 310 includes a predetermined list of threads that will be elevated in priority in response to the predetermined user action . these threads allow the user to perform actions such as diagnosing the problem with the malfunctioning thread and saving data in open applications . the thread list 310 may include a set list of threads that are always elevated in priority , such as threads that allow the user to diagnose the problem with the malfunctioning thread . the thread list 310 may also include threads that are dynamically determined . for example , when a user opens an application , threads related to that application may be added to the thread list 310 so that the application continues to function correctly , and the user can save data in case of malfunction . in one example of this embodiment , the threads in the thread list 310 include lower priority threads of the window server 308 , the ui services application 304 , applications used by the ui services application 304 such as the font server application 306 , and other threads that have been predetermined to contribute to allowing the user to correct the problem . by elevating the priority of these threads , the window server 308 is able to correctly function to display windows on the video output screen so that the computer is no longer frozen . depending on what threads are included in the thread list 310 , the user may have full or partial functionality of the computer . the window server 308 may make calls 412 to the threads in the thread list 310 . these calls may be to applications such as system ui services 304 , the font server 306 , a repair application 326 , and / or other applications 302 . the calls may result from threads already running in the system 300 , the window server 308 may automatically make a call 412 to the threads such as the repair application 326 to aid the user in correcting the malfunctioning thread , or the calls may be made in response to further user actions . after the threads have been elevated in priority , the user may issue additional commands to elevate or decrease the priority level of threads . such commands may be entered using the repair application 326 or through other methods . in response to such user commands , the threads 302 , 304 , 306 , and / or 326 can send thread priority commands 414 to the thread scheduler 318 . these commands 414 cause the thread scheduler to elevate or decrease the priority levels of the relevant threads and to schedule the relevant threads differently according to that thread &# 39 ; s new priority level . the threads 302 , 304 , 306 , and / or 326 may send thread list changes 416 indicating what changes have been made to the priority of other threads to the thread list 310 or other storage so that a record is kept of what threads have had their priority altered . optionally , the priority changes to threads may end , and the priorities of tasks returned to their normal level . as discussed above , this may occur after a predetermined time period , in response to user command after the problem with the malfunctioning application has been repaired or the malfunctioning application has been ended to prevent it from again starving other applications for instructions , or at another time . in one embodiment , the window server 308 sends a thread list request 418 to the thread list 310 and receives in response 420 the list of threads that have had their priorities changed to the thread scheduler 318 . the thread list 310 also stores the original priority levels of the threads that have had their priority altered . the response 420 also includes the original priority levels . the window server 308 then sends an end priority changes request 422 to the thread scheduler 318 , along with the list of threads that have had their priorities changed and the original priorities of those threads . alternatively , the original priorities may be stored by the thread scheduler 318 or elsewhere . the thread scheduler 318 then returns the priorities of the threads with altered priorities to their original priorities . fig5 is an event diagram that illustrates how the components described above with respect to fig3 operate together to allow user control of task priority in a second embodiment . in the second embodiment , the thread list 310 includes a predetermined list of some threads that will be elevated in priority , but other threads that are called are also elevated in priority as needed . the thread list 310 may include just one or a few threads . as those threads call other threads , the called threads are boosted in priority as well . this allows any threads that are needed to be boosted in priority , without boosting priority of threads that are not used . similar to the first embodiment , in the second embodiment the input device , such as a mouse 324 , keyboard 322 , or other input device , sends an interrupt , known as a user control interrupt 402 to a port 320 in response to the predetermined user action . this user control interrupt 402 initiates actions that allow the user control of task priority . the user action that prompts generation of the user control interrupt 402 sent to the port 320 can be arbitrarily predetermined . for example , any combination of keystrokes on the keyboard 322 could be used as the predetermined user action . other input devices , or even a dedicated “ task priority ” input device can also be used to generate the user control interrupt 402 . the port 320 to which the input device is connected receives the user control interrupt 402 . the user control interrupt 402 causes the port 320 to which the input device is connected to send a signal 404 , referred to as a user control signal 404 , to the hid system 316 of the os kernel 314 . the hid 316 receives the user control signal 404 , recognizes the signal 404 as a user control event 406 , and sends notification of the user control event 406 to the event thread module 312 in the window server 308 . events , as well as the event thread module 312 , have a high priority . the high priority of the event means that even if a high priority task has starved lower priority tasks and prevented them from functioning correctly , the user control event 406 is processed correctly . the user control event 406 causes the event thread module 312 of the window server 308 to send a request 408 to the thread list 310 to elevate the priority of the threads stored in the thread list 310 . the thread list 310 then sends a scheduling request signal 410 to the thread scheduler 318 to elevate to high priority the threads in the thread list 310 . in one example of this second embodiment , the thread list 310 only includes a few threads or a single thread . for example , the thread list 310 may include only the thread of the window server 308 . this means that instructions of the window server 308 thread will be executed , and not be starved of instructions by a malfunctioning high priority thread . the window server 308 thread that has been raised in priority makes thread calls 502 to other threads and applications 302 , 304 , 306 , 326 . these calls may be initiated through the normal operation of the window server 308 , by the window server 308 receiving further user inputs 504 from the input devices 322 , 324 via the ports 320 and hid system 316 , or through other methods . when the window server 308 makes a thread call 502 , the window server 308 also makes a call schedule request 506 to the thread scheduler 318 . this causes the thread scheduler 318 to increase the priority of the thread that has been called , so that the called thread will operate correctly . optionally , the window server 308 also sends call information 508 about which thread has been called to the thread list 310 so that the thread list 310 may store what threads have been raised in priority . the threads and applications 302 , 304 , 306 , 326 that have been called in turn may make further calls 510 to additional threads and applications 302 , 304 , 306 , 326 . when this occurs , the calls 510 of the threads and applications 302 , 304 , 306 , 326 are sent to the window server 308 , which in response sends additional call schedule requests 506 to the thread scheduler 318 so that the thread scheduler 318 will increase the priority of the called threads and applications 302 , 304 , 306 , 326 . the window server 308 optionally also sends call information 508 about which thread has been called to the thread list 310 so that the thread list 310 may store what threads have been raised in priority . just as in the first embodiment , in the second embodiment the priority changes to threads may optionally end , and the priorities of tasks returned to their normal level . as discussed above , this may occur after a predetermined time period , in response to user command after the problem with the malfunctioning application has been repaired , or the malfunctioning application has been ended , to prevent it from again starving other applications for instructions , or at another time . in one embodiment , the window server 308 sends a thread list request 418 to the thread list 310 and receives in response 420 the list of threads that have had their priorities changed to the thread scheduler 318 . the thread list 310 also stores the original priority levels of the threads that have had their priority altered . the response 420 also includes the original priority levels . the window server 308 then sends an end priority changes request 422 to the thread scheduler 318 , along with the list of threads that have had their priorities changed and the original priorities of those threads . alternatively , the original priorities may be stored by the thread scheduler 318 or elsewhere . the thread scheduler 318 then returns the priorities of the threads with altered priorities to their original priorities . the foregoing description of the embodiments of the invention has been presented for the purposes of illustration and description . it is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the invention to the precise forms disclosed . persons skilled in the relevant art can appreciate that many modifications and variations are possible in light of the above teaching . persons skilled in the art will recognize various equivalent combinations and substitutions for various components shown in the figures . it is therefore intended that the scope of the invention be limited not by this detailed description , but rather by the claims appended hereto .
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the exploded view of the cable cutter shown in fig1 clearly displays the pertinent aspects of the invention . shown is a cable cutter body 10 , an attached explosive actuated cutter housing 12 , a clamp hook 14 , an anvil 16 , and an extended guide bar 18 . these items can be considered as part of prior art and are not claimed as particular improvements covered in this invention . also shown as parts of the improvements included in this invention is an acoustic transducer 20 , a pressure switch 22 , a motor 24 , electronics boards 26 and 28 , a code select circuit 30 , a battery 32 , and a pressure housing 34 . these items are also shown in the cross - sectional view of fig2 . referring to fig1 and 2 , it is to be noted that the cable cutter body 10 has connected to it the explosive actuated cutter housing 12 . the cable cutter body is carried by an installation / removal assembly 62 during the process of attaching the cable cutter to a cable to be cut . the cable to be cut is guided to the anvil 16 by the extended guide bar 18 at which time clamp hook 14 grasps the cable through the action of a spring 54 and a clamp arm 52 . once the cable is firmly grasped , installation / removal assembly 62 releases cable cutter body 10 . following this the attaching mechanism , whether it be an undersea submersible vehicle , a marine mammal , or a human diver , may retreat to a safe position for actuation of a remote triggering signal . the explosive actuated firing mechanism is contained within housing 12 and through access of a breechblock 48 the explosive cartridge may be inserted or removed . a firing plunger 50 is shown as part of the actuator assembly . this firing plunger is pierced by a hole containing a pull - pin 46 when in a cocked position prior , or awaiting , firing of the cutter mechanism . when pull - pin 46 is pulled from the hole of firing plunger 50 , the firing plunger is spring released to cause the explosive cartridge to fire and propel a chisel towards anvil 16 thereby cutting any cable held thereon . pull - pin 46 is shown connected to an initiator wire 44 . the initiator wire is rolled around a guide pin so that its attachment to pull - pin 46 is in a manner that the axis of the pull - pin and the wire are colinear . initiator wire 44 is connected at its other end to a lead screw shaft 42 . lead screw shaft 42 is fitted with a gear arrangement 40 in contact with gearing on the drive shaft of motor 24 . the motor when actuated , causes the lead screw shaft to be moved along its axis putting tension on the initiator wire . this tension causes pull - in 46 to be pulled from the hole in firing plunger 50 which causes actuation of the explosive cartridge in the cutter . during preliminary setup of the cable cutter the motor may be adjusted by operating it in reverse such that slack is provided to initiator wire 44 . this allows the insertion of pull - in 46 into the hole in firing plunger 50 thereby arming the device . control of the motors action and operation is accomplished by an electronic control circuit contained on electronics boards 26 and 28 . in addition , code select circuit 30 is part of the electronic circuit for the purpose of allowing the operator the capability of preselecting a specific signal code which when received will activate operation of the cable cutter . an electronics cover 36 shields the electronics units and battery 32 provides power to the units . in this particular embodiment pressure switch 22 has been incorporated to keep the battery disconnected from providing power unless a certain pressure is attained which activates the pressure switch to close the battery circuit to the electronics . the pressure switch is controlled by the pressure from the surrounding hydrostatic environment received through a pressure switch pressure path 58 . when the cable cutter has been taken to the proper depth and the pressure is correct , pressure switch 22 activates and closes circuits so that the battery will provide power to the electronics . the above components , the electronics assemblies , the battery , the motor , and the pressure switch , must be kept dry from the surrounding seawater . a pressure housing 34 encapsules these components and is sealed through an o - ring seal 60 to provide a pressurized and hydrostatically secure compartment . as a fail - safe measure , should seawater accidentally invade the compartment housed by the pressure housing , the seawater could cause a short of the electronics which would result in premature operation of the motor . premature firing of the cable cutter would then follow . to protect against such an event , a water instrusion fail - safe circuit 38 has been installed . this circuit , which will be described in more detail later , causes a short circuit of the battery if seawater is detected within pressure housing 34 . also shown is acoustic transducer 20 which may be a hydrophone connected to the electronic circuits . the acoustic transducer will pick up a remotely transmitted coded pulse signal designed to cause activation of the cable cutter through the electronics circuitry . fig3 shows the electronic circuitry in a functional block diagram . the acoustic transducer 20 feeds its received signal to an acoustic receiver 78 which basically amplifies and bandpass filters this signal . the signal is then fed to a detection circuit 64 . the detection circuit is displayed in fig3 but is not part of the claimed improvements in this invention . however for reference purposes the functional components of detection circuit 64 are set forth here . they include taking the output signal from the acoustic receiver into a frequency comparison unit 66 which also receives a reference frequency generated by reference frequency synthesizer 68 . the reference frequency synthesizer receives its directions concerning what frequency to synthesize from a code select circuit 70 . this code select circuit has been shown physically as item 30 in fig1 and 2 . if an initial frequency received through the acoustic transducer matches the reference frequency synthesized a signal pulse is emitted by frequency comparison circuit 66 which is transmitted to a detect latch circuit 72 and a timing comparison circuit 74 . at some predetermined time after receipt of this signal pulse timing comparison circuit 74 emits a switch signal to reference frequency synthesizer 68 . the reference frequency synthesizer then synthesizes a second frequency according to directions from code select circuit 70 and transmits this second reference frequency to frequency comparison circuit 66 . the time of the coded frequency signals is measured and compared via timing comparison circuit 74 . upon the first signal pulse emitted by frequency comparison circuit 66 the detect latch circuit has set and emits a signal to timing comparison circuit 74 . if a properly coded second frequency signal comes in and is positively identified with the second reference frequency a second pulse signal is emitted by frequency comparison circuit 66 which also proceeds to the timing comparison circuit . if the time interval between the first detected frequency and the second detected frequency is correct then a signal pulse is emitted from the timing comparison circuit to a motor drive circuit 80 . if the timing was not correct between the two received frequencies or if there was no second frequency to be detected within the code a reset signal is emitted from timing comparison circuit 74 to return detect latch circuit 72 to its original standby condition awaiting a first coded frequency for detection again . a clock timer 76 provides timing control to reference frequency synthesizer 68 and to timing comparison circuit 74 . the motor drive circuit 80 once activated , then causes power to be transmitted to the motor which thereafter pulls the pull - pin and fires the cable cutter mechanism . fig4 shows a circuit diagram for the water intrusion fail - safe circuit . this circuit interrupts any possible flow of current from a battery 82 to eventually power motor 30 prematurely if seawater leakage occurs within the electronics package . it is to be noted that battery 82 shown in fig4 is equivalent to the physical depiction of the battery in fig1 and 2 as noted by item 32 in those figs . the circuit contains a fuse 84 attached to the output positive terminal of the battery . this fuse is in the circuit line which eventually travels to the motor and , once blown , blocks any possible power arriving at the motor . attached at the end opposite to battery connected end of the fuse is the anode terminal of a silicon controlled rectifier 86 . the gate terminal of the silicon controlled rectifier is connected via a resistor 94 to one sensor of a capacitative bridge sensor . a second sensor of the capacitative bridge sensor is also connected to the end of the fuse opposite the positive terminal of the battery . the cathode terminal of silicon controlled rectifier 86 is connected to ground . between the gate terminal of the silicon controlled rectifier and r2 are a capacitor 98 and a resistor 96 connected in parallel to ground . operation of this circuit is activated when water intrudes and causes a resistive circuit to occur between the sensors of the capacitative bridge sensor 90 . such a seawater short is depicted as a water bridge resistance 92 . once this condition occurs this voltage divider network will supply a sufficiently high potential at the gate terminal of the silicon controlled rectifier to allow it to conduct . as the silicon controlled rectifier goes into conduction , its anode to cathode surge current blows fuse 84 providing the desired power disconnect . capacitor 98 prevents spurious noise spikes from accidentally turning on the silicon controlled rectifier . the sensor probes of the capacitative bridge sensor actually consists of two concentric conductive bands etched on both sides of a circular printed wiring board . fig5 shows the circuit for the motor drive operation . a second silicon controlled rectifier 104 is used to trigger operation of the motor . this silicon controlled rectifier is open circuited until a significant voltage is detected at its gate terminal to trigger it to the on condition . silicon controlled rectifier 104 is connected with its anode terminal to the ground side terminal of a motor 106 . this motor has been displayed in fig1 and 2 physically as item 24 . in this embodiment a direct current motor is being used . the other terminal of the motor is connected to receive power from the power terminal of the battery . a capacitor is shown in this embodiment connected in parallel with the motor terminals a and b . the motor may be reversed by applying a negative dc voltage probe to terminal b and a positive probe to terminal a . for this operation , a diode 114 is placed in series with the motor to protect the input of the voltage regulator while the motor is being reversed . current can only flow through the motor because both diode 114 and silicon controlled rectifier 104 are reverse biased . for operation of the cable cutter the motor is turned on by a motor drive pulse received from motor drive circuit 80 . this drive pulse occurs only after the appropriate acoustic code has been received and detected by detection circuit 64 . the drive pulse provides a sufficient potential at the gate terminal of silicon controlled rectifier to trigger it to a conduction mode which closes the power circuit of the motor thereby initiating its operation . a threshold circuit 102 is inserted to pass the motor drive pulse and to prevent noise spikes from triggering the silicon controlled rectifier . the application of this remote controlled cable cutter is quite versatile . a multiple of techniques are available for its employment . fig6 shows its employment for cutting a single cable buoyed to the bottom of an ocean area . the cable cutter 118 is shown attached to a cable 116 which is to be cut releasing a buoy 120 from an anchor 122 , thereby allowing buoy 120 to float to the surface . triggering of cable cutter 118 occurs from a remote signal source 124 shown in fig6 as mounted to a surface vessel which can be placed at a safe distance away from the release point . it is obvious that fields of multiple buoys may be released from the remote signal source by using separate cable cutters adjusted with separate coded signal programs and attached to each of the cables . by such method all cables may be preprogrammed to be cut simultaneously , or in the alternative , may be preprogrammed to be cut in a preselected sequential fashion . fig7 shows an example of multiple cable cutting techniques which could require the preprogramming of a predetermined sequential cable cutting series of events . as shown , an underwater tower 128 is supported from the surface of the ocean by buoys 126 through the use of cables 132 . cable cutters 134 have been attached to each cable 132 . each cable cutter 134 is preprogrammed to be activated upon receipt of its own preselected coded signal . the preprogrammed sequence can be adjusted such that the cable cutters attached to the cables holding up a lower end or base 142 of tower 128 are cut first . this procedure allows the base to begin sinking while an apex or top 140 of tower 128 remains attached to buoys holding it in place . the base 142 of the tower will swing down and the tower will approach the desired vertical orientation . at the time vertical orientation is accomplished , the cable cutters attached to the cables holding top part 140 of tower 128 are activated to cut their respective cables . this then will allow the tower to settle to a position on the bottom of the ocean area in a manner that the tower will be erect . clearly such a programmed method of sequentially cutting cables to control orientation of vessels to be installed in the ocean may be reversed for a similar preprogrammed procedure in cutting cables of vessels which are moored to the bottom but are to be returned to the surface in a predetermined orientation . also it is clear that the remote coded signal may be emitted from a multitude of select sources located at distances removed from the cables to be cut . obviously , many modifications and variations of the present invention are possible in the light of the above teachings . it is therefore to be understood that within the scope of the appended claims the invention may be practiced otherwise than as specifically described .
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turning now to fig1 , a block diagram of one embodiment of a computer system is shown . the computer system includes a processor 10 . the computer system also includes three i / o nodes numbered 20 , 30 and 40 each connected together in a chain by i / o packet bus links 50 b and 50 c respectively . i / o packet bus link 50 a is coupled between host node / processor 10 and i / o node 20 . processor 10 is illustrated as a host node and may include a host bridge for communicating with i / o node 20 via i / o packet bus link 50 a . i / o nodes 20 , 30 and 40 each include configuration space registers designated csr 22 , 32 and 42 , respectively . the i / o packet bus links formed by i / o packet bus 50 a - c may be referred to as a point - to - point links . i / o node 20 is connected to a pair of peripheral buses 25 a - b . i / o node 30 is connected to a graphics bus 35 , while i / o node 40 is connected to an additional peripheral bus 45 . it is noted that in other embodiments , other numbers of processors may be used . processor 10 is illustrative of , for example , an x86 microprocessor such as an athlon ™ microprocessor . in addition , one example of a packet bus such as i / o packet bus 50 may be compatible with hypertransport ™ technology . peripheral buses 25 a , 25 b and 45 are illustrative of a common peripheral bus such as a peripheral component interconnect ( pci ) bus and graphics bus 35 is illustrative of an accelerated graphics port ( agp ) interconnect , for example . it is understood , however , that other types of processors and buses may be used . it is noted that while three i / o nodes are shown connected to host processor 10 , other embodiments may have other numbers of nodes and those nodes may be connected in other topologies . the chain topology illustrated in fig1 is shown for its ease of understanding . in the illustrated embodiment , the host bridge of processor 10 may receive upstream packet transactions from downstream nodes such as i / o node 20 , 30 or 40 . alternatively , the host bridge of processor 10 may transmit packets downstream to devices such as peripheral devices ( not shown ) that may be connected to peripheral bus 25 a for example . as packets travel upstream or downstream on the links , the packets may pass through one or more nodes . as used herein , “ upstream ” refers to packet traffic flow in the direction of the host bridge of processor i / o from an i / o node and “ downstream ” refers to packet traffic flow in the direction away from the host bridge of processor 10 to an i / o node . during operation , i / o node 20 and 40 may translate transactions such as pci or pcix bus transactions , for example , into upstream packet transactions that travel in i / o streams and additionally may translate downs packet transactions into pci or pcix bus transactions . all packets originating at nodes other than the host bridge of processor 10 may flow upstream to the host bridge of processor i / o before being forwarded to any other node . all packets originating at the host bridge of processor 10 may flow downstream to other nodes such as i / o node 20 , 30 or 40 . each i / o stream may be identified by an identifier called a unit id . it is contemplated that the unit id may be part of a packet header or it may be some other designated number of bits in a packet or packets . as used herein , “ i / o stream ” refers to all packet transactions that contain the same unit id and therefore originate from the same node . to illustrate , a peripheral device on peripheral bus 45 initiates a transaction directed to a peripheral device on peripheral bus 25 . the transaction may first be translated into one or more packets with a unique unit id and then transmitted upstream . it is noted that each packet may be encoded with specific information which identifies the packet . for example the unit id may be encoded into the packet header . additionally , the type of transaction may also be encoded into the packet header . each packet maybe assigned a unit id that identifies the originating node or device within a node . in the present embodiment , i / o node 20 may not forward packets to a peripheral device on peripheral bus 25 from downstream ; the packets are first transmitted upstream to the host bridge of processor 10 . the host bridge of processor 10 may then transmit or “ reflect ” the packets back downstream with a unit id of the host bridge of processor 10 where i / o node 20 recognizes and claims the packet for the peripheral device on peripheral bus 25 . i / o node 20 may then translate the packets into peripheral bus transactions and transmit the transactions to the peripheral device on peripheral bus 25 . further , transactions originating at the host bridge of processor 10 may also contain the unit id of the host bridge of processor 10 . in one embodiment , the unit id of the host bridge may be zero . this may be particularly true of a host bridge that is compatible with hypertransport ™ technology . as will be described further below , during system initialization , one or more unique unit ids may be assigned to each node in the system , depending upon the number of devices existing within or connected to a node . for example , i / o node 20 may consume two unit ids , one for each of its two peripheral bus bridges . the assignment of unit ids may be performed by accessing the csr of each i / o node . further , depending upon the type of node ( i . e . which type of peripherals may be connected to the node ), certain unit id values may be reserved . for example , as described above , a hypertransport ™ technology compatible host bridge may be assigned a unit id number of zero . however , in systems using certain legacy operating systems such as windows98 ™, the unit id number zero may also be reserved for an agp device . thus , systems supporting such legacy operating systems may be configurable to accommodate such restrictions . an example of a hypertransport ™ compatible command register of an i / o node containing the unit id is shown below in table 1 for reference . it is noted that a detailed description of the configuration access types along with other configuration registers may be found in the latest revision of the hypertransport ™ i / o link specification . in addition , a description of configuration accesses may also be found in the latest revision of the pci local bus specification . fig2 and fig3 each illustrate a method for initializing the i / o nodes of a computer system . generally speaking , either at start - up or after a cold reset , the host bridge of processor 10 of fig1 may execute software instructions such as bios , for example , to initialize the computer system . the host bridge of processor 10 may then access the configuration space of each i / o node in the fabric by performing configuration read accesses and configuration write accesses . as described above , the unit id of the nodes in 110 fabric may be assigned during a process that is commonly referred to as enumerating the bus in the i / o system . in the following example , the i / o bus is the chain of i / o nodes coupled together by the i / o packet bus links 50 a - c of fig1 . in one embodiment , the i / o nodes are hypertransport ™ compatible and contain one or more command registers as shown in table 1 below . the command register for each device includes such information as the base unit id and the unit count . the unit count is indicative of the number of devices which may use a unique unit id . turning now to fig2 , a flow diagram illustrating one method of initializing the i / o nodes of a computer system is shown . beginning in block 200 , the initialization sequence begins by setting a variable designated nextid to 01h . the ‘ h ’ after the number identifies the number as a hexadecimal number . the host bridge then performs a configuration read access to device 00h ( block 205 ). it is noted that each i / o node &# 39 ; s base unit id ( buid ) may be initialized to a default value of 00h upon cold reset . thus if there are devices coupled to the host bridge , the first i / o node in the chain that has a buid of 00h may respond to the configuration read access to device 00h ( block 210 ). the first configuration read access may read information to find out the device type and whether the device has a capabilities list . the host bridge then performs a configuration read access to determine the unit count for the i / o node ( block 215 ) followed by a configuration write access to the buid register . the host bridge assigns the buid by writing the value of nextid to the buid register ( block 220 ). the host bridge also keeps a device list of which unit ids are assigned to which devices and the unit counts of each device ( block 220 ). the nextid is then incremented by the value contained in the unit count register ( block 225 ). the host bridge continues performing configuration read accesses to determine other information contained in the capabilities list . if the i / o node is determined not to have agp capability ( block 230 ), the host bridge then performs another configuration read access to a device with a buid equal to 00h ( block 205 ). the above enumeration process may continue and unit ids are assigned to each i / o node in the chain . referring back to block 230 , if the i / o node is determined to have agp capability , the host , bridge may set an agp flag or make an indication of the presence of an agp device ( block 235 ). the host bridge then continues the enumeration process by performing configuration read accesses to a device with a buid equal to 00h ( block 205 ) until no devices respond to the configuration read access to a device with a buid equal to 00h , or another bridge device such as a slave bridge , for example , is encountered ( 210 ). in either case , an end of chain bit or other indication may be selected within the host bridge to indicate that the end of the chain has been found ( block 240 ). once the end of the chain has been found , the agp flag or other agp indication is checked ( block 245 ). if the flag is not set , thus indicating that no agp devices are present , the enumeration process of the initialization is complete ( block 260 ). referring back to block 245 , if the agp flag is set however , then the unit id and unit count list is checked to see if the agp device is the first i / o node the host bridge encounters in the i / o chain ( block 250 ). if the agp device is the first i / o node in the chain , the host bridge then performs a configuration write access to the i / o node containing the agp device and sets the buid to the default value of 00h ( block 255 ). at this point , the enumeration process of the initialization is complete ( block 260 ). if the agp device is not the first i / o node in the chain ( block 250 ), the host bridge then performs a configuration write access to the i / o node containing the agp device and sets the buid to the value in nextid ( block 265 ). the host bridge then performs a configuration write access to each of the i / o nodes that has a buid value that is smaller than the buid value of the i / o node containing the agp device . each i / o node &# 39 ; s buid is incremented by the value in the agp unit count ( block 270 ). the host bridge then performs another configuration write access to the i / o node containing the agp device thereby setting the buid to the default value of 00h ( block 275 ). thus for computer systems employing legacy operating systems which require an agp device to have a buid of 00h , the above method may configure the i / o nodes &# 39 ; unit ids to be compatible . it is noted that although the base unit id of the agp device is now set to 00h , the agp device will not use the unit id of zero when initiating packet transfers . the agp device will instead use the other unit ids that are assigned to the i / o node as described in the latest revision of the hypertransport ™ i / o link specification . referring to fig3 , a flow diagram illustrating another method of initializing the i / o nodes of a computer system is shown . beginning in block 300 , the initialization sequence begins by setting a variable designated nextid to the highest useable unit id plus one . in one embodiment , the highest useable unit id is 31d . thus , nextid may be set to 32d or 20 h . the ‘ d ’ after the number identifies the number as a decimal number . it is contemplated that other embodiments may have other useable numbers of unit ids . the host bridge then performs a configuration read access to device 00h ( block 305 ). as described above , each i / o node &# 39 ; s buid may be initialized to a default value of 00h upon cold reset . thus if there are devices coupled to the host bridge , the first i / o node in the chain that has a buid of 00h may respond to the configuration read access to device 00h ( block 310 ). the first configuration read access may read information to find out the device type and whether the device has a capabilities list . the host bridge then performs a configuration read access to the unit count register to determine the unit count for the i / o node ( block 315 ). if the i / o node is determined not to have agp capability ( block 320 ), the value of nextid is decremented by the value in the unit count register ( block 335 ). the host bridge assigns the buid by writing the value of nextid to the buid register ( block 340 ). the host bridge continues performing configuration read accesses to determine other information contained in the capabilities list . the host bridge then performs another configuration read access to a device with a buid equal to 00h ( block 305 ). the above enumeration process may continue and unit ids are assigned to each i / o node in the chain . referring back to block 320 , if the i / o node is determined to have agp capability , the host bridge writes a value of 01h to the buid register of the i / o node containing the agp device ( block 325 ). an agp flag is set or other indication of the presence of an agp device is made ( block 330 ). the host bridge then continues the enumeration process by performing configuration read accesses to a device with a buid equal to 00h ( block 305 ) until no devices respond to the configuration read access to a device with a buid equal to 00h , or another bridge device such as a slave bridge , for example , is encountered ( 310 ). in either case , an end of chain bit or other indication may be selected within the host bridge to indicate that the end of the chain has been found ( block 350 ). once the end of the chain has been found , the agp flag or other agp indication is checked ( block 355 ). if the agp flag is not set , thus indicating that no agp devices are present , the enumeration process of the initialization is complete ( block 360 ). referring back to block 355 , if the agp flag is set however , then the host bridge performs a configuration write access to the i / o node containing the agp device and sets the buid to the default value of 00h ( block 365 ). at this point , the enumeration process of the initialization is complete ( block 360 ). turning to fig4 , a block diagram of the computer system of fig1 including a storage device is shown . circuit components that that correspond to those shown in fig1 are numbered identically for simplicity and clarity . the computer system of fig4 includes a storage device 60 coupled to i / o node 40 . it is noted that storage device 60 is shown coupled to i / o node 40 for exemplary purposes . storage device 60 is a memory medium that may be used to store program instructions . the term “ memory medium may include an installation medium , e . g ., a cd - rom , or floppy disks 160 , a computer system memory such as dram , sram , edo dram , sdram , ddr sdram , rambus ram , etc ., or a non - volatile memory such as a magnetic media , e . g ., a hard drive , or optical storage . the memory medium may include other types of memory as well , or combinations thereof . in addition , the memory medium may be located in a first computer in which the programs are executed , or may be located in a second different computer which connects to the first computer over a network . in the latter instance , the second computer provides the program instructions to the first computer for execution . also , the computer system may take various forms , including a personal computer system , mainframe computer system , workstation , network appliance , internet appliance , personal digital assistant ( da ), television system or other device . in general , the term “ computer system ” can be broadly defined to encompass any device having a processor which executes instructions from a memory medium . various embodiments may further include receiving , sending or storing program instructions and / or data implemented in accordance with the foregoing description upon a carrier medium . generally speaking , a carrier medium may include storage media or memory media described above , as well as transmission media or signals such as electrical , electromagnetic , or digital signals , conveyed via a communication medium such as network and / or a wireless link . the program instructions stored within storage device 60 may include bios software . the bios software , when executed by a processor such as processor 10 , for example , may perform the operations as described above in conjunction with the descriptions of fig1 through fig3 above . in one embodiment , when the storage device holds bios instructions , the storage device may sometimes be referred to as a firmware read only memory ( rom ). although the embodiments above have been described in considerable detail , numerous variations and modifications will become apparent to those skilled in the art once the above disclosure is fully appreciated . it is intended that the following claims be interpreted to embrace all such variations and modifications .
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one way to manage a diverse amount of healthcare information data is a data model . a data model consists of a set of elements and associated values . for example , the elements of a model may include clinical trial data such as protocol definitions , users , roles , experimental results , etc . depending on the size and complexity of the study , the elements used in the data model to represent the components of the study may be very complex themselves , including files , databases , or even additional data models . the elements could be arranged in a flat structure , in a hierarchy , or in some other arrangement . similar models can be used to manage patient records or complaints about healthcare products . there are numerous ways the data comprising the value of an element may be represented . for example , as shown in fig1 , values may be associated with elements in java objects , illustrated in table form in table 102 . an element that has a value associated with it is represented in an objectobject . in the java object represented by table 102 , element “ name ” has value “ kika medical ”. other elements and associated values represent an address . in the corresponding block diagram 104 of the same data , elements are represented by ovals 106 , 110 , 114 , and 118 , while data values are represented by rectangles 108 , 112 , 116 , 120 . in a hierarchical data model , as shown in fig2 , one element in an object may have as its value additional elements , which in turn may have values or contain still additional elements . for example , an object represented by table 202 corresponds to a hierarchical data model 204 , in which the element “ company ” 206 has as its value sub - elements “ name ” 208 and “ address ” 212 . the sub - element “ name ” has value “ kika medical ” 210 while the sub element “ address ” has additional sub - elements 214 , 216 , and 218 corresponding to the parts of the address , each with appropriate values 220 , 222 , 224 . in some cases , the value of an element may be represented by binary data , for example , a digital image . possible implementations of such a feature are discussed below . other data formats can be used , such as comma - separated value files , spreadsheets , or databases . the elements and values of the data model could similarly be represented by xml tags or other data formats . a data model can be very complex , containing a large amount of information . as a clinical study advances or a patient receives ongoing medical care , the data model is continually updated so that it always represents the current status of all aspects of the subject matter . whenever new information is available , it is added to the data model . if a user needs current information about some aspect of the modeled information , they use a client to access the model and find the current state of the relevant data . for example , when new information concerning a patient is available , a doctor will add those results to the model . if the doctor needs to see the patient &# 39 ; s records , he uses a client to access the model and retrieve those records . in some examples , the data model is an extension of the clinical data interchange standards consortium ( cdisc ) operational data modeling ( odm ) standard , which documents a hierarchical structure of clinical data elements . one part of each odm file , known as the metadata , describes the data collected in a study . the metadata consists of definitions , with one type of definition for each of five data levels : the first four levels are container levels while the last level is for actual data values . container definitions are lists of references , which are pointers to other data definitions . for example , the metadata defining an itemgroupdata - level element demographics may contain references to itemdefs birth_date and patient_sex , indicating that the demographics element contains two sub - elements at the itemdata level , and these sub - elements are defined according to the birth_date and patient_sex item definitions and will contain the corresponding data . the item definitions at the itemdata level describe the type of data stored in the defined element , such as text , integer , float , date , etc . in the preceding example , the item definition birth_date would indicate that the value must be of type “ date .” the cdisc standard defines two important elements , repeating and mandatory . repeating , applicable to definitions , indicates whether an element can be included more than once . for example , a studyevent - level element adverse_event , defined by a studyeventdef definition , may be repeated several times in a study , so the definition of adverse_event would include the element repeating with a value “ true .” mandatory is applicable to references and indicates whether a referenced sub - element is mandatory . the contents of a data model are changed by a transaction . a transaction may consist of instructions to add or remove elements , change the values of elements , or change the relationships between elements , such as their arrangement in a hierarchy . a single transaction may contain instructions to make multiple changes to the data model . for example , a transaction may instruct the data model to change the “ name ” element of a particular person and add a “ telephone ” element for that person . a transaction can be a data structure consisting of a subset of the elements of the data model it is intended to change . the values of the elements in the transaction could indicate explicit instructions , such as to add or delete an element . alternatively , the values of the elements in the transaction could differ from the values already associated with the elements in the data model , such that the differences constitute instructions to change the values in the model accordingly . a transaction may be represented in the same format as the data model itself . in some examples , as shown in fig3 , a transaction is represented by a java object as illustrated in table 302 and the data model is stored in memory is a comparable format . block diagrams 204 , 304 , and 306 illustrate the transaction and data model abstractly . a transaction consists of a set of elements in the object of table 302 corresponding to the object 202 representing the data model . the “ name ” element 208 - t has a different value 210 - t than the corresponding element in the data model , so the transaction is regarded as an instruction to change the value of the “ name ” element 208 in the data model . the “ address ” element 212 - t has a value consisting of the command “[ delete ]” 318 , so the “ address ” element 212 will be removed from the data model by deleting the corresponding element from the java object . the “ telephone ” element 310 - t and its value 312 - t are not found in the existing data model , so a new element and its value 312 will be added to the java object . these changes are applied to the data model represented by the java object illustrated in table 202 to produce an updated java object , illustrated in table 202 ′, with updated “ company ” and “ name ” elements 206 ′ and 208 ′, a new value 306 ′ for the name element 208 ′, and new “ telephone ” element 310 having value 312 . in some examples , a minimum set of elements and corresponding values must be included in every transaction . such elements may include a global unique identifier ( guid ) ( assigned by a system that processes the transactions ), the date of the transaction , the user id of the author of the modification , a reason for the modification , the guid of the previous transaction , and references to binaries , if any . a transaction may implicitly indicate when data is to be added or changed , simply by including the new data , or it may be required in a particular implementation to explicitly indicate for each element referenced whether data is being added , changed , or deleted . two different components are used to store the data model in a complementary manner , as shown in fig4 . the short term storage 402 runs as an application on a computer system and maintains a representation of the current state of the data model . the model 404 consists of data in memory representing each element and its current value . by applying the instructions of each transaction to the data model currently in memory as the instructions are received , the representation of the model in the short term storage always represents the current state of the data model as of the most recent transaction , and can be quickly accessed to determine what that state is . when a new transaction 406 is received , the short term storage 402 analyses the transaction to determine what changes are to be made to the data model , and it makes those changes to the representation of the model 404 currently in memory . the short term storage may be limited for technical or other reasons . for example , if the data representing the current state of the data model is stored in volatile memory , that data will be lost if the computer hosting it is shut down . storing the data in volatile memory may have advantages , such as allowing faster access to current information about the state of the data model to users or other processes that may require such information . the data representing the model could also be stored in a non - volatile memory , such as a hard disk or flash memory , with advantages and disadvantages corresponding to elements of the technology used . the long term storage component 410 also runs , on a computer system , which may be the same system as the one running the short term storage 402 , or may be separate . it stores each new transaction 406 as it is received , without analyzing the transaction or applying it to the data model . transactions are associated with a sequence value indicating the order in which they were received . a sequence of transactions 406 a , b , etc . is referred to as a “ series .” when it is desired to reconstruct the current state of the data model , for example , after the server hosting the short term storage has been rebooted , this is done by starting with an empty model , containing no elements or a default set of elements , and then loading a series of transactions from storage and applying them to the data model according to their sequence numbers to reproduce the process that led to the present state of the data model . because conditions external to the data model may change between the time a transaction is stored and the time it is used to recreate a change to the data model , it is desirable that the data values in a transaction contain actual values , rather than references to external parameters . for example , if an element is to have a value representing the date on which it was stored , the corresponding value in the transaction needs to represent the actual date , i . e ., “ 1 jan . 2006 ,” not a pointer to that value in a computer system , for example , the system clock , which may change , even though such a pointer would have been sufficient on the day the transaction was stored . to assure the consistency of the current state in the short term storage and the sequence of transactions to reproduce that state in the long term storage , each transaction is applied to the current state and stored in long term storage substantially in parallel . if a transaction is applied to the current state and not stored in the long term storage , and the current state is then reconstructed from the stored sequence of transactions , the reconstructed state will not match the previous current state . likewise , if a transaction is stored but not applied by the short term storage , the current state in memory will not represent the actual state of the project . the storage of individual transactions and information about the order in which they were applied to the model provides several benefits . it effectively gives the model a time dimension , allowing a user to look back in time and reconstruct the model as it was at any point . this allows retrieval of the state of any part of the model at some point in time , and traceability of how the model evolved . for example , a researcher can see how the data describing a particular patient changed over time . in the example of a clinical study , a model can contain not only the data collected in the course of the study , but all information pertaining to the study , including test procedures , policies , forms , i . e ., the entire protocol . the transaction storage system allows this information to also be reconstructed , for example to determine whether intake questions were changed after some patients had already started the trial . without such traceability , costly and time - consuming computations may be required to discover such a fact . this traceability also allows statistical analysis of the entire population of a study at any historical point in time . the state of the model can be recreated , by replaying all the transactions up to that point , and then the model as of that point used as the source of data for analysis . if the analysis concerns only a subset of the population , or only a particular symptom , only the transactions affecting the relevant population or symptom need to be replayed , allowing for even faster reproduction and extraction of the needed data . auditing is also improved by this model and transaction system . for example , in a clinical trial , the death of a patient requires that the trial stop . if it is learned that a death occurred and the trial continued , auditors can use the transaction history to rebuild the model as it stood at the time of the death to see what else was going on , who was aware of the situation , and why the trial was not halted . such auditing using the traceability provided by the transaction history can also reveal fraud , misrepresentations , and defective data . as shown in fig5 , a controller module is another software application , and is configured to manage the flow of transactions from clients that access the data model . it may or may not operate on the same computer system as the other components . when a transaction 406 is received , a controller 502 checks it against a set of rules to confirm that the changes it instructs to the data model are valid . the controller then provides the transaction to both the short term storage 402 and the long term storage 410 for appropriate handling . to insure reliability , the controller analyses the changes that will be made by the transaction and makes a backup copy 504 of the part 506 of the data model , as represented in the current state , that is about to be modified by the transaction . the controller may be configured to backup a larger part of the data model than will clearly be affected by the changes , to assure that the backup is adequate . the transaction is then applied to the model by the short term storage 402 , generating a new revision and current state . the state may then be checked against a set of rules to assure that the revised data model continues to comply with them . if a rule is violated , the transaction is rejected and the backup is used to restore the data model to the state that existed before the revision . if no rule is violated , then the controller 502 instructs the long term storage 410 to store the transaction . if for some reason the storage of the transaction is not successful , then the backup 504 is again used to restore the data model to its previous state . even though no rules were violated by the changes , since they were not stored , the revised state will not be recreated when the sequence of transactions is again applied , so the current state should not reflect the new changes . the controller also regulates access to the data model to prevent any inconsistencies . when a transaction is received , the controller applies a lock such that only a request handler handling the current transaction can modify the data model . this prevents other clients from submitting transactions to change the model at the same time . once the transaction is stored , the lock is withdrawn . likewise , when a client is reading the model , the controller may apply a read - only lock so that other clients may also read the model , but none will be able to change it while it is being read . the long term storage component is made up of two layers : the dispatcher and storage for series of transactions , as shown in fig6 . the sequences of transactions comprising each series may be stored on a single server or on multiple servers , depending on the needs of the system . servers storing the transactions may be integrated with the dispatcher or other components , or may be remote , or both . the dispatcher 602 receives transactions 406 that have been accepted by the controller and applied to the corresponding data model and adds them to the appropriate series . several instances 604 , 606 , 608 of a particular series may be maintained for backup purposes , such that a problem with one instance will not fatally jeopardize the integrity of the data model . each instance may be stored in a separate storage location 634 , 636 , 638 . the dispatcher 602 monitors the state of each instance . if the storage fails to add a transaction to an instance of a series , the dispatcher identifies that instance as no longer available , since writing any additional transactions to it might break the integrity of the sequence represented by that series . instances of series may be synchronous or asynchronous . a synchronous instance 608 writes each transaction to its corresponding storage location 638 as it is received , with the dispatcher waiting for each write operation to complete before sending the next transaction . asynchronous instances 604 , 606 use queues 614 , 616 of transactions to be stored in a first - in , first - out manner in corresponding storage locations 634 , 636 . the dispatcher 602 sends transactions to each queue as the transactions are ready , and the corresponding storage location takes them from the queue and writes them to the stored instance 644 , 646 of the series as fast as it is able . synchronous instances tend to provide slower access to the data , as the system has to wait until the storage operation is completed before moving on to the next one . asynchronous instances can allow faster response , allowing the system to move on while the storage is being executed , but may be less reliable . a typical installation will have at least one synchronous instance , since it is important to have at least one reliable transaction history always available . the choice of how many of each kind to use will depend on the reliability and performance requirements and available resources of a particular implementation . queues may have a limited size , in which case , if a queue fills up , the dispatcher may have to stop sending , transactions to the corresponding instance , possibly interrupting the sequence of transactions in that instance . when the dispatcher has stopped writing to an instance because its sequence of transactions has been interrupted , it may later be able to use a synchronizing tool to synchronize the series in that instance with another that was not interrupted so that the instance may be returned to service . the synchronizing tool reads from a valid instance the transactions that are missing from the interrupted series and inserts them into that instance of the series until it is up - to - date . this process could be automated by equipping the storage component with the ability to draw transactions from one instance and write them to other instances to assure that each stays up to date without the dispatcher having to monitor each instance &# 39 ; s status . the details of how a sequence of transactions constituting a series is stored will vary according to the format of the transaction . in one example , a transaction is represented by an xml file , and a series comprises a set of such xml files . each transaction file may contain a tag representing the sequence number of the transaction . alternatively , a separate list of the order of transactions in a particular series may be maintained , using unique identifiers associated with each transaction . if a value of an element in the data model is to include a binary file , which is not ordinarily accommodated by the file type of the transaction , as is the case with xml , the transaction may include an identification of the binary file , with the binary file maintained in a separate file . in one example , as shown in fig7 , an instance 704 of a series is stored locally in a directory of the file system of the server 702 hosting the dispatcher 602 . the layout of the storage directory and the file system can be optimized for reliability and speed . setup of such an arrangement may require only that the file system of the host computer have available resources . in another example , also shown in fig7 , instances 706 , 708 of a series are stored in remote file systems on servers 716 , 718 . commands to store , configure , or access stored instances can be sent to the remote file systems over the a network 720 , for example , using https or other protocols . commands may also be sent using a dedicated data connection between the local system hosting the dispatcher and the remote file system , using a virtual private network or other internet connection , or in other ways . using a remote file system allows that file system to differ from the file system used by the local computer . it may be advantageous to use an asynchronous instance on a remote file system due to latency of the network communications . proxies 734 , 736 for instances 706 , 708 stored on remote file systems may be configured in the local server 702 , for example , so that the dispatcher 602 can access the stored instances as if they were local without being required to be configured according to the details of the file systems used on the remote servers 716 , 718 . in one example , shown in fig8 , an additional server 804 maintains a duplicate of the current state of the data model , which is maintained in short term storage 402 on a server 802 . the additional server 804 reads transactions stored in the long term storage component 410 and applies each transaction to the locally - maintained duplicate 810 of the data model . to make changes to the data model , a client 806 must send a transaction to the primary server &# 39 ; 802 . the client can retrieve information about the current state of the model from the short term storage as usual . periodically , the additional server 802 requests new transactions from the long term storage 410 on server 802 . if any new transactions have been incorporated into the model since the last request , such transactions are transmitted to the server 802 and incorporated into the duplicate model 810 . a client 808 can access the duplicate model for purposes that only require read access , such as gathering statistics or reporting on the state of the data model . data 832 is transmitted to the client 808 . such an arrangement may reduce communication latency for clients that have a more direct connection to the additional server 804 than to the primary server 802 . it may also reduce the load on the primary server , as fewer clients will require its resources . it may also improve the integrity of the data model , for example by allowing certain clients to only access the secondary server , such that they can never make changes to the model . in one example , as shown in fig9 , if a client 902 needs to add a binary file 904 to the data model , it uploads the binary file to the server 906 hosting the controller ( not shown ). the server assigns a unique identifier 908 to the binary file , similar to identifiers assigned to transaction files , and sends a copy 910 of the file to the storage locations 914 responsible for each instance 912 of the series that will contain the corresponding transaction . the storage locations 914 each place the binary file 904 in a temporary storage location 916 . the server then communicates the identifier 908 of the binary file to the client . the client then sends a transaction 918 as an xml file , with one tag representing the binary file and containing the identifier of the file as its value . if the transaction is successfully added to the data model by the short term storage ( not shown ), it is sent to the long term storage ( not shown ) in the same manner as any other transaction . each storage location 914 for an instance of the series that receives the transaction 918 referencing the binary file 904 looks for the binary file in its temporary binary location 916 and moves it to a permanent location 920 . if the file is not found , the transaction fails and is removed from the data model as with any other failed transaction . the insertion of the transaction into at least one instance of the series and the moving of the binary into the permanent storage of the corresponding storage component are handled as a single operation to assure consistency . if a single binary file is referenced by more than one transaction , only a single copy of the binary needs to be placed in permanent storage . when a transaction is received referencing such a binary file , the transaction is added to the series as normal with no additional steps required . since the stored sequence of transactions is used to recreate the current state of the data model each time the short term storage is loaded , it is easy to recover older versions of the model . for example , as shown in fig1 a , the process of recreating the model can proceed as normal , starting with an empty model 1004 , with transactions 1002 a - e resulting in revisions of the model 1004 a - e . if a client 1006 wants to know what was in the model at a specific time , for example the time transaction 1002 c was entered , the reconstruction can be halted after that transaction is applied , and a copy of the corresponding revision of the model 1004 c sent to the client . similarly , as shown in fig1 b , if a client 1010 is interested in only a subset of the data represented by the model corresponding to element b , the current state or any revision state of that data may be recreated without recreating the entire data model . this is accomplished by applying only those transactions 1002 b and 1002 d that affect the element b , creating reduced versions of the model 1008 b and 1008 d , thus saving processing time and memory required to store the model . because the transactions can be represented as versions of the data model containing only data relevant to the changes made by that transaction , they can be easily filtered to find the set of transactions necessary to see the current state of any subset of the data model . for example , a set of elements in the model may represent a form a with information pertaining to a patient x , while other sets of elements may represent copies of form a with information about other patients . the set of transactions that modify sub - elements of form a for patient x can be applied to reconstruct only the form a for that patient , without reconstructing copies of form a for other patients or any parts of the model . if the data model is organized hierarchically , handling of elements in transactions may be more complex . for example , as shown in fig1 , in a hierarchical arrangement , elements may be categorized as ancestor or child nodes , e . g ., nodes a and e , respectively , and a given node could be of both types simultaneously , e . g ., node c , which is a child of node a and an ancestor of node e . a transaction 1102 must contain elements corresponding to each ancestor of any child nodes it modifies . for example , if child nodes d and f are added , all of their ancestors , a and c , must be present in the transaction and marked either to be inserted themselves or to be updated to recognize the child . if a child node e is modified , all of its ancestors are marked to also be modified . if a child node g is deleted , all of its ancestors , nodes a and b are marked either to be deleted or to be updated . all the changes in transaction 1102 are applied to the present revision of the model 1104 to produce a revised version 1104 ′. elements pertaining to the hierarchy are included in each node to facilitate model reconstruction and history recovery . in one example , these elements include the guid of the last transaction that inserted or updated any children of the node and the date that transaction was executed . with these elements , the system can rapidly discover which is the last transaction that modified a data node and from that , find who made the modification and whether other nodes were modified at the same time . for example , if a node corresponds to a particular patient , a user may want to know who was the last researcher to update that patient &# 39 ; s information , and which other patients &# 39 ; information did that researcher alter at the same time . the node for that patient , which will be a parent node for nodes representing information about the patient , will contain the guid of the last transaction that modified that patient node or any of its children nodes . that transaction can be retrieved based on its guid , and the researcher who initiated it identified . a number of embodiments of the invention have been described . nevertheless , it will be understood that various modifications may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention . for example , a last - current copy of the model may be maintained in long - term storage to facilitate rebuilding the active model . accordingly , other embodiments are within the scope of the following claims .
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in cellular networks at present sms is carried on isdn signalling user part isup signalling on interfaces between mscs and the smsc , and mscs and so called gateway mscs ( gmsc ) that interface to the pstn where the smsc is outside that cellular network , signalling isup over the ss7 network . the smsc also has a short message peer to peer ( smpp ) interface that allows communication between the smsc and other application servers . sms may also be delivered across fixed line networks such as the pstn using isup . sms addressing uses conventional telephone numbers for source through calling line identifier ( cli ) and destination , and optionally these may be translated by the service control point ( scp ) in an intelligent network ( in ) network , such that the cellular and pstn may suitably route the message to the mobile handset or fixed line respectively . the smsc normally implements a store and forward model for message delivery , although this can occur extremely rapidly provided the destination is available . where a mobile handset is not presently registered with a cellular network , the message is held in the smsc until the home location register ( hlr ) can record the current location of the mobile . where the mobile is registered the message is delivered immediately within the constraints of normal processing delays . furthermore the smsc has the capability to send a message back to the originator acknowledging delivery of the sms to the destination . various options are available how long the message is held . in gsm networks ussd is transported on transaction capability application part ( tcap ), similarly to sms on ss7 signalling , between the msc currently serving the handset and the hlr associated with the subscriber . this communication from handset back to the hlr occurs whether the handset is in the “ home ” mobile network ( the operator or their agent with whom the subscriber has a contract ) or roaming in a visited ( another operator &# 39 ; s ) network , provided the appropriate ussd service code is specified . in the case of the visited network , the hlr for the subscriber is identified by the sim card in the handset and potentially the use of the camel protocol ( customised applications for mobile enhanced logic ). the hlr communicates with a ussd gateway using mobile application part ( map ) on ss7 , and the gateway may be standalone or combined with the services control framework of the mobile network , or owned by another operator . the ussd gateway may be used in turn to communicate with other applications servers by smpp , as per the smsc , and several external applications servers may be distinguished by the service codes and filters used . ussd may be network or handset initiated which allows asynchronous events to occur from either end and a dialogue to ensue . notwithstanding the difference between ussd and sms of session based bidirectional messages versus store and forward respectively , those skilled in the art will appreciate that ussd may be substituted in every instance where sms is mentioned in the following description without any loss of generality except the restriction to gsm networks . similarly , the ussd gateway may be substituted for the smsc in context to provide an interface to the applications layer . in the first preferred embodiment of the present invention sms is used to signal an smsc to provide direct or act as a proxy for call control signalling . in particular the smsc belongs to the administration hosting a sip voip service . the administration could be an enterprise , a public telegraph and telephone ( ptt ) operators ( pstn ) or a cellular operator for example . in the present invention the cli ( part of the isup or the sms ) and use of a number to be called , as well as any other information embedded in the sms is used to effect call control signalling . this sms can be intercepted by the smsc ( or even by the gateway en route to the smsc ) and the type of the message as call control signalling recognised for example by the smsc number being used , an embedded code point , a form of digital signature based on information from the subscriber identification module ( sim ) card of the mobile phone for verification , authentication , non - repudiation or any other appropriate means , distinguishing it from a conventional sms between users or other form of engineering sms . the preferred embodiment of the present invention is to implement the third approach to control wifi and cellular hand - off using sms instead of sip over gprs in the cellular domain . the network comprises a wifi access domain and associated controller for wifi access point handover , a sip mobility gateway and applications server , an smsc , and connectivity via gateways as appropriate to the public switched telecommunications network ( pstn ), enterprise private branch exchange ( pbx ) and cellular access domain via the public land module network ( plmn ). a dtm handset with voip and sip clients may use the wifi access domain to place voip calls using sip signalling between equivalent users . the wifi access point controller is used to ensure seamless hand - off between possibly multiple access points in the wifi access domain . where a call needs to be placed from the dtm handset to any other user of a pbx , pstn or plmn for example then the sip applications server will connect the voip to a media gateway ( mgw ) and associated signalling gateway ( sgw ) to exit the wifi access domain . similarly incoming calls from a pbx , pstn or plmn for example are directed via the mgw and an associated sgw by the numbering plan for the user to the sip applications server which tracks the presence ( e . g . availability , location , registration ) of the dtm handset and completes the call . if one now assumes the dtm handset is engaged on a call and in the wifi access domain , the situation where the handset moves to the cellular domain is described assuming wifi access to be preferred . those skilled in the art will appreciate the same explanation would apply equally where the cellular network may be preferred , for example the placement and hand - off of emergency calls . as the dtm handset begins to lose signal strength of the wifi access domain , it requests hand - off to the cellular domain by informing the sip mobility gateway ( smg ) using sip over wifi . however it is possible that the wifi signal may fade too rapidly for this to be successfully effected which ordinarily causes loss of the signalling and voice paths . the present invention proposes that the sip client uses sms to send this call control to the smg , either natively by embedding the necessary information , by converting the sip to sms information , or by encapsulating the sip with any necessary form of compression for example zip . those skilled in the art will recognise that ussd may be used as an alternative . the sms is transmitted from the dtm handset to the smsc of the sip network administrator ideally directly by using an appropriate smsc number , although it is possible for this to be relayed or passed via gateways . in the simplest model the smsc will recognise the sms as call control and perform any necessary verification and forward the message natively using smpp to the smg . those skilled in the art will appreciate that any appropriate communication protocol may be used between the smsc and smg , the smsc can perform optionally direct protocol conversion to sip , and those functions could also be combined into a single platform . the smg will interpret the call control as a hand - off and establish a call leg through the cellular network ( and pstn if necessary ) to the dtm handset . this call could be established in the cellular using an unpublished cellular directory number or any other means of identification of the user , e . g . international mobile subscriber identify ( imsi ) or mobile station roaming number ( msrn ) which is isup routable depending on the relationship between the administration of the smg and the cellular networks . the smg may also send an acknowledgement back to the dtm handset that the call leg is established using sms . the dtm handset client recognises the incoming call leg from the smg via the cli or sms or both and switches the voice path from voip over wifi to voice over cellular ( e . g . gsm ). contemporaneously the smg bridges the newly established call leg to the dtm handset with the call leg to the other party , and releases any redundant network resources representing the former voip over wifi path . where the dtm handset moves from cellular coverage into the wifi access domain , the signal strength of the wifi can be measured and used to initiate hand - off . the dtm handset client may use sip or sms or both for this purpose depending on the circumstances , but for the purposes of illustrating the advantages of the present invention sms is assumed . this also suits a situation where the cellular coverage and wifi only barely overlap , and hand - off must be carefully controlled to allow possible reversion to cellular . the dtm handset sends an sms call control to the smsc and smg as above to initiate the hand - off . the smg responds by setting up the network resources to establish a voip call leg over the wifi access domain , and may send an sms acknowledgement . ( sip could equally be used for both purposes ). once the dtm handset has determined the voip call leg is operational , it can send an sms over the cellular network to the smg to release the call leg in the cellular domain after bridging the call leg to the other party to the newly establish voip call leg . contemporaneously the dtm handset can switch to using the voip call leg or await an sms or sip acknowledgement from the smg , or even simply release the cellular call leg . using sms in this manner may also be used to solve the problem where the dtm handset is only within cellular coverage ( not wifi ) and wishes to place a call . in order that the cli represents the numbering plan associated with the sip administration ( or its delegate ), the dtm handset client can initiate outgoing calls using sms to the smg and sip applications server that places the call by proxy . the sms would include the called party number , either translated or to be translated by the sip applications server , and the cli would be substituted with the appropriate numbering plan when the outgoing call leg is placed . the sip applications server may also be used to establish the call leg back to the dtm handset through the cellular network ( and any intervening pstn ) and send an sms , or send the sms acknowledgement and have the dtm handset establish the call leg to a particular number of the line in a hunt group on the media gateway bridging the two call legs . using sms in this manner ensures that should the dtm handset subsequently move into wifi coverage , the call can be handed - off from cellular to wifi as described before without leaving any resources used in the cellular network . this has advantage where the administration providing the user &# 39 ; s service wishes to be independent of the cellular operator as much as possible , such as when the user is roaming . sms call control may also be used to effect supplementary services for example call transfer or three way calling . by way of example but with no restriction to this example alone , to place a three way call where the dtm handset is in the cellular domain and a call is active from the handset to another party , the client sends an sms on the user &# 39 ; s behalf to the smg / sip applications server as described before requesting it establish the third party call leg . on successful establishment the smg / sip applications server can bridge the call in a network media gateway and send an sms acknowledgement . in a similar manner sms may be used to release either party call leg . call waiting , hold and forward may be implemented in the same way , as indeed can a complete set of supplementary services that mimic those of centrex , pbxs and cellular networks in general using this ability to control call lags from the application server . the key advantage of this approach is that at most one call leg through the cellular network is required , and where the dtm handset moves into wifi coverage or wishes to drop from a three way call or forward a call , no resources of the cellular network are required any longer than necessary . sms may also be used as a means for the user or dtm handset to send presence updates for example on location and availability to the sip applications server and / or a presence server of the same administration . additionally , call forwarding and screening preferences may also be updated in this manner while a call is in progress which may prevent accessing the same using sip over gprs . those skilled in the art will appreciate that other signalling systems than sip may be used . similarly the functions of call control , bridging , sip applications , smsc , ussd gateway smg , sgw , mgw , pbx may be combined in any combination or permutation in their physical realisation . furthermore the applications and supplementary services may be hosted in the sip domain as described or be part of a pbx , the plmn or pstn or any other network call control and invoked by the sip network or its equivalent by proxy .
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fig1 shows a system for monitoring and controlling the flow rate of a fluid through the pipe 1 , which uses two field devices : a flow rate meter 2 together with a continuously adjustable valve 3 . these field devices are connected via the field bus 4 with the control units 5 , 6 , where 5 represents a hand - held terminal and 6 a commonly purchasable personal computer . for communication purposes , the data line between the field bus 4 and the computer 6 is provided with a coupling module 7 . there is an option to carry out all the control and monitoring tasks on either of these control units . in particular , the data sent out by the field device can be received and reproduced , so that the operating staff can obtain a reliable impression of the operating states of the flow rate meter 2 and the adjustable valve 3 . on the other hand , however , it is also possible for the control units 5 , 6 to exercise a direct influence on the field devices 2 , 3 . for example , the flow rate measurement can be restricted to a particular time interval , which involves a start signal or stop signal being sent to the flow rate meter 2 at the start and the end respectively of this time interval . it is also possible to change the damping applied to the value determined by the flow rate meter 2 . this is an important output variable for the preprocessing , which takes place even within the field device 2 , of the raw measured value . it specifies the time interval over which the recorded data is determined . modern flexible field devices often cover different measurement ranges . this ray make it necessary , for example , to carry out resealing of the raw data even within the flow rate meter 2 , with the measurement range and the scaling factor being adjustable by means of a command from the control unit 5 , 6 . but is it also conceivable that , for the purpose of calibrating the field devices , certain calibration signals are sent from the control units 5 and 6 to the field devices . in order for the bidirectional data traffic described , between the control units 5 and 6 on the one hand and the field devices 2 and 3 on the other hand , to function it is necessary that the program modules in the devices are matched to each other . in particular , the specifications of each of the field devices , that is the special characteristics of the device type concerned , must be known when the program is being generated . these specifications then provide the parameters required for control purposes , together with their characteristics . for example , for one of the control tasks identified above , the control modules must include a parameter which regulates the damping of the raw measured value . this parameter has certain characteristics : for example , the data which it stores may be of the floating point type with “ single ” precision . further , damping may only be permitted in a certain range , the upper and lower limits of which must be specified in the description . such descriptions are commonly set down in text form by the developer of the field device , and are interpreted and applied by the programmers of the software which is used in the devices . that is to say , the developer of the device specifies how the damping is to be effected , what the precision and data format must be for the damping parameter which is to be input , and what parameter values are basically permissible . fig2 shows schematically the programming steps which are to be carried out according to the familiar methods . a field device 2 is connected via a field bus 4 with a control computer 6 . bidirectional data and commands can be exchanged between the field device 2 and the computer 6 which is serving as the control unit , via a coupling module 7 on the control computer 6 side . the functionality of the control computer is determined by control software 12 . this includes a general part 14 , which incorporates the basic control routines , the user interface and the interface programming . this general part 14 of the control software also represents the framework of the control program , it can in principle be used for a multitude of field devices . however , in order to adapt this framework for any particular type of field device , the control computer 6 must provide stored data which reflects the particular specification of the device type . this is done by incorporating a machine - readable parameterized description 13 of the field devices . this consists mainly of a list of parameters which are required to control the field device . examples of these are the damping , codes for switching the field device on and off , upper and lower limits ( which , when the values exceed or fall below them , generate error messages ), codes for calibrating the device , together with factors for resealing the data sensed by the intelligent field device . at this point , this list must be made very selectively , because the control of modern field devices requires approximately 100 such parameters . nowadays , the parameterized description 13 is usually stored in an agreed syntax , called the ddl ( device description language ). this is directly machine - readable insofar as the sections concerned for the individual parameters can be directly read in 51 and interpreted by the routines of the general part 14 of the software . the description itemized in the ddl is conventionally produced on the basis of a description 15 set down in text form . in this , the developer of a new type of field device gives a comprehensive description of the specification of the new device . to do so , he must at least implicitly go into the parameters cited which are relevant for control purposes , and their characteristics , but may not feel obliged to itemize the description in machine - readable form . instead , it will much more often be the case that , for example , not all of the characteristics of a parameter will get a mention , because the developer can rightly assume that a reader will be able to supplement these characteristics logically if he is a person skilled in the art and familiar with corresponding equivalent devices . the conversion of this description 15 , set down in text form , into the machine - readable parameterized description 13 is shown in the sketch as the conversion step 16 . in practice , this step is subject to numerous sources of error , which result not only from the incompleteness but also from the unavoidable ambiguity of a description in text form . a certain degree of interpretation is always required of the programmer of the ddl 13 , as a result of which inaccuracies or even errors can arise in the ddl script . because ddl in its present familiar form provides a very simple and intuitively comprehensible syntax , many developers of field devices therefore feel obliged to undertake the description in ddl themselves . for the purpose of performing the control tasks which fall to the intelligent field device 2 , certain program modules 11 , referred to collectively as firmware , are brought to execution on the microprocessor of the field device 2 . the primary purpose served by this firmware is to control and read out from the field device &# 39 ; s actuators and sensors 17 . however , data , measured values and commands can also be stored here on storage module 18 , which likewise belongs to the field device , and processed on the microprocessor in a manner prescribed by the firmware . it is clear that here again separate software must in principle be produced for each type of field device , generated with regard for the hardware components concerned and their functionality . it is known how to generate 19 this firmware from the description of the field device 15 set down in text form . this program step is also subject to the same uncertainties as the conversion 16 of the text description 15 into the ddl 13 . it is indeed true that the programmer of the firmware can fall back on existing ( standard ) program modules ( so - called analog input blocks ) for a large proportion of the software which needs to be produced . equally , he is obliged to take into account , and incorporate into the program modules in the correct place , matters which are specific to the field device , which are laid down in the text format description 15 . this familiar method has the following problem : it is essential that there is absolute consistency between the software blocks in the control computer 12 and in the firmware 11 . any disagreement between these program blocks could lead to unforeseeable errors , some of which are exceptionally difficult to track down because they may only come to light under certain operating conditions of the field device or the control computer . the consequence is that , with the familiar prior - art methods , exceptionally comprehensive test phases must be carried out , before the newly - developed software can be considered as error - free , and thereby the field device reaches market - readiness . these problems are fundamentally due to the fact that two interpretation steps 16 and 19 are required , which are independent of each other . by contrast , the invention proposes a method by which the firmware 11 which is to be newly created is generated directly from the machine - readable parameterized description 13 which is in any case available . this is represented in diagrammatic form in fig3 . in this way , it is possible to forgo the interpretation and software generation step 19 . its place is taken by the automatic program generation 21 , which starts from the machine - readable description . in this way , inconsistencies between the different program modules become impossible in principle , because the firmware 11 is of necessity based on the same data set as that which underlies the parameterized description which is used on the control computer . a side effect which also results is the exceptionally fast and reliable nature of program generation for the firmware 11 , because the method is automatic and calls for no manual programming activities . fig4 shows an alternative form of application of the invention . instead of setting down the specification of the new field device initially in text form , here the developer has itemized the description directly in machine - readable and parameterized form , thus eliminating the interpretation step 16 . this does not result in any additional work , because the conversion of the description into a machine - readable form is in any case necessary , as can be seen from fig3 . this elimination of the specification can be done with no great prior knowledge because , particularly with the ddl description language , an intuitively understandable and simple method of coding is available . here again , the firmware is generated in accordance with the method according to the invention , in step 21 . as with the method shown in fig3 , here again it is not possible for any inconsistencies 22 to arise between the software blocks 11 and 12 , because the two build on the same data basis , namely the machine - readable parameterized description 13 . as an example of a machine - readable parameterized description , fig5 shows part of a description written in the device description language ( ddl ). this parameterized description was developed from a description originally set down in text form . in the extract which is reproduced , the variable “ dmp 1 ” is defined internally in line 1 , in line 4 it is specified that the type of this parameter is a floating point number with single precision . lines 6 and 7 specify that only values between 1 . 753 and 7 . 529 are allowed . these values are a result of the characteristics of the hardware used . fig6 sketches the order of events in an advantageous application of the method in accordance with the invention . the starting point for the invention is the machine - readable parameterized description of a field device . a first step 31 identifies the four parameters of the field device , contained in the description , so that it is then possible in a second step 32 to identify for each of these parameters the characteristics which are relevant for control purposes , as defined in the description . the parameter v has three characteristics , which are identified in step 32 . these are the lower limit of 1 . 753 for the allowed value range , the upper limit of 7 . 529 , and the factor n = 0 . 01 , to be used for scaling the raw data . in the subsequent method step 33 , several program modules are generated for the parameter v , into which go each identified characteristic of v . on the one hand , the declaration module 41 is generated , defining for v a particular segment on the storage means and its data type as “ floating point ”. at the same time , an access module 42 is generated , instructing the checking equipment of the field device to execute an input checking module 43 , which is also generated , when the parameter v is accessed . for each user - requested parameter change , the input checking module 43 checks whether the new parameter value lies between the limits of the allowed value range , that is between 1 . 753 and 7 . 529 . if not , then an error message 44 , which can be read out and displayed by the control computer , is generated .
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fig1 is a schematic drawing of the image forming apparatus in this embodiment . this image forming apparatus is an electrophotographic laser beam printer a ( which hereafter will be referred to as printer ) in which a process cartridge b ( which hereafter will be referred to as cartridge ) is removably mountable . this printer a outputs an image which it forms on recording medium in accordance with the picture data inputted into the control circuit 100 ( control board ) from an external host apparatus 200 ( fig2 ) such as a computer . the control circuit 100 controls the signal exchanges among the external host apparatus and various processing devices of the printer a , the preset image formation sequence , etc . the cartridge b has an electrophotographic photosensitive drum 7 ( which hereafter will be referred to as drum ), which is a rotatable image bearing member . this drum 7 is rotationally driven in the clockwise direction indicated by an arrow mark , at a preset velocity in response to an image formation start signal . as the drum 7 is rotationally driven , the peripheral surface of the drum 7 is uniformly charged to preset polarity and potential level by a charge roller 8 as a charging means . a laser scanner unit 1 , as an optical ( exposing ) means , has a laser diode , a polygon mirror , a lens , a full - reflection mirror , etc ., and outputs a beam of laser light l while modulating it with picture signals . the uniformly charged area of the peripheral surface of the drum 7 is exposed by this laser beam l . as a result , an electrostatic latent image which reflects the picture signals is formed . this latent image is developed by a developing apparatus 10 , as a developing means , and developer ( which hereafter will be referred to as toner ), into a visible image , that is , an image formed of toner ( which hereafter will be referred to as toner image ). meanwhile , a sheet of recording medium 2 set in a sheet feeder cassette 3 a is conveyed to a transfer station t by a pickup roller 3 b , conveyance roller pairs 3 c , 3 d , and 3 e , in synchronism with the abovementioned formation of the toner image on the drum 7 . in the transfer station t , a transfer roller 4 , as a transferring mean , is disposed in a manner to oppose the drum 7 ; it is disposed in contact with the drum 7 , forming a transfer nip . the recording medium 2 is introduced into the transfer nip , and is conveyed through the transfer nip . while the recording medium 2 is conveyed through the transfer nip , transfer bias is applied to the transfer roller 4 . as a result , the toner image on the drum 7 is transferred onto the surface of the recording medium 2 . after receiving the toner image , the recording medium 2 is separated from the drum surface , and is conveyed by a conveyance guide 3 f to a fixing apparatus 5 as a fixing means . after the separation of the recording medium 2 from the drum surface , the drum surface is cleared of adherent residues , such as the toner remaining on the drum surface after the transfer , by a cleaner 11 as a cleaning means , being readied for the next image formation ( drum surface is repeatedly used for image formation ). the fixing apparatus 5 has a driver roller 5 c , and a fixation roller 5 b which contains a heater 5 a in its hollow . the recording medium 2 is introduced into the fixation nip formed by the driver roller 5 c and fixation roller 5 b , and is conveyed through the fixation nip . while the recording medium 2 is conveyed through the fixation nip , the fixing apparatus 5 applies heat and pressure to the recording medium 2 , fixing thereby the transferred toner image to the recording medium 2 . after being conveyed through the fixation nip , the recording medium 2 is conveyed between a pair of discharge rollers 3 g , through a reversal path 3 i , and between a pair of discharge roller 3 h . then , it is discharged into a delivery tray 6 which constitutes a part of the top surface of the printer a . incidentally , it is possible to rotate a flapper 3 j to allow the recording medium 2 to advance straight so that after the recording medium 2 comes out of the interface between the pair of discharge rollers 3 g , the recording medium 2 is discharged into a second delivery tray 6 a , instead of entering the reversal path 3 i . the abovementioned pickup roller 3 b , conveyance roller pairs 3 c , 3 d , and 3 e , conveyance guide 3 f , discharge roller pairs 3 g and 3 h , etc ., constitute the means for conveying the recording medium 2 . in this embodiment , the drum 7 , the processing means , more specifically , the charge roller 3 , developing means 10 , and cleaner 11 , are integrally disposed in a cartridge , making up the process cartridge b which is removably mountable in the main assembly of the printer a . the top portion of the main assembly of the printer a is provided with a door 9 , which can be opened or closed to expose or cover the opening d of the main assembly a , through which the cartridge b is mounted or dismounted . the cartridge b can be mounted or dismount by exposing the abovementioned opening d by rotating the door 9 about the hinge shaft 9 a to the position contoured by the two - dot chain line in fig1 . as the door 9 is opened , the cartridge bay in the main assembly of the printer a becomes visible . as seen from the opening d side , a pair of guide rails ( unshown ) are visible , which are on the left and right walls of the cartridge bay , one for one . the guide rails are downwardly inclined toward the rear . when mounting the cartridge b into the cartridge bay , the cartridge b is to be held , with its front side ( developing apparatus side ) facing the front side of the main assembly of the printer a , so that the cartridge b can be inserted from its rear side ( cleaner side ). more specifically , a pair of positioning bosses , which outwardly project from the left and right lateral walls ( as seen from front side of main assembly a ) are to be rested on the abovementioned left and right guide rails , one for one . the axial lines of the pair of bosses coincide with the axial line of the drum 7 . then , the cartridge b is to be inserted all the way into the cartridge bay . as the cartridge b is inserted all the way into the cartridge bay , the abovementioned positioning bosses fit into the cartridge positioning grooves ( unshown ) of the main assembly of the printer a , locking the cartridge b into the preset image formation position in the main assembly of the printer a . then , the door 9 is to be closed . when the cartridge b is in the preset image formation position , the exposure opening 12 of the cartridge b , with which the top wall of the cartridge b is provided , faces a specific area of the laser scanner unit 1 . further , as the cartridge b is moved inward of the cartridge bay during the mounting of the cartridge b , the drum cover ( unshown ), which constitutes a part of the bottom wall of the cartridge b , is opened , exposing thereby the opening , with which the bottom wall of the cartridge b is provided . as a result , the downwardly facing area of the peripheral surface of the drum 7 is allowed to contact the transfer roller 4 , through the opening of the cartridge b , forming a transfer nip . further , the mechanical and electrical connections are made between the cartridge b and main assembly of the printer a , enabling the printer a to perform an image forming operation . that is , it becomes possible for the drum 7 , and the development roller , toner stirring member , etc ., of the developing apparatus 10 , to be driven by the driving means ( unshown ) with which the main assembly of the printer a is provided . further , it becomes possible for charge bias and development bias to be applied to the charge roller 8 and development sleeve , respectively , from the electric power supplying means ( unshown ) on the printer main assembly side . moreover , electrical connection is established between the electrical sensor ( unshown ) on the cartridge b side and the control circuit 100 on the main assembly side of the printer a . further , referring to fig2 , as the cartridge b is mounted into the main assembly of the printer a , the electrical contacts 60 a and 60 b ( cartridge contacts ) of the storage means 60 ( memory tag ) attached to the drum supporting portion 18 of the frame of the cartridge b come into contact with the electrical contacts 54 a and 54 b ( main assembly contacts ) of the connector 54 on the main assembly side of the printer a , respectively . as a result , the storage means 60 , and the control circuit 100 on the main assembly side of the printer a , are enabled to communicate with each other ( contact communication method ). when removing the cartridge b from the main assembly of the printer a , the above described sequence for mounting the cartridge b is to be carried out in the reverse order . that is , referring to fig1 , first , the door 9 is to be opened , and the cartridge b is to be pulled rightward in the diagonally upward direction in fig1 . as the cartridge b is pulled , the cartridge b comes out of the main assembly of the printer a , while being guided by the abovementioned guide rails . as the cartridge b is moved outward , the drum cover closes , covering thereby the opening , with which the bottom wall of the cartridge b is provided . therefore , the internal components of the cartridge b is protected while the cartridge b is out of the main assembly of the printer a . in this embodiment , the storage means 60 is attached to the drum supporting frame 18 . more concretely , it is attached to the rear surface of the cartridge b , that is , the surface of the cartridge b , which is on the leading side of the cartridge b in terms of the direction in which the cartridge b is inserted into the main assembly of the printer a . the storage means 60 is a means for storing the information related to the cartridge and image forming apparatus . more specifically , the storage means 60 is provided with a memory chip 60 c , such as a ram or a rom , which is a storage element and is attached to the rear surface of the storage means 60 . necessary information , for example , cartridge lot number , initial values for image formation conditions , history of an image forming apparatus , characteristics of the image forming apparatus , characteristics of the processing means of the image forming apparatus , etc ., are inputted in advance in the memory chip 60 c . when the cartridge b is properly set in the image formation position in the main assembly of the printer a and the connector 54 is in contact with the storage means 60 , the exchange of the information between the storage means 60 and control circuit 100 is possible , making it possible to control the process of informing the control circuit 100 of the information regarding the condition of the cartridge b and the history of the cartridge usage to use the information for an image forming operation , the process of making an operator recognize the condition of the cartridge b by displaying the condition on a displaying device 101 , and the like . further , the memory chip 60 c is writable even during its usage . therefore , the information is written into the memory chip 60 c whenever necessary . the connector 54 , which is the connector on the main assembly side of the printer a , is held by a connector supporting member 50 , in such a manner that when the cartridge b is mounted into in the image formation position in the main assembly of the printer a , the connector 54 faces the storage means 60 of the cartridge b . the connector 54 has a springy member having the electrical contacts 54 a and 54 b ( main assembly contacts ) which electrically contact the electrical contacts 60 a and 60 b of the storage means 60 . further , the connector 54 is electrically connected to the control circuit 100 with the use of bundled wires ( unshown ). as will be described next , the main assembly of the printer a and cartridge b are structured so that the connector 54 held by the connector supporting member 50 is moved into the communication - possible position x ( fig2 ) in which the contacts 54 a and 54 b contact the contacts 60 a and 60 b , respectively , by a connector moving mechanism ( connector engaging member ) which is moved by the closing ( or opening ) movement of the door 9 . further , the main assembly of the printer a is structured so that after the connector moving mechanism moves the connector 54 into the communication - possible position x , the connector moving mechanism is retained by a connector retaining mechanism ( retaining member ), in the position in which it finishes moving the connector 54 into the communication - possible position x . further , the main assembly of the printer a is structured so that as the door 9 is opened , the mechanism for retaining the connector moving mechanism is disengaged from the connector moving mechanism by the opening movement of the door 9 , allowing the connector moving mechanism to move the connector 54 into the retreat position y in which the electrical contacts 54 a and 54 b are prevented from contacting the electrical contacts 60 a and 60 b , respectively . further , not only is the main assembly of the printer a structured so that the connector mechanism is moved between the communication - possible position x ( contact establishment position ) and retreat position y ( separation position ), but also , so that the length of time it takes for the electrical contacts of the memory tag to disengage from the counterparts after the detection of the opening of the door 9 by the door switch 90 as a detecting means , is kept longer than a preset value to ensure that the communication between the memory tag 60 and main assembly of the printer a has properly ended . to more concretely describe the abovementioned structural arrangement , the main assembly of the printer a is structured so that when the door 9 , which was open , is closed , the connector moving mechanism 55 is moved from the position corresponding to the retreat position y ( disengagement position ) to the position corresponding to the communication - possible position x ( engagement position ) by the movement of the door 9 at the speed proportional to the moving speed of the door 9 , whereas when the door 9 , which has been closed , is opened , the connector moving mechanism 55 is retained in the position corresponding to the communication - possible position x by the connector moving mechanism retaining mechanism 58 ( which hereafter will be referred to as retaining mechanism ) until the door 9 is opened to a preset position . as the door 9 is opened beyond the preset position , the retaining mechanism disengaging mechanism ( 81 - 84 ) ( which hereafter will be referred to as disengaging mechanism ), which will be described later , is activated , disengaging the retaining mechanism 58 , and therefore , allowing the connector moving mechanism 55 to move from the position corresponding to the communication - possible position x to the position corresponding to the retreat position y . with the provision of this structural arrangement , the overall moving speed of the connector moving mechanism remains constant regardless of the speed at which the door 9 is opened or closed , which characterizes this embodiment ( present invention ). fig3 and 4 are perspective views of the assembly of the above described connector supporting member 50 , connector moving mechanism 55 , retaining mechanism 58 , disengaging mechanism ( 81 - 82 ), as seen from diagonally above and below , respectively . the connector supporting member 50 and other mechanical components are attached to a housing 51 . fig5 is an external perspective view of the housing 51 , and fig6 is a partially cutaway exploded perspective view of the housing 51 . the housing 51 has : a support plate 51 a ; a pressure catching plate 51 b perpendicularly attached to the top surface of the support plate 51 a ; a through hole 51 c , with which the front side of the support plate 51 a , relative to the pressure catching plate 51 b , is provided ; a lateral plate 51 d which perpendicularly projects from the front edge ( in fig5 ) of the support plate 51 a . the housing 51 also has : a bearing plate 5 l e which perpendicularly projects from the support plate 51 a , with the provision of a preset distance between the bearing plate 51 e and inward surface of the lateral plate 51 d ; and a pair of bearings 51 f ( left and right bearings ) which perpendicularly project from the bottom surface of the support plate 51 a , with the left and right bearings 51 f positioned on the left and right sides of the through hole 51 c . further , the lateral plate 51 d is provided with a long slot 51 g which extends in the front - to - rear direction of the apparatus . on the inward side of the lateral plate 51 d , the retaining member 58 is held between the bearing plate 51 e and lateral plate 51 d , by a shaft 58 a , one end of which is fitted in the bearing hole 51 h of the bearing plate 51 e , and the other end of which is fitted in the bearing hole 51 i of the lateral plate 51 d , which opposes the bearing hole 51 h . this retaining member 58 is in the form of a lever , and is disposed in parallel to the lateral plate 51 . it is rotationally movable about the shaft 58 a . it has first and second arm portions 58 b and 58 c , which constitute the front and rear portions , respectively , of the retaining member 58 , with reference to the shaft 58 a , and hold a slight angle relative to each other , giving the retaining member 58 a shallow v - shape . the end portion of the retaining member 58 , which is on the arm portion 58 b side , is provided with a downward projection 58 d . between the second arm portion 58 c and support plate 51 a , a compression spring 59 is disposed to push the retaining member 58 upward . thus , the retaining member 58 remains slightly pressured by this spring 58 in the direction to rotate in the clockwise direction indicated by an arrow mark k in fig3 , about the shaft 58 a . therefore , when the retaining member 58 is free from the pressure other than that from the spring 59 , the retaining member 58 is kept in the attitude ( at angle ) shown in fig1 . that is , the bottom surface of the base side of the first arm portion 58 b is kept in contact with a stopper projection 51 j , with which the bearing plate 5 e is provided , as shown in fig1 , preventing the retaining member 58 from further rotating in the clockwise direction . when the remaining member 58 is kept in the above described state , the first arm portion 58 b is at a level which is lower than that of the long slot 51 g of the lateral plate 51 d , and the second arm portion 58 c is slanted so that the end portion ( rear end portion of retaining member ) is positioned higher than the base portion , in a manner to intersect with the long slot 51 g . the abovementioned housing 51 is disposed on the frame 35 which supports the laser scanner unit 1 . more specifically , the frame 35 is provided with a roughly rectangular through hole 35 a ( fig9 ), and the left and right bearing 51 f projecting from the bottom surface of the support plate 51 a are put through this roughly rectangular through hole 35 a so that the left and right bearing 51 f project beyond the bottom surface of the frame 35 . then , the support plate 51 a is fixed to the frame 35 with the use of small screws . the through hole 51 c of the support plate 51 a corresponds in position to the through hole 35 a of the fame 35 . fig7 is an external perspective view of the connector supporting member 50 , and fig8 is an exploded perspective view of the connector supporting member 50 . the connector supporting member 50 has first and second supporting members 52 and 53 , and a connector 54 . the first supporting member 52 has : a frame 52 a which engages with the second supporting member 53 ; an upward arm 52 b , with which the frame 52 a is provided ; and a pair of shafts 52 c , which project left - and rightward , one for one , from the joint portion between the frame 52 a and upward arm 52 b . the second supporting member 53 is a member in which the connector 54 is fitted . the connector 54 is pressed into the frame - like portion of this second supporting member 53 . as a result , the connector 54 is securely held to the second supporting member 53 by the locking claws of the second supporting member 53 . then , the second supporting member 53 is pushed into the frame - like portion 52 a of the first supporting member 52 , being thereby securely held to the first supporting member 52 by the locking claws of the first supporting member 52 . that is , the connector 54 is securely held to the first supporting member 52 , with the placement of the second supporting member 53 between the connector 54 and first supporting member 52 . the upward arm 52 b of the first supporting member 52 is put through the roughly rectangular through hole 35 a and through hole 51 c , from the bottom surface side of the frame 35 , so that the upward arm 52 b projects upward past the support plate 51 a of the housing 51 . further , the left and right shafts 52 c of the first supporting member 52 are inserted into the left and right bearings 51 f of the housing 51 , which are projecting downward beyond the bottom surface of the frame 35 , so that the first supporting member 52 is held to the frame 35 . as a result , the connector supporting member 50 is held to the housing 51 so that it is rotatable about the shafts 52 c , and also , so that the upward arm 52 b is positioned on the front side of the pressure catching plate 51 b of the housing 51 . on the front side of the housing 51 , a rod 55 is disposed so that it can be slid frontward or rearward on the frame 35 . fig9 is an external perspective view of this rod 55 . the rod 55 has : a door contacting portion 55 a , which constitutes the front end portion ; a pusher plate portion 55 b , which constitutes the rear end portion ; front and rear pairs of locking claws 55 c , which project from the bottom surface of the rod 55 ; and a projection 55 d , which perpendicularly projects from the lateral surface of the rear end portion of the rod 55 . the front wall 35 b of the frame 35 is provided with a hole 35 c . the door contacting portion 55 a , that is , the front end portion , of the rod 55 is put through this hole 35 c so that the door contacting portion 55 a projects beyond the front wall 35 b . further , the frame 35 is provided with the front and rear slits 35 d . the front and rear pairs of locking claws 55 c projecting from the bottom surface of the rod 55 are put through these front and rear slits 35 d , one for one . as a result , the rod 55 is secured to the frame 35 in such a manner that it is allowed to slide frontward or rearward on the frame 35 , within a range which corresponds to the length of the slits 35 d , and also , so that the pusher plate portion 55 b is positioned on the front side of the upward arm 52 b of the connector supporting member 50 . between the pressure catching plate 51 b of the housing 51 and the upward arm 52 b of the connector supporting member 50 , a first coil spring 56 , as a pressure applying member , is disposed . further , between the upward arm 52 b of the connector supporting member 50 and the pusher plate portion 55 b of the rod 55 , a second coil spring 57 is disposed . when the door 9 is open , more specifically , when the angle of the door 9 relative to the printer main assembly is no less than a preset value , the rod 55 is in the advanced position in its movable range which corresponds in size to the length of the slit 35 d ; the rod has been pushed back toward the front wall 35 b of the frame 35 (- j direction in fig3 ) by the resiliency of the springs 56 and 57 . referring to fig1 , when the rod 55 ( door 9 ) is in the above described position , the projection 55 d of the rod 55 is on the front side of the downwardly protruding projection 58 d of the retaining member 58 . further , the connector supporting member 50 is under the pressure applied to the upward arm 52 b by the resiliency of the spring 56 in the direction to rotate the connector supporting member 50 about the shaft 52 c in the - h direction in fig3 and 4 , as shown in fig1 . therefore , the connector 54 is retained in the retreat position y ( fig2 ), in which it is impossible for the electrical contacts 54 a and 54 b to contact the electrical contacts 60 a and 60 b of the storage means 60 . fig1 show the printer a , the door 9 of which has been shut after the mounting of the cartridge b into the main assembly of the printer a . as the door 9 is closed by a user after the mounting of the cartridge b into the main assembly of the printer a , the rod pushing mechanical contact portion 9 c of the door 9 comes into contact with the door contacting portion 55 a , that is , the front end portion , of the rod 55 . as a result , the rod 55 is made to retract by the door 9 in the direction indicated by an arrow mark j in fig3 . while the rod 55 is made to retract by the door 9 , the top edge portion of the projection 55 d of the rod 55 comes into contact with the downwardly facing slanted surface 58 e ( which functions as cam ) of the downwardly projecting projection 58 d of the first arm portion 58 b of the retaining member 58 , and pushes up the downwardly projecting projection 58 d . therefore , the retaining member 58 is rotated , against the spring 59 as the second pressure applying means , about the shaft 58 a in the counterclockwise direction indicated by an arrow mark - k in fig1 , allowing the projection 55 d to move past the downward projection 58 d , on the under side the downward projection 58 d . as soon as the projection 55 d moves past the under side of the downward projection 58 d , the retaining member 58 is rotated about the shaft 58 a in reverse , that is , in the clockwise direction indicated by an arrow mark k , by the resiliency of the spring 59 , as shown in fig1 . as a result , the retaining member 58 is caught by the stopper projection 51 j , being prevented from further rotating in reverse . thereafter , the retaining member 58 is retained in the same attitude as that shown in fig1 ; in other words , the projection 55 d is positioned on the inward side of the downward projection 58 d . further , the upward arm 52 b of the connector supporting member 50 is pushed by the pusher plate 55 b of the rod 55 , that is , the rear end portion of the rod 55 , with the presence of the spring 57 between the upward arm 52 b and pusher plate 55 b . thus , the spring 56 is compressed by the upward arm 52 b and the pressure catching plate 51 b of the housing 51 . therefore , the connector supporting member 50 is rotated about the shaft 52 c in the direction h in fig3 and 4 , placing thereby the connector 54 in the communication - possible position x , shown in fig2 , in which the electrical contacts 54 a and 54 b are in contact with the electrical contacts 60 a and 60 b of the storage means 60 . the connector 54 is kept in this state as long as the door 9 remains locked to the main assembly of the printer a , that is , as long as the door 9 remains shut , and therefore , the rod 55 is prevented from returning in the - j direction . the spring 57 is designed so that the amount of pressure it generates is greater than the total amount of pressure which the contact 54 a and 54 b of the connector 54 , which are springy members , generate . therefore , as long as the distance by which the rod 55 is pushed into the frame 35 is greater than a preset value , the spring 57 generates a proper amount of pressure for keeping the connector 54 pressed upon the storage means 60 . in other words , as long as the door 9 is properly shut , the connector 54 and storage means 60 are reliably kept in contact with each other . next , the disengaging mechanism ( 81 - 84 ) will be described . the door 9 is rotatable about the stationary shaft 9 a to be opened or closed . the door 9 is provided with an arm 84 , which is located on the inward side , near the shaft 9 a . this arm 84 is in the form of an arc , the center of which coincides with the axial line of the shaft 9 a . the base portion 84 a of the arm 84 is solidly fixed to the door 9 . the lever 82 , which is rotatable about the shaft 82 a , is connected to the abovementioned arm 84 of the door 9 , with the use of a first linking member 83 . the lever 82 is provided with a second linking member 81 , which is attached to the top end portion of the lever 82 so that the second linking member 81 is rotatable about the connective member , with which the second linking member 81 is connected to the level 82 . the second linking member 81 is provided with a projection 81 a , which is attached to the opposite end of the linking member 81 from the end by which it is connected to the lever 82 . the projection 81 a is fitted in the long slot 51 g , with which the aforementioned lateral plate 51 d of the housing 51 is provided . therefore , the moving range and direction of the projection 81 a is controlled by the long slot 51 g . further , while the projection 81 a moves along the long slot 51 g , it comes into contact with the top surface of the retaining member 58 . when the door 9 is shut , the arm 84 , first linking member 83 , lever 82 , and second linking member 81 are positioned as shown in fig1 , and the projection 81 a of the second link 81 is in the front end portion of the long slot 51 g , as shown in fig1 . when the projection 81 a is in the position shown in fig1 , it is above ( being therefore apart from ) the first arm portion 58 b of the retaining member 58 , and therefore , does not interfere with the retaining member 58 . the main assembly of the printer a is provided with a switch 90 ( door switch ) for detecting the state of the door 9 , that is , whether the door 9 is open or closed . when the door is closed , the actuator 90 a of the switch 90 is kept pressed by the projection 9 b of the door 9 , and therefore , the switch 90 is kept turned on , whereas as the door 9 is opened , the pressure applied to the actuator 90 by the projection 9 b is removed , and therefore , the switched 90 is turned off , and remains turned off . this on or off signal generated by the switch 90 as the door 9 is closed or opened is used to detect whether the door is closed or opened . when replacing the cartridge b in the printer a with another cartridge b , dealing with paper jam , checking up on the interior of the main assembly of the printer a , or carrying out the like processes , the door 9 is to be opened . fig1 shows the state of main assembly of the printer a in the initial stage of the opening of the door 9 . as the door 9 is rotated about the shaft 9 a in the clockwise direction l so that the angle between the door and the main assembly of the printer a reaches a preset value , the projection 9 b of the door 9 is separated from the actuator 90 a of the switch 90 . as a result , a switch - off signal is inputted into the control circuit 100 . receiving this off signal , the control circuit 100 determines that the door 9 is opened . then , the communication control portion of the control circuit 100 begins the process for ending the communication between the control circuit 100 and the storage means 60 of the cartridge b . further , as the door 9 is opened , the rod pushing mechanical contact portion 9 c of the door 9 is moved away from the door contacting portion 55 a , that is , the front end portion , of the rod 55 , eliminating the force which kept the rod 55 pressed in the direction j . as a result , the rod 55 is pushed back ( returned ) in the direction - j by the resiliency of the spring 56 and 57 . however , as the rod 55 is pushed back a short distance , the projection 55 d of the rod 55 is caught by the downward projection 58 d of the retaining member 58 , and therefore , the rod 55 is prevented from moving further in the returning direction . that is , even after the projection 9 b of the door 9 becomes separated from the door contacting portion 55 a of the rod 55 , in other words , even after the force which kept the rod 55 pressed in the frame 35 is eliminated , the rod 55 is kept in the same state as that in which the rod 55 was kept when the door was closed . therefore , it is ensured that the connector 54 and storage member 60 remains electrically connected . further , as the door 9 is opened , the arm 84 is moved in the direction l by the opening movement of the door 9 , and therefore , the first linking member 83 is moved in the direction g , causing the lever 82 to rotate about the shaft 82 a in the clockwise direction m . thus , the second linking member 81 is moved in the direction n by being pulled by the rotation of the lever 82 , causing thereby the projection 81 a to move rearward along the long slot 51 g . the distance by which the projection 81 a is moved rearward along the long slot 51 g during the initial stage of the opening of the door 9 is minuscule . thus , the projection 81 a remains above ( remains therefore separated from ) the first arm portion 58 b of the retaining member 58 , as shown in fig1 , and therefore , it does not interfere with the retaining member 58 . fig1 shows the state of the main assembly of the printer a during the mid stage of the opening of the door 9 . after the switch 90 turned itself off , the door 9 is to be further opened . as a result , the projection 81 a of the second linking member 81 is moved further rearward along the long slot 51 g , by the arm 84 , first linking member 83 , lever 82 , and second linking member 81 , which are moved by the opening movement of the door 9 . as the projection 81 a moves a preset distance , it reaches where the long slot 51 g intersects with the second arm portion 58 c of the rod retaining member 58 , coming into contact with the top surface of the second arm portion 58 c ( which gradually slopes upward toward rear ). while the projection 81 a moves from where it is in fig1 to where it is in fig1 , the projection 81 a does not contact the retaining member 58 regardless of the opening movement of the door 9 ; the range between where the projection 81 a is in fig1 and where the projection 81 a is in the fig1 provides the play . as the door 9 is further opened , the projection 81 a is moved further rearward along the long slot 51 g by the opening movement of the door 9 , pressing down on the surface of the second arm portion 58 c of the retaining member 58 . as a result , the retaining member 58 rotates , against the resiliency of the spring 59 , about the shaft 58 a in the direction indicated by the arrow mark - k , causing the downward projection 58 d to disengage from the projection 55 d , as shown in fig1 and 20 ; in other words , the retaining member 58 disengages from the projection 55 d , allowing the rod 55 to be returned in the direction - j by the resiliency of the springs 56 and 57 . as a result , the connector supporting member 50 is rotated about the shafts 52 c in the direction - h in fig3 and 4 , by the pressure applied to the upward arm 52 b by the resiliency of the first coil spring 56 . therefore , the connector 54 is moved into the retreat position y , in which it is impossible for the electrical contacts 54 a and 54 b to come into contact with the electrical contacts 60 a and 60 b of the storage means 60 , and retained in the retreat position y . that is , the connector supporting member 50 rotates in the direction indicated by the arrow mark - h about the shafts 52 a , causing the electrical contacts 54 a and 54 b to separate from the electrical contacts 60 a and 60 b of the storage means 60 . as described above , during the initial stage of the opening of the door 9 , it is detected by the switch 90 that the door 9 , which was closed , has been opened . however , until the projection 81 a is moved along the long slot 51 g by the further opening of the door 9 from the point shown in fig1 to the point shown in fig1 , at which the retaining mechanism is disengaged , the connector 54 and storage means 60 are not disengaged . that is , the connector 54 and storage means 60 are disengaged from each other as the door 9 is opened by an additional angle after the opening of the door 9 is detected by the switch 90 . this period allows the communication control portion of the control circuit 100 to carry out the process for properly completing the communication between the control circuit 100 and the storage means 60 of the cartridge b . fig1 shows the main assembly of the printer a , the door 9 of which is fully open . after the separation of the electrical contacts 54 a and 54 b of the connector 54 from the electrical contacts 60 a and 60 b of the storage means 60 , the door 9 is further opened . the opening movement of the door 9 in this period keeps the arm 84 , first linking member 83 , lever 82 , and second linking member 81 moving , while leaving the connector 50 and rod 55 retained in the same positions . then , after the door 9 is opened by a preset angle , which is wide enough for the mounting or dismounting of the cartridge b , a user can pull the cartridge b out of the main assembly of the printer a . further , as the door 9 , which is fully open as shown in fig1 , is closed , the arm 84 , first linking member 83 , lever 82 , and second linking member 81 are moved in the opposite direction from the direction in which they are moved , and therefore , the projection 81 a of the second linking member 81 moves along the long slot 51 g to its initial position , shown in fig1 , which is on the front side of the long slot 51 g , and the retaining member 58 rotates back into the attitude shown in fig1 . then , the above described steps shown in fig1 - 17 are carried out , restoring finally the above described state , shown in fig1 , in which the door 9 is completely shut . the timing with which the projecting 81 a of the second linking member 81 comes into contact with the top surface of the second arm portion 58 c of the retaining member 58 can be easily adjusted by adjusting the angle of the top surface ( sloped portion ) and / or the angle and range of the long slot 51 g . that is , the timing with which the electrical contacts 54 a and 54 b of the connector 54 are separated from the electrical contacts 60 a and 60 b of the storage means 60 during the period from when the door 9 begins to be opened to when the door 9 is completely opened can be easily adjusted . in the above described embodiment , the connector supporting member 50 , housing 51 , rod 55 , spring 57 , etc ., constitute the connector moving mechanism which is driven by the closing movement of the door 9 to move the connector 54 into the communication - possible position in which the connector 54 contacts the storage means 60 . the retaining member 58 , rod 55 , etc ., constitute the retaining mechanism for retaining the connector moving mechanism in the position in which the connector moving mechanism is after the connector moving mechanism moves the connector 54 into the communication - possible position x . the arm 84 , first linking member 83 , lever 82 , first linking member 81 , projection 81 a , long slot 51 g , etc ., constitute the disengaging mechanism for disengaging the abovementioned retaining mechanism . that is , they constitute the disengaging mechanism for disengaging the retaining mechanism to allow the connector 54 to return to the retreat position y in which the electrical contacts 54 a and 54 b of the connector 54 cannot contact the electrical contacts 60 a and 60 b of the storage means 60 . in this embodiment , the above described retaining member is made up of the projection 55 d with which the rod 55 is provided , projection 58 d with which the retaining member 58 is provided , spring 59 , etc . however , the retaining mechanism may be structured so that the connector supporting member 50 is directly retained . according to the above described structural arrangement , when the door 9 , which is fully open , is closed , the connector moving mechanism is moved by the movement of the door 9 at a speed proportional to the moving speed of the door 9 . however , when the door 9 , which is completely closed , is opened , the connector moving mechanism is retained by the retaining mechanism ( retaining member ), in the position into which it was moved to move the connector 54 into the communication - possible position x , until the door 9 is opened to a preset point . then , as the door 9 is opened beyond the preset point , the retaining mechanism is activated , allowing the connector moving mechanism to move in the direction to move the connector 54 into the retreat position y . therefore , the speed at which the connector moving mechanism operates is set without relying on the opening or closing speed of the door 9 . that is , even if the amount of force applied to open or close the door 9 and / or the speed at which the door 9 is opened or closed is substantially varied , the length of time from when the opening of the door 9 is detected by the door switch to when the connector is disengaged from the storage means can be kept longer than a preset value . in other words , the length of time from when the opening of the door 9 is detected by the door switch to when the connector 54 on the main assembly side of the printer a is disengaged from the storage means 60 on the cartridge b side can be kept long enough to carry out the process for properly completing the communication between the storage means 60 and the control circuit 100 on the main assembly side . therefore , it is possible to ensure the reliability of the communication ( process for properly completing communication ) between the storage means 60 of the cartridge b and the control circuit on the main assembly side . further , until the communication is normally ended , the cartridge b cannot be taken out of the main assembly of the printer a . therefore , even if an attempt is made to quickly mount or dismount the cartridge b by opening the door 9 at a high speed , the reliability of the communication is kept intact . with the employment of the above described structural arrangement , the data communication is properly ended by the time the connector is disconnected from the storage means . therefore , the communication between the storage means and control circuit is reliably carried out . while the invention has been described with reference to the structures disclosed herein , it is not confined to the details set forth , and this application is intended to cover such modifications or changes as may come within the purposes of the improvements or the scope of the following claims . while the invention has been described with reference to the structures disclosed herein , it is not confined to the details set forth and this application is intended to cover such modifications or changes as may come within the purpose of the improvements or the scope of the following claims . this application claims priority from japanese patent application no . 314792 / 2005 filed oct . 28 , 2005 which is hereby incorporated by reference .
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referring now to the drawings , fig1 illustrates an electrophotographic document copier 10 which is adapted to copy image information on original document pages presented thereto for copying . such copier comprises an image - recording section 12 , a document feeder 14 , and a multibin sorter attachment 16 . image - recording section 12 is adapted to record images on copy sheets contained in either of two sheet supplies 18a and 18b and to advance these copy sheets to either a top exit hopper 20 , or to one of the bins 22 of the sorter attachment . the image - recording section operates under the instructions given by a copier operator via an operator control panel 24 . an editing tablet 26 enables an operator to designate , via an electronic stylus or wand 28 , which portion of an original document page is to receive &# 34 ; special treatment &# 34 ;, e . g ., spot color , screening , etc ., in a copying operation . as better shown in fig2 document feeder 14 comprises a document supply tray 30 for receiving a multipage document d to be copied , and sheet feeding means 33 for serially presenting the individual pages of the document to the exposure platen 32 of the image - recording section . preferably , the document feeder is capable of operating in a duplex mode in which it operates to present both sides of each document page to the exposure platen for copying . upon presenting each document page for copying , the document feeder returns the page to the supply tray . a suitable document feeder is disclosed , for example , in the commonly assigned u . s . pat . no . 4 , 140 , 387 issued to g . gustafson , the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference . the image - recording section of copier 10 comprises an endless photoconductive recording element 40 which is guided along an endless path by rollers 42 - 46 . roller 42 is rotatably driven by a motor m to advance the recording element in the direction of the arrow . positioned along the endless path of the recording element are the various processing stations which collectively act to form a transferable toner image on the recording element of image information on a document page presented to exposure platen 32 . briefly , such processing stations include a charging station 48 at which a corona charger 50 applies a uniform electrostatic charge to the photoconductive surface of the recording element , and an exposure station 52 at which an image of a document page is projected onto the charged surface of the recording element to form a developable charge image thereon . the exposure station typically comprises a pair of flashlamps 54 which briefly expose the document page on the exposure platen , and a pair of mirrors 56 and a lens 58 for projecting an image of the illuminated document page onto the recording element . the charge image on the recording element is developed with toner particles at one of two different development stations 62 , 64 . these stations are adapted to apply toner of different colors to the charge image to produce a &# 34 ; spot &# 34 ; or &# 34 ; accent &# 34 ; color effect on the final image , as explained below . the toner image on the recording element is then transferred to a copy sheet s which has been advanced from one of the two aforementioned sheet supplies 18a or 18b . copy sheets are fed to a transfer station 70 in timed relationship with the arrival of the toner image . after having its toner image transferred therefrom , the recording element is cleaned of residual toner by a cleaning station 72 , and the recording element is recycled through the electrophotographic process . the timing and control of the various processing stations of the entire copier is achieved through a microprocessor based logic and control unit or lcu 75 . the production of a spot color copy is well described in the aforementioned russel and tsilibes et al . patents , the respective disclosures of which are incorporated herein by reference . briefly , spot color on a copy sheet is achieved by first having the operator identify that image portion on the original page that is to receive the different color toner . this can be done by either highlighting such portion with a special marker pen , as disclosed by russel , or by using a special electronic editing tablet , as disclosed by tsilibes et al . in the russel approach , the highlighted document page ( s ) is placed in the document supply tray of the recirculating feeder 14 along with the other document pages constituting the multipage original . the operator then indicates , through a control switch on the operator control panel that this is a spot color job . the operator also indicates , via a numeric key pad , which page ( s ) in the stack require spot color . in the course of feeding original pages from the document supply tray to the copier &# 39 ; s exposure platen , the pages pass over an image scanner that is sensitive to the highlighted portions . the location of the highlighted portions of each original are detected and stored in a bit map . upon reaching the exposure platen , each original page requiring spot color is exposed twice for each copy desired , thereby producing two identical latent images on the recording element of the spot color original . operating under the control of the lcu and the bit map produced by the image scanner , a selective erase device 78 , such as an array of led &# 39 ; s or a scanning laser beam , operates to erase from one image frame only the highlighted portions of the electrostatic image , and to erase from the other image frame the non - highlighted portions . the two image frames are then developed with toners of different color , and the resulting toner images are transferred , one after the other , to a single copy sheet . upon receiving a toner image at transfer station 70 , a copy sheet will be directed along one of three different sheet paths , all of which pass through a roller fusing station 80 , which fuses the toner to the copy sheet . one path a leads from the transfer station to an external exit hopper 82 , another path b leads from the transfer station to the multibin sorter attachment 16 , and a third path c is an endless path leading from the transfer station , through an intermediate storage tray , and back to the transfer station . a pair of movable sheet deflectors 84 , and 86 , operate under the control of lcu 75 to control which of the three paths is used . deflector 84 , when activated , deflects copy sheets moving along a common portion of the three paths to the sorter , and deflector 86 , when activated , deflects copy sheets moving along a common portion of paths a and c towards the intermediate storage tray 83 . a third deflector 88 operates under the control of the lcu to direct copy sheets along either an inverting or non - inverting paths leading to tray 83 , depending on whether the toner images are to be transferred to opposite sides of the copy sheet , as in the case of duplex copying , or on the same side of the copy sheet , as in the case of spot color . as indicated earlier herein , in using copiers of the type described above to produce multiple collated copies of a multipage original in which at least one document page is to be copied with spot color , there is a latent inefficiency in operating in the &# 34 ; recirculation &# 34 ; mode , i . e ., the mode to which the copier is commonly programmed to default unless otherwise instructed . with reference to fig2 it will be appreciated that path c requires several copy sheets ( e . g . 5 to 7 sheets ) to fill . thus , after a copy sheet receives a first toner image , there is a substantial time delay before it can be returned to the transfer station to receive a second image . this delay corresponds to the time it takes for a copy sheet to traverse the entire closed loop sheet path c . when the copier is operating in its &# 34 ; recirculation &# 34 ; mode , this time delay is encountered once for each &# 34 ; special &# 34 ; page circled by the feeder , and once for each circulation . note , however , when the copier is operating in its &# 34 ; sorter &# 34 ; mode in which collated multisheet copies are delivered to each of the sorter bins of the sorter attachment , the copier can operate at full machine speed whenever the number of copies desired equals or exceeds the number of sheets required to fill the endless sheet path c . the following example will explain this difference in copying speed . assume it is desired to make seven collated copies of a five page original document . also assume the copier is operating in its &# 34 ; sorter &# 34 ; ( i . e . &# 34 ; non - recirculating ) mode , and that page 3 is &# 34 ; special &# 34 ; in that it requires spot color to complete the copying thereof . the multipage original is placed in the feeder , face up , with page 1 on top . since the feeder feeds pages from the bottom of the stack , it first circulates page 5 to the exposure station , whereupon seven exposures are made on seven consecutive image frames on the recording element . copy sheets are fed to the transfer station to receive these seven images , one toner image per sheet , and the copy sheets are delivered to seven sorter bins , face up , one sheet per bin . thereafter , page 4 is copied in the same fashion , and the copies thereof are delivered to the sorter in the same way , each copy of page 4 being delivered , face up , atop each copy of page 5 . when &# 34 ; special &# 34 ; page 3 is fed to the exposure station , it remains there until fourteen images are made . in the first seven image frames , the selective erase device 78 is used to erase that portion of the electrostatic image corresponding to the spot color portions of the desired image . the resulting transferred images are transferred to copy sheets and these sheets are advanced along sheet path c for temporary storage in tray 83 . meanwhile , the selective erase device is used to erase all but the spot color portion of the next seven image frames , i . e ., frames 8 - 14 . as the eighth frame approaches the transfer station , the first - stored copy sheet in tray 83 is advanced toward the transfer station to receive the spot color image . this process continues until the spot color copy sheets are stored in the sorter bins , and the remaining two document pages are copied as described above with reference to page 1 . the point of the above discussion is that , when copying documents of the type described , the copier is substantially more efficient , in terms of speed , when operating in the sorter mode . yet , for reasons mentioned above , the copier logic commonly defaults to the &# 34 ; recirculation &# 34 ; mode , thereby preventing this speed advantage . according to the invention , the advantage of operating in the &# 34 ; sorter &# 34 ; mode for copying jobs of the type described is &# 34 ; recognized &# 34 ; by the copier &# 39 ; s lcu , and the mode is automatically switched from the &# 34 ; recirculation &# 34 ; mode , to the &# 34 ; sorter &# 34 ; mode . when an operator selects &# 34 ; spot color &# 34 ; on the operator control panel 24 , or , for that matter selects any control switch which indicates that any document page requires two toner images to complete the desired copying job ( and this includes duplex or two - sided copying ), a control signal x is produced . the copier &# 39 ; s microprocessor - base control unit responds to this control signal to assure that the copier is operating in &# 34 ; sorter &# 34 ; collation mode . the flow - chart of fig3 illustrates the steps in the program for achieving this result . referring to fig3 if the copier is already set to operate in a non - recirculating mode , then the job is performed according to that setting . if the copier is set for its recirculation mode , the question is whether any page in the document being copied requires two toner images to complete the copying thereof . such would be the case where one or more pages requires spot color , or where one page has is a duplex page ( having images on both sides thereof . the presence or absence of control signal x from the operator control panel answers this question . if no &# 34 ; special &# 34 ; document page is present , the copier is allowed to operate in the recirculation mode . if , however , the answer to this question is &# 34 ; yes &# 34 ;, then the copier mode is switched to the &# 34 ; sorter &# 34 ; collation mode , and the pages are considered on a page - by page basis . in the case of non - special pages , the lcu controls the copier as described above , and positions deflector 84 to divert copy sheets to the sorter . if the page being copied has two image portions to be copied , the lcu directs the copier to copy the first image and to divert the copy sheets to tray 83 , along path c . the lcu then directs the copier to produce a toner image of the second image portion and to advance the copy sheets from tray 83 to receive it . after all document pages have been copied as described , the program ends . 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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the present invention provides a novel epoxide hydrolase which is highly enantioselective even at high substrate concentrations as compared to other known bacterial epoxide hydrolases for the hydrolysis of different aryl epoxides which are potential synthons of intermediates for the synthesis of chiral amino alcohols and bioactive compounds like β - blockers . the novel epoxide hydrolase is prepared in the form of whole bacterial cells that are potent enough to carry out the reactions with high substrate concentration ; thereby avoiding the use of lyophilized enzymatic preparations which are usually needed in case of fungal cultures , where the reactions with high activity are hampered due to fungal mycelia . these whole bacterial cells usually sequester the enzyme components in a small but concentrated form which is responsible for its high efficiency . the epoxide hydrolase enzyme of the present invention exhibits high enantiomeric ratio , hydrolyzing aryl epoxides at a very high substrate concentration , is superior in comparison with other known epoxide hydrolases in terms of high substrate tolerance , better substrate spectrum , non - toxic , easily and abundantly available whole cell biocatalyst for green and economic synthesis of enantio - enriched pharmaceutically important epoxides . the novel epoxide hydrolase of the present invention is isolated from a novel isolated bacterial strain of achromobacter sp mtcc 5605 , which has been isolated from petroleum contaminated sludge samples collected from petroleum refinery unit , essar oil limited , post box no 24 khambhalia , vadinar 361305 , district - jamnagar , gujarat , india . the bacterial colonies were subjected to two steps of screening : firstly the screening for epoxide hydrolase activity and secondly for enantioselectivity of the enzyme . the bacterial strains were isolated by transferring the sludge samples in enrichment medium , 1 . 0 g of each sludge sample in 100 ml of mineral salts medium for one week plated on agar plates with styrene epoxide as the sole carbon source and isolates were purified for 2 - 3 times on nutrient agar plates . the isolated pure organisms were scrapped off the agar plate and added to the microtubes individually containing fermentation medium and after two days the epoxide substrate dissolved in 0 . 5 % cyclohexane was added . the bioconversion was carried out at 37 ° c . and 250 rpm for 24 - 48 h , then the reaction mixture was centrifuged , the supernatant was extracted with ethyl acetate and the enantiopurity of substrate was determined using gc . the organism achromobacter sp mtcc 5605 has been identified based on morphological , physiological and biochemical characterization and the 16s rdna sequence determined has been deposited in embl database under the accession number fn645747 . the 16s rdna sequence of achromobacter sp . mtcc 5605 is : cgcgttacca agtgaatgcg tagatatggc ggaggaaaca ccgagtggcg aaggtcagcc tccctggata aacacgacgc tcatgcacgg aaaagcgtgg ggacaaaaca ggatttagat acccctggta gtccacgccc taaacgatgt caactagctg ttggggcctt cggggccttg gtagcgcagc taacgcgtga agttgaccgc ctggggagta cggtcgcaag attaaaactc aaaggaattg acggggaccc gtacaagcgg tggatgatgt ggattaattc gatgcaacgc gaaaaacctt acctaccctt gacatgtctg gaatgccgaa gagatttggc agtgctcgca agagaaccgg aacacaggtg ctgcatggct gtcgtcagct cgtgtcgtga gatgttgggt taagtcccgc aacgagcgca acccttgtca ttagttgcaa cgaaagggca ctctaatgag actgccggtg acaaaccgga ggaaggtggg gatgacgtca agtcctcatg gcccttatgg gtagggcttc acacgtcata caatggtcgg gacagagggt cgccaacccg cgagggggag ccaatcccag aaacccgatc gtagtccgga tcgcagtctg caactcgact gcgtgaactc ggaatcgcta gtaatcgcgg atcagcatgt cgcggtgaat acgttcccgg gttttgtaca caccgcccgt cacaccatgg gagtgggttt taccagaagt agttagccta actgccaggg gggcgattac cacggtat the biologically pure culture of achromobacter sp . mtcc 5605 produces the enzyme epoxide hydrolase upon aerobic cultivation in an aqueous nutrient medium preferably containing sources of carbon , nitrogen and inorganic substances . to enrich the enzyme , the organism was initially sub - cultured in mineral salt medium containing epoxide substrate as the sole carbon source at a temperature of 35 to 40 degree c . for 3 to 4 days . the mineral salt medium was adjusted to ph 8 . 0 with the following composition ( per liter ): ammonium sulphate 1 g , glucose , 5 g , kh 2 po 4 3 g , k 2 hpo 4 . 3h 2 o 6 g , nacl 0 . 5 g , mgso 4 . 7h 2 o 0 . 5 g , cacl 2 0 . 05 g and epoxide substrate 2 . 5 ml of 2 % final concentration . after 3 - 4 days , the culture was transferred to a production medium ( adjusted to ph 8 . 0 ) with following composition ( per liter ): glucose , 5 g , peptone 5 g , yeast extract 0 . 1 g , kh 2 po 4 2 g , k 2 hpo 4 . 3h 2 o 3 g and mgso 4 . 7h 2 o 0 . 5 g . after two days the epoxide substrate dissolved in 0 . 5 % cyclohexane was added and the biotransformation mixture was incubated at 35 degree c . the produced diol and the remaining unreacted epoxide were extracted with equal volume of ethyl acetate and quantified using chiral gc and hplc . the enantiomeric excess was calculated using equations cited in u . s . patent no . 2010 / 0261251 a1 and u . s . pat . no . 6 , 828 , 115 . the enantiomeric ratio [ e ] of achromobacter sp . mtcc 5605 was observed to be 64 . 09 with a yield of 41 . 8 %. in the present process , the whole cells of mtcc 5605 in biphasic system , hydrolysed r — enantiomer , yielding s — enantiomer with & gt ; 99 % ee s with an optical purity of 100 % and 41 . 8 % yield and an enantiomeric ratio e = 64 . 09 . the following examples are given by way of illustration and therefore should not be construed to limit the scope of the present invention . the bacterial strain producing epoxide hydrolase was isolated from petroleum contaminated sludge sample after preliminary screening steps and the enzyme activity was detected using the simple and standard representative of aryl epoxide , i . e ., styrene oxide . the substrate was subjected to hydrolysis with whole bacterial cells in 0 . 1 m tris buffer at ph 7 . 5 . the reaction was monitored by observing the formation of the corresponding 1 , 2 - diols by thin layer chromatography by comparison with synthesized diols and further confirmed using gas chromatography . the microorganism with high epoxide hydrolase activity was further identified as achromobacter sp . mtcc 5605 ( fig1 ) based on its morphological , physiological and biochemical characterization ( as given in table 1 ) followed by 16s rdna sequencing . kinetic resolution of styrene oxide using epoxide hydrolase from achromobacter sp . mtcc 5605 whole cells of achromobacter sp . mtcc 5605 at late log phase ( resting cells ) were added to 0 . 1 m tris - hcl buffer at ph 8 . 0 containing styrene oxide ( 100 mm ) and 0 . 5 % cyclohexane and incubated at 40 ° c . at 250 rpm . the reaction was terminated by monitoring the complete selective degradation of one of the enantiomer . the remaining epoxide was recovered by extraction with equal volumes of ethyl acetate and the organic layer was dried over na 2 so 4 , filtered and vacuum concentrated . this concentrated sample was injected into the gas chromatograph ( gc ) to monitor the enantiomeric excess ( fig2 ). these promising results led to pursue further the biotransformation conditions to optimize the yield and enantioselectivity of the novel epoxide hydrolase . the present invention also provides the optimization of biotransformation conditions , such as culture medium , effect of different reaction conditions like ph and temperature , effect of co - solvents and metal salts . example 2 was repeated with different ph buffers . the epoxide hydrolase activity was detected from ph 7 . 0 - 10 . 0 , moderate activity was observed between ph 6 . 0 - 7 . 0 and rapid decrease to no activity was observed under acidic conditions . the results ( fig3 ) suggested that the bioresolution by achromobacter sp . mtcc 5605 was maximum under alkaline conditions . example 2 was repeated with varying temperatures ranging from 20 - 60 ° c . the temperature mainly influences the kinetic rate of reaction with maximum activity attained between 30 - 50 ° c . ; however , temperatures lower than 30 ° c . resulted in slow hydrolysis and higher temperatures had no activity due to enzyme deactivation ( fig4 ). example 2 was repeated with different co solvents . most of the epoxide substrates have low solubility . thus , to prevent auto - hydrolysis and low yield ; it is obligatory to add a cosolvent . an organic - aqueous phase system of isooctane and tris - hcl buffer resulted in high enantioselectivity and yield . other co - solvents like cyclohexane , n - octane , iso - propanol and methanol also exhibited moderate to good activities , whereas toluene , tween 80 , tween 60 showed intermediate activities , while dmso , tween - 40 , tween - 20 exhibited low enantioselectivity ( fig5 ). example 2 was repeated with different metal salts at 5 mm concentration under standard assay conditions . the enzyme activity increased in the presence of fecl 3 , cucl 2 , and al 2 ( so 4 ) 3 , while there was almost no effect in the presence of mgso 4 ; enzyme activity was partially inhibited by cacl 2 , and no enantioselectivity was observed with bacl 2 and mnso 4 ( fig6 ). example 2 was repeated with different enzyme inhibitors ( 1 mm concentration ) like 2 - bromo - 4 ′- methyl acetophenone , diethyl pyrocarbonate , dithiothreitol , phenyl hydrazine , hydroxylamine , sodium dodecyl sulphate , ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid , cetyltrimethylammonium bromide . however , none of them showed any inhibition of epoxide hydrolase activity . the carbon and nitrogen sources are crucial for the growth and metabolic process of the microorganism . the growth and enzyme activity of the microorganism were largely affected by changing the carbon and nitrogen sources , with the prime goal of increasing the enzymatic level to obtain an efficient biocatalyst . the highest activity was observed when sorbitol was supplemented as carbon source followed by sucrose , glucose and fructose . very low enantioselectivity was observed with starch - based carbon sources and no enantioselectivity was observed for mannitol and maltose substrates ( fig7 ). the organic nitrogen sources like tryptone , beef extract , malt extract and soya peptone favoured cell growth but not enzyme activity , while the inorganic nitrogen source , ammonium chloride , showed the highest epoxide hydrolase activity ( fig8 ). there was no activity observed with other inorganic nitrogen sources like urea and sodium nitrate . this novel enzyme according to the invention can advantageously be explored for the hydrolysis of epoxide rings found in substrates of benzyl glycidyl ether , phenyl glycidyl ether , methoxyphenyl glycidyl ether , limonene epoxide , phenyl ethyl glycidate and indene oxide ( table 2 ), most of which are valuable intermediates for the synthesis of β - blocker drugs . the enzyme enriched cells ( resting cells , about 14 g ) were suspended in 70 ml of tris buffer ( 50 mm tris - hcl - 5 mm edta - 5 % glycerol - 50 mm nacl , ph 7 . 0 ) and further disrupted in 2 cycles of 5 min each , with a gap of 1 mm in each cycle , using ultrasound ( branson sonifier w 250 , output 80 w ) placed in an ice bath . the homogenate was centrifuged at 15 , 000 rpm for 30 minutes at 4 ° c . the supernatant ( lysate 1 ) in which epoxide hydrolase activity was not detected , was separated out . the pellet was re - extracted with the same tris buffer at ph 8 . 5 and centrifuged at 15 , 000 rpm for 30 minutes at 5 ° c . and in this fraction ( lysate 2 ), epoxide hydrolase enzyme activity was detected which was applied on a deae - cellulose column previously equilibrated with tris buffer ( ph 8 . 5 ). after washing the bound proteins were eluted with a linear gradient of 100 mm - 1 m nacl in the same buffer . fractions of 1 ml were collected . all the fractions were assayed for enzyme activity . the active fractions were pooled and desalted by using nanosep concentrators and separated using amicon concentrators ( 3 and 9 kda mwco ) by centrifugation . then the sample was run on sds - page to determine the molecular mass of the protein which was observed to 95 kda ( fig9 ). epoxide hydrolases from achromobacter sp . mtcc 5605 have remarkable advantages which offer a simple and green route for the synthesis of optically enriched epoxides . a major challenge in the conventional organic synthesis is to generate optically pure compounds with high enantiopurities and good yields . several chemo or bio - catalytic procedures have been developed like sharpless - epoxidation ( katsuki et al . 1980 ), jacobsen &# 39 ; s asymmetric epoxidation ( jacobsen et al . 1991 ), alkene epoxidation by monooxygenases ( archelas and furstoss 2001 ), two step synthesis using haloperoxidases and halohydrin epoxidase ( besse and veschambre 1994 ) using lipase ( cipiciani et al . 1998 ) and alcohol dehydrogenase ( hasegawa et al . 1990 ). these processes were significantly affected because of limited substrate scope and use of expensive and toxic metal catalysts , limited efficiency and productivity and compliance with , the stringent economical and environmental standards . many epoxide hydrolases have been explored earlier from microbial origin , but most of these enzymes have a limited substrate scope or rather act on low substrate concentrations due to low catalytic efficiency of the enzyme . this environmentally compliant methodology is attractive as it minimizes the costs of resources and prevents the production of toxic waste in industrial applications . although relatively better enantioselectivities were obtained from fungal epoxide hydrolases , but they have experimental constraints like inhibition at high substrate concentration and low enzymatic activity . the mycelial and filamentous fungi are often characterized by high broth viscosity , nutrient concentrated zones , insufficient oxygen and mass transfer which reduces the productivity , therefore the epoxide hydrolases require partially or purified enzymatic preparations for preparative scale experiments , however , enzymatic preparations at higher substrate concentrations get deactivated or become less enantioselective at later stages , which are avoided with the advantages of the present invention . in the present invention , the whole cell resolutions allow continuous hydrolysis for high substrate concentrations ; can be easily cultured , abundantly available and accessible to organic chemists . this novel epoxide hydrolase offers an efficient catalysis with expanded substrate spectrum and a cost effective process for practical application . the epoxide hydrolase from the newly isolated bacterium achromobacter sp . mtcc 5605 is much more enantioselective than any other known bacterial epoxide hydrolases . the active whole cells can be used in lyophilized form for resolution of pharmaceutically important epoxides with high enantioselectivity . the biphasic hydrolysis using lyophilized cells allows the use of high substrate concentration . in view of the non - toxicity , easy availability and low cost of the whole cell catalysts provides green and economical synthesis of optically pure synthons .
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referring now to fig1 there is shown a sample load device 10 which is controlled by the load control unit 12 . load control unit 12 generates an electrical signal representative of the desired load to be applied to the loading device and transmits that electric signal to a current - to - pressure transducer 14 which converts the electrical signal to a pneumatic output . the pneumatic output is transferred to a first piston actuator 16 comprising a piston 18 moving in cylinder 20 , which is rigidly supported on housing 11 of load unit 10 . the load applied to the upper surface of piston 18 is transferred through piston rod 19 to load transfer assembly 22 which includes a load transfer platform 24 connected by stiff arms 26 to a load cell assembly 28 . load cell assembly 28 includes a force transducer 30 threaded in plastic mountings 32 and 34 , which is in turn rigidly connected to output shaft 36 , passing through linear ball bushing 42 in guide 40 and terminating in a pressure foot 38 which abuts the test sample ( not shown ) resting on base plate 39 . thus , the pneumatic load applied to the top of piston 18 is transmitted through the loading device 10 to pressure foot 38 . the load applied by foot 38 to the test sample is measured by load cell 30 . load cell 30 is a standard device generally available from a number of manufacturers and which includes two parallelly aligned mounting plates separated by springs having known spring constants . a transformer body is usually mounted on one plate and a transformer core is mounted on the other . the transformer output varies as the plates move toward or away from each other and the transformer core moves into or out of the transformer body in response to a force applied to the load cell . since the spring constant of the springs separating the two plates is known , and since the transformer output is directly related to the deflection between the two plates , the load cell can be calibrated to read an applied load . a suitable load cell may be purchased from schaevits engineering company of camden , new jersey , model no . fta - it - 20 . a signal conditioner 31 is used in association with load cell 30 to provide a power supply and to condition the output of load cell 30 to a useful format . the load cell output is directed to signal conditioner 31 and thence to load control unit 12 and to a recording means . the loads which are meant to be applied to the test samples are necessarily small and , thus , the data can be affected by the weight of the load transfer apparatus itself , including the moving parts of load device 10 , i . e ., piston 18 , piston rod 19 , the load transfer assembly 22 , load cell 30 and its mountings 32 and 34 , output shaft 36 and pressure foot 38 . to compensate for the weight of these parts of loading device 10 , the loading device 10 includes an offset counterforce system 44 , which includes a piston 46 in a cylinder 48 with a piston rod 49 rigidly connected to load transfer platform 24 . piston 48 is supplied with a constant pneumatic pressure through conduit 47 which urges piston 46 in a direction opposite to that of piston 18 so that load transfer assembly 22 is urged upward with sufficient force to counterbalance the weight of the moving parts of loading device 10 . the counterforce assembly 44 presses upwardly with a preset force somewhat greater than the weight of the moving portions of the sample loading device 10 . the device is then calibrated so that at zero load , piston 16 presses down with a force equal to or less than the counterforce exerted on piston 46 . light weight materials are used in the loading device as much as possible . the pistons are preferably made of graphite and the cylinders preferably made of glass to reduce friction loading within the cylinders . as shown in fig1 an air supply is introduced into cylinder 48 through two pressure regulators 50 and 52 . these pressure regulators can be purchased from fairchild industrial products division , winston salem , north carolina under fairchild pneumatic pressure regulator model 30 . pressure regulator 50 is preferably a 0 to 30 pound pressure regulator which is set to output about 22 pounds per square inch . pressure regulator 52 is a 0 to 2 pound pressure regulator with an output of about 1 . 8 pounds per square inch . it can be seen in fig1 that the air pressure supply from the downstream side of pressure regulator 50 is directed to the input serves as the air pressure supply for cylinder 20 . current - to - pressure transducer 14 will be discussed more thoroughly in connection with fig2 further on in the application . still referring to fig1 there is shown a linear variable differential transformer ( lvdt ) 60 rigidly mounted on a support platform 62 which also supports load device 10 . lvdt 60 is used to measure the thickness of the test sample placed on base plate 39 . transformer body 64 is adjustably mounted on the stem 72 of a vernier 74 , vernier 74 is mounted on support 62 by legs 76 . transformer core 66 is affixed to mounting 34 of load cell 30 by means of an arm 68 which extends through slot 70 in the housing of load device 10 . as foot 38 moves up and down according to the variation of thickness of the test sample , load cell support 34 , arm 68 and transformer core 66 will correspondingly move , causing core 66 to move with respect to transformer body 60 , thus causing the transformer output to vary in accordance with the motion of foot 38 . this provides a method of measuring the thickness of a sample that is being subjected to a test . the thickness of a test sample can be monitored and displayed on a digital panel meter 210 and / or recorded on a recording means such as a chart recorder . in order to set the foot at a zero thickness above the surface on which a test sample will be placed , the electronic circuit can be engaged and vernier 74 may be adjusted until the thickness on the digital panel meter reads zero . the operation of current - to - pressure transducer 14 will now be described in conjunction with fig2 . current - to - pressure transducer 14 is a force - balance instrument that balances an electromagnetic force against a pneumatic force . transducer 14 includes a permanent magnet 80 and an electrical coil 82 . an input signal current is applied to coil 82 through contacts 84 . coil 82 of transducer 14 is mounted on one end of force lever 86 which pivots on flexure pivot 88 . an adjustable baffle 90 is mounted on the other end of lever 86 which may be adjusted by means of spring loaded screws 92 . transducer coil 82 is suspended in the gap of permanent magnet 80 . as the current flow through transducer coil 82 increases , the coil moves up out of the gap of magnet 80 , raising the coil end of force lever 86 and lowering baffle 90 against orifice 94 of nozzle 95 , directing the air supply from input line 96 to output line 98 and into cylinder 20 of load device 10 . as the input signal current to the transducer coil decreases , the coil moves down into the gap of magnet 80 and raises baffle 90 out of engagement with nozzle 95 to permit the air supply from input line 96 to vent to the atmosphere , thus reducing the amount of pressure directed through output line 96 into cylinder 20 . a zero - adjustment screw 100 is provided to compress zero - adjustment spring 102 . zero adjustment 100 may be adjusted together with pressure regulator 52 to insure that when a &# 34 ; zero &# 34 ; load signal is delivered to transducer 14 , that the air in cylinder 44 is sufficient to overcome the air pressure in cylinder 20 and the weight of the moving parts of load unit 10 , so that when &# 34 ; zero &# 34 ; load exists foot 38 will automatically rise from base plate 39 . damper 104 is provided . a span adjustment 106 is provided to position nozzle 95 in relation to pivot 88 . span adjustment 106 is provided by a pair of screwdriver adjusted cams which can slide the nozzle axially of force lever 86 . thus current - to - pressure transducer 14 will convert the output of load control unit 12 to a pneumatic output for introducing a load into cylinder 20 which will be delivered through the apparatus of load device 10 to foot 38 and to the test sample . load cell 30 provides a feedback to load - control unit 12 to insure that the desired applied load is properly adjusted and maintained at the required level and will not drift from that required level . the operation and construction of load - control unit 12 are described in a separate patent application filed on the same day as this patent application u . s . pat . application ser . no . 144 , 216 by the same inventor and assigned to the same assignee as this application and is hereby incorporated by reference herein . load unit 12 can be programmed to apply a desired load for desired time periods to load device 10 . load unit 12 generates a signal representative of desired load to current - to - pressure transducer 14 which converts the signal to a pneumatic output . when load control unit 12 has completed its programmed instructions it generates a signal to coil 82 of current - to - pressure transducer 14 , which completely opens baffle 90 away from nozzle 95 and bleeds off the supply of air to cylinder 20 of load device 10 . the air supply directed to cylinder 48 against piston 46 of counterbalance unit 44 is then sufficient to overcome the weight of the moving parts of load unit 10 and raise foot 38 . thus , when load unit 12 has completed its sequence , load unit 12 shuts itself off and raises foot 38 . thus , the present invention provides a loading device compensated for the weight of the device itself so that the lower limit of the applied load need not be unreasonably constrained . although the invention has been described as a pneumatic device , it could be hydraulically operated . while this invention has been described in conjunction with certain preferred embodiments , those skilled in the art will appreciate that many changes and modifications may be made to the preferred embodiment without departing from the scope of the invention . thus , it is not intended that the scope of the invention be limited except as set forth in the following claims .
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fig1 is a block diagram of the universal system of the invention . the system is comprised of three , an interface module functional modules a computer module 110 , 150 and a readout 170 . the interface module which is also known as the is located in the immediate physical vicinity of a source of biological or other data to which it is coupled by means of a plurality of sensors 100 . such arrangement is advantageous insofar as it permits the sensor leads 101 to be of minimal lengths so that electrical noise picked up from the environment may be kept at a mininum value . the sensors 100 are preferably conventional devices for collecting physiological or other data in the form of electrical potentials , electrical impedances , temperatures , forces , pressures , flow rates , etc . it may , moreover , be part of the sensing process to energize or apply electrical potentials to the sensors themselves or the body or other structures to which said sensors are attached or otherwise coupled . preamplification array 111 normalizes all sensor data by amplifying and / or otherwise conditioning the outputs of the sensors into electrical voltages whose values fall between pre - defined limits within the operating range of conversion circuits 120 and 130 . it is a major object of this invention to organize the whole system of fig1 so that the &# 34 ; front end &# 34 ; analog circuits of preamplifier array 111 may be reduced to their simplest possible configuration containing &# 34 ; but not limited to &# 34 ; a multiplicity of standard circuits such as those illustrated in fig2 , 4 , 5 , 6 and 7 . relatively complex system functions such as filtering , detection , comparison , sampling , etc . are performed by the computer of module 150 whenever possible . selector 120 chooses one of the outputs of preamplification array 111 and feeds the corresponding normalized analog sensor data to adc ( analog to digital converter ) 130 . adc 130 in turn translates the analog data into a corresponding digital code , which is then transmitted by means of uart 140 and circuit 141 to computer module 150 . uart 140 is a universal , asynchronous receiver / transmitter . in it , a parallel digital &# 34 ; word &# 34 ; descriptive of the value of a given sensor output is translated into its corresponding , serial form and sent via interface 141 to computer module 150 . the same uart converts each serial &# 34 ; word &# 34 ; coming from computer module 150 via circuit 141 into a corresponding parallel &# 34 ; word &# 34 ; denoting an address for selector 120 ( actually the identity of a sensor ) or , more generally , a control instruction for the circuits of interface module 110 . control circuit 131 is optional in case it is desired to further decode addresses , store control information or otherwise process instructions emanating from computer module 150 . circuit 141 includes optically coupled or other isolators , modems and line drivers and receivers , singly or in combination , or like means for the proper conditioning and isolation of both outgoing and incoming digital data . circuit 142 is an oscillator which provides clock reference signals as required by the various circuits contained in interface module 110 . last but not least , the circuit of operational amplifier 113 and resistor 112 is used to actively control the ground or background potential of the body or structure to which sensors 100 are attached . leads 102 and 103 may be tied together or at two different locations of said body or structure . lead 102 is the active lead , and lead 103 the sensing lead . lead 103 senses any deviation in the potential of said body or structure from that of the analog reference ground 114 . said deviation is then amplified and its polarity reversed in amplifier 113 , after which it is re - applied to said body or structure , thereby cancelling all voltages picked up by said body or structure acting as an antenna , notably ac &# 34 ; hum &# 34 ; from nearby electrical apparatus or power lines . resistor 112 prevents damage to amplifier 113 when lead 102 is shorted to ground or any other low impedance voltage source by limiting the maximum value of the current that is allowed to flow . the use of an active ground reference point as described contributes significantly to this invention in that it reduces the amplitude of the unwanted electrical signals ( or &# 34 ; noise &# 34 ;) picked up by the sensors . as a consequence , filtering means can be omitted from array 111 . filtering can instead be done later using computer algorithmic methods . the resulting savings in the complexity and cost of array 111 and the system in general are quite significant . fig2 , 4 , 5 , 6 and 7 illustrate a number of specific electronic circuits and methods that have in common the fact that they are useful electronic building blocks . said building blocks are mostly used in preamplification array 111 and represent the mininum that may be needed in the way of analog circuits for each sensor in the system of this invention , where the emphasis is on digital methods . the manner of use and interconnection of said blocks to form the preamplification array 111 will be readily apparent to those skilled in the electronics art . fig2 illustrates a simplified yet very effective biological amplifier suitable for eeg measurements . the circuit of op - amps 211 and 232 constitutes a high input impedance differential amplifier with a gain of 100 . the resistance values of resistors 200 and 231 must be matched to insure a high cmrr ( common made rejection ratio ). the same is true for resistors 201 and 212 . the circuit of op - amp 234 has an ac gain of 10 and a dc gain of unity because of the inclusion of capacitor 213 in series with resistor 214 . fig3 illustrates the classic &# 34 ; instrumentation amplifier .&# 34 ; it is a circuit that goes a long way to reproduce the characteristics of the ideal operational amplifier . it is widely encountered in instrumentation systems and many versions can be purchased in the form of integrated circuits . op - amps 301 and 341 form a high input impedance differential gain stage whose gain depends on the resistance values of resistor 310 , 320 and 330 . resistors 310 and 330 have the same value . to adjust the gain of the differential amplifier it is only necessary to change the resistance value of resistor 320 . the final stage consists of amplifier 321 and resistors 311 , 312 , 331 and 332 . the resistance value of resistor 311 must accurately match that of resistor 331 , and that of resistor 312 must match that of resistor 332 respectively for good cmrr . gain is changed by adjusting the ratio between the resistance of resistors 312 and 311 , and 332 and 331 , respectively . fig4 shows how instrumentation amplifier 413 may be used in sensitive impedance measurements . amplifier 413 may be the same as the instrumentation amplifier of fig3 . potentiometer 401 is used to balance a bridge consisting of impedances 410 ( zl ), 411 ( z2 ), 420 ( z3 ), and 412 ( z4 ). a sensor can be substituted in place of any said four impedances . any change in impedance of said sensor results in a corresponding voltage difference between inputs 412 and 423 of amplifier 413 which then further amplifies the signal . in most instances where a sensor is used to measure impedances , one must take into account the fact that an electrochemical interface may exist . this interface can occur between an electrode and a biological or other surface covered by , permeated by or consisting of a fluid or other mixture . said interface can act as an electrolyte , thereby forming a battery with the electrodes of the sensor . when an electric current flows through the sensor electrodes it &# 34 ; charges &# 34 ; the above - mentioned battery . electrolysis occurs , gas bubbles accumulate on the surfaces of the electrodes and a counter - e . m . f . is established . this effect causes the sensor to behave as if it was an impedance involving one or more ( fairly large ) capacitors . from the point of view of safety , accuracy and efficiency it is undesirable to cause uncontrolled electric currents to flow through the electrodes of the sensors . these currents are therefore kept small , and , in most instances , their direction is periodically reversed in order to cancel polarizing effects and electrolysis . in the preferred embodiment the excitation source (+ v and - v ) applied between terminals 400 and 430 is coupled through a capacitor ( not shown ) and energized only when the computer selects the corresponding data channel . said capacitor insures that the net current through the sensor electrodes is zero . of course , instead of a capacitor , a transformer could also be used to couple the excitation source . because it is the computer that takes care of energizing the impedance bridge , the usual ac source used to energize the bridge is avoided , as is the detector which usually must follow the instrumentation amplifier 413 . energizing currents can be kept small by carefully choosing the values of impedances 410 , 411 , 420 and 421 ( i . e ., zl , z2 , z3 and z4 ). fig5 shows how a digitally controlled resistance may be achieved using array 502 of digitally controlled cmos analog switches 503 together with an array of resistors 504 . when the resistance values of resistors 504 are chosen to be r , 2r , 4r , 8r , 16r , 32r , 64r and 128r , 256 different discrete current levels can be made to flow from the reference voltage input 500 to the output terminal 510 . this is one version of what is known in the art as a multiplying dac ( digital to analog converter ) because the output current is also proportional to the voltage difference between terminals 500 and 510 . fig6 shows how the dac of fig5 can be used to replace resistors in a standard amplifier configuration in order to control both gain and offset in response to digital control signals from digital bus 660 . the same method can be used to control the gain of the instrumentation amplifier of fig3 . in fig3 it is resistor 320 that is replaced by the dac . one can actually buy integrated instrumentation amplifiers featuring a similar digital control of gain . the above methods are very useful in implementing the kind of controls that may be called for in fig1 in regard to preamplifier array 111 . further , the use of digital computer control in conjunction with an array 111 comprised of the referenced building blocks provides an extremely flexible system in which essential circuit parameters may be easily and programmably adjusted and changed to achieve numerous advantageous system configurations and uses . fig7 is a simplified schematic diagram of an ota ( operational transconductance amplifier ). the ota is a rather unique device , also presently available commercially in integrated circuit form , singly or in arrays of two or three per package . the ota converts an input voltage , applied to terminals 710 and 720 , into an output current at terminal 713 . the magnitude of the output current is also proportional to the bias current injected into terminal 730 . transistors 711 and 712 constitute a differential amplifier pair , with transistor 741 being the current source . diode 740 and transistor 741 constitute a current mirror in which the forward voltage drop in diode 740 matches that of the base - emitter junction in transistor 741 for the same current . when current is made to flow through diode 740 in the forward direction , it developes across it a voltage such that it causes the same amount of collector to base current to flow in transistor 741 . as a result the current from the collector of transistor 741 is equal to the bias current injected into terminal 730 . transistors 711 and 712 divide the current from the collector of transistor 741 in a ratio dependant on the voltage difference across input terminals 710 and 720 . if input 710 is more positive , more of the current will flow through transistor 711 , and if input 720 is more positive , more of the current will flow through transistor 712 . the current from the collector of transistor 711 is reflected to the output terminal by means of a current mirror comprised of diode 701 and transistor 704 and results in a positive , or sourcing current at terminal 713 . the current from the collector of transistor 712 is reflected to the output terminal by means of two current mirrors , one comprised of diode 702 and transistor 703 and the other comprised of diode 742 and transistor 731 . the current from the collector of transistor 712 thus results in a negative , or sinking current at terminal 713 . when the voltage between inputs 710 and 720 is zero , the current flowing into or out of output 713 is zero also . when the voltage across the inputs is greater than needed to fully turn off either transistor 711 or transistor 712 , output 713 is ( basically ) equal to the bias current and flows out of or into output 713 , depending on whether it is terminal 710 or terminal 720 that is more positive . the ota is remarkable in that it contains only active components , i . e . transistors and diodes . it can be used as a simple and inexpensive multiplier and its high output impedance is useful in a number of applications requiring high - impedance current sources . referring again to fig1 serial digital link 151 is used between interface module 110 and computer module 150 , and is such that data flows in two directions , i . e . from circuit 141 to circuit 161 , and vice - versa , as was already explained in regard to uart 140 . processor 152 is the heart of the computer . it includes one or more interdependent microprocessors arranged into a functional hierarchy defined by the required tasks that are , in turn , defined by predesignated memory areas , ( discussed below ). provision is made for external connections to a tape recorder or other data storage device 162 and to a microterminal 160 or other means of entering data that includes a keyboard . i . 0 . ports 163 make it possible for the computer to interface with a variety of peripherals and external data bases . it is a significant feature of this invention that the organization of computer module 150 is characterized by its use of specific memory areas 153 , 154 , 155 , 172 , 173 , 174 , each corresponding to a well - defined software interface . each of these memory areas defines a processing level or task that may or may not require a dedicated microprocessor of the processor 152 . when more than one microprocessor is used a memory that is properly situated within the architecture additionally functions as a data exchange point between them . ( i . e . a software buffer ). by reserving an area of memory exclusively for such data exchange , it may be assured that inadvertent entry of data into an area reserved for programs will not occur . further , throughout this description , it will be evident to those skilled in the data processing arts that this system architecture facilitates otherwise complex programming tasks by allowing the organization of extremely complex programming processes into a number of straightforward component processes performed in physically insulated portions of the system hardware . memory block 153 is the usual complement of general purpose rom and ram memories . memory block 154 is a utility rom which contains a number of routines that are generally useful for software control , maintenance and program development . thus a user can call on specific programs or simply inspect the contents of memory , write into memory , read data stored on tape into the system , store the contents of memory on tape or eprom , etc . said routines can also include assemblers , compilers and other software development and debugging aids . memory block 155 consists of a rompr ( eprom programming module ). it operates the same way as a ram in that data can be read in or out . however , data can be read in only once , as it is permanently stored ( i . e ., in a non - volatile way ). rompr 155 can also be used under the control of software in utrom 154 to store data or programs in eproms . said eproms can then later be plugged into sockets located in the general area reserved for rom / ram 153 . memory 172 ( dmem ) is a ram in which is stored sensor data as it streams in from interface module 110 . memory 173 ( vmem ) is a ram where vector end point coordinates and other pertinent parameters are stored for the generation of line drawings on the screen of a crt . memory 174 ( amem ) is a ram in which are stored pitch , duration and other parameters pertinent to the generation of sounds and melodies . data is entered in dmem 172 , vmem 173 and amem 174 according to a predetermined format which does not change and thus allows for the improvement or even redesign of selected blocks of hardware with little or no effect on the design of hardware or software in other areas . for instance , vector data as stored in vmem 173 can be used to generate color pictures on one type of video display or black and white on another . in both cases , the same data format is used . it is important that the said data formats be such that the information in memories 172 , 173 and 174 describe situations and intended results rather than specific algorithmic steps or hardware control commands . for instance , information in dmem 172 describes sensor outputs rather than instructions for the computer ; information in vmem 173 describes coordinates , color and intensity of line segments rather than control signals for gates , integrators and other circuit elements ; information in amem 174 describes pitch , duration , intensity and timbre rather than preset values for timers , etc . the modular aspect of software is illustrated by the fact that the main program used to analyze , correlate or otherwise process sensor information need not allocate time and other resources to hardware control . a special , powerful microprocessor or , perhaps better yet , two or more of the same kind can be added at a later date if necessary to run this main program exclusively and expand on its scope so as to include artificial intelligence . a change in the main program or processor need not require a change in the others , and vice - versa . even programming languages need not be the same , or even compatible . perhaps the most important objective behind the organization of the system has to do with synergism . the various hardware and software modules are mutually enhancing . the computer has more direct access to and control over the sensors and , as a result of a careful categorization of tasks in terms of hardware and software , cost and complexity have been reduced to a mininum . functions that are best performed with the help of digital algorithms include but are not limited to filtering ( especially low frequency , high order filtering ), detection , comparison , recognition , linearization , shaping , low frequency adjustments ( like gain and offset ), coding and sequencing . on the other hand , functions that are best performed using hardware methods include but are not limited to the generation of continuous line segments and the positioning of images on the screen of a crt , the generation of audio and other high - frequency waveforms , audio volume control , high - frequency feedback loopsand , last but not least , timing of events . it is precisely because it de - emphasizes the complexity of the sensors and the individual circuits associated with them that the system of this invention can accommodate a greater number of them . an important concept in the design of the computer is that of a &# 34 ; body image &# 34 ;. using sensor information as clues to the physical or mental state of a single individual , organism or apparatus while at the same time drawing on a body of previous knowledge , the computer can arrive at advanced conclusions and representations . these can be summarized in a simple but complete statement or picture . this statement or picture is none other than the &# 34 ; body image &# 34 ; previously mentioned . the use of the most powerful or popular processor is not necessarily desirable . in fact , certain specialized computational or other tasks are best done by means of integrated cricuit modules . an example is a monolithic lsi device that would provide high - performance fixed and floating point arithmetic and floating point trigonometric operations , and which would be handled by the associated processor either using conventional i / o or by direct memory access methods . the advantage of separate , specialized algorithmic modules may be even more evident in tasks requiring the manipulation of very long digital words ( 32 bits is a good example ). the ability to process long words is an important asset in the kind of programming known as artificial intelligence . artificial intelligence tasks typically require the ability to assemble , modify and compare long lists of descriptors . there is also a tradeoff between the power of the processor and the extent and amount of pre - computed data available from lookup tables in rom . last but not least , two or more lower power processors , working asynchronously but able to communicate via memory interfaces , provide a superior combination when cost allows .. memories 172 , 173 and 174 are examples of memory blocks that can be used as interfaces between processors . of course , fifo ( first in , first out ) memories can also be used . bit - slice processors , operating in synchronism , are considered less desirable because of their timing problems . these worsen rapidly with the size and complexity of the system . optimum choice of type and number of microprocessors paves the way for easy programming at all levels . at the assembly level , the instruction set can be limited so as to be more manageable . at a higher level , tasks can be identified and called for by name . the result is reminiscent of the methods used for programming electronic calculators in which there is no syntax to worry about and where tasks are performed in a sequence that corresponds to a simple list of names ( or keys , in the case of the calculator ). it is of interest to note that in at least one artificial intelligence programming language , simple instructions can be called to operate on assemblages that include data and / or some of the same instructions . such a language operates the same way whether on a microscopic or macroscopic level . hence the need to preserve characteristics such as reentrancy and recursiveness . these characteristics can be anticipated in the design of the utility program or programs , notably in regard to the internal procedures for calling subroutines , preserving internal machine states and handling interrupts . in order to fully communicate the completed &# 34 ; body image &# 34 ; to a human observer , the readouts must be capable of generating complex yet intelligible pictures and sounds . in the preferred embodiment , readout module 170 contains a crt 192 and its associated vector generator vgen 182 , and two loudspeakers spkr 190 and 191 with their associated audio generators 180 and 181 . regarding crt 192 , a 5 inch screen is large enough due to the fact that the images generated are made up of sharp , interconnected straight line segments . this is because vgen 182 is what is known in the art both as a stroke writer and a vector generator . said vector generator works by moving the spot generated by the electron beam on the screen of a crt in the same way that a hand moves the point of a pencil when drawing on a piece of paper . the electron beam does not scan the screen in a fixed pattern ( known as a raster ) as in television . rather , it moves in a random pattern , like the electron beam in an oscilloscope in the x - y mode of deflection . indeed , an inexpensive x - y oscilloscope can be used in place of crt display 192 with good results . it is important for the success of this invention to fully realize the advantages of a vector generator . the vector generator is not , as often beleived , an expensive and cumbersome solution . this reputation comes from the early days of cad cam before the technology had matured . in the case of the vector generator , power consumption , cost , complexity and memory requirements tend to be proportional to the total number of vectors displayable at any one time . in the case of the raster scan generator , power consumption , cost , complexity and memory requirements increase exponentially with picture resolution . as far as crt parameters are concerned , light output and resolution are much more critical in raster scan applications . display memory , in particular , is affected by the choice of display generation method . with a raster scan , each pixel or picture element corresponds to one or more bits in digital ram . there are approximately 250 , 000 pixels in a standard television picture , and the corresponding digital bit or bits must be stored and read out at very high rates . yet , with as many as 250 , 000 pixels , slanted lines still appear as stair - cases , circles appear jagged and alphanumeric characters tend to look blurred . the effect is easier to understand if one considers that a television picture is in effect a mosaic , and each pixel the equivalent of a single tile in that mosaic . with a vector or random scan , each vector or line segment is represented by the x and y coordinates of its end point , plus some information as to color and intensity . the starting point of a vector is already available as the end point of the previous one . the corresponding memory requirement varies from 16 to 32 bits per vector . for a busy display with 1000 vectors , a total of 16 , 000 to 32 , 000 bits is required . this is nearly ten times less than the requirement for raster scan . the main limitation of the random or vector scan is that it is the total number of vectors which is limited . this is significant because circles , alphanumeric characters and &# 34 ; filled &# 34 ; areas use a lot of vectors . state - of - the - art , low cost vector crt displays are now used in airplane cockpits to replace conventional readouts . one of the most important reasons for using vectors is that all lines appear sharp and clear , even in dynamic displays where the position and angle of each line is subject to change . dynamic raster scan displays have been rejected because their lines often appear jagged , with or without running discontinuities . the effect is , to say the least , distracting . avionics crt displays also demonstrate the superiority of vector techniques when it comes to generating complex color pictures showing artificial horizons , trajectories , compass rosettes , alphanumeric characters and other shapes and symbols in various combinations -- all at a reasonable cost . this invention favors the vector generator for yet another , more subtle reason . it is known that the human brain recognizes shapes based on the lines that define their borders . the quality of these lines is thus very significant . experience gained with computer video games confirm that random scan displays are better able to convey movement and perspective . since the circuitry used to generate the vectors has a major impact on the cost and quality of the display , a preferred embodiment is included as a part to this invention relating to the circuits of which vgen 182 is comprised . these circuits are illustrated in fig8 a and 8b and are described in what follows . in theory , the digital circuits associated with the crt display generate a succession of numbers which correspond to dots on the screen . the placement of each dot is defined by an x and a y coordinate , each typically represented by an 8 - bit binary digital number . the role of the analog circuits of the vector generator is to draw lines between these dots . the vector generator of this invention generates both an x and a y analog deflection waveform , each having the appearance of a series of interconnected ramp functions of variable amplitude and duration . when an x or y digital coordinate is changed , the corresponding analog output is not allowed to suddenly jump to its new value , as would be the case in a standard dac . instead , the transition from one analog level to the next occurs progressively , in a controlled manner . this idea is not new ; see for instance , u . s . pat . no . 3 , 609 , 444 issued to raymond c . van den heuvel . what is new in the vector generator of this invention is a combination of circuits that makes it possible to control the time that it takes for an analog output to change from one level to another . the result is that very short and very long vectors can be accommodated equally well by the same circuit . the basic process can be explained by describing the operation of the circuit combination that includes latches 806 and 813 , dacs 807 and 814 and amplifier 815 , all of which are involved with deflection along the horizontal , or x axis . the analog outputs from dacs 807 and 814 are tied together to summing bus 803 , which is the negative input of amplifier 815 and constitutes a virtual ground . this virtual ground is the input of a deflection amplifier with a negative feedback loop such that the current that flows through deflection yoke 818 is proportional to the sum of the individual currents that are injected into summing bus 803 . the deflection amplifier itself consists of high - gain , high bandwidth amplifier 815 followed by a power stage consisting of transistors 816a and 816b . the current flowing through deflection yoke 818 also flows through resistor 819 , which has a low value of resistance and very low inductance . the voltage drop across resistor 819 is therefore proportional to the current flowing through yoke 818 and causes a current to flow through feedback resistor 817 in a direction and amount sufficient to cancel the contribution of all other current sources connected to summing bus 803 . the negative feedback loop thus implemented also guarantees that the electron beam will move with the desired accuracy on the screen of the crt . now assume that the ramp input to dac 807 is stable at its maximum value , and that the ramp input to dac 814 is stable at zero volts ( i . e ., deenergized ). assume , further , that an x coordinate of origin is available ( in digital form ) from the output of latch 806 and that an x coordinate of destination is available ( also in digital form ) from the output of latch 813 . since only dac 807 has a reference signal , it alone contributes to the value of the current flowing through the yoke . this corresponds to a stable point of origin on the screen , which soley represents the digital number stored in latch 806 . if , on the other hand , the situation was reversed , with dac 814 energized and dac 807 de - energized , the current flowing through the yoke would correspond to a stable point of destination solely representative of the digital number in latch 813 . the vector generator of this invention makes it possible to generate intermediate values of ramp and ramp voltages such that when ramp is maximum , ramp is mininum ( or zero , as in this example ) and vice - versa . furthermore , ramp and ramp change in opposite directions , so that when ramp increases linearly in a positive direction , ramp increases linearly in a negative direction , and vice - versa . ( actually ramp is the negative of ramp , as will be seen later .) returning to the limited configuration being used to illustrate the principle of operation of the vector generator , assume that the value of ramp voltage starts to decrease , and that the value of ramp voltage starts to increase . the result is that the contribution of dac 807 decreases in the same proportion , while that of dac 814 increases , also in the same proportion . at the mid - point in the transition , when ramp is equal to ramp , the current flowing through the deflection yoke is also half - way between the values it would take if either dac 807 or dac 814 were fully energized . in a more general way , it can be said that while the destination dac 814 is linearly energized and the origin dac 807 linearly de - energized , the electron beam also moves linearly between its original and final positions . the same consideration would apply if latches 826 and 833 , dacs 827 and 834 and amplifier 835 had been used as in the previous example , except that , in this case , the y or vertical axis of deflection is involved . when both x and y axes are considered simultaneously , the progressive decrease of the ramp voltage and the concomitant increase in ramp voltage will cause a straight line or vector to be drawn on the screen such that it connects a point of origin with coordinates x and y with a point of destination with coordinates x &# 39 ; and y &# 39 ;. if a new set of coordinates is then loaded into latches 806 and 826 , and the ramp voltage is then linearly increased in a positive direction while the ramp voltage is correspondingly decreased , a second vector is drawn on the screen connecting the end point of the last vector with coordinates x &# 39 ; and y &# 39 ; to a new point whose coordinates are those most recently stored in latches 806 and 826 . the next step is to load the next x and y coordinates in latches 813 and 833 , followed by another transition of the ramp and ramp voltages causing a third vector to be drawn , and so on . the circuit of latch 801 and dac 802 is used to inject a constant current offset into summing bus 803 and the circuit of latch 821 and dac 822 does the same for summing bus 823 . this combined x and y offset modifies the position of the vectors that are generated after it so that it is possible to move symbols , characters or lines to a different location anywhere on the screen without having to recompute the x and y coordinates of the vectors involved . the savings in terms of computation time can be significant . referring to fig8 b , latch 843 stores a digital binary number that represents the slew rate or speed at which the ramp and ramp signals must change . if said binary number is small , ramp and ramp will take a long time to change from mininum to maximum , and vice - versa . if it is large , the transition will take a short time . dac 844 converts the slew rate digital signal into an equivalent analog voltage . this voltage is used as a bias source for ota 851 . ota 851 is a special kind of operational amplifier known as an operational transconductance amplifier . the detailed , internal construction of an ota is illustrated on fig7 and has already been described previously in conjunction with the circuits used in array 111 . ota 851 is used as a variable current source to charge capacitor 852 . the voltage across capacitor 852 increases with a speed proportional to the slew signal and in a direction dependent on the polarity of output q of flip - flop 850 . op - amp 853 is used as a voltage follower and its output is the ramp signal described earlier . the ramp signal is obtained at the output of inverting amplifier 846 . flip - flop 850 changes state at the start of each new vector generation cycle . its clock input is connected to the clock or strobe line of the last latch to be loaded by computer 150 . before changing state , its q and q outputs are used to steer the x coordinates either into latch 806 or latch 813 , and the y coordinate either into latch 826 or latch 833 , whichever is appropriate . a soon as flip - flop 850 changes state , the voltage across capacitor 852 also starts to change , and with it , the ramp and ramp voltages , all three voltage changes being progressive and linear . latch 871 stores a binary digit representative of color and / or intensity . three of its outputs are directly connected by means of resistors 872 , 873 and 874 to the emitter of transistor 880 . three more are connected through resistors 875 , 876 and 877 to the emitter of transistor 881 . the remaining two outputs are connected through resistors 878 and 879 to the emitter of transistor 882 . transistors 880 , 881 and 882 are video transistors and their collectors are connected to the red , green and blue cathodes 893 , 894 and 895 of color crt 192 ( fig1 ). if a black and white crt is used ( with only one electron gun ), only one video transistor is used , with all resistors tied to its emitter . when one of the latch 871 outputs is low ( i . e ., zero volts ) current flows through the resistor connected to it . the magnitude of that current is inversely proportional to the resistance of said resistor . if resistors 872 , 873 and 874 have resistance values of r , 2r and 4r , respectively , it is possible to choose between eight possible levels of current , and hence , intensity values for the red gun 893 . the same is true for resistors 875 , 876 and 877 and green gun 894 . because there are only two resistors , 878 and 879 , associated with the blue gun , only four discrete levels of intensity are achievable . ( blue is the least critical color in terms of its intensity because said intensity is hard to judge by the human eye .) resistors 890 , 891 and 892 represent the load resistors of video transistors 880 , 881 and 882 and their associated peaking and biasing circuits ( not shown ). the circuit of potentiometer 860 , comparators 861 and 862 and and gate 863 are used to control voltage 864 at the bases of video transistors 880 , 881 and 882 . when base voltage 864 is positive , the video transistors function as described above , and video is &# 34 ; on &# 34 ;. when that voltage is zero , the video transistors cannot conduct and video is &# 34 ; off &# 34 ;. it will be remembered that the reference value of the ramp and ramp voltages is that voltage for which the analog outputs of the dacs correspond to their digital inputs . when the amplitude of the ramp and ramp waves exceed the dac reference value , a longer vector is drawn than called for . however , since the true end point of one vector still coincides with the true start point of the next , it is only necessary to restrict the time that video is turned on to a period during which ramp and ramp are within limits . for reasons that will become clear later , it is advantageous to be able to adjust the limiting voltage levels of ramp and ramp for which video is turned on . it is important to the optimum performance of this invention to be able to generate ramp and ramp waves whose amplitude is greater than the dac reference voltage and to be able to adjust potentiometer 860 experimentally so as to arrive at the exact range of ramp and ramp voltages for which video must be turned on . as a result of the above combination the electron beam is already moving by the time video is turned on and no bright spots appear at the beginning and end points of the vectors . in practice , potentiometer 860 is adjusted so as to close the gaps that tend to open up between vectors as a result of time delays in the deflection circuits . voltage 864 essentially defines the time video is on , i . e . the time period during which a vector is both displayed and displayable . it can thus also be used to alert the computer of a vector generator busy condition . for voltage 864 to be positive , it is necessary for the outputs of comparators 861 and 862 to be positive at the same time . this , in turn , requires that the ramp and ramp voltages both be less than the voltage at the wiper arm of potentiometer 860 . in other words , a vector is visible on the screen only when the ramp and ramp voltages are changing and have a value less than the maximum set by potentiometer 860 . the digital information loaded in the latches of fig8 a and 8b comes from vmem 173 via digital bus 171 ( fig1 ). digital bus 171 is comprised of a data bus 841 and a control bus 840 . the data bus is 8 bits wide in the preferred embodiment and is routed to latches 801 , 806 , 813 , 821 , 826 , 833 , 843 and 871 . the control bus includes lines 800 , 810 , 820 , 830 , 842 and 870 used by processor 152 to select the destination of the x , y , slew and color ( or intensity ) data being sent on data bus 841 . the control bus also includes a busy line by means of which the vector generator alerts the cpu of its status . this busy signal is sent to processor 152 by means of line 864 , which also happens to be an extension of the &# 34 ; video on &# 34 ; line . the x selection signal at line 810 is and - ed with the q of flip - flop 850 to select latch 806 in the case of odd - numbered vectors , and with the q output to select latch 813 in the case of even - numbered vectors . similarly , the y selection signal at line 830 is and - ed with the q output of flip - flop 850 to select latch 826 in the case of odd - numbered vectors , and with the q output to select latch 833 in the case of even - numbered vectors . in the preferred embodiment , the order in which vector data is stored in vmem 173 is the same as the order in which computer 150 outputs the data to the latches . before a sequence of vectors is generated , the x and y positioning coordinates are loaded into latches 801 and 821 . as has been mentioned before , this action determines the position of an object , symbol or other group of vectors relative to the center of the crt screen . while the vectors are being generated , coordinates are loaded alternately into the x and y latches ( case of the odd - numbered vectors ) and into the x &# 39 ; and y &# 39 ; latches ( case of the even - numbered vectors ), back and forth . the ramp and ramp voltages form two triangular waves of opposite polarity and varying periods . the ramp wave increases during the generation of odd - numbered vectors , and the ramp wave decreases at the same time . the situation is reversed during the generation of even - numbered vectors . flip - flop 850 keeps track of the odd and even cycles . its status changes first before the onset of a vector cycle . the generation of an odd vector begins with the q output of flip - flop 850 false or zero . data is loaded in the latches according to the following sequence : x , y , slew and finally color ( or intensity ). line 870 , used to select latch 871 , is also used to signal flip - flop 850 when digital data has been loaded prior to the generation of a new vector . as a result , the polarity of q changes to a positive value and the ramp voltage begins to increase in a positive direction while the ramp voltage begins to decrease toward zero or a negative value and the electron beam begins to move . as soon as the value of the ramp voltage becomes less than the voltage at the wiper of potentiometer 860 , video is turned on , and , unless the color or intensity data in latch 833 is zero , a luminous trace is generated on the screen . after a time period that is inversely proportional to the slew digit stored in latch 843 , the amplitude of the ramp wave exceeds the voltage at the wiper of potentiometer 860 and both busy and video signals are turned off . as soon as the busy signal is low or zero , computer 150 begins loading the latches in the same sequence as before . however , due to the fact that the q output of flip - flop 850 is now true or positive , latches 813 and 833 are loaded with x &# 39 ; and y &# 39 ; coordinates . when color ( or intensity ) data is finally entered in latch 871 , flip - flop 850 changes state again and its q output becomes false or zero , the ramp and ramp waves change in a negative and positive direction respectively , and an even - numbered vector is generated , after which an odd - numbered vector is generated , and so on , indefinitely . it is an important feature of this method that the data in the x , y , x &# 39 ; and y &# 39 ; dacs changes only when the dacs have their reference voltages equal to zero or a value such that their output does not contribute significantly to the deflection of the electron beam . indeed , most methods available from prior art involve switching operations at the beginning and / or end of each vector generation cycle . this causes discontinuities in the generation sequence that mostly affect the beginning and end points of the vectors , resulting in faded or intensified line portions , open gaps , bright dots , hooks and other unsightly features . it is another important feature that , as far as the digital circuits outside the vector generator are concerned , vector information is stored and transferred in the same unvarying order , according to a pre - determined sequence . a typical sequence occurs in the following order : x , y , slew , color , etc . this represents a universal format or protocol that can easily be implemented using any processor or any circuit made up of logic elements . fig9 is a simplified schematic circuit diagram of the preferred embodiment for sound generators agen 180 or 181 . sound is an important medium for communication and has its own special advantages as compared to visual presentations . it does not require the kind of attention where body movement is limited and where sense organs are kept trained in a single direction . it is possible to move about or close one &# 39 ; s eyes while listening . perhaps more importantly , the sense of hearing occupies a far smaller volume of the brain than the sense of sight , and consumes a correspondingly smaller amount of nervous energy . sound is very convenient when it is desired to convey information without causing the intended recipient to be unduly distracted . it is an important requirement of this invention that the sounds generated by agen 180 and 181 be as natural as possible and that the pitch , timbre and envelope features be controllable . even though one agen is sufficient in many cases , the use of two &# 34 ; voices &# 34 ; greatly enhances the potential for conveying useful information in the form of melodic statements . the main reason is that when two tones are used simultaneously , one of them can act as a reference or counterpoint to the other . intervals and harmonies convey more information than would be conveyed by each tone considered seperately . here also , the relationship is synergistic . since digital circuits , and hence computers , generate what is called &# 34 ; square waves &# 34 ;, some analog means must be found of generating sine waves , the kind that are prevalent in nature , and analog means must also be found of controlling their volume or intensity without disturbing the phase of the sine wave whenever the amplitude or envelope is changed . indeed , the ear cannot detect discrete changes in amplitude if they are sufficiently small . however when the phase of a sine wave is suddenly changed , a &# 34 ; click &# 34 ; is perceived . one might assume that computers are best suited for keeping track of time intervals and synthesizing waves of the desired frequencies . this is only partly true however , because counting and timing tasks tend to exclude a processor from doing other tasks . computers keep track of time by counting , and the process cannot be interrupted by other tasks without knowing in advance how much time these tasks take to complete . hence the popularity of programmable counters as peripheral circuits for microprocessors . referring again to fig9 the digital information necessary for the generation of sound is sent via digital bus 171 ( fig1 ) to latches 901 , 911 , 921 , 931 , 941 and 951 . in the preferred embodiment data bus 841 is eight bits wide and is routed to the input of the abovementioned latches . control bus 840 carries strobe lines 900 , 910 , 920 , 930 , 940 and 950 used by computer 150 to select the particular latch for which the information on data bus 841 is intended at a given time . latches 901 and 911 store the most significant and least significant bytes ( msb and lsb ) of a 16 bit digital number which is used as the preset for divide by n circuit 903 . this circuit divides the output of oscillator 902 by the abovementioned preset , thus generating a timing signal that recurs at twice the frequency of the pitch sine wave to be generated . said timing signal serves as a clock input for flip - flop 913 . the output of flip - flop 913 is a square wave at the desired frequency . ota 914 is an operational transconductance amplifier similar to that discussed previously and illustrated in fig7 . it is used as a programmable current source . the direction of the current is toward capacitor 915 when the q output of flip - flop 913 is negative , and away from capacitor 915 when q is positive . the magnitude of the current is commensurate with that injected in the bias input of the ota and available from output 923 of dac 922 . bias signal 923 is the analog equivalent of the slew signal stored in latch 921 and determines how fast the voltage changes across capacitor 915 . as a result , the waveform across capacitor 915 can take on any intermediate shape between a square wave and a triangular wave . amplifier 916 is a buffer stage configured as a voltage follower . square waves are typical of reed instruments and import a &# 34 ; buzzing &# 34 ; quality to the sound . sine waves are more descriptive of the flute . as far as auditory perception is concerned , triangle waves are close to sine waves and their added harmonic content contributes to a metallic &# 34 ; flavor &# 34 ; reminiscent of bells , chimes and percussion instruments such as the harp and the piano . the percussion effect , which is characterized by a sharp attack and a subsequent exponential decay of the sound envelope has to be added by suitably modulating the amplitude of the wave without , however , modifying its phase , as previously mentioned . a standard multiplying dac 932 can be used for this purpose . the voltage at output 934 is the product of the analog waveform at input 933 and the digital number stored in larch 931 which represents the magnitude of the envelope of the sound . amplifier 937 amplifies the resulting sound signal . a capacitor 935 can be used alone or added in parallel with feedback resistor 936 in order to filter out the higher harmonics , resulting in waves that more closely resemble sine waves . a seperate dac 942 can be used to further control the amplitude of the sound wave in proportion to the magnitude of the binary number stored in latch 941 . the signal stored in latch 941 is referred to as the volume of the sound wave . the use of two multipliers in series for the control of amplitude reflects the need for a wider total dynamic range than would be possible with a single 8 - bit device typical of the preferred embodiment . of course , a single 16 - bit device could be used , but the present arrangement with two separate devices has the added advantage that it conforms to the standard 8 - bit format and allows the processor to handle the envelope function as a separate parameter . amplifier 944 is a standard audio ( hi - fi ) amplifier . it drives loudspeaker 190 or 191 . ( see also fig1 ). the generation of an envelope signal requires a time reference which is also best generated by a timer separate from processor 152 . circuit 952 is a divide by m circuit provided for that purpose . it uses the &# 34 ; q &# 34 ; ( for &# 34 ; quality &# 34 ;) signal stored in latch 951 as a preset for the determination of the number of cycles of the sound wave that must be generated before a new change in the envelope patterns is due . note that time , here , is relative in the sense that the envelope of a high frequency wave changes faster than that of a low frequency wave . this is consistent with the performance of natural sources of sound . divide by m output 953 is used to set flip - flop 956 , whose output 955 flags computer 150 . as soon as the computer is available for action , it cancels the flag by resetting flip - flop 956 via acknowledge line 954 . thus it is seen that there has been brought to the data processing art a new and improved modular system for acquiring and processing data . this system is extremely flexible and may be adapted to various detectable inputs ranging from those provided by the system of the human body to those of the internal combustion engine and automobile . numerous features of the modular system are configured to interact in an optimal way . further , the architecture of the data processing system hardware facilitates and simplifies otherwise impossibly complex programming tasks and , thus , provides an additional significant and distinct advantage over prior art systems . while this invention has been described in its presently preferred embodiment , it is by no means so limited in scope . rather , its scope is to be ascertained by reference to the set of claims , and all equivalents thereof , that follows .
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by way of further background and prior to describing the operation of the subject invention to select microradio chip orientation and polarity direction , rfid tags have been utilized extensively to be able to trace pallets from a point of shipment through a destination , with the rfid tags being passive devices that are read - out with rf energy , usually in the 900 mhz range . these passive devices are parasitically powered by the energy impinging upon the antenna of the tag that is harvested by the integrated circuits within the tag , with the result that the tag transmits the identity of the pallet in response to a probing signal . while such rfid tags are now mandated for pallets in some industries , there is increased level of interest in item - level tagging , which involves placing a tag on the item itself as opposed to on a pallet of items . however , in order to be able to make such tagging strategies possible for low - value items such as toothpaste and the like , techniques are required to be able to manufacture and deposit the tags on items at an overall cost of no more than 5 cents per item . cost in general is dictated by the size of the integrated circuit chips involved . as to the size of the tags that are currently placed on pallets , they are on the order of 2 inches by 2 inches , with the antenna dimensions being the dominating factor . it is noted that the larger the antenna , the greater the range , since a larger tag antenna can capture more energy from a reader . for short - range applications such as monitoring pill bottle inventories , the antenna can be indeed quite small . if one could make the integrated circuits very , very small , in the tens of micron size range , the cost per ic die goes down dramatically . this is because one can make millions of individual ics per wafer . with processing costs constant and sufficient yields , one can reduce the cost of the tag under 5 cents . assuming that one can successfully separate the microscopic ics from the host wafer , of particular importance in the provision of rfid tags are techniques to connect microradio integrated circuits to corresponding antennas with very little or no touch labor . while a co - pending application describes one method for coupling rfid circuits to an antenna at its feed point , there is a requirement for more efficient manufacturing methods and to obtain maximum gain and maximum output for the tag . referring now to fig1 , a microradio chip 10 is manufactured as having an integrated circuit 12 located on a substrate 14 , with the integrated circuit chip being connected to metallized ends 15 and 16 at opposite ends of the rectilinear chip structure . in one embodiment , the ratio of length to width is 2 : 1 to establish proper connection to spaced - apart antenna feed traces . it is noted that there is a longitudinal axis 18 for such a microradio chip , and a lateral axis 20 as well as a vertical axis 22 as illustrated . in a preferred embodiment , the chip has a 2 : 1 aspect ratio , with the metal ends manufactured as a modification of conventional chip manufacturing techniques . the chip can be mounted face up or facedown and achieve contact with the antenna for the tag . alternatively , a chip can be mounted in a “ capsule ” fabricated using three - dimensional etch techniques . the capsule would then have large metal caps on the ends to provide the aforementioned pads or tabs . in one embodiment , the microradio rfid chip is composed of several sublayers of integrated circuit materials and conductive materials , not shown in this figure . the insulating layer is normally applied over the chip area except for the metal pad regions . it is noted that the smaller the rfid chip that can be fabricated , the more chips that can be manufactured on a single wafer and lower the part cost for each chip . it is noted that the structure in fig1 is a three - dimensional contact structure in which the contact pads or tabs are not in a single xy plane but also have contact material in the z direction with respect to the chip . as will be seen , the purpose of the three - dimensional contact structure when these microradio chips are deposited over an antenna feed is that they can make electrical contact to the antenna feed regardless of orientation of the microradio to the antenna feed . for instance , it is not necessary to have the microradio chip have its contacts or pads or tabs on a single plane , which must be married to the contact pads of the feed of the antenna . rather , the attachment of randomly oriented microradio chips can be established in accordance with the technique described in patent application entitled “ rfid tag and method and apparatus for manufacturing same ,” by kenneth r . erickson , assigned to the assignee hereof and incorporated herein by reference . in this patent application , randomly oriented microradios can be attached to an antenna feed by having one end of the microradio attached to one feed point , with an insulating layer placed on top of it followed by a conductive printed layer or trace to attach the other end of the microradio to the other feed point of the antenna . this technique is described in provisional patent application ser . no . 60 / 711 , 217 filed aug . 25 , 2005 . with such a rectilinear structure for the rfid chip , and as illustrated in fig1 , this type of structure having opposed contact pads or tabs results in a preferential polarization direction for the rfid chip . in essence , the opposed metallic end caps 14 and 15 provide a dipole structure for the transmission of information to and from the rfid chip . referring to fig2 , assuming that one has two chips , namely chip 10 and chip 10 ′, located at the feed point of a tag antenna , then it is important that the polarization direction of these chips be aligned one with the other . to this end , chip 10 has an e - field vector at time t 0 , here labeled by reference character 24 , to be parallel to the e - field vector 24 ′ of rfid chip 10 ′. thus at time t 0 the e - field vectors are parallel to each other and in the same direction . as noted by the dotted vectors 26 and 26 ′, these e - fields will exist at t 0 + π radians , with a change in the direction of the rf signal applied to the end tabs . due to the instantaneous e - field direction at time t 0 and the opposed field direction at time t 0 + π radians , the outputs of these two identically constructed microradios or rfid chips will add coherently . should , however , the chips be oriented such that one has a north orientation for its e - field vector and the other a south orientation , then it is quite clear that the energy from these chips will cancel each other . prior to describing the coupling of the rfid chip microradio to an antenna , and referring now to fig3 , an rfid tag 48 includes inter alia an antenna 50 designed according to well - known principles . this antenna is responsive to rf energy in the chosen frequency band for the tag . as described below , this antenna is fabricated utilizing electrically conductive ink in one embodiment or any type of metallizing structure on an item to be tagged . an integrated circuit microradio with conductive surfaces 36 and 38 contains a programmable device 54 together with an rf interface 56 . also included are an energy storage device 58 , a controller 60 and a memory 62 . the functions of the rf interface , energy storage , controller and memory are typical of passive rfid tags to provide the performance described hereinbefore . here it can be seen that it is important to be able to connect the reid chip 10 to antenna 50 by virtue of the direct dc contact of pads 36 and 38 to feed points 64 and 66 of antenna 50 . having described in the broadest terms the functional components of the microradio and its coupling to its associated antenna , and referring now to fig4 , microradios 10 can be electromagnetically coupled to the feed point of an antenna described by conductive traces 50 and 100 by providing a substrate 80 with a conductive trace 52 that connects to one side of the antenna and forms a feed point to the antenna , whereas a conductive trace 54 connects to the other side of the antenna at its feed point . as illustrated , a non - conductive slurry 56 contains randomly oriented microradios 10 that are disposed in the slurry or fluid . the conductive trace 54 is coupled to the microradios through an overlying conductive ink trace 58 , which overlies the slurry containing the microradios such that rf energy from the microradios will be coupled to the feed point of the antenna 50 due to rf coupling techniques to be described . the gain of the individual microradios may not be sufficient to enable coupling energy to and from the microradios to the antenna and vice versa . however , by providing a large number of microradios in the gap between traces 52 and 58 , if coherent operation is achieved , one can increase overall output so that when added together there is sufficient signal strength . there are two issues that must be addressed in order to obtain sufficient gain for this non - direct dc coupled embodiment and that is that one needs to be able to select microradios that have a predetermined orientation , in this case a vertical orientation as indicated by vertical dotted lines 60 . it will be noted that the shaded microradios 62 are oriented such that they are , for instance , within 10 degrees of a vertical established as being perpendicular to the top surface of substrate 80 and the plane of the antenna feed traces . the ability to select for activation only microradios having this vertical orientation or indeed any predetermined orientation is critical to the obtaining of the maximum amount of gain from the ensemble of microradios in the slurry . in one embodiment this is simply accomplished by activating only those microradios having a vertical orientation , meaning that the programming power picked up by antenna 50 will only be of sufficient level to activate microradios in a predetermined orientation . other radios that are located at orientations that are non - optimal will not receive enough of a signal from the programming step to cause the programming code to be received by the microradios . assuming improper physical orientation , also the microradios may not be able to be parasitically powered . thus if the orientation direction of the microradios is suboptimal such as , for instance , as illustrated by the orientation of microradio 64 , it may not be able to be parasitically powered . referring to fig5 and taking , for instance , microradio 70 , which is vertically oriented with respect to traces 52 and 58 , this microradio can have a polarization direction as illustrated at 72 such that north points up and south points down , with the e - field associated therewith oriented as illustrated at 74 . alternatively , the orientation can be as illustrated at 76 , with the south pointing up and the e - field vector 78 pointed down . as mentioned hereinbefore , if vertically oriented microradios in one embodiment have opposite polarization directions , then there will be phase cancellation of the outputs of these radios , which deleteriously affects the operation . in short and referring to fig6 a and 6b , if the microradios are envisaged as having a cubic structure as illustrated at 80 and 82 , with opposed conductive tabs respectively 84 and 86 or 88 and 90 . then for a north - facing polarization orientation , a signal source 92 is connected as illustrated with the polarization likewise indicated . referring to fig6 b , if the connection from the signal source is reversed , then the polarization of the microradio will be in a southerly or down position . referring to fig7 , how one controls the connection of , for instance , vertically oriented microradios so that the connection from the signal source and the opposed end caps or tabs can be controlled , one has a programming unit 100 supplied with a code 102 that is to be detected by an rfid chip 104 , both for activation and to control its polarization direction . the output of the programming unit is coupled to a transmitter 106 , in turn coupled to an antenna 108 , with the power level of transmitter 106 being controlled by power level control 110 . in the illustrated embodiment , the code to which the rfid chip is to respond is a digital code 0110001 . in a programming step , upon receipt of this 0110001 code , chip 104 is activated . the chip will also respond to the inverse of this digital code , namely 1000110 , likewise to activate the rfid chip . if the chip receives the 0110001 code , the original polarity of the chip is preserved ; whereas if the chip receives a 1000110 code , then switching circuits within the chip switch the signal source polarity so as to be opposite that which it originally had . as shown in fig8 a and 8b , signal source 92 in fig8 a is coupled to opposed tabs or end caps 94 and 96 as illustrated , whereas if a polarization reversal is required , then as illustrated in fig8 b , a signal source 92 is connected inversely to tabs 94 and 96 as illustrated . thus what can be seen is that through the programming step , one can select by the power level those rfid chips or microradios which are appropriately oriented in an optimal direction such that only these chips will be activated whereas the others will not be . likewise and at the same time , utilizing the digital programming technique described , the polarization of the chip that has already been activated by virtue of its preferential orientation may be either left unchanged or inverted depending on whether or not the code received is the original code or the inverse code . while the present invention has been described in connection with the preferred embodiments of the various figures , it is to be understood that other similar embodiments may be used or modifications or additions may be made to the described embodiment for performing the same function of the present invention without deviating therefrom . therefore , the present invention should not be limited to any single embodiment , but rather construed in breadth and scope in accordance with the recitation of the appended claims .
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referring now to the drawings in which like figures represent like elements , fig1 to 8 depict one embodiment of the inventive cleansing implement . in fig1 to 8 , cleansing implement 10 is made up of a flexible outer shell 12 that contains resilient core 50 . flexible outer shell 12 includes an apertured arcuate first surface 14 having a plurality of apertures 30 , a apertured substantially flat second surface 16 having a plurality of apertures 32 , axial sides 18 , sealable end surface 20 and continuous end surface 22 . axial sides 18 contain gripping elements 24 integrally molded on each axial surface 18 . end sides 20 and 22 define apertures 38 . apertured first surface 14 is formed of a foamed , pliable , resin surrounding apertures 30 and apertured second surface 16 is formed a smooth , non - foamed , pliable , thermoplastic resin surrounding apertures 32 . in fig3 , apertured second surface 16 defines center well 34 which defines apertures 36 . apetures 36 are preferably larger in area than either apertures 30 or 32 . apertured second surface 16 preferably contains flexible plastic bristles 40 that are preferably molded integrally with surface 16 and surround apertures 32 . in fig4 , sealing elements 60 are depicted in a sealed configuration . preferably sealing elements 60 are ultrasonically heat sealed after inserting resilient core 50 into and filling the interior of implement 10 . in fig5 , after inserting and sealing , resilient core 50 is shown in pressing engagement within flexible outer shell 12 . resilient core 50 provides resistance when implement 10 is squeezed . preferably resilient core 50 is composed of two or more polymeric mesh sponges , one of which is depicted in fig8 , held within flexible outer shell 12 . in use the consumer will dispense liquid body wash into implement 10 by pouring the liquid body wash into well 34 and through apertures 36 whereupon the resilient core 50 will absorb the body wash up to its capacity . next the consumer will expose the implement 10 to water while squeezing in order to generate lather . next the consumer will rub the implement via second surface 16 on their skin in the same manner as they would a toilet bar followed by rinsing . in a preferred embodiment , bristles 40 will massage the skin and enhance lather production . in one aspect of the invention is a cleansing implement for depositing a liquid cleanser on the skin of a user , comprising : a . an outer shell and a resilient core material held inside and in pressing engagement with the interior of the shell , wherein the shell is composed of a material that is flexible at use temperatures and the core material is composed of polymeric mesh sponge having a plurality of plies of an extruded tubular netting mesh ; b . wherein the shell has a arcuate first surface and an opposed substantially flat second surface , the first and second surfaces each defining a plurality of apertures ; c . wherein the plurality of apertures on the first surface occupy a surface area in the range of about 25 to 75 % based on the extent of the total surface area of first surface and the plurality of apertures on the second surface occupies a surface area in the range of about 25 to 75 % based on the extent of the total surface area of the second side ; and d . wherein not more than about 70 % of the apertures each exceed 40 square mm in area . advantageously the number of apertures on the first surface each having an area in the range of about 25 to 50 square mm are in the range of about 25 to 100 in number and the number of apertures on the second surface each having an area of about 25 to 50 square mm are in the range of about 25 to 100 in number . preferably the length of the implement along its major axis is less than 15 cm . preferably the length of the implement along its major axis is less than 14 , 13 or 12 cm and greater than 7 , 8 , 9 , or 10 cm . more preferably a plurality of soft plastic bristles orthogonal and attached to the second surface are each about 0 . 6 mm thick and about 2 mm long substantially surrounding each aperture and the surface of the second surface surrounding the apertures is substantially smooth . most preferably the second surface has one or more centrally disposed apertures each having a surface area that is larger than the other apertures defined by the second surface . preferably the second surface is composed of a non - foamed material and first surface is composed of a foamed plastic and a woven mat composite . in another aspect of the invention is a process of making a cleansing implement including but not limited to the steps of : a . bonding a flexible foamed plastic sheet with woven fibrous mesh to form a flexible composite sheet ; b . cutting a plurality of apertures in the composite sheet ; c . inserting the composite sheet into a first mold cavity ; d . suspending an inner mold within the first mold cavity and inside of the composite sheet ; e . closing the mold ; f . injecting thermoplastic resin having a shore a durometer of at least 15 at a temperature above its melt temperature ; and g . molding the foamed plastic sheet and the thermoplastic resin together to form a flexible shell . a . opening the injection molder ; b . extracting the implement ; c . removing the inner mould ; d . inserting one or more resilient polymeric mesh sponges to substantially fill and remain in pressing engagement with the inside of the shell ; and e . heat sealing the implement ( preferably by ultrasonic welding ) to capture the mesh sponges within the shell . advantageously at least 10 grams of polymeric mesh sponge are inserted inside the shell . preferably at least 12 , 14 , 16 , and 18 grams are used . more preferably at least 2 or more separate sponges are employed to make up this total . in a further aspect of the invention is a method of cleansing the skin or hair including but not limited to the steps of : a . providing a cleansing implement as described above ; b . adding at least 3 grams of a liquid cleansing composition containing about 8 to 40 % by wt . of total lathering surfactant ( s ) prior to cleansing the skin or hair ; c . adding water to the implement while manually compressing and releasing the implement to transfer a sufficient quantity of cleansing composition to the polymeric mesh sponges to generate lather ; and rubbing and squeezing the implement simultaneously on the skin . flexible outer shell 12 is composed of at least two zones of materials having different textures exposed to the touch . first surface 14 includes a foamed plastic with a rough surface finish , preferably a composite with a woven fibrous sheet . the remaining outer shell ( second surface 16 ) is composed of a thermoplastic resin with a molded smooth surface finish . the flexible outer shell &# 39 ; s second surface 16 may be any thermoplastic resin whose physical and processing properties lend themselves to manufacturing washing implements . flexible outer shell first surface 14 may be any foamed plastic that provides a rough molded surface . preferably it includes a woven fibrous mat . the inventive cleansing implement contains a resilient core held inside the flexible outer shell . a preferred resilient core consists of one or more individual polymeric mesh sponge ( s ) each comprising a plurality of plies of an extruded tubular netting mesh prepared from nylon or a strong flexible polymer , such as addition polymers of olefin monomers and polyamides of polycarboxylic acids . preferably the tubular netting has a maximum transverse expanded diameter of about 8 to 16 inches with the contracted minimum diameter on the order of about ½ inch . the tubular netting is preferably open at both ends so that it can be easily utilized in making the multi - ply netting for the preparation of the scrubbing section . the netting is prepared from fine filaments of polymeric material having a thickness preferably varying from about 10 to 18 mils . the netting is prepared from as many as 50 to 200 such filaments which appear to cross over each other at a 45 . degree . angle and are bonded at junction points at intervals varying from about 3 / 16 to ½ inch , depending upon the type of netting or fabric desired . it is important that the bonding of the filaments at the indicated intervals be of such a nature as to securely attach the filaments together and provide a strong netting for the lather generation . the bonding is preferably accomplished by the extruding technique , heat sealing the filaments together or by use of appropriate adhesives . additional examples of suitable resilient mesh material are disclosed in u . s . pat . no . 4 , 462 , 135 issued on jul . 31 , 1984 and herein incorporated by reference . the inventive cleansing implement is advantageously used with lathering surfactants . by a “ lathering surfactant ” is meant a surfactant , which when combined with water and mechanically agitated generates a foam or lather . preferably , these lathering surfactants should be mild , which means that they must provide sufficient cleansing or detersive benefits but not overly dry the skin or hair , and yet meet the lathering criteria described above . a wide variety of lathering surfactants is useful herein and include those selected from anionic , nonionic , cationic , and amphoteric surfactants and mixtures thereof . among the anionic lathering surfactants useful herein are the following non - limiting examples which include the classes of : ( 1 ) alkyl benzene sulfonates in which the alkyl group contains from 9 to 15 carbon atoms , preferably 11 to 14 carbon atoms in straight chain or branched chain configuration . especially preferred is a linear alkyl benzene sulfonate containing about 12 carbon atoms in the alkyl chain . ( 2 ) alkyl sulfates obtained by sulfating an alcohol having 8 to 22 carbon atoms , preferably 12 to 16 carbon atoms . the alkyl sulfates have the formula roso 3 − m + where r is the c 8 - 22 alkyl group and m is a mono - and / or divalent cation . ( 3 ) paraffin sulfonates having 8 to 22 carbon atoms , preferably 12 to 16 carbon atoms , in the alkyl moiety . these surfactants are commercially available as hostapur sas from hoechst celanese . ( 4 ) olefin sulfonates having 8 to 22 carbon atoms , preferably 12 to 16 carbon atoms . most preferred is sodium c 14 - c 16 olefin sulfonate , available as bioterge as 40 ® ( 5 ) alkyl ether sulfates derived from an alcohol having 8 to 22 carbon atoms , preferably 12 to 16 carbon atoms , ethoxylated with less than 30 , preferably less than 12 , moles of ethylene oxide . most preferred is sodium lauryl ether sulfate formed from 1 or 2 moles average ethoxylation , commercially available as e . g . standopol es - 2 ®. ( 6 ) alkyl glyceryl ether sulfonates having 8 to 22 carbon atoms , preferably 12 to 16 carbon atoms , in the alkyl moiety . ( 7 ) fatty acid ester sulfonates of the formula : r 1 ch ( so 3 − m +) co 2 r 2 where r 1 is straight or branched alkyl from about c 8 - to c 18 , preferably c 12 to c 16 , an r 2 is straight - or branched alkyl from about c 1 to c 6 , preferably primarily c 1 , and m + represents a mono - or divalent cation . ( 8 ) secondary alcohol sulfates having 6 to 18 , preferably 8 to 16 carbon atoms . ( 9 ) fatty acyl isethionates having from 10 to 22 carbon atoms , with sodium cocoyl isethionate being preferred . ( 10 ) dialkyl sulfosuccinates wherein the alkyl groups range from 3 to 20 carbon atoms each . ( 11 ) alkanoyl sarcosinates corresponding to the formula rcon ( ch 3 ) ch 2 ch 2 co 2 m wherein r is alkyl or alkenyl of about 10 to about 20 carbon atoms and m is a water - soluble cation such as ammonium , sodium , potassium and trialkanolammonium . most preferred is sodium lauroyl sarcosinate . ( 12 ) alkyl lactylates wherein the alkyl groups range from 8 to 18 carbon atoms , with sodium lauryl lactylate sold as pationic 138 c ® available from the patterson chemical company as the most preferred . ( 13 ) taurates having from 8 to 16 carbon atoms , with cocoyl methyl taurate being preferred . ( 14 ) fatty acid soaps consisting of soluble soaps . soluble soap is defined as a soap or soap blend having a krafft point less than or equal to about 40 c . the soluble soap ( s ) can be selected from the chain length of c6 - c14 saturated fatty acid soap ( s ) and c16 - c18 unsaturated and polyunsaturated fatty acid soap ( s ) or a combination of these fatty acid soaps . these soluble soaps can be derived from coco fatty acid , babasu fatty acid , palm kernel fatty acid and any other source of unsaturated fatty acid including tallow and vegetable oils and their mixtures . nonionic lathering surfactants suitable for the present invention include c 10 - c 20 fatty alcohol or acid hydrophobes condensed with from 2 to 100 moles of ethylene oxide or propylene oxide per mole of hydrophobe ; c 2 - c 10 alkyl phenols condensed with from 2 to 20 moles of alkylene oxides ; mono - and di - fatty acid esters of ethylene glycol such as ethylene glycol distearate ; fatty acid monoglycerides ; sorbitan mono - and di - c 8 - c 20 fatty acids ; and polyoxyethylene sorbitan available as polysorbate 80 and tween 80 ® as well as combinations of any of the above surfactants . other useful nonionic surfactants include alkyl polyglycosides , saccharide fatty amides ( e . g . methyl gluconamides ) as well as long chain tertiary amine oxides . examples of the latter category are : dimethylododecylamine oxide , oleyldi ( 2 - hydroxyethyl ) amine oxide , dimethyloctylamine oxide , dimethyldecylamine oxide , dimethyltetradecylamine oxide , di ( 20 - hydroxyethyl ) tetradecylamine oxide , 3 - didodecyoxy - 2 - hydroxypropyldi ( 3 - hydroxypropyl ) amine oxide , and dimethylhexadecylamine oxide . suitable amphoteric or zwitterionic lathering surfactants for use in the present compositions include those broadly described as derivatives of aliphatic quaternary ammonium , phosphonium , and sulfonium compounds , wherein which the aliphatic radicals can be straight chain or branched , and wherein one of the aliphatic substituents contains about 8 to about 30 carbon atoms and another substituent contains an anionic water - solubilizing group , such as carboxy , sulfonate , sulfate , phosphate , phosphonate , and the like . classes of zwitterionics include alkylamino sulfonates , alkyl betaines and alkylamido betaines , such as stearamidopropyldimethylamine , diethylaminoethylstearamide , dimethylstearamine , dimethylsoyamine , soyamine , myristylamine , tridecylamine , ethylstearylamine , n - tallowpropane diamine , ethoxylated ( 5 moles ethylene oxide ) stearylamine , dihydroxy ethyl stearylamine , arachidylbehenylamine , and the like . some suitable betaine surfactants include but are not limited to alkyl betaines , alkyl amidopropyl betaines , alkyl sulphobetaines , alkyl glycinates , alkyl carboxyglycinates , alkyl amphopropionates , alkyl amidopropyl hydroxysultaines , acyl taurates , and acyl glutamates , wherein the alkyl and acyl groups have from 8 to 18 carbon atoms . non - limiting examples of preferred amphoteric surfactants include cocamidopropyl betaine , sodium cocoamphoacetate , disodium cocoamphodiacetate , cocamidopropyl hydroxysultaine , and sodium cocoamphopropionate , which are particularly suitable as mild - type cleansers for skin and hair . in a preferred embodiment , the cleansing implement of the present invention is manufactured using the following method : 1 . polyurethane foam sheets ( obtained from dingban , jiangsu china ; 20 gms / cubic meter density , 25 mm thickness ) are bonded and compressed by vulcanization , at about 130 degrees c ., for about 5 minutes , at pressure of 20 t ( i . e . 200 kn ) with woven polyester mesh into a flatter sheet of 2 mm thickness . 2 . the foam sheets are then compressed again ( at about 160 degrees c ., pressure 20 t , for about 200 seconds into a curved shape . 3 . curved shapes are then die cut to the desired final shape , and the apertures are die cut out . 5 . the foam piece is inserted into the right cavity of an injection molder ( haitian international holdings limited ) 6 . an inner mould is hung inside the cavity , in order to make the implement hollow . 7 . the injection moulder is closed and tpr ( thermoplastic resin , f125g ( styrene ethylene butylene styrene block copolymer ), linhai xinbo ) having a shore a durometer of 20 , is injected ( at 190 degrees c .). this injection captures the edges of the foam so the foam and the tpr are permanently moulded together . 8 . the injection moulder is opened , and the tools are pulled out . the inner mould is then pulled out of the tpr piece 9 . at this stage , the implement has a top tab on both sides that is about ½ ″ long . 10 . 2 pieces of 9 gram tied polymeric mesh sponge ( from ninghai yuzhoul craft co , ldpe , 3 . 5 ″ width ) are inserted inside . 11 . the top tabs are ultrasonically welded shut using a heat sealing machine ( haitian international holdings limited ), a temperature of about 200 degrees c . and 2 . 5 seconds sealing time . 12 . the welded top tabs are die cut to a width of approximately 2 - 3 mm . other art recognized methods may be used to manufacture the inventive implement . except in the operating and comparative examples , or where otherwise explicitly indicated , all numbers in this description indicating amounts of material ought to be understood as modified by the word “ about ”. the following non - limiting examples will more fully illustrate the embodiments of this invention . all parts , percentages and proportions referred to herein and in the appended claims are by weight except for surface area and unless otherwise illustrated . the lathering performance of the inventive implement illustrated in fig1 - 8 and manufactured as described above was compared with a comparative implement and a bar of soap using the experimental protocol and lather test method described below . the body wash used for the test was axe phoenix shower gel sold by unilever , englewood cliffs , n . j . in the case of the implements . the lather volume results are listed in tables 1 and 2 . 4 . allow 400 ml of water to flow through a funnel onto implement or soap bar while scrubbing in a linear motion along a rough surfaced , inclined plane (“ wash station ”) about once per second . 5 . if using the inventive implement , squeeze once with each pass . ( comparative implements may be squeezed for additional tests ). 6 . place a 1000 ml capacity separation flask with a funnel inlet underneath the wash station to collect any lather that falls . 7 . allow substantially all lather to be collected ( usually 1 minute ). 8 . open valve at the bottom of the flask to allow any collected water to escape and then close valve .
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it should be noted that in the detailed description which follows , identical components have the same reference numerals , regardless of whether they are shown in different embodiments of the present invention . it should also be noted that in order to clearly and concisely disclose the present invention , the drawings may not necessarily be to scale and certain features of the invention may be shown in somewhat schematic form . referring now to fig1 there is shown a lawn tractor 10 having a deck disengagement apparatus 12 ( shown in fig3 - 5 ) embodied in accordance with the present invention . the lawn tractor 10 includes a chassis 14 mounted on front and rear wheels 16 , 18 . a body 20 is mounted on the chassis 14 and encloses an engine ( not shown ) for driving the rear wheels 18 and a cutter , such as a cutting blade 22 ( shown in fig2 ). the engine is connected to the rear wheels 18 through a transmission ( not shown ). a cutting deck 24 enclosing the cutting blade 22 is secured to the bottom of the chassis 14 , between the front and rear wheels 16 , 18 . a seat 26 for an operator is mounted to the chassis 14 , rearward of the engine . a dashboard ( not shown ) is mounted to the body 20 and faces the seat 26 . a deck engage lever 28 extends from the dashboard . while fig1 shows the deck engage lever 28 extending from the dashboard , it will be understood that the deck engage lever 28 may be located at and extend from any and all other desirable locations on the lawn tractor 10 and that any and all such other desirable locations are intended to be within the scope of the present invention . a shifter , such as a shift lever 30 , for controlling the transmission extends from a rear fender 32 of the body 20 , adjacent to the seat 26 . the shifter is movable between reverse , neutral , and drive positions . a first end of a reverse control cable 34 ( shown in fig3 - 5 ) is connected to the shift lever 30 . the reverse control cable is covered with an outer sheath 35 . referring now to fig2 there is shown a schematic drawing of a cutter assembly 36 connected to the engine of the lawn tractor 10 . the cutter assembly 36 includes an engine pulley 38 and a cutter pulley 40 . the engine pulley 38 is secured to a drive shaft 42 of the engine so as to be rotatable therewith . the cutter pulley 40 is secured to the cutting blade 22 housed in the cutting deck 24 of the lawn tractor 10 . an endless belt 44 is disposed around the engine pulley 38 and the cutter pulley 40 . the belt 44 loosely engages the engine pulley 38 and the cutter pulley 40 so that power will not be transmitted from the engine pulley 38 to the cutter pulley 40 when the engine pulley 38 is rotating . a clutch assembly 46 is disposed adjacent to the belt 44 , between the engine pulley 38 and the cutter pulley 40 . the clutch assembly 46 includes an idler pulley 48 carried by a pivotable arm 50 . the clutch assembly 46 is movable between a release position ( not shown ), wherein the idler pulley 48 is spaced from the belt 44 , and a drive position ( shown in fig2 ), wherein the idler pulley 48 engages and thereby tightens the belt 44 . a coil spring 52 biases the clutch assembly 46 toward the release position . a first end of a deck control cable 54 is attached to the arm 50 of the clutch assembly 46 and is provided with a coil spring 53 that encircles the first end of the deck control cable 54 and has a first of its ends affixed to the arm 50 and a second of its ends joined to the cable 54 . as will be discussed in more detail below , a second end of the deck control cable 54 is connected to the deck disengagement apparatus 12 of the present invention . the deck control cable is covered by an outer sheath 55 . referring now to fig3 - 5 , there is shown the deck disengagement apparatus 12 of the present invention . the deck disengagement apparatus 12 generally includes the deck engage lever 28 , a clutch bracket 56 , a deck engage bracket 58 , and a release latch 60 . the deck engage lever 28 is formed from an elongated metal rod and includes a central portion 28 a joined between an upper handle portion 28 b and a lower mounting portion 28 c ( see fig4 ). the upper handle portion 28 b is joined to the central portion at an upper bend 28 d forming an obtuse angle , while the mounting portion 28 c is joined to the central portion 28 a at a lower bend 28 e forming a generally right angle . an annular flange 29 is disposed around the mounting portion 28 c , toward the lower bend 28 e . the clutch bracket 56 includes a base portion 62 joined at a substantially right angle to a main portion 64 . a linear slot 66 is formed in the base portion 62 and includes a closed end and an open end . the main portion 64 has a narrowed outer end 68 with a hole 70 extending therethrough . a first arm portion 72 and a second arm portion 74 extend from a side edge of the main portion 64 . the first arm portion 72 has an enlarged central opening 76 formed therein . the second arm portion 74 is l - shaped and includes an outer end 74 a having a slotted - opening 78 formed therein . a grommet 80 is secured within the slotted - opening 78 . a switch housing 82 is securely disposed within the central opening 76 of the first arm portion 72 . the switch housing 82 encloses a starter interlock switch connected into a circuit for supplying power to an electric starter ( not shown ) for the engine . the starter interlock switch includes a plunger - type actuator 84 ( see fig5 ) that extends outwardly from the switch housing 82 . the actuator 84 is movable between a retracted position , wherein the starter interlock switch closes the circuit to permit power to be supplied to the starter , and an extended position , wherein the starter interlock switch opens the circuit to cut - off power to the starter . the actuator 84 is biased toward the extended position . the deck engage bracket 58 is generally l - shaped and includes a leg portion 86 joined at a generally right angle to a body portion 88 . the leg portion 86 includes an outer end 86 a with a hole extending therethrough . the body portion 88 has an outer end with first and second guides 90 , 92 respectively secured to inner and outer surfaces thereof . a passage extends through the length of the first guide 90 . a cowled cable mount 94 is joined to the body portion 88 and extends outwardly therefrom . the release latch 60 includes a generally c - shaped body 96 having a top interior edge 98 that partially defines an enlarged opening 100 . a top portion of the release latch 60 has a sloping or cammed front edge 102 . a top opening 104 ( see fig4 ) is formed in the top portion of the release latch 60 , and a bottom opening is formed in a bottom portion of the release latch 60 . the release latch 60 is positioned to have the enlarged opening 100 face the leg portion 86 of the deck engage bracket 58 , and is pivotally secured to the deck engage bracket 58 by a bolt 106 ( see fig5 ) extending through the bottom opening and an opening in the body portion 88 of the deck engage bracket 58 . the release latch 60 is movable between a first or latched position , wherein the front edge 102 is disposed proximate the leg portion 86 of the deck engage bracket 58 , and second or unlatched position , wherein the front edge 102 is disposed distal to the leg portion 86 . a coiled latch return spring 108 ( see fig5 ) is disposed over the bolt 106 , between the release latch 60 and the body portion 88 of the deck engage bracket 58 . ends of the latch return spring 108 respectively engage the release latch 60 and the body portion 88 . the latch return spring 108 is operable to bias the release latch 60 toward the latched position . a bent second end of the reverse control cable 34 is attached to the release latch 60 through the top opening 104 . the reverse control cable 34 extends from the release latch 60 through the passage of the first guide 90 to the shift lever 30 for the transmission of the lawn tractor 10 . the outer sheath 35 of the reverse control cable 34 terminates within , and is secured to , the first guide 90 . the first end of the reverse control cable 34 is connected to the shift lever 30 such that the reverse control cable 34 moves the release latch 60 to the unlatched position when the shift lever 30 is moved into the reverse position and allows the release latch 60 to move back to the latched position when the shift lever 30 is moved into the neutral position or the drive position . the second end of the deck control cable 54 is secured to the cable mount 94 of the deck engage bracket 58 . the deck control cable 54 extends from the cable mount 94 through the grommet 80 to the arm 50 of the clutch assembly 46 as described above . the outer sheath 55 of the deck control cable 54 terminates within , and is secured to , the grommet 80 . the clutch bracket 56 is secured to a dashboard of the lawn tractor 10 . a j - shaped slot ( not shown ) is formed in the dashboard of the lawn tractor 10 . the slot 66 in the clutch bracket 56 is aligned with a straight portion of the j - shaped slot . the mounting portion 28 c of the deck engage lever 28 is journalled through the hole 70 in the main portion 64 of the clutch bracket 56 , thereby pivotally mounting the deck engage lever 28 to the clutch bracket 56 . the central portion 28 a of the deck engage lever 28 extends through the slot 66 and the j - shaped slot . with the deck engage lever 28 mounted in this manner , the deck engage lever 28 is movable from a first or disengaged position located at the closed end of the slot 66 ( and a closed end of the straight portion of the j - shaped slot ) to a second or engaged position located at a closed end of a hook portion of the j - shaped slot . when the deck engage lever 28 is moved to the disengaged position , the deck engage lever 28 engages the actuator 84 of the starter interlock switch and moves the actuator 84 to the retracted position . a washer locator 110 is secured to the mounting portion 28 c of the deck engage lever 28 on an outer side of the clutch bracket 56 . a coiled return spring 112 is disposed over the mounting portion 28 c , between the washer locator 110 and the clutch bracket 56 . ends of the return spring 112 respectively engage the washer locator 110 and the clutch bracket 56 . the return spring 112 is operable to bias the deck engage lever 28 toward the disengaged position . the deck engage bracket 58 is pivotally mounted to the mounting portion 28 c of the deck engage lever 28 , which extends through the hole in the leg portion 86 of the deck engage bracket 58 . the leg portion 86 is disposed between the annular flange 29 on the deck engage lever 28 and the clutch bracket 56 . the deck engage bracket 58 is movable between a neutral position , wherein a bottom edge 114 ( see fig5 ) of the release latch 60 abuts the second arm 74 of the clutch bracket 56 , to an active position , wherein the deck engage bracket 58 is latched to the deck engage lever 28 and the deck engage lever 28 is in the engaged position . when the deck engage lever 28 is in the disengaged position and the shift lever 30 is in the neutral position ( or the drive position ), the central portion 28 a of the deck engage lever 28 extends through the enlarged opening 100 in the release latch 60 and is aligned below the top interior edge 98 of the release latch 60 . with the deck engage lever 28 and the release latch 60 so positioned , the release latch 60 and , thus , the deck engage bracket 58 , are latched to the deck engage lever 28 . the operation of the lawn tractor 10 and the deck disengagement apparatus 12 will now be described . the description will begin with the lawn tractor 10 being in an inactive or stored condition , wherein the engine is not running , the shift lever 30 is in the neutral position , and the deck engage lever 28 is in the disengaged position . when the lawn tractor 10 is in the stored condition , the deck engage bracket 58 is latched to the deck engage lever 28 , and the starter interlock switch is closed . thus , the starter may be provided with power to start the engine . when the engine is running , the drive 42 shaft and the engine pulley 38 rotate . at this point , it should be noted that the engine cannot be started when the deck engage lever 28 is in the engaged position because the deck engage lever 28 will be spaced from the actuator 84 of the starter interlock switch . thus , the actuator 84 will be in the extended position and , thus , the circuit will be open , thereby preventing power from being supplied to the starter . when the deck engage lever 28 is moved to the engaged position , the central portion 28 a contacts the top interior edge 98 of the release latch 60 and carries the release latch 60 to the active position against the face 68 of the bracket 56 . the movement of the deck engage bracket 58 to the active position , pulls the deck control cable 54 , which moves the clutch assembly 46 to the drive position . as a result , the belt 44 tightens and power from the engine is transmitted to the cutter pulley 40 , thereby rotating the cutting blade 22 , i . e ., engaging the cutter assembly 36 . if the shift lever 30 is moved to the reverse position while the cutter assembly 36 is engaged , the reverse control cable 34 moves the release latch 60 to the unlatched position . as a result , the deck engage bracket 58 becomes disengaged from the deck engage lever 28 and moves under the force the spring 52 and the spring 53 back to the neutral position . the movement of the deck engage bracket 58 to the neutral position , releases the deck control cable 54 , which allows the spring 52 to move the clutch assembly 46 back to the release position . as a result , the belt 44 loosens and power from the engine is no longer transmitted to the cutter pulley 40 , thereby disengaging the cutter assembly 36 . a brake ( not shown ) may be provided to immediately stop the rotation of the cutting blade 22 when the cutter assembly 36 is disengaged . simply moving the deck engage lever 28 back to the disengaged position without moving the shift lever 30 out of the reverse position will not latch the deck engage bracket 58 onto the deck engage lever 28 again because the release latch 60 is still in the unlatched position . thus , in order to move the deck engage bracket 58 back to the active position and re - engage the cutter assembly 36 , the shift lever 30 must be moved to the neutral position or the drive position , and the deck engage lever 28 must be moved back to the disengaged position to permit the deck engage bracket 58 to latch onto the deck engage lever 28 again . the deck engage lever 28 may then be moved back to the engaged position to carry the deck engage bracket 58 to the active position and thereby re - engage the cutter assembly 36 . the order in which the deck engage lever 28 and the shift lever 30 are moved to their required positions for re - engaging the cutter assembly 36 is not important . if the shift lever 30 is moved out of the reverse position first , the release latch 60 will move back to the latched position below the deck engage lever 28 . this is not a problem , however . when the deck engage lever 28 is subsequently moved to the disengaged position , the deck engage lever 28 contacts the cammed front edge 102 of the release latch 60 , which translates some of the downward movement of the deck engage lever 28 to lateral movement of the release latch 60 , away from the latched position . this lateral movement of the release latch 60 permits the deck engage lever 28 to move below the top interior edge 98 of the release latch 60 . the release latch 60 then moves back to the latched position , thereby positioning the deck engage lever 28 within the enlarged opening 100 in the release latch 60 and below the top interior edge 98 . although the preferred embodiments of this invention have been shown and described , it should be understood that various modifications and rearrangements of the parts may be resorted to without departing from the scope of the invention as disclosed and claimed herein .
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embodiments of the present disclosure provide an ion implantation solution that improves ion beam current measurement and monitoring using a scanning beam current transformer for optimizing ion beam utilization while maintaining uniform ion dose . referring to fig3 a , a top view of a current monitor 310 is shown in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure . in one embodiment , the current monitor 310 may include a scanning beam current monitor . the current monitor 310 may include a transformer 311 having a core 312 and a coil 314 wrapped around the core 312 . the core 312 may be in the shape of an annulus or a toroid and may be positioned within a transformer casing 316 . the transformer casing 316 may be formed of an electrically conductive , non - magnetic material , such as graphite or aluminum , and may be used as a shield or protective covering for the transformer 311 . another role of the transformer casing 316 may be to ensure that induced magnetic flux links the minor turns of the coil 314 and not the large major turn . additionally , eventual azimuthal currents induced in the transformer casing 316 by an axial component of the induced magnetic field ( e . g ., in the case of slight deviations from perpendicularity of the scanning beam on coil plane ) may cancel the azimuthal components of the flux in the transformer casing 316 . in one embodiment , the core 312 may be fabricated of high magnetic permeability material , e . g ., vitrovac ®, μmetal , or other similar material , and the coil 314 may be fabricated of a ferroelectric and / or conductive material , e . g ., copper or other similar material . other various materials may also be utilized . the current monitor 310 may be connected to a current integrator 318 through wires of the coil 314 . additionally , the current integrator 318 may be connected to a dose control system 700 , as depicted in fig7 . alternatively , in another embodiment , the current integrator 318 may be connected to the dose control system 700 through a feedback loop to compensate for dose variations during ion implantation . a calibration coil 320 may wrap around the current monitor 310 . in one embodiment , the calibration coil 320 may include a single turn and provide the current monitor 310 with a simulated beam current , which may be useful for calibrating the current monitor 310 . in another embodiment , the calibration coil 320 may include a predetermined number of turns for more reliable and accurate calibration . referring to fig3 b , a side view of the current monitor 310 is shown in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure . in this embodiment , the transformer casing 316 may include an inner casing 316 a and an outer casing 316 b . one or more fasteners 317 may hold the inner casing 316 a and the outer casing 316 b together to secure the transformer 311 , which may be fitted within the inner casing 316 a . in one embodiment , the inner casing 316 a and the outer casing 316 b may be formed of the same electrically conductive , non - magnetic material , e . g ., graphite or aluminum . in another embodiment , the inner casing 316 a and the outer casing 316 b may be formed of different electrically conductive , non - magnetic materials , e . g ., the inner casing 316 a may be formed of graphite and the outer casing 316 b may be formed of aluminum . other various materials may also be utilized . furthermore , in yet another embodiment , the transformer casing 316 may be symmetrically grounded . this may ensure a short path to ground as well as no generation of azimuthal currents when the ion beam spot 202 scans across the transformer casing 316 . referring back to fig3 a , as the ion beam spot 202 is be swept horizontally ( i . e ., in the x direction ) along the scan path 204 across the surface of the wafer 206 , the current monitor 310 may be used to measure the ion beam current at the wafer 206 . at each sweep along the scan path 204 , the ion beam spot 202 may cover a distance beyond the outer border of the current monitor 310 , as depicted in fig3 a . this is particularly important so that the current integrator 318 ( and other measurement electronics ) may accurately measure the ion beam current through the center of the transformer 311 by sweeping over the inner edge of the transformer casing 316 . the basis for calculating ion beam current within the transformer 311 will be discussed in further detail below . charges in motion , such as electrical current , may create a magnetic field . for example , according to biot - savart law , magnetic field generated by a current element idl may be expressed as : where db represents the magnetic field induction , μ represents magnetic permeability of a medium , and r represents a displacement vector . for the geometry of the current monitor 310 ( e . g ., a toroidal coil , as depicted in fig4 a , where a current ( i p ) perpendicular on the coil plane having a direction entering the paper sheet ), the magnetic field induction may have a direction shown on fig4 a and may be expressed as : where μ c represents magnetic permeability of the core 312 . thus , if current ( i p ) varies with time , the induced magnetic field ( b ) may also be a function of time . accordingly , the magnetic flux ( φ ) through the core may be expressed as : where a represents cross - section area of the core 312 . this forms the basis for calculating ion beam current within the transformer 311 . according to faraday &# 39 ; s law , the temporal variation of magnetic flux may then induce an electromagnetic force ( e ): where n represents the number of windings of the coil 314 . therefore , for a toroidal current transformer , e . g ., a rogowski coil , the electromotive force ( e ) may be expressed as : | e |=[( μ c na )/( 2 πr )]×[ di p / dt ]. when a pulsed primary current , i p , having , for example , a shape provided by a heaviside function , passes through the aperture of a rogowski coil , an induced secondary current i s in the windings of the coil 314 may be expressed as : i s ( t )=( 1 / n )· exp [(− r / l ) t ], where n represents number of windings and ( r / l ) represents the “ droop ” rate ( the inverse of the time constant ). accordingly , integration of such secondary current , i s , may yield a true value of pulsed primary current , i p . however , in the case of dc currents , or more specifically for implanting systems for which constant ion beam current for a constant dose during implant may be required , the induced emf ( e ) may be zero . as a result , the value of i p may not be readily inferred . for example , as depicted in fig4 a , when a scan path 404 a does not extend beyond an inner border periphery of the transformer 311 , in spite of a nonzero magnetic flux through the core of the coil , the induced emf ( e ) may be zero since , according to ampere &# 39 ; s law along a contour c ( the mean circumference of the coil ), ∮ c b ⅆ 1 = ∑ μ i p , there is no variation in the magnetic field induction ( b ) and no variation ( implicit ) in the induced magnetic flux ( φ ). however , as depicted in fig4 b , when a scan path 404 b extends beyond the inner border periphery of the transformer 311 , there may be a variation of primary current , i p , due to its increasing or decreasing cross - section as the beam sweeps across the inner border of the grounded housing containing the core 312 . as a result , a temporal variation in the magnetic flux ( φ ) and consequently an emf ( e ) may be induced , as shown in fig4 b . accordingly , integration of the secondary current , i s , may yield a value of the ion beam current at the wafer 206 . the secondary current , i s , may be integrated and the ion beam current , i p , at the wafer 206 may be measured . here , by extending the ion spot beam 202 beyond the outer periphery of the transformer 311 , the value of the magnetic field b at the transformer 311 and the value of the electrical current , i p , as shown in fig4 b , may provide values for which integration will yield a value for ion beam current at the wafer 206 . for a linear variation of an ion beam current as it sweeps over the inner border periphery of the transformer casing 316 , an induced secondary current , i s , may be expressed as : i s ( t )= i p ( μ c na 2 / 2 r 0 r τ )·[ 1 − exp (− tr / l )], for 0 ≦ t & lt ; t 0 ; i p ( μ c na 2 / 2r 0 rτ )·[ 1 − exp (− t 0 r / l )]· exp [−( t − t 0 ) r / l ], for t ≧ t 0 ; where r 0 and a represent a mean major and a minor radii of a torus , respectively , r represents total resistance ( coil + external ) viewed by the secondary current , i s , τ represents a sweeping time across the inner border periphery , l represents the self - inductance of the coil 314 , and t 0 represents the instant when the ion beam 202 is no longer sensed by the core 312 . for example , as depicted in fig5 , such analytical predictions on a shape of the secondary current , i s , may be reproduced in experimental measurements . therefore , an integration of the secondary current , i s , as well as a previous accurate calibration , may yield an accurate value of primary current , i p . in one embodiment , for the particular case of a torus having a mean major radius r 0 = 6 . 75 inches ( large enough to encircle a standard 300 mm wafer ), a minor radius a = 0 . 25 inches , made of magnetic material having μ r = 1 . 5 × 10 5 , theoretical predictions may give a relative magnetic permeability of the core μ c =˜ 1720 and an optimal number of coil turns n =˜ 150 . then , under the approximation of a uniform current density across the beam , the time dependency of the ion beam current as it passes the inner border of the transformer casing 316 may be expressed by : i p ( t )=( i p0 / 2π )·{ arc cos ( 1 − v s t / ξ )−( 1 − v s t / ξ )·[( 1 −( 1 − vt / ξ ) 2 ] 1 / 2 ], where i p0 represents total ion beam current , ξ represents beam radius , and v s represents scanning speed . for usual operating parameters in an ion implanter , e . g ., ion beam current of ˜ 1 ma , an ion beam diameter of ˜ 5 cm , and a scanning speed of ˜ 1 mm / μs , the induced secondary current amplitude may be ˜ 15 μa . this value may be large enough to be measured ( e . g ., as a voltage drop on an external resistor ), integrated , and further processed to obtain the accurate value of the total ion beam current i p0 at the wafer 206 . in the illustrated embodiments of the present disclosure , the current monitor 310 is shown with a ring - like ( annular ) toroidal shape since this geometry may ensure magnetic flux uniformity inside the core 312 , minimal transmit time , and improved signal - to - noise ratio . however , a current monitor having other shapes ( e . g ., elliptical , rectangular , etc .) and sizes may also be utilized , provided that these dimensional factors are taken into account in calculating self - inductance , magnetic flux losses , coil winding uniformity , etc . referring to fig6 , a top view of a current monitor 610 is shown in accordance with another embodiment of the present disclosure . similar to fig3 a , the current monitor 610 may include a transformer 611 having a core 612 and a coil 614 wrapped around the core 612 . the current monitor 510 may be connected to a current integrator 318 through wires of the coil 614 . the current integrator 318 may be connected to a dose control system 800 , as depicted in fig8 . a calibration coil 320 may wrap around the current monitor 610 . in one embodiment , the calibration coil 320 may include a single turn and provide the current monitor 610 with a simulated beam current , which may be useful for calibrating the current monitor 310 . in another embodiment , the calibration coil 620 may include a predetermined number of turns for more reliable and accurate calibration . however , in this embodiment , unlike fig3 a , the transformer 611 may have a rectangular shape and may be positioned within a transformer casing 616 , which may also be rectangular in shape . the transformer casing 616 may be formed of an electrically conductive , non - magnetic material , such as graphite or aluminum , and may be used as a shield or protective covering for the transformer 611 . other various materials may also be utilized . furthermore , in yet another embodiment , the transformer casing 616 may be symmetrically grounded . this may ensure a short path to ground as well as no generation of azimuthal currents when the ion beam scans across the transformer casing 616 . one benefit with utilizing a rectangular - shaped transformer 611 , as depicted in fig6 , may include a reduced size of the current monitor . having a smaller beam - to - core distance may increase the magnetic field induction b and , therefore ( implicitly ), increase the magnetic flux φ since the magnetic field b is inversely proportional with the distance from the current . a drawback with a rectangular - shaped transformer 611 , however , may include losses associated with sharp corners of the core 612 . as a result , other embodiments may be provided to balance the size of the transformer 611 with the magnetic field produced . for example , referring to fig7 , a top view of a current monitor 710 is shown in accordance with another embodiment of the present disclosure . similar to fig6 , the current monitor 710 may include a transformer 711 having a core 712 and a coil 714 wrapped around the core 712 . the current monitor 710 may be connected to a current integrator 318 through wires of the coil 714 . the current integrator 318 may be connected to a dose control system 800 , as depicted in fig8 . a calibration coil 320 may wrap around the current monitor 710 . in one embodiment , the calibration coil 320 may include a single turn and provide the current monitor 710 with a simulated beam current , which may be useful for calibrating the current monitor 710 . in another embodiment , the calibration coil 320 may include a predetermined number of turns for more reliable and accurate calibration . however , in this embodiment , unlike fig3 a and 6 , the transformer 711 may have an elliptical shape and may be positioned within a transformer casing 716 , which may also be elliptical in shape . the transformer casing 716 may be formed of an electrically conductive , non - magnetic material , such as graphite or aluminum , and may be used as a shield or protective covering for the transformer 711 . other various materials may also be utilized . furthermore , in yet another embodiment , the transformer casing 716 may be symmetrically grounded . this may ensure a short path to ground as well as no generation of azimuthal currents when the ion beam scans across the transformer casing 716 . the current monitor 710 with the transformer 711 having an elliptical shape may provide a smaller beam - to - core distance as compared to the annular toroidal transformer 311 of fig3 a and a reduction in losses ( e . g ., from sharp corners ) as compared to the rectangular - shaped transformer 611 of fig6 . fig8 depicts an exemplary dose control system 800 for ion implantation in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure . the system 800 may comprise a processor unit 802 ( e . g ., a dose controller ) which may be a microprocessor , micro - controller , personal computer ( pc ), or any other processing device . the system 800 may also comprise a beam movement controller 804 that controls the movement of an ion beam in an ion implanter system 80 according to instructions received from the processor unit 802 . the system 800 may further comprise a measurement interface 806 through which the processor unit 802 may receive ion beam measurement data ( e . g ., beam current , dose and shape ) from the ion implanter system 80 . the measurement interface 806 may include or be coupled to one or more measurement devices . the system 800 may be used to set up a 2 - d velocity profile for beam movement , to control an ion implantation process based on the 2 - d velocity profile , and to provide real - time , closed - loop adjustments to the 2 - d velocity profile . furthermore , the system 800 may provide dose control at the ion implanter system 80 based on the ion beam current measurements obtained from a current monitor , e . g ., a scanning beam current monitor . one advantage with utilizing embodiments of a current monitor in accordance with embodiments of the present disclosure may include increased accuracy in ion beam current measurements at a wafer . because the current monitor is non - intercepting and measures ion beam current directly bombarding the wafer , accurate ion beam current measurements may be obtained . another factor contributing to increased accuracy may include the fact that current - to - area ratio calculations are no longer necessary for current monitors of the present disclosure . ion beam drift effects on dose and acceptance angle errors may also be eliminated to ultimately provide a more accurate ion beam measurement . also , since the current monitor is non - intercepting , not only is accuracy optimized , but real - time ion beam current measurements may also be obtained . another advantage of the present disclosure is that a current monitor in accordance with embodiments of the present disclosure may be integrated with existing electronics . this may lead to reduced costs associated with implementing the current monitor with current systems not only to provide accurate ion beam measurements but also for dose compensation . furthermore , since a current monitor in accordance with embodiments of the present disclosure involves no moving parts , little or no maintenance may be required . therefore , consistency and reliability of ion beam current measurements and dose compensation may be achieved with relative regularity . other advantages of the present disclosure may include an increase in ion beam utilization and availability of external calibration . these features may serve to reduce costs and improve measurements and calculations . the present disclosure is not to be limited in scope by the specific embodiments described herein . indeed , other various embodiments of and modifications to the present disclosure , in addition to those described herein , will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art from the foregoing description and accompanying drawings . thus , such other embodiments and modifications are intended to fall within the scope of the present disclosure . further , although the present disclosure has been described herein in the context of a particular implementation in a particular environment for a particular purpose , those of ordinary skill in the art will recognize that its usefulness is not limited thereto and that the present disclosure may be beneficially implemented in any number of environments for any number of purposes . accordingly , the claims set forth below should be construed in view of the full breadth and spirit of the present disclosure as described herein .
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chlorodifluoromethane ( f22 ) is currently manufactured on a large scale for commercial refrigeration but also to serve as a starting material for the production of ptfe . when the use of f22 as a refrigerant liquid is banned , it will be useful to be able to continue exploiting this compound in other applications . the present invention provides a particularly advantageous means in this respect , since it has been found that chlorodifluoromethane ( f22 ) can be converted selectively into f134a and f32 by continuously pyrolysing f22 at a temperature of above 500 ° c . in the presence of hydrogen , but in the absence of metals in the reaction zone . the amount of hydrogen used is such that the h 2 / f 22 molar ratio is between 2 and 50 and more particularly between 5 and 15 . the working pressure may range up to 100 bar , but the process is generally carried out at a pressure of between 0 . 1 and 20 bar absolute , preferably of approximately between 0 . 5 and 5 bar absolute and , more particularly , at atmospheric pressure . the working temperature may be between 500 ° and 1000 ° c ., but the process is preferably carried out at between 650 ° and 800 ° c . the residence time may be between 0 . 1 and 100 seconds , but the process is preferably carried out for between 1 and 20 seconds . by working with short residence times , the formation of f32 is promoted , whereas with long residence times , the production of f134a is considerably increased . when the latter product is the interesting one , the f32 co - produced may obviously be recycled into the reactor in order to convert it into f134a . depending on the operating conditions , the f134a formed is accompanied by a variable amount of f134 ( hf 2 c -- chf 2 ) which is readily isomerizable into f134a . the examples which follow illustrate the present invention in a non - limiting manner . all the examples are performed in a tubular quartz reactor 47 cm in height and 2 . 3 cm in diameter , placed in an electric oven with a power rating of 1 . 5 kw . the working pressure is atmospheric pressure and the oven temperature is measured using a thermocouple . the reactants are introduced simultaneously and continuously by means of calibrated rotameters which allow the flow rates and thus the molar ratios to be controlled . the flow of the reactants in the reactor may be diluted with a flow of inert gas such as helium or nitrogen . all of the gas flow leaving the reactor is acidic and is conveyed to a glass reactor containing aqueous sodium hydroxide in order to remove the hydrochloric acid co - produced . the exiting gas flow is then dried over molecular sieves and then condensed at low temperature (- 78 ° c .) in a stainless - steel container fitted with valves which allow the gaseous products to be stored at ordinary temperature . analysis of the gas mixtures obtained is carried out by gas chromatography coupled to mass spectrography so as to identify the reaction products with certainty . __________________________________________________________________________ residence conversion selectivity (%) towards temperature time h . sub . 2 f22 of f22 f32 ch . sub . 4 f134a f134 balance cexample (° c .) ( s ) mmol / h mmol / h % % % % % % __________________________________________________________________________1 550 14 473 . 2 37 . 4 32 41 0 36 19 982 600 13 473 . 2 37 . 4 77 38 0 40 22 983 650 12 473 . 2 37 . 4 97 39 0 40 18 974 700 11 473 . 2 37 . 4 100 41 1 43 15 965 650 12 473 . 2 60 . 3 98 32 1 40 23 996 700 11 473 . 2 60 . 3 100 35 1 41 15 96__________________________________________________________________________ the process is performed as in the previous examples , in a quartz reactor 47 cm in height and 1 . 5 cm in diameter , with flow rates of hydrogen and of f22 of 218 . 8 mmol / h and 21 mmol / h respectively . working at atmospheric pressure and with a residence time of 12 . 4 seconds in the isothermal region ( 650 ° c . ), a 93 % degree of conversion of the f22 was obtained with selectivities towards f32 , f134a and f134 of 26a , 28 % and 18 % respectively . the process was performed as above in a quartz reactor 47 cm in height and 2 . 1 cm in diameter , under the following conditions : the degree of conversion of the f22 was 93 % with selectivities towards f32 , f134a and f134 of 30 %, 30 % and 12 % respectively . the process was performed in the same reactor as in example 7 , under the following conditions : the degree of conversion of the f22 was 92 % with selectivities towards f32 , f134a and f134 of 34 %, 33 % and 18 % respectively . although the invention has been described in conjunction with specific embodiments , it is evident that many alternatives and variations will be apparent to those skilled in the art in light of the foregoing description . accordingly , the invention is intended to embrace all of the alternatives and variations that fall within the spirit and scope of the appended claims .
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referring to fig2 , a system is shown which is an embodiment of the invention . the system performs a process which is described below with reference to fig3 and 4 . the system of fig2 includes a consumer application 111 ( ca ) which runs on a computer ( not shown ) operated by a consumer , such as a personal computer , laptop or mobile device ( e . g . a mobile phone or tablet computer ). the consumer application is capable of communicating with a merchant server 112 ( ms ), typically over the internet . the merchant server 112 , which is operated by a merchant ( an individual or organization which supplies products and / or services in return for payment ), may in fact comprise multiple physical servers cooperating together to provide a merchant website , offering one or more products and / or services . the ca may be supplied by the merchant , and may be arranged to present to the consumer the item ( s ) ( product ( s ) and / or service ( s )) which the merchant supplies . it may include a database describing these item ( s ), or obtain the information as required by communicating with the merchant server 112 . the merchant also operates at one or more points - of - sale distant from the merchant server ( e . g . at least 500 m , at least 10 km , and perhaps 10 s , 100 s or even 1000 s of kilometers distant from the merchant server ). indeed , the point - of - sale may be a mobile point - of - sale , such as one located in a vehicle ( a taxi , bus , or train ), which is able to give the consumer ( and / or any accompanying persons ) a ride . it may alternatively be at a station where vehicles arrive or depart . at each point - of - sale there is respective equipment running an application associated with the merchant : a “ merchant application ( ma )”. the consumer may be at one of these points - of - sale , and / or wishes to obtain a product and / or service delivered at this point of sale . the merchant application at this one of the points - of - sale is denoted by 112 in fig2 , and the merchant applications at any other points - of - sale are omitted from fig2 . these other points - of - sale play no role in the process described below . the point - of - sale is typically equipped with any necessary physical items and / or personnel to implement the purchase . for example , if the purchase is of a physical product , that product may be located at the point - of - sale , so that the consumer may take it away following the purchase , or so that it can be delivered to him from the point - of - sale . in another example , if the purchase is of a food and / or beverage , the point - of - sale may be a café or restaurant , where the food and / or beverage may be prepared and consumed . in a further example , the point - of - sale may be at a location where a train , bus or taxi may be mounted or dismounted , with any necessary driver also being present . in yet a further example , purchase may relate to the rental of a physical item ( e . g . a bicycle or car ) and the point - of - sale may be a location where the consumer may obtain or return the physical item . note that the equipment running the merchant application may not be owned by the merchant , or dedicated to running the application . for example , it is possible to envisage a retail store providing equipment which is arranged to run a respective merchant application for each of a plurality of merchants . each application would permit the consumer , when he or she is at the point - of - sale , to make a purchase of a product and / or service from the corresponding merchant . the merchant is also able to communicate with a service provider 114 ( sp ). the merchant maintains a bank account with a bank 115 (“ acquiring bank ”), which typically also operates the service provider 114 . the service provider 114 is , unlike the merchant server 112 , assumed to be a secure environment . as in the system of fig1 , the consumer has a digital wallet provided by a wallet provider ( wp ) 116 . the consumer has pre - registered one or more payment cards ( credit cards and / or debit cards ) with the wallet provider ( wp ) 116 , which is able to access a database containing payment credentials of the registered cards , i . e . data which can be used to make a payment using the payment card . this data is typically the primary account number ( pan ) which , conventionally , is a 16 digit number of the card . the wallet provider ( wp ) is typically operated by a bank which issued the pre - registered payment card ( s ). the service provider 114 is able to interact with the wallet provider 116 to access the payment credentials , but since the wallet provider 116 is assumed to be secure , this does not compromise the security of the system . note that the system of fig1 does not contain an element corresponding to the service provider 114 . the service provider 114 is pci ( payment card industry ) compliant ; that is , it conforms to the pci data security standard ( pci dss ) maintained by the pci security standards council . turning to fig3 the various communications within the system when a payment transaction is to be made , are shown , numbered 1 - 15 . fig4 is a flowchart showing the steps 1 - 15 of the method which results in the respective communications 1 - 15 . in step 1 , the consumer operates the consumer application 111 ( ca ), and decides to make a purchase , and instructs the consumer application 111 accordingly . at this stage , the consumer application 111 may display a number of different payment options ( e . g . using respective payment methods ), and the consumer selects to make a payment by the method proposed here . for example , he may click on branding ( a payment acceptance brand ) displayed by the consumer application 111 and associated with the present method . that is , it includes an acceptance of the use of a payment card registered with the digital wallet 116 . note that the displayed payment options may include multiple digital wallets ( e . g . associated with different issuing banks ), so that the consumer can select the appropriate digital wallet . the consumer application 111 then sends a request to the merchant server 112 ( ms ) to obtain payment credentials . this includes a message that a payment card registered with the digital wallet is to be used . the request further includes data specifying the identity of the point - of - sale , i . e . one at which the consumer is located and / or from which he or she wishes to receive a product and / or service . specifically , it includes merchant information such as a unique merchant identifier for which a payment acceptance mark has been established . in step 2 , the merchant server 112 requests payment credentials from the service provider 114 ( sp ) by sending it a message . in step 3 , the service provider 114 requests payment credentials from the wallet provider 116 ( wp ) by sending it a message including the identity data . the wallet provider 116 then verifies the identity of the consumer by further steps which are not shown in fig1 , but are as in conventional methods . typically , the wp renders to the consumer ( e , g . using the ca which connects to the wp using the internet ) a page where the consumer will have to enter identity data , such as a user name and , typically , a secret password . alternatively , the wallet provider may use a so - called “ 2 factor authentication ”, by sending a one - time - pass ( otp ) by sms to a mobile device ( perhaps the one on which the ca is running ) associated with the consumer . this information is not transmitted through the service provider , but directly between the consumer and the wallet provider . the consumer can transmit the otp back to the service provider 114 ( e . g . directly over a telecommunications network , or the internet ). using the identity of the consumer , the wallet provider 116 obtains payment credentials of a payment card associated with the consumer from its database . if multiple payment cards associated with the consumer are registered with the wallet provider 116 which the consumer selected , then the consumer is enabled to select one of them . this may be done by a separate process ( not shown ) of communication between the consumer and the wallet provider 116 . in step 4 , the wallet provider 116 sends the service provider 114 the ( real ) payment credentials of the selected payment card from the wallet provider 116 . the service provider 114 then generates a token for the selected payment card . the token is preferably generated using the real payment credentials , and preferably , but not necessarily , has the format of payment card credentials ( e . g . it too is a 16 digit number ). it preferably also encodes the identity of the merchant . the token may be regarded an alternative payment credential linked to the original ( i . e . real ) payment credential transmitted by the wallet provider 116 . the token may be a hexadecimal number or may mimic an iso ( independent sales organization ) based card number . it may be generated by any conventional method , or for example , as described in u . s . patent application ser . no . 14 / 514 , 290 . it may subsequently be encrypted . in step 5 , the service provider 114 sends the token to the merchant server 112 . in step 6 , the merchant server 112 sends the consumer application 111 a message saying that the merchant server 112 has received a token . the token is retained in the merchant server 112 . in step 7 , the consumer initiates the purchase , rental or hire of a particular item ( product and / or service ). for example , if the consumer has ordered or been given a certain food and / or beverage , the consumer indicates that he or she wants to pay the bill for them . the consumer controls the consumer application 111 to send a message to the merchant server 112 specifying the item to be bought , in step 8 the merchant server 112 sends the merchant application 113 a message indicating that the consumer wants to make the purchase . in step 9 the merchant application 113 sends the merchant server 112 a message which includes the amount of the transaction (“ the final transaction amount ”). for example , depending upon the nature of the merchant , this might be the total ( including taxes ) restaurant or café bill , taxi fare , etc . in step 10 , the merchant server 112 sends the consumer &# 39 ; s token for the selected payment card , and the final transaction amount obtained in step 9 , to the service provider 114 , as a transaction authorization request . in step 11 , the service provider 114 decrypts the token received in the transaction authorization request ( if it was encrypted ), and performs a de - tokenization operation on the token , to retrieve the ( real ) payment credentials which the service provider 114 received in step 4 . detokenization means that the service provider 114 converts the token obtained from the merchant server 112 to the real payment credentials ( funding pan ), such as by looking the token up in a mapping table . the service provider 114 sends the real payment credentials to the acquiring bank 115 . then , according to the same steps as the prior art the bank 115 obtains authorization from the issuer of the payment card (“ issuing bank ”) for a payment of the final transaction amount via the payment network . the payment settlement and reconciliation will subsequently be carried out , according to a conventional protocol . in step 12 , the bank sends an authorization response to the service provider 114 , indicating that the payment has been approved . in step 13 , the service provider 114 forwards the authorization response to the merchant server 112 . in step 14 , the merchant server 112 notifies the consumer application 111 that the payment has been authorized . in step 15 , the merchant server 112 notifies the merchant application 113 that the payment has been authorized . note that steps 14 and 15 may alternately be performed in the opposite order or simultaneously . note that during this process the real payment credentials are only sent to the ( secure ) service provider 114 , not to the ( insecure ) merchant server 112 . furthermore , the service provider 114 may store the payment credentials only for the time taken to generate the token , after which they can be deleted ; the service provider regenerates the payment credentials in step 11 . the service provider 114 will only perform step 11 if it receives the token from the same merchant whose identity was used to generate the token . thus , the token can only be used to make a payment using the merchant server 112 . therefore , if the token is stolen , the thief will not be able to use it to make a payment to another merchant . furthermore , the service provider 114 will preferably only accept a given token once . that is , when it receives the transaction authorization request , it checks that it has not previously received the token it contains , and only completes step 11 in the case that this check is positive . this means that after the transaction is completed , a thief who obtains it will not be able to use the token to make a subsequent payment via the merchant server 112 . when the consumer wants to make a further transaction using the merchant 112 , the entire process of fig3 and 4 must be repeated , including generating a new token . this new token will be different from the old token . for example , it may be generated using a clock time from a reference clock ( e . g . maintained at the service provider 114 ) or counter associated with the wallet , so that differing instances of generated tokens generated are different . many embodiments are possible within the scope and spirit of the invention as will be clear to a skilled reader . firstly , although the embodiment shown in fig2 includes both a merchant server 112 ( ms ) and also a separate merchant application 113 ( ma ) running on equipment at a point - of - sale , in certain embodiments of the invention there is no separate merchant application at a point - of - sale . instead , the merchant server itself may be capable of fulfilling the purchase , either by performing a service ( such as making a travel booking ) or fulfilling a product purchase product ( e . g . by dispatching the purchased product to the consumer , or by sending an order to a separate warehouse to do so ). in this case , steps 8 , 9 and 15 of fig3 and 4 are omitted . secondly , the token need not necessarily encode the ( real ) payment credentials . instead , the service provider 114 could issue tokens which are generated using a random or unpredictable number generator . the service provider 114 might keep a database which , for each token it has issued , contains the corresponding payment credentials , so that when the service provider receives a token , it can extract the payment credentials from its database . alternatively , the service provider 114 might keep a database which , for each token it has issued , indicates the identity of the corresponding consumer , so that the service provider 114 can obtain the payment credentials again from the wallet provider 116 . thirdly , in principle the operations of the wallet provider 116 and the service provider 114 could be performed by a single server ( so that the messages of steps 3 and 4 are unnecessary ). this variation would , for example , be appropriate if the card issuing bank happens to be the same as the acquiring bank 113 . fourthly , although fig2 and 3 refer to a single merchant server 112 and a single service provider server 114 , in some embodiments either of these roles may be implemented using multiple servers which cooperate together to play the role . thus , for example , a merchant may maintain multiple servers , e . g . distant from each other , which cooperate to present a consumer website to consumers .
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the flow chart for obtaining highly purified gonadotropins is shown in fig1 . the elaboration technique of fraction k m constituting purified menotropins will be described below . fraction c is chromatographed on a chromatographic column containing 10 liters of strong cationic exchange resin of the sulphopropyl type . fraction c ( 110 – 140 g ) is dissolved in 1600 – 1800 ml of a 0 . 05 – 015 m ammonium acetate solution , ph 5 . 0 – 7 . 0 . the column is run and eluted with the necessary amount of 0 . 05 – 0 . 15 m ammonium acetate solution to bring the volume to 20 liters . the elution is continued with solutions of 0 . 15 – 0 . 20 m ammonium acetate , ph 5 . 0 – 7 . 0 ( 20 liters ) and 0 . 2 – 0 . 5 m ammonium acetate , ph 5 . 0 – 7 . 0 ( 20 liters ). the active fraction eluted with the latter solution is added with stirring to 4 volumes of 96 % ethanol and enough acetic acid to reach a mixture ph of 5 . 5 – 5 . 7 . a precipitate is formed , separated by centrifugation , washed with ethanol and dried in vacuo until ethanol is removed and humidity is lower than 5 % ( fraction f ). fraction f is chromatographed on a chromatographic column containing 4 liters of strong anionic exchange resin of ammonium quaternary type fraction f ( 40 – 60 g in 650 ml ) is dissolved in 0 . 01 – 0 . 05 m ammonium acetate solution , ph 5 . 0 – 7 . 0 , the column is run and eluted with the same solution to bring the volume to 7 liters . elution is continued with 12 liters of 0 . 05 – 0 . 07 m ammonium acetate ph 5 . 0 – 7 . 0 , then with 10 liters of 0 . 07 – 0 . 2 m ammonium acetate ph 5 . 0 – 7 . 0 . the active fraction eluted with the latter solution is subjected to an ultrafiltration process using a pm 10 ( 10000 d ) ultrafilters ( amicon - millipore ) membrane . the solution is concentrated and dialyzed against 50 mm sodium phosphate buffer , ph 5 . 5 – 5 . 7 to a concentration of 2 – 4 g of protein in 100 – 150 ml of buffer . then it is frozen at − 75 ° c . ( fraction g ). fraction g is chromatographed on a chromatographic column containing 400 ml of a hydrophobic interaction resin ( phenyl sepharose hp , amersham - pharmacia biotech ). a sufficient amount of ammonium sulfate is added to the solution of fraction g to obtain a 0 . 8 – 1 . 2 m concentration . the chromatographic process to be carried out will allow the co - purification of fsh and lh or the separation of both hormones . the course of action will depend on the prior analyses conducted with fraction g ( biological assays ), through which the fsh : lh ratio has been determined . once this ratio is known , the overstock of the hormone in excess of 1 : 1 fsh : lh ratio will be removed . d - 1 ) if the product is balanced ( 1 : 1 fsh : lh ), the chromatography of concentrated and dialyzed fraction g will be conducted as follows : put the solution of fraction g in the chromatographic column , 0 . 8 – 1 . 2 m in ammonium sulfate . elute with 2 volumes of 50 – 200 mm sodium phosphate buffer , 0 . 8 – 1 . 2 m ammonium sulfate , ph 5 . 0 – 7 . 0 . continue the elution with 2 volumes of 50 – 200 mm phosphate buffer ( 50 – 70 % v / v ) and 96 % ethanol ( 50 – 30 % v / v ). the active fraction eluted with the latter buffer ( fraction j4 ) is frozen at − 75 ° c . this fraction has fsh and lh activity . d - 2 ) if the fsh : lh ratio of fraction g is different from 1 : 1 , the overstock of the hormone in excess will be removed as follows : run an aliquot of the solution of fraction g in the chromatographic column . 0 . 8 – 1 . 2 m in ammonium sulfate . elute with 2 volumes of 50 – 200 mm sodium phosphate buffer , 0 . 8 – 1 . 2 m ammonium sulfate . ph 5 . 0 – 7 . 0 . continue the elution with 2 volumes of 50 – 200 mm sodium phosphate buffer , 0 . 4 – 0 . 6 m ammonium sulfate , ph 5 . 0 – 7 . 0 , and finally with 2 volumes of 50 – 200 mm phosphate buffer ( 50 – 70 % v / v ) and 96 % ethanol ( 50 – 30 % v / v ). the active fraction eluted with 50 – 200 mm sodium phosphate buffer , 0 . 4 – 0 . 6 m ammonium sulfate ( fraction j2 ) is frozen at − 75 ° c . this fraction has mostly fsh activity . the active fraction eluted with 50 – 200 mm phosphate buffer ( 50 – 70 % v / v ) and 96 % ethanol ( 50 – 30 % v / v ) ( fraction j3 ) is frozen at − 75 ° c . this fraction only has lh activity . fractions j2 , j3 , j4 are defrozen , dialyzed and concentrated using ultrafiltration through a pm 10 ( diaflo ultrafilters , amicon - millipore ) membrane against a 50 mm sodium phosphate buffer , ph 5 . 7 . each resulting solution is filtered using a 0 . 45μ membrane under the necessary conditions to obtain a sterile product , and then added to 4 volumes of 96 % ethanol and enough acetic acid to obtain a mixture ph of 5 . 5 – 5 . 7 . the mixture is allowed to stand overnight . the precipitate is separated by centrifugation and dried in vacuo until ethanol is removed and humidity is lower than 5 % ( fraction k ). properties of fraction k may vary depending on the precipitated fraction being j2 , j3 or j4 . fraction k m obtained from fraction j4 will contain approximately equivalent units of fsh and lh . fraction k f obtained from fraction j2 will be comprised of fsh and lh traces . fraction k l obtained from fraction j3 will be comprised of lh and fsh traces . 231 . 2 g of fraction c were divided in two equal portions and chromatographed in two equivalent processes on a chromatographic column as above described . 115 . 6 g of fraction c ( in each process ) were dissolved in 1700 ml of 0 . 05 m ammonium acetate buffer , ph 5 . 0 the column was run and eluted with further 18 . 7 liters of the same chromatographic buffer . the elution was continued with 20 liters of 0 . 15 m ammonium acetate buffer , ph 5 . 0 and finally with 20 liters of 0 . 5 m ammonium acetate buffer , ph 5 . 0 the active fraction obtained by eluting with 0 . 5 m ammonium acetate ( 22 liters ) was added with stirring to a solution of 88 liters of 96 % ethanol and 2400 ml of acetic acid . the ph of the mixture was 5 . 7 . the precipitate obtained was left in the refrigerator ( 2 – 8 ° c .) overnight . the precipitate was centrifuged , washed with 96 % ethanol and dried in vacuo for 17 h . on each of the two equivalent processes , two fractions f of 20 . 7 g and 19 . 5 g were obtained , respectively . the two fractions f obtained in the above step were brought together and chromatographed on column according to the described technique . 40 . 2 g of fraction f were dissolved in 650 ml of 0 . 01 m ammonium acetate buffer , ph 5 . 0 . the column was run with this solution and eluted with 6350 ml of the same dilution buffer . the elution was then continued with 12 liters of 0 . 05 m ammonium acetate , ph 5 . 0 and then with 10 liters of 0 . 2 m ammonium acetate , ph 5 . 0 . the active fraction ( 4500 ml ) eluted with the latter solution was subjected to an ultrafiltration process using a pm 10 ( 10000 d ) diaflo ultrafilters ( amicon - millipore ) membrane . the solution is concentrated and dialyzed against 50 mm sodium phosphate , ph 5 . 7 for obtaining a concentration of 2 – 4 g of protein in 150 ml of buffer . final solution ( 400 ml ) was frozen at − 75 ° c . fraction g was biologically tested in animals detecting a fsh potency of 42 . 000 iu / ml and lh potency of 33 , 780 iu / ml . with this result , it was considered necessary processing a portion of the solution ( 80 ml ) of fraction g under conditions for separating fsh and lh fractions j2 and j3 respectively ). the rest ( 320 ml ) was chromatographed under conditions so as not to separate both hormones ( fraction j4 ). aliquots of fraction j3 and fraction j4 where then mixed to obtain a final fsh : lh ratio of approximately 1 : 1 ( fraction k m ). i ) preparation of fractions j2 ( highly purified fsh ) and j3 ( highly purified lh ): ammonium sulfate was added to an aliquot of fraction g ( 80 ml ) until a concentration 1 m . this solution was run in phenyl - sepharose hp chromatographic column and was eluted with 2 volumes of buffer , 50 mm sodium phosphate , 1 m sulfate ammonium , ph 5 . 1 . the elution was continued with 2 volumes of buffer , 50 mm sodium phosphate , 0 . 5 m ammonium sulfate , ph 5 . 1 , and finally with 2 volumes of 50 mm sodium phosphate buffer ( 60 % v / v ) and 96 % ethanol ( 40 % v / v ). the fsh active fraction eluted with buffer , 50 mm sodium phosphate , 0 . 5 m ammonium sulfate , ph 5 . 1 ( fraction j2 ) was dialyzed and concentrated using pm 10 membrane ultrafiltration ( diaflo ultrafilters , amicon - millipore ), against a 50 mm sodium phosphate buffer , ph 5 . 7 , and then was frozen at − 75 ° c . the lh active fraction eluted with 50 mm sodium phosphate buffer ( 60 % v / v ) and 96 % ethanol ( 40 % v / v ) ( fraction j3 ) was dialyzed and concentrated using pm 10 membrane ultrafiltration ( diaflo ultrafilters , amicon - millipore ), against a 50 mm sodium phosphate buffer , ph 5 . 7 , and then was frozen at − 75 ° c . a second aliquot of fraction g ( 320 ml ) was defrozen and ammonium sulfate was added until a 1 m concentration was obtained . this solution was run in a phenyl - sepharose hp chromatographic column and was eluted with 2 volumes of buffer 50 mm sodium phosphate , 1 m ammonium sulfate , ph 5 . 1 . the elution was continued with 2 volumes of phosphate 50 mm ( 60 % v / v ) and 96 % ethanol ( 40 % v / v ). the eluted fraction with this buffer ( fraction j4 ) was frozen at − 75 ° c . fractions j3 ( 40 ml ) and j4 ( 25 ml ) were defrozed , filtered through 0 . 45μ membrane under necessary conditions for obtaining a sterile product ( final volume 100 ml ), and then admixed and stirred with 4 volumes of 96 % ethanol ( 400 ml ) and acetic acid necessary for reaching a ph 5 . 5 ( 1 ml ). fraction j2 ( 40 ml ) was defrozen , filtered through a 0 . 45μ membrane under necessary conditions for obtaining a sterile product ( final volume 60 ml ), and then admixed and stirred with 4 volumes of 96 % ethanol ( 400 ml ) and acetic acid necessary for reaching a ph 5 . 5 ( 0 . 5 ml ). fractions were allowed to precipitate in the refrigerator overnight at 2 – 8 ° c . the next morning , the highly purified menotropins precipitate , obtained from fraction j3 y j4 was separated by centrifugation and dried in vacuo until ethanol was removed and moisture was lower than 5 % ( fraction k m , 4 . 50 g ). the highly purified fsh precipitate obtained from the j2 fraction was separated by centrifugation and dried in vacuo until ethanol was removed and humidity was lower than 5 % ( fraction k f , 0 . 55 g ). the biological analysis performed with fractions k m ( highly purified menotropins ) and k f ( highly purified fsh ) exhibited the following results : 250 . 06 g of fraction c were divided in two equal portions and chromatographed in two equivalent processes in a chromatographic column as the one described above . 125 . 03 g of fraction c ( in each process ) were dissolved in 1 , 700 ml of 0 . 05 m ammonium acetate buffer , ph 5 . 1 . then , the column was run and eluted with further 18 . 7 liters of the same chromatographic buffer . the elation was continued with 20 liters 0 . 15 m ammonium acetate buffer , ph 5 . 1 , and finally with 20 liters of 0 . 5 m ammonium acetate buffer , ph 5 . 1 . the active fraction obtained by elution with 0 . 5 m ammonium acetate ( 22 liters ) was added under stirring to 88 liters of 96 % ethanol and 2 , 200 ml of acetic acid . the mixture ph was 5 . 7 . it was observed the appearance of a precipitate . the mixture was left in the refrigerator at 2 – 8 ° c . overnight . the precipitated was centrifuged , washed with 96 % ethanol and dried in vacuo for 22 hs . in each of the equivalent processes , two fractions f of 21 . 57 g and 21 . 15 g were respectively obtained . the two fractions obtained in the previous stage were brought together and chromatographed on column according to the process described above . 42 . 58 g of fraction f were dissolved in 650 ml of 0 . 01 m ammonium acetate buffer , ph 5 . 1 . this solution was run in the column and eluted with 6 . 350 ml of the same buffer dissolution . the elution was continued with 12 liters of ammonium acetate 0 . 05 m , ph 5 . 0 , and then with 10 liters of ammonium acetate 0 . 2 m , ph 5 . the active fraction ( 4 , 500 ml ) eluted with this last solution was subjected to an ultrafiltration process with a pm 10 membrane ( 10 , 000 d ) ( diaflo ultrafilters , amicon - millipore ). the solution was concentrated and dialyzed against a 50 mm sodium phosphate buffer , ph 5 . 7 , until a concentration of 2 – 4 g of protein in 150 ml of buffer is obtained . the final volume of 500 ml was frozen at − 75 ° c . fraction g was biologically tested in animals , showing a fsh potency of 49 , 790 iu / ml and a lh potency of 39 , 600 iu / ml . with this analysis , it was considered necessary processing one part of the solution ( 100 ml ) of fraction g under conditions for separating fsh and lh ( fractions j2 and j3 respectively ) and the rest ( 400 ml ) under conditions so as not to separate both hormones ( j4 ). aliquots of fraction j3 and fraction j4 where then mixed to obtain a final fsh : lh ratio of approximately 1 : 1 ( fraction k m ). i ) preparation of fraction j2 ( highly purified fsh ) and j3 ( highly purified lh ): ammonium sulfate was added to one aliquot of fraction g ( 100 ml ) until a 1 m concentration is obtained . this solution was run in the phenyl - sepharose hp chromatographic column and was eluted with 2 volumes of buffer 50 mm sodium phosphate , 1 m ammonium sulfate , ph 5 . 1 . then the elution is continued with 2 volumes of buffer 50 mm sodium phosphate , 0 . 5 m ammonium sulfate , ph 5 . 1 , and finally with 2 volumes of 50 mm sodium phosphate ( 60 % v / v ) and 96 % ethanol ( 40 % v / v ). the fsh eluted active fraction with buffer 50 mm sodium phosphate . 0 . 5 m ammonium sulfate , ph 5 . 1 ( fraction j2 ) was dialyzed , concentrated using membrane ultrafiltration with pm 10 membrane ( diaflo ultrafilters amicon - millipore ), against a 50 mm sodium phosphate buffer , ph 5 . 7 , and then was frozen at − 75 ° c . the lh eluted active fraction with 50 mm sodium phosphate buffer ( 60 % v / v ) and 96 % ethanol ( 40 % v / v ) ( fraction j3 ) was dialyzed , concentrated using membrane ultrafiltration with a pm 10 membrane ( diaflo ultrafilters , amicon - millipore ), against a 50 mm sodium phosphate buffer , ph 5 . 7 , and then was frozen at − 75 ° c . to a second aliquot of fraction g ( 400 ml ) ammonium sulfate was added until a 1 m concentration was obtained . the solution was run in phenyl - sepharose hp chromatographic column and was eluted with 2 volumes of buffer 50 mm sodium phosphate , 1 m ammonium sulfate , ph 5 . 1 . the elution was continued with 2 further volumes of 50 mm phosphate buffer ( 60 % v / v ) and 96 % ethanol ( 40 % v / v ). the active fraction eluted with this buffer ( fraction j4 ) was frozen at − 75 ° c . fractions j3 ( 50 ml ) and j4 ( 30 ml ) were defrozen , filtered through a 0 . 45 % membrane under necessary conditions for obtaining a sterile product ( final volume 110 ml ), and then were added under stirring to 4 volumes of 96 % ethanol ( 440 ml ) and enough acetic acid to achieve a ph 5 . 5 ( 1 ml ). fraction j2 ( 50 ml ) was defrozen , filtered through a 0 . 45μ membrane under necessary conditions for obtaining a sterile product ( final volume 70 ml ), and then was added under stirring to 4 volumes of 96 % ethanol ( 280 ml ) and enough acetic acid to achieve a ph 5 . 5 ( 0 . 5 ml ). fractions were allowed to precipitate in the refrigerator overnight at 2 – 8 ° c . the next morning , the highly purified menotropins precipitate , obtained from fractions j3 and j4 was separated by centrifugation and dried in vacuo until ethanol was removed and moisture was lower than 5 % ( fraction k m , 5 . 71 g ). the highly purified fsh precipitate , obtained from fraction j2 , was separated by centrifugation , dried in vacuo until ethanol was removed and moisture was lower than 5 % ( fraction k f , 0 . 70 g ). the biological analysis performed with fractions k m ( highly purified menotropins ) and k f ( highly purified fsh ) showed the following results : high purified products were also obtained using the process of the present invention starting with less active materials . in this case an fsh of about 5000 iu / mg protein and menotropins of a potency of about 2500 iu / mg protein for both fsh and lh were obtained . fractions k a1 and k f were characterized by the following techniques : 2 . 7 . a ) polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis ( page ) 2 . 7 . b ) polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis followed by western - blot analysis 2 . 7 . c ) isoeiectrofocusing 2 . 7 . d ) size exclusion chromatography ( sec ) in hplc 2 . 7 . e ) protein contents measurement 2 . 7 . f ) biological potency dosage in animals ( previously informed ) fractions k m and k f were analyzed by electrophoresis according to the following procedure : equipment : ultrathin polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis system , phastsystem ( amersham pharmacia biotech ). gels : phast gel gradient 8 – 25 ( amersham pharmacia biotech ). buffer : buffer strips / sds ( amersham pharmacia biotech ). separation technique : file 110 , phastsystem , sds - page development technique : file 200 , phastsystem for coomasie brilliant blue . low molecular weight probes : electrophoretic calibration kit containing 6 purified proteins ( amersham pharmacia biotech ). each kit vial contains a lyophilized blend with approximately 100 μg of each protein . each vial was dissolved with 100 μl of sample buffer . 250 mg of sds and 0 . 5 ml of β - mercaptoethanol were dissolved in 10 ml of buffer a . the samples were dissolved so that the final concentration was 1 , 100 – 1 . 300 fsh iu / ml of sample buffer . the sample was heated at 100 ° c . for 5 minutes . blue bromophenol was added until a 0 . 01 % concentration was obtained . after the electrophoretic run and the development , the gels were dried with hot air . the electrophoresis runs of fractions k m ( fig2 ) and k f ( fig3 ) gave as result a profile in which it is observed in an almost exclusively way a unique band developed with brilliant coomassie blue with a migration distance midway of the standards of molecular weight 20 , 100 d and 30 , 000 d , indicating an approximate molecular weight of 25 , 000 d . the assignment of the observed band in the electrophoresis of fractions k f and k m was performed by two ways : a ) by comparison with 2 commercial products containing fsh as the sole active ingredient : gonal - f ( serono ) containing fsh of recombinant origin , metrodine hp ( serono ) containing fsh of urinary origin ( see fig4 ). the samples of fractions k m and k f were analyzed by western blot . after performing a polyacrylamide electrophoresis process in gradient similar to the one described in 2 . 7 . a ), the bands were transferred to a nitrocelluose support and developed by antibody action . specific antibodies for chain β - fsh , chain β - lh and against chain α of both hormones were used . technique : the transfer technique no . 221 was used for the phastsystem ( amersham pharmacia biotech ), employing the following transfer buffer : transference buffer : tris 25 mm , glycine 192 mm , ph 8 . 3 , containing , 20 % methanol . staining solution : 0 . 1 % solution of phast gel blue r in methanol 30 % and acetic acid 10 % in distilled water . final solution : mix 1 part of the staining solution with 1 part of acetic acid 20 % in distilled water . procedure : color the membrane in the final solution for 30 minutes with gentle stirring . wash the membrane with solution of methanol : water : acetic acid ( 30 : 60 : 10 ) twice and then with acetic 20 %. buffer used : pbs ( sodium phosphate 0 . 01 m , sodium chloride 0 . 25 m , ph 7 . 6 ). 3 ) monoclonal antibody against α - subunit of pituitary hormones ( immunotech ) ( igg1 - mice ), catalogue no . 0375 . secondary antibody solution : the secondary antibody used was : biotin - sp - conjugated affinipure f ( ab ′) 2 fragment goat anti - mouse igg ( h + l ), ( heavy chain and light chain ). ( immunotech , cat . no . 0816 ) diluted 1 : 500 in pbs . peroxidase - conjugated streptavidine solution : a dilution 1 : 500 in pbs of peroxidase - conjugated streptavidine ( immunotech , cat . no . 0309 ) was used . development solution : horseradish peroxidase conjugate substrate kit ( bio rad , cat no . 170 - 6431 ), containing a solution blend of oxygenated water , 4 - chloro - 1 - naphtol and buffer for developing the color , was used for preparing 1 liter of solution . 2 ) wash with washing solution a ) twice for 5 min . each time . 4 ) wash with washing solution a ) three times for 5 minutes each time . 6 ) wash with washing solution a ) three times for 5 minutes each time . 8 ) wash with washing solution a ) three times for 5 minutes each time . after performing the polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis of fractions k m and k f , the bands were transferred to nitrocellulose membranes according to the above informed technique , and developed . the following results were found . in view of these results , it is concluded that the band developed with coomassie blue in the electrophoresis of fraction k m had both fsh and lh activities . instead , fraction k f only reacted positively against the specific antibody for fsh , and not for lh . given that α - chain of fsh and lh are common , both fractions km and kf showed a positive reaction with an antibody against the α - chain . fractions k m ( highly purified fsh ) and k f ( highly purified fsh ) were analyzed by isoelectrofocusing according to the following procedure : equipment : ultrathin polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis system , phastsystem ( amersham pharmacia biotech ). gels : phast gel ief 3 – 9 ( amersham pharmacia biotech ). separation technique : file 100 , phastsystem . development technique : silver kit ( amersham pharmacia biotech ). pi standards : ief calibration kit ; broad pi kit 3 – 10 ) ( amersham pharmacia biotech ). soybean trypsin inhibitor , pi 5 . 85 ( sigma ). bovine carbonic anhydrase , pi 4 . 55 ( sigma ). samples were dissolve to have a concentration of 2 . 5 mg / ml to 1 . 25 mg / ml . after the electrophoretic run and the development , the gels were dried with hot air . the pi distribution for both the k f ( highly purified fsh ) and k m ( highly purified menotropins ) are shown in fig5 and fig6 . the acidic nature of the gonadotropins is confirm by the ief pattern . in fact , as fully described in the literature , isoforms are restricted to the acidic range . high performance liquid chromatograph shimadzu , lc - 10avp , with manual injector 7725i , with position sensor and loop of 20 , 50 or 200 μl , rheodyne . working station for processing chromatographic data shimadzu class - cr 10 , program class cr10 and module cbm - 101 . sample preparation : inject approximately 1 ml of the mobile phase in the vial containing the sample , stir until dissolution . the following chromatograms of fractions k m and k f showed the presence of only one peak at a retention time of approximately 8 . 1 – 8 . 2 sec . the retention time coincides with the one obtained by chromatography of a commercial product , gonal - f ( serono ) containing recombinant fsh . ( see fig7 , 8 and 9 ) method : the method of lowry [ journal of biological chemistry 193 , 265 ( 1951 )] with a folin - ciocalteu reactive , and a standard curve of albumin . results : the protein percentage for both fractions k m and k f indicated in examples 1 and 2 was approximately 77 %. as it was previously reported in section 2 . 5 , fractions k m and k f were biologically analyzed in rats . the steelman - pohley method [ steelman , s . l . & amp ; pohley , f . m ., endocrinology 53 , 604 ( 1953 )] of ovarian weight increase was used in immature 21 – 24 days - old female rats , injected with three doses of a product containing fsh . the doses should keep a ratio such that the difference between the logarithms of the greater dose and the medium dose is equal to the difference between the logarithms of the medium dose and the smaller dose . animal lots were used in which the weight difference between the heaviest and the lightest animal was not more than 10 grams . the animals were injected subcutaneously during three days with three different doses of the sample dissolved in phosphate / albumin buffer and the corresponding doses of a standard . on the fifth day the animals were sacrificed , the ovaries were extracted and weighted . the data obtained with sample were compared with the data obtained with the standard and the potency of the different samples was calculated using the statistical scheme indicated for the analysis of a sample against standard in a 3 × 3 test ( see biological analysis of usp xxiii ). the method of weight increase of seminal vesicle in immature 21 – 24 days - old male rats injected with three doses of a product containing lh was used . the three doses should keep a ratio such that the difference between the logarithms of the greater dose and the medium dose is equal to the difference between the logarithms of the medium dose and the smaller dose . animal lots were used in which the weight difference between the heaviest and the lightest animal was not more than 10 grams . the animals were injected subcutaneously during four days with three different doses of the sample dissolved in phosphate / albumin buffer and the corresponding doses of a standard . on the fifth day the animals were sacrificed , the seminal vesicles were extracted and weighted . the data obtained with sample were compared with the data obtained with the standard and the potency of the different samples was calculated using the statistical scheme indicated for the analysis of a sample against standard in a 3 × 3 test ( see biological analysis of usp xxiii ). the standard used was a sample of menotropins calibrated against the 3rd international standard of urinary fsh and lh prepared by the nibsc ( national institute of biological standards and control — great britain ) depending on the who ( world health organization ). excipients that may be used in the composition are lactose , mannitol , and mixtures thereof . other conventional excipients can also be used . in the present invention , lactose was used as an excipient in the injectable preparation . the preparation ph can be corrected to a value in the range of 6 , 0 – 7 , 0 by adding acids or bases ( phosphoric acid or others and / or sodium phosphate or others ). 3 ml borosilicate glass type i vials with bromobutyl stoppers are used as containers . the calculated amount of menotropins of high purity ( with a 10 % overfilling ) is dissolved in 500 ml of water for injection . on the other hand , 100 gr . of lactose is dissolved in 4 liters of water for injection . both solutions are mixed , the ph is adjusted , if necessary , by the addition of an acid or base , the resulting solution is completed to 5 , 000 ml and sterilized by filtration through a of 0 . 2μ membrane . vials are filled with the prepared solution ( 1 ml ) and loaded into a sterile lyophilizer at a temperature of – 40 ° c . for at least 8 hr . the lyophilization starts heating at 3 ° c ./ hr up to temperature of + 30 ° c ., which is maintained till the end of the cycle . the present example is similarly applied for the preparation of highly purified follitropin .
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referring now to the drawings , in particular to fig1 and 2 , there is shown a contact bridge carrier 1 coupled in the usual manner to a magnet system ( not shown ) disposed in the lower part of the switching apparatus housing 2 . a plurality of contact bridges 3 are inserted into apertures 4 and 5 of contact bridge carrier 1 and are spring - loaded by means of springs 6 each clamped between two of the contact bridges . as shown in fig1 fixed contact elements 7 and 8 contact bridges 3 form &# 34 ; break &# 34 ; and &# 34 ; make &# 34 ; contacts , respectively . to achieve this &# 34 ; break &# 34 ; and &# 34 ; make &# 34 ; function , fixed contact elements 7 and 8 can be connected to a terminal element 9 , illustrated in the embodiment of the invention shown in the drawings as a terminal screw 10 screwed into a terminal bar , by means of a u - shaped contact 11 which is spring - loaded by means of a spring 12 against fixed contact elements 7 and 8 and terminal element 9 . spring 12 is braced against a slider 13 which is movably supported in the switching apparatus housing 2 . the slider has a handle 14 which simultaneously serves as an indicator of the position of the slider . the terminal leads for fixed contact elements 7 and 8 are bent into the plane of terminal element 9 , as shown in fig2 so that contact 11 bridges , in the position shown in fig1 terminal element 9 to fixed contact element 8 . in this position , the contact arrangement is set to &# 34 ; make &# 34 ; contact since contact element 7 is not connected to terminal element 9 . after the contact bridge carrier is actuated , contact bridge 3 engages fixed contact element 8 , i . e ., the contact arrangement is set to &# 34 ; make &# 34 ; contact . if slider 13 is moved towards fixed contact 7 , and contact 7 is electrically connected to terminal element 9 , the contact arrangement functions to &# 34 ; break &# 34 ; contact . in the embodiment of the invention illustrated in fig4 a pin - shaped slider 14 is used to bridge terminal element 9 to fixed contact elements 7 and 8 . in this arrangement slider 14 is , contrary to the design shown in fig1 movable transversely with respect to the longitudinal axes of the contact bridges and establishes connection between terminal element 9 and fixed contacts 7 and 8 by means of electrically conductive inserts 15 . as shown in fig3 terminal element 9 may be u - shaped so that the shape of the slider 14 and conducting inserts 15 can be made simpler . fig5 illustrates another embodiment of the invention in which a spring - loaded bracket 16 is disposed in a cylinder 17 rotatably mounted in the switching apparatus housing so that the longitudinal axis of the cylinder is disposed transversely with respect to the longitudinal axes of the contact bridges 3 . a spring 18 is clamped between the ends of the bracket so that contact surfaces 19 are pressed against one of the fixed contact elements or terminal element 9 with a relatively large contact force . brackets 16 are arranged in cylinder 17 so that when the cylinder is rotated by an angle of 90 ° , the electrical connection between terminal element 9 and fixed contact element 8 is broken and terminal element 9 is electrically connected to fixed contact element 7 . brackets 16 are disposed in recesses provided in cylinders 17 so that only the contact surface 19 of each bracket protrudes beyond the contour of the cylinder . cylinder 17 has a slot 20 provided in one end thereof for receiving a screw driver or similar tool to enable rotation of the cylinder from the front of the switching apparatus housing . a marking in the form of an arrow 43 is disposed on the front side of cylinder 17 so that the position of bracket 16 and , thus , the function of the contact , can be read from the front side of the apparatus housing . the lower set of contacts illustrated in fig5 facing the mounting surface of the apparatus is also provided with a cylinder 17 , but , as will be noted from the drawings , this cylinder is disposed on the opposite side of the contact bridges of the upper set of contacts in order to preserve accessibility and avoid the necessity of enlarging the switching apparatus . the fixed contact elements in this design are , accordingly , extended . similarly , fixed contact element 21 , which is u - shaped , functions as a common lead and has extended leg members so that contact is made in the upper set of contacts in a corresponding range and so that contact bridges 3 of the upper and lower sets of contacts can be of identical design . fig7 illustrates another embodiment of the invention similar to that shown in fig5 and 6 in that the apparatus includes a rotatably - supported cylinder 17 and an elastically - resilient bracket 16 inserted therein . this embodiment of the invention differs from that shown in fig5 and 6 , however , in that the direction of making contact is through the bracket in the direction of motion of the contact bridge , i . e ., transverse with respect to the mounting plane of the switching apparatus . terminal element 9 and fixed contact elements 7 and 8 , respectively , are , accordingly , disposed one behind the other in the direction of the contact bridge . the advantage of this arrangement is that the apparatus is more sensitive to the application of force from outside the switching apparatus housing than the embodiment of the invention shown in fig5 and 6 . in other words , a reliable contact with terminal element 9 is provided by means of bracket 16 . in the embodiment of the invention illustrated in fig8 through 10 , terminal element 9 is electrically connected to fixed contact elements 7 and 8 by means of a plurality of plugtype connectors . in fig8 a connecting spring 22 having a staple form is secured in a plastic member 23 . legs 24 of spring 22 are bent back in hair - pin fashion and are resilient so that the legs can be inserted into openings 25 provided in fixed contact elements 7 and 8 and terminal element 9 . another connecting spring 26 having similar legs 24 is secured to plastic part 23 in a recess 28 disposed on the opposite side of recess 27 in which spring 22 is disposed . as can be seen from the drawings , the distance between legs 24 of connecting spring 26 is less than the distance between the legs 24 of connecting spring 22 and the legs of spring 26 are insertable into openings of fixed contact element 8 and terminal element 9 . in order to establish a connection between fixed contact element 8 and terminal element 9 , plastic part 23 is turned 180 ° from its position in which terminal element 9 is electrically coupled to fixed contact element 7 . in fig9 plastic part 23 includes only the connecting spring 22 . in this embodiment of the invention , terminal element 9 has a pair of openings 25 and fixed contact elements 7 and 8 are connected and disconnected to and from terminal element 9 by laterally moving plastic part 23 from one position to the other in the apparatus housing . in fig1 , electrically - conductive plug members 29 are utilized to electrically connect the fixed contact elements with terminal element 9 . this embodiment is designed similar to a crossbar distributor and requires that the contact elements 7 and 8 be located beneath terminal element 9 similar to the embodiment of the invention illustrated in fig7 . one advantage of this arrangement is that commercially - available plug members can be utilized . in the embodiment of the invention illustrated in fig1 and 12 , terminal element 9 is disposed in a housing part 30 which is separate and detachable from the rest of the switching apparatus housing . housing part 30 includes an intermediate electrically - conductive spring 31 which is engageable with fixed contact elements 7 and 8 depending upon which direction housing part 30 is inserted into the switching apparatus housing 2 . housing part 30 has a pair of cone - shaped apertures 32 for receiving the wire connecting lead so that rotation of the housing part 30 through 180 ° is possible . position markings 33 are provided on switching apparatus housing 2 , as shown in fig1 , to indicate , in conjunction with symbols 34 provided on housing part 30 , connection of the switching equipment . a simple and reliable connecting design is illustrated in the embodiment of the invention shown in fig1 and 14 . in this embodiment , fixed contact elements 7 and 8 are provided with slit - like openings 35 in which a threaded shank 36 of terminal screw 37 can be moved . terminal element 9 similarly has a correspondingly - shaped opening 38 . a clamp 40 is disposed between terminal element 9 and fixed contact elements 7 and 8 and is substantially u - shaped . the ends of fixed contact elements 7 and 8 are surrounded by a lug 41 in which a thread 42 for terminal screw 37 is provided . in this embodiment of the invention , it is simply necessary to loosen terminal 37 and move the screw laterally until contact element 8 is electrically connected to terminal element 9 in order to change the &# 34 ; make &# 34 ; function of the apparatusinto a &# 34 ; break &# 34 ; function , and vice - versa . electrical contact is established by means of the u - shaped arms of clamp 40 which are engaged between termial element 9 and the fixed contact element . in the foregoing specification , the invention has been described with reference to specific exemplary embodiments thereof . it will , however , be evident that various modifications and changes may be made thereunto without departing from the broader spirit and scope of the invention as set forth in the appended claims . the specifications and drawings are , accordingly , to be regarded in an illustrative rather than in a restrictive sense .
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this description , which references and incorporate the identified figures and incorporates the appended claims , describes and illustrates one or more exemplary embodiments of the invention ( s .) these embodiments , offered not to limit but only to exemplify and teach , are shown and described in sufficient detail to enable those skilled in the art to make and use the invention ( s ). thus , where appropriate to avoid obscuring the invention ( s ), the description may omit certain information known to those of skill in the relevant art . some embodiments of the invention are particularly applicable to a computer - implemented legal text processing system and method for semi - automatically identifying characteristics , such as citations and quotations , within a legal document and identifying relationships between the legal document and other legal documents stored in - the database . the legal document may be a legal case , a statute , a law review article , an alr article or a legal treatise . it is in the context of a legal case that the exemplary embodiments are described . it will be appreciated , however , that the system and method in accordance with the invention has greater utility and may be used for different legal documents , such as statutes , legislative histories , and administrative proceedings , and patents . some embodiments apply the teachings herein to non legal documents , such as scientific literature . before describing the preferred embodiment of the invention , a brief description of the terminology that will be used to describe the invention will be provided . any reported decision of a legal case is presumed to be an authoritative statement of the law when it is written . then , later events may affect the authoritativeness of this legal case &# 39 ; s decision . these later events may include later proceedings or written decisions during the same litigation ( e . g ., direct history ), a decision of a later legal case from a different litigation which resolves the same issues in a different way or using different reasoning and overrules the earlier case , or a decision of a later legal case from a different litigation which resolves the same issue differently , but does not explicitly overrule the case . the direct history of a legal case may include a record of the connections between the legal cases that are part of the same litigation . the direct history may be of varying degrees of relevance and may include positive history ( i . e ., maintaining or supporting the authority ( of the legal case ) or negative history ( for example , the legal case may no longer have the authority it once had )). the indirect history of a case is a record of the connections between legal case and other legal cases which are not part of the same litigation . the indirect history of a legal case may also be positive or negative . the significance of a particular case may often be indicated by the amount of discussion ( i . e ., the amount of text ) that a later case uses in discussing a decision of another legal case while following , overruling or explaining the case . this is referred to as the depth of treatment of the case , as described below . one or more embodiments described herein may also be implemented on a system , such as that described in co - pending u . s . patent application ser . no . 10 / 751 , 269 , which was filed dec . 30 , 2003 and which is incorporated herein by reference . fig1 is a block diagram of a computer system 30 in which the invention may be embodied . the system may semi - automatically identify characteristics , such as citations and quotations within a legal case document , and then generate information about the legal case in the context of other legal cases . the computer system may include a computer 32 , a server 34 and a plurality of client computers 36 . the computer 32 may further include a central processing unit ( cpu ) 38 , a memory 40 and one or more processes 42 , which may be software applications that are stored in the memory 40 . the cpu controls the operation of the computer and executes the software applications stored in the memory . in operation , a plurality of pieces of electronic data corresponding to the text of the published decisions for the legal cases are fed into the computer and temporarily stored in the memory 40 . in the following discussion , the written opinion of the legal case is referred to as the legal case . each piece of electronic data ( i . e ., each written opinion of a legal case ) may be automatically processed by the cpu , using the processes contained in the software applications contained in the memory , to generate information about the legal case , as described below . for example , the cpu may parse the text of the legal case to identify candidate ( i . e ., unverified ) citations to other legal cases and mark these citations for later processing , may identify candidate ( i . e ., unverified ) quotations in the text of the legal case and mark the text accordingly , may verify the source of a quotation in the text of the legal case , may determine a depth of treatment of a cited legal case ( i . e ., the significance of the cited legal case based on some predetermined criteria ), may determine the negative treatment of the legal case , and may assign subject matter text , such as headnotes , in accordance with a predetermined classification system to citations in the legal case . each of these processes may be performed by a software application in the memory 40 , which is executed by the cpu 38 . the details of each of these processes will be described below . once the processing has been completed by the processes 42 , the computer 32 outputs a data record 44 for the particular legal case which contains information about the history of the legal case , information about the depth of treatment of citations in the legal case , information about quotations within the legal case , and information about the subject matter text ( i . e ., headnotes ) assigned to each citation in the legal case . the data record generated by the computer 32 for each legal case may be stored in a database 33 in a server 34 . then , when a user of one of the plurality of client computers 36 requests information about a legal case , the server 34 generates a user interface containing a variety information about the requested legal case based on the data records in the database 33 , and presents the user reviewing the legal case with a variety of information about the legal case . an example of the user interface provided to the user of each client computer is described below with reference to fig2 a - 2d . in this manner , a user of the client computer may request data about a particular case , and the system in accordance with the invention provides that data to the user . as the electronic data for the text of each written opinion for a new legal case is received by the computer 32 , the legal case is processed as described above and the results of the processing is stored as a data record 44 in the database 33 of the in the server 34 . the users of the client computers may then retrieve data about a particular legal case from the server 34 . thus , while the server 34 is providing data about a legal case to the one or more users of the client computers , the computer 32 may be simultaneously processing additional new legal cases and adding the information for that new legal case into the database 33 in the server 34 . now , an example of a preferred user interface and information provided to the user of a client computer will be described in more detail . fig2 a - 2d are screen shots illustrating examples of a preferred user interface and the information provided to and displayed by a client computer in accordance with the invention . fig2 a shows a computer screen 50 on a client computer displaying a legal case being reviewed by the user of the particular client computer in which the user interface has a windows format , a toolbar , pull down menus , etc . in this example , the display is of the text of a legal case called pleasant v . celli which was decided by a california court of appeals . as described above , any citation for a legal case has a well - defined format which facilitate the identification of these citations within the text of the written opinion of the legal case . in order to access more information about the displayed legal case , the user of the client computer may select the citation service , which may be referred to as keycite ™., from the services menu 51 by clicking on a “ kc ” button 52 or click on a symbol 54 . keycite ™. is a trademark of a citator of the assignee of the present invention . the symbol may be a colored symbol , e . g ., a flag , which gives a quick status of the legal case . a red colored flag may warn that the legal case being reviewed may not be good law for at least some portion of the legal case , a yellow colored flag may indicate that the legal case has some negative history , as described below , or another colored symbol , such as a blue h , may indicate that the legal case has some history which is not negative . the invention , however is not limited to any particular types of symbols or colors . once the user of the client computer has selected the citator system in some manner , the screen shown in fig2 b may be displayed . fig2 b is a screen shot showing an example of a computer screen 50 which the invention may employ having a control interface portion 58 , and a display portion 60 . the control interface portion of the display permits the user to customize the information being displayed . for example , if a first radio button 62 is selected , then the full history of the legal case , including direct history which is negative or positive , negative indirect history , and any related references may be shown . if a second radio button 64 is selected then only the negative direct and indirect history may be shown . if a third radio button 66 is selected , then only the direct history of the legal case may be displayed so that any minor direct history ( including references ), remote direct history ( such as appeals after remand ) and mildly negative indirect history are not displayed . the control portion 58 of the display also may indicate the number of cases which are considered to be the history of the legal case . the control portion 58 may also include a fourth radio button 68 and an indication of the number of citations to the legal case being displayed . when the fourth radio button is selected , a list of other documents is displayed . in the example shown in fig2 b , the full history of the pleasant v . celli case is indicated . as shown , the various types of history , such as the direct history and the negative indirect history are displayed in the display portion 60 and are separated from one another by headings . for each piece of history , a short description of the history or tag , such as “ opinion vacated by ”, “ disapproved of by ”, or “ disagreed with by ” may indicate the relationship between the cases listed and the base case . in this example , an earlier decision of the same court was vacated by the pleasant case . ( fig1 - 1 to 13 - 35 show other exemplary interfaces that may be used in conjunction with the embodiments described via fig2 b and / or elsewhere in this description .) now , the citations to the legal case will be described with reference to fig2 c . fig2 c is an example of a screen shot showing the computer screen 50 having the control interface portion 58 , and the display portion 60 . this screen displays the legal cases which have cited the legal case currently being reviewed ( i . e ., pleasant v . celli in the example ). in this screen shot , the fourth radio button 68 is selected . thus , the control portion may also have a button 70 which permits the user of the system to limit the types of citations displayed , as described below with reference to fig2 d . the display portion 60 may also display a quotation mark symbol 72 and a depth of treatment symbol 74 , which are associated with the citations for the legal case , etc . which cite to the legal case of interest . the quotation symbol 72 indicates that the cited legal case directly quotes from the case of interest ( i . e ., in the example lubner v . city of los angeles contains a quotation from pleasant v . celli ). a method for identifying quotations and verifying the source of the quotations in accordance with the invention will be described below . the depth of treatment symbol 74 , which may be , for example , one or more stars , where the number of stars indicate the degree to which the legal case &# 39 ; s written opinion is treated , e . g ., the amount of text in the cited case opinion which is devoted to the case of interest . the details of the depth of treatment assignment process will be described below in more detail . now , a screen which permits a user to the limit the citations displayed in the display portion will be described with reference to fig2 d . fig2 d is an example of a screen shot showing the computer screen 50 with the control portion 58 and the display portion 60 . in this screen shot , it is assumed the user of the system has selected the limit citation button 70 shown in fig2 c . as shown , the user of the system may restrict the citations displayed based on headnotes or topics and the system will evaluate all of the citations against the selected headnotes or topics so that only the legal cases containing the selected headnotes or topics are displayed in the screen shot shown in fig2 c . a headnote may be a few sentences / paragraph which are located at the beginning of a legal case and indicate a summary of the law of a particular portion of the legal case . the user interface of the system permits a researcher to quickly and efficiently perform verification and collocation functions on a legal case . the details of the system for generating information about the legal case and providing the verification and collocation functions in accordance with the invention will now be described . fig3 is a diagram illustrating a method 100 in accordance with the invention which may be implemented on the computer system of fig1 for processing a legal case to generate information about the legal case which may be used for verification and collocation functions . as an aid in understanding the processes , the movement of a single legal case will be described . it should be understood , however , that a plurality of legal cases may be processed at the same time since each legal case may be at a different point in the process . an electronic version of the text of a legal case 102 , referred to herein as “ wlload ”, is fed into a citation identification process 104 ( acite ) that identifies candidate citations to other legal cases and other legal material within the text of the legal case , and marks up the text , i . e ., adds a characteristic mark - up symbol to the text , so that the citations may be easily identified at a later time . an example of a mark up symbol may be that the symbol combination “% v ” placed at the beginning and at the end of the citation . this identifies the citation for later processing . briefly , the citation identification process identifies candidate citations by identifying certain patterns of text in the legal document and compares these patterns to a predetermined set of reference patterns . in particular , digits may be first identified in the text . next , the text is scanned for abbreviations proximate to the digits which correspond to known reporter abbreviations , such as “ cal .” or “ p .”. once a piece of text having the particular formatting and punctuation of a candidate citation is identified , a case control database 124 is queried to determine if the identified candidate citation corresponds to a valid citation in the case control database . if the identified candidate citation matches a citation in the case control database , a second processing pass is performed . if no match is located , the identified candidate citation may be flagged for later manual review . as described above , each citation has a predetermined format . the format may be & lt ; case name & gt ;, & lt ; volume number & gt ;& lt ; abbreviation of reporter name & gt ;& lt ; series number ( if more than one )& gt ;& lt ; page number in volume & gt ;. for example , in “ 18 cal . app . 4th 841 ”. “ cal . app . 4th ” refers to the “ california appellate ” reporter , 4th series ; “ 18 ” refers to volume 18 ; and “ 841 ” refers to page 841 , the page of volume 18 of cal . app . 4th where the case decision begins . as example of a citation to a legal case is pleasant v . celli , 18 cal . app . 4th 841 , 22 cal . rptr 2d 663 ( 1993 ) in which the first name portion , i . e ., pleasant v . celli , identifies the parties of the legal case ; the second reporter portions , i . e ., 18 cal app . 4th 841 and 22 cal . rptr 2d 663 , identify the reporters which themselves have a particular characteristic format as described above . once text corresponding to a reporter name is located , the text adjacent the reporter name is analyzed to identify the volume , series and page number of the citation as well as the year of the published opinion . once this information is found , the candidate citation is identified and marked up , as described above , to identify it as a citation . the citation identification process may use a two pass process in which first , full format citations , such as pleasant v . celli , 18 cal . app . 4th 841 , 22 cal . rptr 2d 663 ( 1993 ), are identified , matched to the case control database , and placed within a table . in a second pass through the legal case , short form citations , such as pleasant , may be identified based on the text of the full citations that are contained in the table . it should be noted that these short form citations cannot be identified automatically without first identifying each full citation . for doubtful short form citations which don t match the table , a tentative identification may be made . the citation identification process 104 in fig3 outputs a file 106 containing the text of the legal case with any citations marked up . the file 106 may then be fed into a quote identification process 108 ( iquote ) in which the text of the legal case is parsed quotations in the text of the legal case are identified and marked up , and a possible source of the quotation is also identified . at this point , the marked up quotations have not been verified . they are merely candidate quotations which must be further processed to be verified . the details of the quote identification process will be described below with reference to fig4 - 6 . the quote identification process may output a file 110 that contains the text of the legal case in which both the citations and the quotations are marked up . at this point , the text of the legal case with the citations and quotations mark - ups may be stored in a database for later use and may also be fed into several processes . these processes may include a quote verification process 112 , a depth treatment process 114 , and a negative treatment process 116 . as shown , these processes may execute in parallel on the same file since each process generates information about the legal case which is separate and independent from that generated by the other processes . each of their processes will be described in more detail below with reference to fig7 , fig9 , and fig8 , respectively . in general , the quote verification process 112 verifies that the candidate quotations identified by the quote identification process 108 are in fact from the source ( i . e ., the citing case ) by comparing the candidate quotation in the cited case to the quotation in the citing case . the process then generates a data record 118 containing information about the verified quotation . the depth treatment process 114 uses information generated by the system , including the verified quotations to generate depth treatment information , such as the number of occurrences of a citation and the characteristics of the citation based on its position ( e . g ., whether it is free standing , at the head of a string or in the interior of a string ). the process then generates a data record 120 containing information about the depth of treatment information that is applied to each citation in the case of interest . the negative treatment process 116 generates information about any negative treatment the case of interest has received by any of the citing cases and , in step 122 , a database 124 containing information about each legal case being processed is updated manually to reflect the negative treatment . the data records 118 , 120 from the quotation verification and depth treatment processes , respectively , may be combined together by a grouper process 126 along with a headnote assignment data record 128 ( hnresult ), as described below , to generate a single data record containing the depth treatment information , the quotation information , and the headnote assignment information , about the legal case being processed . this single data record may then be used to generate the information displayed on a computer screen to the user as shown in fig2 a - 2d . the data record 118 containing the information about the verified quotations in the legal case also may be fed into a citation loci identification process 130 which attempts to identify the supporting text surrounding quotations and citations in the legal case to generate a citation loci data record 132 . the citation loci data record may then be input into a subject matter assignment and thresholding process 134 which matches the words and phrases in the quotations to one or more headnotes or topics and then determines , based on a threshold value , which headnotes are selected , as described below with reference to fig1 . the subject matter assignment and thresholding process 134 outputs the data record 128 ( hnresult ) containing the selected subject matter text , such as headnotes , which is fed into the grouper 126 , as described above . thus , the system in accordance with the invention automatically generates information about a legal case and then provides that information , using a graphical user interface , to a person using the system when requested . the user may quickly and efficiently locate various information , such as citation information , depth of treatment information , negative treatment information and subject matter text , such as a headnote , about the legal case from a single source . more details about the system will now be described with reference to fig4 . fig4 is a diagram illustrating more details of the quote identification process 108 , the quote verification process 112 , the depth treatment process 114 , the negative treatment process 116 , the citation loci identification process 130 and the subject matter assignment and thresholding process 134 of fig3 . as shown , the outputs from each of these processes are fed into a system information database 33 , as described above . the quote identification process 108 uses the file containing the text of the legal case with marked up citations to identify and mark - up quotations as described above . the text the legal case contains unverified quotations while the file 144 containing the verified quotations is stored in the database 33 . the output of the quote identification process is a plurality of data records in which each data record has an identified quotation and a possible source of the quotation . the output of the quote identification process may be combined with the file containing the text of the legal case and the marked up citations to produce a file with marked up citations and quotations 110 which is used as an input to the depth of treatment process 114 , the negative treatment process 116 , the loci identification process 130 and the subject matter assignment and thresholding process 134 . during the quote identification process 108 , as described below in more detail with reference to fig5 and 6 , several processes are performed . first , candidate quotations in the text file are identified by scanning the text to identify symbols , e . g ., quotation marks , which indicate the beginning or end of a quotation . next , the beginning and end of the identified quotations are marked up with a quote identifier symbol , such as “% q ”. finally , a possible source of the quotations , such as the legal case or other legal material from which the quotations originate is tentatively identified . the source of the quotation is then verified during the quote verification process 112 as described below . the output of the quote identification process 108 may include a qdata file 140 which contains information about each quotation that is later verified against the probable source of the quotations and a qtxt file 142 which contains the actual text of the quotations . the qdata and qtxt files 140 , 142 are then fed into the quote verification process 112 which uses an electronic database of legal cases , already available , to find and verify the possible source of each quotation found by the quotation identification process . for each quotation , the possible source of the quotation is retrieved . next , the quotation identified by the quotation identification process is matched against the text of the possible source to locate text in the source corresponding to the quotation . this verifies the source as the origin of the quotation . for each quotation with a verified source , a data record 144 containing the verified quotations for a legal case is stored in the database 33 . then , when a legal case containing verified quotations is displayed as a citation to a legal case , the citation will contain a quotation symbol , as described above , indicating that the legal case has a verified quotation . the depth treatment process will now be described . the depth treatment process 114 may receive the file 110 containing the legal case text with the marked up citations and quotations and , in step 146 , the depth treatment process performs several processes in order to determine the significance of the citation based on a set of predetermined criteria that are related in some ways to significance . these criteria may be the number of times that the citation appeared in the legal case , the type of the citation , and the association of a verified quotation with the citation . first , the depth treatment process reads through the file 110 and identifies citations which have been marked up previously by the citation identification process . for each identified citation , the type of the citation is determined to be either an ordinary citation , a middle of a string citation , or the head of a string citation . an ordinary citation is a typical citation which usually appears within a legal case and that does not have other citations adjacent to it . a middle of a string ( interior ) citation is a citation that appears in the middle or at the end of a string citation in which a series of legal documents are cited together in a sentence or paragraph . an interior citation is usually perceived by users as contributing less to the depth with which the cited case is discussed . the head of string citation is a citation that appears at the beginning of a string citation and is perceived by users as contributing more to the depth since it is conventional to place the most pertinent citation at the head of a string citation . the depth of treatment process may also identify the page number of the legal case for all available pagination on which the citation appears so that a depth record is written as many times as page breaks occur in the legal case . the information about each citation in a legal case , such as the total number of times that the citation appears in the legal case document , the types of each of these citations , and the page number for each citation occurrence is output in a file 148 which is stored in the database 33 . this information , in addition to any verified quotations associated with any of the occurrences of the citation , may be used to generate both the “ citations to the case ” section described above and the depth of treatment symbols . the technique for generating the depth of treatment symbols will be described in more detail below . the negative treatment process 116 may include an automatic processing step 150 and a manual verification step 152 which generate a list of the negative history ( i . e ., other written opinions from other legal case which disagree with or overrule the current legal case ) for the legal case . during the automatic processing step 150 , the file containing the legal text with the marked up citations and quotations is scanned in order to identify stems of certain words , such as “ overrule ”, “ recede ”, “ disapprove ”, or “ distinguish ”, which may indicate negative treatment . as an illustration , the process to identify the root of the word “ overrule ” in the text of the legal case is described . when an instance of the root “ overrule ” is identified , a set of heuristic rules , as described below , are applied to make a determination about whether the sentence containing the identified root is actually an overruling , as described below with reference to fig8 . then , during the manual verification process 152 , a human operator of the system verifies the results of the automatic process and the actual verified overrulings are added to the case control database 124 . the human operator may also identify other negative history about the legal case which cannot be easily identified automatically , as described below . the negative treatment process aids a human operator in rapidly identifying overrulings . these overrulings are negative history which affect the authority of the reasoning of the legal case . the loci identification process 130 uses the file containing the legal case text with marked up citations and quotations and a file 144 containing the verified quotations , identifies any marked up citations , and applies a set of heuristic rules , as described below , to identify and select a portion of text from around each citation which may indicate the text supported by the citation . if a citation appears multiple times in a legal case , the surrounding text for each of the occurrences of the citation is combined . in addition , if the quote verification process , as described above , has verified any quotation associated with that citation , the text of that verified quotation is also combined with the other text surrounding the citation . all of the identified text that surrounds each citation may then be used to determine one or more headnotes or subject matter headings which may be applicable to the citation . the subject matter heading classifies the citation based on a predetermined number of subject matter areas , such as intellectual property or patents . a process 154 ( headqf ) reads all of the text identified adjacent to a given citation and generates a natural language search query to search an existing database for matches to the identified text , as described below . the natural language query process is generally described in u . s . pat . nos . 5 , 265 , 065 and 5 , 418 , 948 , which are assigned to the same assignee as the present application and are incorporated herein by reference . the headqf process 154 generates a file 156 containing the natural language queries . using the natural language queries , a subject matter assignment process step 158 runs the natural language queries against a headnotes database to identify subject matter headings , such as headnotes , which possibly match the text surrounding the citation . for each matched subject matter heading , the query also generates a belief score value indicating how close the subject matter heading match was to the text . a predetermined number of the most closely relevant subject matter headings and their belief scores are provided to a thresholding process step 160 . the thresholding step uses the subject matter headings identified and performs various calculations which take into account the rank of the subject matter headings , the belief score of the subject matter headings and the number of citations which reference that subject matter heading . after the calculations are performed , a predetermined number of top headnote hits and a flag for each headnote indicating if the headnote passed the thresholding are stored in the database 33 with a link to the citation . these subject matter headings permit citations in the legal case to be classified by and searched for using these subject matter headings , as described above with reference to fig2 d . now , the quote identification process will be described in more detail . fig5 and 6 are diagram illustrating more details about the quote identification process 108 in accordance with the invention . the quote identification process 108 may include a lexical scanner process 170 , a paragraph buffer 172 and a main loop process 174 to receive the text of the legal case and automatically generate a file containing each quotation identified and a possible source for each quotation . the lexical scanner 170 splits documents into logical fragments , known as tokens , and these tokens are then used by the main loop process 174 to identify quotations . the tokens which are identified by the lexical seamier may include capitalized words , punctuation marks that might end a sentence , white space such as one or more spaces , case names , footnote references , star of quote markers and end of quote markers . the lexical scanner process used may be based on any of a number of commercially available software applications , such as , for example , an application known as flex , available from sun microsystems inc , mountain view , calif . the lexical scanner accepts grammar specifying patterns and identifies an action when a specific pattern is located . in particular , the lexical scanner , in accordance , with the invention may divide a legal case into the certain types of paragraphs based on a predetermined set of criteria , such as a set of rules : 1 ) a paragraph which might contain a quotation ; 2 ) paragraphs which are indented block quotations ; 3 ) paragraphs which contain important information about the document , such as the star of the document , the document &# 39 ; s serial number or the end of the document ; and 4 ) paragraphs which are of no interest to the quotation identification process , such as headnotes , headings and the like . a variety of different criteria and rules may be used to identify these paragraphs . an example of a set of rules which may be used by the invention will now be described . the set may include a rule that identifies paragraphs which do not contain any quotations and stores them in the paragraph buffers where they are overwritten by the next paragraph , and a rule for paragraphs with possible quotations in which the lexical scanner returns a tag to the main loop indicating that the paragraph is either a normal text paragraph , an indented block quotation paragraph , or that the text of the quotation appears in a footnote . once the type of the paragraph is determined , the lexical scanner processes the text within the paragraph in the same manner to identify any tokens in each paragraph . within each paragraph , the lexical scanner may identify the following tokens : a capitalized word , a non - capitalized word , a numeric character string , an abbreviation , a proper name ( i . e ., “ mr . smith ”), a case citation , a section reference ( i . e ., “ section 150 ”), a case name ( i . e ., roe v . wade ), an embedded reference , any end of the sentence punctuation , any other punctuation characters , a colon , semicolon or comma followed by a space , single or multiple white space characters , a start of a quotation , an end of a quotation , the number of a footnote , open and close parentheses , open and close brackets , open and close curly braces , a mark - up for a citation , and a mark - up for an embedded reference . more details about the operation and modification of the flex software application is available from the sun microsystems inc . reference manual , programmer &# 39 ; s overview utilities and libraries , chapter 9 , pp , 203 - 226 , which is incorporated herein by reference . the paragraph buffers 172 are where the tokens about the paragraph most recently scanned by the lexical scanner are stored before being processed by the main loop 174 and then possibly written out into an output file if a quotation is identified in the paragraph . the main loop 174 may decide what action to take for each token returned by the lexical scanner , manage the paragraph buffers , and decide when to discard data for a previous paragraph from the paragraph buffer , link several physical paragraphs together into a virtual paragraph for quotations which run over several physical paragraphs , determine where the breaks between sentences occur within a paragraph , and decide when to process a virtual paragraph by a set of heuristic rules , as described below . fig6 is a flowchart of the quotation identification process 108 in accordance with the invention . in step 180 , the legal case text is scanned paragraph by paragraph and for each paragraph , the sentences and tokens in the paragraph are identified . in the step 182 , a set of heuristic rules is applied to each token in a paragraph to determine if a quotation had been identified . one of the most important functions of the lexical scanner and the quotation identification process is to identify the beginning and end of a quotation . this is difficult since each writer may use a slightly different format for the beginning and ending of a quotation . therefore , several rules are needed to identify the beginning and ending of a quotation . an example of a set of heuristic rules that may be applied to accomplish such identification will now be described . these rules may use the lexical scanner to identify a conventional start quotation punctuation symbol , such as “ or ”, to identify a conventional end of quotation delimiter , such as “ or ”, or to identify a start / end of quotation symbol in a longer string of characters . for example , a rule may attempt to identify strings in which the conventional end of quotation symbol is embedded within a sentence . for each of these rules , the characters surrounding the token may be checked to ensure that the token is in fact a star of end of the quotation . once the rules have been applied to each token in a paragraph , the quotation identification process determines if another paragraph exists in step 184 and loop to step 180 to process a new paragraph . once all of the paragraphs have been analyzed , in step 186 , the process output the data record containing the identified quotations and the possible source of those quotations . now , the quotation verification process will be described . fig7 is a flowchart illustrating the method 112 for verifying a quotation in accordance with the invention . at step 200 , the quote verification process reads in the text strings identified as quotations by the quote identification process 108 and identifies separators , when present , from a predetermined set of separators in the text strings . the separators may include ellipses , bracketed expressions , and stop phrases . the stop phrases include a variety of legal phrases and others which do not help identify the source of a quotation , for example , “ citation ( s ) omitted ”, “ sic ”, “ emphasis provided ” and the like . when present , the separators are used to parse the text string into segments in which each segment includes the works that occur between a pair of separators . in step 202 , the text string is parsed to determine its length since the minimum verifiable quote length may be , for example , six non - stop words , where stop words are non - content bearing words such as articles and prepositions . the text string is also parsed to collapse any words which contain apostrophes or other punctuation marks ( e . g ., “ t ] hen ”). the parsed quotation text string falls into one of two distinct categories : ( 1 ) a text string with a single segment , or ( 2 ) a text string with multiple segments . thus , in step 204 , the system determines if the text string has a single segment . if the text string has a single segment , then in step 205 , the collection normalized inverse document frequency ( idf ) for each term ( word ) in the single segment of the text string is determined . a document frequency value indicates the frequency of a particular term in a typical document collection , while idf is equal to the reciprocal of document frequency ( i . e ., 1 / doc freq ), or in other words , the rarity of a term in a document collection . in a preferred embodiment , the collection normalized inverse document frequency ( idf ) may be calculated , if the number of occurrences of a word is greater than zero , as : where doc_occurences is the number of documents in which the given term is present and collection_docs is the total number of documents in the collection . the idf is used for purposes of determining good terms for matching , since a rare word is more likely to be distinct and provide a good indication that the quotation is from the candidate source . once the idf has been calculated for each term , a selected number of the terms ( i . e ., six ) with the highest idf values below a selected threshold may be ranked by idf value ( step 206 ) and placed into a “ template ” ( i . e ., storage array ) ( step 207 ) which indicates the position of each term in the text string . any terms with an unusually high idf value ( e . g ., greater than 0 . 80 ) are not used , since such infrequently occurring terms are often misspelled words . if there are several terms with the same idf value , then the alphanumeric ordering of the terms may be used as a secondary key for ranking the terms for the template . should there still exist equivalent terms ( e . g ., terms with the same idf values and alphanumeric spellings ) then the position of the terms in the text string may be used as a third key for ranking the terms in the template . the template may then be compared to the quotation from the candidate source document to determine if an exact match , based on the positions of the high idf terms , occurs in step 208 . if an exact match occurs , then in step 210 , the verified quotation is output and fed into the database as described above . in the event that an exact match does not occur in step 212 , a certification match failure message is generated and the quotation is not stored in the database . in step 204 , if the text string has multiple segments ( i . e ., it contains one or more separator terms in the text string , such as “ the roof fell in . . . crashing down ), the process goes to step 214 in which the idf for each term within each required segment is determine . then , a selected number of terms ( e . g ., four ) within each segment , with the highest idf values below the threshold , are ranked by idf ( step 215 ) and placed into a template ( step 216 ) in order to determine the position of the terms in the segment for matching purposes ( step 208 ). for a text string with more than four segments , the first two and last two segments may be used to match against the candidate source document ( step 217 - 218 ). in this manner , the quotations identified by the automatic quote identification process are automatically verified and any verified quotations are identified by a quotation symbol , as described above . now , the negative treatment process in accordance with the invention will be described . fig8 is a diagram illustrating a method 220 for determining the negative treatment of a legal case in accordance with the invention . the file 110 containing the text of the legal case with the marked up quotations and citations is input into the automatic negative treatment process 150 . the automatic negative treatment process may 1 ) identify occurrences of the word stem “ overrule ” in the legal case ; 2 ) determine the proximity of the stem to a citation ; and 3 ) exclude any bad legal cases . prior to identifying the stem “ overrule ”, the case control database 124 may be checked and the automatic processing stopped if any history already exists for the legal case . to identify the occurrences of the stem “ overrule ”, the text of the legal case is are scanned and the verb tense of any occurrences of the stem is determined . the verb tense of the stem indicates whether the overruling refers to the current case overruling a previous case or some other type of overruling . a set of heuristic rules may look for a particular verb tense and then take an action based on the verb tense . an example of the set of the rules used will now be described , but the invention is not limited to any particular set of rules . for example , one rule may locate “ overrule ” or overrules ” in a sentence and then scans backwards for up to four words . if “ not ” or never ” is located , then the sentence is discarded since it does not refer to an actual overruling . if “ we ” is found , then the sentence is added to the list of possible overruling which are reviewed by a human being . if none of the phrases is located during the backwards scan , the sentence is also added to the list . another rule may locate “ overrule ” and then scans backwards for up to five words to attempt to locate non - case words which would indicate that something other than the legal case is being overruled so that the sentence is not added to the list . a few examples of these non - case words include “ request ”, “ motion ”, “ objection ”, “ claim ”, and “ verdict ”. if the rule locates “ point ” or “ points ”, then the sentence may be scanned forward to the end of the sentence and if “ case ”, “ cases ” or “ supra ” is located , then the status of the sentence is unknown and it is passed on to the human reviewer . another rule may locate “ overrule ” and scan backwards or forwards , and reject or accepts possible overrulings based on the other words within close proximity to the word “ overrule ” since these additional words will provide the context in which the word “ overrule ” is being used . for example , once “ overrule ” is located , four words before the word may be scanned and the following actions are taken when the following words are located : 1 ) if “ we ” is located , and the word prior to “ we ” is “ that ”, the “ we ” is ignored ( discussion about overruling only ), but if no word “ that ” is located , then the sentence is a possible overruling ; 2 ) if the verb is modified by a word that indicates uncertainty , such as “ rather ”, “ might ”, etc . . . . the sentence is rejected since the court may be only indicating it might overrule the case ; 3 ) if any word indicates a discussion of an overruling , then the sentence is rejected ; 4 ) if a word indicates that another person did the overruling , then the sentence is rejected ; and 5 ) if “ will ” or “ should ” are located , the process looks back five words for a positive word in order to accept the sentence . there may also be a similar set of rules for the verb “ overrules ”, the infinitive form of the verb and the passive voice of the verb . another set of rules may look for various words which indicate a discussion of whether to overrule , whether a court has the authority to overrule or a past overruling since these sentences are rejected as not containing an actual overruling . another set of rules may reject sentences which indicate that someone else is doing the overruling ( i . e ., another court in the past ). still another rules may look for “ overruling ” and then determine if the sentence is rejected or accepted based on the sentences surrounding the word , as described above . there are also other rules which look for particular features of a sentence independent of the verb “ overrule ”. for example , if the phrase “ court :” is located at the beginning of a sentence , which indicates a direct quotation from the judge , the sentence may be accepted . if the word “ congress ” is located at the beginning of a sentence , which may indicate that a congressional statute is being overruled or that congress itself is overruling a case , the sentence may be rejected . if the word “ circulated ” is found in a sentence near the word “ overrule ”, the sentence may be accepted to catch unusual language , such as “ because the decision overrules an opinion of this court , it was circulated to all active judges . . . ” which could not be automatically identified in some other manner . another rule may look for “ overrule ” within a quoted string and reject the sentence since it is usually an overruling by another court of a case which is being quoted by the current court . in addition to the word stem “ overrule ”, other synonyms may be searched for and identified . for example , the rules may also detect the word stem “ abrogat ” for california cases which use the term “ abrogated ” and the phrase “ receded from ” for florida cases since these terms are used to indicate an overruling in each respective state . these verb tense rules may be applied in any order and the invention is not limited to any particular set of rules or any particular order of execution of the rules . the output of the set of verb tense rules from the automatic negative treatment process is a list of possible overrulings . then , a proximity rule is applied to each possible overruling to determine if the overruling applies to a particular legal case . for example , the proximity rule may eliminate a possible overruling if the sentence containing the stem does not contain a citation , if the previous or next sentence does not contain a citation or the sentence with the stem “ overrul ” does not contain a word or phrase used to refer to a case such as “ case ”, “ opinion ”, “ holding ”, “ precedent ”, their plurals or “ progeny ” or “ v .”, “ ex rel ”, “ ex parte ” or “ supra ”. any sentences which contains the stem “ overrul ” and satisfies the proximity rules are added to a suggested list 222 of overruling in the legal case . these suggested overrulings are then reviewed and checked during the manual review process step 152 by a human being . the human being , during the manual review process , also determines the case which is overruled and that data is entered into the case control database 124 which tracks legal cases within the legal cases database . in accordance with another aspect of this negative treatment process , the automatic process may also identify relationships other than overruled , such as “ disting ” for “ distinguished ” or “ apposite ” in a legal case , by extending the method to the language that characterizes those other relationships . in summary , the negative treatment process aids the human reviewer in determining possible overruling in the legal cases by automatically determining possible locations of overruling so that the amount of text that has to be actually reviewed by the human being is significantly reduced . thus , the negative treatment process increases the speed with which overruling in a legal case may be identified and added into the negative history of the legal case . now , the depth treatment process will be described in more detail . fig9 is a flow chart of the depth treatment process 114 in accordance with the invention in which a depth treatment symbol is assigned to each citation within a legal case so that a person using the system may quickly determine the amount of text devoted to discussing a particular citation . this information may be utilized as one indication of the relevance of the citation since a court will devote more text and discussion to a highly relevant citation . at step 230 , the file with the text of the legal case and the marked up citations and quotations , as described above , is received by the depth treatment process . at step 232 , the depth treatment process identifies a citation in the legal case , and then in step 234 , the type of citation is determined . each citation in the legal case may be 1 ) a citation at the head of a string citation ; 2 ) a citation without other accompanying citations ; 3 ) a citation within the interior of a string citation ; or 4 ) a pro form a history citation ( i . e ., a citation that , in the context of the document , are cited solely as a ancillary historical references for one of the cases cited in its own right ). each of these types of citations has a different amount of significance . for example , a lone citation or a citation at the head of a string citation tends to be more significant than a citation in the middle of the string . the depth treatment process next determines if there are any additional citations in the legal case in step 236 and loops back to step 232 to process the next citation in the legal case . once all of the citations in the legal case have been identified and sorted into one of the types described above , they are fed into the grouper process 126 as shown in fig3 . after the grouper process , in step 238 , the depth treatment process determines , for each different citation , the total number of each type of citation in the legal case . for example for a citation to pleasant v . celli , there may be a total of five cites in the legal case of which three are at the head of a string citation and two are within the interior of a string citation . this information about each citation in the legal case and any data about a verified quotation which is associated with a particular citation are used in step 240 to determine the depth symbol which will be assigned to the particular citation . once the depth symbols have been assigned for each citation , the depth treatment process has been completed . one example of a technique for assigning a depth symbol to a particular citation will now be described , but the invention is not limited to any particular technique for assigning the depth symbols . in addition , the invention is not limited to any particular type of depth symbol . in this example , a citation in the legal case with one to three occurrences of any type of citation ( i . e ., the citation standing along , the citation is the head of the string citation or the citation is in the middle of a string citation ) in the legal case is assigned two stars ( e . g ., **), a citation in the legal case with four to eight occurrences of any type of citation is assigned three stars ( e . g ., ***), and a citation with nine or more occurrences of any type of citation is assigned four stars ( e . g ., ****). to further refine these assignments , a citation with three occurrences of any type of citation and a verified quotation associated with the citation is assigned three stars ( e . g ., ***) while if a citation has only internal string citation types , one star is deducted from that citation . thus , the depth symbol for a particular citation in the legal case is automatically assigned by the system in accordance with the invention . the depth symbols help a user of the system more quickly determine which citations are probably more relevant . now , the subject matter text assignment process in accordance with the invention will be described . fig1 is a flowchart illustrating a method 250 in accordance with the invention for assigning a piece of text nom the cited case to the citation in the legal case . in the example described below , the text of a headnote in the cited case is assigned to the citation , but the text assignment process in accordance with the invention may be utilized with a plurality of different pieces of text in the cited cases . in step 252 , a citation locus ( i . e ., a region of text likely to correspond to the text supported by the citation ) for each citation is assigned according to the a set of rules which are now described . to identify the citation locus , several text - parsing rules may be used , some of which are stronger than others , but which collectively would be highly likely to identify the text . to allow for varying effectiveness of the different rules , the extracted text may be divided into three groups , “ high ”, “ medium ” and “ low ”, according to the likelihood that the extracted text was part of the correct citation locus . these rules may include : 3 . if there is no type 2 sentence , then all of the first 4 . all text that can be identified as a quotation form the cited ( but not contiguous to ) the base citation and a type 2 sentence . ( but not contiguous to ) the base citation and a type 3 7 . if there is not type 2 or type 3 sentences , and the paragraph 8 . if there is not type 2 or type 3 sentences and no type 6 9 . if any of the text areas identified by any rule includes a 11 . if the citation occurs in a footnote , it is treated as if it then , in step 254 , the terms in the citation loci are weighted according to the rule that was used to identify them , with a high , medium or low matching corresponding to weights of 2 . 0 , 1 . 0 and 0 . 5 , respectively . different types of documents , such as legal cases or law review articles , may require a different set of rules to determine the weights . once the pieces of text have been identified and assigned a belief value , in step 256 , the identified pieces of text are matched against pieces of text which may be within the cited document . in one example , the pieces of text within the cited document may be headnotes , but the invention is not limited to any particular type of text which the identified pieces of text are matched against . the matching may be done using natural language query as described in previously referenced u . s . pat . nos . 5 , 265 , 065 and 5 , 418 , 948 which are owned by the assignee of this application and are incorporated herein by reference . the results of the search is a list of possible pieces of text from the cited case , such as a headnote , which may be assigned to the citation in the legal case and a belief score for each possible piece of text . next , in step 258 , the one or more pieces of text that are going to be assigned to the citation are selected though a thresholding process . the thresholding process ranks the pieces of text for each citation based on the belief score . the piece of text may be posted to the database whenever the following quantity equals or exceeds 0 . 5 : document rank β 0 β 1 β 2 β 3 non - alr 1 4 . 0451 3 . 1975 0 . 8477 . 9033 non - alr 2 0 . 5573 9 . 0220 1 . 0348 0 . 6743 non - alr 3 − 2 . 0421 11 . 2619 0 . 8949 0 . 2954 alr 1 − 1 . 4256 50 . 4929 0 . 3488 0 . 0000 alr 2 − 2 . 8199 65 . 6148 0 . 6207 0 . 0000 alr 3 − 2 . 3701 40 . 8479 1 . 2445 0 . 0000 alr 4 − 3 . 3474 60 . 8075 1 . 7349 0 . 0000 alr 5 − 3 . 0805 55 . 6003 1 . 3188 0 . 0000 where the columns marked “ alr ” contain variables for alr articles , as described above , which have a higher belief score than the non - alr documents . the columns labeled “ non - alr ” contain variables for non - alr documents . in the equation , freq is the total citation frequency for the citation pair , and lag2 is the belief score of the second following candidate when the candidates are sorted by belief score in descending order ( or 0 . 4 if there is no such candidate ). once the thresholding has been completed and the one or more pieces of text has been assigned to each citation in the legal case , one or more pieces of text are stored in the database in step 260 as described above so that it may be retrieved for a user when requested . in summary , the subject matter assignment process automatically generates one or more pieces of text for a citation in the legal case based on pieces of text in the cited case such as a headnote . the process first automatically identifies supporting text in the legal case and assigns a belief value to the supporting text , matches all of the piece of text against pieces of text in the cited cases , and then automatically assigns a piece of text , such as a headnote , from the cited case to the particular citation . these subject matter assignments permit a citation to the legal case to be sorted or selected by the subject matters which helps during the collocation process . thus , the machine implemented system in accordance with the invention automatically processes a document , such as a legal case , and generates information about the document which may provide the user of the system with useful information about the contents of the document . in a conventional system , on the other hand most of this information about the document would be generated by a human being reading the document and making notes about the document which is a slow , expensive , error - prone process . for a legal case , the system may automatically generate information about the negative history the legal case , about the depth treatment of a citation by the legal case , about the quotation in the legal case which are verified as originating from a particular source , and about one or more headnote which are assigned to a particular citation in the legal case . thus , the operator of the system may rapidly generate this information about the legal case and a user of the system may quickly locate this information since it is all readily accessible from a graphical user interface . the following is a summary of rules relating to the figures of the present invention , as well as an article pertaining to graphical keycite : where there is a t intersection between a parent and child , the bottom vertical line will be offset . the relationship split will occur in the court level of the parent . cases sent down will start with a line from the right of the case to the top of the case sent down to . when there is more than one case sent down from a single parent , the line from the right of the parent will continue on to accommodate the additional cases . parents that have a line coming into the top of the case will have a line coming out of the right that will then connect to it &# 39 ; s children . parents will be drawn to the left of a child , when they are in the same court level and there relationship is on the lateral litigation list . if a parent cannot be centered below a child , it will be offset below a child . the width of the child will expand to the point necessary in order for all of it &# 39 ; s parents relationships to be drawn . when the parent would need to go around one child to get to another it will be offset . motions for the same parent in the same court level are stacked on top of each other . stacked procedural motions are ordered with the earliest on the bottom and the latest on top . when the procedural motions have the same date , they are stacked in whatever order we receive them . when ordering the children from left to right , an entire stack of procedural motions takes on the date of its earliest member . the children will be in order with the earliest child on the left and the latest child on the right . when lines need to cross their will be a bump on the horizontal line at the point where the lines cross . if a procedural box has different history treatments to display , it shall be promoted to a substantive box . a case has remanded child and a lateral litigation child there should have two lines coming out of the right of the box . beyond citation checking : graphical keycite paints a picture of procedural case history a picture is worth a thousand words . for legal researchers , the powerful , new graphical keycite may be worth even more because it literally illustrates the procedural history of case law . thomson west , a business within the thomson corporation ( nyse : toc ; tsx ; toc ) totally introduced graphical keycite , the latest innovation to keycite ®, the service that has revolutionized citation checking since it was first introduced . in that year , law librarians at the american association of law libraries applauded the intuitive keycite flags that instantly let legal researchers know whether a judicial opinion was still good law , as well as the depth - of - treatment stars and sumbols that indicated how extensively the case had been relied on in other opinions . keycite also was the first citation checking service to enable researchers to effortlessly probe the history of a case . graphical keycite takes these innovations to a new plateau by literally painting a picture of a case &# 39 ; s direct history . the feature links citations to later motions , pleadings and lower - court decisions as the case ascents to higher courts . this exclusive keycite feature helps researchers to instantly see how a case moved through the court system over time , and to quickly understand the impact as each level . “ for the first time , the history of the court case is illustrated , helping researchers understand the impact faster ,” said jon medin , director of product development for keycite . medlin added that keycite combined analysis from legal editors at thomson west with technology to illuminate issued such as how much the citing case discussed the cited case . “ the same attorney - editors who author west &# 39 ; s extensive collection of authoritative case law headnotes also assign the keycite flags and symbols attorneys and the judiciary rely on to see whether citations are still good law ,” noted medin . documents on westlaw include more links to related sources than any other legal research service . medin noted that graphical keycite leverages those links and uses proprietary technologies to illustrate the connections between court documents as they move through the judicial system . additionally , researchers can simply click icons to open the full text documents on westlaw . “ in our tests , researchers using graphical keycite understood the direct history of cases faster and more accurately ,” said mike bernstein , senior director of westlaw marketing for thomson west . “ for anyone performing citation research , a graphical keycite picture is definitely worth a thousand words . : while the foregoing has been with reference to a particular embodiment of the invention , it will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that changes in this embodiment may be made without departing from the principles and spirit of the invention , the scope of which is defined by the appended claims .
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the apparatus a of the present invention is shown in fig1 . the perforating gun is generally referred to as 10 . perforating gun 10 can be of various lengths and is generally assembled in sections to the desired length . on the outer surface of perforating gun 10 are a plurality of ports 12 through which the explosive charge exits and perforates the formation . as seen in fig1 the ports are generally arranged in a helical pattern around the periphery of perforating gun 10 , and auger 14 is shown on the outer periphery of perforating gun 10 . while the auger 14 is schematically represented as being continuous , it may have periodic discontinuities if perforating gun 10 is assembled from a plurality of joints to obtain the desired length . there may be a slight gap which is preferably less than 12 inches . the pitch is preferably 4 - 8 inches . while the schematic representation of fig1 shows the auger 14 connected directly to the outer surface of the perforating gun 10 , it is also within the purview of the invention to take the auger 14 , which has a general helical pattern , and mount it to a mandrel or hollow core which can slip over the periphery of perforating gun 10 and be fitted up so that the openings 12 not only align with openings on the core but also fall between the flights to avoid damage to the auger 14 when the gun 10 is fired . in the latter configuration , the auger 14 , mounted on a core which is basically a tube that overlays the perforating gun 10 , is connected to perforating gun 10 by fasteners which extend through the mandrel into receptacles 16 mounted to perforating gun 10 . the auger 14 should be noted as being lefthand . the normal direction of rotation of the rotary table is righthand , which results in the tightening up of all the joints in the tubing string above perforating gun 10 . the advantage of making auger 14 with a lefthand thread is that it facilitates removal of the gun 10 from the compacted sand in the event any obstruction is encountered . the turning of the rotary table , which in turn acts to tighten all the joints , drives the auger 14 in the opposite direction to promote loosening of the gun 10 , which may stick in the compacted sand . the auger 14 extends beyond the perforations . in the preferred embodiment , the length of the auger above the perforation should be approximately equal to the length of the auger in the perforated zone . some of the advantages of using the apparatus a of the present invention can be further appreciated by examination of fig2 and 3 , which show a preferred embodiment of the tubing string above the gun 10 . drill collars 18 are located toward the bottom of the tubing string . below the drill collars is an annular operated reversing valve ( aorv ) 20 which is reponsive to the pressure in the annulus 22 to allow flow from the annulus 22 into the tubing 24 . below the aorv 20 is a multi reverse circulating valve ( mrcv ) 26 . below the mrcv 26 are additional drill collar 28 , followed by a pressure - operated test valve ( potv ) 30 . below the potv 30 are a recorder carrier , hydraulic jars , a rotational release safety joint , a crossover sub , and a retrievable packer 32 . below the packer is a ported disc assembly 34 , which is followed by the mechanical firing head , then the perforating gun 10 . fig2 shows the position of the components while running in the hole . the seals on the packer 32 are retracted . the potv 30 is closed , as is the mrcv 26 and the aorv 20 . thereafter , an underbalance may be created using nitrogen followed by setting the packer 32 to seal off the annulus 22 from the formation to be perforated . the perforating gun 10 is fired . as shown in fig3 upon firing of the gun 10 the formation begins to flow through the perforations 36 and / or the openings 38 if it is a cased hole ( see fig4 ). the formation begins to flow , bringing with it the debris generated by the functioning of gun 10 . the flow is directed toward the ported disc 34 , which is in fluid communication with the inside of the tubing 24 . the flow up toward ported disc assembly 34 proceeds along the helix of auger 14 , as shown by arrows 40 in fig1 . thus , one of the advantages of the apparatus a of the present invention is illustrated in that the relatively narrow spiral path followed by the fluids produced from the formation increases their velocity and improves the ability of those fluids to carry with them the debris generated by the actuation of the gun 10 . after the perforating and after allowing a sufficient time for the well to flow to remove debris to the surface , the perforations 36 can be isolated by using potv 30 and putting it in a closed position . thereafter , reverse circulating with kill fluid can proceed , as shown in fig4 through the mrcv 26 to remove any debris and produced hydrocarbons from the tubing 24 as well as killing the well by flowing down through the annulus 22 , through the mrcv 26 and up the tubing 24 . thereafter , sand can be spotted adjacent potv 30 by pumping down the tubing 24 with a suitable carrier fluid , preferably a stimulating fluid , with the potv 30 closed and the aorv 20 or the mrcv 26 open . in this manner , the sand can be spotted adjacent potv 30 without introduction of any well - killing fluids into the formation . it should be appreciated that up until this time there has been no surface - applied pressure against the formation from the reversing out , nor have any of the chemicals normally associated with killing the well by the method of circulating or reversing out come in contact with perforations 36 . when the charge of sand is located adjacent potv 30 , it is then opened , with aorv 20 and mrcv 26 closed . the carrier fluid for the sand is thus forced into the formation by being pushed through ported disc assembly 34 into perforations 36 . the sand is deposited in perforations 36 . the amount of sand to be pumped is determined from the amount of debris recovered , the volume of the well in the area surrounding the perforations , and an additional charge of approximately 25 percent to replace the volume taken up by the gun 10 after its removal . the stimulating fluid carrying the sand is pumped until an increase in pressure is observed at the surface , indicating that the sand has been sufficiently packed into the perforations 36 , a situation commonly referred to as a &# 34 ; screen out .&# 34 ; it should be noted that throughout this procedure , the packer 32 remains seated , sealing off the perforations 36 from the annulus 22 . having appropriately placed the sand into the perforations 36 , the gun 10 is withdrawn by applying an upward force to the tubing 24 after releasing the packer 32 . the presence of the auger 14 facilitates the extraction of the gun 10 . instead of in the prior designs where the sand could compact around and on top of the gun 10 , leaving a large surface area on gun 10 to adhere to the packed sand , the presence of the auger 14 creates numerous parallel shear lines around its outer periphery which can easily overcome the forces applied by the compacted sand to facilitate release of the gun 10 upon upward pulling of the tubing string 24 . the pulling force on tubing string 24 must initially be high enough to overcome the weight of all the sand wedged between the flights of auger 14 and an additional incremental force to initiate the shearing action in the sand layer , thus initiating upward movement of the gun 10 . it should be noted that rotation of the gun 10 is not necessary in a normal circumstance as the gun 10 should easily come out in view of the auger 14 . however , the tubing string 24 can be rotated while it is being lifted to initiate rotation of gun 10 along with the lifting force . due to the lefthand thread of auger 14 , the righthand rotation of gun 10 imparts a loosening force or an unscrewing motion to the gun 10 to facilitate its upward movement in the well for ultimate removal at the surface . in an extreme case , the fasteners holding the core and auger 14 can be sheared off , allowing the core to drop off while the gun 10 is retrieved . having removed the gun 10 from the hole , a screen can be mounted to the bottom of the tubing string 24 , which itself has an auger similar to that of auger 14 . this screen is lowered into the compacted sand at the perforations 36 and , to the extent necessary , rotated into the compacted sand or simply lowered into the compacted sand by its own weight and the weight of the tubing string above it without any rotational force , depending upon the application . of course , in these situations the packer 32 is once again connected to the tubing string directly above the gravel - pack screen , which is placed in the sand adjacent the perforations 36 . thereafter , normal production from the perforations 36 can begin through the screen . in the preferred embodiment , the spacing of the flights on auger 14 is preferably approximately 4 - 8 inches . one of the advantages of having the auger 14 on a core , which can be fastened to the gun 10 through fasteners engaging the gun 10 at opening 16 , is that in the event a serious problem of sticking the gun 10 does arise , the tubing string 24 can be rotated to shear off the fasteners engaging the gun 10 at opening 16 , facilitating removal of the gun 10 while leaving the auger 14 , mounted to the core , in the hole for subsequent removal by a fishing operation . alternatively , the core can be welded to the gun 10 , without departing from the spirit of the invention . the auger 14 continues above the openings 12 so that when the extra charge of sand is pumped down the tubing 24 and adjacent the perforations 36 , the entire gun 10 that may be embedded in sand has the auger continuing on its outer face beyond perforations 36 so that the auger facilitates the removal operation . another advantage of auger 14 is it acts as a centralizer for the gun 10 . the auger 14 mounted on a core can be taken off one gun 10 and reused on another gun which has a similar pattern of openings 12 . as to the gravel - pack screen which is inserted after the gun 10 is removed , the auger blades that would be on it have a righthand thread to facilitate the screwing in forces which can be imparted to the tubing 24 to get the screen to go into the packed sand . the foregoing disclosure and description of the invention are illustrative and explanatory thereof , and various changes in the size , shape and materials , as well as in the details of the illustrated construction , may be made without departing from the spirit of the invention .
| 4 |
as used herein , the term alkyl includes straight or branched chains . alkylene , referring to a divalent alkyl group , similarly refers to straight or branched chains . cycloalkylene refers to a divalent cycloalkyl group . cycloalkenyl refers to a c 4 - c 6 cycloalkyl ring comprising one double bond . heteroaryl means a single ring , bicyclic or benzofused heteroaromatic group of 5 to 10 atoms comprised of 2 to 9 carbon atoms and 1 to 4 heteroatoms independently selected from the group consisting of n , o and s , provided that the rings do not include adjacent oxygen and / or sulfur atoms . n - oxides of the ring nitrogens are also included . examples of single - ring heteroaryl groups are pyridyl , oxazolyl , isoxazolyl , oxadiazolyl , furanyl , pyrrolyl , thienyl , imidazolyl , pyrazolyl , tetrazolyl , thiazolyl , isothiazolyl , thiadiazolyl , pyrazinyl , pyrimidyl , pyridazinyl and triazolyl . examples of bicyclic heteroaryl groups are naphthyridyl ( e . g ., 1 , 5 or 1 , 7 ), imidazopyridyl , pyrido [ 2 , 3 ] imidazolyl , pyridopyrimidinyl and 7 - azaindolyl . examples of benzo - fused heteroaryl groups are indolyl , quinolyl , isoquinolyl , phthalazinyl , benzothienyl ( i . e ., thionaphthenyl ), benzimidazolyl , benzofuranyl , benzoxazolyl and benzofurazanyl . all positional isomers are contemplated , e . g ., 2 - pyridyl , 3 - pyridyl and 4 - pyridyl . r 5 - substituted heteroaryl refers to such groups wherein substitutable ring carbon atoms have a substituent as defined above . certain compounds of the invention may exist in different stereoisomeric forms ( e . g ., enantiomers , diastereoisomers and atropisomers ). the invention contemplates all such stereoisomers both in pure form and in mixture , including racemic mixtures . certain compounds will be acidic in nature , e . g . those compounds which possess a carboxyl or phenolic hydroxyl group . these compounds may form pharmaceutically acceptable salts . examples of such salts may include sodium , potassium , calcium , aluminum , gold and silver salts . also contemplated are salts formed with pharmaceutically acceptable amines such as ammonia , alkyl amines , hydroxyalkylamines , n - methylglucamine and the like . certain basic compounds also form pharmaceutically acceptable salts , e . g ., acid addition salts . for example , pyrido - nitrogen atoms may form salts with strong acid , while compounds having basic substituents such as amino groups also form salts with weaker acids . examples of suitable acids for salt formation are hydrochloric , sulfuric , phosphoric , acetic , citric , oxalic , malonic , salicylic , malic , fumaric , succinic , ascorbic , maleic , methanesulfonic and other mineral and carboxylic acids well known to those skilled in the art . the salts are prepared by contacting the free base form with a sufficient amount of the desired acid to produce a salt in the conventional manner . the free base forms may be regenerated by treating the salt with a suitable dilute aqueous base solution such as dilute aqueous naoh , potassium carbonate , ammonia and sodium bicarbonate . the free base forms differ from their respective salt forms somewhat in certain physical properties , such as solubility in polar solvents , but the acid and base salts are otherwise equivalent to their respective free base forms for purposes of the invention . all such acid and base salts are intended to be pharmaceutically acceptable salts within the scope of the invention and all acid and base salts are considered equivalent to the free forms of the corresponding compounds for purposes of the invention . compounds of formula i can be prepared by known methods from starting materials either known in the art or prepared by methods known in the art ; see , for example , wo 95 / 01356 and j . med . chem ., 39 ( 1996 ) 1164 - 1171 . preferably , the compounds of formula i are prepared by the methods shown in the following reaction schemes . in scheme 1 , alkylation of a 5 - amino - pyrazolo [ 4 , 3 - c ]-[ 1 , 2 , 4 ]- triazolo [ 1 , 5 - c ] pyrimidine of formula ii is used to prepare compounds of formula i : starting materials of formula ii can be reacted with an alkyl diol ditosylate and a base such as nah in an inert solvent such as dimethylformamide ( dmf ), or with a chloro - bromo - or dibromo - alkyl compound under similar conditions , to obtain the alkyl - substituted intermediate of formula ii . the compound of formula iii is then reacted with an amine of the formula z — y — h in an inert solvent such as dmf at an elevated temperature to obtain a compound of formula ia , i . e ., a compound of formula i wherein x is alkylene . alternatively , staring materials of formula ii can be reacted with a compound of formula z — y — x — cl and a base such as nah in an inert solvent such as dmf to obtain a mixture of a 7 - substituted compound of formula i and the corresponding 8 - substituted compound . to prepare compounds of formula i wherein y is piperazinyl and z is r 6 — c ( o )—, r 6 — so 2 —, r 6 — oc ( o )—, r 7 — n ( r 8 )— c ( o )— or r 7 — n ( r 8 )— c ( s )—, a compound of formula i wherein z — y is 4 - t - butoxycarbonyl - 1 - piperazinyl is deprotected , for example by reaction with an acid such as hcl . the resultant free piperazinyl compound , iv , is treated according to procedures well known in the art to obtain the desired compounds . the following scheme 2 summarizes such procedures : another method for preparing compounds of formula i is shown in scheme 3 : in this procedure , chloropyrazolo - pyrimidine v is reacted with a compound of formula z — y — x — cl in a manner similar to the alkylation procedure of scheme 1 , and the resultant intermediate is reacted with a hydrazide of formula h 2 n — nh — c ( o )— r ( or with hydrazine hydrate , followed by a compound of formula cl — c ( o )— r ). the resultant hydrazide undergoes dehydrative rearrangement , e . g ., by treatment with n , o - bis -( trimethylsilyl ) acetamide ( bsa ) or a combination of bsa and hexamethyldisilazane ( hmds ) and at elevated temperatures . starting materials are known or can be prepared by processes known in the art . however , compounds of formula ii are preferably prepared by the novel process disclosed above and described in further detail here . in the first step of the process , 2 - amino - 4 , 6 - dihydroxypyrimidine ( vi ) is converted to the corresponding 4 , 6 - dichloro - 5 - carboxaldehyde by treatment with pocl 3 or socl 2 in dmf as described in helv . chim . acta , 69 ( 1986 ), 1602 - 1613 . the reaction is carried out at an elevated temperature , preferably about 100 ° c ., for 2 to 8 hours , preferably about 5 hours . in the second step , 2 - amino - 4 , 6 - dichloropyrimidine - 5 - carboxaldehyde ( vii ) is treated with a hydrazide of the formula h 2 n — nh — c ( o )— r , wherein r is as defined above , to obtain the compound of formula viii ; the compound of formula vi and the hydrazide are used in a molar ratio of approximately 1 : 1 , with a slight excess of the hydrazide being preferred . the reaction is carried out at room temperature or up to about 80 ° c . in a solvent such as ch 3 cn or dmf . the reaction time is about 16 hours ( e . g ., overnight ). in the third step , the compound of formula viii is heated at 60 - 100 ° c . with 1 - 5 equivalents of hydrazine hydrate in a solvent such as ch 3 cn or dmf for 1 - 24 hours to obtain the compound of formula ix . in the last step , the compound of formula ix undergoes dehydrative rearrangement by treatment with a mixture of hmds and bsa or with bsa alone . the reaction is carried out at elevated temperatures , preferably about 120 ° c ., for about 16 hours ( e . g ., overnight ) after each step of the process , the crude material is purified by conventional methods , e . g ., extraction and / or recrystallization . compared to previously published methods for preparing the intermediate of formula ii , this method proceeds in fewer steps , under milder reaction conditions and with much higher yield . the compounds of formulas v and vii are known ( helv . chim . acta , 69 ( 1986 ), 1602 - 1613 ). another method for preparing compounds of formula i is illustrated in the following scheme 4 . chloride viii is treated with a hydroxyalkyl - hydrazine in an inert solvent such as ethanol at temperatures from ambient to 100 ° c . to furnish derivative x . this is subjected to dehydrative cyclization , similarly to ix , such as with bsa , to provide tricyclic xi . tricyclic xi is then converted to bromide iiia with pbr 3 at elevated temperature from 80 ° c . to 150 ° c . for 1 to 24 hours . intermediate xi can also be converted into the tosylate analogous to iiia by toluenesulfonyl chloride and base . bromide iiia is converted to compounds of formula i as described above for iii . another method for preparing compounds of formula i is illustrated in the following scheme 5 : in analogy to scheme 1 , chloride v is converted into alkylated compound xii , and this is further reacted with carbazate xiv , where r ′ is preferably t - butyl or benzyl , to obtain derivative xiii . a solvent such as dmf may be employed at a temperature of 60 - 120 ° c . this is then reacted as in scheme 1 to furnish xv . the r ′ group is next removed , such as removal of a t - butyl group with hcl or tfa , furnishing hydrazine xvi . acylation of xvi furnishes xvii , which is subjected to dehydrative cyclization as described above to provide desired ia . alternatively , xii may be reacted with a hydrazide xviii to obtain xix , which can be converted to xvii analogously to preparation of xv . step 1 : stir pocl 3 ( 84 ml , 0 . 9 mol ) and chill to 5 - 10 ° c . while adding dmf ( 17 . 8 ml , 0 . 23 mol ) drop - wise . allow the mixture to warm to room temperature ( rt ) and add 2 - amino - 4 , 6 - dihydroxypyrimidine vi ( 14 g , 0 . 11 mol ) portion - wise . heat at 100 ° c . for 5 h . strip off excess pocl 3 under vacuum , pour the residue into ice water , and stir overnight . collect solids by filtration and recrystallize the dried material from a filtered ethyl acetate ( etoac ) solution to give the aldehyde , vii , m . p . 230 ° ( dec ). mass spectrum : m += 192 . pmr ( dmso ): δ 8 . 6 ( δ , 2h ); δ 10 . 1 ( s , 1h ). step 2 : stir a mixture of the product of step 1 ( 0 . 38 g , 2 mmol ) and 2 - furoic hydrazide ( 0 . 31 g , 2 . 5 mmol ) in ch 3 cn ( 50 ml ) containing n , n - diisopropylethylamine ( 0 . 44 ml , 2 . 5 mmol ) overnight at rt . solvent strip the reaction mixture , and partition the residue between etoac and water . dry the organic layer over mgso 4 , remove the solvent , and recrystallize the residue from ch 3 cn to give the desired compound viii . mass spectrum : mh += 282 . step 3 : add hydrazine hydrate ( 75 mg , 1 . 5 mmol ) to a hot ch 3 cn solution of the product of step 2 ( 0 . 14 g , 0 . 5 mmol ). reflux 1 h . cool to rt and collect the yellow product ix . mass spectrum : mh += 260 . step 4 : heat the product of step 3 ( 5 . 4 g , 0 . 021 mol ) in a mixture of hexamethyl - disilazine ( 100 ml ) and n , o - bis ( trimethylsilyl ) acetamide ( 35 ml ) at 120 ° c . overnight . remove volatiles under vacuum and slurry the residue in hot water to give a solid precipitate . recrystallize from 80 % aqueous acetic acid to give the title compound . combine the product of preparation 1 ( 6 . 0 g , 25 mmol ), ethylene glycol ditosylate ( 11 . 1 g , 30 mmol ), and nah ( 60 % in oil , 1 . 19 g , 30 mmol ) in dry dmf ( 30 ml ). stir under n 2 for 24 h and filter to obtain the title compound as a cream solid ( pmr in dmso : δ4 . 47 + 4 . 51 triplets , 8 . 03 s ). isolate additional material by chromatography of the filtrate . in a similar manner to preparation 1 , but employing 2 - thienoylhydrazide , prepare the title compound as a yellow solid , mass spectrum : mh += 258 . in a similar manner to preparation 2 , but using the product of preparation 3 , prepare the title compound as a yellow solid , pmr ( dmso ) δ 4 . 49 + 4 . 54 triplets , 8 . 05 s . 1 -( 2 , 4 - difluorophenyl ) piperazine is prepared from 2 , 4 - difluorobromobenzcne . to the bromide ( 8 . 0 g , 41 . 4 mmol ), piperazine ( 21 . 4 g , 249 mmol ), sodium t - butoxide ( 5 . 6 g , 58 mmol ) and binap ( 1 . 55 g , 2 . 5 mmol ) in toluene ( 20 ml ), add pd 2 ( dba ) 3 ( 0 . 477 g , 0 . 83 mmol ). heat the mixture at 110 ° c . under n 2 for 20 h . allow to cool and extract with 1n hcl . basify the extract with naoh to ph = 10 , extract with ch 2 cl 2 , dry and concentrate to obtain the title compound as a brown oil . in a similar fashion , prepare the following arylpiperazines ( me is methyl ): 1 -( 5 - ethyl - 2 - pyrimidinyl ) piperazine is prepared from 2 - chloro - 5 - ethylpyrimidine . heat the chloride ( 2 . 0 g , 14 mmol ) and piperazine ( 3 . 0 g , 35 mmol ) in etoh ( 70 ml ) at 90 ° c . for 2 h in a sealed vessel . concentrate and partition between ch 2 cl 2 and 2n naoh . dry the organic with mgso 4 and concentrate . chromatograph the crude product on silica ( ch 2 cl 2 — ch 3 oh ) to obtain the piperazine as a yellow oil . in a similar fashion , prepare the following piperazines from the appropriate chloride : 1 -( 4 - cyano - 2 - fluorophenyl ) piperazine is prepared from 3 , 4 - difluorobenzonitrile . heat the nitrile ( 2 . 0 g , 14 . 4 mmol ), piperazine ( 6 . 2 g , 72 mmol ) and k 2 co 3 ( 2 . 4 g , 17 mmol ) in toluene ( 10 ml ) at reflux for 22 h . allow to cool , and extract with 1n hcl . basify with naoh to ph = 10 . extract with ch 2 cl 2 and wash with water and then brine . dry the organic with mgso 4 and concentrate to give the piperazine as a white solid . in a similar fashion , prepare the following piperazines from the appropriate fluoride ( et is ethyl ): 1 -( 4 -( 2 - methoxyethoxy ) phenyl ) piperazine is prepared from 4 -( 4 - hydroxy - phenyl )- 1 - acetylpiperazine . to nah ( 60 % in mineral oil , 0 . 79 g , 20 mmol ) in dmf ( 25 ml ) add the phenol ( 3 . 0 g , 13 . 6 mmol ), followed by 2 - bromoethyl methyl ether ( 2 . 27 g , 16 . 3 mmol ). stir at rt 18 h , concentrate , and partition between etoac and 5 % citric acid . wash the organic with 1n naoh , then brine . dry over mgso 4 , and concentrate to obtain the alkylated product as a white solid . heat this material ( 2 . 2 g , 7 . 9 mmol ) in 6n hcl ( 30 ml ) at reflux for 1 h . allow to cool and basify to ph = 10 with naoh . extract with ch 2 cl 2 and wash with water and then brine . dry the organic with mgso 4 and concentrate to give the piperazine as a yellow oil . in a similar fashion ( except basic hydrolysis is employed for the cyclopropyl - methyl ether ) prepare the following piperazines : 4 -( 2 - methylaminoethoxy ) fluorobenzene is prepared from 4 -( 2 - bromo - ethoxy )- fluorobenzene . combine the bromide ( 1 . 0 g , 4 . 6 mmol ) in ch 3 oh ( 5 ml ) with ch 3 nh 2 in ch 2 oh ( 2m , 46 ml , 92 mmol ) in a sealed vessel . heat at 60 ° c . for 18 h , concentrate , and partition between etoac and sat , nahco 3 . wash the organic with brine , dry with mgso 4 , and concentrate to obtain the amine as a yellow oil . n - methyl - 2 -( 4 -( 2 - methoxyethoxy ) phenoxy ) ethylamine was prepared in two steps . combine 4 -( 2 - methoxyethoxy ) phenol ( 1 . 68 g , 10 . 0 mmol ), 1 , 2 - dibromoethane ( 16 . 9 g , 90 mmol ), and k 2 co 3 ( 2 . 76 g , 20 mmol ) in ch 3 cn ( 20 ml ) and dmf ( 10 ml ). heat at reflux 22 h , allow to cool , filter , and partition between ether ( et 2 o ) and 1n naoh . wash with brine , dry over mgso 4 , and concentrate to provide the bromoethyl ether as beige solid . combine this ( 0 . 97 g , 3 . 5 mmol ) with 2m ch 3 nh 2 / ch 3 oh ( 35 ml ). heat in a sealed tube ( 65 ° c ., 18 h ), concentrate , and partition between et 2 o and 1n nahco 3 . wash with brine , dry mgso 4 , and concentrate to provide the amine as an orange oil . 1 - phenyl - 2 - piperazinone is prepared from 4 - benzyloxycarbonyl - 1 - phenyl - 2 - piperazinone . combine this material ( 1 . 61 g , 5 . 2 mmol ) with 10 % pd / c ( 0 . 4 g ) in etoh ( 50 ml ) and 1n hcl ( 6 ml ). hydrogenate at 45 psi for 2 h and filter . concentrate and chromatograph the residue on silica ( eluting with ch 2 cl 2 : ch 3 oh : nh 4 oh ) to obtain the piperazinone as a cream solid . step 1 : dissolve the product of preparation 1 , step 2 ( 0 . 56 g , 2 . 0 mmol ) in hot ch 3 cn ( 200 ml ). add 2 - hydroxyethylhydrazine ( 0 . 51 g , 6 . 0 mmol ). heat at reflux 2 h and concentrate . treat with 25 ml water and stir to give a solid . collect and dry to give the alcohol , ms : m / e = 304 ( m + 1 ). step 2 : heat the product of step 1 ( 0 . 10 g , 0 . 33 mmol ) in bsa ( 10 ml ) for 4 h at 115 ° c . concentrate in vacuo and warm with aqueous ch 3 oh . collect and dry to give the cyclization product , ms : m / e = 286 ( m + 1 ). step 3 : combine the product of step 2 ( 0 . 285 g , 1 . 0 mmol ) and pbr 3 ( 2 . 0 ml , 21 mmol ). heat at 145 ° c . for 2 h , cool , and pour onto ice . filter and dry the solid . recrystallize from ch 3 oh to obtain the title compound , ms : m / e = 348 + 350 ( m + 1 ). combine 5 - bromo - 2 - furoic acid ( 0 . 50 g , 2 . 6 mmol ) and nahco 3 ( 0 . 44 g , 5 . 2 mmol ) in hexane ( 6 ml ) and water ( 5 . 2 ml ). add selectfluor ® ( 0 . 98 g , 2 . 8 mmol ) and stir 2 h . separate the hexane layer and dry over mgso 4 to provide a solution of 2 - bromo - 5 - fluorofuran . dilute with thf ( 6 ml ) and cool to − 78 ° c . add 2 . 5m n - buli / hexane ( 4 . 2 ml , 11 mmol ). stir 10 min ., add excess dry ice , and stir 1 h additional . treat with 1n hcl , extract with ch 2 cl 2 , and dry over mgso 4 . concentrate and dry to obtain the title compound as a white solid , pmr ( cdcl 3 ) δ6 . 70 + 7 . 28 . combine the tosylate of preparation 2 ( 0 . 55 g , 1 . 25 mmol ) and 1 -( 2 , 4 - difluorophenyl ) piperazine ( 0 . 50 g , 2 . 5 mmol ) in dmf ( 7 ml ) and heat at 80 ° c . for 20 h . concentrate and purify by flash column chromatography ( ch 2 cl 2 , ch 3 oh + nh 3 ) to obtain the title compound as a cream solid , mass spectrum m / e = 466 ( m + h ). combine the product of preparation 1 ( 0 . 60 g , 2 . 5 mmol ), 1 , 3 - dibromopropane ( 0 . 60 g , 3 . 0 mmol ), and nah ( 60 % in oil , 0 . 119 g , 3 . 0 mmol ) in dry dmf ( 9 ml ). stir under n 2 for 2 h , concentrate and flash chromatograph to obtain the title compound as a solid ( pmr in cdcl 3 + cd 3 od : δ 2 . 43 quint ., 3 . 38 + 4 . 51 triplets , 8 . 09 s ), as well as 8 - substituted isomer . combine the product of step 1 ( 0 . 050 g , 0 . 14 mmol ) and 1 - phenylpiperazine ( 0 . 045 g , 0 . 28 mmol ) in dmf ( 2 ml ) and heat at 80 ° c . for 4 h . concentrate and purify by flash column chromatography ( ch 2 cl 2 , ch 3 oh + nh 3 ) to obtain the title compound as a cream solid , mass spectrum m / e = 443 ( m + h ). the compound of example 1 - 2 was also prepared by the following procedure : combine the product of preparation 1 ( 0 . 15 g , 0 . 62 mmol ), 1 - phenyl - 4 -( 2 - chloroethyl ) piperazine ( 0 . 17 g , 0 . 75 mmol ), and nah ( 60 % in oil , 0 . 035 g , 0 . 87 mmol ) in dry dmf ( 7 ml ). stir under n 2 for 48 h , add additional chloride ( 0 . 03 g ) and nah ( 0 . 005 g ) and stir another 72 h . concentrate and purify by flash column chromatography ( ch 2 cl 2 , ch 2 oh + nh 3 ) to obtain the title compound as a cream solid , mass spectrum m / e = 429 ( m + h ). the compound of example 1 - 3 is similarly prepared , as are the following compounds : combine 1 -( 2 , 4 - difluorophenyl ) piperazine ( 1 . 5 g , 7 . 6 mmol ), ethyl 2 - bromopropionate ( 1 . 65 g , 9 . 1 mmol ) and dipea ( 1 . 1 g , 8 . 3 mmol ) in dmf ( 8 ml ). stir 4 h , concentrate , and partition between et 2 o and water . wash with brine , dry ( mgso 4 ), and concentrate to obtain the ester as a yellow oil , nmr ( cdcl 3 ) consistent . to the product of step 1 ( 2 . 15 g , 7 . 2 mmol ) in thf ( 10 ml ), add lialh 4 ( 1 . 0 m in thf , 4 . 4 ml , 4 . 4 mmol ) dropwise . heat at 60 ° c . 1 h , add water ( 0 . 16 ml ), 15 % naoh ( 0 . 16 ml ), and then water ( 0 . 49 ml ). filter and concentrate to obtain the alcohol as a yellow oil , nmr ( cdcl 3 ) consistent . to the product of step 2 ( 0 . 90 g , 3 . 5 mmol ) in ch 2 cl 2 ( 10 ml ) at 5 ° c ., add socl 2 ( 0 . 38 ml , 5 . 3 mmol ). allow to warm and stir 16 h . concentrate and partition between ch 2 cl 2 and 1n naoh , wash with water , dry ( mgso 4 ) and concentrate to obtain the crude product as a yellow oil . step 4 : combine the product of preparation 1 ( 0 . 20 g , 0 . 83 mmol ), the product of step 3 ( 0 . 34 g , 1 . 2 mmol ) and nah ( 60 % in oil , 0 . 040 g , 1 . 0 mmol ) in dry dmf ( 5 ml ). heat at 60 ° c . for 24 h , add additional chloride ( 0 . 15 g ) and nah ( 0 . 02 g ), and heat another 4 h . concentrate and purify by flash column chromatography ( ch 2 cl 2 , ch 3 oh + nh 3 ) to obtain the title compound as a yellow solid , mass spectrum m / e 479 ( m + h ). using the procedure of example 1 , substituting the tosylate of preparation 4 for the tosylate of preparation 2 , prepare the following compounds : step 1 : to a solution of the product of example 3 - 1 ( 4 . 17 g , 9 . 2 mmol ) in ch 2 cl 2 ( 500 ml ), add anhydrous hcl ( 120 ml of 4 . 0 m dioxane solution ) and stir 2 h . concentrate to dryness under vacuum and take up the residue in water . make alkaline with aqueous naoh and collect the precipitated de - protected product . mass spectrum : mh += 354 . step 2 : stir a mixture of the product of step 1 ( 71 mg , 0 . 2 mmol ) and 4 - methoxy - benzoyl chloride ( 51 mg , 0 . 3 mmol ) in dry dmf ( 10 ml ) containing n , n - diisopropyl - ethylamine ( 52 mg , 0 . 4 mmol ) for 6 h at rt . pour the solution into water and collect the precipitated title compound . mass spectrum : mh += 488 . to a solution of the product of example 6 , step 1 ( 53 mg , 0 . 15 mmol ) in nmp ( 10 ml ) add 4 - chlorophenylisocyanate ( 25 . 3 mg , 0 . 165 mmol ) at rt . stir overnight , add an additional 25 . 3 mg of the isocyanate , and stir 1 h to complete conversion of all starting material . pour into water and collect the precipitated title compound . mass spectrum : mh += 507 . in a similar fashion , prepare the following from the appropriate isocyanate , isothiocyanate or carbamoyl chloride : slurry the product of example 6 , step 1 ( 53 mg , 0 . 15 mmol ) in dry dmf ( 20 ml ) containing triethylamine ( 77 mg , 0 . 76 mmol ); add 2 , 4 - difluorobenzenesulfonyl chloride ( 37 μl , 0 . 225 mmol ). stir at rt 2 days . pour into water and collect the precipitated title compound . mass spectrum : m += 529 . add 4 - methoxyphenyl chloroformate ( 56 mg , 0 . 3 mmol ) to a slurry of the product of example 6 , step 1 ( 71 mg , 0 . 2 mmol ) in warm dmf ( 25 ml ) containing triethylamine ( 101 mg , 1 . 0 mmol ). stir the mixture overnight at rt . concentrate the solution to ⅓ its volume and pour into water . collect the precipitate , wash with water , and dry in vacuo . recrystallize from ch 3 oh / ch 2 cl 2 to give the title compound . mass spectrum : mh += 504 . step 1 : combine 1 - bromo - 2 , 4 - difluorobenzene ( 1 . 00 g , 5 . 18 mmol ), n , n ′- dimethyl - ethylenediamine ( 2 . 74 g , 31 . 1 mmol ), nao - t - bu ( 0 . 70 g , 7 . 2 mmol ), pd ( dba ) 2 ( 0 . 060 g , 0 . 10 mmol ) and (±)- binap ( 0 . 19 g , 0 . 31 mmol ) in toluene ( 10 ml ). heat at 110 ° for 18 h , allow to cool , and extract with 1n hcl . basify the aqueous solution with naoh and extract with ch 2 cl 2 . dry , concentrate , and purify by plc to give n -( 2 , 4 - difluoro - phenyl )- n , n ′- dimethylethylenediamine . step 2 : combine the product of preparation 2 ( 0 . 100 g , 0 . 23 mmol ) with the product of step 1 ( 0 . 091 g , 0 . 46 mmol ) in dmf ( 2 ml ). heat at 80 ° for 90 h , allow to cool , concentrate , and purify by column chromatography to obtain the title compound as an oil , mass spec m / e = 467 . the compound of example 1 - 2 was also prepared by the following procedure . to a solution of the product of preparation 1 , step 1 , ( 768 mg , 4 mmol ) in dmf ( 20 ml ) add n , n - diisopropylethylamine ( 0 . 88 ml , 5 mmol ), followed by hydrazine hydrate ( 0 . 2 ml , 4 . 1 mmol ). the solution warms and a solid precipitates which gradually dissolves over 1 h . after stirring 3 h , concentrate the solution under vacuum to about ⅓ its volume , and pour into water . collect the precipitate and recrystallize it from ch 3 oh to give the chloropyrazolopyrimidine . mass spectrum : mh += 170 . to a stirred solution of 1 - phenylpiperazine ( 6 . 5 g , 40 mmol ) and 50 % aqueous chloroacetaldehyde ( 6 . 4 ml , 48 mmol ) in ch 2 cl 2 ( 125 ml ) at 5 - 10 ° c . add , portionwise , na ( oac ) 3 bh ( 12 . 72 g , 60 mmol ). when foaming ceases , allow the mixture to warm to rt and stir for 3 h . dilute with ch 2 cl 2 ( 100 ml ), and shake with 1n aq naoh to bring ph above 8 . wash organic layer with water and brine , dry over mgso 4 , and solvent strip . chromatograph on silica and elute with 1 % ch 3 oh / ch 2 cl 2 to give the title compound . mass spectrum : mh += 225 . to a slurry of 60 % nah ( 0 . 14 g , 3 . 5 mmol ) in dmf ( 30 ml ) at ice bath temperature add , portionwise , the product of step 1 ( 0 . 51 g , 3 mmol ). when gas evolution ceases , add the product of step 2 . stir the resulting mixture at rt overnight . filter off dark red insoluble matter , and concentrate the filtrate to dryness under vacuum . triturate the gummy residue with ch 3 oh to give the title compound as a light yellow solid . mass spectrum : mh += 358 . the product of step 3 was treated as described in preparation 1 , steps 2 and 4 , to obtain the compound of example 1 - 2 . step 1 : to nah ( 60 % in oil , 142 mg , 3 . 5 mmol ) in dmf ( 15 ml ) add the chloride of example 11 , step 1 ( 500 mg , 2 . 9 mmol ). add to this 1 -( 2 - chloroethyl )- 4 -( 2 , 4 - difluorophenyl ) piperazine ( 846 mg , 3 . 5 mmol ). stir at rt 90 h and concentrate . chromatograph to obtain the desired compound as a white solid . pmr in dmso : δ2 . 57 ( 4h , s ), 2 . 76 ( 2h , t ), 2 . 85 ( 4h , s ), 4 . 30 ( 2h , t ), 7 . 0 ( 2h , m ), 7 . 15 ( 1h , dxt ), 7 . 26 ( 2h , s ), 7 . 97 ( 1h , s ). step 2 : treat the chloride of step 1 ( 37 mg , 0 . 095 mmol ) in dmf ( 95 ml ) with hydrazine hydrate ( 9 . 2 μl , 0 . 19 mmol ). after 4 h , concentrate and chromatograph on plc to obtain the hydrazine as a brown oil . mass spectrum : mh += 390 . step 3 : treat the hydrazine from step 2 ( 18 mg , 0 . 047 mmol ) in dmf ( 2 ml ) with thiophene - 2 - carbonyl chloride ( 5 . 2 μl , 0 . 047 mmol ) and dipea ( 12 . 2 μl , 0 . 07 mmol ). after 4 h , concentrate and chromatograph on plc to obtain the hydrazide as a yellow oil . mass spectrum : mh += 500 . step 4 : heat the hydrazide from step 3 ( 13 mg , 0 . 026 mmol ) in n , o - bis ( trimethyl - silyl ) acetamide ( 1 ml ) for 2 h at 100 ° c . concentrate and chromatograph on plc to obtain the title compound as a white solid . mass spectrum : mh += 482 . the 1 -( 2 - chloroethyl )- 4 -( 2 , 4 - difluorophenyl ) piperazine employed in this sequence is prepared in two steps . add chloroacetyl chloride ( 1 . 76 ml , 22 . 1 mmol ) and n - methylmorpholine ( 2 . 65 ml , 24 . 1 mmol ) to 1 -( 2 , 4 - difluorophenyl ) piperazine ( 3 . 98 g , 20 . 1 mmol ) in ch 2 cl 2 ( 15 ml ) at 0 ° c . stir at rt 1 h , concentrate , partition etoac - water , dry , and concentrate to obtain the amide as a brown oil . to a 0 ° c . solution of this ( 4 . 71 g , 17 . 1 mmol ) in thf ( 25 ml ) add dropwise bh 3 ● ch 3 s / thf ( 2m , 12 . 8 ml , 25 . 6 mmol ). stir at rt overnight , quench with ch 3 oh , concentrate , and partition with ch 2 cl 2 - water . dry and concentrate the organic layer . treat the crude product a second time with bh 3 ● ch 3 s / thf and work up as above to provide the chloroethylpiperazine as a brown oil . step 1 : to nah ( 2 . 14 g , 60 % in oil , 53 mmol ) in dmf ( 20 ml ), add the product of example 11 , step 1 ( 7 . 55 g , 45 mmol ). add 1 - bromo - 2 - chloroethane ( 14 . 8 ml , 178 mmol ). stir 1 . 5 h and concentrate . chromatograph to give the dichloride as a white solid . step 2 : in the product of step 1 ( 3 . 7 g , 16 mmol ) in dmf ( 20 ml ) add 1 - butyl carbazate ( 2 . 53 g , 19 mmole ). heat at 80 ° c . for 18 h and concentrate . chromatograph to obtain the carbazate as a while solid . step 3 : to the product of step 2 ( 3 . 16 g , 9 . 6 mmol ) and ki ( 1 . 6 g , 9 . 6 mmol ) in dmf ( 25 ml ) add 1 -( 2 , 4 - difluorophenyl ) piperazine ( 3 . 82 g , 19 mmol ). heat at 90 ° c . for 68 h and concentrate . chromatograph to obtain the piperazine as a brown solid . step 4 : dissolve the product of step 3 ( 3 . 38 g , 6 . 9 mmol ) in 1 : 1 ch 3 oh — ch 2 cl 2 ( 50 ml ). add 4m hcl in dioxane ( 20 ml ). stir 16 h and add aq . nh 3 to ph 11 - 12 . concentrate and chromatograph to obtain the hydrazine as a yellow solid . step 5 : combine the product of step 4 ( 0 . 120 g , 0 . 31 mmol ) with 5 - bromo - 2 - furoic acid ( 0 . 071 g , 0 . 37 mmol ) and hobt . h 2 o ( 0 . 050 g , 0 . 37 mmol ) in dmf ( 6 ml ). add edcl ( 0 . 071 g , 0 . 37 mmol ) and stir 1 h . concentrate and chromatograph to obtain the hydrazide as a yellow solid . step 6 : dissolve the product of step 5 ( 0 . 163 g , 0 . 28 mmol ) in n , o - bis ( trimethylsilyl ) acetamide ( 6 ml ). heat at 120 ° c . for 16 h and pour into ch 3 oh . concentrate and chromatograph to obtain the title product as an off - white solid : ms m / e 544 + 546 ( m + 1 ). similarly prepare compounds of the following structure , wherein r is as defined in the table : treat the product of example 13 , step 4 ( 0 . 080 g , 0 . 20 mmol ) with nicotinoyl chloride hydrochloride ( 0 . 044 g , 0 . 25 mmol ) and diisopropylethylamine ( 0 . 086 ml , 0 . 49 mmol ) in dmf ( 4 ml ). stir 2 h , concentrate and chromatograph to obtain the hydrazide as a white solid . treat this material with bsa as in example 13 , step 6 to obtain the title compound as a white solid : ms m / e 477 ( m + 1 ). similarly prepare compounds of the following structure , wherein r is as defined in the table : step 1 : to the product of example 13 , step 2 ( 3 . 54 g , 10 . 8 mmol ) and ki ( 1 . 79 g , 10 . 8 mmol ) in dmf ( 35 ml ) add 1 -( 4 -( 2 - methoxyethoxy ) phenyl ) piperazine ( 5 . 1 g , 22 mmol ). heat at 90 ° c . for 90 h and concentrate . chromatograph to obtain the piperazine as a brown solid . step 2 : treat the product of step 1 with hcl as in example 13 , step 4 , to obtain the hydrazine as a yellow solid . step 3 : treat the product of step 2 with 5 - chloro - 2 - furoic acid as in example 13 , step 5 , to obtain the hydrazide as a yellow solid . step 4 : treat the product of step 3 with bsa as in example 13 , step 6 . chromatograph to obtain the title compound as a white solid , ms m / e 538 + 540 ( m + 1 ). similarly prepare compounds of the following structure , wherein r is as defined in the table : combine the product of example 1 - 83 ( 0 . 080 g , 0 . 16 mmol ) with ac 2 o ( 0 . 028 ml , 0 . 28 mmol ) and 4 - dimethylaminopyridine ( 0 . 004 g , 0 . 03 mmol ) in dmf ( 5 ml ). stir 4 h , concentrate , and chromatograph to obtain the acetate ester as a white solid , ms : m / e = 532 ( m + 1 ). combine the product of example 1 - 21 ( 0 . 100 g , 0 . 21 mmol ) with h 2 nhoh ● hcl 0 . 029 g , 0 . 42 mmol ) in 95 % etoh ( 9 ml ). add 10 drops conc . hcl , heat at reflux 5 h , add dmf ( 1 . 5 ml ), heat 18 h , allow to cool , and filter to obtain the oxime as a white solid , ms : m / e = 487 ( m + 1 ). chromatograph the mother liquor to obtain additional product . step 1 : to a solution of 4 - bromophenethyl alcohol ( 0 . 600 g , 2 . 98 mmol ) and 3 - pyridinylboronic acid ( 0 . 734 g , 5 . 97 mmol ) in toluene ( 35 ml ) and etoh ( 9 ml ), add a solution of k 2 co 3 ( 0 . 8826 g , 5 . 97 mmol ) in h 2 o ( 16 ml ) and tetrakis ( triphenyl - phosphine ) palladium ( 0 ) ( 0 . 172 g , 0 . 149 mmol ). heat in a sealed tube 18 h at 120 ° c . and cool . extract with etoac , wash with brine , dry ( k 2 co 3 ) and concentrate . chromatograph on silica ( 30 - 50 % etoac / hexanes ) to obtain the biaryl alcohol . step 2 : to the product of step 1 ( 0 . 540 g , 2 . 71 mmol ) in ch 2 cl 2 ( 15 ml ) at 0 ° c . add mesyl chloride ( 0 . 35 ml , 3 . 52 mmol ) and et 3 n ( 0 . 57 ml , 4 . 00 mmol ). stir 2 . 5 h and extract with ch 2 cl 2 . dry ( na 2 so 4 ) and concentrate to obtain the mesylate . step 3 : add the product of preparation 4 ( 0 . 347 g , 1 . 44 mmol ) to the mesylate of step 2 ( 0 . 480 g , 1 . 73 mmol ) in dmf ( 4 . 5 ml ), followed by nah ( 60 %. in oil , 0 . 082 g , 4 . 04 mmol ). stir 18 h and extract with etoac . wash with h 2 o dry ( k 2 co 3 ) and concentrate . purify by ptlc ( 5 % ch 3 oh / ch 2 cl 2 , developed twice ) to obtain the title compound as a white solid , ms : 423 ( m + 1 ). by the above method , prepare the following ( example 18 - 8 from commercial biphenylethanol ): step 1 : combine 4 - bromophenethyl alcohol ( 3 . 00 g , 14 . 9 mmol ), triethylamine ( 2 . 68 ml , 19 . 2 mmol ), dimethylaminopyridine ( 0 . 180 g , 1 . 47 mmol ) and t - butyidimethylsilyl chloride ( 2 . 45 g , 16 . 3 mmol ) in ch 2 cl 2 ( 75 ml ). stir 1 h , wash with h 2 o , dry ( k 2 co 3 ), and concentrate . chromatograph on silica ( hexanes ) to obtain the silyl ether . step 2 : to the compound of step 1 ( 0 . 300 g , 0 . 95 mmol ) in dry toluene ( 15 ml ) add 2 -( tri - butylstannyl ) pyridine ( 1 . 05 g , 2 . 86 mmol ) and tetrakis ( triphenylphosphine )- palladium ( 0 . 11 g , 0 . 095 mmol ). flush with n 2 and heat 16 h at 120 ° c . cool , filter through celite , and wash with nh 4 cl , brine and then water . dry ( k 2 co 3 ) and concentrate . chromatograph on silica ( 3 - 5 % etoac / hexanes ) to obtain the biaryl , ms 314 ( m + 1 ). step 3 : combine the biaryl of step 2 ( 0 . 180 g , 0 . 57 mmol ) and tbaf ( 1 . 0 m in thf , 1 . 7 ml ) in thf ( 5 . 7 ml ). stir 2 h , wash with saturated nh 4 cl , and extract with etoac . wash with h 2 o several times , dry ( k 2 co 3 ) and concentrate to obtain the alcohol . steps 4 and 5 : conduct as in example 18 , steps 2 and 3 , to obtain the title compound as a white solid , ms : 423 ( m + 1 ). to the product of example 18 ( 0 . 055 g , 0 . 13 mmol ) in ch 2 cl 2 ( 1 . 5 ml ) at − 78 ° c . add m - cpba ( 0 . 050 g , 0 . 29 mmol ). allow to warm , stir 5 h , and wash successively with sat . na 2 s 2 o 3 , 5 % k 2 co 3 , and h 2 o . dry ( na 2 so 4 ) and concentrate . purify by ptlc ( 10 % ch 3 oh / ch 2 cl 2 ) to obtain the title compound , ms : 439 ( m + 1 ). similarly , oxidize the product of example 18 - 2 at 0 ° c . or rt to produce the sulfoxide , ms : 484 ( m + 1 ), or the sulfone , ms : 500 ( m + 1 ). combine the product of preparation 6 ( 0 . 104 g , 0 . 30 mmol ), 4 - methyl - benzenethiol ( 0 . 075 g , 0 . 60 mmol ), and k 2 co 3 ( 0 . 091 g , 0 . 66 mmol ) in dmf ( 20 ml ). heat at 80 ° c . for 5 h and concentrate . partition between etoac and water , wash with brine , dry over mgso 4 and concentrate . recrystallize from ch 3 oh to obtain the title compound , ms : m / e = 392 ( m + 1 ). combine the product of preparation 6 ( 0 . 11 g , 0 . 25 mmol ), 3 , 4 - dimethoxy - phenol ( 0 . 154 g , 1 . 0 mmol ), and k 2 co 3 ( 0 . 138 g , 1 . 0 mmol ) in dmf ( 5 ml ). heat at 90 ° c . for 48 h and concentrate . partition between etoac and water , wash with 1 n naoh and then brine , dry over mgso 4 , and concentrate . chromatograph on silica ( 1 . 5 % ch 3 oh / ch 2 cl 2 ) to obtain the title compound , ms : m / e = 422 ( m + 1 ). step 1 : to nah ( 60 % in oil , 1 . 32 g , 33 mmol ) in dmf ( 25 ml ) at 5 ° c . add dropwise , with stirring , 3 , 4 - dimethoxyphenol ( 4 . 77 g , 30 mmol ). after 0 . 5 h , add 1 , 5 - dibromo - pentane ( 20 . 7 g , 90 mmol ). stir 2 h and concentrate . chromatograph on silica ( ch 2 cl 2 ) to obtain the monobromide , ms : m / e = 303 ( m + 1 ). step 2 : to nah ( 60 % in oil , 0 . 044 g , 1 . 1 mmol ) in dmf ( 25 ml ) at 5 ° c . add the product of preparation 1 ( 0 . 241 g , 1 . 1 mmol ). after 0 . 5 h , add the compound from step 1 . allow to warm , stir 18 h , and concentrate . partition between etoac and water , wash with 1n naoh and then brine , dry over mgso 4 , and concentrate . chromatograph on silica ( 2 % ch 3 oh / ch 2 cl 2 ) and recrystallize the appropriate fraction from ch 3 cn to obtain the title compound , ms : m / e = 464 ( m + 1 ). step 1 : combine 1 , 4 - dioxa - 8 - azaspiro ( 4 , 5 ) decane ( 0 . 48 ml , 3 . 8 mmol ) with the product of preparation 2 ( 0 . 66 g , 1 . 5 mmol ) in dmf ( 10 ml ). heat at 90 ° c . for 16 h , allow to cool , filter and wash with ch 3 oh to give off - white solid , ms : m / e 411 ( m + 1 ). step 2 : heat the product of step 1 ( 0 . 476 g , 1 . 16 mmol ) in acetone ( 10 ml ) and 5 % hcl ( 10 ml ) at 100 ° c . for 16 h . cool , neutralize with sat . nahco 3 , and extract with 10 % ch 3 oh in ch 2 cl 2 . dry ( mgso 4 ), concentrate and chromatograph on silica with ch 3 oh — ch 2 cl 2 to obtain the ketone as a white powder , ms : m / e 367 ( m + 1 ). step 3 : combine the product of step 2 ( 0 . 050 g , 0 . 13 mmol ) with o - methylhydroxyl - amine hydrochloride ( 0 . 033 g , 0 . 39 mmol ) in pyridine ( 3 ml ). stir for 16 h and concentrate . partition between nahco 3 ( sat .) and 5 % ch 3 oh in ch 2 cl 2 . dry ( mgso 4 ), concentrate and chromatograph on silica with 5 % ch 3 oh — ch 2 cl 2 to obtain the title compound as a white solid , ms : m / e 396 ( m + 1 ). step 1 : combine benzyl 4 - oxo - 1 - piperidinecarboxylate ( 1 . 0 g , 4 . 3 mmol ) with h 2 noh . hcl ( 0 . 89 g , 13 mmol ) in pyridine ( 5 ml ). stir 16 h and concentrate . partition between nahco 3 ( sat .) and etoac , dry ( mgso 4 ) and concentrate to give the oxime . step 2 : combine the product of step 1 ( 0 . 44 g , 1 . 8 mmol ) with 2 - bromoethyl methyl ether ( 0 . 20 ml , 2 . 2 mmol ) and nah ( 0 . 10 g , 2 . 7 mmol ) in dmf ( 8 ml ). stir 16 h and concentrate . partition between nh 4 cl ( sat .) and ether , dry ( mgso 4 ), and concentrate . chromatograph the residue on silica with 20 % etoac - hexane to obtain the alkylated oxime . step 3 : stir the product of step 2 ( 0 . 45 g , 1 . 47 mmol ) over 5 % pd / c ( 0 . 045 g ) in etoac ( 25 ml ) under h 2 for 6 h . filter and concentrate to obtain the amine . step 4 : treat the amine of step 3 with the product of preparation 2 as in example 24 , step 1 , to obtain the title compound as a white solid , ms : m / e 440 ( m + 1 ). add sodium triacetoxyborohydride ( 0 . 083 g , 0 . 39 mmol ) to a mixture of the product of example 24 , step 2 ( 0 . 050 g , 0 . 13 mmol ), aniline ( 0 . 035 ml , 0 . 39 mmol ), and acoh ( 0 . 045 ml , 0 . 78 mmol ) in dichloroethane ( 3 ml ). stir 16 h and partition between nahco 3 ( sat .) and 5 % ch 3 oh in ch 2 cl 2 . dry ( mgso 4 ) and concentrate . chromatograph ( 5 % ch 3 oh — ch 2 cl 2 ) to obtain the title compound as a white solid , ms : m / e 444 ( m + 1 ). in similar fashion , prepare the following compound , ms : m / e 445 ( m + 1 ). step 1 : combine 4 - bromophenol ( 3 . 46 g , 20 . 0 mmol ) with 2 - bromoethyl methyl ether ( 2 . 82 ml , 30 . 0 mmol ) and k 2 co 3 ( 8 . 30 g , 60 . 0 mmol ) in acetone ( 50 ml ). heat at reflux 16 h , cool , filter , and concentrate . chromatograph on silica with 5 % etoac / hexane to give the ether as a clear oil . to this ether ( 2 . 73 g , 11 . 8 mmol ) in dry thf ( 50 ml ) at − 78 ° c . add n - buli ( 1 . 6 m in hexane , 7 . 4 ml , 11 . 8 mmol ). stir for 10 min . and add a solution of benzyl 4 - oxo - 1 - piperidinecarboxylate ( 2 . 5 g , 10 . 7 mmol ) in dry thf ( 5 ml ). stir for 2 h and allow to warm . partition between sat . nh 4 cl and etoac , dry ( mgso 4 ) and concentrate . chromatograph on silica with etoac / hexane ( 20 : 80 , then 40 : 60 ) to obtain the alcohol . step 2 : to a solution of the product of step 1 ( 0 . 386 g , 1 . 0 mmol ) and triethylsilane ( 0 . 80 ml , 5 . 0 mmol ) in dry ch 2 cl 2 ( 10 ml ) at − 78 ° c . add trifluoroacetic acid ( 0 . 38 ml , 5 . 0 mmol ). allow to warm over 2 h and partition between sat . nahco 3 and ch 2 cl 2 . dry ( mgso 4 ) and concentrate . chromatograph on silica with 20 % etoac / hexane to obtain the reduction product , ms : m / e 370 ( m + 1 ). step 3 : stir the product of step 2 ( 0 . 300 g , 0 . 758 mmol ) over 5 % pd / c ( 0 . 030 g ) in etoac ( 5 ml ) and ch 3 oh ( 5 ml ) under h 2 for 2 h . filter and concentrate to obtain the amine . step 4 : treat the amine of step 3 with the product of preparation 2 as in example 24 , step 1 , to obtain the title compound as a white solid , ms : m / e 503 ( m + 1 ). treat the product of example 1 - 145 ( 0 . 020 g , 0 . 044 mmol ) in etoh ( 0 . 5 ml ) at 0 ° c . with sodium borohydride ( 0 . 005 g , 0 . 13 mmol ) and with an equal amount again after 0 . 75 h . after another 0 . 75 h , partition between ch 2 cl 2 and sat . nh 4 cl . dry ( na 2 so 4 ) and concentrate . purify by ptlc ( 10 % ch 3 oh / ch 2 cl 2 ) to obtain the title compound as a white solid , ms : 459 ( m + 1 ). treat the product of example 1 - 145 ( 0 . 020 g , 0 . 044 mmol ) in pyridine ( 0 . 5 ml ) with methoxyamine hydrochloride ( 0 . 011 g , 0 . 13 mmol ). stir 16 h and concentrate . partition between ch 2 cl 2 and sat . nahco 3 . dry ( na 2 so 4 ) and concentrate . purify by ptlc ( 5 % ch 3 oh / ch 2 cl 2 ) to obtain the title compound as a white solid , ms : 486 ( m + 1 ). similarly , prepare the oxime 29 - 2 as two separated geometric isomers , each a white solid , ms : 472 ( m + 1 ). because of their adenosine a 2a receptor antagonist activity , compounds of the present invention are useful in the treatment of depression , cognitive function diseases and neurodegenerative diseases such as parkinson &# 39 ; s disease , senile dementia as in alzheimer &# 39 ; s disease , and psychoses of organic origin . in particular , the compounds of the present invention can improve motor - impairment due to neurodegenerative diseases such as parkinson &# 39 ; s disease . the other agents known to be useful in the treatment of parkinson &# 39 ; s disease which can be administered in combination with the compounds of formula i include : l - dopa ; dopaminergic agonists such as quinpirole , ropinirole , pramipexole , pergolide and bromocriptine ; mao - b inhibitors such as deprenyl and selegiline ; dopa decarboxylase inhibitors such as carbidopa and benserazide ; and comt inhibitors such as tolcapone and entacapone . one to three other agents can be used in combination with the compounds of formula i , preferably one . the pharmacological activity of the compounds of the invention was determined by the following in vitro and in vivo assays to measure a 2a receptor activity . human adenosine a 2a and a 1 receptor competition binding assay protocol a 2a : human a 2a adenosine receptor membranes , catalog # rb - ha2a , receptor biology , inc ., beltsville , md . dilute to 17 μg / 100 μl in membrane dilution buffer ( see below ). membrane dilution buffer : dulbecco &# 39 ; s phosphate buffered saline ( gibco / brl )+ 10 mm mgcl 2 . compound dilution buffer : dulbecco &# 39 ; s phosphate buffered saline ( gibco / brl )+ 10 mm mgcl 2 supplemented with 1 . 6 mg / ml methyl cellulose and 16 % dmso . prepared fresh daily . a 2a : [ 3h ]- sch 58261 , custom synthesis , amershampharmacia biotech , piscataway , n . j . stock is prepared at 1 nm in membrane dilution buffer . final assay concentration is 0 . 5 nm . a 1 : [ 3h ]- dpcpx , amershampharmacia biotech , piscataway , n . j . stock is prepared at 2 nm in membrane dilution buffer . final assay concentration is 1 nm . a 2a : to determine non - specific binding , add 100 nm cgs 15923 ( rbi , natick , mass .). working stock is prepared at 400 nm in compound dilution buffer . a 1 : to determine non - specific binding , add 100 μm neca ( rbi , natick , mass ). working stock is prepared at 400 μm in compound dilution buffer . prepare 1 mm stock solutions of compounds in 100 % dmso . dilute in compound dilution buffer . test at 10 concentrations ranging from 3 μm to 30 pm . prepare working solutions at 4 × final concentration in compound dilution buffer . perform assays in deep well 96 well plates . total assay volume is 200 μl . add 50 μl compound dilution buffer ( total ligand binding ) or 50 μl cgs 15923 working solution ( a 2a non - specific binding ) or 50 μl neca working solution ( a 1 non - specific binding ) or 50 μl of drug working solution . add 50 μl ligand stock ([ 3h ]- sch 58261 for a 2a , [ 3h ]- dpcpx for a 1 ). add 100 μl of diluted membranes containing the appropriate receptor . mix . incubate at room temperature for 90 minutes . harvest using a brandel cell harvester onto packard gf / b filter plates . add 45 μl microscint 20 ( packard ), and count using the packard topcount microscintillation counter . determine ic 50 values by fitting the displacement curves using an iterative curve fitting program ( excel ). determine ki values using the cheng - prusoff equation . male sprague - dawley rats ( charles river , calco , italy ) weighing 175 - 200 g are used . the cataleptic state is induced by the subcutaneous administration of the dopamine receptor antagonist haloperidol ( 1 mg / kg , sc ), 90 min before testing the animals on the vertical grid test . this test , the rats are placed on the wire mesh cover of a 25 × 43 plexiglass cage placed at an angle of about 70 degrees with the bench table . the rat is placed on the grid with all four legs abducted and extended (“ frog posture ”). the use of such an unnatural posture is essential for the specificity of this test for catalepsy . the time span from placement of the paws until the first complete removal of one paw ( decent latency ) is measured maximally for 120 sec . the selective a 2a adenosine antagonists under evaluation are administered orally at doses ranging between 0 . 03 and 3 mg / kg , 1 and 4 h before scoring the animals . in separate experiments , the anticataleptic effects of the reference compound , l - dopa ( 25 , 50 and 100 mg / kg , ip ), were determined . adult male sprague - dowley rats ( charles river , calco , como , italy ), weighing 275 - 300 g , are used in all experiments . the rats are housed in groups of 4 per cage , with free access to food and water , under controlled temperature and 12 hour light / dark cycle . the day before the surgery the rats are fasted over night with water ad libitum . unilateral 6 - hydroxydopamine ( 6 - ohda ) lesion of the middle forebrain bundle is performed according to the method described by ungerstedt et al . ( brain research , 1971 , 6 - ohda and cathecolamine neurons , north holland , amsterdam , 101 - 127 ), with minor changes . briefly , the animals are anaesthetized with chloral hydrate ( 400 mg / kg , ip ) and treated with desipramine ( 10 mpk , ip ) 30 min prior to 6 - ohda injection in order to block the uptake of the toxin by the noradrenergic terminals . then , the animals are placed in a stereotaxic frame . the skin over the skull is reflected and the stereotaxic coordinates (− 2 . 2 posterior from bregma ( ap ), + 1 . 5 lateral from bregma ( ml ), 7 . 8 ventral from dura ( dv ) are taken , according to the atlas of pellegrino et al ( pellegrino l . j ., pellegrino a . s . and cushman a . j ., a stereotaxic atlas of the rat brain , 1979 , new york : plenum press ). a burr hole is then placed in the skull over the lesion site and a needle , attached to a hamilton syringe , is lowered into the left mfb . then 8 μg 6 - ohda - hcl is dissolved in 4 μl of saline with 0 . 05 % ascorbic acid as antioxidant , and infused at the constant flow rate of 1 μl / 1 min using an infusion pump . the needle is withdrawn after additional 5 min and the surgical wound is closed and the animals left to recover for 2 weeks . two weeks after the lesion the rats are administered with l - dopa ( 50 mg / kg , ip ) plus benserazide ( 25 mg / kg , ip ) and selected on the basis of the number of full contralateral turns quantified in the 2 h testing period by automated rotameters ( priming test ). any rat not showing at least 200 complete turns / 2 h is not included in the study . selected rats receive the test drug 3 days after the priming test ( maximal dopamine receptor supersensitivity ). the new receptor antagonists are administered orally at dose levels ranging between 0 . 1 and 3 mg / kg at different time points ( i . e ., 1 , 6 , 12 h ) before the injection of a subthreshold dose of l - dopa ( 4 mpk , ip ) plus benserazide ( 4 mpk , ip ) and the evaluation of turning behavior . using the above test procedures , the following results were obtained for preferred and / or representative compounds of the invention . results of the binding assay on compounds of the invention showed a 2a , ki vaules of 0 . 3 to 57 nm , with preferred compounds showing ki values between 0 . 3 and 5 . 0 nm . selectivity is determined by dividing ki for a1 receptor by ki for a2a receptor . preferred compounds of the invention have a selectivity ranging from about 100 to about 2000 . preferred compounds showed a 50 - 75 % decrease in descent latency when tested orally at 1 mg / kg for anti - cataleptic activity in rats . in the 6 - ohda lesion test , rats dosed orally with 1 mg / kg of the preferred compounds performed 170 - 440 turns in the two - hour assay period . in the haloperidol - induced catalepsy test , a combination of sub - threshold amount of a compound of formula i and a sub - threshold amount of l - dopa showed a significant inhibition of the catalepsy , indicating a synergistic effect . in the 6 - ohda lesion test , test animals administered a combination of a compound of formula i and a sub - threshold amount of l - dopa demonstrated significantly higher contralateral turning . for preparing pharmaceutical compositions from the compounds described by this invention , inert , pharmaceutically acceptable carriers can be either solid or liquid . solid form preparations include powders , tablets , dispersible granules , capsules , cachets and suppositories . the powders and tablets may be comprised of from about 5 to about 70 percent active ingredient . suitable solid carriers are known in the art , e . g . magnesium carbonate , magnesium stearate , talc , sugar , lactose . tablets , powders , cachets and capsules can be used as solid dosage forms suitable for oral administration . for preparing suppositories , a low melting wax such as a mixture of fatty acid glycerides or cocoa butter is first melted , and the active ingredient is dispersed homogeneously therein as by stirring . the molten homogeneous mixture is then poured into convenient sized molds , allowed to cool and thereby solidify . liquid form preparations include solutions , suspensions and emulsions . as an example may be mentioned water or water - propylene glycol solutions for parenteral injection . aerosol preparations suitable for inhalation may include solutions and solids in powder form , which may be in combination with a pharmaceutically acceptable carrier , such as an inert compressed gas . also included are solid form preparations which are intended to be converted , shortly before use , to liquid form preparations for either oral or parenteral administration . such liquid forms include solutions , suspensions and emulsions . the compounds of the invention may also be deliverable transdermally . the transdermal compositions can take the form of creams , lotions , aerosols and / or emulsions and can be included in a transdermal patch of the matrix or reservoir type as are conventional in the art for this purpose . preferably , the pharmaceutical preparation is in unit dosage form . in such form , the preparation is subdivided into unit doses containing appropriate quantities of the active component , e . g ., an effective amount to achieve the desired purpose . the quantity of active compound of formula i in a unit dose of preparation may be varied or adjusted from about 0 . 1 mg to 1000 mg , more preferably from about 1 mg to 300 mg , according to the particular application . the actual dosage employed may be varied depending upon the requirements of the patient and the severity of the condition being treated . determination of the proper dosage for a particular situation is within the skill of the art . generally , treatment is initiated with smaller dosages which are less than the optimum dose of the compound . thereafter , the dosage is increased by small increments until the optimum effect under the circumstances is reached . for convenience , the total daily dosage may be divided and administered in portions during the day if desired . the amount and frequency of administration of the compounds of the invention and the pharmaceutically acceptable salts thereof will be regulated according to the judgment of the attending clinician considering such factors as age , condition and size of the patient as well as severity of the symptoms being treated . a typical recommended dosage regimen for compounds of formula i is oral administration of from 10 mg to 2000 mg / day preferably 10 to 1000 mg / day , in two to four divided doses to provide relief from central nervous system diseases such as parkinson &# 39 ; s disease . the compounds are non - toxic when administered within this dosage range . the doses and dosage regimen of the dopaminergic agents will be determined by the attending clinician in view of the approved doses and dosage regimen in the package insert , taking into consideration the age , sex and condition of the patient and the severity of the disease . it is expected that when the combination of a compound of formula i and a dopaminergic agent is administered , lower doses of the components will be effective compared to the doses of the components administered as monotherapy . the following are examples of pharmaceutical dosage forms which contain a compound of the invention . those skilled in the art will recognize that dosage forms can be modified to contain both a compound of formula i and a dopaminergic agent . the scope of the invention in its pharmaceutical composition aspect is not to be limited by the examples provided . mix item nos . 1 and 2 in a suitable mixer for 10 - 15 minutes . granulate the mixture with item no . 3 . mill the damp granules through a coarse screen ( e . g ., ¼ ″, 0 . 63 cm ) if necessary . dry the damp granules . screen the dried granules if necessary and mix with item no . 4 and mix for 10 - 15 minutes . add item no . 5 and mix for 1 - 3 minutes . compress the mixture to appropriate size and weigh on a suitable tablet machine . mix item nos . 1 , 2 and 3 in a suitable blender for 10 - 15 minutes . add item no . 4 and mix for 1 - 3 minutes . fill the mixture into suitable two - piece hard gelatin capsules on a suitable encapsulating machine . while the present invention has been described in conjunction with the specific embodiments set forth above , many alternatives , modifications and variations thereof will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art . all such alternatives , modifications and variations are intended to fall within the spirit and scope of the present invention .
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the object of conventional bandgap reference voltage generators are typically dependent upon both supply voltage v cc and temperature . see , for example , the simplified bandgap reference shown as fig1 . 9 on p . 499 of integrated circuits applications handbook , ed . a . h . seidman ( mcgraw - hill 1983 ). in order to avoid the problems discussed in the background section above , attempts have been made to design bandgap reference voltage generators whose output , v cs , is independent of supply voltage , v cc . such an attempt is shown in d . h . hodges et al , analysis and design of digital integrated circuits , pp . 279 - 283 ( mcgraw - hill 1983 ) and in fig1 . the bandgap reference voltage , v cs , is derived , as shown in fig1 between the v ee potential line 19 and line 21 which is connected to the emitter of transistor 16 . this bandgap reference voltage generator is supposedly compensated . in theory , because of the shunt regulator 13 the collector current of transistor 12 is held constant , even as v ee is changed with respect to v cc , i . e ., as the supply voltage v cc varies . if the current through transistor 12 should tend to increase , due to changes in v cc , the voltage drop across resistor 22 would increase , thereby causing shunt regulator 13 to conduct increased current thereby shunting current away from transistor 12 through transistor 13 . as a consequence , changes in the supply voltage , v cc , have no effect on the collector currents of transistors 10 , 11 and 12 . since there is no change in the current through transistor 12 , v be12 does not change . also , with no change in the current through transistor 11 there is no change in the voltages across resistor 23 or resistor 18 . the result is that v cs is insensitive to changes in the supply voltage . however , this insensitivity can only be designed at a single temperature since the collector current of transistor 12 varies over the temperature . ## equ1 ## because v be13 varies over the temperature range , therefore i 12 also varies over the temperature range . also , the above circuit requires the use of a pnp transistor which requires a larger area than an npn transistor and is more difficult to fabricate with specified characteristics . another attempt at reference voltage generation with v cc independence and with partial temperature compensation is shown in u . priel , &# 34 ; fixed voltage reference circuit &# 34 ;, u . s . pat . no . 4 , 277 , 739 . here , two output voltages are made substantially independent of power supply voltage variations by regulating the voltage supplied to resistor 22 and the principal transistor ( transistor 12 , fig1 ) of the bandgap voltage regulator . this is accomplished by stacking another bandgap voltage generator onto the principal bandgap voltage generator . by adjusting the ratios of certain transistors , either a positive or negative temperature coefficient can be designed into the circuit . if a zero temperature coefficient is chosen , the output of the principal bandgap voltage generator can be made temperature independent . the disadvantages of this circuit are that capacitors are required for the added bandgap - like voltage generator -- an undesirable addition to an integrated circuit ; a second δv be generator is required entailing the use of large area transistors ; and a potential imbalance is introduced between the two branches of the principal bandgap voltage regulator and the added v be generator due to the second order base current effect . also there is no active feedback between the voltage reference output and the bandgap voltage generator . the bandgap reference voltage generator of the present invention accomplishes v cc independence by producing a constant current in transistor 32 of the self - regulating loop consisting of current source resistor 45 , transistors 39 and 40 , resistor 42 and transistor 32 . in normal operation , v ref is partially isolated from changes in v cc by this self - regulating loop . with the present invention the current through transistor 32 is regulated to be constant so that the output voltage , v ref , remains constant over changes in v cc and temperature . in fig2 all circuit elements to the right of the dotted vertical line passing between emitter - coupled transistors 33 and 32 make up a bandgap reference voltage generator of the type disclosed in g . w . brown , &# 34 ; resistor ratio circuit construction &# 34 ;, u . s . pat . no . 4 , 079 , 308 . all circuit elements to the left of the dotted line are included in the compensation circuit . each of the prior art bandgap reference generators discussed above as well as the bandgap reference generator of fig2 can be described by a unique network equation . in each set of network equations there will be v cc - dependent terms . typically , there will also be temperature - dependent terms . the present invention employs a circuit element in the compensation portion of the circuit to compensate for each of the v cc - dependent terms so that the output voltage , v ref , has no v cc dependence . in a preferred embodiment the compensation for v cc also produces compensation at all temperatures . in the prior art , as described in detail above , v cc dependence has either only been by nonoptimum circuitry , has only been partially achieved or has not held for all temperatures . the network equations which describe the operation of the bandgap reference voltage generator of fig2 shown to the right of the dotted line , are as follows : ## equ2 ## where v k = voltage across k &# 39 ; th circuit element i j = current through specified portion of j &# 39 ; th circuit element , i . e ., and ## equ3 ## then ## equ4 ## now ## equ5 ## where a l = area of the l &# 39 ; th transistor . ## equ6 ## the first term defining v r42 has a positive temperature coefficient whereas the second term has a negative temperature coefficient . therefore by adjusting the ratios r 42 / r 47 , r 42 / r 48 , a 30 / a 31 , or r 42 / r 38 , r 38 v ref can be designed to have a desired temperature coefficient . preferably , the v ref in an ecl circuit application will have the value of where v x has a zero temperature coefficient . this will be accomplished by making ## equ7 ## for the above derivation , the equality of the ratio of r 48 / r 41 to r 42 / r 38 and the relationship v be31 = v be32 holds over the operational temperature range of the bandgap generator . the relationship r 48 / r 41 = r 42 / r 38 is easily accomplished in integrated circuits . however , the value for v be32 is basically dependent on v cc as seen in the following equation for a stand - alone bandgap reference voltage generator where no compensation network is used : ## equ8 ## where i s32 = saturation current for transistor 32 . thus , it can be seen that in order to obtain a constant v ref output at terminal 55 a constant current needs to be maintained through constant current transistor 32 ; therefore , transistor 32 is hereinafter designated as the constant current transistor . this is accomplished in the prior art by regulating the voltage , as described above for u . priel , u . s . pat . no . 4 , 277 , 739 . in the present invention a constant current is achieved by the compensation circuitry . the current which passes through constant current transistor 32 also passes through a current source resistor 45 . resistor 45 also passes the current supplied to transistor 33 . this total current is given by ## equ9 ## a consolidation which is permissible since the base - to - emitter diode drops can be designed to be the same for all transistors by assuring that the current densities for the transistors are the same . v x is a constant because v r42 can be designed to be constant in accordance with the above equations . but the term i 45 still varies both directly and indirectly with v cc and temperature . the compensation circuitry incorporated in the bandgap circuit of the present invention serves to ensure that the sharing of this current by transistors 33 and 32 is such that a constant current flows through constant current transistor 32 even as the current through resistor 45 changes . thus , transistor 33 is a compensation transistor and is hereinafter designated as the compensation current transistor . compensation transistor 33 must be driven to follow and compensate for variations in i 45 . thus , the preferred value for the collector current of transistor 32 will be v x / r 45 . thus , in order to leave this term as a real and precise current through constant current transistor 32 , it is necessary to drive compensation transistor 33 to have a current which is equal to ## equ10 ## by subtracting i 33 from i 45 the positive current v x / r 45 is seen to pass through constant current transistor 32 . the circuit objective of driving i 33 to the value described above could be accomplished with many specific circuits . a preferred circuit embodiment is shown to the left hand side of the dotted vertical line in fig2 . here , the current through transistor 33 is controlled by the potential at node a on its base . the potential on node a is determined by two features of the circuit . first , transistor 37 , hereinafter designated as the feedback transistor , has its base connected in active feedback fashion to the v ref output line of the bandgap reference voltage generator . the current through feedback transistor 37 is given by ## equ11 ## now , the current through resistor 44 is given by ## equ12 ## and , since the current through resistor 44 is shared by feedback transistor 37 and transistor 35 , the current through transistors 35 and 34 is given by if , in the above equations , the values of resistors 44 , 45 , and 46 are chosen such that then the current through transistor 34 is given by ## equ13 ## this is due to the fact that the current through transistor 34 is mirrored by the current through compensation transistor 33 . as a consequence of driving the value of the current through compensation transistor 33 to the above value , the instantaneous current through constant current transistor 32 is given by ## equ14 ## it can thus be seen that the current through constant current transistor 32 will always be given by a constant term so that the value of v ref on output terminal 55 will be constant whatever the instantaneous value of v cc . if should be noted that in this preferred embodiment there is also no temperature dependent term remaining . the foregoing description of a preferred embodiment of the invention has been presented for purposes of illustration and description . it is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the invention to the precise form disclosed , and obviously many modifications and variations are possible in 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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the present invention will now be described more fully hereinafter with reference to the accompanying drawings , in which exemplary embodiments of the invention are shown . the invention may , however , be embodied in many different forms and should not be construed as limited to the embodiments set forth herein ; rather , these embodiments are provided for thoroughness and completeness . like reference character refer to like elements throughout the description . with particular reference to fig1 , there is provided a vehicle 1 provided with a battery ( not shown ). the battery comprises a plurality of battery cells which can be charged and discharged depending on the specific battery operating mode . the vehicle 1 depicted in fig1 is a bus for which the inventive method for determining the reliability of state of health parameter values , which will be described in detail below , is particularly suitable for . turning now to fig2 , there is provided a flowchart of an example embodiment for determining if it is reliable to calculate battery state of health . the flowchart in fig2 comprises a first part which relates to the present accuracy of the state of health parameter values , referred to in the following as the parameter accuracy status module 202 , and a second part which relates to present state of the state of health parameter values , referred to in the following as the parameter state status module 204 . starting with the parameter accuracy status module 202 , it comprises , according to the non - limiting example embodiment depicted in fig2 , a state of charge accuracy status 206 , a temperature accuracy status 208 , and a voltage accuracy status 210 . the main purpose of the parameter accuracy status module 202 is to determine if the measured , or calculated , parameters are accurate enough when the measurement , or calculation , was made . the state of charge accuracy status 206 of the parameter accuracy status module 202 relates to the accuracy of calculated state of charge parameter values which can be used in the calculation of state of health of the battery . the state of charge of the battery can be calculated by a measured voltage value , a measured electric current value , or a combination of a measured voltage value and a measured electric current value . an example of a voltage - state of charge curve is given in connection to the description of fig3 below , illustrating state of charge for an open cell voltage curve . the determination of state of charge accuracy is thus dependent on how accurate the measured voltage and / or electric current was . the following will describe factors that affect the accuracy of voltage values , electric current values , as well as the combination of voltage and electric current values . starting with voltage values , one parameter that is decisive when determining if the voltage value is accurate enough is in which state of charge region the voltage value was measured . these regions will be described further in relation to fig3 below . another parameter that affects the accuracy of the measured voltage value is when the voltage measurement was made , or more particularly , for how long time the battery has “ rested ” since it was previously electrically charged or discharged . hereby , the measured voltage value is considered less accurate if the time period since the battery was charged / discharged is within a certain time period before the voltage measurement was made , i . e . the voltage measurement was executed to close in time from the previous charging / discharging of the battery . hence , the measured voltage value changes in relation to the electric current which is charging / discharging the battery . if the battery is charged with electric current , the measured voltage value will thus not represent the true state of the battery and as such be considered unreliable . also , the voltage value will need some time to converge to its “ true ” value after charging / discharging of the battery is executed . furthermore , the measured voltage value is also dependent on the battery temperature at the time when the measurement was made . for example , an increased temperature will increase a resistance of the battery and thus , for a constant electric current , provide a measured voltage value which is higher than what may be the real situation . hence , if the temperature of the battery is not within a specific range when the measurement was made , the voltage value is not considered accurate . also , if the temperature difference between the battery cells is not within a specific temperature range , the measured voltage value may be higher or lower than what would be the case if the temperature of the cells is within the specific temperature range . further , and described above , the temperature of the battery cells should not vary too much during the period when the temperature measurement is made , i . e . a relatively steady state of the temperature is preferable to be able to calculate a reliable battery state of health . moreover , the accuracy of the voltage values may also be dependent on the spread in voltage values between the battery cells . if the difference between the largest cell voltage and the lowest cell voltage is outside a predetermined acceptable voltage range , the overall measured battery voltage may be determined not to be accurate . when it comes to determining if a measured electric current is accurate or not , other parameters may also be of importance for providing a reliable state of health calculation . for example , it may be relevant to check if the battery was charged or discharged with electric current at the moment when the electric current measurement was made . also , if the electric current was measured when the electric current was less stable , i . e . electric current measurements tend to fluctuate over time , the electric current measurement is considered not to be accurate . another parameter relating to accuracy of electric current is the sum of integrated electric currents for all the battery cells . this may be of interest when using the integrated electric current values for calculating state of charge when the voltage - state of charge derivative function is below a predetermined threshold value . naturally , also the temperature is an important aspect for determining if the measured electric current is accurate or not for the same reasons as described above . finally , when determining if a state of charge , which is calculated by means of both voltage and electric current , is accurate , it may be important to determine that a combination of the above described parameters for voltage and electric current is accurate . accordingly , with at least some of the above described parameters , it can be determined if a calculated state of charge accuracy status 206 is sufficiently accurate . turning to the temperature accuracy status 208 , this accuracy status relates to the accuracy of the measure temperature of the battery , which can be used for calculating the state of health of the battery . as described above , the temperature of the battery may be an important aspect when determining if other parameters , such as measured voltage and electric current are accurate . the temperature parameter itself may however also be provided in a state of health calculation and its accuracy may therefore be important to consider before calculating battery state of health . there are a number of aspects that can be considered when determining if a measured temperature of the battery is accurate or not . for example , the temperature measurement may be considered inaccurate if there are not enough sensors provided to the battery , i . e . an insufficiently amount of battery cells are provided with a temperature sensor . for example , it may be determined that at least every other cell should be provided with a temperature sensor in order to provide a temperature measurement which is considered accurate . this is of course dependent on the specific battery as well as the specific application of the battery , for some applications it may be sufficient that every third cell , or even every fourth cell , is provided with a temperature sensor . the accuracy of the temperature may also be determined by verifying that the difference between the largest temperature of the battery cells and the lowest temperature of the battery cells are within a predetermined range , i . e . that a spread of the temperature is within a specific and accepted temperature range . further , another aspect is that the temperature measured from two adjacent temperature sensors must not differ too much . if this is the case , it may be determined that the temperature measurement is not sufficiently accurate . still further , the accuracy of the temperature sensors themselves may also be an aspect to consider . if the accuracy of the sensors is not sufficient , then the measured temperature value is thus not considered accurate . as a final example of the temperature accuracy , if the change of temperature over time changes too rapidly or too slowly , then a temperature measurement made during this time period may not be considered sufficiently accurate to be used in a state of health calculation . it should be noted that the temperature of battery cells are often measured on the surface of the cells , or at the pole of the cells . one further aspect to consider is whether the difference in temperature between the core of the cells and the surface of the cells are such that a measured temperature on the surface of the cell , or the pole of the cell , sufficiently describes the “ true ” temperature of the cells . this may be the case if the measurement is made too close in time since the battery was charged or discharged . since it is the cell core that is heated and the cell surface that is cooled , it will be difficult to assess whether the measured temperature on the surface describes the true characteristic of the cell temperature . hereby , in order to determine that the dynamically measured temperature is accurate , the measurement should preferably be made a time period after the battery has been charged / discharged with / from electric current . further , the core of the cells may have a higher temperature then the surface of the cells in cases where the battery has been exposed to “ severe ” charging / discharging , after which it takes a time period until the temperature of the cells and the surface have converged to substantially the same temperature level . accordingly , with at least some of the above described parameters , it can be determined if a measured temperature accuracy status 208 is sufficiently accurate . turning now to the voltage accuracy 210 , this accuracy status relates to the accuracy of measured voltage values for the different cells . the accuracy of the measured voltage value may be dependent on the specific temperature at the time of the measurement . accordingly , if the temperature is too high when measuring the battery voltage , the measured voltage value may not be considered reliable or accurate enough to provide a reliable value when calculating battery state of health . also , other parameters affecting the accuracy of the measured battery voltage is e . g . in which open cell voltage area the measurement was made , as described further below in relation to fig3 , or the time period since battery was previously charged / discharged , as described above , etc . with the state of charge accuracy 206 , the temperature accuracy 208 and the voltage accuracy 210 , a parameter accuracy value 212 can be provided . accordingly , if it is determined in 206 that the calculate state of charge is accurate , that the temperature measurement in 208 is accurate and that the voltage in 210 is accurate , then the battery parameter values are considered accurate . it should however be readily understood that a parameter accuracy value 212 indicating that the battery parameters are accurate can be provided by means of only one of state of charge accuracy 206 , temperature accuracy 208 or voltage accuracy 210 , it is not a prerequisite that all accuracy values are provided for receiving a parameter value indicating an accuracy of the battery . as described above , different parameters are more important for some applications than for others and it may therefore only be important to consider the specific parameters which are important for the specific applications . turning now instead to the battery state status module 204 , it comprises a state of charge state 214 , a temperature state 216 , and a voltage state 218 . the main purpose of the battery state status module 204 is to be able to determine if the state of the battery is such that it is beneficial to calculate the battery state of health . accordingly , the battery state status module 204 determines if the level of the parameter values will provide a calculated state of health value that is substantially reliable , i . e . substantially accurate . to be able to determine how much a battery has aged , the parameter value that is measured and used in calculating the aging of the battery needs to be compared to a reference parameter value when the battery was new . when the battery was new , measurement of various parameters was made under certain circumstances and it is therefore of interest to keep track of the circumstances that influence the parameters for determining the aging of the batteries , in order to assure that a reliable result of the calculation of the battery state of health is provided . firstly , the state of charge state 214 determines if a calculated state of the state of charge is such that it will contribute to a reliably calculated state of health value , i . e . that the state of charge is reliable . the state of charge state may be determined to be reliable if , for example , the state of charge value is calculated when the derivative function , as described below , is above a predetermined threshold value . the temperature state 216 determines if the state of the measured temperature is such that it will contribute to a reliably calculated state of health value . the measured temperature value may be determined to be reliable if the mean value of the measured temperature is within a specific range , i . e . the battery was neither too warm nor too cold when the measurement was made . also , the individual cell temperatures should not deviate too much from the mean temperature of battery in order for their value to be considered reliable . finally , the voltage state 218 determines if the measured voltage is such that it will contribute to a reliably calculated state of health value for the battery . when studying the voltage values it can be determined that voltage values are reliable if the voltage measurement was made within a predetermined time period since the previous balancing of the battery was executed . hence , a voltage value can be considered reliable if the spread between the voltage values of the different cells are within a predetermined voltage range . studying the range of the battery cell voltage can be an important aspect since e . g . a similar mean value can be provided for two measurements but where the spread between the highest and lowest battery cell voltage differs significantly between the measurements . hereby , only the voltage mean value having a cell voltage spread within the predetermined range is considered reliable . accordingly , the voltage values may be considered reliable shortly after balancing of the battery have been executed , since the spread in voltage will be reduced after battery balancing . also , the voltage value may be considered unreliable if it is either too high or too low . more specifically , if the level of the voltage value of a cell is too high or too low , this may probably indicate that the cell in question is damaged . hereby , calculating state of health of the battery based on a voltage value when one cell , or a plurality of cells , is broken , will not provide a sufficiently reliable state of health value . further , for the state of charge state 214 , the temperature state 216 and the voltage state 218 , it may also be of interest to determine the spread of the values for each of the parameters , i . e . how a cell value deviates from the other cell values , or from a calculated mean value of the cells , etc . with the above states 214 , 216 , 218 of the battery , the battery state module 220 determines whether the battery state is beneficial for providing a reliable state of health calculation by using the above described parameters . furthermore , it should be understood that the battery state module 220 is not necessarily dependent on receiving the state from all of the various parameters , i . e . from the state of charge state 214 , the temperature state 216 , or the voltage state 218 . it may , for the same reasons as described above in relation to the description of the parameter accuracy module 212 , be sufficient to receive input from only one of the modules . finally , the parameter accuracy module 212 and the battery state module 220 provides their result to a state of health determination status module 230 . the state of health determination status module 230 determines , based on the received input from the parameter accuracy module 212 and the battery state module 220 , if the measured parameter values are considered reliable for calculating a substantially accurate state of health of the battery . although fig2 illustrates that the state of health determination status module 230 should receive input from both the parameter accuracy module 212 and the battery state module 220 , the invention should be understood to function equally as well with a state of health determination status module 230 receiving input from only one of the parameter accuracy module 212 and the battery state module 220 . turning now to fig3 illustrating an open cell voltage graph 300 . the graph 300 illustrates how the battery voltage 302 depends on the state of charge 304 of the battery . the graph 300 in fig3 is divided into five sections 306 , 308 , 310 , 312 , 314 . the battery can either be charged , indicated by the arrows 316 showing increased voltage and increased state of charge of the battery , or be discharge , indicated by the arrows 318 showing a decrease in voltage as well as a decrease in state of charge of the battery . the following will mainly describe the graph in a battery charging state , illustrated by the arrows 316 . in the first section 306 the battery is charged from an empty state . hereby , the derivative function of the voltage - state of charge is relatively steep , i . e . a relatively large increase in voltage 302 in comparison to the increase in state of charge 304 . conversely , when the battery is discharged , the first section 306 indicates that the battery will soon be out of power . in the second section 308 of the graph 300 , the derivative function of the voltage - state of charge has been slightly reduced in comparison to the first section 306 , but the voltage 302 of the battery is still increasing with increased state of charge 304 and the voltage level of the battery is still in its lower region with regards to its overall capacity . in the third section 310 of the graph , the above defined derivative function is approximately zero . hereby , the state of charge 304 of the battery is in this section still increasing but the voltage level is remaining approximately the same . in the fourth 312 and fifth 314 sections of the graph , the derivative function has increased such that the battery voltage 302 is increasing and the state of charge 304 is also increasing . in the fifth section 314 the charging level of the battery has almost reached its complete capacity . now , as described above in relation to fig2 , measuring a voltage value during specific points in time may provide parameter values that cannot be considered accurate enough . in fig3 , this is illustrated by the third section 310 where the derivative function is approximately zero . more specifically , if a voltage measurement is made when the battery state of charge is in the third section 310 , the accuracy of the corresponding state of charge of the battery will be relatively uncertain , since a small change in voltage 302 will provide a relatively large change in state of charge 304 . accordingly , in the third section 310 , it may be difficult to provide an exact , or approximately exact , state of charge value with the measured voltage value , thus making the measured voltage value , as well as the state of charge value inaccurate at the third section 310 . in the first 306 , second 308 , fourth 312 and fifth 314 sections of the graph 300 , the derivative function is above a predetermined accepted threshold value and a measured voltage value will correspond to a relatively precise state of charge value . hereby , the measured voltage value as well as the corresponding state of charge value is in these sections considered accurate enough for providing a reliable state of health calculation . furthermore , the state of charge value can thus be considered reliable if the state of charge calculation was executed at a point in time when it was beneficial to do so , i . e . in one of the first 306 , second 308 , fourth 312 or fifth 314 sections described above . however , although the measured voltage value and the corresponding state of charge value is considered accurate , other parameter values may result in that it is determined not to perform a state of health calculation . for example , although the voltage - state of charge is in one of the first 306 , second 308 , fourth 312 or fifth 314 sections of the graph 300 , other parameters such as the temperature may have such a large spread between the cells that it is determined that this will render a calculated state of health unreliable . other parameter values that may result in the decision of not performing a state of health calculation is given above in relation to fig2 . in order to summarize the inventive method according to the present application , reference is made to fig4 illustrating a flowchart of an example embodiment of the method according to the present invention . according to the example depicted in fig4 , a first step s 1 of the method is to receive measured state of health parameter values from the battery . the measured state of health parameter values can , for example , be any one of those described above in relation to the description of fig2 and 3 . the measured state of health parameter values relate to parameter that can be used when calculating state of health of the battery . thereafter , the measured state of health parameter values are compared s 2 with at least one parameter criterion . the at least one parameter criterion is described above and can be set differently for different parameters as well as for different fields of application for the battery . finally , it is determined s 3 that the measured state of health parameter values are reliable if the state of health parameter value fulfils the at least one predetermined parameter criterion . hereby , the method can further determine if a state health parameter calculation , which is to be based on the received measured state of health parameter values , will provide a result which is accurate or not , i . e . if the result from the calculation will indicate a state of health of the battery which will substantially correspond to the true behaviour of the battery . it is to be understood that the present invention is not limited to the embodiments described above and illustrated in the drawings ; rather , the skilled person will recognize that many changes and modifications may be made within the scope of the appended claims .
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the concrete wall 12 between the two aeration tanks 13 and 14 carries the air supply main 15 . this main supplies air to all the diffuser headers which are disposed in the two tanks on opposite sides of wall 12 . the walk - way 16 forms the top side of wall 12 for access to the headers . only the one diffuser header 17 is shown in the drawings . it is located in tank 14 and is connected to the lateral 18 extending from air supply main 15 as will be described . lateral 18 is controlled by the valve 19 and is connected to the air supply main 15 located below walkway 16 . the present invention is directed to the mechanism for raising and lowering header 17 and also includes in part the subject matter of the copending application referred to ( ser . no . 496 , 573 ) wherein the upper hanger pipe comprises two pipes and each rotary joint comprises a tee and two rotatable elbows , as will be immediately described . as shown best in fig2 and 4 , the tee 20 fixed to and extending from wall 12 has its lateral connected to the lateral 18 from air main 15 . tee 20 is part of the upper rotary joint which further includes the elbows 22 and 23 . the lower rotary joint includes the elbows 24 and 25 and the intermediate tee 26 . the dual pipes 28 respectively join the elbows 22 and 24 and the elbows 23 and 25 and comprise the upper hanger pipes . the lower hanger pipe 29 connects tee 26 of the lower rotary joint and the tee 31 of header 17 . it is noted that the axes of the rotary joints referred to and the header 17 are horizontal and parallel to wall 12 as will be further described . the diffusers carried by header 17 are not shown ; they may be of any type . the opposite ends of header 17 are closed but may be provided with suitable means for draining , not shown . in the lowermost , operating position of header 17 , the header is secured laterally by the steady bracket 33 suitably supported within the tank . the support as shown in fig3 and 4 is illustrative only and includes the upright 34 standing from the floor of tank 13 . bracket 33 is bolted to the upright member 34 so as to be adjustable vertically if necessary and includes the saddle 33a as shown in fig3 . according to the present invention , and as will be further described , the upper and lower hanger pipes are held in their fully extended downward position by the two detent blocks 36 which are located between and which respectively engage pipes 28 . the single pipe 29 is provided with a lift bracket which carries the detent blocks 36 . this bracket comprises the two spaced arms 38 extending upwardly from tee 26 and the horizontal rod 39 which joins the upper ends of arms 38 . in fig1 the pipes 26 are shown as they are pushed apart by the blocks 36 as will be further described hereinafter . fig1 will be referred to as follows in describing the construction of both the upper and lower rotary joints and in identifying their axis . elbows 24 and 25 include horizontal extensions 24a and 25a respectively which are turnable in the aligned horizontal ends of the tee . their axis is the axis 40a of the lower rotary joint . the elbows 24 and 25 are joined by the tie rod 37 which extends through tee 26 on said axis . the upper elbows 22 and 23 are of a similar construction and are similarly rotatable respecting the tee 20 . the upper rotary joint comprising tee 20 and elbows 22 and 23 is disposed to have a similar horizontal axis extending centrally through the laterals of the tee as at 40b . as previously noted , axis 40b and 40a are horizontal and parallel to wall 12 . in the preferred embodiment shown the header 17 and pipes 28 and 29 are of a resin - bound glass filament wound construction and tees 20 , 26 and 31 and elbows 22 -- 25 are of a molded plastic construction . the elbows and pipes 28 are bonded together ; the tees 26 and 31 are bonded to the ends of pipe 29 . this preferred construction is generally of lower cost than constructions of metal which must be corrosion resistant such as brass , or galvanized steel . the required flexibility of pipes 28 would not be provided if they were of metal . the header 17 with hanger pipes 28 and 29 and bracket 33 are installed in tank 14 while the tank is dry . that is the upper tee 20 may be connected to lateral 18 with header 17 already connected to pipe 29 and with pipe 29 connected to pipes 28 so that the entire assembly hangs from lateral 18 . in this position , the pipes 28 are engaged in the recesses 36a by detent blocks 37 as shown in fig7 . also , the tee 26 should be at some vertical position alongside of brace 34 and on the side thereof remote from wall 12 . the bracket 33 is then adjusted vertically on brace 34 so that the tee 26 fits in the saddle 33a of the bracket . it should be understood , of course , that the overall dimensions of similar assemblies would be identical and that it should only be necessary then to set bracket 33 at some predetermined distance below lateral 18 . with the header 17 installed as described , and all the other headers similarly installed , of course , the tank 14 is ready for filling and operation . the header 17 is held securely in place against lateral movement , that is toward or away from wall 12 , by saddle 33a . upward movement and any pivotal movement is prevented by the connection of tee 20 to lateral 18 which is well fixed to wall 12 . that is , the dual pipes 28 and lower pipe 29 are part of a single , rigid structure . their relative pivotal movement is adequately prevented by the arms 38 carrying detent blocks 36 which are engaged with pipes 28 . the pipes 28 are rigid , of course , in the usual sense , but it is their nominal flexibility which allows the header 17 to be lifted from the tank . the apparatus for raising and lowering header 17 includes the cart 41 having a hoist arm 42 . the arm 42 is preferably tubular and is adjustable in length if desired . at its outer end the arm carries the latch 43 which is shown in the open position in fig1 . the latch 43 includes the spaced fingers 43a and the pivoted hook 44 which may be variously operated . as shown , a cable 45 is provided and extends from hook 44 through arm 41 and is tied to the handle 46 at the rear end of the cart 41 . the hoist arm 42 is pivotally supported by the forward end of cart 41 which may be positioned above the axis 40b of the upper rotary joint which is formed by tee 20 and elbows 22 and 23 . the cart 41 is provided with the castered wheels 47 so that it may be readily moved along walk - way 16 and positioned at each diffuser assembly . as shown , the locking pins 48 of the cart are engageable with the stationary lugs 49 fixed to wall 12 . similar lugs are positioned at each header location to secure the cart as required . the hoist arm 42 is raised and lowered by an electric motor 53 through a reduction gearing or by a hydraulic torque converter and suitable gearing , all indicated generally by the numeral 54 . the electric power for motor 53 is generally that supplied to the sewage treatment plant and is provided by extension cables , not shown , laid along the walkway 16 . a separate generator is also used where more convenient . when the assembly is installed in tank 14 as in fig4 the cart 41 is pushed into position generally with the hoist arm 42 in its upright position as the arm appears in fig1 . when the cart 41 is suitably positioned as described and secured by locking pins 48 , the hoist arm 42 is lowered . it should here be noted that the pivot bearing axis of the hoist arm is indicated by the numeral 55 and is located a preselected distance above the upper rotary joint axis 40b . the rod 39 is similarly disposed the same preselected distance above the axis 40a of the lower rotary joint so that the hoist arm 41 and the dual pipes 28 are substantially in parallel relation . as the arm 42 is lowered , that is , it is rotated clockwise as shown , about axis 55 , the latch 43 is opened such as by pulling cable 45 . as hoist arm 42 approaches its downward position , the latch 43 approaches rod 39 so that the rod enters the space between fingers 43a . suitable means , not shown , is provided to reclose latch 43 upon release of cable 45 . the hoist arm 42 is then in position to lift the diffuser 17 from tank 13 . before doing so , it is preferable that the air supply to header 17 be turned off by closing valve 19 . as the hoist arm 41 swings in the counter - clockwise direction as viewed in the drawings and around axis 55 , the arm pulls rod 39 to the right , or away from wall 12 . the initial movement of diffuser header 30 is only vertical because header tee 31 is restrained from any other movement by the saddle 33a of bracket 33 . ( see fig3 ) the first stage in the lifting sequence proceeds as follows with reference to fig3 . the pipes 28 in moving from the position shown in broken lines , pivot about axis 40b and the lower pipe 29 pivots about axis 40a as this axis moves in an arc away from wall 12 . the movement of pipes 28 relative to pipe 29 causes the detent blocks 36 to push pipes 28 apart as shown in fig8 . when the pipes 29 have cleared the recesses 36a of blocks 36 and are on the cam faces 36b of the blocks , the tee 31 ( shown in broken lines in fig3 ) becomes disengaged from bracket 33 , and the resilience of pipes 29 pushed against cams 36b cause pipe 29 to rotate about axis 40b relative to pipes 28 and to such extent as to raise tee 31 so that it clears the saddle 33a . this relative movement is also assisted by the buoyancy of header 17 . as the entire assembly moves around axis 40b to the position shown in full lines in fig3 the detent blocks 36 generally remain in contact with pipes 28 . in the next stage upward , the pipes 28 pass through the horizontal positions shown in fig6 and 5 and the pipe 29 is securely held in a vertical position by hoist arm 42 . the upper limit of the lifting cycle is shown in fig1 and is readily some number of degrees past a true vertical position so that the header 17 is placed somewhat nearer to or over the walkway 16 for better access . as shown , the end of cart 41 and the gearing mechanism 54 fits between pipes 28 and the header 17 lies across the pipes 28 as shown in fig2 . after servicing of the air diffusers , not shown , which are attached to header 17 , the header is relowered into tank 14 by the electric motor 53 . the hoist arm 42 swings clockwise about axis 55 and initially pushes rod 39 to the right as viewed in fig1 or outward over tank 14 . the weight of header 17 generally holds pipe 29 in the vertical position and so that the header will move readily away from pipes 28 . the first stage in the downward movement is shown in fig5 and is generally just after the header 17 has entered the water or sewage . preferably the air supply should be turned on partially so that the diffusers carried by the header 17 remain unclogged . the buoyancy of the header 17 now in the water or sewage here operates with an effective lever arm represented by the distance from axis 40b to the axis 40a of the two rotary joints . the hoist arm 42 here must apply maximum downward force to rod 39 . in approaching the position shown in fig5 and in moving downwardly , the buoyancy of the header 17 causes it to have a great tendency to move away from under rod 39 . the hoist 42 and pipes 28 are here required to hold pipe 29 in a near vertical position and until reaching the second stage which is shown in fig6 . in the second stage proceeding downwardly , the cams 36b of detent blocks 36 engage pipes 29 as shown in fig9 and prevent relative rotation of pipe 29 respecting pipes 28 about axis 40a until the tee 31 has engaged bracket 33 above the saddle 33a . the assembly is then in the third stage which is shown in fig3 ( full lines ). further rotation of hoist arm 42 about axis 55 now pushes rod 39 toward wall 12 and the detent blocks 36 are pushed between pipes 28 . the pipes are pushed apart by the cams 36b of the blocks and at the same time the tee 31 moves downwardly into saddle 33a . when tee 31 is within the confines of saddle 33a , but not fully , the pipes 28 enter the recesses 36b of the block . their entry is effected by the resilience of the pipes and occurs with something of a snap - action . the pipes 28 and 29 are then also in their fully extended position and tee 31 is then located within saddle 33a . the resilience of pipes 28 which has been mentioned and their flexibility are essential to the securement of the header 17 in its operating position . in part , the elbows 24 and 25 also have some elasticity . alternatively or additionally , the arms 38 which carry detent blocks 36 may be deflected toward each other as shown in fig1 and , of course , the detent blocks themselves have some elasticity . in general , however , the pipes 28 which are in the order of 8 feet long can be deflected or beam loaded to provide the movement into and out of recesses 36a . pipes 28 are typically between 3 and 4 inches in diameter ; between 1 and 2 inches of deflection is required so that the blocks 36 adequately extend around pipes 28 as shown in fig7 . as shown in fig4 the ends 36c of blocks 36 which are remote from wall 12 are extended and function as abutments to prevent overtravel of the blocks after the header 17 is in its lower operating position . the operation of the hoist arm 42 between pipes 28 is important to the present invention in that the entire mechanism is symmetrical about its centerline and there are no angular other than normal forces applied to the rotary joints . the operation of the cart including arm 42 requires the coordinated functioning of blocks 36 and bracket 33 including saddle 33a . in placing header 17 in the downward position , the cam surfaces 36b of blocks 36 must promptly engage pipes 28 as described to ensure that the lower tee 31 does not engage saddle 33a but instead clears or passes over saddle 33a and engages bracket 33 as shown in full lines in fig3 . tee 31 will then be moved downwardly properly into saddle 33a as shown in fig4 . however , in lifting header 17 from its lower position , the tee 31 must continue to be held by saddle 33a until pipes 28 have moved out of recesses 36a of blocks 36 and are being held apart by the cam surfaces 36b of the blocks . that is , if tee 31 becomes disengaged from saddle 33a before pipes 28 have reached cam surfaces 36a , the pipes 28 and 29 will remain interlocked in their extended position and bind as the arm 42 swings upwardly . this possibility is readily avoided or overcome , and is described to assure an understanding of the operation of the invention . the pipes 28 and blocks 36 comprise a detent mechanism and arms 38 function as a lever . the flexibility of pipes 28 uniquely provides the bias necessary for the mechanism . however , other biasing means can be provided . for example , the arms 38 may have some flexibility although not necessarily such that they entirely can accommodate the displacement of blocks 36 toward and away from each other as would be required . as a further consideration , it should be understood that the elasticity referred to must be substantially permanent . generally , any elastic metals would be corroded away in the 20 - 50 year service life which is generally expected of sewage treatment tank equipment . dual pipes 42 which are of a wound glass filament reinforced epoxy resin have been found to provide adequate elasticity when used with molded urethane elbows 22 - 25 . the elbows 22 and 23 and elbows 24 and 25 are held together by corrosion resistant rods 37 . rods 37 may be fabricated of stainless steel ( including the nuts at their ends ). various embodiments of the invention may be carried out within the scope of the following claims wherein the bracket 33 and saddle 33a are referred to as abutments . also in the claims , header 17 is considered to include tee 31 and pipe 29 is considered to include arms 38 and rod 39 . similarly , resilient detent means is intended to include any means securing the upper and lower pipes in their extended position and which is selectively releasable and engageable merely by the additional force which is required to overcome the resilience of the detent means . it should also be noted that the upper and lower positions of the header are similar ; that is , the header is not turned upside down in its upper position but has substantially the same orientation at all times .
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reference will now be made to the drawings to describe specific exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure in detail . referring to fig1 , a display device 100 according to a first embodiment of the present disclosure is shown . the display device 100 may be an lcd in one embodiment . the display device 100 includes a liquid crystal panel 101 , a gate driver 102 , a data driver 103 , and a timing controller 104 . the liquid crystal panel 101 include a plurality of pixel units arranged as a matrix . each pixel unit may include an active element which is configured to activate the pixel unit in response to a scanning signal provided by the gate driver 102 . the active element may be a thin film transistor ( tft ), which includes a gate electrode electrically coupled to the gate driver 102 , a source electrode electrically coupled to the data driver 103 , and a drain electrode electrically coupled the a pixel electrode of the pixel unit . under the control of the timing controller 104 , the gate driver 102 may output scanning signals to the pixel units in a determined time interval , so as to activate the pixel units row by row . when the pixel unit is activated , a corresponding data signal ( e . g ., a gray scale voltage signal ) outputted from the data driver 103 is transmitted to the pixel electrode via the active element , such that the pixel unit is driven to display a related image . the data driver 103 is configured to receive display data from the timing controller 104 , convert the display data into corresponding gray scale voltage signals , and output the gray scale voltage signals to the pixel units of the liquid crystal panel 101 . in one embodiment , the display data may be in an rsds form . moreover , the data driver 103 can also receive a timing control signal from the timing controller 104 . the timing control signal may be a 2 - bit binary code , which may control the data driver 103 to dynamically configure a setup time and a hold time of the data driver 103 so as to enable the data driver 103 to successfully receive and identify the rsds display data . for example , the data driver 103 may include a look - up table pre - stored in the data driver 103 . the table includes a plurality of entries each corresponding to a respective 2 - bit binary code . the entries are configured to indicate mapping relations between the 2 - bit binary codes and the corresponding setup time values and hold time values . in one exemplary embodiment , the pre - stored table may be illustrated as follow , where t represents an rsds clock cycle of the rsds display date . upon receiving the timing control signal , the data driver 103 may select a corresponding entry in the table based on the timing control signal , obtain a setup time value and a hold time value from the selected entry , and then configure the setup time and the hold time the data driver 103 correspondingly . by use of the table , the data driver 103 can automatically and dynamically adjust the setup time and the hold time the data driver 103 , and thereby satisfying different display timing requirements . as such , even if a refresh frequency of the liquid crystal panel 101 is adjusted during an operation of the display device 100 , the data driver 103 can identify the received rsds display data efficiently , and thus generate corresponding gray scale voltage signals all the same . reference will now be made to the fig2 - 4 to describe the how the timing control signal is provided to the data driver 103 . the timing controller 104 is configured to receive original display data from an interface circuit ( not shown ), convert the original display data into the rsds form , and then provide the rsds display data to the data driver 103 . in particular , the original display data may be in a low voltage differential signaling ( lvds ) form . moreover , the timing controller 104 can also generate the 2 - bit timing control signal according to the display timing of the display device 100 , and output the timing control signal to the data driver 103 . in particular , the timing controller 104 may employ a timing signal generator 105 to generate the timing control signal . referring to fig2 , in one embodiment , the timing signal generator 105 includes a memory 12 , a control unit 10 , a detector 15 , and a digital code converter 16 . the memory 12 may be an electrically erasable programmable read - only memory ( eeprom ), which is used to store a plurality of timing codes each corresponding to a refresh frequency . each timing code is a 4 - bit digital code , and can be selected and outputted by the control unit 10 to the digital code converter 16 as to generate a corresponding timing control signal . for example , a 4 - bit digital code ( 1 , 1 , 0 , 0 ) may correspond to a refresh frequency of 60 hz , while a 4 - bit digital code ( 1 , 0 , 0 , 1 ) may correspond to a refresh frequency of 75 hz . in particular , the timing codes can be obtained through experiments on the display device 100 during the manufacturing processor , and pre - stored in the memory 12 . the detector 15 may detect a frequency of the original display data received by the timing controller 104 , and provide a frequency indication signal to the control unit 10 in accordance with the detected frequency . by analyzing the frequency of original display data , the detector 15 can obtain a current refresh frequency of the liquid crystal panel 101 . when the refresh frequency is adjusted by a user , the detector 15 can update the frequency indication signal , so as to inform the control unit 10 with the adjusted refresh frequency . the control unit 10 may analyze the frequency indication signal outputted by the detector 15 , and thereby obtaining the current refresh frequency of the liquid crystal panel 101 . based on the refresh frequency , the control unit 10 may further select a corresponding one of the timing codes from the memory 12 , and then parallel output the timing code to the digital code converter 16 . upon receiving the timing code , the digital code converter 16 may convert the timing code into a 2 - bit timing control signal , and output the timing control signal to the data driver 103 , so as to enable the data driver 103 to adjust a setup time and a hold time thereof . the digital code converter 16 may include a first transistor q 1 , a second transistor q 2 , a third transistor q 3 , and a fourth transistor q 4 . the first to fourth transistors q 1 - q 4 may be metal oxide semiconductor filed effect transistors ( mosfets ). gate electrodes of the transistor q 1 - q 4 serve as four input terminals of the digital code converter 16 , and are configured to receive the 4 - bit timing code in parallel . drain electrodes of the transistors q 1 and q 3 are both electrically coupled to a digital power voltage dvdd , and source electrodes of the transistors q 2 and q 4 are both grounded . two resistors r 1 and r 2 are electrically coupled in series between a source electrode of the first transistor q 1 and a drain electrode of the second transistor q 2 , and a node between these two resistors r 1 and r 2 serves as a first output terminal of the digital code converter 16 . two resistors r 3 and r 4 are electrically coupled in series between a source electrode of the third transistor q 3 and a drain electrode of the fourth transistor q 4 , and a node between these two resistors r 3 and r 4 serves as a second output terminal of the digital code converter 16 . the first and second output terminals may cooperative parallel output the 2 - bit timing control signal to the data driver 103 . for example , when the detector 15 detects a current refresh frequency of the liquid crystal panel 101 is 60 hz , the control unit 10 select a corresponding 4 - bit timing code ( 1 , 1 , 0 , 0 ) from the memory 12 , and output the timing code ( 1 , 1 , 0 , 0 ) to the digital code converter 16 . the timing code ( 1 , 1 , 0 , 0 ) causes the first and third transistors q 1 and q 3 to be turned on , while the second and fourth transistor q 2 and q 4 to be turned off . thus , a 2 - bit timing control signal ( 1 , 1 ) is generated and outputted to the data driver 103 by the digital code converter 16 . based on the timing control signal ( 1 , 1 ), the data driver 103 obtains a desired setup time value in a range from 4t / 16 to t / 2 and a hold time value of 4t / 16 from the table pre - stored therein , and then configures the setup time and the hold time thereof according to the obtained values . as such , the data driver 103 is ensured to identify the received rsds display data efficiently and provide corresponding gray scale voltage signals to the liquid crystal panel 101 . in an alternative embodiment , the timing controller 104 can employ another timing signal generator 205 as illustrated in fig3 to generate the timing control signal . referring to fig3 , the timing signal generator 205 is similar to be above - described timing signal generator 105 in fig2 , but differs in that the timing signal generator 205 need no digital code convert as illustrated in fig2 , instead , the timing control signals corresponding to different refresh frequencies are directly stored in a memory 22 thereof . specifically , the timing signal generator 205 includes the memory 22 , a control unit 20 , and a detector 25 . in operation , the control unit 20 may select a corresponding 2 - bit timing control signal from the memory 22 based on the current refresh frequency detected by the detector 25 , and directly output the timing control signal to the data driver 103 . furthermore , when the liquid crystal panel has a relative large size , pixel units of the liquid crystal panel can be divided into a plurality pixel regions . each pixel region can be driven by a respective data driver . that is , multiple data drivers may be adopted in the display device to drive different regions of pixel units . referring to fig4 , in such kind of display device , the control unit 30 of the timing signal generator 305 may simultaneously output the timing control signals to multiple data drivers 36 , such that multiple data drivers 36 can configure the setup time and the hold time properly . it is to be further understood that even though numerous characteristics and advantages of a preferred embodiment have been set out in the foregoing description , together with details of the structures and functions of the embodiments , the disclosure is illustrative only ; and that changes may be made in detail , especially in matters of shape , size and arrangement of parts within the principles of present disclosure to the full extent indicated by the broad general meaning of the terms in which the appended claims are expressed .
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fig1 illustrates a mold 10 which embodies features of the invention having channels 11 in a wall 12 of the mold . the mold has an outer surface , and an inner surface which defines an interior chamber 13 , as best shown in fig2 illustrating a longitudinal cross section of the mold 10 of fig1 , taken along line 2 - 2 , and in fig3 and 4 illustrating transverse cross sectional views of the mold of fig2 , taken along lines 3 - 3 and 4 - 4 , respectively . a polymer tube 14 is in the mold chamber 13 . in the embodiment of fig1 , the channels 11 are longitudinally extending slots , the entire length of which extend through the wall 12 of the mold 10 from the outer surface to the inner surface , so that the channels 11 are in fluid communication with the chamber 13 , as best illustrated in fig2 and 3 . the mold chamber 13 has a central section 15 , proximal and distal tapered sections 16 , 17 at either end of the central section 15 , a proximal end section 18 at the proximal end of the proximal tapered section 16 , and a distal end section 19 at the distal end of the distal tapered section 17 . in the embodiment of fig1 , the channels 11 extend along the central section 15 and the tapered sections 16 , 17 of the mold chamber 13 . however , in alternative embodiments ( not shown ), the mold 10 has channels 11 extending along at least a portion of one or both of the end sections 18 , 19 of the mold chamber 13 in addition to or instead of extending along at least a portion of the other sections of the mold chamber 13 . for example , in one preferred alternative embodiment , the mold 10 has channels 13 extending along the tapered sections 16 , 17 and the end sections 18 , 19 of the mold chamber 13 , and not along any of or at least part of the central section 15 , and most preferably not along a central portion of the central section 15 . in the embodiment of fig1 , the mold 10 has multiple channels 11 spaced around the circumference thereof , and specifically eight channels 11 . however , the number of channels can vary , and is typically about 4 to about 16 for a mold 10 having a central section 15 with a length of about 30 to about 40 mm . fig1 illustrates the polymer tube 14 in position in the mold 10 for being blow molded to form a balloon for a catheter . in a method of making a balloon for a catheter which embodies features of the invention , the polymer tube 14 is heated in the mold chamber 13 , and the heated tube 14 is axially elongated and radially expanded in the mold chamber 13 . in a presently preferred embodiment , the tube 14 is heated by heating the mold 10 , although depending on the polymeric material forming tube 14 , the tube may additionally or alternatively be heated by introducing heated fluid ( air or liquid ) into the interior of the tube 14 in the mold 10 . the mold 10 is formed of a metal such as stainless steel , and the mold 10 is typically heated by a hot air nozzle not in direct contact with the mold 10 . as a result of heating the mold 10 , the tube 14 is heated by radiative heat from the mold wall and convective heat of heated air from the channels 11 extending through the mold wall 12 . the convective heat is the result of heated air which enters the chamber 13 of the mold 10 from the channels 11 . the outer opening of each channel is thus unobstructed in whole or at least in part sufficiently to allow the supply of air to enter the channels 11 . preferably , the air entering the channels is the ambient air around the mold 10 which diffuses into the channels , and is naturally drawn into the channels due to convection driven by the internal temperature gradients during the blow molding procedure . alternatively , a pressurized supply of air forced into the channels 11 may be used if desired ( i . e ., advection ). in the embodiment illustrated in fig1 , the channels are perpendicular to a tangent of the outer surface of the mold wall . in an alternative embodiment ( not shown ), the channels are canted , and preferably at an angle of about 30 to about 70 degrees . the heated polymer tube 14 is axially elongated and radially expanded in the mold chamber 13 by pulling on the ends of the tube 14 and introducing pressurized air into the inner lumen of the tube 14 with one end of the tube 14 blocked off . fig5 illustrates the tube 14 in the mold 10 after the tube is axially elongated and radially expanded therein . the axially elongated tube 14 typically has a length which is about 1 to about 2 times the original length of the tube 14 , and a radially expanded diameter corresponding to a blow - up - ratio of about 5 to about 8 ( i . e ., the ratio of the final radially expanded outer diameter of the tube 14 to the initial unexpanded inner diameter of the tube 14 ). the thus blow molded tube 14 is cooled to ambient temperature , and deflated and removed from the mold 10 , and may be further processed to form a balloon for a catheter . fig7 illustrates an over - the - wire type balloon catheter 20 having a shaft 21 , and an inflatable balloon 27 formed using the mold 10 of fig1 . catheter 20 generally comprises elongated catheter shaft 21 having an outer tubular member 22 and an inner tubular member 23 . the coaxial relationship between outer tubular member 22 and inner tubular member 23 defines annular inflation lumen 26 . inner tubular member 23 defines a guidewire lumen 24 configured to slidingly receive a guidewire 25 , as best shown in fig8 illustrating a transverse cross section view of the distal end of the catheter shown in fig7 , taken along line 8 - 8 . inflated balloon 27 disposed on a distal section of catheter shaft 21 has an inflated cylindrical working section , inflated tapered sections at either end of the central working section , a proximal skirt section sealingly secured to the distal end of outer tubular member 22 , and a distal skirt section sealingly secured to the distal end of inner tubular member 23 , so that its interior is in fluid communication with inflation lumen 26 . an adapter 28 at the proximal end of catheter shaft 21 is configured to provide access to guidewire lumen 24 and to direct inflation fluid through arm 29 into inflation lumen 26 . fig7 illustrates the balloon 27 inflated , with a stent 30 mounted thereon for implanting in a patient &# 39 ; s body lumen 31 . in use , the distal end of catheter 20 is advanced to a desired region of the patient &# 39 ; s body lumen in a conventional manner , and balloon 27 inflated to perform a procedure such as expanding the stent 30 into place in the body lumen , and the balloon deflated for removal of the catheter from the body lumen , leaving the stent 30 implanted therein . as a result of being axially elongated in the mold chamber 13 , the parts of the tube 14 which ultimately form the central inflated working length , the inflated tapered sections at either end thereof , and the skirt sections of the balloon 27 typically have at least a portion thereof heated in a different section of the mold chamber 13 than the section in which it is ultimately radially expanded . thus , during the axial elongation of the tube 14 , the part of the tube 14 located in the slotted tapered sections 16 , 17 of the mold chamber 13 during heating of the tube 14 in the mold is stretched into the adjacent end section 18 , 19 of the mold chamber 13 and radially expanded therein to form at least a portion of the skirt sections of the balloon 27 . depending on the length of the mold chamber 13 sections , the entire length or only a portion of the part of the tube 14 in the tapered sections 16 , 17 of the mold chamber 13 may be stretched into the adjacent end sections 18 , 19 of the mold chamber 13 . similarly , the part of the tube 14 in the proximal and distal ends of the central section 15 of the mold chamber 13 may be stretched into the adjacent tapered sections 16 , 17 or therebeyond and also into the end sections 18 , 19 of the mold chamber 13 . the preferred extent to which tube 14 is stretched in mold chamber 13 ( i . e ., the stretch ratio ) will vary depending on factors such as the material selection of tube 14 . at least a portion of part of the tube 14 heated in the central section 15 of the mold chamber 13 forms the central working length of the balloon 27 . although the resulting balloon 27 illustrated in fig7 has a uniform wall thickness in the inflated configuration , it should be understood that the different sections of the finished uninflated balloon may have different wall thicknesses . as best illustrated in fig6 , in the embodiment of fig1 , the dimension and orientation of the channels 11 is such that the polymeric material of the tube 14 remains in the mold chamber 13 and does not enter the channels 11 , or at most only slightly enters the channels 11 , such that the polymeric material of tube 14 is not molded in the channels 11 during the blow molding . as a result , the balloon 27 has a cylindrical outer surface along the working length thereof with a uniform outer diameter . fig9 illustrates a transverse cross section of an alternative embodiment of a mold 40 in which the width of the channels 41 is larger than the channels 11 in the mold 10 of fig6 , so that the polymeric material of the tube 14 is molded in the channels 41 of the mold 40 during the blow molding . the channels 41 in the embodiment of fig9 typically have a width of about 0 . 021 to about 0 . 05 inches , whereas the channels 11 of the embodiment of fig6 have a width of about 0 . 008 to about 0 . 02 inches . fig1 illustrates a transverse cross section of a distal section of an alternative embodiment of catheter 10 having a balloon 47 blow molded in the mold 40 of fig9 . balloon 47 has raised ridges corresponding the channels 41 in the wall of the mold 40 of fig9 so that the outer surface of the balloon 47 has a non - uniform outer diameter along the central inflated working length of the balloon 47 . in the embodiment of fig1 , the entire length of the channels 11 extend through the wall of the mold 10 . in one embodiment , one or more restraining members ( not shown ) such as bands or straps are provided around an outer surface of the mold 10 of fig1 , to radially restrain the slotted sections of the mold during radial expansion of the polymer tube 14 . the restraining members ( not shown ) are preferably sized to cover only a small amount of the length of the channels 11 , and specifically , in one embodiment each restraining member covers about 1 % to about 3 % of the length of the slots forming channels 11 , so that the convective air flow into the channels 11 is not blocked by the restraining members . fig1 illustrates an alternative embodiment of a mold 50 in which the channels 51 are slots with only a portion of the length of each slot extending completely through the wall of the mold , so that the slot has a first portion 52 which extends through the wall of the mold 50 , and a second longitudinally adjacent portion 53 which extends partially through the wall of the mold 50 forming a break in the channel 51 , as best shown in fig2 , illustrating a longitudinal cross section of the mold 50 of fig1 . fig3 illustrates a transverse cross sectional view of the mold 50 of fig1 , taken along line 13 - 13 . in the embodiment of fig1 , three sections of the channel 51 extending through the wall of the mold 50 are separated by two breaks 54 ( i . e ., two sections of the wall of the mold 50 ). however , a variety of suitable configurations may be used with fewer or more breaks 54 . in one embodiment , each break 54 in the channel 51 has a length equal to about 1 % to about 3 % of the total length of the channel 51 . in the embodiment of fig1 , the break 54 has a depth through the wall of the mold 50 of about 50 % of the mold wall , although a variety of depths may be used typically ranging from about 30 % to about 80 % of the wall of the mold 50 . in the embodiment of fig1 , the portion of the channel extending partially through the wall of the mold 50 is formed on an inner surface of the mold , so that the channel 51 extends continuously along the inner surface of the mold ( albeit only partially though the wall in places along the length of the channel 51 ), and extends intermittently along the outer surface of the mold 50 . in an alternative embodiment ( not shown ), the portion of the channel extending partially through the wall of the mold 50 is formed on an outer surface of the mold , so that the channel 51 extends continuously along the outer surface of the mold and intermittently along the inner surface of the mold . fig1 illustrates an alternative embodiment of a mold 60 having channels 61 in the form of intermittently spaced holes . the holes typically have a diameter of about 0 . 02 to about 0 . 05 inches in the embodiment in which the polymeric material of the tube 14 is not molded in the holes 61 , to form a balloon with a cylindrical uniform outer diameter along the working length thereof . the holes 61 typically have a diameter of about 0 . 02 to about 0 . 06 inches in the embodiment in which the polymeric material of the tube 14 is molded in the holes 61 during blow molding , to form a balloon with raised portions on an outer surface of the working length thereof . similar to the embodiment of fig1 , the holes 61 may be located in one or more of the sections of the mold chamber 63 in addition to or instead of the central section of the mold chamber 63 , and the holes may extend in whole or in part through the wall of the mold 60 . as best illustrated in fig1 showing a longitudinal cross section of the mold 60 of fig1 , taken along line 15 - 15 , the holes 61 extend completely through the wall of the mold 60 from the outer to the inner surface of the mold 60 . as best illustrated in fig1 showing a transverse cross section of the mold 60 of fig1 , taken along line 16 - 16 , the holes 61 are spaced apart around the entire circumference of the wall of the mold 60 . typically , about 40 to about 60 holes 61 are provided for a mold 60 having a central section 63 which is about 18 to about 20 mm in length . to the extent not previously discussed herein , the various catheter components may be formed and joined by conventional materials and methods . for example , the outer and inner tubular members 22 , 23 can be formed by conventional techniques , such as by extruding and necking materials found useful in intravascular catheters such a polyethylene , polyvinyl chloride , polyesters , polyamides , polyimides , polyurethanes , and composite materials . the length of the balloon catheter 20 is generally about 108 to about 200 centimeters , preferably about 137 to about 145 centimeters , and typically about 140 centimeters for ptca . the outer tubular member 22 has an outer diameter ( od ) of about 0 . 017 to about 0 . 036 inch ( 0 . 43 - 0 . 91 mm ), and an inner diameter ( id ) of about 0 . 012 to about 0 . 035 inch ( 0 . 30 - 0 . 89 mm ). the inner tubular member 23 has an od of about 0 . 017 to about 0 . 026 inch ( 0 . 43 - 0 . 66 mm ), and an id of about 0 . 015 to about 0 . 018 inch ( 0 . 38 - 0 . 46 mm ) depending on the diameter of the guidewire to be used with the catheter . the balloon 27 has a length of about 10 mm to about 80 mm , typically about 20 mm to about 40 mm , and an inflated working diameter of about 1 . 5 mm to about 40 mm , typically about 3 mm to about 10 mm . while the present invention has been described herein in terms of certain preferred embodiments , those skilled in the art will recognize that modifications and improvements may be made without departing form the scope of the invention . for example , although the embodiment illustrated in fig7 is an over - the - wire stent delivery catheter , balloons of this invention may also be used with other types of intravascular catheters , such as rapid exchange balloon catheters . rapid exchange catheters generally comprise a distal guidewire port in a distal end of the catheter , a proximal guidewire port in a distal shaft section distal of the proximal end of the shaft and typically spaced a substantial distance from the proximal end of the catheter , and a short guidewire lumen extending between the proximal and distal guidewire ports in the distal section of the catheter . while individual features of one embodiment of the invention may be discussed or shown in the drawings of the one embodiment and not in other embodiments , it should be apparent that individual features of one embodiment may be combined with one or more features of another embodiment or features from a plurality of embodiments .
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first some prior art circuits will be described for comparison with circuits according to the invention . thus fig1 shows a prior art power amplifier 1 of the one - transistor amplifier type for use in a portable radio communications device . although the amplifier in a practical circuit will typically comprise several additional components , it is here illustrated as consisting of a transistor 2 and an impedance 3 . the impedance 3 can be any type of impedance , e . g . a current generator having a very high impedance at radio frequencies . the input to the power amplifier 1 comes from a radio circuit 4 , and the amplified output is delivered at the out - terminal . the output power from the amplifier is connected to an antenna 5 , but because the antenna 5 will normally present an impedance mismatch to the output of the power amplifier 1 , an isolator 6 is normally inserted between the output of the power amplifier 1 and the antenna 5 in order to improve the vswr ( voltage standing wave ratio ) of the circuit . in a portable radio communications device , such as a mobile telephone , the power amplifier is generally driven so strongly that overloading occurs . this means that the transistor is driven in its non linear region , and ripple in the form of pulses will be generated in the current drawn from the supply voltage ( vcc ) to the amplifier , and thus on the supply voltage itself . this is illustrated in fig2 which shows that one pulse is generated for each period of the radio frequency signal amplified by the power amplifier . for e . g . a gsm mobile phone the frequency could typically be 900 mhz or 1800 mhz . the form of the pulse shown is just illustrative , and similarly , the amplitude is shown exaggerated for illustrative purposes . the presence of this ripple on the supply voltage to the power amplifier prevents the power amplifier from being integrated on the same chip as the rest of the radio circuit 4 , because this circuit contains some very sensitive components , and unacceptable distortion would be the result . the ripple can be reduced by combining multiple transistors , such that the current drawn from the supply voltage is divided between the multiple transistors , provided the transistors do not conduct simultaneously . one way is to use a differential amplifier 11 as shown in fig3 . the radio circuit 14 now delivers the signal to be amplified to the power amplifier 11 as a differential signal which is amplified by the two transistors 12 and 13 . as long as such an amplifier is driven in its linear region the current through the transistors is close to being constant ( 2 × i ), but as mentioned above , this is not the case . the two transistors now conduct in anti - phase , and thus the pulses in the current drawn from the supply voltage , and thus in the supply voltage itself , are phase shifted 180 ° from each other . at the same time the amplitude of each pulse is halved , because the total current is divided between the two transistors . this is illustrated in fig4 . the upper diagram shows the ripple caused by transistor 12 , while the next diagram similarly shows the ripple caused by transistor 13 . finally , the lower diagram shows the combined ripple . it will be seen that the frequency of the ripple is doubled and the amplitude halved , but still the ripple is significant and prevents the power amplifier from being integrated together with the rest of the radio circuit . the combination of multiple transistors can also be implemented in a power amplifier in which the transistors are connected together by means of an arrangement of hybrid couplers as illustrated with the power amplifier 21 in fig5 . the two transistors 22 and 23 are connected to the two hybrid couplers 24 and 25 . for better understanding of this circuit , the function of a hybrid coupler will be briefly described below . when circuits are implemented in e . g . microstrip or stripline technologies , an electrical leakage field extends a short distance outside the conductive pattern . this gives rise to capacitive coupling between two adjacent conductors . the coupling increases with decreasing separation of the conductors , and the strongest coupling is achieved when the two conductors are in close proximity for a distance of a quarter of a wavelength at the operating frequency . in addition , a strong directional effect is obtained . as an example , a direct - coupled line coupler is shown in fig6 . if power is applied to the arrangement via port 1 , a portion of the power is transferred to the other conductor . in case of ideal matching at all ports , all the power transferred to the other conductor will be fed out through port 3 . no power is transferred to port 4 , and therefore the coupler is called a directional coupler . through adjustment of the distance between the conductors the proportion of power transferred to port 3 can be varied . if the losses in the line structure are disregarded , all the remaining input power will flow through port 2 . in this case the so - called 3 db coupler , in which the power is split equally between ports 2 and 3 , is the most interesting one , but other variations are possible . an important characteristic of the shown hybrid coupler is the relative difference between the phases of the signals at ports 1 , 2 and 3 . in particular , it is noted that for this coupler the phase difference between the two output ports , i . e . ports 2 and 3 , is 90 °. therefore , the coupler is called a quadrature hybrid . fig7 shows how this coupler can be implemented in a microstrip technology . the conductors 31 and 32 are placed on one side of a substrate 33 , while a ground plane 34 is located on the opposite side of the substrate 33 . in a stripline technology the conductors of the coupler would be placed in the middle of a substrate having ground planes on both sides . in a practical solution it can be difficult to position the two conductors close enough to each other to obtain sufficient coupling . therefore , a practical solution is often implemented as e . g . a lange coupler , which is well known and therefore not described in further detail here . it can be noted that the coupler is symmetrical , such that if a signal is input to e . g . port 2 instead of port 1 , port 3 will be the isolated port and the input power will be divided equally between ports 1 and 4 , with the same relative phase positions . the coupling between two lines can also be effected by connecting lines . a simple version of a line - coupled hybrid is shown in fig8 . the best characteristics are obtained when the distance between the coupling lines as well as the length of the lines correspond to a quarter of a wavelength at the operating frequency . with 50 ω coupling lines and 35 ω characteristic impedance for the intervening line sections , both 3 db coupling and a 50 ω impedance of the ports are achieved . the characteristics of this type of hybrid are also shown in the figure . if a signal is applied to port 1 , the power is split between ports 2 and 3 with the mutual phase difference being 90 °. this hybrid is therefore also of the quadrature type . hybrids of the quadrature type as described above can be used in the circuit of fig5 . when the signal from the radio circuit 4 is coupled to the input port of the hybrid 24 there will be a 90 ° phase difference between the output ports , which corresponds to a λ / 4 difference in the propagation path . provided the connection lines from the output ports of the hybrid 24 to the input of the transistors 22 and 23 have equal electrical lengths , the inputs of the two transistors will also have a 90 ° phase difference , and thus the transistors will conduct with a 90 ° phase shift between each other . the outputs of the transistors 22 and 23 are connected to a hybrid 25 which is of the same type as the hybrid 24 . provided again that the connection lines from the transistors to the hybrid 25 are of equal electrical lengths , the two input signals to the hybrid 25 will also have a 90 ° phase difference . the hybrid is symmetrical , and thus it will now function with two input ports to which the two input signals with a 90 ° phase difference are connected , and these signals will be combined to one signal at the single output port while the fourth port is still isolated . the total electrical length of the two paths through the transistors should be the same from the input of the input hybrid to the output of the output hybrid . in this way the two waves are added optimally in phase in the output hybrid . in order to minimize the effect of mismatch in the transistor inputs , the electrical lengths from the input of the input hybrid to the input of the two transistors should differ by λ / 4 , because then reflected waves from the transistors will cancel each other in the input hybrid . this difference is obtained in the quadrature hybrid . as mentioned above , this means that the transistors will conduct with a 90 ° phase difference between each other . therefore the pulses in the current drawn from the supply voltage , and thus in the supply voltage itself , will also be phase shifted 90 ° from each other . similarly to the circuit of fig3 the amplitude of each pulse is halved compared to the one - transistor solution , because the total current is divided between the two transistors . this is illustrated in fig9 . the upper diagram shows the ripple caused by transistor 22 , while the next diagram similarly shows the ripple caused by transistor 23 . finally , the lower diagram shows the combined ripple . it will be seen that in this case the frequency of the ripple will still have a component of the operating frequency , and there will also be a component of twice the operating frequency . again , the amplitude is halved , but still the ripple is significant and prevents the power amplifier from being integrated together with the rest of the radio circuit . the hybrids described above are of the quadrature type . however , in some applications other types are preferred , and thus the design principles of two other hybrid types , in which the two output signals are in phase , will be described . fig1 shows a wilkinson hybrid which basically consists of a forked line . to obtain a coupling impedance of 50 ω in port 1 , the 50 ω lines in ports 2 and 3 are transformed to 100 ω at the fork by means of a quarter - wave 70 ω impedance transformer . on matching of both port 2 and port 3 , identical voltages are obtained on both sides of the 100 ω resistance . thus , no power is lost in the resistance , which can be seen as an internal isolated port . another hybrid , which can produce output signals in phase , is the circular hybrid shown in fig1 . if a signal is applied to port 1 , two waves result which travel in opposite directions round the circular line . the circumference ( 3 / 2λ ) of the circular line and the relative positions of the ports have been chosen such that the two waves will be added in phase or in anti - phase at the points where the ports are connected . if the signals are added in anti - phase , no output signal will result . this corresponds to the isolated port . these hybrid couplers can be used in an amplifier circuit similar to that of fig5 and a modified version of the circuit is shown in fig1 . the amplifier 41 differs from the amplifier 21 in fig5 in that hybrids 44 and 45 having in - phase ports are used instead of the quadrature hybrids 24 and 25 . these hybrids have the same electrical length from the input port to the two output ports , or , in the opposite direction , to two input ports to a common output port . in order to maintain a 90 ° phase difference between the transistors , the connection lines from the output ports of the hybrid 44 to the inputs of the transistors 22 and 23 are arranged to have a λ / 4 difference in their electrical lengths . similarly , the connection lines from the transistor outputs to the input ports of the output hybrid 45 have a λ / 4 difference in electrical length in order to ensure that the inputs to the hybrid 45 are in phase . thus again , the total electrical length of the two paths through the transistors is the same from the input of the input hybrid to the output of the output hybrid , and the two waves are added optimally in phase in the output hybrid . the ripple of this solution is the same as the one shown in fig9 and thus the amplifier is not suitable for integration together with the rest of the radio circuit . this problem is solved by the invention . the idea is to implement a hybrid coupler as a differential hybrid , as will now be described . fig1 shows an example of a differential hybrid coupler of the line - coupled type . the structure is similar to that of fig8 but instead of using the ground plane as a reference plane , two identical structures 51 and 52 , both similar to the one known from fig8 are implemented above each other in separate layers . each of the differential lines in the structure has the same impedance and the same length as the single ended hybrid of fig8 . a differential signal applied to the two ports labelled “ 1 ” will be divided between the differential ports 2 and 3 with the mutual phase difference being 90 °. thus this hybrid is a differential quadrature hybrid . no signal will be present at the differential port 4 , and thus again this port is an isolated port . the isolated port can be terminated with a resistor to ensure impedance matching , but , as mentioned , no signal will be present across such resistor . fig1 shows how this differential line - coupled hybrid can be implemented in a microstrip technology . two substrate layers 53 and 54 are used . the conducting pattern 51 is placed on the top side of the substrate layer 53 , while the pattern 52 is placed between the two substrate layers in line with the pattern 51 . like before , a ground plane 55 is located at the opposite side of the substrate 54 . the figure does not show the connections to the structure , but these are easily implemented , as is well known in the microstrip technology . alternatively , the structure can also be implemented in a stripline technology as shown in fig1 . the structure is very similar to the microstrip structure , but a further substrate layer 56 is added at the top of the layer 53 , such that also the conducting pattern 51 will be placed between two substrate layers . a second ground plane 57 is located at the top of the layer 56 , so that the conducting patterns are placed between two ground planes , as is well known in the stripline technology . above , a differential hybrid of the line - coupled type is described , but it should be noted that any of the other hybrid types illustrated in e . g . fig6 and 11 can easily be implemented as differential hybrids as well . this is also the case for other hybrid types not specifically described in this document . a power amplifier circuit utilizing the differential hybrid couplers is shown in fig1 . when the differential signal from the radio circuit 14 is coupled to the differential input port of the hybrid 66 there will be a 90 ° phase difference between the output ports , which corresponds to a λ / 4 difference in the propagation path . one of the differential output ports is connected to the two transistors 62 and 63 which conducts in anti - phase because of the differential signal , provided the connection lines have equal electrical lengths . the other differential output port , which has a 90 ° phase difference from the first one , is connected to the transistors 64 and 65 . these transistors also conduct in anti - phase . since each transistor pair conducts in anti - phase , and there is a 90 ° phase difference between the two pairs , the conduction periods for the four transistors are now distributed equally with a 90 ° phase difference between each period . the outputs of the transistors 62 and 63 are connected to one differential input port of the differential hybrid 67 which is of the same type as the hybrid 66 . similarly , the outputs of the transistors 64 and 65 are connected to the other differential input port of the differential hybrid 67 . provided again that the connection lines from the transistors to the hybrid 67 are of equal electrical lengths , the two differential input signals to the hybrid 67 will also have a 90 ° phase difference . also the differential hybrid is symmetrical , and thus it will now function with two differential input ports to which the two differential input signals with a 90 ° phase difference are connected , and these signals will be combined to one differential signal at the differential output port while the fourth port is still isolated . again the total electrical length of the paths through the transistors should be the same from the input of the input hybrid to the output of the output hybrid . in this way the waves are added optimally in phase in the output hybrid . the isolated ports of the two hybrids are terminated with the resistors 68 and 69 . the circuit of fig1 uses differential quadrature hybrids , but again also in - phase hybrids can be used , as is shown in the circuit 71 in fig1 . the only differences from fig1 are that in - phase hybrids 72 and 73 are used instead of the quadrature hybrids , and that the electrical lengths of the connections between the transistors and the hybrids in the upper part of the circuit differ with λ / 4 from the connections in the lower part of the circuit to ensure that the transistors 62 and 63 still have a 90 ° phase difference from the transistors 64 and 65 . as mentioned above , the four transistors in fig1 or fig1 will conduct with a 90 ° phase difference between each other . therefore the pulses in the current drawn from the supply voltage , and thus in the supply voltage itself , will also differ 90 ° from each other . the amplitude of each pulse is now reduced to one quarter compared to the one - transistor solution , because the total current is divided between the four transistors . this is illustrated in fig1 . the upper diagram shows the ripple caused by transistor 62 , while the next diagrams similarly show the ripple caused by transistors 65 , 63 and 64 . finally , the lower diagram shows the combined ripple . it is seen that the ripple now has a frequency four times the operating frequency , and that the amplitude is now much reduced . as mentioned before , the shown shape of the ripple is only illustrative , but even with other shapes the ripple will at least be reduced to a quarter of the ripple for the one - transistor solution . further , four times the operating frequency is far easier to filter out in other blocks . this means that with this solution it is possible to integrate the power amplifier with the transistors and the hybrids together with the more sensitive functions of the radio circuit on one chip or very close in the same package . as mentioned for the single ended hybrid amplifier , the output hybrid will make the load of the collectors of the transistors unsensitive to load mismatch at the output , or at least the circuit can be compensated therefor by a feed - back coupling . this also applies to the differential hybrid amplifier , although the load is of course differential . thus this solution also allows that the output can be connected directly to the antenna without the need for an isolator between the amplifier and the antenna . the solution also allows for lower voltage operation . this is due to the fact that the peak current is now divided between four transistors . further , because the transistor stages are differential they can in practice work with twice the actual supply voltage even without inductive chokes at the supply lines . if chokes are used , it could be up to four times the actual supply voltage . thus it is possible to operate the power amplifier with very low supply voltages , which is often a demand in e . g . mobile telephones . although a preferred embodiment of the present invention has been described and shown , the invention is not restricted to it , but may also be embodied in other ways within the scope of the subject - matter defined in the following claims .
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fig1 diagrammatically illustrates pertinent portions of exemplary embodiments of a data processing system according to the invention . examples of the data processing system include wireless telephones , laptop computers , and set - top boxes . the exemplary system of fig1 includes a host processor 11 ( for example a microprocessor ) and one or more co - processors 13 ( for example additional microprocessors and / or dsps ). the processors 11 and 13 can be embedded together in a single integrated circuit chip , or can be provided on separate integrated circuit chips . a man - machine interface ( mmi ) 12 , for example a keyboard / keypad , visual display , etc . permits a user to access user applications 14 associated with the host processor 11 . when a user application determines that a co - processor should execute a particular function , the application directs a server 15 in the host processor 11 to obtain program information to be downloaded from the server 15 to the co - processor , and then used by the co - processor in performing the desired function . in response to the request from the user application 14 , the server 15 uses an application programming interface ( api ) 16 to retrieve the program information from a file storage facility ( e . g . a file system or other file storage mechanism ) 17 where executable files are stored . according to the invention , a given executable file stored in the file storage facility 17 includes not only program information which the co - processor uses to perform the desired function , but also includes non - program information associated with the program information . for example , the non - program information could include platform requirement information such as described above , setup parameters , or other general properties of the program . the api 16 distinguishes the program information from the non - program information , and provides both sets of information to the server 15 . based on the non - program information , the server can , for example , make a determination as to which of a plurality of available co - processors is suitable for execution of the desired program , and can then forward the program information to the selected co - processor . fig2 diagrammatically illustrates exemplary manners in which the aforementioned non - program information can be configured . as shown in fig2 , during a program development phase , the developer uses software tools to configure a virtual database 17 ′ which stores object ( i . e . program ) attributes such as , for example , platform requirement information , setup parameters , etc . the virtual database 17 ′ is provided within the storage facility 17 of fig1 as will be described in more detail below . a configuration tool 21 provides the attribute ( non - program ) information . a uuid generation tool 23 provides to the configuration tool 21 a universally unique identifier ( uuid ) for identifying each set of attribute information stored in the virtual database 17 ′. the uuids are included in the attribute information provided by the configuration tool 21 . after the virtual database 17 ′ has been established during the development phase , the api 16 accesses the stored object attributes and provides them to the server 15 during the runtime phase . fig3 diagrammatically illustrates an exemplary process for providing the virtual database 17 ′ of fig2 in the storage facility 17 of fig1 . in the example of fig3 , the configuration tool 21 is based on texas instruments incorporated &# 39 ; s commercially available graphical configuration tool ( gconf ). this tool is a windows gui application that presents different configurable data modules in a manner similar to windows explorer . the developer can conduct a dialogue in conventional fashion with the gconf tool , inputting the desired attributes for each program ( or object ) in fig3 . the programs are designated as obj 1 , obj 2 , . . . objn in fig3 . using conventional techniques , the gconf tool can be suitably programmed to convert the input attribute information into information which is suitable for integration into an executable file , for example a coff ( common object file format ) executable file . after the attribute information has been input into a suitable configuration file in the gconf tool 21 during the aforementioned dialogue , the developer uses the gconf “ file / save ” command , which prompts the gconf tool to automatically generate header files , assembly macros and linker command files based on the attribute information provided by the developer during the dialogue process . the linker command files will contain the attribute is information in a format suitable for integration into an executable file . each of the assembly / linker files 32 , 33 and 34 ( which include the aforementioned linker command files ) is combined with its associated program information ( i . e ., code and data ) at 36 , 37 and 38 , which program information is contained in conventional executable files ( e . g . coff files ). the combining operation can be performed by a conventional compiler / linker 31 . the compiler / linker 31 combines the data in the assembly / linker files 32 , 33 and 34 with the program information from the files 36 , 37 and 38 , respectively , to produce corresponding executable files , in this example coff executable files 39 , 40 and 41 , that include both program information ( from 36 , 37 and 38 ) and non - program information ( from 32 , 33 and 34 ). each of the executable files 39 , 40 and 41 illustrated in fig3 includes program information and non - program information , as illustrated generally by the example of fig7 . the executable file 40 illustrated in fig7 includes program information ( code and data ) and corresponding non - program information , for example platform requirement information for the program , as described above . although the example executable file 40 of fig7 includes only a single program and its associated non - program information , other executable files in the storage facility 17 could include code and data corresponding to a plurality of programs , together with a plurality of sets of non - program information respectively corresponding to the plurality of programs . the non - program information included in the various executable files 39 , 40 and 41 in fig3 constitutes the virtual database 17 ′ of fig2 , more particularly a virtual database including non - program information corresponding to the various programs stored in the storage facility 17 . fig4 shows examples of attribute information associated with an exemplary codec node ( i . e ., codec program ). as shown , the aforementioned uuid can be obtained by the developer ( from the tool 23 of fig2 ) and provided as attribute information for the codec program . referring again to fig1 , when the server 15 begins the process of loading an executable file onto a coprocessor for the first time , the api 16 will record the file path of the executable file . in some embodiments , the api 16 performs data retrieval through a parser 51 as illustrated in fig5 . the parser 51 uses the uuid information described above to identify uniquely each program in the storage facility 17 , and to identify data sections within the executable files wherein the corresponding non - program information is stored . executable files that conform to coff , for example the coff utilized by texas instruments incorporated , support non - downloadable data regions . using this feature of coff , the compiler / linker 31 of fig3 automatically stores the non - program information within the non - downloadable data regions of the coff executable files . thus , the parser 51 will search through the coff executable files within the storage facility 17 , comparing the uuids of the non - downloadable data sections with the uuid provided to the parser 51 by the user ( via the server 15 ). when the parser finds a non - downloadable data section uuid match , the non - program information from that section can , in some embodiments , be loaded into a corresponding data structure in the api 16 . the non - program information can be provided to the server 15 along with the corresponding program information read from the storage facility 17 , whereupon the server 15 can utilize conventional techniques to , for example , evaluate whether a given co - processor is suitable for execution of the desired program and / or to setup / configure the co - processor to execute the desired program . the parser 51 can be used to determine the file path information described above , and this information can be stored in an otc ( object to coff ) map 53 . this map 53 can thereafter use the user - provided uuid information to map the various programs to their corresponding coff files . fig6 illustrates exemplary operations of the present invention . the program code and data is provided at 61 , and the related non - program information is provided at 62 . at 63 , the non - program information is configured for inclusion in an executable file . at 64 , the configured information is integrated into an executable file together with the program code and data . when it is desired at 65 to download the program from the host processor to a co - processor , the server at 66 obtains the executable file contents , and uses the non - program information to select the co - processor , after which the program can be downloaded into the co - processor at 67 . fig8 is provided to illustrate by comparison exemplary advantages of the invention described above with respect to fig1 - 7 . fig8 diagrammatically illustrates the consequences of the lack of database standardization across different target operating systems . whereas the invention described above with respect to fig1 - 7 is clearly cooperable with multiple target operating systems while using only a single api design and a single ( virtual ) database configuration , fig8 illustrates that , without the invention of fig1 - 7 , multiple target operating systems could be supported only by multiple corresponding database access apis , one database access api for each os - specific database . as a result , the overall complexity of the system would increase significantly as clearly shown by a comparison of fig1 and 8 . it should also be noted that the invention described above with respect to fig1 - 7 provides a unique data access approach inasmuch as no other database server will be able to access the data in the above - described virtual database 17 ′ unless , for example , that server has access to the uuids that are needed to access the data in the virtual database 17 ′. the above - described integration of non - program information with program information in an executable file permits non - program information to be communicated from the developer to the server of the host processor in an efficient manner , and without increasing the size of the runtime program . this is accomplished by , for example , taking advantage of the non - downloadable data section feature of coff executables . the invention eliminates the need for an auxiliary database on the host processor , thus saving the resources required by a traditional database , which is particularly advantageous for resource - constrained systems such as a system on a chip . the invention further simplifies the process of downloading a program to a co - processor because both program and non - program information can be provided in a single file , thereby advantageously avoiding the conventional requirement of handling two separate files . also , as described above with respect to fig8 , the invention provides compatibility across multiple platforms with far less complexity than would result through application of conventional techniques . although exemplary embodiments of the invention are described above in detail , this does not limit the scope of the invention , which can be practiced in a variety of embodiments .
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fig1 : a schematic showing the general operating principle of a separator apparatus of a type incorporated in embodiments of the present invention in which the following reference numerals refer : 1 . filtration unit 2 . porous filter 3 . upper ( pre - filtration ) chamber for receiving fluid sample . 4 . fluid sample 5 . lower ( post - filtration ) chamber for receiving back - flushing fluid . 6 . fluid provided in the post - filtration chamber 7 . resonating substrate 8 . acoustic energy generating element 9 . vacuum draw ( optional ) the porous filter 2 separates a filtration unit 1 into two chambers ; an upper ( pre - filtration ) chamber 3 into which a fluid sample 4 requiring cell separation is introduced and a lower ( post - filtration ) chamber 5 into which a fluid 6 capable of transmitting an acoustic standing wave is introduced . an acoustic element 8 is coupled to a substrate 7 which is located within and at the bottom of the lower chamber and which resonates in response to the acoustic generating element and generates a standing wave through the two fluid phases and the filter to agitate the sample . simultaneously , a cyclic process of vacuum draw 9 causes movement of the sample downwards through the filter . vacuum pressure , fluid flow rate and frequency of vibration are controlled by a controller ( associated with appropriate pumps and valves . a concentrated fraction of desired larger cells is retained on top of the filter whilst smaller cells pass through the filter to a waste receptacle ( not shown ). in a specific embodiment of the invention the acoustic element is a speaker having a power of 0 . 4 w , resistance of 4ω , amplitude in the range of between about 4 . 2v to 7 . 36v peak to peak and a frequency range in the range of between about 300 - 700 hz . fig2 : a photograph of illustrating the component assembly of an embodiment of the filtration unit of the invention in which the following reference numerals refer : 10 . upper chamber 11 . middle chamber 12 . lower chamber 13 . clamps to secure upper chamber and middle chambers 14 . membrane filter 15 . o - rings sealing to filter when the upper and middle chambers are clamped together 16 . upper tissue sample reservoir within middle chamber 17 . input into saline reservoir below filter 18 . acoustic energy generating element 19 . o - rings sealing to acoustic element 20 . exit for acoustic element electrical connection fig3 : a photograph of a separation apparatus of a type incorporated in embodiments of the present invention in which the fluids in the pre - and post - filtration chambers are sequentially moved across the filter , and in which the following reference numerals refer : 21 . filtration unit ( process chamber ) 22 . control unit 23 . lcd : acoustic frequency 24 . lcd : vacuum pressure 25 . drip counter 26 . drip sensor cable 27 . pressure sensor 28 . signal volume 29 . acoustic frequency 30 . vacuum knob 31 . pressure sensor cable 32 . pump switch 33 . audio cable 34 . saline line ( from syringe to process chamber ) 35 . waste line ( from process chamber to waste chamber ) 36 . waste chamber this figure illustrates an apparatus which comprises a filtration unit 21 and a control unit 22 . the control unit 19 can be programmed to control the vacuum pump ( koge kpv14a - 6a ) ( not shown ). an amplifier and signal generator chip built into the control unit allows the frequency and amplitude of the acoustic element ( not shown ) to be set via the plc . the plc also operates together with a load cell ( not shown ) so as to vary the applied acoustic energy as the volume of fluid above the filter ( not shown ) changes , in accordance with aspects of the present invention . fig4 : schematic representation of a further embodiment of the apparatus of the invention and in which the following reference numerals refer : 37 . filtration unit 38 . acoustic energy generating element 39 . load cell 40 . acoustic sensor 41 . interactive ldc panel — lcd user interface 42 . micro processor 43 . printed circuit board , pcb 44 . vacuum pump 45 . pressure sensor 46 . waste chamber the pcb 43 is programmed to switch the acoustic energy generating element 38 and vacuum pump 44 ( koge kpv14a - 6a ) on and off . it is also integrated with a pressure sensor 45 and an acoustic sensor 40 ( e . g . microphone ) to constantly monitor and adjust the working vacuum pressure and the acoustic energy to an optimum . the lcd interface 41 guides the user through the entire process / procedure with interactive flashing icons indicating what the user should do in each step . the entire system is powered up by a ‘ power source ’ e . g . batteries . fig5 : photograph of the lcd user interface on the control unit of the invention and in which the following reference numerals refer : 47 : input saline 48 : input biological fluid 49 : input required final volume 50 : processing 51 . required volume reached ( processing completed ) 52 : press set / next button 53 : fluid volume 54 : battery power indicator 55 : set / next button 56 : up and down button for adjusting fluid volume . in normal operation the separation chamber of the apparatus is initially free of fluid . the lcd interface will display ‘ input saline ’ 47 and ‘ input biological fluid mixture ’ 48 icons to indicate the user to deliver the fluids into apparatus . the volume of the biological fluid mixture added is registered by the load cell and displayed on the lcd 53 . this will be followed by the ‘ input required end volume ’ 49 icon which can be set by using the ‘ up and down buttons ’ 56 on the panel . once the required final volume is set the biological fluid mixture will undergo processing , which will be indicated by the ‘ processing in progress ’ 50 icon . during processing , the acoustic element and the vacuum pump are switched on . the acoustic energy and the vacuum pressure applied will be constantly monitored and automatically adjusted as the processing fluid volume decreases . the acoustic energy has amplitude fixed at 11v and an amplifier signal voltage of less than 5v . the signal volume range from 2 to 6 and the frequency range from 350 to 650 hz , this drives a standing wave through the fluid and the fluid observed to be in constant agitation . the negative vacuum pressure applied range from 0 . 2 to 0 . 3 psi to keep a net unidirectional flow of biological fluid through the filter into the waste chamber . once the desired / entered end volume is reached , ‘ process completed ’ icon appears 51 , and the pcb is permanently disabled with a ‘ kill ’ command form the micro - processor . the processed biological fluid above the filter is then removed and is ready for use . the flow diagram of fig6 shows a currently preferred operating principle for the control system of embodiments of the present invention , with fig7 showing the role of the pcb in controlling , monitoring and regulating the vacuum pressure , fluid volume / load and acoustic energy . the separation apparatus of fig4 has a load cell that measures the mass of the fluid and a microprocessor that controls the frequency of an acoustic actuator . the fluid mass above the porous filter in the separation chamber was recorded every 20 seconds , as well as the corresponding acoustic frequency at that time point . a representative mass - frequency profile is shown in fig8 for the separation apparatus using porcine bone marrow . the measured data is best represented by the correlation : y = 733 . 12 x ( e − 0 . 1516 ) with an r 2 = 0 . 9759 . in practice , the generalised correlation would be applied within the microprocessor software , such that for a given measured fluid mass the appropriate frequency would be applied to the acoustic actuator in the separation apparatus . another representative mass - frequency profile is shown in fig9 for the separation apparatus of fig8 using both human and porcine bone marrow aspirate ( bma ). the measured data is best represented by the linear regressions : as fluid processing progressed , the mass of fluid contained above the filter was registered on an lcd coupled to a load cell . simultaneously , the frequency of the acoustic element was registered on an independent lcd display . these data were generated using the same device . the regressions show that irrespective of tissue type the same linear change in frequency correlates to the change in fluid volume . the data also suggests that for human tissue there is constant reduced offset in frequency of approximately 30 hz . various materials may be used as a loudspeaker cone / diaphragm , but the most common are paper , plastic and metal . the ideal material would be light ( to minimise starting force requirements ), stiff ( to prevent uncontrolled cone motions ) and well damped ( to reduce vibrations continuing after the signal has stopped ). in practice , the three criteria cannot be met simultaneously using existing materials . as a result , many loudspeaker diaphragms are made of some sort of composite material . fig1 shows an exploded view of a substrate or ‘ soundboard ’ 57 made of composite material that , when used as loudspeaker cone / diaphragm in combination with an acoustic energy generating element , is capable of delivering appropriate acoustic energy into the biological fluid . it is a composite panel with layered / bonded sandwich construction , consisting of a polycarbonate disc core 58 and two outer stainless steel skins 59 of specific thickness . the outer skins 59 are extremely strong and the core 58 is lightweight and very much weaker , but with the use of a suitable adhesive the benefits are realised . details are shown in table 1 . this combination of materials gives the soundboard 57 a unique material stiffness and performance characteristic such that , when used as speaker cone / diaphragm in combination with an acoustic actuator , it generates fluid resonance through efficient acoustic energy delivery which in turn provides efficient filtering in the cell separation apparatus of embodiments of the present invention . a current working embodiment of an alternative embodiment of the invention is schematically represented in fig1 comprising hinged separation chamber 60 together and a pcb / microprocessor 61 . the hinged separating chamber is a pop - up sub - assembly held in a preloaded position as described below : the hinged supporting platform 62 is a moulding that incorporates the separation chamber as well as keeping the separation chamber and the porous filter 63 in the horizontal position . it is designed to pop - up to desired tilt angle once the biological fluid processing is complete , thus allowing for maximum recovery of the processed fluid . the actuator spring 64 is located at the opposite end to the hinge 65 sandwiching between the hinged supporting platform 62 and the base 66 . it provides a uniform elevation force on the hinged separating chamber . the spring is under compression when the assembly is in the preloaded position . a fusible filament 67 ( e . g . polymer filament loop ) is tethered at one end to the hinged separation chamber ( opposite to the hinge ), drawn taut and tethered to the filament retainers 68 at the other end . this action anchors the separation chamber with the spring compressed such that the pop - up sub - assembly is grounded and preloaded . the filament is in direct contact with the fusible resistor 69 which , when activated , melts the filament and thereby allowing the preloaded subassembly to pop - up once processing is completed . the filament retainers hold the filament within the assembly by providing a method of attaching the filament to the pivoting bodies , whilst maintaining the tension in the filament in the preloaded position . the base provides the grounding points and guides for the filament to run through . when the specified final volume is reached ( i . e . processing completed ) and recognised by the load cell of the separation chamber , it triggers the pcb / microprocessor to activate the fusible resistor such that the filament is melted and broken at the point of contact . once the thread is broken , the compression springs serve to release the anchored separation chamber that then mechanically locks out into the desired tilt angle . this is shown in fig1 b . the pre - set tilt angle is determined by ( 1 ) the uncompressed actuator spring length and ( 2 ) the position of the spring relative to the hinge ( pivot point ). this is demonstrated in fig1 , showing the relationship : θ = tilt angle o = length of relaxed spring − length of compressed spring a = distance between hinge and spring fig1 is a flow chart showing a decision - making process used in embodiments of the present invention illustrated in fig1 and 12 . fig1 and 15 illustrate an embodiment of the invention in its pre - load and automatically tilted configurations , respectively . the figures show the base 70 which includes a display 71 and user controls 72 , the hinged supporting platform 73 , the separation chamber 74 an outlet port 75 to which a syringe ( not shown ) may be attached in order to take a sample of filtrand or residue , and input ports 76 , 77 . the hinged supporting platform and the separation chamber are preferably configured as a disposable unit incorporating the tether ( not shown ). once the tether has been broken and the hinged platform has popped up into the tilted configuration of fig1 , the hinged platform cannot be locked back in the preload configuration of fig1 , thereby preventing accidental re - use of the unit , which might otherwise result in cross - contamination between clinical samples and / or patient tissue . fig1 shows an alternative embodiment in which the automatic tilt mechanism has been redesigned by using the filament or tether 78 to release a simple trigger mechanism instead of holding the full force of the sprung pivoting section . with this arrangement , the tether 78 would be only under a small amount of tension — just enough to overcome a small spring force . for example , a small pivoting trigger 79 ( e . g . made from polypropylene with a living hinge ) would be under tension from a small spring 80 , and held in its ‘ set ’ position by the tether . when in the preload position , the pivoting section ( e . g . a hook depending from the hinged supporting platform ), would snap into place . when the tether is released , the trigger would be released and the pivoting section would pop - up . fig1 to 24 show alternative embodiments of the apparatus utilising manually - operated tilt means . in fig1 , a tilt lever 81 is hingedly mounted to the base 82 of a separation device . the tilt lever 81 comprises a span portion 82 and a pair of arms 83 with hinge pins 84 . the hinge pins of the arms are adapted for snap fitting into complementary hinge recesses ( not shown ) in the base . as illustrated , when fitted to the base , the tilt lever 81 can be moved by hand from a first position ( step 1 ) in which it is substantially recessed in the base , to a second position ( step 4 ) in which the span portion projects from a bottom of the base causing the device to assume a tilted orientation on a surface on which it is disposed . a pair of recesses ( not shown ) are provided in opposed side walls of the base to enable the tilt lever 81 to be accessed easily by a user &# 39 ; s fingers . the resulting tilt angle is determined by the width and angle of the span portion 82 when in the second position .
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a human finger has the tendency to slightly vibrate when pressed against a surface . by sensing this vibration it is possible to determine whether a physical contact exists . by measuring the vibrations exerted by a human finger to a surface , a device and method can be used to sense whether a physical contact between a human finger and a surface exists . the preferred mechanical construction utilizes piezoelectric elements for sensing the forces caused by the vibration , but the invention is not limited to any particular way of measuring the exerted forces . in a first known application , capacitive sensing technology detects the presence of a human finger but is unable to detect whether the finger is actually touching the surface or is close to it . in a second known application , non - capacitive technologies such as piezoelectric elements or inductive elements are used to sense the human touch by measuring the change in forces projected to the surface of the user interface . many of these technologies only react to change in forces instead of being able to measure the static force . therefore they have limited accuracy and reliability in detecting the beginning and end of a human finger interaction . in a third known application , a user interface sends haptic feedback to a human finger for generating a sensational feeling to the user . in order for most haptic feedback technologies to function a physical contact between the surface and the human finger is required . thus a haptic feedback system benefits greatly from being able to send the haptic feedback only after a physical contact for the finger is present . the present device and method are not limited to any of the aforementioned applications ; the aforementioned applications however serve as particular examples where the present device and method can be utilized . the device 1 comprises one or more piezoelectric elements 22 . a piezoelectric element 22 produces an electric voltage in response to changes in mechanical stress applied to it . when the mechanical stress of a piezoelectric element is varied , the output voltage of the element 22 varies correspondingly . when the mechanical stress of a piezoelectric element is static and does not vary , the output voltage of the piezoelectric element is constant . referring now to the structure of the device 1 in more detail , fig1 shows an example mechanical construction for attaching a piezoelectric element 22 into a surface 10 such that when perpendicular force f is applied to the surface 10 , the force is utilized to mechanically stress the piezoelectric element 22 by bending it . the base plate 20 provides support for the stack of layers on top of it . in the example construction , the base plate 20 is a printed circuit board manufactured of glass reinforced epoxy laminate sheet ( also known as fr4 material ). attached on top of it there is most preferably a 90 μm gold plated copper layer 18 that provides both an electrical connection to the bottom of the piezoelectric element 22 and enough room for the piezoelectric element 22 to bend downwards . for the copper layer 18 , other thicknesses can be used as well , most advantageously between 20 μm and 1 mm , but 90 μm is particularly suitable providing protection against overload and enough room for bending , and being possible to produce with standard printed circuit board processes . gold plating improves the reliability of electrical contact but is not mandatory . in particular when a circular piezoelectric element 22 is used , a circular hole 27 is etched into the copper layer 18 with a slightly smaller diameter to support the piezoelectric element from the sides . as a result , there will be a recess on the top of the base plate 20 - copper layer 18 - combination . most preferably , no hole or recess is made in the base plate 20 . the piezoelectric element 22 comprises a circular layer 28 of piezoelectric material sintered on metallic base plate 25 that most preferably comprises or consists of brass or stainless steel and has a larger diameter than the layer 28 of piezoelectric material . the dot 26 is not directly part of the piezoelectric element 22 , since it is screen printed to the conductive foil 14 to induce pretension and secure the contact , thus improving the sensitivity of the device 1 . the purpose of the dot 26 is also to ensure electrical contact between the piezoelectric element 22 and the conductive foil 14 , since a ) thickness tolerances vary and b ) since heat coefficients are different between adhesive and piezo elements . the device 1 works also without the dot 26 but its reliability as regarding different tolerances can be improved much by using the dot 26 . alternatively , the dot 26 may be on the other side of the conductive foil 14 or even in a different layer . if the dot 26 is located as shown in fig1 , it is preferably either a ) comprise conductive material or be made of conductive material , or b ) be covered with conductive material . for the preferred embodiment , we have chosen to cover the dot 29 with screen printed silver to make its outer surface conductive . the layer 28 of piezoelectric material may be circular but it can have any other form as well . in particular , it was recently found out that the most advantageous form for the layer 28 of piezoelectric material is if it has a triangular shape . we have used oval shapes or shapes close to oval as well , since so it was possible for us to reach the most realistic haptic user experience with the device 1 . the piezoelectric element 22 is enclosed in hole 31 within an adhesive layer 16 . the height a of the adhesive layer 16 is the same as the height of the piezoelectric element 22 . the thickness of the base plate 25 and the layer 28 of piezoelectric material is slightly lower than the height a of the adhesive layer . the total thickness of the base plate 25 the layer 28 of piezoelectric material and of the dot 26 ( when it is uncompressed ) is slightly larger than the thickness a of the adhesive layer 16 in order to obtain pretension . on top of the piezoelectric element 22 is a conductive foil 14 that provides electrical contact to the top electrode of the piezoelectric element 22 . the conductive foil 14 is attached to the surface 10 by an adhesive layer 12 . the surface 10 is visible to the user . when a force f is applied to the mechanical construction in fig1 , the piezoelectric element 22 starts to bend ( fig1 shows the piezoelectric element 22 in bent state ). when the force f is removed , the layered construction returns to its original non - bent state ( the piezoelectric element 22 in fig1 would be shown as straight ). bending is one form of mechanical stress , and so the piezoelectric element 22 produces a voltage between the copper layer 18 and the conductive layer 14 . the copper layer 18 and the conductive layer 14 are connected to a measurement equipment such as a microcontroller for measuring the voltage . the device 1 is not limited to the shown construction and not limited to the use of a separate piezoelectric element 22 . as the element 22 of the device 1 ceramic piezoelectric elements , crystal piezoelectric elements or a polymer construction that exhibit piezoelectric characteristics may be used . any construction is suitable that transfers the applied mechanical force f into a mechanical stress of the piezoelectric material . when the surface 10 in fig1 is not touched by a human finger , i . e . the applied force f is zero , the mechanical construction is steady and the voltage output of the piezoelectric element 22 is steady . when the surface 10 is being touched by a human finger , the finger exerts varying forces f to the surface 10 during the time the finger is physically against the surface 10 . due to the nature of a human finger , the finger has a tendency to slightly vibrate even when kept as steadily as possible . this varying force f cause the voltage output of the piezoelectric element 22 to vary in time . by measuring the amount of variation in the voltage output of the piezoelectric element 22 in a certain time period , it can be detected whether a human finger is being touching the surface , i . e . whether a physical contact exists between the human finger and the surface . an example of actual measurement data is shown in fig2 . the x axis of the plot denotes time and the y axis denotes the measured voltage . before point 40 no force f was applied to the surface 10 and so the mechanical construction and the output voltage was stable . at point 40 a human finger was placed onto the surface 10 such that a physical contact was present . due to the nature of a human finger , the finger vibrated and caused a time - varying force f and thus time - varying bending of the piezoelectric element 22 . from the plot in fig2 it can be clearly seen that the signal became erratic after point 40 . at point 42 the finger was lifted off of the surface 10 . as soon as the physical contact between the finger and the surface 10 was lost at point 42 , the applied force f became zero and the output voltage of the piezoelectric element 22 became steady . by measuring the stability of the output voltage of the piezoelectric element 22 using a suitable electrical circuit , it can be determined whether a human finger has a physical contact to the surface 10 . the example in fig2 was recorded using an electrical circuit as shown in fig3 . the electrical circuit shown in fig3 is an example embodiment of a measurement system but the invention is not limited to this particular way of measuring the sensor element . the microcontroller ic 1 contains software algorithms for measuring the output signal of the piezoelectric element pz 1 using the analog - to - digital converter of the microcontroller ic 1 . the output signal of the piezoelectric element pz 1 is in the simplest implementation the voltage v caused by the layer 28 of piezoelectric material lead through the conductive layers 14 and 18 to the microcontroller ic 1 . the algorithms analyze the measured signal and determine its degree of stability . if the signal is highly stable , or at least sufficiently stable , physical contact between a human finger and the surface 10 does not exist . if the signal is not stable but contains vibrations characteristic to a human finger , a physical contact between a human finger and the surface 10 does exist . the output signal of the piezoelectric element pz 1 was measured via input p1 . 0 of the microcontroller ic 1 with resistors r 2 and r 3 and capacitor c 3 as shown in fig3 . an offset voltage was generated inside the microcontroller ic 1 and output from pin uref / p0 . 0 . the offset voltage was half of the maximum voltage the analog - to - digital converter can measure . this offset voltage is conducted to input p1 . 0 via resistors r 3 and r 2 . when the force f is zero , the voltage at input p1 . 0 is the same as the offset voltage . when the force f is varying , the piezoelectric element pz 1 produces a varying voltage over the resistor r 3 and changes the voltage at input p1 . 0 by the same amount . this construction allows the unipolar analog - to - digital converter to measure bipolar ( positive and negative ) voltage levels produced by the piezoelectric element pz 1 . the active low reset input nrst was driven from the + 3 . 3 v power source via resistor r 1 . this causes the microcontroller ic 1 go out of reset and start running once the operating level rises to proper level during power - up . operating power for the microcontroller ic 1 was obtained from a power source over a connection grounded via and stabilized by capacitors c 1 and c 2 and fed to operating power input vdd . a simple yet effective example implementation of a software algorithm to determine whether the output signal from the piezoelectric element 22 is highly stable or , at least , sufficiently stable , works as follows : the piezoelectric element 22 voltage is sampled with analog - to - digital converter at sampling frequency r , for example r = 250 hz . the sampled values for the last t seconds , for example , t = 0 . 1 s , are stored in memory . the number n of most recent samples in memory is thus n = t r , which in our example would be 25 . after each sampling by the analog - to - digital converter , the following calculations are performed : the sum s of the most recent samples xn in memory is calculated by an arithmetic mean m of the samples in memory is calculated by for each sample xn in memory , the error en is calculated by the error en calculated by equation ( 3 ) is the difference of each sample from the arithmetic mean and raises the difference in square ( i . e . power two ) thick causes higher differences to have exponentially more influence , and also ignores the sign of the difference . the total error e is calculated as the sum of all sample errors : after each analog - to - digital sampling , the total error e indicates the stability of the signal . when the surface is not being contacted by a human finger , the total error e is low , for example e = 25 , consisting of measurement noise . a human finger , when having a physical contact with the surface 10 , characteristically causes a highly erratic signal with distinct spiking . there is no single parameter to describe the signal , but the frequency of the spiking is roughly 20 hz . when a slight contact exists between a human finger and the surface , i . e . the force f is present and presses the surface 10 , the error e in the example embodiment can be e = 600 , for example . the mechanical construction , electrical implementation and measurement noise dictate the predefined threshold h which can be used to determine whether physical contact with a human finger exists . if a physical contact exists , due to the high sensitivity of piezoelectric sensors , the example embodiment is able to detect forces with a resolution of roughly 1 - 10 mn , which is enough for detecting even very slight contacts with a human finger and its vibration . in other words , the limit , when a signal can be considered as “ highly stable ” or “ sufficiently stable ” may be defined depending on the actual implementation . in the example configuration , when the total error e & lt ; 150 , the signal is considered as highly stable . for e & lt ; 150 , the signal amplitude variation has to be less than 0 . 5 % of the total measurement range . a more robust commercial implementation may of course use higher sampling frequency and a low - pass filter for the measured samples with medial filtering to increas ethe signal to noise ratio . the device and method can be used in particular in the following applications : user interfaces of alarm devices , in particular , fire or burglar alarms ; power switches and user interfaces of home appliances , in particular in dishwashers , washing machines , herds , ovens , herd - oven combinations , microwave ovens , and bathroom furnitures .
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in the drawings , like numerals indicate like elements throughout . certain terminology is used herein for convenience only and is not to be taken as a limitation on the present invention . the embodiments illustrated below are not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the invention to the precise form disclosed . these embodiments are chosen and described to best explain the principle of the invention and its application and practical use and to enable others skilled in the art to best utilize the invention . a fluid conveying conduit according to a first embodiment of the invention is designated generally by the reference numeral 10 , as shown in fig1 . the fluid conveying conduit 10 comprises a conduit body 12 which defines a medical tube for administering fluids . the conduit body 12 includes three luminescent markers 14 . each luminescent marker 14 includes an elongate , luminescent rib 16 which extends along the length of the conduit body 12 . each elongate rib 16 includes a luminescent pigment ( not shown ). in a preferred embodiment the luminescent pigment is a phosphorescent pigment . a particularly preferred phosphorescent pigment is alkaline earth metal silicate aluminate . in the embodiment shown , all three elongate ribs 16 lie adjacent to an inner surface 18 of the conduit body 12 , as shown in fig4 . the elongate ribs 16 are equally spaced from one another around the inner surface 18 of the conduit . in other embodiments , of the invention one or more elongate ribs 16 may lie adjacent to an outer surface 20 of the conduit body 12 . in addition , other embodiments of the invention may include different numbers and arrangements of elongate ribs 16 . furthermore , different shapes of cross - sectional profile are also possible . in a low light condition , i . e . typically less than 1 lumen , each elongate rib 16 emits light so as to render the conduit visible to a user or carer . each elongate rib 16 is able to emit visible light for many hours without the need for an external power source . in the embodiment shown in fig1 , the entire conduit body 12 is transparent which means a user or carer is able to see the contents of the conduit 10 . one type of polymer from which it is convenient to make the conduit body 12 is pvc . in other embodiments , not shown , the conduit body 12 may include one or more dyes or secondary pigments so as to emit or reflect incident light in a predetermined range of wavelengths . in this way it is possible to provide a translucent conduit body 12 which has a predetermined tint , so as to provide a visible indication of what fluid is being administered by the tube 10 . a desirable level of translucency , or tinting , is 5 % as this provides a suitable visible indication while still allowing the contents of the conduit 10 to be seen . the luminescent pigment in one or more elongate ribs 16 may also include one or more dyes or secondary pigments . in such embodiments , each elongate rib 16 , in use , emits light of a particular colour . this provides a visible indication of what fluid is being administered by the conduit 10 in a low light condition . a fluid conveying conduit according to a second embodiment of the invention is designated generally by the reference numeral 30 . the second fluid conveying conduit 30 shares many features with the first fluid conveying conduit 10 . these common features are designated by the same reference numerals . the second fluid conveying conduit 30 includes an opaque conduit body 12 which defines a medical tube , and has three elongate ribs 16 integrally moulded therewith . each elongate rib 16 extends along the length of the conduit body 12 . the conduit body 12 and each elongate rib 16 includes a luminescent pigment ( not shown ). consequently , in a low light condition , the whole conduit 30 emits light so as to render it visible . a fluid conveying conduit according to a third embodiment of the invention is designated generally by the reference numeral 40 . the third fluid conveying conduit 40 shares many features with the first and second fluid conveying conduits 10 , 30 . these common features are designated by the same reference numerals . the third medical tube 40 includes a conduit body 12 which defines a medical tube , and may be transparent , translucent or opaque . an ink 42 which includes a luminescent pigment ( not shown ) lies on the outer surface 20 of the conduit body 12 . the ink 42 is arranged as a graphic symbol which assists a user or carer in identifying the fluid being carried by the conduit 40 . in the example shown , the graphic “ o 2 ” is printed on the outer surface 20 . other embodiments may include different graphics and / or arrangements of ink 42 . in a low light condition , the ink 42 glows , thereby allowing a user or carer to see the conduit 40 as well as readily identify the contents , i . e . oxygen . a fluid conveying conduit according to a fourth embodiment of the invention is designated generally by the reference numeral 50 . the fourth fluid conveying conduit 50 shares many features with the first , second and third fluid conveying conduits 10 , 30 , 40 . these common features are designated by the same reference numerals . the fourth medical tube 50 includes a conduit body 12 which defines a medical tube , and is transparent . in other embodiments , the conduit body 12 may be translucent or opaque . the conduit body 12 includes two luminescent markers 14 , each of which includes an elongate , luminescent band 52 , 54 that lies within the conduit body 12 and extends along the length thereof , as shown in fig5 . each elongate band 52 , 54 includes a luminescent pigment ( not shown ). the cross - sectional shape of each elongate band 52 , 54 may differ from that shown in fig5 . for example , in other embodiments the or each elongate band 52 , 54 could have a circular , oval , elliptical , oblong or square cross - sectional shape . a first elongate band 52 lies completely within the conduit body 12 , whereas one portion of a second elongate band 54 is coterminous with the outer surface 20 of the conduit body 12 . in a low light condition , each of the elongate bands 52 , 54 emits light along substantially the entire length of the conduit body 12 , thereby rendering the whole length of conduit 50 visible . a fluid conveying conduit according to a fifth embodiment of the invention ( not shown ) has a conduit body 12 which defines a medical tube , and includes an antimicrobial additive . in this way the fourth conduit is also able to inhibit the spread of infection within a medical facility or home . whilst the examples described above relate to medical tubing , it is envisaged that the invention could be applied to other fluid conveying conduits such as hoses and pipes .
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fig1 is a schematic view an embodiment of a nasal filter structure in accordance with the disclosure . referring to fig1 a nasal filter 10 comprises a generally oval - shaped configuration dimensioned to be slightly larger than the usual size of the periphery of a person &# 39 ; s nasal orifice , namely a person &# 39 ; s nostril . fig2 is a cut - away view of the fig1 structure . in fig2 , the nasal filter 10 comprises a filter layer 12 that includes a microporous filter material . the microporous filter material of the filter layer 12 can comprise a moisture resistant filter material with sufficient pore size to filter out the unwanted particulate , bacteria or virus . in an embodiment of the disclosure , the microporous filter can be , for example , a nonwoven spunlaced polyester fabric . an example of a nonwoven fabric is ps - 1025 available form polymer science , inc . of 2787 s . freeman rd ., monticello , ind . 47960 , the technical disclosure of which is hereby incorporated by reference . the ps - 1025 is a ¾ ounce beige colored apertured spunlaced polyester fabric , with a total thickness of 0 . 003 inches . as would be appreciated by a person skilled in the art , various color nonwoven fabrics could be utilized so as to match the color of nasal filter as closely as possible to the color and hue of the user &# 39 ; s skin , further diminishing the visibility of the nasal filter when worn . similarly , transparent nonwoven fabrics could be utilized , which would also reduce the visibility of the nostril filter when worn . this fabric is comfortable while also mechanically stable allowing the fabric to be used effectively in the nasal filter disclosed herein . the filter 12 is also preferably designed to be up to 99 % percent effective at screening particulate matter and other matter such as respiratory droplets and carcinogens . the placement of a nasal filter structure in accordance with the disclosure in the nasal passage allows the structure to be automatically flush when the wearer exhales . thus , the nasal filter structure in accordance with the disclosure is self - cleaning for long periods of use or during long work periods . this effect is also increased by the proximity of the screen placement to the nasal passage by the outer ring . the filter layer 12 is adhered in a fixed manner to the upper surface of an oval ring - shaped base layer 14 , preferably comprising a clear plastic material . an adhesive 16 is applied to the underside of the base layer 14 . adhesive 16 is designed to securely adhere to the peripheral edge of the person &# 39 ; s nostril , yet is removable when desired . the ring - shaped base layer 14 may comprise an appropriate size and configuration that fits a traditional nostril size such that it only adheres to the peripheral edge of the nostril . in a preferred embodiment of the present disclosure , the filter layer 12 and ring - shaped base layer 14 are flexible . flexibility allows the nasal filter to completely seal a nostril . in a preferred embodiment of the present disclosure , the ring - shaped base layer 14 is preferably no more than 1 / 16 of an inch wide , and preferably as small as 1 / 32 of an inch wide . this minimal size combined with the flexibility of the material is sufficient to firmly attach the nostril filter 10 to the user &# 39 ; s nostril , regardless of the shape and size of the respective nostril . referring to fig1 - 3 , a nasal filter of an embodiment of a nasal filter structure in accordance with the disclosure can include a secondary outer filter layer 17 . the secondary outer filter layer may be applied in addition to the filter layer 12 . the secondary outer filter layer 17 can have a lesser filtering efficiency . in an exemplary embodiment of the disclosure , the secondary outer filter layer 17 can comprise a material such as ps - 1025 - 2a provided by polymer science inc ., 2787 s . freeman rd ., monticello , ind . 47960 . with this exemplary material , smaller partials pass through the secondary outer filter layer 17 to the filter layer 12 . in an embodiment of the disclosure , the secondary outer filter layer 17 can be sprayed , such as an outer surface thereof , with a very light adhesive . an example adhesive is ps - 1034a available from polymer science inc ., 2787 s . freeman rd ., monticello , ind . 47960 . the light adhesive allows the secondary outer filter layer 17 to trap larger particles that can be subsequently examined under microscope to determine what someone is being exposed to . with such a subsequent analysis of the material trapped by the filter , a person can be treated for what they are being exposed to and not what they are allergic . this may save billions of dollars and many lives as well especially effective for molds and particulate matter . fig3 is a schematic view of an embodiment of a nasal filter structure in accordance with the disclosure . referring fig3 an embodiment of the nasal filter 10 of the invention comprises a clear , oval ring - shaped base layer 14 with the adhesive 16 applied to the underside of the base layer 14 . the filter layer 12 is formed in a smaller size relative to the clear base layer 14 and is affixed to the underside of the base layer 14 , while secondary outer filter layer 17 has , in the illustrate exemplary embodiment is larger than the filter layer 12 , but smaller than the base layer 14 . as seen from fig3 , the base layer 14 slightly overlaps the peripheral edge of the filter layer 12 such that the filter layer 12 is adhered to its underside by the adhesive 16 . however , the size of the base layer 14 is sufficiently large to define an adhesive area 14 a on the base layer 14 beyond the periphery of the filter layer 12 . the adhesive 16 thus functions to permanently adhere the filter layer 12 to its underside while also providing adhesive area 14 a that removably adheres to the person &# 39 ; s skin about the periphery of the person &# 39 ; s nostrils . it is noted that additional adhesiveness may be provided to the adhesive area 14 a . more specifically , a stronger adhesive 165 may be applied to the inner portions of the filter layer 12 that overlap with the base layer 14 . as shown , the stronger adhesive 165 may comprise spots of adhesive 165 that are applied to opposing sides of the overlapping of the filter layer 12 and base layer 14 . in this regard , it is believed that only two spots are necessary to provide adequate adherence to the peripheral edge of the person &# 39 ; s nostril . different strength adhesives can be utilized for different uses . for instances , industrial uses where high level of airborne contaminants are present benefit from stronger adhesives . these stronger adhesives securely maintain the seal around the user &# 39 ; s nostril preventing contaminants from entering the user &# 39 ; s nasal passage . a preferred industrial adhesive is a double coated medical grade acrylic pressure sensitive adhesive such as polymer science , inc .&# 39 ; s ps - 1006 , the technical specifications of which are hereby incorporated by reference . polymer science , inc .&# 39 ; s ps - 1006 is a double coated high performance medical grade acrylic adhesive with a polyethylene carrier on a 54 # c2s paper differential release liner . adhesives such as the ps - 1006 from polymer science , inc . bond well to most porous and non - porous surfaces . additionally , these adhesives have high initial tack , enabling immediate application to a user &# 39 ; s nostril once the nasal filter is removed from its packaging . similarly , these adhesives provide exceptional skin adhesion and leave no residue when removed from the skin . alternatively , for more recreational usages whereby the contaminant level is not so severe , a lighter weight adhesive suffices . a preferred recreational adhesive is a single coated medical grade acrylic pressure sensitive adhesive , such as polymer science , inc .&# 39 ; s ps - 1010 , the technical specifications of which are hereby incorporated by reference . polymer science , inc .&# 39 ; s ps - 1010 is a single coated high performance medical grade acrylic adhesive with a polyethylene carrier on a 54 # c2s paper differential release liner . adhesives such as the ps - 1010 from polymer science , inc . bond well to most porous and non - porous surfaces . additionally , these adhesives have high initial tack , enabling immediate application to a user &# 39 ; s nostril once the nasal filter is removed from its packaging . similarly , these adhesives provide exceptional skin adhesion and leave not residue when removed from the skin . referring to fig1 and 3 , a nasal filter structure in accordance with the disclosure can include a dilator 15 . preferably , the dilator 15 comprises a clear plastic so as to be inconspicuous . the dilator 15 can have a variety of different structures depending upon the application or cost target of the nasal filter structure . for example , it can be either a solid , a hinged locking , or a ratcheting piece of soft but firm plastic . in an exemplary embodiment of the disclosure the dilator 15 can comprise a central portion 15 a and two curved portions 15 b and 15 c . the curved portions 15 b and 15 c are preferably curved to the shape of the curve of the nasal filter structure and the natural curve of the flex points of a nasal passage . the two curved portions 15 b and 15 c can also flex and shape to individual nasal passage shape and are connected by a center extension 15 a extending across the center of the nasal passage as shown in , for example , fig4 . the dilator 15 creates a rigid center to tighten the nasal filter structure and expand the nasal passage wider than normal to increase breathability . in preferred embodiments , the center extension 15 a can be solid , ratcheting , or include a center self - locking hinge assembly that locks or snaps in place . the center extension 15 a will also prevent nasal screen from being inhaled or accidentally inserted . fig4 illustrates an embodiment of a nasal filter structure in accordance with the disclosure positioned in a nasal passage . as shown in fig4 , the dilator 15 extends between nasal flex points to aid in opening the nasal passage . in an illustrative embodiment , the two curved portions 15 b and 15 c can be sandwiched between both seals and under ( e . g ., directly ) the nasal passage half - moon shaped inner seal 165 shown in fig3 . this design and placement helps provide extra support and helps with proper placement of the dilator 15 at a flex point of a nose . the dilatorl 5 does not necessarily need to be used with curved portions 15 b and 15 c . in an embodiment of the nasal filter structure such as shown in fig5 a and 5b , the dilator 15 can be used in a nasal filter structure in accordance with the disclosure without the curved portions 15 b and 15 c . in this embodiment , the dilator 15 aids in tightening the filter media , e . g ., filter layer 12 and secondary outer filter layer 17 if it is used . fig6 a , 6 b and 6 c illustrate an embodiment of a dilator center extension 15 a in accordance with the disclosure . fig6 a , 6 b , and 6 c illustrate a locking mechanism . in the illustrative embodiment of fig6 a , 6 b , and 6 c , the locking mechanism includes a hinged locking mechanism , which can be a cylinder locking mechanism . referring to fig6 b , the center extension 15 a includes a flexible cylinder locking mechanism comprises a cylinder 200 and a complementary curved portion 210 . the cylinder 200 snaps into or is press fit into the complementary curved portion 210 . in an exemplary embodiment , the cylinder 200 and complementary curved portion 210 each have a latch portion . in one exemplary embodiment a latch portion can comprise a concave portion on either the cylinder 200 or the complementary curved portion 210 , and a protruding portion on the other of the cylinder 200 or complementay curved portion 210 . the corresponding latch portions latch when the flexible cylinder locking mechanism is in the locked position such as shown in fig6 c . fig6 a illustrates the flexible cylinder locking mechanism in a relaxed , non - latched position . for example , with the illustrative exemplary latch portion mentioned above , when the flexible cylinder locking mechanism is in the locked position , the protrusion portion engages the concave portion to tend to hold the structure in place via , for example a dimple and detent type action . fig7 illustrates an embodiment of a dilator in accordance with the disclosure , including a locking mechanism . in the illustrative embodiment of fig7 , the locking mechanism includes a ratchet mechanism . referring to fig7 , the dilator 15 includes two opposing arms , 215 and 220 . the opposing arms are joined by a ratcheting mechanism 225 . when pressured is applied along the length of the dilator 15 , the clips 230 within the ratcheting mechanism 225 lock . the ratcheting mechanism 225 allows the wearer to adjust how much extension , and therefore how much dilation is applied to a nasal passage . in one example , the ratcheting mechanism 225 can provide ⅛ th inch extension per clip 230 . depending upon the dimensions of the dilator and the amount of extension desired , air flow can be increased up to 100 %. fig8 a and 8b illustrate an embodiment of a dilator in accordance with the disclosure . referring to fig8 a and 8b , the dilator 15 includes a secondary extension 235 . the secondary extension 235 extends onto an extension 240 of , for example the layer 14 . this structure allows the extension 235 and 240 to conform around the natural curve of the flared portion of a nasal passage . the secondary extension 235 creates a slight outward pull . such a slight outward pull tends to improve the users breathing ability and increase air flow . in a preferred embodiment , the secondary extension 235 can be covered by a curved tab of clear adhesive to remain inconspicuous as shown in fig8 a and 8b . in the illustrative embodiments mentioned above , applying an outward force to the nasal filter structure causes the two sides of the dilator 15 to stretch away from one another . the action causes the locking mechanism to close ( e . g ., snap close ). this allows the dilator to open the nasal passage and allows the user to breath a greater volume of air compared to not using a nasal filter structure in accordance with the disclosure . fig9 illustrates an embodiment of a nasal filter structure in accordance with the disclosure . referring to fig9 , a nasal filter structure in accordance with the disclosure can include tabs 250 . the tabs 250 aid in positioning the nasal filter structure with the user &# 39 ; s nose 255 . this aids in properly positioning the nasal filter structure as a whole and in particular the dilator 15 . fig1 illustrates a nasal filter structure in accordance with the disclosure on an applicator 265 . referring to fig1 , the applicator 265 includes the tabs 250 mentioned above . each nasal filter structure is positioned upside down on the applicator 265 and held in position with easy release adhesive 260 . the easy release adhesive allows the nasal filter structures to be held in place on the applicator 265 , while allowing the applicator 265 to be easily pealed away from the nasal filter structure when in position , using , for example the tabs 250 to assist in positioning the nasal filter structure on a user &# 39 ; s nose . the use of the applicator also avoids the user touching the nasal filter structure during application , reducing the risk of unnecessary contamination . as noted above , the tabs 250 , when placed at the tip of a nasal passage on either side of a nose will automatically apposition the nasal filter structure . this allows easy application regardless of the direction of the nasal passage . fig1 schematically illustrates a nasal filter structure in accordance with the disclosure positioned on a person &# 39 ; s nose 270 . referring to fig1 , an outer clear seal 16 conforms to the shape of the nasal passage 275 . in the illustrated embodiment , the curved portions 15 b , 15 c of the dilator 15 are positioned in the area of the half moon portions 165 , which in the illustrated embodiment correspond to a natural flex point of the user &# 39 ; s nose 270 . having thus described illustrative embodiments of the invention of the disclosure in detail and by reference to embodiments thereof , it will be apparent that modifications and variations are possible without departing from the scope of the invention defined in the appended claims .
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the present invention will now be described in detail with reference to a few preferred embodiments thereof as illustrated in the accompanying drawings . in the following description , numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the present invention . it will be apparent , however , to one skilled in the art , that the present invention may be practiced without some or all of these specific details . in other instances , well known operations have not been described in detail so not to unnecessarily obscure the present invention . referring now to fig1 through fig2 in one embodiment , a wall mounted appliance holder 100 is comprised of a wall mount assembly 200 , a shaft assembly 300 , and an appliance holder assembly 400 . the appliance holder assembly 400 is dimensioned for the snug holding of a conventional hand held blow dryer . the shaft assembly 300 cooperates pivotally with the wall mount assembly 200 and the appliance holder assembly 400 to facilitate the positioning of the snuggly held blow dryer to the angle desired by a user . the shaft assembly is further comprised of a shaft element 310 having a bottom ball joint 320 at the near end of the shaft element 310 and a top ball joint 330 at the distal end of the shaft element 310 . the shaft assembly is further comprised of a plurality of snap ring 340 . the wall mount assembly 200 is further comprised of a wall mount interior assembly 210 and a wall mount exterior assembly 220 . the wall mount interior assembly 210 is further comprised of a wall mount interior base 211 , and a bottom ball joint holder 212 having a bottom ball joint holder sleeve 213 , formed substantially as illustrated in fig5 a and fig5 b and dimensioned for the insertion of the bottom ball joint 320 . at least one of snap ring 340 securely holds bottom ball joint 320 within bottom ball joint holder 212 . the wall mount interior base 211 is further comprised of a plurality of interior base fixture hole 214 . the wall mount exterior assembly 220 is comprised of a wall mount exterior base 221 , and an exterior encasement 222 having an exterior encasement hole 223 dimensioned for insertion of the bottom ball joint 320 therein . the wall mount exterior assembly 220 is further comprised of a plurality of exterior base fixture hole 224 . the appliance holder assembly 400 is comprised of a u - shaped holder 410 , and a plurality of gasket 420 . the u - shaped holder 410 is further comprised of a u - shaped cavity 411 on the bottom side of the u - shaped holder . within the u - shaped cavity 411 is formed a top ball joint holder 412 having a top ball joint holder sleeve 412 , dimensioned for the insertion of top ball joint 330 . at least one of snap ring 340 securely holds top ball joint 330 within top ball joint holder 412 . in an exemplary embodiment , a wall mounted appliance holder 100 is comprised of a wall mount assembly , a shaft assembly , and an appliance holder assembly . the wall mount assembly is further comprised of a wall mount base 510 having a lower socket 511 formed on the non - wall side of the wall mount base 510 , a plurality of base fastener holes 512 , and a plurality of base fasteners 520 . the wall mount assembly 500 is further comprised of a bottom cap 530 . the appliance holder assembly is comprised of a male holder 710 having a male gripper insert 711 affixed . the appliance holder assembly is further comprised of a female holder 720 having a female gripper insert 721 affixed . the appliance holder assembly is further comprised of an upper socket 730 and upper socket fasteners 740 that attach the upper socket 730 to the female holder 720 . the male holder 710 is formed to mate securely to the female holder 720 . the shaft assembly is comprised of two halves designed to fit together , a male arm 610 and a female arm 620 . arm fasteners 630 connect the male arm 610 with the female arm 620 . the shaft assembly is further comprised of a lower snap ring 640 and an upper snap ring 650 . the lower snap ring 640 connects the lower portion of the assembled shaft assembly to the lower socket 511 . the upper snap ring 650 connects the upper portion of the shaft assembly to the upper socket 730 . from the foregoing , it will be appreciated that , although specific embodiments of the invention have been described herein for purposes of illustration , various modifications may be made without deviating from the spirit and scope of the invention . for example , many of the features and components described above in the context of a particular wall mounted appliance holder configuration can be incorporated into other configurations in accordance with other embodiments of the invention . accordingly , the invention is not limited except by the appended claims .
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preferred embodiments of the present invention are illustrated in fig1 through 3 , like numerals being used to refer to like and corresponding parts of various drawings . fig1 illustrates thermal imaging system 10 including housing 12 , thermal sensors or focal plane array ( fpa ) 14 , and ir window 16 . window 16 further includes a pair of faceplates , including exterior faceplate 18 and interior faceplate 20 , and support structure 22 interposed between faceplates 18 and 20 . in some embodiments of thermal imaging system 10 , optics and lenses may be included in housing 12 between fpa 10 and ir window 16 . support structure 22 may be any suitable metal , such as aluminum or copper , plastic , or formed from composite materials . in another embodiment , plastic is used for support structure 22 to reduce the weight and cost of ir window 16 . plastic used to form support structure 22 may or may not be transparent to ir energy . when non - ir transmissive material is used for support structure 22 , a material that will reflect ir energy should be used . dimensions for support structure 22 can vary depending on the strength desired for window 16 . depth 24 for ir window 16 is typically on the order of , for example , 1 / 10 &# 34 ; to 1 / 4 &# 34 ;. support structure 22 has voids 23 between exterior faceplate 18 and interior faceplate 20 . voids 23 may be evacuated as desired . voids 23 provide an optical path through ir window 16 that absorbs little or no ir energy . additional detail and embodiments for support structure 22 may be found in discussions relating to fig2 a through 2c below . faceplates 18 and 20 of ir window 16 may be made from an ir transparent polymer material as disclosed and described in u . s . pat . no . 5 , 324 , 586 and u . s . patent application ser . no . 08 / 241 , 218 . these patent applications are incorporated herein by reference . when faceplates 18 and 20 are formed in accordance with u . s . pat . no . 5 , 324 , 586 , they are a polymeric infrared transmitting sheet . ir transparent polymers and copolymers include , for example , polyethylene , ethylene - octene copolymer , polyvinyl pyrrolidene , poly ( acenaphthylene ), styrene / ethylene - butylene copolymer , poly ( 1 - butene ), polybrene , poly ( acrylic acid , ammonium salt ), polyamide resin , ethylene / propylene copolymer , and ethylene / propylene / diene terpolymer . these ir transparent polymers possess low hardness , high strength and low elastic ( young &# 39 ; s ) modulus . the thickness of faceplates 18 and 20 may be on the order of , for example , 1 to 10 mils . in this first configuration for faceplates 18 and 20 , the polymers of choice are those that provide infrared transmissivity in the desired wavelength range , such as , for example , 8 to 12 micrometers , hardness less than about 50 kg / mm 2 , strength in the range of 10 , 000 - 100 , 000 psi , with a preferred value of greater than 20 , 000 psi , and an elastic ( young &# 39 ; s ) modulus in the range of 0 . 2 to 3 × 10 6 psi , and preferably less than 0 . 5 × 10 6 psi . additional copolymers or terpolymers may be desirable to optimize the optical transparency and mechanical and thermal properties of faceplates 18 and 20 . candidates include neoprene , polyurethane , fluorelastomer , polycarbonate , polyether sulfone , polyether ether - ketone , tetcel , and polyacrylate . in an alternate embodiment of this first configuration , polytetrafluoroethelene ( ptfe ) and other perfluoro - compounds can be used as the polymer of choice to form faceplates 18 and 20 . ptfe , commonly known as teflon ™, and perfluoro - compounds are generally ir transmissive in the 3 to 5 micrometer range . in an alternate configuration of the present invention , faceplates 18 and 20 may be formed from a polymeric fiber weave as disclosed and described in u . s . patent application ser . no . 08 / 241 , 218 . faceplates 18 and 20 in accordance with this application are a solid and continuous polymeric material in the form of a fabric of overlapping and underlapping sinusoidal woven fibers . the fibers are designed or derived from a high molecular weight polymer and consolidated to maintain the crystalline weave with a high degree of controlled orientation . the polymeric fibers are preferably , but not limited to , polyethylene . the fibers are woven and consolidated to maintain the orientation of the crystallites and / or molecules in the weave . the weave is preferably accomplished by using just the woven fiber , but can also involve dispersing the woven polymeric fabric or chopped fibers in a matrix . the matrix may be preferably formed of a polymeric material suitable for use as required in u . s . pat . no . 5 , 324 , 586 described above . the woven fiber or the woven fiber and matrix are consolidated in some manner , such as , for example , by hot pressing , calendaring , tentering . the woven fiber fabric is heated under a pressure of about 1 , 000 psi or more , and preferably from about 1 , 000 to about 2 , 000 psi , to a temperature at or slightly above its melting point . the heated fiber fabric is held at this temperature for a minimum period of time necessary to cause consolidation of the woven fibers and / or the woven fibers and matrix , this taking generally less than about 60 minutes . the consolidated fibers and matrix are then cooled rapidly , generally in 5 minutes or less , to below 100 ° c . the rapid cooling maintains the long molecule chains ( high molecular weight ) intact to the greatest extent possible . this results in a faceplate that is strong in the plane of the faceplate , yet compliant and elastically deformable in the direction normal to the faceplate . this makes the faceplate capable of absorbing and storing impact stresses . in an additional embodiment of faceplates 18 and 20 , the matrix may be omitted . the polymeric fiber fabric can be heated under pressure and temperature conditions similar to those described for the fiber and matrix combination to cause the material forming the fibers to flow into the interstices between the fibers . this results in a continuous sheet of the fibrous material with the interstices filled with the polymeric material that has flowed between the fibers . any polymeric material with high strength ( about 0 . 5 gpa or 70 , 000 psi ) and high elastic modules (˜ 25 gpa or greater or 3 . 6 × 10 6 psi or greater ) that is a thermoplastic that can be processed as described above may be used to form faceplates 18 and 20 . suitable polymers are generally linear polymer chains and generally have molecular weights on the order of about 1 , 000 , 000 or more . examples of materials that can be used are , but are not limited to , gel spun , high molecular weight polyethylene , polypropylene , nylon , polyvinyl alcohol , and polyethylene terephythalate . a polyethylene fabric sold commercially under the name &# 34 ; spectra &# 34 ; fiber by allied chemical company and having a molecular weight of approximately 1 , 000 , 000 has been found to be suitable for use in forming faceplates 18 and 20 . it is noted that faceplates 18 and 20 need not be formed of the same material nor be of the same configuration . for example , faceplate 18 may be formed in accordance with the first configuration described above -- a polymeric sheet , while faceplate 20 may be formed in accordance with the second configuration described above -- a polymeric fiber weave . adhesive layers 25 and 26 may be used to adhere faceplates 18 and 20 , respectively to support structure 22 . adhesive layers 25 and 26 may be a static or chemical bond , with or without an intermediate glue layer . an adhesive known as 3m 86 adhesive may be suitable to adhere faceplates 18 and 20 to support structure 22 . additionally , an o 2 plasma etching process may be used to form adhesive layers 25 and 26 between support structure 22 and faceplates 18 and 20 . adhesive layers 25 and 26 may also be formed from a combination of an adhesive and an o 2 plasma etching process . thermal imaging system 10 of fig1 is formed by placing fpa 14 in cavity 28 of housing 12 . window 16 is placed in cavity 28 of housing 12 and sits on seats 30 . a hermetic seal may be formed between window 16 and housing 12 as desired . in an alternate embodiment of ir window 16 , a single faceplate is used . by eliminating interior faceplate 20 , the optical path for ir energy through ir window 16 is minimized . eliminating interior faceplate 20 may , however , result in a reduction in strength for ir window 16 . in operation of thermal imaging system 10 of fig1 ir energy represented by arrows 32 enters thermal imaging system 10 through ir window 16 . ir energy 32 travels through exterior faceplate 18 , voids 26 , interior faceplate 20 , and on to fpa 14 . some ir energy may be absorbed by faceplates 18 and 20 , but , by using support structure 22 between faceplates 18 and 20 , the optical path and , therefore , absorption of ir energy in window 16 , is minimized . thermal imaging system 10 may be coupled to a display system for generating a display of the thermal image represented by ir energy 32 . thermal imaging system 10 may be mounted in a motor vehicle in order to provide a low cost infrared thermal imaging system . fig2 a through 2c depict top views of several embodiments for the support structure used with the present ir window . for the remaining discussions it will be assumed that the views of fig2 a through 2c are looking down onto exterior faceplate 18 . fig2 a depicts hexagonal support structure 34 below exterior faceplate 18 . hexagonal support structure 34 is commonly referred to as a honeycomb structure . any side 36 of a hexagon within honeycomb support structure 34 is approximately 1 / 10 &# 34 ; to 1 / 4 &# 34 ;. fig2 b shows honeycomb triangular support structure 38 under exterior faceplate 18 . the triangles within honeycomb triangular support structure 38 have sides on the order of 1 / 10 &# 34 ; to 1 / 4 &# 34 ;. fig2 c shows honeycomb rectangular support structure 42 through exterior faceplate 18 . any side 44 of rectangular faceplate 42 is on the order of 1 / 10 &# 34 ; to 1 / 4 &# 34 ;. it is noted that the rectangles of honeycomb rectangular support structure 42 may be squares . it is also noted that while three embodiments for the support structure used in accordance with the present ir window are depicted in fig2 a through 2c , that the present invention is not limited to these structures . many honeycomb structures , not explicitly identified , may be suitable for the shape of the support structure . fig3 illustrates in cross section and in elevation thermal imaging system 46 having housing 48 , fpa 14 , and ir window 50 . thermal imaging system 46 is similar to thermal imaging system 10 of fig1 with the noted exception that ir window 50 is curved . curved ir window 50 is placed in cavity 52 of housing 48 and is supported by seats 54 . the curvature of ir window 50 may be desirable for thermal imaging systems requiring , for example , a dome to protect the thermal detectors . the present invention provides a low cost , high strength , impact resistant ir window . the present ir window minimizes and achieves low cost by eliminating the need for the traditional ir window and uses in its place one or more polymeric ir transmissive faceplates with a support structure therebetween . the support structure is typically a honeycomb structure . the present invention provides technical advantages of low cost , high transmissivity , and is suitable for many applications of thermal imaging systems . 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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it will be appreciated that the following description is intended to refer to the specific embodiments of the invention selected for illustration in the drawings and is not intended to define or limit the invention , other than in the appended claims . turning now to the drawings in general and fig1 - 4b in particular , the number “ 10 ” designates an electric water heater of the invention . water heater 10 includes an outer jacket 12 which surrounds foam insulation 14 . foam insulation 14 surrounds water tank 16 . a top pan 18 caps jacket 12 on its upper end and bottom pan 20 caps jacket 12 on its lower end . an inlet 22 in the upper portion of tank 16 provides for cold water to enter the tank . similarly , outlet 24 allows for hot water to exit through the upper portion of tank 16 . a pair of heating elements 26 are mounted to the side of tank 16 . elements 26 are electrically connected to an electronic controller 28 located in a recessed portion 30 of top pan 18 . elements 26 are mounted to the side wall of tank 16 by means well known to those of ordinary skill in the art , such as threads 46 , and are covered by plastic caps 32 which snap into position through openings in jacket 12 . an upper foam dam 34 surrounds upper element 26 and extends between tank 16 and jacket 12 . similarly , lower foam dam 36 surrounds element 26 and spigot 38 . foam dam 36 also extends between jacket 12 and tank 16 . each heating element 26 includes a base 27 , a resistance heater 29 , a thermistor sensor 44 and a pair of thermistor connectors 45 . the thermistor 44 is embedded in base 27 between opposing legs of the resistance heater 29 . electronic controller 28 connects to elements 26 by way of wires 40 . wires 40 extend between electronic controller 28 and elements 26 through the space between jacket 12 and tank 16 . that space is otherwise filled with insulation 14 . it is possible for wires 40 to be located such that foam - forming liquids form directly around wires 40 during the foaming process . also , wires 40 can be located within a passageway created within the foam , if desired , such as with tubes , pipes and the like . electronic controller 28 is a user interface and includes a water temperature adjustment dial 42 which can be rotated to select a variety of water temperatures at which the water within tank 16 will be maintained . the specifics of the connections and operations of electronic controller 28 and heating elements 26 shown in fig5 and 6 . thermistor 44 is connected in a conventional manner through thermistor connectors 45 to electronic controller 28 . resistance heater 29 is also connected to heater control board 47 via relays 50 on heater control board 47 . electrical power is supplied to the system through power supply 48 , which include fuses 49 and 49 ′ for deenergizing the system in the event of an amperage surge . heater control board 47 preferably incorporates electronic control circuitry for controlling operation of the water heater , as described in more detail below . such control circuitry may incorporate a number of electronic components , known to those of ordinary skill in the art , such as solid state transistors and accompanying biasing components , or one or more equivalent , programmable logic chips . the electronic control circuitry may also incorporate a programmable read only memory ( prom ), random access memory ( ram ) and a microprocessor . the arrangement and / or programming of these components may take any number of forms well known to those of ordinary skill in the art to accomplish operation of the water heater as described below . for example , specific programming of the type described herein may be obtained from therm - o - disc , inc . and united technologies electronic controls . when there is a call for hot water , hot water exits through outlet 24 and cold water is introduced through inlet 22 . thermistor sensors 44 detect the temperature of water within tank 16 by way of their being embedded in bases 27 at positions interior of the water tank side wall . the temperatures of bases 27 reflect the temperature of water in tank 16 . thermistors 44 then send temperature information , typically in the form of an electrical signal , to controller 28 . controller 28 is programmed with predetermined set point temperatures to determine the temperature at which controller 28 energizes element 26 . the predetermined set point can be made to be variable if desired . when the temperature of the water within tank 16 decreases to that predetermined set point , controller 28 detects such temperature information received from thermistor sensor 44 and energizes element 26 . element 26 continues in the energized state to heat the water until temperature information received from sensor 44 indicates that the water temperature has reached a second predetermined set point . the second predetermined set point can be selected by adjustment dial 42 and is variable . when controller 28 detects that the second predetermined set point has been reached , controller 28 deenergizes element 26 . the second predetermined set point typically has five variable settings for deenergizing elements 26 . such selectable settings are preferably between about 90 ° f .- 180 ° f . the differential for energizing the elements can vary depending on the task to be performed . controller 28 also contains a lock - out set point which is preferably less than about 210 ° f . the control lock - out prevents elements 26 from energizing when the water temperature reaches an abnormal predetermined set point and the controller 28 will not permit energizing of elements 26 until controller 28 is reset by removing power and then subsequently reapplying power . this can be accomplished automatically by controller 28 , thereby reducing and possibly eliminating the need for a mechanical reset control . such a reset could be performed by a reset user interface 31 on controller 28 . the sensing capabilities of sensors 44 are such that elements 26 can be energized and deenergized after only approximately 1 . 5 gallons of water have been drawn from tank 16 . this compares to about 3 . 0 gallons of water removal in prior art constructions . one particular sequence of operational steps to achieve operation of the water heater in this matter is shown in more detail in fig7 and 8 . when the water heater control system is first started , the control electronic circuitry of heater control board 47 records the initial temperature at bottom element 26 and then turns on the bottom element 26 for ten seconds and then off for two minutes . heater control board 47 then records the file temperature of the bottom element 26 as measured through thermistor 44 and calculates the difference between the final temperature and initial temperature . if the difference between these temperatures is greater than five degrees , then heater control board 47 turns off both elements 26 through relays 50 . heater control board 47 then checks to see if system power has been turned off or reset through incoming power supply 48 . once the system has been reset , heater control board 47 then begins this process from start . if , however , the temperature differential is less than five degrees , then heater control board 47 energizes bottom element 26 to heat the water in tank 16 until it reaches the temperature set on temperature adjust dial 42 . if the temperature of temperature adjust dial 42 is less than 110 ° f ., then the top element 26 remains off . otherwise , heater control board 47 checks the temperature at thermistor 44 in upper element 26 . if the temperature of thermistor 44 in upper element 26 is equal to the temperature of dial 42 minus 5 ° f ., then heater control board 47 does not energize upper element 26 until the temperature at thermistor 44 in upper element 26 is less than the turn on temperature ( which is typically the temperature set on temperature adjust dial 42 minus some increment such as 5 °) minus 5 ° f . heater control board 47 then energizes top element 26 . heating of the water in tank 16 then continues in a conventional manner until the turn off temperature of temperature adjust dial 42 is achieved . by energizing upper and lower elements 26 in the manner described above , the significant advantages of the invention can be achieved . for example , energizing the element briefly ( e . g ., about 5 - 10 seconds ) and detecting temperature with a thermistor allows heater control board 47 to prevent elements 26 from being energized for long periods of time in a “ dry fire ” condition , thereby avoiding substantial degradation of the elements and significantly extending their life . thus , the terms “ substantially no degradation ” refers to little or no element degradation that occurs for an element energization period of about 5 seconds and up to about 10 seconds . energizing the element for longer than about 10 seconds can result in substantial degradation under dry fire conditions . use of thermistor 44 allows for a much more accurate and responsive detection of temperature than the use of more conventional temperature - sensing technology , such as bimetallic strip . this allows the significant temperature changes which occur in a short period of time under a dry fire condition to be detected with only a short ( e . g ., about 5 - 10 seconds ) energizing of the heating element 26 . in this way , a dry fire condition can be detected virtually immediately to prevent overheating of the element , which significantly reduces its useful life . also , use of thermistors 44 eliminates the electromechanical thermostats and their associated foaming aprons , fiberglass batts and the like . small doughnut - shaped foam dams surround the bases 27 and permit foam insulation to cover more surface area of the tank . an alternative set of operational steps in accordance with the invention is shown in fig8 . in this embodiment of the invention , during control power up of the water heater , heater control board 47 checks to see if there is a need for heating of the water at lower element 26 by measuring the temperature at thermistor 44 and comparing the measured temperature with that of temperature adjust dial 42 . if such a demand exists , heater control board 47 energizes lower element 26 and continuously checks to see if the water heating demand is satisfied . once this heating demand is satisfied , heater control board 47 then repeats this process for the upper element 26 . the improvements described above result in a highly energy efficient water heater . the result is that the thickness of the foam insulation positioned between tank 16 and jacket 12 can be reduced by up to 50 %. in other words , a 2 ″ foaming cavity can be reduced to a 1 ″ cavity , and still retain the same energy input . although this invention has been described in connection with specific forms thereof , it will be appreciated that a wide variety of equivalents may be substituted for the specific elements described herein without departing from the spirit of the scope of this invention as described in the appended claims . for example , water tank 16 may be made of a number of sizes and shapes and may be made from a wide variety of materials such as metals and / or plastics . foam insulation 14 may similarly be made from any number of high energy efficient foam insulations well known in the art . the bottom of the water tank 16 may have various shapes , either with lower flanges as shown or as a flat construction . other modifications may be made , including use of foam insulation between the bottom of tank 16 and bottom pan 20 . also , outer jacket 12 may be made from any number of materials such as rolled metals , preferably steel , or extruded vinyl materials and the like . also , top pan 18 and bottom pan 20 may be deep - drawn , stamped or the like , or be made from metal , plastic or other suitable materials . various types of heating elements may be utilized so long as they are used in conjunction with thermistor sensors 44 .
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the inventor has discovered that the difficulty experienced with marine riser disconnect operations when the riser 1 contains substantially gas can be reduced by equalizing the pressure ps acting on the internal shoulder 2 of the wellhead connector 6 and the the seawater pressure po acting external to the wellhead connector 6 . this can be accomplished by either of two manners . the first manner is to equalize the internal riser pressure pi and the hydrostatic head of the seawater po acting eternal to the wellhead connector 6 . this is an indirect way of equalizing ps and po because pi will stay equal to ps when the wellhead connector 6 is lifted to a position sufficient to establish fluid communication between the wellhead connector internal shoulder 2 and the inside of the riser 1 . the second manner is to equalize the pressure ps acting on the wellhead internal shoulder 2 and the seawater pressure po acting on external to the wellhead connector 6 . this a direct manner of equalizing ps and po because pi is not involved . in regards to the first manner , one embodiment for equalizing pi and po is to route seawater through at least one of the ports 15 located in the marine riser 1 to provide unimpaired fluid communication between inside of the riser 1 and the seawater on the outside of the riser 1 . the ports 15 , as shown in fig3 can be in the form of a riser fill - up valve as shown in u . s . pat . no . 4 , 621 , 655 . this valve responds to the large pressure differential that occurs across the riser 1 when the riser 1 contains gas , and opens to permit seawater to enter the riser 1 and equalize pi and po . before encountering the gas kick , ps is approximately equal to po , and pi is slightly larger than po , since the riser contains drilling mud which is normally heavier than seawater . after the gas kick enters the marine riser , pi drops drastically . however , ps remains equal to po until the wellhead connector 6 is lifted to a position sufficient to establish fluid between the internal wellhead connector shoulder 2 and the inside of the riser 1 . when this occurs , ps drops drastically resulting in a pressure imbalance across the wellhead connector 6 and creating a suction - like effect on the marine riser 1 . if at this time the wellhead connector 6 is disengaged from the subsea wellhead 4 larger than normal tension must be applied to disengaged the wellhead connector 6 from the subsea wellhead 4 . this increased tension coupled with the large pressure differential occurring across the marine riser 1 significantly increases the chance of riser collapse . this imbalance continues until the ports 15 are opened allowing seawater to enter the marine riser 1 and wellhead connector 6 and equalize the pi and po , thereby increasing ps . by balancing all the forces acting on the wellhead connector 6 , the suction - like effect is eliminated . as a result less tension is required to lift the marine riser 1 away from the subsea wellhead 4 , thereby reducing the chance of riser collapse during disconnect operations . the opening of the ports 15 can be wired parallel with the wellhead connector disconnect function so that the port will open when the connector dogs 10 are released , keeping the pressures po , pi , and ps close to each other during the disconnect operation . another embodiment for equalizing pi and po is to route seawater through the wellhead connector 6 . this can be done by providing at least one opening 12 , as shown in fig4 in the wellhead connector 6 such that the seawater enters through the wellhead connector 6 . the opening mechanism of the port 12 can be wired such that it opens when the connector dogs are released . the ports 12 in the wellhead connector 6 serve the same purpose as the ports 15 in the marine riser i . e ., to eliminate the pressure imbalance occurring across the wellhead connector 6 and marine riser 1 by increasing pi and ps to the point where they are the same as po . pi can also be equalized to po by closing a diverter or blowout preventer positioned above the riser connector 6 to allow the internal gas pressure to build prior to disengaging he wellhead connector 6 from the subsea wellhead 4 . however , allowing the pressure to build up in this manner could present a safety hazard . in regards to the second manner of equalizing ps and po , a choke is positioned downstream of the wellhead connector internal shoulder 2 so that such shoulder is on the high pressure side of the choke rather than the low pressure side . choke is defined as the smallest orifice the seawater flows through on its path from the outside of the wellhead connector 6 around the locking dogs 10 into the marine riser 1 . the pressure upstream of the choke is substantially higher than the pressure downstream of the choke due to the the large pressure drop across a relatively small area . the inventor has discovered that by moving the position of the choke relative to the position of wellhead connector shoulder 2 ps can be maintained about equal to po while the wellhead connector 6 and the subsea wellhead 4 are still engaged . in a conventional wellhead connector design , as shown in fig5 the choke is the orifice 8 between the released wellhead connector dogs 10 and the external diameter of the subsea wellhead 4 . with the choke in this position , the internal wellhead shoulder 2 is downstream of the choke ; consequently , it is on the low pressure side of the choke . as a result , ps is small in comparison to po . although there is another orifice 5 , the gap between the shoulder 2 and the top of the wellhead 4 , it is larger than orifice 8 . therefore , it is not the choke . the problem with the conventional design is the wellhead connector internal shoulder 2 is downstream of the choke . the solution to this problem is to move the position of the choke , relative to the position of the shoulder 2 , so that the wellhead connector shoulder 2 is upstream of the choke and is on the high pressure side of the choke . an equivalent statement of the solution to the problem is to position the choke so that it is downstream of the wellhead connector internal shoulder 2 . if this is done , the pressure acting on the shoulder 2 is closer to po because the choke applies a substantial back pressure to the surface of the shoulder 2 . one method for moving the location of the choke so that the shoulder 2 is upstream of the choke is to extend the length of the sealing element 7 , as shown in fig6 such that it remains alongside the internal diameter of the subsea wellhead 4 while the wellhead connector 6 is engaged with the subsea wellhead 4 . thus , the smallest orifice the seawater must travel through on its path around the wellhead connector 6 to inside of the marine riser 1 is now the opening 11 between the extended sealing element 7 and the internal diameter of the wellhead 4 . with this extended seal , the choke is orifice 11 and not orifice 8 ; consequently , the wellhead internal shoulder 2 is on the high side of the choke . as a result , ps is maintained at approximately the same po . in other words , ps , which initially is equal to po , is prevented from effectively communicating with the inside of the riser 1 ( where pi is relatively small in comparison to po ) while the wellhead connector 6 and the subsea wellhead 4 are engaged , thereby maintaining ps at a relatively high pressure . the length of tee sealing element 7 required for each wellhead connector 6 will vary . the sealing element 7 should be designed against collapse under outside hydrostatic pressure and also against mechanical jamming during connect or disconnect operations . another embodiment for ensuring that the choke is downstream of the shoulder 2 is the positioning of a wear bushing 13 , as shown in fig7 a and 7b , between the wellhead connector 6 and the subsea wellhead 4 . the bushing 13 serves the same purpose as the elongated sealing element 7 shown in fig6 . the purpose being to shift the position of the choke from orifice 8 to orifice 11 . the length of the bushing 13 should be such that it remains alongside the internal diameter of the wellhead 4 for as long as the wellhead connector 6 remains engaged with the wellhead 4 . the method disclosed herein is also applicable to facilitate the disconnect operation of a marine riser and a subsea wellhead when a reverse wellhead connector is used to connect them . in this type of wellhead , the wellhead connector is a male fitting with the locking dogs attached to its pin end and the subsea wellhead is a female fitting with grooves incorporated into the box end . various modifications and alterations in the described methods will be apparent to those skilled in the art of the foregoing description which does not depart from the spirit of the invention .
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embodiments of the liquid crystal display apparatus of the present invention will now be explained . the arrangement of the ips liquid crystal display apparatus according to the present embodiment will first be explained . the ips liquid crystal display apparatus according to the present embodiment is mainly comprised of , similarly to conventional ones , a tft array substrate , a counter substrate , a sealing agent , spacers ( secondary spacers ) and a liquid crystal layer . spacers will be discussed in details later . the tft array substrate is a substrate made , for instance , of glass provided with scanning signal lines , image signal lines , tfts and liquid crystal driving electrodes which are arranged in a form of an , and there are further arranged common electrodes and common signal lines . the scanning signal lines are arranged in that a plurality thereof are arranged at equal intervals and in a parallel manner , and the image signal lines in that a plurality thereof are arranged at equal intervals and in a parallel manner and further as to be orthogonal to the scanning signal lines via an insulating film . tfts are respectively arranged at each intersection at which the scanning signal lines and image signal lines intersect , to each of which a liquid crystal driving electrode is connected . the common electrodes are arranged in that at least a part thereof are formed to oppose and to be parallel with respect to the liquid crystal driving electrodes , and common signal lines for writing in signals to the common electrodes are disposed vertical with respect to the common electrodes . it should be noted that at least a part of the common electrodes and common signal lines intersect , and are arranged in that signals may be written in through these intersections . the counter substrate is disposed as to oppose the tft array substrate , and the counter substrate is formed with coloring layers of red , green and blue as well as a protecting film for preventing these coloring layers from melting to the liquid crystal layer . for maintaining a predetermined gap between the tft array substrate and the counter substrate in regions formed with liquid crystal driving electrodes constant , there are interposed primary spacers in these regions between the tft array substrate and the counter substrate . the primary spacers are of spherical shape having a diameter of approximately 5 μm , and a plurality of these are used which are made of synthetic resin . the reason for using those made of plastic is that spacers of plastic are comparatively soft and do not damage the tft elements . alternatively , materials of the silica ( sio 2 ) may be selected dimensional variations are approximately 0 . 3 μm ( average deviation ), whereby the gap between the tft array substrate and opposing substrate can be maintained constant . the amount of primary spacers that is to be dispersed into the gap between the tft array substrate and counter substrate is suitably selected for achieving a desired uniformity for the gap . such spherical spacers are easily available and are effective in achieving a desired dimensional accuracy . a plurality of secondary spacers are employed which may be of columnar , strip - like or spherical shape . in view of costs thereof , it is often the case that spacers of glass are employed . in any case , they are easily available and are effective in achieving a desired dimensional accuracy . while materials for the primary spacers are selected from materials which are soft and do not damage the tft elements , those for the secondary spacers are selected from hard ones . the sealing agent is for adhering the tft array substrate and counter substrate together at their peripheral portions while maintaining a predetermined gap therebetween , and secondary spacers are interposed in the seal member for maintaining a predetermined gap between the tft array substrate and counter substrate at their peripheral portions constant , and the tft array substrate and counter substrate are adhered together . in this gap of a predetermined interval , a liquid crystal layer characteristics of liquid crystal having bifringence is interposed and held . polarizers are arranged in the upper side of the tft array substrate and in the lower side of the counter substrate . considerations of a relationship between visual recognition of irregularities in colors and transmittance of light corresponding to each color will now be explained which is a technical background which has enabled the ips liquid crystal display apparatus of the present invention . fig1 is a graph according to embodiment 1 of the present invention showing dependency of transmittance on wavelength in ips modes which have been confirmed through simulations performed by the inventors of the present invention . the vertical axis represents wavelength λ ( nm ), and the lateral axis transmittance (%). here , dependence of transmittancy on wavelength are shown in case values for retardation ( δn )· d are 200 , 275 , and 300 nm , respectively . in case ( δn )· d differed by 100 nm , a difference δ t 1 in transmittance by approximately 18 % was generated in case of wavelength of green light ( 544 nm ). a difference by 25 nm caused a difference δ t 2 in transmittance by approximately 8 %. wavelength of high luminosity to the human eye range in the proximity of 550 nm . thus , it is important in general displays that few variations occur in the transmittance of green light . our . inventors have found out that irregularities of colors on the display were recognized in case the transmittance of green light differs by 5 % or more . in order to keep such differences in transmittance of light of colors within 5 %, variations in retardation values generated in the panel surface are required be not more than 20 nm ( δn )·( d max − d min ) ≦ 20 nm , wherein dmax is the thickness of the liquid crystal layer governed by the primary spacers 8 in convex portions of uneveness on tft portions 3 , and dmin is the thickness of the liquid crystal layer which is dependent on the spherical sizes of the primary spacers 8 in concave portions of uneveness on pixel electrodes 2 ). the δn of liquid crystal materials employed in the ips mode is in the range of 0 . 05 to 0 . 15 . therefore , ( d max − d min )≦ 0 . 4 μm needs to be satisfied . from the above facts , it can be understood that the retardation of the ips panel needs to satisfy 0 ≦( δn )·( d max − d min )≦ 20 nm , that is , variations in gaps within the panel surface needs to satisfy d max − d min ≦ 0 . 4 μm in order to manufacture an ips panel without irregularities in colors . next , an example of an ips panel for realizing embodiment 1 will be shown . fig2 is a sectional explanatory view of the ips panel according to embodiment 1 of the present invention . in fig2 reference numerals 1 to 10 , 17 and 18 are identical with those as shown in fig1 to 14 which show arrangements of the prior art , and reference numeral 100 denotes an ips panel according to the present embodiment . further , numeral 16 denotes a flatting film for eliminating concave portions / convex portions on the tft array substrate 1 . in the drawings , the liquid crystal driving electrodes and the common electrodes and image signal lines are formed to be opposing each other on the tft array substrate 1 , and the region on which the liquid crystal driving electrodes and the common electrodes and image signal lines are formed to be opposing each other is called a display region . fig3 ( a ), 3 ( b ), 4 ( a ) and 4 ( b ) are sectional explanatory views showing , as a flowchart , manufacturing processes of a tft array substrate employed in the ips panel as shown in fig2 . further , fig5 ( a ), 5 ( b ) and 5 ( c ) are sectional explanatory views showing , as a flowchart , manufacturing processes of the ips panel as shown in fig2 . in step 1 , a tft array substrate 1 for a known ips panel was prepared as shown in fig3 ( a ). then , in step 2 , a flatting film 16 was applied on the surface of the tft array substrate 1 through spin coat method to assume a thickness of not less than 3 μm and not more than 10 μm . the flatting film 16 is of an organic film of , for instance , photosensitive acrylic resin or of acrylic resin . it has been found that a desired thickness can be obtained in case application is performed by using a spinner wherein the viscosity is not less than 15 cp and not more than 50 cp , preferably around 30 cp , and the rotational speed is not less than 500 rpm and not more than 2 , 000 rpm , and preferably 800 rpm . the reason for setting the viscosity to not less than 15 cp is that a viscosity smaller than this can not present sufficient viscosity whereby the thickness after application is too thin and the variation in thickness becomes large , and for setting the viscosity to not more than 50 cp that in case the viscosity is larger than this , the viscosity becomes too large and uniformity in film decreases . further , the reason for setting the revolution speed to not less than 500 rpm and not more than 2 , 000 rpm is that a desired thickness and variation in film thickness can be realized when in this range . the inventors have confirmed that application can be performed while the difference between the maximum in - plane film thickness tmax and the minimum in - plane film thickness tmin is not more than 0 . 4 μm under such conditions for application . in other words , the inventors have confirmed that application which satisfies t max − t min ≦ 0 . 4 μm can not be realized unless thickness of the planation film 16 is not less than 3 μm . after applying the flatting film 16 , resist 26 was applied . this resist 26 may be any resist as employed in general photolithography techniques . in the following step 3 , the electrodes 17 were exposed through exposure and developing as shown in fig4 ( a ), and in step 4 , the tft array substrate having a shape as shown in fig4 ( b ) was obtained . the ips panel was manufactured through steps as shown in fig5 ( a ) to 5 ( c ) by using the tft array substrate 1 and counter substrate 4 as formed in the above processes . in step 1 , alignment layer 23 were formed on the tft array substrate 1 and the counter substrate 4 for aligning liquid crystal 7 on the substrate surfaces as shown in fig5 ( a ). generally , transferring methods are taken for such applications . the thickness is preferably in the range of 500 to 1 , 500 å . polyimide is favorably used as a material thereof , and any alignment layer for tn ( twisted nematic ) liquid crystal may be used . the alignment process can be easily performed through known rubbing methods . the rubbing direction is set to be the aligning direction as explained in the theory of conventional ips modes ( see fig1 ). then , in step 2 , primary spacers 8 were dispersed on the tft array substrate 1 as shown in fig5 ( b ), and a sealing agent 9 mixed with secondary spacers was applied onto the counter substrate 4 as shown in fig5 ( b ) ( note that spacers 10 have been omitted in the drawings , and reference should be made to the arrangement of fig2 ). for the application , methods such as screen printing , dispensing or transferring are generally employed . as for the material for the seal member 9 , thermosetting epoxy resin or uv curing resin is generally used . lastly , in step 3 as shown in fig5 ( c ), overlapping was performed by opposing the alignment layers of the tft array substrate 1 and counter substrate 4 which have been treated in the above processes , and compression through heat or ultraviolet light was performed to form a panel . by performing enclosing of liquid crystal , the ips panel was obtained . it should be noted that for detailed arrangements of the ips panel after completion , one should refer to fig2 . in the arrangement of the ips panel according to this embodiment and as shown in fig2 a flatting film 16 was applied on a conventional tft array substrate 1 to assume a thickness of not less than 3 μm and to satisfy t max − t min ≦ 0 . 4 μm , whereby in - plane uniformity of liquid crystal 7 could be achieved . in this manner , the retardation of the panel in - plane ( δn )·( d max − d min ) could be made to be not more than 20 nm . with this arrangement , irregularities in color which occurred on conventional ips panels could be eliminated and an ips panel of high display quality as a display could be manufactured . fig6 is a sectional explanatory view of an ips panel according to embodiment 2 of the present invention . fig7 is a plan explanatory view of a single pixel of the ips panel for explaining the second embodiment of the present invention . in fig6 and 7 , reference numeral 200 denotes an ips panel according to this embodiment , and reference numerals 1 to 14 , 17 and 18 are identical with those as shown in explanatory views related to embodiment 1 as well as the prior art . 16 denotes a flatting film as explained in embodiment 1 . further , 19 denotes contact holes for providing contact between drain portions of tfts 14 and the liquid crystal driving electrodes 21 or between the common signal lines 13 and the common electrodes 22 . manufacturing methods for the liquid crystal panel as shown in fig6 will be explained based on fig8 ( a ), 8 ( b ) and 9 . fig8 ( a ), 8 ( b ) and 9 are sectional explanatory views showing , as a flowchart , manufacturing processes of an ips panel according to embodiment 2 . the reference numerals used herein are identical with those as used in explanatory views related to embodiment 1 and the prior art . this embodiment differs from the former only in that the shape of the tft array substrate 1 is different , and all other arrangements are identical to those of embodiment 1 , so than only the manufacturing method for the tft array substrate 1 will be explained in here , and other factors of manufacturing are identical to those as described in embodiment 1 . in step 1 as shown in fig8 ( a ), scanning signal lines 11 , image signal lines 12 , common signal lines 13 , tfts 14 , and electrodes 17 were formed on a glass substrate , similarly to conventional manufacturing methods of tft array substrates . that is , the difference between embodiment 1 and the present one lies in the point that no pixel electrodes 2 are formed in step 1 . then , in step 2 , a flatting film 16 was formed on the substrate surface through spin coat method to assume a thickness of approximately 3 μm , as shown in fig8 ( b ). forming methods of the flatting film 16 were identical with those of embodiment 1 . thereafter , etching of the flatting film 16 on the electrodes 17 was performed through photolithography , and contact holes 19 were formed . then , in step 3 , pixel electrodes 2 were formed on the flatting film 16 as shown in fig9 . materials suitably used for the pixel electrodes 2 are electric conductors such as chrome , aluminum or ito in a form of a thin film . it is preferable that the forming method be spattering or evaporation . after forming the thin film of electric conductors , electrodes of shapes as shown in fig7 were formed through photolithography method . at this time , the liquid crystal driving electrodes 21 and the tfts 14 as well as the common electrodes 22 and the common signal lines 13 were respectively connected through the contact holes 19 as shown in fig7 and 9 related to step 3 . by adhering the tft array substrate 1 thus obtained to the counter substrate 4 as shown in embodiment 1 , an ips panel was obtained . since pixel electrodes 2 were formed in lower portions of the flatting film 16 in embodiment 1 , losses in effective voltage applied to the liquid crystal were generated . therefore , the voltage for driving the liquid crystal 7 was required to be high , whereby electricity consumption of the ips panel was made large . in the arrangement of the ips panel as shown in fig6 and 7 , the pixel electrodes 2 are disposed at portions at which they contact the liquid crystal 7 , whereby more voltage can be applied to the liquid crystal 7 than compared to the arrangement of the ips panel of embodiment 1 . further , the provision of a planation film 16 makes it possible to present similar effects as presented by the ips panel of embodiment 1 . with this arrangement , irregularities in color which occurred on conventional ips panels could be eliminated and an ips panel of high display quality as a display could be manufactured . fig1 is a sectional explanatory view of an ips panel according to embodiment 3 of the present invention . in the drawings , reference numeral 300 denotes an ips panel according to this embodiment , and all other reference numerals are identical with those as shown in explanatory views related to embodiment 1 and embodiment 2 . composing materials for the ips panel are identical with those as described in embodiment 1 and embodiment 2 ( in fig1 , materials as used in fig6 of embodiment 2 were employed ). here , spherical diameters of primary spacers 8 dispersed in the display region and secondary spacers 10 mixed with the sealing agent 9 will be explained . the diameter of the primary spacers 8 was defined as d 1 , and the diameter of the secondary spacers 10 as d 2 . the thickness of the coloring layer 18 of the counter substrate was defined as a . in the arrangement of ips panels 100 or 200 as shown in embodiment 1 and embodiment 2 , planation of the tft array substrate 1 was achieved through the flatting film 16 , so that the diameter of the spacers 10 in the sealing agent could be set by the following equation . in arrangements of conventional tft array substrates 1 , uneveness in which difference in height of the tft array substrate and depth of the pixel electrodes is approximately 1 μm were generated on the tft array substrate 1 due to arrangements of the tft portions 3 or pixel electrodes 2 , and display deficiencies owing to the uneveness were generated . in the present embodiment , a diameter for the secondary spacers 10 contained in the sealing agent 9 and a diameter for the primary spacers 1 that are dispersed in the display in - plane can be precisely set . conventionally , uneveness in which difference in height of the tft array substrate and depth of the pixel electrodes is approximately 1 μm were generated in the display region of the tft array substrate 1 , and the uneveness also existed in a region on which the sealing agent was formed which are due to scanning signal lines or image signal lines . as shown in fig1 , flatting of the tft array substrate is performed in the present embodiment through the flatting film , and the diameter of spacers can be determined by the above mentioned equation . in manufacturing processes , it may happen that the compressing pressure controlling the gap between the substrates may vary , or that processes for dispersing the primary spacers vary . the ips panel according to the present embodiment can be manufacturing by assembling the tft array substrate and counter substrate at high accuracy regardless of variations in uneveness on the tft array substrate or in changes processing conditions occurring in assembling processes to complete the same as a liquid crystal panel . with this arrangement , no variation in the thickness of liquid crystal 7 in the proximity of the sealing agent 9 and the thickness d of liquid crystal 7 in the central portion of the display surface were caused anymore . by determining the diameters for the secondary spacers 10 contained in the sealing agent as described in this embodiment 3 , no differences were generated in the gap of the panel in the proximity of the sealing agent and in the gap of the in - plane panel . with this arrangement , irregularities in color which occurred on conventional ips panels could be eliminated and an ips panel of high display quality as a display could be manufactured . in the liquid crystal display apparatus according to claim 1 of the present invention , the in - plane retardation of the display apparatus ( δn )·( d max − d min ) is not less than 0 nm and not more than 20 nm in case the largest gap of gaps between the liquid crystal driving electrodes and counter substrates within the display surface of the liquid crystal display is denoted d max , and the smallest gap within the display surface of the liquid crystal display dmin . with this arrangement , irregularities in color can be eliminated , and an ips panel of high display quality can be manufactured . in the liquid crystal display apparatus according to claim 2 of the present invention , the primary spacers are of spherical shape , and the secondary spacers are of columnar shape , whereby they are easily available and present desired dimensional accuracy . in the liquid crystal display apparatus according to claim 3 of the present invention , an organic film is provided on the tft array substrate having a thickness of not less than 3 μm and not more than 10 μm , whereby uneveness on the tft array substrate can be eliminated . in the liquid crystal display apparatus according to claim 4 of the present invention , the liquid crystal driving electrodes and common electrodes are formed on the organic film , whereby driving voltages for the liquid crystal panel can be made low and an ips panel of low electricity consuming can be obtained . in the liquid crystal display apparatus according to claim 5 of the present invention , uneveness in the organic film are not more than 0 . 4 μm , whereby the retardation can be set to be not less than 0 nm and not more than 20 nm . in the liquid crystal display apparatus according to claim 6 of the present invention , the primary spacers are of spherical shape , and the secondary spacers are of columnar shape , whereby they are easily available and present desired dimensional accuracy . in the liquid crystal display apparatus according to claim 7 of the present invention , a diameter of the primary spacers is a sum of a thickness of a coloring layer provided on the opposing substrate and of a diameter of the secondary spacers , whereby differences in the gap of the panel in the proximity of the seal member and the gap of the in - plane panel can be eliminated and thus make the gap between the substrates constant , whereby irregularities in color can be eliminated . in manufacturing the tft array substrate as employed in the liquid crystal display apparatus according to claim 8 of the present invention , the organic film is formed as a flatting film by applying organic resin having a viscosity of not less than 15 cp and not more than 50 cp onto the surface of the tft array substrate by spin coat method at a rotational speed of not less than 500 rpm and not more than 2 , 000 rpm . with this arrangement , the film thickness of the flatting film can be easily set to be not less than 3 μm and not more than 10 μm , the retardation can be set to be not less than 0 nm and not more than 20 nm , and irregularities in color can be eliminated . in manufacturing the tft array substrate as employed in the liquid crystal display apparatus according to claim 9 of the present invention , the organic resin is one selected from photosensitive acrylic resin and acrylic resin , whereby film forming can be performed when the tft is manufactured . in manufacturing the tft array substrate as employed in the liquid crystal display apparatus according to claim 10 of the present invention , the thickness of the flatting film is set to be not less than 3 μm and not more than 10 μm , whereby variations in film thickness of the planation film can be easily made to be not more than 0 . 4 μm .
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fig1 is a schematic view of an inventive device for optically measuring distance , including the most important components , whose function will be described . inventive device 10 includes a housing 11 , in which a transmission device 12 for generating a measurement signal 13 , and a reception device 14 for detecting measurement signal 16 returning from a target object 15 are located . transmission device 12 includes a light source 17 , which is realized as a semiconductor laser diode 18 in the exemplary embodiment shown in fig1 . it is also possible to use other light sources in the inventive device . laser diode 18 emits a laser beam 20 in the form of a light bundle 22 that is visible to the human eye . laser diode 18 is operated via a control device 24 , which generates a modulation of electrical input signal 19 of diode 18 via appropriate electronics . via a modulation of the diode current that is carried out in the manner , it is ensured that optical measurement signal 13 — which is used to measure distance — is also modulated in a desired manner . laser beam bundle 20 then passes through collimation optics 26 designed as a lens 28 , which is depicted simply as a single lens 30 in fig1 . in this exemplary embodiment , lens 28 is optionally located on an adjustment device 32 , which serves basically to change the position of the lens in all three spacial directions , e . g ., for adjustment purposes . as an alternative , collimation optics 26 may be a component of laser diode 18 , or it may be fixedly connected therewith . after passing through lens 28 , an , e . g ., amplitude - modulated signal 13 results in the form of a parallel light bundle 37 , which propagates along optical axis 38 of transmission unit 12 , as depicted schematically in fig1 . a preferably switchable beam deflector 40 is also located in transmission branch 12 of the inventive device that makes it possible to redirect measurement signal 13 to reception unit 14 of device 10 directly , i . e ., inside the device , and to avoid a target object . in this manner , a reference path 42 inside the device is created , which may be used to calibrate or compensate for the measurement system . when a distance measurement is carried out using the inventive device , measurement beam 13 leaves housing 11 of the inventive device via an optical window 44 in front wall 45 of device 10 . the opening of the optical window may be secured , e . g ., with a shutter 46 . to perform the measurement , measuring device 10 is pointed at a target object 15 , whose distance 48 from the measuring device is to be determined . signal 16 , which is reflected or scattered on target object 15 , forms a returning ray bundle 49 or 50 , a certain portion of which returns to measuring device 10 . returning measurement radiation 16 is coupled into the measuring device through an entrance window 47 in front side 45 of device 10 . in the exemplary embodiment shown in fig1 , measurement radiation 16 is deflected to reception optics 52 . two returning measurement beam bundles 49 and 50 for two different target object distances 48 are sketched in fig1 , as an example and for purposes of illustration . for large object distances — with “ large ” in this case meaning large compared with the focal distance of reception optics 52 — signal 16 that is returning from the target object enters parallel to optical axis 51 of reception device 14 . in the exemplary embodiment depicted in fig1 , this case is represented by measurement beam bundle 49 . as the object distance decreases , returning signal 16 that enters the measuring device becomes increasingly slanted relative to axis 51 of reception unit 14 , due to a parallax . beam bundle 50 is drawn in fig1 as an example of a returning measurement beam bundle of this type located within close range of the distance - measuring device . reception optics 52 , which are also depicted only schematically as a single lens in the exemplary embodiment in fig1 , collimates returning measurement signal 16 and focuses its beam bundle on photosensitive surface 66 of a reception detector 54 . detector 54 includes — in order to detect the optical measurement radiation — at least one photodiode , e . g ., a pin diode , an apd ( avalanche photo diode ), or at least one ccd chip , as the photosensitive element 66 . of course , other surface detectors known to one skilled in the technical art may also be used as reception detectors . the surface detector is typically oriented such that its active photosensitive surface 66 is perpendicular to the optical axis of the reception branch . the incident optical signal is converted by reception detector 54 into an electrical signal 55 , and it is sent to the inventive device for further evaluation in an evaluation unit 36 . reception optics 52 — which are also mounted on adjustment device 53 in the exemplary embodiment in fig1 , but is not limited thereto — are located approximately at the distance of their focal width away from active surface 66 of the detector , so that incident radiation arriving from a target object located far away from the measuring device is focused exactly on the detector or the active photosensitive surfaces . when the distances from the target object are small , it should be noted , however , that the image position of the measurement spot that is reflected or scattered on the target object is located increasingly further away from the focal point of the reception lens . for example , as the distance between the target object and the measuring device decreases , the returning measurement beam travels increasingly further away from the optical axis of the reception device , thereby deviating more and more from the optical axis of the transmission device . in addition , the returning measurement beam bundle is no longer focused exactly on the detector surface , due to the changed imaging conditions on the reception lens . as the target object distance decreases , the size of the measurement spot on the detector surface increases . additional components located in the measuring device that are not related to what is required to understand the inventive device will not be discussed further in this context . it should merely be noted that the measuring device also includes a control and evaluation unit 36 , of course . the relationships between the distance of the target object from the measuring device and the position and size of the measurement spot on the detector surface are depicted schematically in fig2 as an overview . fig2 shows a top view of a detector surface 64 per the related art in the direction of view of measurement signal 16 , which is returning from the measurement object . reference numeral 56 labels the common plane of optical axis 38 of transmission unit 12 and optical axis 51 of reception unit 14 . measurement spot 58 of returning radiation 16 for very large object distances 48 is located on optical axis 51 of reception unit 14 and is focused on surface 64 of the detector , forming a small spot . since detector 54 is located approximately at the distance of the focal width of reception optics 52 , light that comes from infinity , optically speaking , is focused directly on the detector surface , due to the principles of optical imagery . to illustrate the relationships , a “ classical ” detector surface 64 of a detector per the related art is shown as a dashed line in fig2 . as distance 48 of measuring device 10 from target object 15 decreases , returning signal 16 strikes reception lens 52 at an increasing slant , so that the measurement spot on the detector surface also travels in the direction of arrow 61 in fig2 . measurement spot 60 for a short object distance 48 of target object 15 from measuring device 10 , which is also sketched in fig2 , has therefore traveled away from optical axis 51 of the reception device , and it is greatly enlarged in terms of its expansion , in particular its lateral expansion . when measurement distance 48 of measurement object 15 from the measuring device is very short , a measurement spot 62 of returning measurement signal 16 appears in the detector plane , which is also markedly increased in size and also appears further away from optical axis 51 of reception unit 14 . a displacement of this type of the measurement spot to be detected with relative distance 48 of a measurement object 15 from measuring device 10 may result — for very short object distances — in returning signal 16 no longer striking the active surface of measurement receiver 54 , as indicated by dashed surface 64 of a “ classical ” measurement receiver shown in fig2 . to account for the variation in size and position of the measurement spot in the detection plane of reception unit 14 , active photosensitive surface 66 of inventive detector 54 is designed accordingly and will be described in greater detail below . fig3 shows a first exemplary embodiment of photosensitive surface 66 of a detector of the inventive device . in this case , detector 54 of reception unit 14 includes a plurality of photosensitive surfaces 70 , 72 , and 74 , which are separated from each other and , in entirety , form photosensitive surface 66 of the detector . in particular , the photosensitive surfaces of the detector are electrically separated from each other , thereby making it possible to actively switch only one of the photosensitive surfaces 70 through 74 at a time , that is , e . g ., to apply a voltage signal to it , thereby enabling the incident light to be converted to an electrical signal . subregions 70 , 72 , and 74 of the detector may all have the same size , i . e ., surface area , in particular , or they may be designed with different sizes . to activate a photosensitive subregion of the detector , a connection for each surface may be guided out of the diode housing , for example , thereby making it possible to trigger and selectively use the particular photosensitive subelement via a contacting or triggering of a connection of this type . this is indicated via electrical connection lines 57 depicted symbolically in fig3 through 8 . to this end , appropriate switching means are provided that make it possible to activate the preferred subregion or subregions of detector 54 depending on the control signal . as an alternative , when several surfaces are involved , a multiplexer could also be integrated directly in detector 54 , e . g ., in a photodiode . for very large object distances 48 between target object 15 and measuring device 10 , measuring spot 58 comes to rest entirely on photosensitive subregion 70 . in this case , i . e ., for large measurement distances , only photosensitive surface 70 would be activated using appropriate switching means , thereby enabling it to function as a detector surface and convert the optical measurement signal into an electrical measurement signal . subregions 72 and 74 of the detector , which are also present , are not activated . no voltage is applied to these photosensitive surfaces , for example . light that strikes these surfaces therefore does not cause an electrical signal to be generated . if extraneous light from other objects that are located closer to the measuring device than object 15 to be measured at this time would enter the measuring device , this extraneous light would not be detected , because photosensitive surfaces 72 and 74 are not activated , i . e ., they are not switched on . this extraneous light would therefore not contribute to increased background noise relative to the measurement signal from active surface 70 generated by measurement bundle 58 . active surface 70 , which has been activated in particular for very large measurement distances , advantageously has a lateral expansion in the detection plane such that it ensures that measurement spot 58 of measurement radiation 16 or 49 returning from a remote target object of this type is detected in entirety . a direction that is perpendicular to the measurement signal direction is the lateral direction in this case . the dimensions of photosensitive surfaces 70 should therefore be essentially the same or slightly larger than the dimensions of a measurement spot 58 for very large object distances . if — as object distance 48 decreases — the measurement spot now travels away from original reception axis 51 , in the direction of arrow 61 , then the diameter and / or the lateral expansion of the measurement spot increases , as illustrated in fig2 . the lateral direction is the direction perpendicular to direction 61 , in which the measurement beam bundle travels . the surface detector has an elongated shape overall in direction 61 of a beam displacement , as target object distances 48 decrease . the expansion in the direction of travel of the measurement signal is greater — and is much greater , in particular — than it is in the orthogonal , i . e ., lateral direction . when the returning measurement beam bundle travels , a situation arises in which the measurement beam bundle passes at least partially over , e . g ., parts of both photosensitive surface 70 and 72 , as indicated in fig3 using measurement spot 63 , which is shown as a dashed line . in a situation such as this , an appropriate measurement technique is used to detect which photosensitive surface 70 or 72 receives the larger portion of the reflected measurement beam bundle ( bundle 63 in this case ), so that , when a distance measurement is carried out in this configuration , only that photosensitive surface ( 70 or 72 in this case ) may be activated that receives the largest portion of returning radiation . by switching off photodiode surfaces that are not used or are used only partially , the noise that is produced due to extraneous light may therefore be markedly reduced , since only those subregions of the detector are used that receive the useful light in an optimal manner . those surfaces of the detector that have a relatively large portion of extraneous light are therefore switched off . in determining a distance from a target object 15 , only one photosensitive surface of the detector is therefore active , in this embodiment in particular . in alternative embodiments , several subregions may also be activated , in particular when the measurement signal strikes several subregions simultaneously and , e . g ., the sum signal of two subregions contains less noise than the signal of the particular subregions that are considered individually . in this case , several subregions of the detector may also be activated , according to the present invention . to determine that surface or subregion that has the highest portion of useful light and , therefore , the highest signal - to - noise ratio , a short test measurement may be carried out before the actual distance measurement is performed , which serves merely to determine the signal components on the individual photosensitive surfaces of the detector of the reception unit . while this test measurement is being carried out , it is possible to activate all or a majority of the photosensitive subregions of the optical detector , and to read them out individually , in particular , using switching means provided for this purpose . in this manner , it may be determined which photosensitive subregion is receiving the strongest light signal , in order to decide whether only a single surface should be activated , or whether several surfaces — which represent a true partial quantity of all available photosensitive surfaces — yield a better measurement signal , in particular a better signal - to - noise ratio . when measurement distance 48 of a measurement object 48 from measuring device 10 is very short , and the measurement spot will therefore travel further in the direction of arrow 61 in fig3 , it is possible , e . g ., according to the present invention , to only activate photosensitive surface 74 , and to switch off photosensitive surface 70 — which receives no light or only partial light — and to switch off photosensitive surface 72 , which receives only partial light . fig4 shows an alternative embodiment of inventive detector 54 , with which an envelope 165 , which may be placed or drawn around the photosensitive surfaces of the detector , tapers in direction 61 , i . e ., in the direction of travel of the returning measurement beam bundle for a decreasing measurement object distance . the expansion of photosensitive surfaces 170 , 172 or 174 of the detector in the direction perpendicular to optical axis 51 of reception unit 14 is advantageously at least so great that the measurement beam returning from a target object 15 at close range still strikes photosensitive surface 174 at least partially . this means , in particular , that , when distances 48 to a target object 15 are short , photosensitive surface 174 used with distances of this type may also selected to be much smaller , given that the light intensity will be much greater , due to the inverse square law . this advantageously results in a reduction in the electrical capacitance of the detector , so that the response characteristic over time and / or , analogously , the frequency response of the measurement system may be markedly increased . envelope 165 , which may be placed or drawn around the photosensitive surfaces of the detector in the detector plane , therefore advantageously tapers in direction 61 of a beam displacement for decreasing target object distances 48 . an envelope 165 of this type is also shown in fig4 . the envelope basically follows the boundary of the photosensitive subregions , and the course of the envelopes in the direction of arrow 61 , i . e ., in the direction of a beam displacement for decreasing object distances , is interpolated between two subregions . the shapes of the photosensitive surfaces and their number within a detector may vary according to the embodiment . for instance , fig5 shows a detector with a plurality of rectangular photosensitive surfaces 270 , 272 , 274 of different sizes , whose envelope 265 tapers in direction 61 of a beam displacement for decreasing target object distances 48 . according to the present invention , photosensitive surfaces 270 , 272 , 274 may be activated — i . e ., switched on or off — individually when a distance measurement is performed . fig6 shows a further embodiment with only two separate , photosensitive surfaces 370 , 372 , which may also be activated individually using the principle described above . basically , the envelope , which may also be placed around the photosensitive surfaces of the detector , may also expand in the direction of decreasing object distances . an embodiment of this type with an envelope that expands in direction 61 — as shown , e . g ., in fig7 and 8 — has the advantage that it accounts for the reduced energy density of the returning measurement signal for short measurement object distances . due to a short measurement object distance , the returning measurement beam bundle is no longer optimally focused in the detection plane , since collimation optics 52 of a measuring device of this type are typically optimized for very large measurement object distances . since the measurement spot increases rapidly in the detection plane for decreasing measurement object distances — refer to the illustration in fig2 — a reduced energy surface density and / or intensity of the measurement signal results on the detector surface . a measurement spot 462 for short measurement object distances is shown in fig7 as an example . in particular when an envelope of detector subregions tapers ( see fig4 through 6 ), this behavior may result in only a small portion of the measurement spot striking the detector surface , and the detected measurement signal would therefore be relatively small . this effect of reduced energy density of the measurement signal on the detector surface may be offset by the fact that the detector surface expands in direction 61 as object distances decrease , or they expand after having been constricted , as depicted in the exemplary embodiment of an inventive detector shown in fig7 . envelope 465 of photosensitive detector surfaces 470 and 472 and 474 widens in direction 61 as object distances decrease , after it has constricted in the region of the transition from subelement 470 to subelement 472 . within the framework of the disclosure of the present invention , a shape of this type should also meet the criterium that the photosensitive surfaces of the detector are designed and located such that an envelope of these areas expands in the direction of a beam displacement as target object distances decrease . with specific embodiments of an inventive device , the number and / or shape of the individual photosensitive surfaces that a detector may have may deviate from the exemplary embodiment depicted in fig7 , of course . for instance , subelement 472 could also be rectangular in design , while other subelements 470 and 474 of the photosensitive surface have the shape shown in fig7 . depending on the design of the measuring device , the effect of the inverse square law and the effect of a more or less poor focusing — which occur as measurement object distances decrease , and which have an opposing effect on the intensity of the measurement signal — should be weighed against each other , and the optimized shape of the photosensitive surfaces should be found , in particular for the envelope of the photosensitive surfaces . fig8 shows another possible embodiment of the inventive idea , with only two photosensitive detector subregions 570 and 572 , whose envelope 565 expands continually in direction 61 , however , as object distances decrease . independently of the shape of the envelopes of the photosensitive surfaces , they may be activated individually , so that the inventive detector may be operated with only one or more subregions . the inventive device is not limited to the embodiments presented in the description . in particular , the inventive device is not limited to the shapes and numbers of individual photosensitive subregions of the detector .
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the example of a stringed instrument shown in fig1 is an electric guitar g carrying an embodiment of the invention . the guitar includes a neck n and a body b . a head h is provided at the front end of the neck n . one terminal end region of each string s is securely held at the head h guitar by a respective string key nb . a tremolo 1 which provides a guitar bridge is installed on the body b as a tuning device and an interval changing device . the end of each string s opposite the head h is held and fixed by the tremolo 1 . a nut na supports the head side terminal region of each string as the nut is positioned at the front edge of the neck n . a bobbin nc for tuning as is linked to each string key nb . referring to fig2 through 6 , the tremolo 1 is comprised of an arm 50 for swinging the tremolo body 10 . the arm 50 is installed on the tremolo body 10 to be movable freely along with tremolo body 10 . a bottom side or reverse side restoring mechanism 60 restores the tremolo body 10 to an equilibrium state position , which is a neutral position in a balanced state subsequent to the swinging of the tremolo body 10 . in this example , the reverse side mechanism 60 is arranged inside a concave bb that is formed in the reverse or bottom side of the body b . the tremolo body 10 in this example comprises a base plate 11 that is installed to swing freely with respect to the surface ba of the body b . a string support , here a bridge saddle 20 , supports the string s . a tremolo block 40 protrudes below the reverse side or bottom of the base plate 11 . in this example , a plurality , here six , of string supports 20 are arranged on the base plate 11 , each for a respective strings s , for enabling tone color adjustment for each string s . fig3 is a cross section that shows the tremolo device 1 when the tremolo body is in a state of equilibrium as it is not being used and also shows its surrounding elements . fig4 is a bottom view showing the bottom side mechanism during the equilibrium state . in fig3 the first spring 90 , described below , is omitted for convenience of explanation . that same drawing modification is also made in fig7 and 9 . the base plate 11 in this embodiment is supported to swing around stud bolts bs and bs at the knife edges 12 at both lateral sides of the front ( on the neck n side ) of the base plate . a plurality of opening grooves 13 are formed in the base plate aligned with the positions of the various string supports 20 approximately at the center of the base plate 11 . referring to fig2 and 3 , each string support 20 has a saddle holder 21 , a main saddle body 25 and a rotation adjusting rod 31 . the saddle holder 21 is fixed on the base plate 11 to be adjustable back and forth ( left and right in fig3 ) along the body b . the main saddle body 25 is supported to be rotatably adjusted back and forth on the saddle holder 21 through an axle 26 that extends across the stretching direction of the string at a right angle . the main saddle body 25 has a string receiver 27 formed like a curved surface on its front part . a concave 28 for fixing the strings is formed at the rear of the body 25 . each string s is fixed by holding the terminal region of the string s against the inner wall of the string fixing concave 28 by the string fixing block 29 . in addition , the string fixing block 29 is fixed by the tip of a rotation adjusting rod 31 that is screwed into the concave 28 for fixing the string . to the rear of each main saddle body 25 , there is a rotation adjusting rod 31 for freely manipulating the rotation adjustment of the main saddle body 25 back and forth . the bar 31 protrudes rearward and is inserted into the respective opening groove 13 in the base plate 11 . a plate spring 35 on the underside of the base plate 11 continuously urges each rotation adjustment bar 31 in the direction of forward rotation of the main saddle body 25 . an adjusting , fine tuning bolt 36 adjusts string stretching through rotation of each saddle body 25 by the forward and backward movement ( or the vertical movement in the drawing ) by contacting each rotation adjusting bar 31 against the urging of its plate spring 35 . if the adjusting screw 36 is rotated clock - wise , the rotation adjustment bar 31 is moved down ( in the rotation direction to the rear ). as the main saddle body 25 is rotated backward together with the bar 31 , the tensile force ( the musical interval ) rises . contrarily , if the adjustment screw 36 is rotated counter clock - wise , the rotation adjusting bar 31 rises ( in the rotation direction to the front ). this rotates the main saddle body 25 to the front , reducing the tensile force of the string ( or the interval ). each string support 20 is of the rocking type including a saddle holder member 21 and a main saddle body 25 . however , the invention is not limited to this and each string support may be of the non - rocking type which is more general . in this example , there are a plurality of independent string supports 20 each for a string s , thereby enabling tone color adjustment for each string s . however , it is possible to provide a string support member of the one - piece type on the base plate . referring to fig3 and 4 , tremolo block 40 protrudes below the reverse side of the base plate 11 and is inside the opening bc that links the front and rear of the body b . at both sides of the tip or free end of the tremolo block 40 , there are link installation journals 41 , globular shaped in the drawing , that engage respective links 85 , described below , in a freely rotatable fashion . the bottom side mechanism 60 comprises a bottom side base 61 , a first bearing block 62 and a second bearing block 63 , an axial slide 70 , positioning stoppers 71 , a slide block 75 , a movable stopper 80 , links 85 , first springs 90 and a second spring 95 . the bottom side base 61 serves as the installation part for the bottom side mechanism 60 and it is fixed to the bottom side of the body b in the concave bb 610 by a screw , etc . in fig6 an opening 61 o that corresponds in location to the opening bc in the body b is formed slightly to the front at the center of the base 61 . the tip of the tremolo block 40 is positioned in the opening 61 o . a first bearing 62 is provided approximately at the center ( the periphery on the rear side of the opening 61 o ) of the base 61 . a second bearing 63 is provided at the rear . an axial slide 70 is disposed between the first bearing 62 and the second bearing 63 . first spring front side installation blocks 64 support the front end of each first spring 90 . the blocks 64 are installed such that their positions may be adjusted relative to the bottom side base 61 . the blocks 64 are screw threaded on the adjustment screw 66 which is screwed into a screw hole of a bracket 65 that protrudes at the front of the bottom side base 61 . the blocks 64 are adjustable in position by operating the adjusting screw 66 . the foregoing enables the forces exerted by the first springs 90 to match the tension of the respective strings s at various string gauges that are used , by positional adjustment of the blocks 64 . in addition , positioning stoppers 71 regulate the progress or movement of a movable stopper 80 between the first bearing 62 and the second bearing 63 at the side base 61 . a slide block 75 is provided on the front of the axial slide 70 , and a movable stopper 80 is mounted on the rear of the axial slide 70 in such a manner and the block 75 and stopper 80 can be freely moved back and forth along the axial slide 70 . [ 0063 ] fig5 shows an axial hole 76 for the slide block 75 and an axial hole 83 for the movable stopper 80 . the slide block 75 includes the first spring rear installation blocks 77 for supporting the rear ends of the first springs 90 . there are also link installation parts 78 ( globular in the drawing ) that engage with the links 85 , as explained below . the movable stopper 80 has a front part 81 that can either touch or be separated from the rear surface of the slide block 75 , through a buffer m 1 , on the rear surface of the slide block 75 . the moveable stopper 80 has two rear parts 82 that can touch the rear surface of the positioning stoppers 71 , through the buffers m 2 . the rear parts 82 that may protrude parallel to the positioning stoppers 71 at both ends of the front part 81 which is approximately u - shaped in fig5 . the number of positioning stoppers 71 that correspond to the shape of the movable stopper 80 and the shape of the movable stopper itself 80 are not limited by those mentioned above . the buffer m 1 is comprised of rubber , etc . and is interposed between the slide block 75 and the movable stopper 80 . the buffer can absorb the impact of the slide block 75 and the front 81 of the movable stopper 80 contacting each other , thereby reducing the generation of strange noise , such as contact noise , etc . the buffer m 1 is fixed to the surface of the front portion 81 of the movable stopper 80 , although the buffer m 1 can be fixed to the rear surface of the slide block 75 . buffers m 2 are comprised of rubber , etc . and are interposed between the rear parts 82 of the movable stopper 80 and the positioning stoppers 71 , enabling the buffers m 2 to absorb the impact of contact between the rear parts 82 of the movable stopper 80 and the positioning stoppers 71 and thus reducing generation of strange noise , such as contact noise , etc . the buffers m 2 are fixed to the rear surfaces of the positioning stoppers 71 , but the buffers m 2 may be fixed to the rear surfaces 82 of the movable stopper 80 . in addition , contact between the slide block 75 and the front part 81 of the movable stopper 80 and contact between the rear parts 82 of the movable stopper 80 and the positioning stoppers 71 are surface contacts , over comparatively large areas , making it difficult for such deformation of the buffers m 1 and m 2 as will have some effect on tuning . the links 85 link the tip of the tremolo block 40 and the slide block 75 , converting the rotary or swinging movement of the tremolo block 40 into straight - line sliding of the slide block 75 . the links 85 are engaged , in a freely rotatable fashion , on the link installation parts 41 on both sides of the tip of the tremolo block 40 through the tremolo block side engaging holes 86 in the links 85 . linkage between the links 85 and the tremolo block 40 and the slide block 75 is through a ball - joint system . this makes it easy to cope with the incline of the tremolo body 10 , back and forth and right and left , etc . in connection with the adjustment of the tilting of the tremolo body 10 by the stud bolts bs . preferably , the rotation fulcrums of the links 85 and the tremolo block 40 at the link installation parts 41 of the tremolo block 40 are preferably positioned immediately below the swinging axis of the tremolo body 10 ( the line linking two stud bolts bs for fixing the base plate 11 in a freely swinging fashion ). this has an advantage of being able to convert swinging of the tremolo body 10 effectively into the sliding movement of the slide block 75 and the movable stopper 80 . the links 85 are designed to permit both their expansion and contraction . this makes it possible to adjust the initially set angle ( the angle at the time when the tremolo is not in use ) of the tremolo body 10 ( base plate 11 ) by expansion or contraction of the links 85 . an additional advantage is that this can cope with tilting of the stud bolts bs . an example of a freely expandable and contractable link 85 uses a turn - buckle construction of each link 85 . the link 85 comprises a main link body 85 a with outer screw threads provided on its outside periphery , a tremolo block side engagement part 85 b with internal screw threads that fit the outer screw threads of the main link body 85 a as it has the tremolo block side engagement hole 86 , and a slide block side engagement part 85 c with inner screw threads that fit the outer screw threads of the main link body 85 a as the part 85 c has a slide block side engagement hole 87 . when the main link body 85 a is rotated or moved back and forth with respect to the tremolo side engagement part 85 c , the link 85 is either expanded or contracted in length . the structure for making each link 85 expandable or contractable freely is not limited to the example shown above . the first springs 90 and the second spring 95 maintain a state of equilibrium ( a balanced state ) of the tremolo body 10 ( base plate 11 ) by their own spring forces which counters the tensile forces of the strings s installed on the ba side on the surface of the body . together , these elements restore the slide block 75 and the movable stopper 80 , whether they have been moved by the swinging of the tremolo body 10 , to their original positions prior to the shift . the first springs 90 are interposed between the first spring front - side installation blocks 64 toward the front of the bottom side base 61 and the first spring rear - side installation blocks 77 provided on the slide block 75 . the first springs 90 are elongated from their natural length when the tremolo body 10 assumes a state of equilibrium and urges the slide block 75 in the forward direction , the direction of the first spring front - side installation block . the second spring 95 extends between the front 81 of the movable stopper 80 and the second bearing 63 . moreover , the second spring 95 is externally installed on the axial slide 70 . meanwhile , the second spring 95 between the front 81 of the movable stopper 80 and the second bearing 63 is contracted , as compared with its natural length when the tremolo body 10 assumes a state of equilibrium , and this urges the movable stopper 80 in a forward direction , in the direction of the slide block . therefore , the forces of the first springs 90 and the second spring 95 work in the same direction in the tremolo device 1 . the second bearing 63 may be installed so that its position is adjustable with respect to the bottom side mechanism base 61 , and the force of the first springs 90 may be adjusted by adjusting the position of the second bearing 63 . the slide block 75 is positioned at its first slide block position p 1 by the tensile force of the string s and the forces of the first springs 90 and the second spring 95 when the tremolo arm 50 is not in operation . the movable stopper 80 is then positioned at the first movable stopper position q 1 , and the slide block 75 and the front part 81 of the movable stopper 80 , plus the rear parts 82 of the movable stopper 80 and the positioning stoppers 71 touch each other , causing the tremolo body 10 to assume a state of equilibrium . if there were no strings s , the slide block 75 would remain positioned to the front of the first slide block position p 1 due to the force of the first springs 90 and , at the time of tuning by fixing each string s to the string support member 20 , the slide block 75 is caused to gradually move backward ( to the movable stopper side 80 ) due to balancing between the tensile force of the string s and the force of the first springs 90 . in an example of a six - string guitar , the total force of the first springs 90 can be set at [ ⅚ × to −( alpha )] equivalent value where to indicates the total string tensile force after tuning . at the same time , the force of the second spring 95 can be set at [ ⅙ × to +( beta )] equivalent value . the ( alpha ) and ( beta ) are values such that no difference stemming from the change in spring chord is produced , no change is produced in the string tensile force at the time when the hand is placed on the arm or at the time of choking and no fluttering takes place . moreover , ( alpha ) and ( beta ) are set such that ( beta ) is larger than ( alpha ) which is larger than zero . the slide block 75 is positioned at the first slide block position p 1 so as to touch the front part 81 of the movable stopper 80 when the total string tensile force has reached said [ ⅚ × to −( alpha )] equivalent value during the course of tuning . the sum of the force of the first springs 90 and the force of the second spring 95 becomes [ ⅚ × to −( alpha )]+[ ⅙ × to +( beta )]= to +( beta )−( alpha ). as this is greater than the total string tensile force to subsequent to tuning , the slide block 75 and the movable stopper 80 do not move even if the tensile force of the string is increased from the time when the slide block 75 has touched the front part 81 of the movable stopper 80 to the completion of tuning . if the tensile forces of the first springs 90 and the force of the second spring 95 are set as described above , mutilation of one of the six strings would produce a remaining tensile force of approximately 5 / 6 × to . in view of the fact that the force of the first spring 90 is [ ⅚ × to −( alpha )] and that the remaining string tensile force is greater than that force , the slide block 75 does not move , as it stays at the first slide block p 1 where it touches the front 81 of the movable stopper 80 . even if one of the six strings has been mutilated , the equilibrium state of the tremolo body 10 can be maintained , thereby keeping the remaining strings in their tuned states . thus , any change in the musical intervals of the remaining strings can be prevented . in the tremolo 1 , if the arm 50 is brought into an “ arm down ” state or if it is held in the direction of the body surface ba , the tremolo body 10 ( base plate 11 ) swings to tilt to the front ( neck n direction ) with the stud bolts bs as the fulcrum . the tensile force of each string s is reduced and the musical interval of each string comes down ( flat ). the tremolo block 40 that protrudes down from the base plate 11 rotates to the rear , counter clock - wise in the drawing . this moves the slide block 75 and slides the movable stopper 80 rearward along the axial slide 70 through the links 85 , which separates the rear parts 82 of the movable stopper 80 away from the positioning stoppers 71 . subsequent to the arm - down position , if the force on the arm 50 is removed or if operation of the arm 50 is stopped , the slide block 75 and the movable stopper 80 slide forward , while touching each other . when the rear parts 82 of the movable stopper 80 have touched the positioning stoppers 71 , that movement stops restoring the slide block 75 and the movable stopper 80 to their original positions ( the first slide block position and the first stopper position ), and restores the tremolo body 10 to a state of equilibrium . on the other hand , when the arm 50 is pulled in the direction away from the body surface ba , the tremolo body 10 and the base plate 11 swing to tilt backward in the direction opposite to the neck n , around the stud bolts bs and bs as the fulcrum . this increases the tensile force of each string s and the intervals of each string rise ( become sharp ). this rotates the downwardly protruding tremolo block 40 to the front ( clockwise in the drawing ). as a result , only the slide block 75 slides to the front along the axial slide 70 through the links 85 . thus , the slide block 75 separates from the front part 81 of the movable stopper 80 . if the total string tension when the tremolo body 10 is in a state of equilibrium is expressed by to and the force of the first springs 90 ( initially set value ) is expressed by u 1 , the force required for the arm - up operation will become [ to − u 1 ]. a tremolo device having this construction enables raising the arm ( elevation of the musical intervals ) with a force which is smaller by the force u 1 of the first springs 90 , as compared with the tremolo device which is described in toku kai hei 1 - 93793 . if , subsequent to the arm - up operation , the force applied on the arm 50 is removed or if operation of the arm 50 is stopped , the slide block 75 is slid rearward by the tensile force of each string s and the block 75 stops when the slide block 75 has touched the front part 81 of the movable stopper 80 , followed by the restoration to the original position . this restores the tremolo body 10 to a state of equilibrium . the rearward slide or return movement of the slide block 75 after stopping of operation of the arm 50 can be made smooth by setting the force of the first springs 90 smaller than the total string tensile force . because the tremolo body 10 always returns to its original equilibrium state after a tremolo operation , in a stringed instrument equipped with the tremolo device 1 ( a six - string guitar in this case ), this enables eliminating inconvenience such as tuning failure which was experienced in the past . in addition , generation of noise stemming from contacts among the members of the restoration mechanism for restoring the tremolo body , when the tremolo body 10 returns to its original equilibrium state , can be prevented by action of the buffers m 1 and m 2 . in the tremolo device 1 , the tremolo body 10 is maintained in the state of equilibrium at all times by the restoring action of the restoration mechanism 80 comprised of axial slide 70 , positioning stoppers 71 , a slide block 75 , a movable stopper 80 , links 85 , the first springs 90 , and the second spring 95 when the tremolo is not in operation . as a consequence , failures in tuning stemming from choking , fluttering or string mutilation , etc . can be prevented to a maximum degree . a tremolo device 1 a according to another example of the invention is explained , with reference to fig1 . as tremolo device 1 a has approximately the same construction as the tremolo device 1 , the same elements as in the tremolo device 1 have the same numbers and their explanations are omitted . the characteristic feature of the tremolo device 1 a is described . the tremolo device 1 a includes an engagement mechanism 100 which is capable of engagement or disengagement and is provided between the slide block 75 of the bottom side mechanism 60 a and the movable stopper 80 . the slide block 75 and the movable stopper 80 are engaged by the engagement mechanism 100 , for regulating the forward movement of the slide block 75 . in this example , the engagement mechanism 100 is comprised of a rotatable member 101 which is approximately l - shaped including a bent piece 102 on the tip side ( free terminal side ). it is installed freely rotatably on the slide block 75 and is also located at a protrusion 110 which protrudes to the back side ( side which is opposite to the bottom side base 61 ) which protrusion is at the front of the movable stopper 80 . as the bending piece 102 on the tip side of the rotary member 101 is positioned behind the protrusion 110 and both are engaged as shown in solid lines in fig1 , forward movement of the slide block 75 is regulated . on the other hand , the slide block 75 is enabled to move to the front as the rotary member 101 is rotated to the front ( counter clock - wise in the drawing ) and as the engagement between the rotary member 101 and the protrusion 110 is released , as shown by the broken or chain line of fig1 a . an axle 103 installs the rotary member 101 freely rotatably on the slide block 75 . a rotary upward member 104 of rubber , etc . is disposed for making the rotation of the rotary member 101 smooth . a concave 105 is provided on the tip of the rotary member 101 for facilitating its rotation . the rotary member 101 is installed on the slide block 75 while the protruding part 110 is provided on the movable stopper 80 . however , it is possible to reverse that and provide the rotary member on the movable stopper and the protruding part on the slide block . moreover , the engagement mechanism is not restricted to the construction shown . an engagement mechanism 100 that regulates the forward movement of the slide block 75 makes it possible to regulate the forward movement of the slide block 75 by the engagement mechanism 100 and to effect the arrangement and tuning of each string in the state where the slide block 75 has been put to the first slide block position or in the state where the tremolo body 10 has been brought into a state of equilibrium from the standpoint of initial setting . when a string is to be tuned , therefore , it becomes possible to prevent the intervals of other strings which have been tuned from moving up or down thereby facilitating the placement of the string or its tuning . further , the force required at the time of placing the string or its tuning can be reduced and , removal of the string becomes simpler . another tremolo device embodiment 1 b of the invention is explained with reference to fig1 and 13 . the tremolo device 1 b has approximately the same construction as the tremolo devices 1 and 1 a in the previous examples . those elements which are the same as in the tremolo devices 1 and 1 a are identified by the same reference numbers . for convenience , the first spring and the second spring , which are described later , are omitted from fig1 . characteristic features of the tremolo device 1 b are described . the bottom side mechanism 60 b of this tremolo device 1 b comprises a bottom side mechanism base 61 b arranged on the bottom side of the body b , the positioning stoppers 71 b at the rear of the base 61 b , a slide block 75 b that moves freely back and forth , a movable stopper 80 b which is positioned on the rear side of said slide block 75 b and moves freely back and forth , and which is capable of touching or getting away from the slide block 75 b and the positioning stoppers 71 b , and the links 85 b that link the tremolo block 40 and the slide block 75 b . the first springs 90 b that urge the slide block 75 b to the front are arranged between the first spring front - side installation blocks 64 that are on the front part of the bottom side mechanism base 61 b and the first spring rear side installation blocks 77 b on the front part of the reverse side mechanism base 61 b . the second springs 95 b which urge the movable stopper sob to the front are provided between the second spring front side installation blocks 68 b that are erected approximately at the center of the bottom side base 61 b and the second spring rear side installation blocks 80 a on the movable stopper 80 b . in this example , the positioning stoppers 71 b are erected on the rear part of the bottom side base 61 b such that they are in parallel and face each other . moreover , the front - side windows 71 x permit insertion of the first spring rear - side installation blocks 77 b of the slide block 75 b . the windows are formed on the front part of the positioning stoppers 71 b . the rear - side windows 71 y that permit the insertion of the second spring rear - side installation blocks 80 a of the movable stopper 80 b are formed on the rear part . as the first spring rear - side installation blocks 77 b on the slide block 75 b or the second spring rear - side installation blocks 80 a on the movable stopper 80 b touch the periphery of the front end and the periphery of the rear end of the front - side windows 71 x or the rear - side windows 71 y , movement of the slide block 75 b or of the movable stopper 80 b either to the front or to the rear is regulated . the first spring rear - side installation blocks 77 b of the slide block 75 b play the role of the link installation part that engages with the links 85 b . moreover , an axial part 79 b for the movable stoppers protrudes from the rear of the slide block 75 b . the movable stopper 80 b can freely move back and forth along the axial part 79 b for the movable stopper . a buffer m 3 made of rubber , etc . is interposed between the rear face of the slide block 75 b and the front face of the movable stopper 80 b for reducing the generation of strange sounds like contact noise , etc . by absorbing the impact produced at contact . the buffer m 3 is fixed to the rear surface of the slide block 75 b . however , it is possible to fix the buffer m 3 on the front of the movable stopper 80 b . like the tremolo devices 1 and 1 a , the tremolo device 1 b is constructed such that the slide block 75 b , the movable stoppers 80 b , but specifically the second spring rear - side installation blocks 80 a , and the positioning stoppers 71 b but specifically the front end peripheries of the rear side windows 71 y , touch each other because of the tensile force of the string s that has been stretched on the body surface ba side and the forces exerted by the first springs 90 b and the second springs 95 b , thereby causing the tremolo body 10 to stay in a state of equilibrium . when the tremolo body 10 is swung to tilt it to the front through operation of the arm . 50 , moreover , the tremolo block 40 rotates rearward . this slides the slide block 75 b and the movable stopper 80 b rearward , via the links 85 b and the movable stopper 80 b , but particularly the second spring rear - side installation blocks 80 a . the slide block moves away from the positioning stoppers 71 b , particularly the front end peripheries of the rear - side windows 71 y . when operation of the arm 50 has stopped , the slide block 75 b and the movable stopper 80 b are returned to their original positions where the movable stopper 80 b touches the positioning stoppers 71 b under the forces of the first springs 90 b and the second springs 95 b , thereby restoring the tremolo body 10 to the equilibrium state . when the tremolo body 10 is swung to tilt it rearward by operation of the arm 50 , further , the tremolo block 40 rotates to the front . this slides the slide block 75 b to the front through the links 85 b and the slide block 75 b moves away from the movable stopper 80 b . when operation of the arm 50 stops , the slide block 75 b is restored to its original position where it is urged to touch the movable stopper 80 b by the tensile force of the string s , thereby restoring the tremolo body 10 into the state of equilibrium . as explained above , the tremolo 1 b functions approximately in the same manner as the tremolos 1 and 1 a producing a similar effect to the tremolo devices 1 and 1 a . this invention is not limited by the examples described above , but can be changed in construction within the invention . in each of the examples , for instance , two first springs and two links are provided . their number , however , is not limited and one of each or three of each can be suitably used . in each example , one or two second springs are used . however , three or more second springs may also be used . in each of the examples , the positioning stopper that regulates the back and forth movement of the movable stopper is provided on the bottom side mechanism base . however , it is not limited to this , and the positioning stopper may be directly provided on the bottom side of the body . each of the examples shows a tremolo that is to be installed on a six - string guitar . however , the invention can be used for other stringed instruments , such as a bass guitar , etc . the tremolo for stringed instruments of this invention includes a tremolo body that is restored to its original state of equilibrium subsequent to operation of the tremolo by a restoration mechanism which is comprised of the positioning stopper , slide block , movable stopper , links , first springs , second spring , etc . as a result , any failure in tuning after operation of the tremolo can be limited to a minimum . as the tremolo body is maintained in an equilibrium state at all times , further , it becomes possible to prevent possible failures in tuning stemming from choking , fluttering or string mutilation , etc . at the normal time when the tremolo is not being operated . in this tremolo device , moreover , the number of locations requiring adjustment is comparatively small , so that both the locations requiring adjustment and the method for such adjustment are easily understandable to the user , and the tuning becomes easier . in addition , in the restoration mechanism of the tremolo , the rotary movement of the tremolo block at the time when the tremolo body is swinging is converted into straight - line movement through the link , thereby sliding the slide block and the movable stopper . this makes it possible to prevent possible tilting of the first spring or the second spring or possible deformation in a direction other than the direction of expansion and contraction , which eliminates such inconvenience as the effect upon the restoration force of these springs . accordingly , it is possible to expect a stable restoration action of the tremolo body . if the axial slide is installed between the first bearing and the second bearing on the bottom mechanism base , and if the slide block and the movable stopper are constructed in a manner to be freely movable back and forth , in particular , the back and forth movement of the slide block and the movable stopper becomes smooth , smoothing the swinging and restoration of the tremolo body . if the positioning stopper is provided between the first bearing and the second bearing of the bottom mechanism base , further , the bottom side mechanism can be made compact which is advantageous in terms of design work . if , on the other hand , the movable stopper is constructed such that a front part is capable of touching and moving away from the slide block and a rear part is capable of touching and moving away from the positioning stopper , this makes it possible to cause the movable stopper to touch and move away from the slide block and the positioning stopper using a simple and compact structure . if the second spring is provided between the front portion of the movable stopper and the second bearing , or if the first spring is provided between the first spring front side installation block that is provided on the front portion of the bottom side mechanism base and the first spring rear - side installation block that has been provided on the slide block , this has an advantage that the installation structure of each spring can be made simple and compact . moreover , if the rotation fulcrum for the tremolo block and the link is positioned approximately right under the swing axis of the tremolo body , it is possible to easily convert the rotation of the tremolo block effectively into sliding movement of the slide block and the movable stopper , thereby making it possible to stabilize the recovery action of the tremolo body to a greater degree . if the first spring front - side installation block for the installation of the front - end side of the first spring is installed so that its position may be adjusted , with respect to the bottom side mechanism base , this makes it possible to cause the force of the first spring to agree with the tensile force of the string on string gauges that are to be used , thereby making it possible to accommodate various tastes of performers . if a buffer is interposed between the slide block and the movable stopper or between the movable stopper and the positioning stopper , this makes it possible to absorb the impact at the time of a contact among the members by the buffer when the tremolo body is restored to the state of equilibrium , thereby reducing generation of the contact noise . in the tremolo , moreover , the contact between the slide block and the movable stopper and the contact between the movable stopper and the positioning stopper becomes a surface contact and the contact area becomes comparatively large . as a result , their surface pressure becomes lower making it difficult to cause such deformation of the buffer that may produce some effect upon tuning . if the link between the tremolo block and the slide block is capable of expansion and contraction , this enables adjusting the initial setting angle of the tremolo body while the tremolo is not in operation , thereby accommodating various tastes of performers . if the forces of the first spring and the second spring are directed opposite the direction of the tensile force of the string , if the force of the first spring is made smaller than the total string tension and if , the sum of the forces of the first spring and the second spring is made larger than the total string tension , the slide block and the movable stopper do not move and the tremolo body maintains the state of equilibrium even when the tensile force of the string may be increased from the time when the slide block touches the front portion of the movable stopper to the time when tuning is completed , thereby making it possible to tune in a concise and accurate manner . because the force of the first spring is smaller than the total string tension , moreover , the return of the slide block after tremolo operation and , accordingly , the restoration of the tremolo body to the state of equilibrium can be carried out smoothly . if the engagement mechanism that regulates the forward movement of the slide block is interposed between the slide block and the movable stopper , it becomes possible to regulate the forward movement of the slide block by the engagement mechanism and to carry out the tuning of each string in the state where the state of equilibrium in design is being maintained , thereby making it possible to effect tuning in a more simple and accurate manner . although the present invention has been described in relation to particular embodiments thereof , many other variations and modifications and other uses will become apparent to those skilled in the art . it is preferred , therefore , that the present invention be limited not by the specific disclosure herein , but only by the appended claims .
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the foundation or backbone of the vehicle 20 is the chassis or center beam 22 . center beam 22 runs from the tip of the vehicle 20 to the back excluding the compressible bumpers . beam 22 can be any shape , an i - beam , a square tube , a circle , triangle or u channel . in these figures center beam 22 is a u channel placed upside down . on the guide way the only likely accident would involve vehicle 20 running into a fixed object or into the back of another vehicle . beam 22 is strong enough that it will not collapse at any impact speed . there is a front bumper assembly 46 and rear bumper assembly 48 . in the preferred embodiment , each bumper assembly ( 46 and 48 ) allows up to two feet of movement during a collision . every vehicle 20 has the same hard rubber bumper nose 76 that lines up with and fits into the bumper socket 78 at the rear of vehicle 20 . a skirt beam 24 surrounds the entire vehicle floor and base perimeter in the same plane as the chassis . skirt beam 24 is a continuous solid rim . body side braces 26 provide support and bracing from the skirt 24 to the center beam 22 . brace 26 stops at center beam 22 because that is what brace 26 is being braced off of . a wheel well strut 42 completes the wheel well space 28 . vehicle 20 has air bags 63 stored in front air bag storage area 62 . if vehicle 20 has a minor collision ( such as a 20 mph impact , or a force that moves the front bumper 46 in maybe 6 inches ) the bumper 46 springs back out via front shock absorber 56 and no airbag has released . in the event of a higher impact collision air bags 63 are activated and inflate . the harder the impact , the more the air bags 63 are compressed and the faster and stronger they will deploy . the axle assembly 34 is comprised of an axle pocket 92 attached to the center beam 22 on one end and the wheel well strut 42 on the other end . axle arm and wheel mount 94 support the wheel assembly 38 . one end is pinned into the axle pocket 92 , with axle mounting pin 96 . the axle arm 94 can swivel down around pin 96 . the other end of the axle arm 94 is mounted in a shock absorber 36 shock absorber 36 is mounted to the skirt beam 24 . axle arm 94 preferably does not rotate . wheel assembly 38 comprises an in - wheel motor 98 that fits on over axle arm 94 and is secured in place and is able to pivot in a horizontal plane around the steering pin 102 the wheel 38 rotates around an in - wheel motor hub . one embodiment of the vehicle steering mechanism is shown in fig6 and 7 . as illustrated , a steering rod 122 is connected on each end to a steering rod wheel bracket 124 which is attached to the inside surface of the in - wheel motor 98 . steering rod 122 has a precision steering worm gear 132 in its center . a screw gear and motor 144 rotates against the worm gear 132 to move the steering rod 122 either direction to move the front wheels 38 based on instructions from the computer 146 which receives electronic input from saddle sensors 110 when vehicle 20 is operating on the guide way . screw gear and motor 144 are mounted on the precision steering worm mounting rod 134 which is attached by the hinge bracket for fine steering worm 136 to the steering yolk 126 . steering yolk 126 is made up of three rods connected on their ends with steering yolk hinge brackets 128 . the center rod of the steering yolk 126 supports a corrective steering cog 138 . cog 138 can be moved quickly in either direction by the corrective steering cog gear and motor 142 based on instructions from the computer 146 which receives electronic input from saddle sensors 110 if vehicle 20 is operating on a guide way . in normal driving conditions the rods of the steering yolk 126 would be all squared up . precision steering worm gear 132 would be centered up and the front wheels 38 would be perfectly lined up for straight ahead movement . as vehicle saddle 104 tracked the direction of the guide way guide beam it would send electronic data to computer 146 which would operate the precision screw gear and motor 144 . this operates vehicle 20 smoothly . in the event something requires rapid adjustment such as vehicle 20 losing traction due to something slippery on the guide way then the first precision steering assembly is disengaged and the second corrective steering cog gear and motor 142 are activated . this dual - mechanism configuration allows vehicle 20 to make steering corrections more rapidly . if vehicle 20 is operating on a conventional street and bumper sensors 152 can detect an approaching vehicle on a collision path . if this occurs , then the corrective steering cog gear and motor 142 may be activated along with acceleration of the in - wheel motors 38 so as to avoid collision or move the impact away from vehicle occupants . continuing now with the vehicle descriptions . the reason the axle assembly 34 is fastened on its ends into the skirt beam 24 without a disruption is for maintaining the integrity of skirt beam 24 . another objective is to support the axle arm 94 on both sides of vehicle 20 . in current vehicles 20 the wheels are mounted on the very end of a rotating axle . there is no support for the axle at the end . this places more bending moment on the axle . by placing skirt beam 24 on one end and the axle pocket 92 on the other , wheel 38 is supported on both ends of the axle arm 94 . wheel well 72 provides adequate clearance for the wheels 38 to turn in either direction . if vehicle 20 is a heavier vehicle , such as a mass transit vehicle or a heavy freight vehicle , then this support of the end of the axle with the skirt beam 24 could make a big difference and allow the vehicle 20 to be much lighter . the in - wheel motor 38 rotates about the axle arm 94 . for further protection of vehicle occupants a shoulder height skirt beam 82 creates a cage at the upper level of a person &# 39 ; s body and head . it is interrupted by the gull wing door 86 but is reinforced by a door mounted shoulder height skirt beam 88 . the gull wing door 86 is hinged from the center head beam 84 . the figures illustrate how the vehicle can have a lot of head room for getting in and out of vehicle 20 . vehicle 20 would automatically open and close the doors . the vehicle occupant doesn &# 39 ; t have to touch a thing . the center head beam 84 is another significant structural frame member . additional protection is provided by front roll guard ( or bar ) 120 and rear roll guard ( or bar ) 122 . together the chassis center beam 22 , skirt beam 24 , axle assembly ( 92 , 94 , 96 , and 36 ), body side braces 26 , shoulder height skirt beam 82 , center head beam 84 and roll bars ( 120 and 122 ) provide occupant protection and can create a faraday cage effect to protect against lightning . the bottom or floor of vehicle 20 is a floor deck 32 that fills in between all these horizontal chassis and axle structures . floor deck 32 must provide thermal insulation , road noise insulation , and especially electromagnetic field and electric radiation insulation . the transfer of electric through the saddle 104 into capacitors 114 will create strong fields beneath vehicle 20 . saddle 104 will provide a significant shield . floor deck 32 also serves as a reinforcement plate to stiffen skirt beam 24 . floor deck 32 will be made of layers of honeycomb structures filled with urethane and diaelectric compounds . wheel well 72 covers the upper half of the tire to complete the sound , thermal , field and radiation protective insulation . a single passenger seat 66 is also shown , but there could be any number of passengers . passenger seat 66 rests on shock absorbers 68 that further isolate the occupant from roadway bumps or potholes . on the guide way vehicle 20 is guided by the saddle 104 . saddle 104 is supported by a saddle piston 106 that is moved down for switching purposes by a solenoid 112 sliding in piston bearings 108 . the saddle 104 sees the guide way beam with sensors 110 . fig8 illustrates a stand up / sit down handicap assist seat to help passengers who have weak knee muscles , back problems , shoulder , arm joint or muscle problems who have difficulty maneuvering into and out of a vehicle or any kind of chair . passengers who need access and egress assistance is not limited to older people or to people in wheel chairs . there are many people who have old injuries or have various joint problems and arthritis . some people are overweight . some have weak knees . in fig8 the stand up / sit down handicap assist seat is fastened to the vehicle handicap platform 178 . vehicle 20 has appropriate mechanical levers and mechanisms for lifting platform 178 slowly and safely into and out of vehicle 20 . when vehicle 20 arrives at a destination , the gull wing doors 86 open , platform 178 slides out of vehicle 20 and flat on the outside landing surface . upon command the seat cushion rotator 168 rotates the seat cushion 172 forward around the rotator 168 . seat cushion rotator 168 itself is moved up by the leg rest 166 so as the passenger stands up the leg room is being increased . simultaneously , as the seat cushion rotator 168 rotates forward , the back support rotator 174 is rotating backward . as such , the back support 176 remains upright and vertical . when the passenger is standing steady the waist seat belt 184 and chest strap 186 can be released . chest strap ( or belt ) 186 keeps the passenger from pulling forward . the passenger controls the seat with controls built into a armrest 188 . when a passenger wants to get into a vehicle the process is reversed . obviously , passengers must request a vehicle equipped with the stand up / sit down handicap assist seat . for a passenger to use the seat it is outside the vehicle and standing extended upright . the passenger stands with their back to the chair 66 . thereafter , they fasten the seat and chest belts ( 184 and 186 ). seat cushion rotator 168 rotates back while the back support rotator 174 rotates forward . finally the passenger adjusts the leg support 166 up or down to get comfortable leg room . when vehicle 20 is being driven on conventional streets it will be vulnerable to collisions that can not occur on an elevated guideway . the most frequent and fatal type of collision is caused at intersections when vehicles might run a light and hit another vehicle broadside . since vehicle 20 is likely to be a lightweight vehicle , this kind of collision could be much worse than in traditional automobiles . in order to give the vehicle 20 some resistance and to equalize the momentum it is equipped with crash guards . fig4 a shows four crash guards 116 on the right sides of the vehicle and mounted on or near the perimeter skirt beam 24 when vehicle 20 is not in motion these would be locked in a resting position to avoid accidental release . if the traveling vehicle is struck on the driver side by another vehicle , all eight crash guards 116 are released with great force . fig4 c is a detailed view of a crash guard 116 . the crash guards 116 have sharp prongs ( 116 ( a )-( b )) that dig into the asphalt . prong 116 ( a ) is nearest the outer edge of vehicle 20 and 116 ( b ) prong is toward the inside . they rotate about a hinge bracket 116 ( c ). as the eaev is pushed sideways by a colliding vehicle the crash guards are released and offer resistance . this creates the effect of a much heavier vehicle . if the colliding vehicle strikes on the driver side and is going fast enough then the crash guards 116 on the passenger side dig in on prong 116 ( b ) and on the driver side they dig in on prong 116 ( a ). this causes the driver side to lift and flip the vehicle into a roll . this is the preferred result . instead of vehicle 20 and the left side of the driver &# 39 ; s head having to absorb the momentum of the other vehicle on the side window the energy is converted into lifting vehicle 20 and rolling it over . the goal is to absorb the energy over a longer distance . in fig5 a roll guard 118 is shown . if it is preferred the vehicle roll over on its side and slide then that is what the roll guard 118 does . when the crash guards 116 are deployed the roll guard 118 pops up to stop the vehicle 20 on its side . the second object is to change the angle of attack of the impact on the vehicle occupants . if vehicle 20 is turned on its side and the occupants are strapped in their seats the impact is coming from the bottom of the seat and not from the side of the head . this situation is not ideal , but could be effective enough to save some lives in many accidents . these are all physical characteristics . what kind of controls does the vehicle have ? how does a customer communicate with and operate the vehicle ? vehicle customers will come in contact with many vehicle variations , different instrument panels , different looking gauges and controls , different sizes , and different types . it could be very confusing to someone who does not own their own vehicle . first of all , the vehicle 20 would have few instruments if any at all . there may be a touch screen , a panic button , emergency button , and a joystick 190 ( fig4 b ). there is no need for controls . the customer communicates with vehicle 20 through the system master scheduling operation center . before a customer can use the system they must open an account for billing , identification , and to receive system software onto any personal device they will be using when they travel whether cellphone , ipod , palm pilot , blackberry , lap top or whatever . the customer is known only by the communication device . the actual name of the traveler does not matter , this protects privacy . the customer may text or the customer may use verbal communication . for verbal communication the customer uses voice recognition software on their own phone or equipment and not voice recognition software at a call center of the master scheduling operations center . this way it does not matter what language is used or how heavy an accent may be . the communications are simple . text or say the destination and desired arrival time . the system comes back with questions such as how do you wish to travel and provides choices . the customer may ask for a cost and travel time estimate . the customer does not need to know anything about the vehicle . the operations center knows all about the vehicle and can explain anything the customer needs to know to travel in that vehicle . the eaev is an environmentally adaptive vehicle . this means a single physical embodiment equipped with some basic equipment for receiving and sending data from devices such as : gps receiver and transmitter , sensors , video cameras , radar , wireless receiver , transmitter , odometer , equipped with some sort of information processing ; a computer , and basic control output devices ; steering , throttle and braking can use that same input , process it or interpret it in different ways and provide different output to controls based upon the kind of surface transportation infrastructure it is on . when vehicle 20 is on an elevated guideway infrastructure it sets its speed at 120 mph . when it gets off on a public street with manually powered cars vehicle 20 monitors its speed according to speed limits provided by the gps . when vehicle 20 gets off of the guideway into a single family subdivision it sets its speed at 10 , 12 , 15 , or 17 mph just depending on what it is told by the local wireless information . observe that in all three instances the velocity information originates from the same device , but the information is applied differently depending on the system it is on . on the elevated guideway vehicle 20 receives directional information from sensors 110 in the saddle 104 . on a highway with manually operated vehicles , vehicle 20 receives directional control from a joystick 190 operated by a vehicle occupant . on a local single family paved street perhaps only six feet wide vehicle 20 receives its directional control from gps input or instructions from land based devices . in this instance the instructional message is received from three different sources , but execution on the information is performed by the same steering device . there is another way the vehicle 20 could be controlled in a single family residential subdivision which is by memorizing the plat or road layout . as a vehicle exited the elevated guideway into a subdivision a device at the entrance could transmit all the local subdivision information . that information could come from a scheduling operations center just as well . vehicle 20 is notified whenever it moves onto a different surface transportation infrastructure and makes the appropriate adjustments . the scheduling operations control center is also gate keeper . let &# 39 ; s say someone gives an address into an exclusive community . unless the gate keeper has authorization for that vehicle to enter that community it will not allow the access . the gatekeeper also decides access based on the type of vehicle , the width , or height of the vehicle . in a town center shopping mall the freight delivery guideways are restricted to use by delivery vehicles and no private vehicles would be allowed . there is no need for a physical gate . weight restrictions are also enforced by the gatekeeper . an overweight vehicle will not be allowed to move onto the system . although this disclosure has been described in terms of certain embodiments and generally associated methods , alterations and permutations of these embodiments and methods will be apparent to those skilled in the art . accordingly , the above description of example embodiments does not define or constrain this disclosure . other changes , substitutions , and alterations are also possible without departing from the spirit and scope of this disclosure .
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when referring to the preferred embodiments , certain terminology will be utilized for the sake of clarity . use of such terminology is intended to encompass not only the described embodiment , but also technical equivalents which operate and function in substantially the same way to bring about the same result . referring now more particularly to fig1 and 3 of the drawings , one embodiment of the christmas tree stand 10 is therein illustrated . the stand 10 includes a base 11 of cylindrical configuration having a wall 11a , which stand is hollow and includes an integral reservoir base 12 , which base 12 includes a rim or top wall 15 , side walls 16 , and a front wall 17 . the top wall 15 has a semi - circular opening 18 therein , and a rectangular opening 19 is provided in wall 11a . a water pan 20 is provided , of circular configuration , with a bottom wall 21 , side wall 22 and flat top wall 23 . the top wall 23 is provided with an extension 25 which upon assembly to the base 11 extends into the reservoir base 12 to be described . the water pan top wall 23 has a plurality of threaded fasteners 26 ( three shown ) which are engaged in bosses 27 , part of ribs 28 , which are integral with the wall 11a of stand 10 . referring to fig2 an alternate structure for fastening the water pan 20 to the wall 11a is provided , which includes a plurality of integral tongues 30 , mounted on bosses 31 , which extend downwardly from the base wall 11a , which have a tapered front wall 32 , and a hook 33 , which snaps over the flat top wall 23 of water pan 20 to retain it in stand 10 . the water pan 20 has a circular raised rim 35 on extension 25 , with a slot 36 which extends across the rim 35 towards the center of pan 20 to permit the flow of water therethrough onto bottom wall 21 , and side wall 22 to be described . a water reservoir tank 40 is provided , which is constructed of clear plastic , and includes a flat bottom wall 41 , with front wall 42 , side walls 43 , and top wall 44 . a rear wall 45 connects the top wall 44 , bottom wall 41 and side walls 43 , and which is contoured to fit around the cylindrical wall 11a . a recess 46 is provided in front wall 42 of reservoir tank 40 , with a transverse handle 47 for carrying the reservoir tank . the bottom wall 41 has an opening 48 with a threaded hollow extension 49 extending downwardly therefrom , which has a reservoir cap 50 engaged therewith , of well known type , with a poppet valve 52 therein of well known type , which is actuated when the cap 50 is engaged with the raised rim 35 , by an upstanding pin 51 in the center of extension 25 , allowing water ( not shown ) to flow out of the valve 52 in cap 50 and down slot 36 into pan 20 . the stand 10 has a circular opening 55 in a top wall 56 , which is intended to receive a bucket 57 , which has a top rim 58 , and a cup 59 extending downwardly therefrom , with a plurality of slots 60 therethrough spaced therearound . the cup 59 of bucket 57 has a plurality of bosses 61 spaced therearound , four being preferred , with threaded fasteners 62 extending therethrough to engage the trunk 63 of a tree 64 in conventional manner . a top cover 65 is provided which has an opening 66 to receive the tree trunk 63 , engages the top rim 58 of bucket 57 and retains the bucket rim 58 on the top wall 56 , by engagement of a plurality of hold down latches 67 of well known type , with a rim 68 on cover 65 , three being shown which are mounted on base wall 11a . the base 11 , water pan 20 , bucket 57 , and top cover 65 may be constructed of polypropylene or other suitable moldable plastic as desired . referring now more particularly to fig4 and 5 of the drawings , another embodiment of christmas tree stand 100 is therein illustrated . the stand 100 includes a base 101 of cylindrical configuration , which stand is hollow and includes an integral reservoir base 112 , which base 101 includes a cylindrical portion 115 , and a saucer like bottom portion 117 . the bottom portion 117 has a semi - circular opening 118 therein , and a top wall 119 . a water pan 120 is provided similar to water pan 20 , of circular configuration , with a bottom wall 121 , side wall 122 and flat top wall 123 . the top wall 123 is provided with an extension 125 which upon assembly to the base 101 extends into the reservoir base 112 to be described . the water pan top wall 123 may have a plurality of threaded fasteners 126 ( four shown ) which are engaged in bosses ( not shown ), part of ribs ( not shown ) which are integral with the wall bottom portion 117 of stand 110 . the water pan 120 may also be secured by an alternate structure as described for fig2 above . the water pan 120 has a circular raised rim 135 on extension 125 , with a slot 136 which extends across the rim 135 towards the center of pan 120 to permit the flow of water therethrough to be described . a water reservoir tank 140 is provided , which is constructed of a clear plastic , and includes a flat bottom wall 141 , with front wall 142 , side walls 143 , and top wall 144 . a rear wall 145 connects the top wall 144 , bottom wall 141 and side walls 143 . a recess 146 is provided in top wall 144 of reservoir 140 , with a transverse handle 147 for carrying the reservoir . the bottom wall 141 has an opening 148 with a threaded hollow extension 149 extending downwardly therefrom , which has a reservoir cap 50 engaged therewith , as previously described , with a poppet valve 52 therein , which is actuated when the cap 50 is engaged with the raised rim 135 , and by an upstanding pin 151 in the center of extension 125 , allowing water ( not shown ) to flow out of the valve 52 in the cap 50 and down slot 136 into pan 120 . the stand 100 has a circular opening 155 in the cylindrical portion 115 , which is intended to receive a trunk 63 of a tree 64 . the cylindrical portion 115 has a plurality of threaded openings 161 spaced therearound , four being preferred , with threaded fasteners 162 extending therethrough to engage the trunk 63 of the tree 64 in conventional manner . the base 101 and water pan 120 , may be constructed of polypropylene or other suitable moldable plastic as desired . the mode of operation and use will now be pointed out . the water pan 20 or 120 are assembled to base 11 or 101 by fasteners 26 , 126 , or by tongues 30 . for base 11 , the tree trunk 63 is prepared and the top cover 65 is placed on the trunk 63 , which is inserted into bucket 57 , and the fasteners 62 turned in to engage the trunk 63 , and adjusted for the straightness of the trunk 63 . the bucket 57 is inserted into opening 66 and the rim 68 of top cover 65 is engaged by the hold down latches 67 . the cap 50 is removed from the water reservoir tank 40 which is filled with water and the cap replaced . the reservoir tank 40 is placed on top wall 15 of reservoir base 12 , with the pin 51 engaging the valve 52 in cap 50 permitting water to flow thereout , down slot 36 and into the pan 20 , as required . the water level in the reservoir tank 40 can be easily observed , and the tank removed to add water , as required . for base 101 the tree trunk 63 is prepared and inserted into opening 155 and the fasteners 162 turned in to contact the tree trunk 63 and adjusted as required . the water reservoir 140 is filled with water and placed on top wall 119 with valve 52 engaged with pin 151 allowing water to flow thereout and into pan 120 . it will thus be seen that structure has been provided with which the objects of the invention are attained .
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an embodiment of the present disclosure is a sensor with a reusable component and a disposable component . the reusable component generally includes reusable expensive electronic components of a sensor , including , for example , the emitters and detector . in an embodiment , the emitters and the detector are located in respective casings connected by a short flexible circuit . in an embodiment , a disposable component includes mechanically matable portions adapted to mechanically mate with the casings of the reusable component . in an embodiment , the casings of the reusable component mate with the disposable component in a manner that provides an assembly / disassembly state , and an attached state . during the assembly / disassembly state , a caregiver can readily and straightforwardly assemble the sensor by aligning the casings on the reusable component and the mechanical housings of the disposable component and snapping them together . in an embodiment , the alignment is generally vertical in nature and the snapping occurs by lightly pressing on the components while on a flat surface or supported from underneath by , for example , the hand of the assembler . each detector housing generally vertically accepts the casings ; however , one of the casings , such as , for example , the forward housing or clip accepts the casing in such a way as to keep the forward casing generally immobile . disassembly is equally as straightforward , as the caregiver may advantageously lift on the reusable component wire , and the rearward casing extracts from the mechanically mated housing of the disposable element . continual lifting then similarly extracts the forward casing from the mechanically mated housing of the disposable element . in an embodiment , the flexible circuit between the forward and rearward casing may be reinforced in order to withstand multiple disassembly stresses or forces occurring from the lifting of the reusable wire . in an embodiment , pressing the disposable portion onto a flat surface while lifting the reusable portion aids in the disassembly process . the disposable portion includes structures designed to attach the sensor to a measurement site . in an embodiment , the disposable portion comprises a flexible tape having an adhesive side capable of removably adhering to the measurement site . in an embodiment where the disposable portion wraps around a measurement site , the act of bending the flexible circuit advantageously causes the assembly / disassembly clip to recess into the mechanically mated portion of the disposable housing , thereby reducing the likelihood of disassembly during application to a measurement site . in an embodiment , the sensor components are locked together through the longitudinal displacement of the clip with respect to the disposable housing . in such an embodiment , a stop diminishes the capacity of the clip to move vertically , thereby locking it into place . in this embodiment , removing the adhesive from the measurement site and straightening the sensor components unlocks the reusable and disposable components . in an embodiment , assembly also necessarily electrically connects electronic components of the disposable portion with those of the reusable portion . in an embodiment , then disposable portion includes an information element or memory device , such as , for example , a resistor , a single wire addressable memory device , such as those eproms or eeproms commercially available from dallas semiconductor , other memory or processing devices , combinations of the same , or the like . the information element may include data accessibly by an attached patient monitor to accomplish quality control , monitor configuration , sensor use monitoring , combinations of the same , or the like . still other advantages of embodiments of the present disclosure include proportionally positioning of the mechanically mating housings to provide for optical alignment between the emitters and detector . moreover , in embodiments including the disposable tape , the tape may advantageously be scored to assist the caregiver in proper alignment with the body tissue at the measurement site . to facilitate a complete understanding of the disclosure , the remainder of the detailed description describes the disclosure with reference to the drawings . corresponding parts refer to corresponding elements and the leading digit indicates the figure in which that element first appears . fig1 presents an exemplary block diagram of the components generally found in an oximeter sensor , according to an embodiment of the invention . for example , fig1 shows as oximeter system including sensor 102 , cable 170 , and monitor 172 . the sensor 102 includes one or more emitters 174 for irradiating body tissue with light , and one or more detectors 176 capable of detecting the light after attenuation by the tissue . the sensor 102 also includes an information element 136 such as an eprom . the sensor 102 also includes a plurality of conductors communicating signals ; including emitter drive signal conductors 180 , detector composite signal conductors 182 , and eprom conductors 184 . according to an embodiment , the sensor conductors 180 , 182 , 184 communicate their signals to and from the monitor 172 through cable 170 . although disclosed with reference to the cable 170 , a skilled artisan will recognize from the disclosure herein that the communication to and from the sensor 102 may advantageously include a wide variety of cables , cable designs , public or private communication networks or computing systems , wired or wireless communications , combinations of the same , or the like . the information element 136 may comprise an eprom , an eeprom , combinations of the same , or the like . in general , the information element 136 may include a read - only device or a read and write device . the information element may advantageously also comprise a resistor , an active network , or any combination of the foregoing . the remainder of the present disclosure will refer to such possibilities as simply an information element for ease of disclosure . the information element 136 may advantageously store some or all of a wide variety of data and information , including , for example , information on the type or operation of the sensor 102 , type of patient or body tissue , buyer or manufacturer information , sensor characteristics including the number of wavelengths capable of being emitted , emitter specifications , emitter drive requirements , demodulation data , calculation mode data , calibration data , software such as scripts , executable code , or the like , sensor electronic elements , sensor life data indicating whether some or all sensor components have expired and should be replaced , encryption information , or monitor or algorithm upgrade instructions or data . the information element 136 may advantageously configure or activate the monitor , monitor algorithms , monitor functionality , or the like based on some or all of the foregoing information . for example , without authorized data accessibly on the information element 136 , quality control functions may inhibit functionality of the monitor . likewise , particular data may activate certain functions while keeping others inactive . for example , the data may indicate a number of emitter wavelengths available , which in turn may dictate the number and / or type of physiological parameters that can be monitored or calculated . fig1 also shows the monitor 172 comprising one or more processing boards 186 communicating with one or more host instruments 188 . according to an embodiment , the board 186 comprises processing circuitry arranged on one or more printed circuit boards capable of being installed in specialized monitoring equipment or distributed as an oem component for a wide variety of patient monitoring equipment . as shown in fig1 , the board 186 includes a front end signal conditioner 190 , a sensor controller 194 , a digital signal processor or microcontroller 192 , and a memory reader 1102 . in an embodiment , the processor 192 instructs the sensor controller 194 to output one or more drive signals capable of causing the emitters 174 to activate . the front end 190 receives detector output indicating detection of light from the emitters 174 attenuated by body tissue of the measurement site . the front end 190 conditions the signal and outputs the signal and / or signal data to the processor 192 . the processor 192 executes calculations adapted to determine values and / or indications or physiological parameters , trends of the parameters , alarms based on the parameters or the trends or combinations of trends and / or parameters , or the like . in addition , the reader 1102 is capable of retrieving information stored on information element 136 . the reader 1102 or the processor 192 may advantageously decrypt such information to the extent desired . in an embodiment , the host instrument 188 , communicates with the processor 192 to receive signals indicative of the physiological parameter information calculated by the processor 192 . the host instrument preferably includes one or more display devices 196 capable of providing indicia representative of the calculated physiological parameters of the tissue at the measurement site . such display devices 196 may be controlled by a monitor controller 198 that accepts signals from processor 192 . in an embodiment , monitor controller 198 may also accept signals from user interface 1100 . such signals may be indicative of various display options for configuring the output to display 196 . in an embodiment , the host instrument 188 may advantageously be capable of displaying one or more of a pulse rate , plethysmograph data , perfusion quality , signal or measurement quality , values of blood constituents in body tissue , including for example , spco , functional or fractional spo 2 , or the like . in other embodiments , the host instrument 188 is capable of displaying values for one or more of spmet , hbo 2 , hb , hbco , hbmet , hct , blood glucose , bilirubin , or the like . in still additional embodiments , the host instrument 188 is capable of displaying trending data for one or more of the foregoing measured or determined data . moreover an artisan will realize from the disclosure herein many display options for the data are available . in an embodiment , the host instrument 188 includes audio or visual alarms that alert caregivers that one or more physiological parameters are falling below predetermined safe thresholds , and may include indications of the confidence a caregiver should have in the displayed data . in further embodiment , the host instrument 188 may advantageously include circuitry capable of determining the expiration or overuse of components of the sensor 102 , including for example , reusable elements , disposable elements , or combinations of the same . although disclosed with reference to particular embodiment , an artisan will recognize from the disclosure herein many variations of the instrument 172 . for example , in a broad sense , the instrument 172 accepts data from the sensor 102 , determines values for one or more parameters , trends , alarms or the like , and outputs them to an interface such as a display . fig2 illustrates an embodiment of sensor 102 , having reusable component 204 and disposable component 206 . the components are shown detached . fig3 shows a very similar perspective drawing , but with reusable component 204 and disposable component 206 in their attached , in their assembled state . returning to fig2 , the reusable component 204 comprises an emitter casing 208 , a detector casing 210 , and a flexible circuit 212 . the emitter casing 208 comprises one or more emission devices operable to emit light at multiple wavelengths , such as red and infrared . detector casing 210 houses one or more detectors , such as a photodiode detector . in an embodiment , a flexible circuit connects the emitter casing 208 and detector casing 210 . in a preferred embodiment , the flexible circuit is housed in a protective cover and extends beyond the emitter casing 208 . an artisan will understand from the disclosure herein that the emitter and detector electrical components may advantageously be housed in the casings disclosed or simply reversed from the foregoing disclosure . in an embodiment , the flexible circuit 212 and / or cabling extends significantly beyond the casings to advantageously remove any cable attachment mechanisms from the proximity of the tissue site . fig2 also shows the disposable component 206 including a base 214 , an assembly / disassembly clip 216 and a front holding clip 218 , the clips each adapted to accept the emitter casing 208 and detector casing 210 , respectively . in the preferred embodiment , front holding clip 218 includes a front stop 220 . front stop 220 is advantageous for a number of reasons . it helps reduce the likelihood that the reusable component 102 , and in particular detector casing 210 , will slide forward in the front holding clip 218 during assembly or use . in addition , in an embodiment where the stop 220 comprises rubber or other liquid resistant material , the stop 220 provides a liquid resistant connection between the detector casing 210 and front holding clip 218 , reducing the likelihood of sensor contamination and electrical shorts . rubber or a similar material may be used in an embodiment to compose such a front stop 220 . fig3 a shows detector casing 210 clipped or snapped into front holding clip 218 with a tip of the casing slid below a portion of the front stop 220 . this allows the front stop 220 to reduce not only horizontal movement of the detector casing 210 , but also helps reduce vertical release of the detector casing unless pulled from , for example , the cable . fig3 also shows the front stop 220 with a generally rounded shape providing a relatively soft material with few , if any , sharp edges . such an embodiment advantageously reduces damage to a patient or the sensor if the patient tries to scratch body tissue using the edges of the assembled sensor , or if the sensor is dropped , banged against something while worn , or the like . this is particularly useful when used with burn victims or other patients whose skin may damage easily . fig3 b highlights the ease of assembly . the disposable portion 206 is set on a surface or held in the one hand . the caregiver then aligns a front tip of casing 210 and guides it into front holding clip 218 . this is more a vertical alignment with the front tip snapping below stop 220 . the casing 210 including rounded wings 531 ( fig5 ) that mechanically associate with rounded side walls 739 ( fig7 ). these mechanical structures allow the tip of casing 210 to slide below stop 220 , and snap down into place . once casing 210 is in place , casing 208 aligns vertically and simply slides down , with tabs 262 ( fig6 ) located sliding into slots 222 ( fig8 ) on either side of assembly / disassembly clip 216 . in an embodiment , the flexible circuit portion 212 between the casings 208 and 210 may bulge slightly . fig3 b shows the emitter casing 208 after it has been slid onto assembly / disassembly clip 216 . with the reusable sensor component 204 and the disposable sensor component 206 in a generally flat position , the emitter casing 208 remains vertically mobile in slots 222 of assembly / disassembly clip 216 . when the sensor 102 is wrapped around a measurement site 426 , such as a finger , as shown in fig4 , emitter casing 208 slides forward in assembly / disassembly clip 216 due to the tension from flexible circuit 212 and detector casing 210 being substantially immobile in front holding clip 218 . tabs 262 ( fig6 ) slide away from slots 222 ( fig8 ) and under holding elements 224 ( fig8 ). holding elements 224 prevent emitter casing 208 from moving vertically or further forward by restricting tabs 262 . as stated before , the tension from flexible circuit 212 when it is wrapped around a measurement site 426 prevents the emitter casing 208 from moving horizontally backwards . the immobility of casing 210 , combined with the tabs 262 sliding out of alignment with slots 222 , effectively secure the reusable sensor component 204 with respect to disposable component 206 , with the emitters appropriately position with respect to the detector . thus , realignment through release of tension , i . e ., removing the sensor from an attachment site and straightening it out , ensure straightforward disassembly of the sensor components . although shown using tabs 262 and slots 222 , a skilled artisan will recognize from the disclosure herein a wide variety of mechanical mechanisms that ensure reliable attachability when the sensor is applied to the tissue site and straightforward assembly / disassembly when the sensor is removed . for example , one or more detents that snap closed beyond a catch and are released through pinching could be used to secure the reusable portion 204 to the disposable portion 206 . as alluded to previously , fig4 depicts sensor 102 as would be seen when in use on a measurement site 426 . in this case , the measurement site is a finger , but other sites such as a toe , ear , wrist or ankle may also work . disposable component 206 and reusable component 204 are attached , and reusable component 204 is in the assembled and attached position . longitudinal tension on the flexible circuit 212 from the differing radius between the tape and the circuit has pulled the emitter casing 208 forward , placing tabs 262 under holding elements 224 . fig4 shows that , in an embodiment , emitter casing 208 is rearward with respect to assembly / disassembly clip 216 when in the unattached position ( fig3 b ), but the front of emitter casing 208 is forward and in an embodiment , generally flush with assembly / disassembly clip 216 when in the attached position ( fig4 ). fig5 a - 5b show close up top and bottom perspective views of an embodiment of the detector casing 210 . electrical contact acceptors 528 are shown as insets on the sides of detector casing 210 . in an embodiment , electrical contact acceptors 528 are located on either side of the detector casing 210 and include conductive material that would be connected to a wire in flexible circuit 212 . buttons 530 found on either side of the detector casing 210 are , in the preferred embodiment , generally hemispherical protrusions adapted to sit in depressions 738 found on front holding clip 218 ( see fig7 ). fig7 shows a close up perspective view of an embodiment of the front holding clip 218 , again to show detail less easily seen in smaller figures . while most of the front sensor clip 218 may be made of plastic or some other rigid material , the preferred embodiment has front stop 220 made of rubber as has been discussed . opening 732 is also shown here and may be a hole through front holding clip 218 or may just be of a generally transparent material that will allow light from the leds to enter the tissue at the measurement site and allow light energy to be read by the photodiode . having window 732 be transparent material will allow the sensor to obtain readings while keeping the leds and photodiode from becoming contaminated . other optical filters or the like could also be housed in window 732 . located inside front stop 220 are conducting prongs 734 . conducting prongs 734 are adapted to fit into electrical contact acceptors 528 . in an embodiment , the conducting prongs 734 close the circuit with the information element 136 . when the detector casing 210 clips into front holding clip 218 , the conducting prongs 734 slide into electrical contact with acceptors 528 . the completed circuit allows the sensor 102 , and in turn an oximeter , to communicate with information element 136 . depressions 738 are located on the interior of front holding clip 218 . they are preferably generally hemispherical depressions similar in size to buttons 530 , so as to accept buttons 530 , and hold detector casing 210 in a substantially immobile position relative to front holding clip 218 . thus , a straightforward snap - in snap - out friction fit is accomplished using buttons 520 and depressions 738 . fig6 a - 6b show close up top and bottom perspective views of emitter casing 208 . rear pegs 660 are located on either side of emitter casing 208 . when tabs 262 slide down slots 222 of assembly / disassembly clip 216 , rear alignment pegs 660 slide down behind assembly / disassembly clip 216 . rear pegs 660 provide further restriction from forward movement , and structural support integrity , once emitter casing 208 has slid into a locking position by hitting rear stops 840 in assembly / disassembly clip 216 ( see fig8 ). fig8 illustrates a close - up perspective view of a assembly / disassembly clip 216 according to the preferred embodiment . as discussed emitter casing 208 , slides down into assembly / disassembly clip 216 with tabs 262 passing through slots 222 and rear pegs 660 passing behind assembly / disassembly clip 216 . as emitter casing 208 slides forward due to pull from application to a user , tabs 262 generally restrict over - forward movement or any vertical movement by abutting holding elements 224 . rear pegs 660 also generally abut rear stops 840 . assembly / disassembly clip 216 also has a window 842 that is substantially similar to window 732 on the front holding clip 218 . fig9 shows a top down view of the disposable sensor element . as shown in fig9 , the assembly / disassembly clip 216 and the slots 222 that allow vertical entry of the tabs 262 and the emitter casing 208 . moreover , fig9 shows windows 842 and 732 in assembly / disassembly clip 216 and front holding clip 218 , respectively . fig9 also shows windows 944 and 946 . windows 944 , 946 are included in the base 214 . like the openings 732 , 842 , windows 944 , 946 may either be holes through base 214 , or they may be of a material allowing free light transmission . windows 944 , 946 generally align with openings 732 and 842 to provide optical access to the measurement site for the emitters and detectors of the sensor . fig9 also shows the contact prongs 734 on the insides of front holding clip 218 . the contact prongs 734 connect the reusable sensor component 204 to information element 136 , which may be variously utilized such as for storing information relating to the sensor &# 39 ; s manufacturer or the like . fig1 illustrates an exploded view of an embodiment of disposable sensor component 206 . as shown in fig1 , disposable sensor component 206 comprises a plurality of layers . for example , disposable sensor component 206 includes a base tape 1038 . this base tape 1038 is preferably transparent polyethylene approximately 0 . 001 inches thick . such material can be purchased from various sources , such as product number 3044 from avery dennison medical of 7100 lindsey dr ., mentor , ohio , 44060 . as with all dimension recitations herein , an artisan will recognize from the disclosure herein that the dimensions of a particular layer may advantageously be redesigned according to various design desires or needs , and layers may be added or combined without departing from the scope of the present disclosure . a second layer comprises a tape or web layer 1040 . this layer is preferably white polypropylene also approximately 0 . 001 inches thick . one potential source for this material is scapa north america , 540 north oak street , inglewood , calif ., 90302 , specifically product number p - 341 . tape layer 1040 also has windows 1054 that allow light energy emanating from the sensor emitters to pass through this layer to the measurement site 426 and also allows the light to pass through to the detector . the windows 1054 may be holes , transparent material , optical filters , or the like . in the preferred embodiment , base tape 1038 does not have windows 1054 . base tape 1038 is preferably generally clear as discussed above . this allows light to pass through the tape from the sensor , while also generally reducing contamination of the sensor components . disposable component 206 also includes clip 218 and assembly / disassembly clip 216 . in an embodiment , information element 136 resides in a depression or slot within clip 218 , preferably affixed in place by adhesives and / or mechanical structure . in an embodiment , a polyester film layer 1042 sandwiches the clips 216 , 218 in place . in an embodiment the polyester film layer 1042 is generally clear and approximately 0 . 003 inches thick . polyester film layer 1042 also includes slots 1044 to allow the vertical elements of assembly / disassembly clip 216 and front holding clip 218 to protrude therefrom and to allow polyester film layer 1042 to sit relatively flatly against the bases of assembly / disassembly clip 216 and front holding clip 218 . front stop 220 may be connected to the vertical elements of front holding clip 218 with polyester film layer 1042 therebetween . the disposable portion 204 also includes light - blocking layer 1046 , preferably made of metalized polypropylene approximately 0 . 002 inches thick . this is a commercially available product available , for example , as bioflex ™ rx48p . light - blocking layer 1046 has cut - outs 1048 adapted to accept assembly / disassembly clip 216 and front holding clip 218 . light - blocking layer 1046 increases the likelihood of accurate readings by preventing the penetration to the measurement site of any ambient light energy ( light blocking ) and the acquisition of nonattenuated light from the emitters ( light piping ). above light blocking layer 1046 is an opaque branding layer 1047 also having cut - outs 1048 . this branding layer may advantageously comprise manufacturer &# 39 ; s logos , instructions or other markings . disposable sensor component 206 also comprises face tape 1050 . this face tape 1050 is preferably a clear film approximately 0 . 003 inches thick and may be obtained commercially through companies such as 3m ( product number 1527enp ), located in st . paul , minn ., 55144 . face tape 1050 has cut - outs 1052 adapted to accept assembly / disassembly clip 216 and front holding clip 218 . fig1 illustrates a disposable sensor highlighting issues relating to sensor positioning . generally , when applying the sensor of fig1 , a caregivers will split the center portion between the emitter and detector around , for example , a finger or toe . this may not be ideal , because as shown , it places the emitter 174 and detector 176 in a position where the optical alignment may be slightly or significantly off . fig1 illustrates an embodiment of the disposable component 206 including scoring line 1258 . scoring line 1258 is particularly advantageous , because it aids in quick and proper placement of the sensor on a measurement site 426 . scoring line 1258 lines up with the tip of a fingernail or toenail in at least some embodiments using those body parts as the measurement site . fig1 also illustrates the disposable component 206 where the distance between the windows 944 , 946 is purposefully off center . for example , in an embodiment , the clips 216 and 218 will position the sensor components off center by an approximate 40 %- 60 % split . a scoring line 1258 preferably marks this split , having about 40 % of the distance from window 946 to window 944 as the distance between window 946 and the scoring line 1258 . this leaves the remaining approximately 60 % of the distance between the two windows 944 , 946 as the distance between scoring line 1258 and window 944 . scoring line 1258 preferably lines up with the tip of the nail . the approximately 40 % distance sits atop a measurement site 426 , such as the figure shown in a generally flat configuration . the remaining approximately 60 % of the distance , that from the scoring line 1258 to window 944 , curves around the tip of the measurement site 426 and rests on the underside of the measurement site . this allows windows 944 , 946 — and thus in turn detector 176 and emitter 174 — to optically align across measurement site 426 . scoring line 1258 aids in providing a quick and yet typically more precise guide in placing a sensor on a measurement site 426 than previously disclosed sensors . while disclosed with reference to a 40 %- 60 % split , the off center positioning may advantageously comprise a range from an about 35 %— about 65 % split to an about 45 %— about 55 % split . in a more preferred embodiment , window 944 to scoring line 1258 would comprise a distance of between about 37 . 5 % and about 42 . 5 % of the total distance between window 944 and 946 . in the most preferred embodiment , the distance between window 944 and scoring line 1258 would be approximately 40 % of the total distance between window 944 and window 946 , as is illustrated in fig1 . with a general 40 %- 60 % split in this manner , the emitter and detector should generally align for optimal emission and detection of energy through the measurement site . fig1 illustrates a disposable sensor containing many of the features discussed in this disclosure . based on the disclosure herein , one of ordinary skill in the art may advantageously fix the components discussed herein to form a disposable sensor without moving beyond the scope of the present disclosure . although the sensor disclosed herein with reference to preferred embodiments , the disclosure is not intended to be limited thereby . rather , a skilled artisan will recognize from the disclosure herein a wide number of alternatives for the sensor . for example , the emitter and detector locations may be in the opposite housings from what was discussed here . it is also possible that the assembly / disassembly clip and sensor clip would be reversed in relation to the casings into which they clip . additionally , other combinations , omissions , substitutions and modifications will be apparent to the skilled artisan in view of the disclosure herein . accordingly , the present disclosure is not intended to be limited by the reaction of the preferred embodiments , but is to be defined by reference to the appended claims . additionally , all publications , patents , and patent applications mentioned in this specification are herein incorporated by reference to the same extent as if each individual publication , patent , or patent application was specifically and individually indicated to be incorporated by reference .
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referring now to fig1 there is shown a harvester that is realized in the form of a self - propelled forage harvester 110 . the forage harvester 110 is composed of a frame 112 that is carried by front and rear wheels 114 and 116 . the forage harvester 110 is operated from an operator &# 39 ; s cab 118 from which a crop gathering device 120 is visible . the harvest picked up from the ground by means of the crop gathering device 120 , e . g ., hay , grass or the like , is transported to a chopping drum 122 by feed rollers 130 arranged within an infeed housing 132 . the chopping drum 122 chops the harvest into small pieces and deposits them on a conveyor 124 . the harvest is transported from the forage harvester 110 to a trailer which travels alongside said forage harvester , through a discharge chute that is pivotable about an upright axis . a re - crushing device 128 that tangentially feeds the harvest to be transported to the conveyor 124 extends between the chopping drum 122 and the conveyor 124 . the crop gathering device 120 is realized in the form of a so - called pick - up in this embodiment . the crop gathering device 120 is supported on the ground by wheels 140 . the crop gathering device 120 is designed for picking up the harvest that is deposited on the field in the form of swaths and to feed the harvest to the forage harvester 110 for additional processing . during this process , the crop gathering device 120 is moved over the field a short distance above the ground during harvesting , with the crop gathering device being raised in order to be transported on a road or the like . the crop gathering device 120 contains a conveyor 134 in the form of a crew conveyor that transports the picked - up harvest from the sides of the crop gathering device 120 to a not - shown delivery opening situated in the center , with the feed rollers 130 being arranged behind the delivery opening . a pick - up 136 that is driven in rotation , analogously to the conveyor 134 , is arranged underneath the conveyor 134 and lifts the harvest off the ground with its conveyor prongs in order to transfer the harvest onto the conveyor 134 . a holding - down device 138 in the form of a plate is arranged above the pick - up 136 . a flexible shield or protective element 144 extends between the lower front edge of the operator &# 39 ; s cab 118 and the front edge of the upper side of a rear frame element 135 of the crop gathering device 120 . this shield 144 is preferably constructed of a flexible material such as cloth , rubber blanket , plastic or an industrial woven fabric , with those of such materials that have a noise - absorbing characteristic being particularly preferred . the shield 144 extends over the entire width of the cab 118 and covers the entire infeed housing 132 . consequently , the shield 144 also covers the functional elements of the forage harvester 110 that are arranged downstream of the infeed housing , e . g ., the drives of the harvest conveying and processing elements . it would also be conceivable to make the shield 144 identical in width to that of the forage harvester 110 . the shield 144 is more or less tightly stretched independently of the position of the vertically adjustable crop gathering device 120 . the shield 144 prevents crop particles whirled up by the crop gathering device 120 from accumulating on the infeed housing 132 and the subsequent subassemblies or functional groups including the respective drives . the crop particles slide down on the shield 144 , which is sloped downward and toward the front , and are incorporated into the material flow processed by the forage harvester 110 . in addition , the shield 144 absorbs the noises produced by , in particular , the feed rollers 130 , the chopping drum 122 , the grain processor 124 , and if applicable , a so - called power chute or paddle blower arranged between the chopping drum 122 and the blower 124 . this means that the operating noise of the forage harvester 110 is reduced . the lateral regions of the flexible shield 144 hang downward and extend toward the rear beside the cab 118 so as to prevent the admission of dust and / or small crop particles from the side . it would also be conceivable to mount the flexible shield 144 on the frame 112 beneath the cab 118 in order to shield all functional subassemblies from crop particles that become airborne due to operation of the crop gathering arrangement 120 . it would also be possible to arrange an upper crossbeam on the front side of the infeed housing 132 in order to attach the front side of a shield thereon . in this case , it is not necessary to remove the shield before the crop gathering device is detached , and to replace the shield once the crop gathering device is reattached . this means that the shield does not necessarily have to extend up to the crop gathering device 120 . in this respect , it suffices if the shield covers a significant area of the functional elements on the front side of the harvester 110 . referring now to fig2 there is shown the flexible shield 144 . it covers the entire width of the infeed housing 132 , which is illustrated with broken lines , and consequently the functional elements located underneath the infeed housing . at its upper edge , the flexible shield 144 is mounted on the front side of the operator &# 39 ; s cab by means of three t - shaped latches 148 that extend through corresponding holes 146 in the shield 144 . the t - shaped latches , which are connected to the operator &# 39 ; s cab 118 , can be turned between the holding position , that is shown in the drawings , wherein they hold the shield 144 in place , and a release position in which they are turned by 90 ° relative to the holding position and allow the removal of the shield from the cab 118 . at its lower edge , the shield 144 is also mounted on the frame element 135 of the crop gathering device 120 in a releasable fashion by means of three rotatable t - shaped latches 148 . in order to rapidly gain access to elements of the forage harvester 110 that are situated within the infeed housing 132 , or to the chopping drum 122 or devices assigned thereto , e . g ., the sharpening or grinding device or the kernel processor , without having to remove the entire shield 144 , the shield is provided with an access element that is realized in the form of a zipper 150 with an opening slide or element 152 . the zipper 150 has the shape of a u and extends from a first end near the right lower edge of the flexible shield 144 upward and toward the rear , parallel to its lateral edge , into the vicinity of the cab 118 . from near the cab 118 , the zipper 150 extends toward the left , as far as the left edge of the shield 144 , and then down again toward the lower edge of the shield 144 on the frame element 135 . this means that a tongue - shaped section 162 of the shield 144 can be swung downward after the zipper 150 is opened in order to simplify access to the parts of the forage harvester located underneath the shield . it would also be conceivable to utilize several zippers such that several smaller sections of the shield 144 could swing downward . identical access elements may be provided on the right side and the left side . the second embodiment of the invention , which is illustrated in fig3 is essentially realized identically to the embodiment shown in fig2 . however , in this case , a zipper 150 ′ extends across a width of a shield 144 ′. this means that the shield 144 ′ can be divided into two halves of approximately identical size once the zipper 150 ′ is opened in order to gain access to the parts of the forage harvester 110 located underneath the shield 144 ′. the zipper 150 ′ could also be arranged in the vicinity of the cab 118 such that the majority of the shield 144 ′ could be swung or rolled downward and would not interfere with the maintenance procedures . this shield 144 ′ ( which does not include side hanging areas ) could be made as wide as the forage harvester 110 . in the third embodiment , which is illustrated in fig4 a flexible shield 144 ″ is utilized that is designed similarly to a window shade . at its lower end , the shield 144 ″ is releasably mounted on the frame element 135 by the rotatable t - shaped latches 148 that are arranged on the frame element 135 and extend through corresponding holes in the flexible protective shield 144 ″. at its opposite end , the shield 144 ″ is attached to a wind - up shaft 154 that is provided with a rotary drive 160 . the rotary drive 160 applies a torque to the wind - up shaft 154 . once the flexible shield 144 ″ is released from the frame element 135 , the rotary drive 160 causes the shield 144 ″ to be rolled up on the wind - up shaft 154 . thus , it is easily possible to gain access to the parts of the forage harvester 110 that are located underneath the flexible protective shield 144 ″. in addition , the flexible protective shield 144 ″ is always held so tightly stretched that crop particles that engage it slide downward . it should be noted that it is practical to remove crop particles that might lie on the flexible protective shield 144 or 144 ′ before opening the zipper 150 or 150 ′, or before the shield 144 ″ is wound up , so as to prevent the crop particles from falling onto the drive subassemblies and functional subassemblies located underneath the shield 144 , 144 ′ or 144 ″. having described the preferred embodiment , it will become apparent that various modifications can be made without departing from the scope of the invention as defined in the accompanying claims .
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the invention is hereinafter described in connection with the preferred embodiments , in which the transfer mechanism that catches and transfers slide - like test elements is disposed outside of an incubator particularly positioned in an analyzer , to transfer the test element to a wash station and back to the incubator , and in which the test elements are of a type similar to those obtained from eastman kodak company under the trademark &# 34 ; ektachem &# 34 ; slides , or from fuji photo under the tradename &# 34 ; drychem &# 34 ;. in addition , such a transfer mechanism is useful adjacent any processing station of an analyzer , whether or not it is the incubator and regardless of the position of that station , to take the slide - like test element to any other processing station and back to the first processing station from which the test element is received . still further , such a transfer mechanism is useful regardless of the construction of the test element , although generally planar elements are preferred since the transfer mechanism is shaped preferably to handle such planar elements . an analyzer 10 in which this shuttle invention is useful comprises , fig1 preferably a station 20 for loading a slide - like test element e into a sample dispensing station 30 , and for loading such an element , along path 32 , now bearing patient sample , into an incubator 40 . preferably , loading station 20 includes a pusher blade 22 that pushes an element e along path 29 so as to be injected into station 30 . the loading station includes tip locator 34 , fig2 with two apertures 36 , 37 as is conventional for patient sample metering , and an aperture 38 for reference liquid metering , as is also conventional . also preferably , the incubator is the rotating type , arrow 42 and includes a reflectometer 50 , fig1 for scanning colorimetric test elements while they are held at a plurality of stations 44 , etc ., fig2 as defined by a rotor 46 . such an analyzer includes an electrometer 52 , fig1 for reading potentiometric test elements after they are removed from the incubator by , e . g ., a pusher blade 48 , fig2 . a wide variety of incubators is useful for this purpose , for example , that shown in , e . g ., u . s . pat . no . 4 , 935 , 374 . similar to the construction of the analyzer in u . s . pat . no . 4 , 857 , 471 , a wash station 70 is disposed outside of incubator 40 , displaced circumferentially from station 30 . the wash station comprises a boss 72 and aperture 74 that serve to hold a dispensing tip in proper orientation with respect to a test element to be washed . in between stations 30 and 70 is an eject station 80 , including a discharge path defined by aperture 82 , fig1 into which a test element is ejected , arrow 84 , when its readings are completed . shuttle apparatus is then provided to allow test elements to be intercepted at station 80 , taken to wash station 70 , and reinserted into the incubator , as in the &# 39 ; 471 patent . in accord with one aspect of the invention , it is the improvement of this apparatus to which the invention is addressed . more specifically , the shuttle apparatus 100 , fig2 comprises a catcher plate 110 , means 160 for supporting plate 110 for movement along a path 112 , fig1 that is preferably curvilinear , and means 140 , fig2 for driving plate 110 along path 112 , fig1 . importantly , path 112 is constructed to extend back to station 30 to intersect path 32 , so that a test element washed at station 70 can be reinserted into the loading path 32 . referring now to fig4 - 6 , catcher plate 110 comprises a frame 120 shaped to hold a test element e , shown in phantom . accordingly , frame 120 is generally rectangular , and is provided with two opposed shoulders 122 , 124 shaped and positioned , fig6 to restrain element e from moving off plate 110 as the latter moves on path 112 , fig4 . shoulder 122 is the leading shoulder and is preferably beveled , to allow shoulder 122 to cam under element e when the latter is returned to and retained at path 32 , fig1 as described hereinafter . a central support member 128 is flexibly connected to frame 120 , fig4 to do the principal carrying of element e . the flexibility is achieved by reason of the cantilever connection of support member 128 at one side 130 of frame 120 . as a result , member 128 is able to flex relative to frame 120 , in and out of the plane defined by frame 120 . plate 110 is preferably integrally connected to a drive tongue 132 that extends along a curvilinear arc that matches the curve of means 160 and path 112 . the outside edge of tongue 132 has a raised ridge 134 provided with means , such as slots 136 , to cooperate with a sensor . the inside edge 138 of tongue 132 comprises a raised ridge that is provided with a rack 139 . rack 139 is driven by gear 142 of drive means 140 , fig2 . support means 160 for plate 110 and its tongue 132 comprises two opposed track members 162 and 164 , fig7 - 9 , between which plate 110 and tongue 132 reciprocate . members 162 and 164 preferably have the same arcuate curvature as tongue 132 . most preferably , member 162 is generally flat , fig8 and is apertured at 82 for element discharge , and at 166 to receive drive gear 142 , fig7 . opposed track member 164 is rail - shaped at 170 , 172 to accommodate ridge 134 , and rack 139 of tongue 132 , fig8 . member 164 is secured to lower member 162 at bottom portions 174 and 176 . member 164 is apertured to accommodate gear 142 , and further at 74 , fig1 and 2 , to provide for wash station 70 . in another aspect of the invention , there is provided stop means 180 that allow a washed test element to be returned and retained at station 30 , fig7 . for this purpose , stop means 180 is disposed adjacent the injection path 29 , 32 , at the intersection location of that path with path 112 . most preferably , stop means 180 comprise a flexure plate 182 , fig2 and 7 , that is cantilevered by arm 184 from the rest of upper member 164 . the outer edge 186 of plate 182 provides a shoulder against which a test element abuts , when it moves along path 29 , 32 . in addition , flexure plate 182 includes on its undersurface 189 , fig9 one and preferably two camming feet 190 , 192 , fig7 and 9 , which allow plate 182 to ride up over a test element , fig1 , being moved by plate 110 on path 112 to path 29 , 32 . optionally , a viewing port 196 can be provided , fig4 adjacent station 30 , to allow a wetness detector to scan a slide element as liquid is dispensed thereon . the apparatus of the invention further includes bias means 200 at station 30 , fig3 and locating surfaces 210 , 212 , fig1 , at wash station 70 . in station 30 , the bias means 200 acts to bias a test element up against the tip locator 34 at station 30 . means 200 comprise a platen 202 that is beveled at 203 , fig1 , and a spring 204 exerting an upward force f , arrow 206 , fig3 . entrance slot 208 allows a test element to be inserted into station 30 and onto either platen 202 or shuttle plate 110 , as shown in fig3 . at station 70 , fig1 , stop surface 210 is provided to stop the movement of a test element e &# 39 ; even as plate 110 continues to advance slightly further , arrow 112 . undersurface 212 at station 70 is the ceiling against which element e &# 39 ; is pushed by flexible support member 128 . an opposite depression 220 is formed in lower track member 162 to receive frame 120 of plate 110 , that is cammed downwardly due to camming surface 122 of frame 120 pressing against element e &# 39 ;. in addition , a camming surface , not shown , extending diagonally from surface 210 ensures proper location of element e &# 39 ; in the direction out of the plane of fig1 . the wash method will be readily apparent from the previous description . in brief , plate 110 is moved by drive means 140 into position so as to intercept an ejected test element e &# 39 ;, fig1 , thus preventing element e &# 39 ; from falling out discharge aperture 82 . next , plate 110 moves along path 112 due to the action of drive means 140 , until element e &# 39 ; is at wash station 70 , fig1 . a suitable pipette , not shown , is inserted into aperture 74 , and boss 72 serves to hold the pipette the proper distance within station 70 . at the same time , plate 110 pulls element e &# 39 ; up against stop shoulder 210 and the flexure of support member 128 is such as to push element e &# 39 ; up against undersurface 212 of station 70 . the proper spacing of the pipette and element e &# 39 ; is now defined , which can be , e . g ., about 1 . 3 mm . about 10 μl of wash liquid is preferably ejected onto the element e &# 39 ;, preferably at a rate of about 0 . 5 μl per second , for 20 seconds . however , other rates can also be used , depending on the hydrophilicity of the element being washed . after washing , plate 110 is now returned towards station 30 and away from station 70 , by reversing the direction of rotation of gear 142 . in accord with another aspect of the invention , the wash method differs from that previously used in that the washed element is returned to the station from which elements that have just received sample are loaded into the incubator . this allows the analyzer to be simplified in that the same pusher blade used to initially load the element into the analyzer , is reused to re - load the element . more specifically , as plate 110 and element e &# 39 ; move from the vicinity of discharge path 82 into station 30 where path 112 intersects path 29 , 32 , fig1 , camming surfaces 190 and 192 allow stop means flexure plate 182 to ride up over element e &# 39 ;. at the same time , platen 202 is cammed downwardly , due to the camming action caused by surface 203 . once element e &# 39 ; is returned to station 30 , fig1 a - 13c , stop means 180 is effective to restrain element e &# 39 ; from leaving station 30 with plate 110 . that is , shoulder 186 slips behind element e &# 39 ;, fig1 a , and cam surface 193 allows plate 110 to slip under element e &# 39 ;, so that as plate 110 starts moving out of station 30 along the path of arrow 112 , fig1 b , shoulder 186 holds element e &# 39 ; from following plate 110 . plate 110 is carefully advanced into the position shown in fig1 a , by drive means 140 , to ensure element e &# 39 ; is advanced past shoulder 186 . the steps of travel of means 140 can be adjusted to ensure that this advance occurs . meanwhile , platen 202 is pushed up by its spring 204 , to further hold element e &# 39 ;. that is , plate 110 pushes element e &# 39 ; up due to the upward force of the platen . when plate 110 is completely withdrawn , fig1 c , element e &# 39 ; is positioned for reloading into incubator 40 , using pusher blade 22 . ( the positioning of the parts in fig1 c is also their position when an element is first loaded into station 30 for dispensing patient sample and / or reference liquid via apertures 36 , 37 and 38 , of which 38 is not shown .) a bumper spring 300 is preferably included , fig1 a , against which plate 110 pushes when element e &# 39 ; is being returned to station 30 . this spring prevents over - travel of plate 110 , but primarily it assists in holding test elements against stop shoulder 186 , fig1 b . following reloading of the washed slide into the incubator , which occurs after the events illustrated in fig1 c , further incubation and a reading of the element occur . when a read element is ready for disposal , ejection occurs using pusher blade 48 , arrow 310 , fig2 except this time , plate 110 is not in position at station 80 to catch the element . instead , it falls through aperture 82 , fig1 into a suitable disposal container . the invention has been described in detail with particular reference to 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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although the disclosure hereof is detailed and exact to enable those skilled in the art to practice the invention , the physical embodiments herein disclosed merely exemplify the invention which may be embodied in other specific structure . the scope of the invention is defined in the claims appended hereto . fig1 discloses a wrench 10 which has a handle 12 and a neck portion 14 . a wrench head 16 is integrally joined with the neck portion 14 . the wrench head has wall means 17 defining a cylindrical opening 18 with a distal slot 20 intended to be insertable over a line or conduit to enable access to an inline nut . the head portion also has wall means defining cavities or recesses 22 which are sized to receive pawls 24 which are pivotally supported by pins 26 secured to the wrench head 16 . the pawls constitute the drive means . as illustrated in fig5 the pawls 24 are spring biased by springs 28 to position pawl tips 27 in an engagement position with a socket as hereinafter described . the pawls have a projecting head 30 beyond the outline of the wrench head to facilitate manual manipulation thereof for insertion and release of the sockets . the sockets which cooperate with the wrench illustration in fig1 are disclosed in fig3 . the socket 40 is provided with a cylindrical wall portion 42 with internal flats 44 arranged in appropriate geometric relationship to engage a hex nut or the like . the flats 44 are arranged around a central aperture 46 which communicates with an elongated slot 48 defined by socket walls 50 and 52 . the socket 40 has a head portion 54 which can be enlarged with respect to the part 40 and provided with circumferentially arranged teeth 56 which are arranged at a radius adapted to interfit into the opening 18 in the wrench head 16 and cooperate with and be engaged with the pawls 24 as illustrated in fig5 . the surface 19 provides for rotatable support of the socket 40 . fig6 shows a modified embodiment in which gears 60 and 62 are employed to engage the teeth 56 of the socket . a driving member 58 is employed which can be coupled to an air motor or other motor or device for rotating the socket . in use the socket is inserted in the wrench head by manually pivoting the pawls from the cylindrical plane defined by the surface 19 . the pawls are then released and the wrench can be ratcheted in either direction . the wrench is placed in operative position on an inline nut by aligning the slot 48 in the socket head with the slot 20 in the wrench head and slipping the wrench over the line and moving the wrench axially into position over the line onto the nut . when the tightening of the nut or loosening thereof is accomplished , the socket can be easily released by manually releasing the pawls and the socket pulled axially from the wrench head no matter what position the socket is in . the wrench can then be withdrawn from the conduit .
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now referring to fig1 , a preferred method of making a laminate of the present invention is illustrated and indicated generally by the numeral 10 . method 10 illustrates use of a conveyor belt 12 , which is shown as moving in the direction indicated by arrow 14 , i . e ., from left to right as viewed in the figure . as sheets of glass 16 pass under sandblasting apparatus 18 the upwardly facing surface 20 thereof is roughened by a conventional sandblasting step . then a layer of monomeric adhesive 22 is coated onto surface 20 of glass sheet 16 by extruder 24 . next a second sheet of glass 26 is moved downwardly as indicated by arrow 28 and brought into contact with surface 20 of glass sheet 16 and bonded thereto to form laminate 30 . it is contemplated that monomeric adhesive layer 22 will comprise an effective amount of a photochromic moiety . furthermore , it is preferred that monomeric adhesive 22 is selected to have substantially the same refractive index as glass sheets 22 so that the laminate 30 will appear to be a single homogeneous sheet of glass . as the glass is suitable for its intended end use . automotive glasses are especially contemplated for use herein . suitable adhesives for use herein are optical adhesives with a refractive index substantially the same as the sheets of glass bonded thereby . preferably the adhesive is a monomeric adhesive which class of adhesives have been found preferable as carriers for the photochromic moiety . an example of an adhesive which is suitable for use herein is norland adhesive nao 76 uv cured optical monomer adhesive . suitable photochromic moieties are well - known in the art and include those selected from the group consisting of anthraquinones , naphtopyrans , phhalocyanines , spiro - oxazines , chromenes , pyrans including spiro - pyrans and fulgides . suitable photochromic molecules include but are not limited to those disclosed in u . s . pat . no . 5 , 882 , 556 mar . 16 , 1999 to perrott et al . which is specifically incorporated by reference herein . reversacl photochromic dyes commercially available from james robinson are particularly suitable for use herein . in addition to photochromic molecules , the photochromic composition may include a non - photochromic dye if it is desired to provide a tint to the lens even when the photochromic molecules are not activated . it has been found that a limited amount of ultraviolet ( uv ) absorbers , light stabilizers such as hindered amine light stablilizers , antioxidants , and or free radical inhibitors may also be included in the adhesive layer . the use of uv absorbers should be limited to some extent because they tend to have a detrimental effect on the life of the photochromic moiety . on the other hand , free radical inhibitors have a beneficial effect on the life of the photochromic moiety . 3052 , 3055 , 3056 from sandoz / clariant , tinuvin 770 , 765 , 144 , 622 from ciba geigy , cyasorb 3346 from american cyanamid . examples of antioxidants include irganox 3114 from ciba geigy . suitable uv absorbers work by absorbing ultraviolet radiation and converting the radiation into thermal energy through tautomerism . of course , the selected uv absorber must not substantially absorb the range of uv light required to activate the photochromic moiety . examples of suitable uv absorbers include cyasorb vv - 9 and uv 531 , cyaguard uv 1164 and 1084 from american cyanamid , sanduvor vsu from sandoz / clariant , uvinul 3035 from basf , tinuvin 328 and p and irgastab 2002 from ciba geigy , rylex nbc from dupont , uv chek am 101 , 105 , 126 , and 205 from ferro corp and carstab 700 from morton international . further understanding of the present invention will be had from the following example . 10 g of norland adhesive nao 76 uv cured optical monomer adhesive is mixed with a mixture of 2 % acetone , a photochromic dye ( keystone plum red ), and 0 . 1 % of irganox 1076 . the mixture is then used to bond two sheets of tempered glass to form a laminate . the laminate is then exposed to uv light to cure the adhesive . then the laminate is a shatter proof laminate that turns a brilliant purple color when exposed to uv light .
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before going into the details of specific embodiments , it will be helpful to understand from a more general perspective the various elements and methods which may be related to the present invention . since a major aspect of the present invention is directed to documents such as web pages transmitted over networks , an understanding of networks and their operating principles would be helpful . we will not go into great detail in describing the networks to which the present invention is applicable . reference has also been made to the applicability of the present invention to a global network such as the internet . for details on internet nodes , objects and links , reference is made to the text , mastering the internet , g . h . cady et al ., published by sybex inc ., alameda , calif ., 1996 . any data communication system which interconnects or links computer controlled systems with various sites defines a communications network . a network may be as simple as two linked computers or it may be any combination of lans ( local area networks ) or wans ( wide area networks ). of course , the internet or world wide web is a global network of a heterogeneous mix of computer technologies and operating systems . higher level objects are linked to the lower level objects in the hierarchy through a variety of network server computers . these network servers are the key to network distribution , such as the distribution of web pages and related documentation . the html language is described in detail in “ just java ”, 2nd edition , peter van der linden , sun microsystems , 1997 , particularly chapter 7 , pp . 249 - 268 , dealing with the handling of web pages with embedded hotspot activated linkages and also in the text , “ mastering the internet ”, cady et al ., published by sybex , san francisco , 1996 , particularly pp . 637 - 642 on html in the formation of web pages . in addition , significant aspects of this invention will involve web browsers . a general and comprehensive description of browsers may be found in the aforementioned cady et al . text , pp . 291 - 313 . referring to fig1 a typical data processing system is shown which may be used in conjunction with html in implementing the present invention on the receiving interactive workstation . a central processing unit ( cpu ), such as one of the powerpc microprocessors available from international business machines corporation ( powerpc is a trademark of international business machines corporation ) is provided and interconnected to various other components by system bus 12 . an operating system 41 runs on cpu 10 and provides control and is used to coordinate the function of the various components of fig1 . operating system 41 may be one of the commercially available operating systems such as the os / 2 operating system available from international business machines corporation ( os / 2 is a trademark of international business machines corporation ) or the windows 95 system ( a trademark of and available from microsoft corporation ). any conventional network browser system involving html language with embedded hotspots or links forms part of application 40 , runs in conjunction with operating system 41 and provides output calls to the operating system 41 which implements the various functions to be performed by the html application 40 . also included in the application software 40 will be the application modifications of this invention for providing the hotspots only alternate version of web pages . the browser program operates in combination with the program of the present invention , or the program of this invention could desirably be incorporated into the browser program . the browser program , in combination with the operating system , provides the basic receiving workstation on which the web pages are received and on which the program of the present invention may be implemented . a read only memory ( rom ) 16 is connected to cpu 10 , via bus 12 and includes the basic input / output system ( bios ) that controls the basic computer functions . random access memory ( ram ) 14 , i / o adapter 18 and communications adapter 34 are also interconnected to system bus 12 . it should be noted that software components , i . e . the operating system 41 and applications 40 including the html and browser modified to provide the alternate web pages , are loaded into ram 14 , which is the computer system &# 39 ; s main memory . i / o adapter 18 may be a small computer system interface ( scsi ) adapter that communicates with the disk storage device 20 , i . e . a hard drive . communications adapter 34 interconnects bus 12 with an outside network enabling the workstation to communicate with web servers to receive document pages over a local area network ( lan ) or wide area network ( wan ) which includes , of course , the internet or world wide web . i / o devices are also connected to system bus 12 via user interface adapter 22 and display adapter 36 . keyboard 24 , trackball 32 and mouse 26 are all interconnected to bus 12 through user interface adapter 22 . display adapter 36 includes a frame buffer 39 which is a storage device that holds a representation of each pixel on the display screen 38 . images may be stored in frame buffer 39 for display on monitor 38 through various components such as a digital to analog converter ( not shown ) and the like . by using the aforementioned i / o devices , a user is capable of inputting data and other information to the system through the trackball 32 or mouse 26 to make his selection of the alternate page version containing hotspots only via display 38 . a generalized diagram of a portion of an internet which the computer 56 controlled display terminal 57 used for web page or other document display of the present invention is connected as shown in fig2 . computer 56 and display terminal 57 are the computer system shown in fig1 and connection 58 ( fig2 ) is the network connection shown in fig1 . reference may be made to the above - mentioned cady et al . text , particularly pp . 136 - 147 , for typical connections between local display workstations to the internet via network servers , any of which may be used to implement the system on which this invention is used . the system embodiment of fig2 is one known as a host - dial connection . such host - dial connections have been in use for over 30 years through network access servers 53 which are linked 51 to the net 50 . the servers 53 are maintained by a service provider to the client &# 39 ; s display terminal 57 . the host &# 39 ; s server 53 is accessed by the client terminal 57 through a normal dial - up telephone linkage 58 via modem 54 , telephone line 55 and modem 52 . the html files representative of the web pages are downloaded to display terminal 57 through controlling server 53 and computer 56 via the telephone line linkages from server 53 which may have accessed them from the internet 50 via linkage 51 . in accordance with the present invention , the user at display terminal 57 is prompted by the program on computer 56 to make his selections as to which version , hotspots only or full to transmit . these choices are conveyed to the server 53 usually via the browser program and , in turn , carried out by the server 53 . before proceeding with specific software embodiments , some additional background information should be considered . because of the ease and availability of web browsers , an almost unimaginable number and variety of pages and topics are available at low cost to tens of millions of users . unlike other database access systems , everyone on the web has the ability to incorporate additional information . also , as has been set forth earlier , in the era of the web , anyone and everyone can design a web page . as a result , pages are frequently designed by developers without usability skills . the present invention , as has been set forth hereinabove , avoids needless excessive downloading and browsing time spent dealing with unneeded text and images . the present invention is preferably implemented on the net browser in combination with standard browser functions . a graphical user interface is provided within the browser which would prompt the user to indicate selection of the alternate hotspots only version of web pages . if the user selects the hotspots only versions , then the browser requests the network server to transmit that version to the receiving display station . the advantages of the present invention may be readily seen with respect to fig3 and 4 . fig3 is a diagram of a typical web page 61 which may be received via the world wide web . it contains hotspots or links , such as terms 63 . on the present page , these have been received and underlined to designate them as hotspots or links . in the description which follows , “ hotspots ” and “ links ” may be used interchangeably to indicate the anchors which are embedded in web pages to link the user to other pages and data sources . hotspot or anchor is the more exact technical term used to designate a linkage ; but link is widely used , as in the flowchart of fig5 hereinafter . the page also contains , of course , text 65 and image 64 . it also contains a head or header 62 . when the user selects the links - only or hotspot only alternative version of the page , he gets the page 66 shown in fig4 which , in addition to head 62 , only shows links 63 . text 65 and image 64 of fig3 are gone . it should be understood that in this links - only version many layout variations for the remaining links 63 could be implemented . for example , the links could be aligned in a single column or in a single row . now with respect to the flowchart of fig5 we will describe an embodiment of the invention . when illustrative tags or code are given , they will be in html . the program may be desirably incorporated in any conventional browser program such as internet explorer or netscape . the display station in fig2 is made up of display 57 controlled by computer 56 which has a browser such as netscape or internet explorer modified in accordance with this invention . thus , fig5 the user , via the browser 70 , requests a particular url ( uniform resource locator ) using the links - only option , step 71 . the browser sends to the network server 53 ( fig2 ), a message which , for example , could be a character string in a cgi ( common gateway interface ) format , e . g . : in response , the server 53 ( cgi_server ) determines via decision step 72 , fig5 if the user has selected the links - only ( hotspot only ) option . if no , then there is a normal full web page download , step 75 , to the receiving display station , 56 , 57 . if yes , then , step 73 , the server 53 , fig2 executes the process for links - only . the web page file specified by the url is located , step 74 . then the head section which is all of the data in the page file from the beginning up to the & lt ; body & gt ; tag is copied to a links - only file copy , step 76 . then , step 77 , the data in the body section of the page is scanned for html links . these links are located by searching for the standard html & lt ; a href =“ . . . ”& gt ; and & lt ;/ a & gt ; tags . next , decision step 78 , if a link is found and the link is not a local link , i . e . it does not refer to an anchor or hotspot within the same document , then the link is copied to the links - only file , step 79 . in this connection , it should be noted that a local link can be detected by its leading ‘#’ in the href definition . also , it may be advantageous to generate a line break (& lt ; br & gt ;) after each link stored in the links - only file to enhance readability . after step 79 or , if in step 78 , there is no link found , the process moves to decision step 80 where it is determined whether we are at the end of the body section ; this is marked by the & lt ;/ body & gt ; tag . if yes , end the links - only file by a & lt ;/ html & gt ; tag , step 81 , and send the links - only file to the browser , step 70 , which may now display the links - only file . if the decision from step 80 is no , indicating that we are not at the end of the page body , then the process returns to step 77 and the page body is scanned for further links . although certain preferred embodiments have been shown and described , it will be understood that many changes and modifications may be made therein without departing from the scope and intent of the appended claims .
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preferred embodiments of the present invention are illustrated in the figures , like numerals being used to refer to like and corresponding parts of the various drawings . the present invention generally relates to connecting wireless transmitter and / or receiver components electronic devices . for this purpose the invention employs the use of flexible circuit boards — particularly flexible printed circuits ( fpc ) technology . devices with prior art micro - wire connections were discussed above in regards to fig1 , fig2 , fig3 , fig4 and fig5 . typical micro - wires have a diameter of approximately 1 . 37 mm ( 54 mil ). using fpcs the applicants have made connectors which are less than 0 . 50 mm ( 20 mils ) in thickness which are drastically less susceptible to kinking , crushing , crimping or other hazards mentioned above . fig6 illustrates a simple embodiment of an fpc rf electrical connector 100 according to the present invention . it is comprised of the fpc section 110 and two surface mounted rf coaxial connectors 112 . fig7 illustrates a cross section of the fpc section 110 along the length of the fpc section 110 . the cross - section includes a central conductor 120 , surrounded by non - conductive dielectric 122 , a top shield 124 a bottom shield 126 and two side shields 128 and 130 . the shielding layers 124 , 126 , 128 , 130 are surrounded by another isolative dielectric layer 136 . in one embodiment of such a cross section , the dimensions of the device are approximately 0 . 50 mm thick 134 and 1 . 85 mm wide 132 . fig8 illustrates the layer construction of the embodiment of the fbc section 110 illustrated in fig7 . in this embodiment the fpc is constructed of a three conductive layer fpc . the embodiment illustrated has 7 total layers in alternative embodiments other numbers of layers are possible . the layers are comprised of two different types of materials , conductive materials and dielectric non - conductive materials . in the present embodiment , the conductive material is copper and the dielectric material is mylar . other suitable materials for each are available and known in the art . the first layer 140 is a solid dielectric layer . the second layer 142 ( first conductive layer ) contains the bottom shield 126 base of conductive material flanked by dielectric material 143 . the third layer 144 contains a central dielectric material 125 flanked by side shields 128 and 130 which are flanked by dielectric sections 145 . the fourth layer 146 ( second conductive layer ) contains a central dielectric the rf conductor 120 flanked by dielectric sections 121 flanked by the side shields 128 and 130 which are flanked by dielectric sections 147 . the fifth layer 148 contains a central dielectric section 123 flanked by the side shields 128 and 130 flanked by dielectric sections 149 . the sixth layer 150 ( third conductive layer contains the top shield 124 flanked by dielectric sections 151 . the seventh layer is a solid dielectric section . the entire stack may be covered with an isolative conformal coating . the processes and thicknesses and materials used for manufacture of suitable flexible printed circuits are known to those skilled the art of the manufacture of fpcs . fig9 illustrates two alternative geometries for the construction . these two embodiments differ from each other and the embodiment 110 illustrated in fig7 in that they are of different widths 132 , 154 and 156 . as the width increases the angle of exposure 158 160 ( angle not shown in fig7 ) of the side shields of the radiation from the central conductor 120 decreases . in each the center conductor 120 is of the same geometry . the top and bottom shields in the embodiment shown are solid . the side shields can be of varying construction as will be illustrated below . the constructions may result in different levels of signal leakage . the wider the width the less this leakage . however the wider the geometry the less routable the fpc cable will be . therefore the geometry of fig7 maximizes routability while the widest geometry in fig9 minimizes leakage while the median width is a balance between the other two geometries . fig1 illustrates a configuration of the side shields 128 and 130 . in this embodiment the side shield is constructed of vias or a series of channels that connect the top and bottom shields ( not shown ) but not to each other . these vias can be of different shapes . in the example shown they are cylindrical , in other configurations they could be square , rectangular oval or any number of other shapes . the shape and spacing of the vias should take into consideration the frequencies of the rf signal to be carried by the conductor 120 in that the spacing should be less than the shortest wavelength to be carried on conductor 120 . fig1 illustrates an alternative embodiment of the side shields . in this embodiment the side shields are constructed of solid sheets of conductive material . the construction is less flexible than the construction illustrated in fig1 but does a better job preventing side leakage . fig1 illustrates yet another alternative embodiment of the side shields . this construction balances between flexibility and minimizing side leakage . fig1 illustrates an embodiment of an fpc rf connector 200 . in this embodiment the fpc is constructed to have two side - by - side shielded conductors 210 and 220 . the advantage of the side - by - side configuration is that the important height dimension is minimized . however , depending on the construction of the side shields , it may be necessary to bolster the shielding between the two conductors to avoid cross talk between the conductors due to leakage . fig1 illustrates an alternative two conductor fpc rf connector 250 . in this configuration the shielded conductors 230 and 240 are stacked . the advantage is that the side leakage is less of an issue , the disadvantage is nearly twice the height dimension and less flexibility . other configurations are also possible such as staggered configurations . either staggered vertically or horizontally or both are all possible . fig1 and fig1 illustrate the relative leakage profiles of the prior art micro - wire and the current stitched side shield design . the relative leakage in the z - axis in the fpc connector is relatively smaller than the leakage out the sides . in many instances this z - axis leakage is more important to the mobile device than the side leakage . fig1 . illustrates the rf component connections necessary for the rf related components illustrated in fig3 . one such connection path is labeled 600 . fig1 illustrates a fpc rf connector cable 610 that is designed to connect all the rf components 16 , 22 , 24 illustrated in fig1 . fig1 illustrates the fpc rf connector 610 in place connecting all the shown components 16 , 22 , 24 with a single part with less steps with greater consistency that the prior art use of multiple micro - wires . in this embodiment all of the connections 616 , 622 , 624 can be made in a single step unlike the prior art process of connecting multiple micro - wire coaxial cables one end at a time . all of the routing was taken care of in the design of the fpc . all of the routing is self - aligning — align the connectors 616 , 622 and 624 in one step and make the connections . all of the rf wiring is now easily located by locating the rf fpc which can easily identified from a manual to the device by looking at the shape of the fpc . all of these advantages result in faster assembly with more consistency and less error during the assembly and or repair or service of the device in which it is employed . fig2 illustrates the mounting pads for mounting surface mount coaxial rf connectors to and embodiment of the fpc rf connector pad 300 connects to the shielded conductor and 302 and 304 connect to the shields for the conductor connected to pad 300 . fig2 illustrates a pad configuration for an fpc rf connector with two side - by - side shielded conductors . fig2 illustrates the pad configuration for a stacked two shielded conductor fpc rf connector which are stacked on the left side and branched on the right side . fig2 illustrates a side illustration of a fpc rf connector 100 with a female coaxial rf connector 332 mounted to the fpc mounting pads ( not shown ) and the male coaxial rf connector is mounted to the circuit board 340 . fig2 and fig2 illustrates an alternative embodiment illustrating the routability of the fpc rf connector 400 . in fig2 the x / y routing is hard printed in the shape of the fpc as constructed . in fig2 the right section 402 is bent down in the z - axis to connect the coaxial rf connector 406 in a positioned normal to the plane of the other connector 408 . fig2 illustrates another embodiment incorporating an fpc shielded rf conductor . in this embodiment 500 an antenna is integrated into the fpc design . the fpc 500 has three sections . the first section 502 includes pads for receiving a coaxial rf connector for connecting to an rf circuitry device . the second section 504 includes a shielded rf conductor of the type ( s ) previously described and a third section 506 where the shielding stops and the conductor is geometrically configures to act as an antenna for the desired frequencies as defined by the rf circuitry &# 39 ; s requirements . fig2 illustrates a flexible circuit board rf connector with two inputs 704 and 708 and two integrated antenna sections 710 and 712 . each antenna section 710 and 712 contains antenna shaped traces 714 and 716 respectively . the circuit includes shielded signal conductors ( not shown ) as previously described that electrically connect the inputs 710 and 712 to the antenna sections 714 and 716 respectively . the shielding ( not shown stops when the antenna sections are reached as previously described in fig2 . fig2 illustrates the flexible circuit board rf connector of fig2 as shaped when in place around the edge of a tablet pc . fig2 illustrates another view of the flexible circuit board rf connector of fig2 . in comparison to micro - wire coaxial cabling the present fpc of the current design has the following advantages : a ) fpc can be pinched or sandwiched with less or no effect on vswr ( less signal reflection , waste , detuning cable ); b ) dielectric and typical fpc ( kapton ) material are more resilient and less compressive ; c ) can provide high wire shielding performance with is necessary to be accepted as a data device on a cellular network such as sprint , verizon , and t - mobile ; d ) solid annealed copper with thickness of ½ ounce ( 0 . 65 mils ) or 1 ounce ( 1 . 3 mils ) provides & gt ; 99 % e field shielding effectiveness ( se e & gt ; 60 db ) and 75 - 85 % h field shielding effectiveness ( se h & gt ; 15 db ) e ) only 0 . 5 mm ( 20 mills thick with less tenuous routing . f ) single piece containing all wires in inserted in single step g ) single piece can be mounted like a ‘ placemat ’ in which all wires fall into pre - located channels with no individual insertion steps h ) self - aligning fpc - 1 piece harness uses uneven system internal parts as an advantage , locating the fpc piece quickly . i ) less prone to assembly errors or system part variances that can affect antenna . j ) uses ‘ locator pins ’ or ‘ placemat channels the not only do not crush the fpc , but are usually not even near the signal traces , meaning the mounts have zero effect on the wires ’ performance k ) fpc minimum bend radius for 3 layers is ˜ 4 to 5 mm (˜ 200 mils ) allowing for tighter ‘ right angle ’ bends in the design saving internal x , y , and z space l ) the service loop ( sl ) on the universal wiring fpc rf connection arms is m ) sl just long enough to assemble without fumbling or tugging . n ) sl does not move into unwanted emi areas by self - locating features . o ) sl does not move into antenna resonance area ( s ) keeping more consistent product output to customers . p ) truly field and customer upgradeable rf antennas . in one embodiment , the end bezels snap off too reveal rf antennas , which can be replaced , or even upgraded to new type or technology in the field . q ) ex : wlan / wimax 2 . 5 ghz , upgraded to wlan / wimax ultra — in the field by customer , in only a few seconds ! r ) swappable antennas as shown in this disclosure allow faster test permutations to cover multiple antennas and radio technologies using the very same test platform . ( 1 ) decreased time to market for large radio permutations . ( 2 ) greatly decreased time to market for incremental radio additions . while the invention has been described with respect to a limited number of embodiments , those skilled in the art , having benefit of this invention , will appreciate that other embodiments may be devised which do not depart from the scope of the invention as disclosed herein . accordingly , the scope of the invention should be limited only by the attached claims . attenuation ( measured in decibels “ db ”)— the amount of signal loss for which the connector is responsible . other similar words are loss and attenuate . a term typically used in reference to long transmission lines like cables . electromagnetic interference — electromagnetic interference ( emi ) is any electromagnetic disturbance that degrades or limits the performance of the considered electronic system . it can be induced by the system being considered or its environment . the amount of interference electronic equipment can emit is regulated . internally , some systems may require other levels of emi be met , like radio receiver sensitivity . flexible printed circuitry — this is similar to a pcb , but is flexible and uses kapton ® ( or more commonly referred to as polyimide ) instead of rigid fr4 in most cases . this sometimes is referred to as fpc or flex . insertion loss ( measured in decibels “ db ”)— the amount of signal loss for which the connector is responsible and is mostly seen in cable applications . reflection — a process that occurs when a propagating electromagnetic wave impinges upon a change in its supporting media properties . in the case of an abrupt change the incident wave will “ bounce ” off of the barrier in the opposite direction it came from . in other cases , some of the wave reflects while the rest continues onward . shielding — the protective enclosure surrounding a transmission medium , designed to minimize electromagnetic interference ( emi / rfi ).
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fig1 illustrates graphically absorption curves for oxygen and ozone over the electromagnetic spectrum . these curves are based on data found in the text vacuum ultraviolet spectroscopy , by zaidel & amp ; shrieder , pages 280 , 291 . ozone has strong absorption bands from about 110 to 140 nm while oxygen seems to have maximum absorption from about 130 to 170 nm . oxygen and ozone overlap to some extent from about 140 to 180 nm , but ozone has a very strong absorption band peaking at 254 nm . thus , judging from the absorption curves , it appears that a narrow band of radiation from 130 to 170 nm with none above 200 nm and none below 130 nm would be optimum for ozone generation . referring more particularly to fig2 of the drawing , an ozone generating cell is illustrated in the form of a typical cathode ray tube ( crt ) 10 . the crt includes an acrylic or other nonconducting housing 11 inside which is located a cathode element 12 and an anode 13 . it is a well known fact that cathode rays ( negative electrons ) are emitted normal to the surface of the cathode at their points of emission . a concave cathode can thus focus the rays to a point , and a convex cathode can spread the cathode rays to cover a large area as shown in fig2 . the crt is connected to a high voltage source 14 and is evacuated with a vacuum pump 15 or the like . opposite the cathode element 12 , the crt is provided with a window element 16 that is manufactured from a material that will transmit radiation at the desired lower end of the uv spectrum . the window 16 may be constructed from any material that transmits in the desired range of which fluorite is one example . other examples of window materials that may be useful for the present invention include combinations of quartz and fluoride and uv emitting windows prepared from thiourea - formaldehyde resins . the inside of the window 16 is coated with a material 17 that is designed to emit radiation only in the desired 130 - 170 nm range when bombarded with cathode rays discharged from cathode 12 . a preferred material for this purpose is a specially designed phosphor coating prepared from a zinc oxide magnesium oxide matrix with a small amount of an activator , usually a rare earth element . u . s . pat . no . 2 , 683 , 693 describes a process for preparing uv emitting coatings substantially as required for the present invention . however , other phosphor materials may be used , particularly as disclosed in u . s . pat . no . 2 , 779 , 949 , providing the materials are made to limit their emissions to the desired 130 - 170 nm wavelengths . as shown in fig2 the crt housing 11 is mounted adjacent an opening in a duct 18 through which air or oxygen is passed for making ozone . in a preferred embodiment , the duct 18 would be provided with a plurality of crt ozone generators ( not shown ) each arranged with their windows 16 adjacent to openings wherein the uv radiation emitted from the phosphor coating would be transmitted directly to the passing gas . in this manner the efficiency of such a generating device would be enhanced . even greater efficiency from the cathode ray generating device can be achieved from the device illustrated in fig3 . for this purpose a spherical cathode ray tube 20 is used to take advantage of the backscatter effects commonly found with conventionally shaped crt &# 39 ; s . thus , in fig3 the spherical cathode ray tube 20 includes a uv transmitting bulb or enclosure 21 constructed from fluorite , quartz / fluorite or other uv transmitting materials which encloses a spherical cathode 22 . the tube 21 has applied to its inner surface a coating 23 of a phosphor material or the like which emits radiation in the desired 130 - 170 nm range . the tube 21 is vacuum sealed at 24 and includes an anode 25 mounted at one end . as in a conventional crt , the anode and cathode are connected to a high voltage source . the tube 21 is mounted in a duct 26 through which oxygen or air is passed for making ozone . in a preferred embodiment , a plurality of the spherical cathode ray tubes 20 would be arranged in the duct 26 for increased efficiency . thus , as the gas flows past the spherical cathode ray tubes 20 within duct 26 , the uv radiation emitted by the coating 23 passes through the tube walls 21 to produce ozone . in each of the embodiments disclosed in fig2 and 3 the uv emitting coating 17 and 23 is applied to the inside of the crt where the coating can be bombarded with electrons from the cathode . for this purpose , the applied coatings must be thick enough to capture all of the electrons but still thin enough to allow the emitted radiation to pass through the coating . in order to overcome any problems attendant with this practice , the embodiment illustrated in fig4 was developed . fig4 shows an inverse cathode ray ozone cell 30 wherein a semispherical metal cavity 31 is used as the anode and is coated with a phosphor material 32 that emits uv radiation in the desired 130 - 170 nm range . the cathode 33 is arranged opposite the inverse cavity 31 to insure that all electrons emitted from the cathode are captured . meanwhile , the metal cavity 31 is arranged opposite an opening 34 in the duct 35 where a uv transmitting window 36 is positioned . in this arrangement , uv emissions from the phosphor coating 32 are reflected from the polished inner surface of the metal cavity 31 and they travel unimpeded through the window 36 . thus , gas flowing through the duct 35 is exposed to the uv radiation to produce ozone . as in the case of the embodiments of fig2 and 3 , the inverse cathode ray cell of fig4 would be evacuated at 37 and sealed to the window 36 at 38 . similarly , the cathode 33 would be connected to a suitable high voltage source 39 or the like , and for increased efficiency , a plurality of such cells 30 could be arranged along the duct 35 . fig5 - 7 illustrate modifications of the fig4 embodiment . in fig5 an all glass construction is shown wherein the inverse cathode ray cell 40 is prepared from a glass bowl 41 or the like . the inside surface of the bowl 41 is supplied with a coating of aluminum 42 to serve as an anode , and the aluminum coating is overcoated with the preferred uv emitting phosphor material 43 described hereinbefore . at the opposite side of the bowl 41 , the uv transmitting window 44 is illustrated as being domed which enables the window to be made of reduced thickness as compared with a flat structure . the cathode 45 is positioned as shown , the glass bowl / window combination is evacuated and sealed over the opening 46 in duct 47 , and a high voltage source ( not shown ) is provided to energize the cathode . thus , when electrons produced by cathode 45 strike the uv emitting coating 43 , the uv radiation generated is reflected from the inside surface of bowl 41 and passes through the uv transmitting window 44 to convert gas flowing through duct 47 to ozone . in fig6 another all glass construction is illustrated wherein the inverse cathode ray cell 50 is provided with a unitized electrode assembly 51 . for this purpose , the anode and cathode connections 52 , 53 are both arranged in an attachment 54 integral with the bowl 55 . this arrangement permits all electrical connections to be made in one area with no obstructions in the gas duct 59 . moreover , this arrangement also allows the window element 56 to be constructed from one piece of window material allowing an even thinner construction but with the same strength as that used in fig5 . the fig6 modification also employs an inner coating of aluminum 57 as the anode and includes the uv emitting coating 58 applied to the inside of bowl 55 described for fig5 . in like manner , the ozone generating cell 50 of fig6 is mounted adjacent an opening in duct 59 to expose the gas flow therethrough to the emitted uv radiation to generate ozone . fig7 illustrates a slight modification to the arrangement shown in fig6 wherein the inverse cathode ray cell 60 is constructed with a semispherical cavity 61 rather than a hemispherical shape . such a construction should be cheaper to manufacture and because of the flatter shape , provide a shorter and more direct path for the uv radiation to travel . in other respects , the modification shown in fig7 would be constructed like the modifications shown in fig5 and 6 . the foregoing description of the invention has been directed to several embodiments and modifications of a basic crt ozone generating apparatus and method . it will be apparent , however , that those skilled in the art may make modifications and changes in the schematically shown apparatus without departing from the scope and spirit of the invention . for instance , incidental heat generated by the apparatus will have to be removed from the system . those versed in the art of ozone generation will be familiar with means for cooling the system and the equipment and methods available . similarly modifications in the apparatus and method necessary to satisfy the needs of any particular field installation , whether in scaling the apparatus up in size or in providing special gas and ozone handling accessories , or in constructing the apparatus of materials chosen for environmental stability , are well within the state of the art . accordingly , the following claims are intended to cover all such modifications and variations that fall within the true spirit and scope of the invention .
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fig1 through 4 , discussed below , and the various embodiments used to describe the principles of the present invention in this patent document are by way of illustration only and should not be construed in any way to limit the scope of the invention . those skilled in the art will understand that the principles of the present invention may be implemented in any suitably arranged wireless network and any suitably arranged rf transmitter , including rf transmitters used to transmit television signals and commercial radio signals . fig1 illustrates exemplary wireless network 100 according to one embodiment of the present invention . the wireless telephone network 100 comprises a plurality of cell sites 121 - 123 , each containing one of the base stations , bs 101 , bs 102 , or bs 103 . base stations 101 - 103 are operable to communicate with a plurality of mobile stations ( ms ) 111 - 114 . mobile stations 111 - 114 may be any suitable cellular devices , including conventional cellular telephones , pcs handset devices , portable computers , metering devices , and the like . dotted lines show the approximate boundaries of the cell sites 121 - 123 in which base stations 101 - 103 are located . the cell sites are shown approximately circular for the purposes of illustration and explanation only . it should be clearly understood that the cell sites may have other irregular shapes , depending on the cell configuration selected and natural and man - made obstructions . in one embodiment of the present invention , bs 101 , bs 102 , and bs 103 may comprise a base station controller ( bsc ) and a base transceiver station ( bts ). base station controllers and base transceiver stations are well known to those skilled in the art . a base station controller is a device that manages wireless communications resources , including the base transceiver station , for specified cells within a wireless communications network . a base transceiver station comprises the rf transceivers , antennas , and other electrical equipment located in each cell site . this equipment may include air conditioning units , heating units , electrical supplies , telephone line interfaces , and rf transmitters and rf receivers . for the purpose of simplicity and clarity in explaining the operation of the present invention , the base transceiver station in each of cells 121 , 122 , and 123 and the base station controller associated with each base transceiver station are collectively represented by bs 101 , bs 102 and bs 103 , respectively . bs 101 , bs 102 and bs 103 transfer voice and data signals between each other and the public telephone system ( not shown ) via communications line 131 and mobile switching center ( msc ) 140 . mobile switching center 140 is well known to those skilled in the art . mobile switching center 140 is a switching device that provides services and coordination between the subscribers in a wireless network and external networks , such as the public telephone system . communications line 131 may be any suitable connection means , including a t1 line , a t3 line , a fiber optic link , a network backbone connection , and the like . in some embodiments of the present invention , communications line 131 may be several different data links , where each data link couples one of bs 101 , bs 102 , or bs 103 to msc 140 . in the exemplary wireless network 100 , ms 111 is located in cell site 121 and is in communication with bs 101 , ms 113 is located in cell site 122 and is in communication with bs 102 , and ms 114 is located in cell site 123 and is in communication with bs 103 . the ms 112 is also located in cell site 121 , close to the edge of cell site 123 . the direction arrow proximate ms 112 indicates the movement of ms 112 towards cell site 123 . at some point , as ms 112 moves into cell site 123 and out of cell site 121 , a “ handoff ” will occur . as is well know , the “ handoff ” procedure transfers control of a call from a first cell to a second cell . for example , if ms 112 is in communication with bs 101 and senses that the signal from bs 101 is becoming unacceptably weak , ms 112 may then switch to a bs that has a stronger signal , such as the signal transmitted by bs 103 . ms 112 and bs 103 establish a new communication link and a signal is sent to bs 101 and the public telephone network to transfer the on - going voice , data , or control signals through bs 103 . the call is thereby seamlessly transferred from bs 101 to bs 103 . an “ idle ” handoff is a handoff between cells of a mobile device that is communicating in the control or paging channel , rather than transmitting voice and / or data signals in the regular traffic channels . fig2 illustrates in greater detail exemplary base station 101 in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention . base station 101 comprises base station controller ( bsc ) 210 and base transceiver station ( bts ) 220 . base station controllers and base transceiver stations were described previously in connection with fig1 . bsc 210 manages the resources in cell site 121 , including bts 220 . bts 120 comprises bts controller 225 , channel controller 235 , which contains representative channel element 240 , transceiver interface ( if ) 245 , rf transceiver unit 250 , antenna array 255 , and channel monitor 260 . bts controller 225 comprises processing circuitry and memory capable of executing an operating program that controls the overall operation of bts 220 and communicates with bsc 210 . under normal conditions , bts controller 225 directs the operation of channel controller 235 , which contains a number of channel elements , including channel element 240 , that perform bi - directional communications in the forward channel and the reverse channel . a “ forward ” channel refers to outbound signals from the base station to the mobile station and a “ reverse ” channel refers to inbound signals from the mobile station to the base station . transceiver if 245 transfers the bi - directional channel signals between channel controller 240 and rf transceiver unit 250 . antenna array 255 transmits forward channel signals received from rf transceiver unit 250 to mobile stations in the coverage area of bs 101 . antenna array 255 also sends to transceiver 250 reverse channel signals received from mobile stations in the coverage area of bs 101 . in a preferred embodiment of the present invention , antenna array 255 is multi - sector antenna , such as a three sector antenna in which each antenna sector is responsible for transmitting and receiving in a 120 ° arc of coverage area . additionally , transceiver 250 may contain an antenna selection unit to select among different antennas in antenna array 255 during both transmit and receive operations . fig3 illustrates in greater detail a temperature compensated bias network , generally designated 300 , for use in an exemplary rf amplifier in rf transceiver 250 in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention . bias network 300 maintains a constant desired quiescent current , i dq , and device linearity in class ab laterally diffused metal - oxide - silicon field - effect transistor ( ldmos fet ) 301 . although the discussion that follows is directed toward the biasing of a class ab ldmos fet , it will be understood by those skilled in the art that the teachings of this disclosure may easily be adapted to bias a gaas fet device or a bjt device . however , for the sake of simplicity , the following discussion will be limited to a class ab ldmos fet device . bias network 300 comprises differential operational amplifier ( oa ) 305 , which receives a first signal on a non - inverting input from voltage reference circuit 310 and a second buffered control signal on an inverting input from temperature sensor 315 . the output of temperature sensor 315 is buffered by non - inverting , unity gain oa 320 . the output of unity gain oa 320 is scaled by a gain factor determined by resistor 330 ( referred to below as “ r1 ”) and resistor 325 ( referred to below as “ r2 ”). the resultant output of differential oa 305 is subsequently scaled by a voltage divider comprised of resistor 335 and variable resistor ( potentiometer ) 340 . the rf input signal ( rf in ) is supplied to the gate of ldmos fet 301 by rf coupling capacitor 345 . fig4 a illustrates curve 400 , which represents the voltage output of temperature sensor 315 across a range of temperatures in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention . as shown , temperature sensor 315 provides an output voltage ( v ts ) that increases linearly with temperature ( temp ) as depicted by the slope of curve 400 . as previously described , oa 320 provides non - inverting , unity gain for the output voltage of temperature sensor 315 . oa 320 , in conjunction with r2 , adjusts the high output impedance of temperature sensor 315 to an appropriate level for input to differential oa 305 . this prevents the output impedance of temperature sensor 315 from negatively impacting the performance of differential oa 305 . since oa 320 provides unity gain , the output of oa 320 to r2 is similar to curve 400 . thus , the output of oa 320 varies linearly with the temperature sensor 315 output ( control signal ). voltage reference 310 provides a precise non - varying output voltage ( v ref ) for input to the positive terminal of differential oa 305 . the positive input terminal of differential oa 305 provides an output gain to the v ref signal equal to g p , where g p = 1 + r1 / r2 . the negative input terminal of differential oa 305 provides an output gain to the v ts signal equal to g n , where g n =− r1 / r2 . therefore , differential oa 305 provides an output voltage ( v 0 ) that is represented by : v 0 =( 1 + r 1 / r 2 ) v ref −( r 1 / r 2 ) v ts = v ref +( r 1 / r 2 )( v ref − v ts ) the above equations in conjunction with fig4 a show that v 0 decreases linearly with the increases in temperature . thus , v 0 has the required characteristic for providing stable i dq over changes in temperature . as shown by fig3 v 0 is applied to a voltage divider comprised of resistor 335 and multi - turn potentiometer 340 . when properly adjusted , potentiometer 340 provides the desired quiescent current , i dq , and nominal operating voltage . in the case of the ldmos fet , potentiometer 340 is adjusted , at room temperature ( 25 ° c .) for example , while monitoring the fet &# 39 ; s quiescent current . once i dq is obtained , potentiometer 340 is no longer changed . fig4 b illustrates curve 410 , which represents the gate - source bias voltage ( v gs ) response over temperature on the gate of ldmos fet 301 in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention . as shown by correlation of fig4 a and 4b , when potentiometer 340 is adjusted at temperature t ( 1 ), for example 25 ° c ., to produce i dq , the resultant bias voltage v gs = v ( 2 ). as previously described for bias network 300 , v ( 2 ) is a function of v ts at t ( 1 ), which is shown as equal to v ( 1 ) in fig4 a . once adjusted , temperature sensitive bias network 300 provides constant i dq for various values of v ts and v gs across the indicated temperature range . besides providing means for stable output of i dq across various temperature ranges , bias network 300 also provides the means for compensation of manufacturing , lot - to - lot fet ( device ) variations . further , bias network 300 prevents fet thermal runaway by reducing the gate voltage as the temperature increases . fixed - bias designs are not capable of such dynamic control . one of the primary advantages of bias network 300 is its ability to provide a wide range of nominal quiescent currents and output voltages across temperature with a single adjustment . bias network 300 also provides the ability to obtain more output power from a given device without complex , expensive bias circuitry . without bias network 300 , the power amplifier must be over - sized to ensure adequate performance over temperature . an over - sized power amplifier results in lower efficiency and higher cost , lower mean - time - to failure ( mttf ), and larger and more costly heat sinking . thus , bias network 300 allows the amplifier to operate at nominal output power over a wide temperature range . although the present invention has been described in detail , those skilled in the art should understand that they can make various changes , substitutions and alterations herein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention in its broadest form .
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fig1 through 8 , discussed below , and the various embodiments used to describe the principles of the present disclosure in this patent document are by way of illustration only and should not be construed in any way to limit the scope of the disclosure . those skilled in the art will understand that the principles of the present disclosure may be implemented in any suitably arranged apparatus for an alarm clock with charging ports . the present disclosure relates to an alarm clock with charging ports , where , in various embodiments , the alarm function can be controlled from an alarm control device ; the same alarm control device can be used to set the current date and time ; a brightness switch can change brightness of the display , including turning the display off ; and the alarm clock includes a bluetooth - compatible speaker for use with an external audio source . fig1 presents an isometric view of an alarm clock 100 with charging ports according to an exemplary embodiment of the disclosure . the alarm clock 100 includes an upper body portion 102 . the upper body portion 102 includes a current time display 106 and an alarm time display 110 . the upper body portion 102 further includes a control knob 112 and a brightness switch 114 . the control knob 112 comprises a switch that responds to vertical or lateral pressure on the control knob 112 and a rotary position sensor that responds to rotation of the control knob 112 . the upper body portion 102 further includes an audio transducer ( not shown ) configured to emit an alarm sound . the control knob 112 is an alarm control device that controls the alarm functionality of the alarm clock 100 as well as other functions , as will be described in more detail below . the upper body portion 102 also includes usb charging ports 116 a and 116 b and line voltage charging ports 118 a and 118 b . the upper body portion 102 further includes a dst switch ( not shown in fig1 ) to enable or disable automatic switching of the alarm clock 100 into and out of daylight savings time mode , based upon the current date . the upper body portion further includes a power cord and connector 120 to provide line voltage power to the alarm clock 100 . in various embodiments , the power cord and connector 120 , as well as the line voltage charging ports 118 a and 118 b , may be adapted to the voltage and connector configurations of any national or international line power standards . the alarm clock 100 may optionally also include a lower body portion 104 . the lower body portion 104 includes a speaker system adapted for wireless connectivity to a portable music source ( not shown ). the lower body portion 104 comprises a “ pairing ” button 122 and speakers 124 l and 124 r . speaker 124 r is not visible in fig1 . operation of the brightness switch 114 and the control knob 112 are described below with reference to fig3 , and 5 . while the upper body portion 102 comprises two usb charging ports 116 a and 116 b , it will be understood that , in other embodiments , the alarm clock 100 may include any number of usb charging ports , including no usb charging ports . similarly , while the upper body portion 102 comprises two line voltage charging ports 118 a and 118 b , it will be understood that , in other embodiments , the alarm clock 100 may include any number of line voltage charging ports , including no line voltage charging ports . while the lower body portion 104 includes speakers 124 l and 124 r , it will be understood that , in other embodiments , the alarm clock 100 may include any number of speakers . fig2 presents a schematic block diagram of an alarm clock 200 with charging ports according to an exemplary embodiment of the disclosure . the alarm clock 200 includes a controller 202 . the controller 202 may be any suitable processing device , such as a microprocessor , microcontroller , programmable gate array ( pga ), application - specific integrated circuit ( asic ), or the like . the controller 202 includes memory comprising any suitable combination of volatile and / or non - volatile storage and retrieval device or devices . the memory of the controller 202 may store data and instructions adapted to be used by the controller 202 to control the various elements of the alarm clock 200 . the alarm clock 200 also includes outputs 204 and inputs 206 . the outputs 204 and the inputs 206 are communicatively coupled to the controller 202 . the outputs 204 may be configured using any suitable output technology and associated interface and driver circuits . in some embodiments , the displays 204 include the current time display 106 , the alarm time display 110 , and the audio transducer of the alarm clock 100 described with reference to fig1 . in such embodiments , the controller 202 is configured to send output signals to the displays 106 and 110 to show desired information on the displays 106 and 110 , as well as to send output signals to the audio transducer to emit sounds such as an alarm sound . the inputs 206 may be configured using any suitable physical devices and input technology , along with associated interface and driver circuits . in some embodiments , the inputs 206 include physical devices and circuits associated with the control knob 112 and the brightness switch 114 . in such embodiments , the controller 202 is configured to receive signals indicating activation of the brightness switch 114 , closure of the switch associated with the control knob 112 , and changes in position detected by the rotary position sensor associated with the control knob 112 . the alarm clock 200 is powered by a power supply 208 , which is electrically coupled to , and adapted to provide one or more voltages to , circuits of the alarm clock 200 . the power supply 208 is electrically coupled to power outlets 212 . the power outlets 212 are any suitable connectors for providing charging or other operational power to external devices . in some embodiments , the power outlets 212 include one or both of the usb charging ports 116 a and 116 b and the line voltage charging ports 118 a and 118 b described with reference to fig1 . in such embodiments , the power supply is configured to provide low voltage ( 5v or five volt ) dc power to the usb charging ports 116 a and 116 b and line voltage ac power to the line voltage charging ports 118 a and 118 b . the power supply 208 receives input power from a terminal 211 via a surge suppressor 210 . the terminal 211 may be electrically coupled to an input power connector such as connector 120 described with reference to fig1 . the surge suppressor 210 is adapted to reduce or prevent the impact on the circuits of the alarm clock 200 , as well as external devices plugged into the power outlets 212 , of surges or other potentially harmful variations in the input power received via the terminal 211 . in some embodiments , the alarm clock 200 further includes elements associated with a speaker system adapted for wireless connectivity to a music player or other external audio source , including elements associated with the lower body portion 104 described with reference to fig1 . in such embodiments , the alarm clock 200 includes a bluetooth - compatible receiver 214 , electrically coupled to an audio amplifier 216 , which is electrically coupled to one or more speakers 218 . the receiver 214 is further electrically coupled to a so - called “ pairing ” button 220 . the receiver 214 and the amplifier 216 are further electrically coupled to and receive power from the power supply 208 . when a user of the alarm clock 200 has a bluetooth - compatible external audio source , the user may operate the external audio source to place it in a mode where it is available for pairing with other bluetooth - compatible devices . if the user then activates the pairing button 220 , the receiver 214 is adapted to respond by performing a pairing procedure with the external audio source . upon completion of the pairing procedure , the receiver 214 will be operable to receive audio signals transmitted via bluetooth from the external audio source and play the received audio signals via the amplifier 216 and the speakers 218 . fig3 presents a procedure 300 for date and time setting functionality of an alarm clock with charging ports according to an exemplary embodiment of the disclosure . describing , as an example , operation of the alarm clock 100 described with reference to fig1 , from what might be termed ‘ normal ’ operation : e . g ., displaying the current time , in step 302 , a user presses and holds brightness switch 114 for at least a predetermined amount of time : e . g ., 6 seconds . if the brightness switch 114 is not held for the predetermined amount of time , further operation of the alarm clock 100 is described with reference to fig4 or 5 . if the brightness switch 114 is held for the predetermined amount of time , the alarm clock 100 enters a first phase of date - setting mode . in this first phase , in step 304 , the user may rotate the control knob 112 to set a desired year of the current date . once the desired year has been set , the user presses the control knob 112 in step 306 to enter a second phase of the date - setting mode . in this second phase , in step 308 , the user may rotate the control knob 112 to set a desired month of the current date . once the desired month has been set , the user presses the control knob 112 in step 310 to enter a third phase of the date - setting mode . in this third phase , in step 312 , the user may rotate the control knob 112 to set a desired day of the month of the current date . once the desired day of the month has been set , the user presses the control knob 112 in step 314 to enter a first phase of a time - setting mode . in step 316 , the user may rotate the control knob 112 to set a desired current hour . once the desired hour has been set , the user presses the control knob 112 in step 318 to enter a second phase of the time - setting mode . in step 320 , the user may rotate the control knob 112 to set a desired current minutes . in step 322 , the user presses the control knob 112 to return to normal operation . the current date is used in conjunction with the dst switch described with reference to fig1 to change the current time if the alarm clock 100 switches into or out of daylight savings time on the appropriate dates of the year . in some embodiments , the current date may be displayed in one or the other of the current time display 106 or the alarm time display 110 . fig4 illustrates a procedure 400 for alarm functionality of an alarm clock with charging ports according to an exemplary embodiment of the disclosure . using operation of the alarm clock 100 described with reference to fig1 again as an example , in step ( or state ) 402 , the alarm function of the alarm clock 100 is switched off . while the alarm function is switched off , the alarm time display 110 displays the word “ off ”. in step 404 , the user pushes the control knob 112 briefly to place the alarm clock 100 into an alarm - setting mode . in this mode , the current setting of the alarm time is displayed as flashing digits in the alarm time display 110 . in step 406 , the user may rotate the control knob 112 to set a desired alarm time . once the desired alarm time is displayed in the alarm time display 110 , the procedure 400 may proceed to either step 407 or step 408 . in step 408 , the user presses the control knob 112 to set ( or arm ) the alarm function and fix the current alarm time . while the alarm function is armed , in state 410 , the current alarm time is displayed as steady ( non - flashing ) digits in the alarm time display 110 . in step 407 , the alarm clock 100 waits for a predetermined amount of time ( e . g ., 5 seconds ) after the control knob 112 is rotated to set the desired alarm time , and then automatically arms the alarm function , fixes the current alarm time , and proceeds to state 410 while the alarm function is armed , in state 410 , two events may occur that affect the alarm function . in the first event , in step 412 , the user pushes the control knob 112 , which switches the alarm function off , causes the alarm time display 110 to display the word “ off ”, and returns the procedure 400 to step 402 . in the second event , the current time reaches the current alarm time , the alarm function triggers , and the procedure 400 passes to step 416 , wherein the alarm clock 100 emits an alarm sound . once the alarm has triggered and the alarm clock 100 is in step 416 , another two events may occur that affect the alarm function . in the first event , in step 418 , the user may push the control knob 112 , which switches the alarm function off , causes the alarm time display 110 to display the word “ off ”, turns off the alarm sound , and returns the procedure 400 to step 402 . in the second event , in step 420 , the user presses the brightness switch 114 , which turns off the alarm sound . the procedure 400 then passes to step 422 , wherein the alarm clock 100 waits for a predetermined amount of time ( e . g ., nine minutes ) before returning to step 416 , wherein the alarm clock 100 again emits the alarm sound . fig5 presents a procedure 500 for display brightness control of an alarm clock with charging ports according to an exemplary embodiment of the disclosure . the procedure 500 controls brightness of the current time display 106 and , if on , the alarm time display 110 . in step 502 the displays 106 and 110 are at full brightness setting . in step 504 , the user presses the brightness switch 114 and the procedure 500 passes to step 506 , wherein the displays 106 and 110 are at a medium brightness setting . in step 508 , the user presses the brightness switch 114 and the procedure 500 passes to step 510 , wherein the displays 106 and 110 are at a dim setting . in step 512 , the user presses the brightness switch 114 and the procedure 500 passes to step 514 , wherein the displays 106 and 110 are turned off . once the displays 106 and 110 are turned off in step 514 , two events may occur that affect the display brightness . in a first event , in step 516 , the user presses the brightness switch 114 and the procedure returns to step 502 , wherein the displays 106 and 110 are at full brightness setting . in the second event , in step 518 , the alarm triggers ( i . e ., the procedure 400 described with reference to fig4 passes to step 416 ) and the procedure returns to step 502 , wherein the displays 106 and 110 are at full brightness setting . in other embodiments , the alarm clock 100 may have any number of brightness levels ( other than off ), more than or less than the three brightness levels described with reference to procedure 500 . fig6 a present a top view of a portion of an alarm clock 600 with charging ports according to an exemplary embodiment of the disclosure . the alarm clock 600 includes a line voltage charging port 602 . a section “ a - a ” is indicated through one of the three connector apertures of the port 602 . the port 602 is referred to as a “ spill - through ” port , because liquids that are spilled or otherwise pass into one or more of the three apertures of the port 602 move past electrical connectors of the port 602 , through the interior of the alarm clock 600 , and out through drain apertures in the bottom of the alarm clock 600 , as will be described in more detail with reference to fig6 b and 6c . fig6 b and 6c present cross - sectional views along section “ a - a ” of the spill - through port 602 of the alarm clock 600 . a housing of the alarm clock 600 includes an upper surface 604 and a lower surface 606 . the lower surface 606 includes drain apertures 612 . while four drain apertures 612 are shown in the lower surface 606 , it will be understood that any number of drain apertures may be used in other embodiments . stanchions 608 are mechanically coupled to the top 604 and support port connectors 606 , which are positioned to make electrical contact with a plug connector 622 of a plug 620 inserted into the port 602 . conductors 610 are electrically coupled at a first end to the port connectors 606 and at a second end ( not shown in fig6 b or 6c ) to a power source such as power supply 208 described with reference to fig2 . liquids entering the spill - through port 602 flow over and past the port connectors 606 , and into a lower region 614 of the housing of the alarm clock 600 . however , rather than collecting in the lower region 614 , the liquid passes out of the housing through the drain apertures 612 . it will be understood that feet of the alarm clock 600 ( not shown in fig6 a - 6c ) rest on a supporting surface , raising the lower surface 606 adequately that liquid flowing out through the drain apertures 612 can flow away under the lower surface 606 on the supporting surface . in this way , liquid entering the alarm clock 600 through the aperture 602 is prevented from rising to a level at which the liquid contacts connectors associated with one or more of the three connector apertures of the port 602 , causing an electrical short - circuit between the contacted connectors . similarly , such liquid is prevented from rising to a level at which the liquid contacts circuitry of the clock 600 . additionally , the stanchions 608 and other mounting structures for the port connectors 606 are preferably fabricated from non - conductive material . in this way , the likelihood of the liquid forming electrical short - circuits between the port connectors 606 as it flows over the port connectors 606 is reduced or eliminated . fig7 presents an isometric view of an alarm clock 700 with charging ports according to another exemplary embodiment of the disclosure . most elements of the alarm clock 700 are similar to the alarm clock 100 described with reference to fig1 - 6c . a particular difference between alarm clock 700 and alarm clock 100 is alarm control device 713 . the alarm control device 713 comprises a plurality of switches . functions of the alarm clock 100 that are controlled by the control knob 112 are controlled in the alarm clock 700 by the plurality of switches of the alarm control device 713 . fig8 illustrates the alarm control device 713 in greater detail . the alarm control device 713 comprises a first switch , labeled on / off , which provides the same control of the alarm clock 700 as the switch associated with the control knob 112 provides of the alarm clock 100 . the alarm control device 713 further comprises two other switches , labeled “+” and “−”, which provide the same control of the alarm clock 700 as the rotary position sensor associated with the control knob 112 provides of the alarm clock 100 , when the control knob 112 is rotated in the clockwise and counter - clockwise directions , respectively . although the present disclosure has been described with an exemplary embodiment , various changes and modifications may be suggested to one skilled in the art . it is intended that the present disclosure encompass such changes and modifications as fall within the scope of the appended claims .
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for fluorine - containing copolymers according to the invention chlorotrifluoroethylene is exclusively used as the fluorine - containing component . as the second component which must have ester bond , vinyl esters and isopropenyl esters of fatty acids are alternatively useful . examples of fatty acid vinyl esters suited to this invention are vinyl acetate , vinyl lactate , vinyl butyrate , vinyl isobutyrate , vinyl caproate , vinyl isocaproate , vinyl pivalate , vinyl caprylate , vinyl caprylylate and vinyl caproylate . examples of fatty acid isopropenyl esters suited to this invention are isopropenyl acetate and isopropenyl propionate . when using a fatty acid vinyl ester it is preferred to choose one in which the alkyl group , r &# 39 ; in the general formula ( 1 ), has 1 to 3 carbon atoms . when using a fatty acid isopropenyl ester it is preferable to choose isopropenyl acetate because of ease of preparing a desired copolymer . the third component which provides functional groups to the fluorine - containing copolymer is always allylglycidyl ether . besides the above described essential components , another monomer or other monomers may optionally be incorporated into a copolymer according to the invention on condition that the optional comonomer ( s ) does not occupy more than 20 mol % of the copolymer . for example , an optional comonomer may be chosen from acrylates and methacrylates such as ethyl acrylate , ethyl methacrylate , methyl acrylate , methyl methacrylate , glycidyl acrylate and glycidyl methacrylate , acrylic amides such as acrylamide and n - methylol acrylamide and vinyl ethers such as ethylvinyl ether and butylvinyl ether . as to purities of monomers for use in this invention , gas chromatography purity of 98 % or above is sufficient so long as impurities obstructive to usual radical polymerization reactions are not contained . a copolymer according to the invention is obtained by copolymerizing the essential three kinds of monomers , and the optional monomer ( s ) if used , in the presence of a commonly used radical polymerization initiator . the manner of the copolymerization reaction is not particularly limited . for example , the object is accomplished by solution polymerization emulsion polymerization suspension polymerization or bulk polymerization . the copolymerization reaction can be carried out at temperatures ranging from about - 30 ° c . to about 100 ° c . usually it is suitable to carry out the copolymerization reaction at a tmperature in the range from about 0 ° c . to about 70 ° c . a suitable radical polymerization initiator can be selected from oil - soluble radical polymerization initiators including organic peroxides such as diisopropyl peroxydicarbonate , di - n - propyl peroxydicarbonate , t - butyl peroxypivalate , di - 2 - ethylhexyl peroxydicarbonate , benzoyl peroxide , lauroyl peroxide and perfluorooctanoyl peroxide , azo compounds such as azoisobutyronitrile and azobis - 2 , 4 - dimethylvaleronitrile and certain organic boron compounds such as oxytriethylboron and peroxytriethylboron , and water - soluble radical polymerization initiators such as hydrogen peroxide , potassium persulfate , ammonium persulfate and redox - type initiators . a suitable liquid medium for the copolymerization reaction is selected from water , hydrocarbons and organic fluorocompounds according to the manner of the reaction . if desired a mixture of two or three kinds of liquids ma be used . in the case of copolymerization reaction in an aqueous medium it is usual to use a conventional emulsifying or suspension stabilizing agent . to prepare a coating liquid composition comprising a fluorine - containing copolymer according to the invention , a variety of organic solvents are of use . examples are cyclie ethers such as tetrahydrofuran and dioxane , esters represented by ethyl acetate and butyl acetate , ketones such as acetone and methylethyl ketone , some nitrogen - containing solvents such as dimethylformamide and pyridine and some halogen - containing solvents such as 1 , 1 , 1 ,- trichloroethane and trichloroethylene . dissolution of a copolymer according to the invention in any of these solvents gives a colorless and transparent solution . when a suitable amine is added to a solution of the fluorine - containing copolymer and the solvent is dissipated after applying the solution to a desired surface , curing reaction of the copolymer with the amine takes place and proceeds even at room temperature . the rate of curing reaction can be enhanced by heating . also it is possible to use an organic acid or its anhydride as a curing agent , though a relatively high temperature is needed for curing reaction using such a curing agent . besides a curing agent , desired additives such as pigment , ultraviolet absorbing agent and dispersion stabilizing agent may be added to a solution of the fluorine - containing copolymer . almost every additive used in conventional paint or coating liquid compositions exhibits good dispersibility in a solution of this copolymer . initially 25 . 8 g of vinyl acetate ( vac ), 17 . 1 g of allylglycidyl ether ( age ), 200 g of butyl acetate ( buac ), 2 . 0 g of sodium borate and 0 . 5 g of lauroyl peroxide ( lpo ) were charged in a 500 ml stainless steel autoclave provided with electromagnetic stirrer , and replacement of the gas atmosphere in the autoclave by nitrogen gas was repeated three times . then the gas was purged from the autoclave , and 57 . 8 g of chlorotrifluoroethylene ( ctfe ) was introduced into the autoclave so that the ctfe / vac / age proportions were 52 / 32 / 16 by mol . the temperature in the autoclave was gradually raised up to 60 ° c ., at which radical copolymerization reaction was carried out for 24 hr . after that unreacted ctfe was discharged from the autoclave . the reaction product was in the form of a thick solution . ( the concentration of solid solute in this solution was found to be 20 . 7 wt %.) this solution was poured into n - hexane to precipitate a semitransparent copolymer , which weighed 57 . 8 g after washing and drying . the intrinsic viscosity of the obtained copolymer in tetrahydrofuran was 0 . 23 dl / g at 30 ° c ., and the epoxy equivalent of the copolymer was measured to be 748 g / equiv . by direct titration of α - epoxy group . infrared absorption spectrum of the copolymer exhibited absorption peaks at 3050 cm - 1 ( c - h of methylene group in the terminal epoxy ring ) and at 1760 cm - 1 ( c ═ o ) thermal analysis of the copolymer by differential scanning calorimetry ( dsc ) and thermogravimetry ( tg ) revealed that the copolymer does not have a clear melting point . by tg , weight loss of the copolymer began at a temperature above 250 ° c . a mixed solution was prepared by first dissolving 25 g of the ctfe / vac / age copolymer in 25 g of buac and then adding 1 . 9 g of 50 wt % solution of hexamethylenediamine in buac . the resultant solution was spread on a chromate treated aluminum plate with a film applicator . after evaporating the solvent the coating film on the aluminum plate was cured by heating a 150 ° c . for 10 min . representative properties of the cured coating film were as shown in table 1 by results of generally employed evaluation tests . table 1______________________________________test item evaluation______________________________________gloss ( 60 ° specular gloss ) 158pencil hardness ( max . hardness of pencil 2hfailed to give scratch ) cross - cut adhesion test ( no peel areas 100 / 100among 100 areas tested with cellophane tape ) ______________________________________ the same solution was applied to a number of pieces of glass plate and aluminum plate , and the coating films were cured by the aforementioned method . resistance of the cured coating films to several kinds of liquid chemicals was tested by immersion for 30 days at room temperature . the results are shown in table 2 wherein : the mark &# 34 ; a &# 34 ; means no change in appearance by visual observation , and &# 34 ; b &# 34 ; means occurrence of some peel . for comparison , coating films of a ternary copolymer of ctfe , vac and ethylene glycol monoallyl ether ( egae ), i . e . a copolymer having hydroxyl group as functional group , cured with isocyanate were tested in the same manner . the results are contained in table 2 . table 2__________________________________________________________________________ ctfe / vac / age ctef / vac / egae copolymer of copolymer forliquid chemical substrate example 1 comparison__________________________________________________________________________5 % hydrochloric acid glass a bsolution5 % sodium hydroxide ibid a bsolution3 % sodium chloride ibid a bsolutiontoluene aluminum a aperchloroethylene ibid a amethylisobutyl ketone ibid a a__________________________________________________________________________ initially 51 . 2 g of vinyl butyrate ( vbu ), 25 . 7 g of age , 580 ml of water , 0 . 2 g of methyl cellulose , 3 . 0 g of sodium borate and 0 . 75 g of lpo were charged in a 1 . 4 - liter stainless steel autoclave provided with electromagnetic stirrer . then nitrogen gas was introduced into and finally purged from the autoclave in the same manner as in example 1 . after that 97 . 7 g of ctfe was introduced into the autoclave so that the ctfe / vbu / age proportions were 55 / 30 / 15 by mol . the temperature in the autoclave was gradually raised , and copolymerization reaction was carried out at 60 ° c . for 24 hr . after that unreacted ctfe was discharged from the autoclave . the reaction product was in the form of a slurry . the solid component of the slurry was collected by filtration and was washed with water and dried to obtain 107 g of a semitransparent copolymer powder . the intrinsic viscosity of the obtained copolymer in tetrahydrofuran was 0 . 35 dl / g at 30 ° c ., and the epoxy equivalent of the copolymer was measured to be 970 g / equiv . infrared absorption spectrum of the copolymer exhibited absorption peaks at 3050 cm - 1 ( c - h of methylene group in the terminal epoxy ring ) and at 1760 cm - 1 ( c ═ o ). a mixed solution was prepared by first dissolving 25 g of the ctfe / vbu / age copolymer in 25 g of buac and then adding 1 . 5 g of 50 wt % solution of 2 , 4 , 6 - tridimethylaminomethylphenol in buac . the resultant solution was applied to an aluminum plate to form a cured coating film by the same method as in example 1 . pencil hardness of the cured coating film was b , and the result of the cross - cut adhesion test on the same coating film was 100 / 100 . the same solution was applied to a glass plate , and the coating film was cured by the same method . then the coated glass plate was kept immersed in water at room temperature for 60 days . the coating film passed this test without peeling from the glass surface in any area . initially 25 . 8 g of vac , 12 . 2 g of age , 4 . 2 g of ethyl acrylate ( ea ), 200 g of buac , 2 . 0 g of sodium borate and 0 . 5 g of lpo were charged in the autoclave used in example 1 . then nitrogen gas was introduced into and finally purged from the autoclave in the same manner as in example 1 . after that 68 . 7 g of ctfe was introduced into the autoclave so that the ctfe / vac / age / ea proportions were 57 / 29 / 10 / 4 by mol , and copolymerization reaction was carried out at 60 ° c . for 24 hr . after that unreacted ctfe was discharged from the autoclave . the reaction product was in the form of a thick solution . ( the concentration of solid solute in this solution was found to be 20 . 2 wt %.) this solution was poured into a large quantity of n - hexane to precipitate a semitransparent copolymer , which weighed 50 g after washing and drying . the intrinsic viscosity of the obtained copolymer in tetrahydrofuran was 0 . 27 dl / g at 30 ° c ., and the epoxy equivalent of the copolymer was measured to be 1250 g / equiv . infrared absorption spectrum of the copolymer exhibited absorption peaks at 3050 cm - 1 ( c - h of methylene group in the terminal epoxy ring ) and at 1730 - 1760 cm - 1 ( c ═ o ) a mixed solution was prepared by first dissolving 25 of the ctfe / vac / age / ea copolymer in 25 g of methylisobutyl ketone and then adding 1 . 2 g of 50 wt % solution of hexamethylenediamine in methylisobutyl ketone . the resultant solution was applied to an aluminum plate to form a cured coating film by the same method a in example 1 . pencil hardness of the cured coating film was 2h , and the result of the cross - cut adhesion test on the same coating film was 100 / 100 . the same solution was applied to a glass plate , and the coating film was cured by the same method . at room temperature the coated glass plate was kept immersed in water for 60 days , but the coating film did not peel from the glass surface in any area . initially 12 . 0 g of isopropenyl acetate ( ipac ), 6 . 8 g of age , 80 g of buac , 0 . 8 g sodium borate and 0 . 2 g of lpo were charged in a 200 ml stainless steel autoclave provided with electromagnetic stirrer . then nitrogen gas was introduced into and finally purged from the autoclave in the same manner as in example 1 . after that 23 . 1 g of ctfe was introduced into the autoclave so that the ctfe / ipac / age proportions were 52 / 32 / 16 by mol . the temperature in the autoclave was gradually raised , and copolymerization reaction was carried out at 60 ° c . for 24 hr . after that unreacted ctfe was discharged from the autoclave . the reaction product was in the form of solution . ( the concentration of solid solute in this solution was found to be 10 . 7 wt %.) this solution was poured into a large quantity of n - hexane to precipitate a semitransparent copolymer , which weighed 13 g after washing and drying . the intrinsic viscosity of the obtained copolymer in tetrahydro furan was 0 . 12 dl / g at 30 ° c ., and the epoxy equivalent of the copolymer was measured to be 1100 g / equiv . infrared absorption spectrum of the copolymer exhibited absorption peaks at 3050 - 1 cm and at 1760 cm - 1 . a mixed solution was prepared by first dissolving 10 of the ctfe / ipac / age copolymer in 10 g of methylisobutyl ketone and then adding 0 . 5 g of 50 wt % solution of hexamethylenediamine in methylisobutyl ketone . the resultant solution was applied to an aluminum plate to form a cured coating film by the same method as in example 1 . pencil hardness of the cured coating film was 2h , and the result of the cross - cut adhesion test on the same coating film was 100 / 100 . the same solution was applied to a glass plate , and the coating film was cured by the same method . at room temperature the coated glass plate was kept immersed in water for 60 days , but the coating film did not peel from the glass surface in any area .
| 2 |
in the present invention , a novel membrane is presented comprising a permeate channel . this is made possible by the inclusion of a 3d spacer fabric between two membrane layers . this integrated permeate channel membrane ( ipc - membrane ) basically comprises the two following constituents : the 3d - spacer fabric is preferably made by a knitting operation ( e . g . by a raschel knitting machine ). the spacer fabric is composed of two surface fabrics ( 2 , 3 ) ( knitted , woven or non - woven type of fabric ) at controllable distance , which are tied together with hundreds of spacer monofilament thread ( 4 ) per square cm . an example of such a 3d spacer fabric is shown in fig1 , 2 and 3 . the connection between the two fabric surfaces 2 and 3 is made by loops 5 in the spacer monofilament threads 4 . the distance between the two surface fabric layers ( 2 , 3 ) is determined by the length of the spacer monofilament threads ( 4 ) between the loops ( 5 ) and may be varied from 0 . 5 to 10 mm . the structure of the preferred surface fabrics is shown in fig2 . the most preferable ipc - membrane is made by the coating process . the ipc membrane is formed in - situ by a simultaneous coating of both surfaces ( upper and lower , 2 and 3 ) of the knitted spacer fabric with membrane dope . the membrane is subsequently formed by the phase inversion process ( coagulation in non - solvent ). the membrane dope may contain any type of polymer binder ( natural polymer from the non - limiting series : pvc , c - pvc , psf , pesu , pps , pu , pvdf , pi , pan , and their grafted variants ( sulphonated , acrylated , aminated . . . ), an aprotic solvent e . g . dmf , dmso , dmac or nmp , and filler material ( polymeric like : hpc , cmc , pvp , pvpp , pva , pvac , peo and / or inorganic like : tio 2 , hfo 2 , al 2 o 3 , zro 2 , zr 3 ( po 4 ) 4 , y 2 o 3 , sio 2 , perovskite oxide materials , sic ). the non - solvent may be water vapour phase ( water vapour or cold steam ), water , or mixtures of water with the mentioned aprotic solvents . spacer fabric preparation step : spacer fabric ( knitted , woven or non / woven ) unwinding ; spacer fabric guiding into vertical position and spacer fabric spreading to prevent fold formation ( perpendicular to the fabrication direction ) spacer fabric coating step : simultaneous double - side coating of dope with a double - sided coating system and automatic dope feeding on both sides of the spacer fabric ( same level at both sides ) to obtain a dope coated spacer fabric surface pore formation step : contacting of the double - side coated spacer fabric with water vapour phase . it is also possible to obtain an asymmetric spacer fabric - reinforced membrane with different pore size characteristics at both sides by applying different conditions on both sides of the dope coated spacer fabric . bulk formation step : coagulation of product into a hot water bath post - treatment step : washing out of chemicals in a water reservoir drying step : drying of the product by this in - situ membrane formation method the constituents ( the knitted spacer fabric and the two membrane layers ) are unbreakable linked to each other . this is due to the fact that the membrane is formed on top and inside of the spacer fabric itself . in fig4 , 5 and 6 a typical cross - sectional view is given of an ipc membrane . the monofilament threads 4 are still clearly visible , while both fabric surfaces are now covered with a membrane ( 12 , 13 ) fig5 is an optical photograph of the cross - section of an ipc - membrane made by phase - inversion process . fig4 is a fesem picture of the cross - section of the same ipc - membrane as is shown in fig5 . the typical cross - sectional view of the ipc membrane shows the typical components of the ipc membrane : the multitude of pillars ( spacer fabric monofilament threads 4 ) between the two membrane layers 12 and 13 ; the two membrane layers 12 and 13 ; the monofilament threads 6 of the two surfaces inside the membrane structure it can also be seen on these cross - sectional views that the loops ( 5 ) of the monofilament threads and the multifilaments of the fabric surfaces ( 3 ) are embedded in the membrane layers . from these figures it is clear that the membrane layers are unbreakably linked with the spacer fabric by the multitude of anchorage points . one of the key features of the ipc membrane is the presence of an integral permeate channel . this permeate channel is useful for different applications : for permeate withdrawal in mbr application , as well as for e . g . ultra - and microfiltration , membrane distillation , vapour permeation , pervaporation , and gas separation . for immobilisation purposes of in e . g . liquid ion - exchanger in supported liquid membranes and in pertraction . the anchorage / adhesion of the membrane layers of the ipc membrane fabricated by the coating and phase inversion process ( see fig5 ) to the knitted spacer fabric is very strong . this can be explained by the multitude of anchorage points . this property is illustrated by burst - pressure measurements with silicone oil ( having a viscosity of 50 times higher than water ). it was found that the two membrane layers do not detach at pressures even up to 17 bar . this property makes of the ipc - membrane an excellent back - washable flat - sheet ( mf / uf ) membrane . moreover , it was found that the formed composite material structure is also quite rigid . the ipc membrane as a whole is quite rigid after drying . this is rather unexpected considering the flexibility of the spacer fabric itself , due to the loops in the monofilament threads at the surface fabrics . this can be explained by the fixation / incorporation of the monofilament loops of the spacer fabric into the membrane structure of the two membrane layers . this property especially enables to make large surfaces ( e . g . 2 m by 2 m ). hence , the major properties of the ipc membrane according to the present invention are : the presence of the integrated spacer channel ; its back - wash ability ; its rigidity . from the aforementioned properties various novel membrane module concepts and applications can be generated with the ipc membrane . the present invention is further illustrated by two non - limiting examples described infra . this novel concept for submerged membrane bioreactor is named ipc - mbr membrane module concept . for this application the integrated permeate channel is used for withdrawing permeate from an active sludge system , without the need for special module concepts with separate permeate spacer channels . the driving force for permeation is a suction force applied from the integrate permeate channel side . by this action water with micro / ultrafiltration quality is generated from the active sludge system . to enable the suction force on the permeate channel , firstly the so - called “ ipc - mbr plates ” have to be realized . this is done by closing at least two ( preferably opposite ) edges of the ipc - mbr membrane 1 ( see fig6 and 7 ) with sealant 7 such as an epoxy / polyurethane type of resin , or any type of rubber , or a hot melt , or by any type of welding operation . the other edge ( s ) remain open and is ( are ) sealed to an inlet / outlet port 8 , to enable the permeate to be evacuated or to be fed back . the opposite edges with the inlet / outlet port 8 are then preferably placed into the vertical position ( on top ), so that gases can be easily evacuated . the so - formed ipc - mbr plates 9 may have the following dimensions for the purpose of wastewater purification : a width from 0 . 5 m to up to 2 m ; and a height from 0 . 5 m to up to 2 m to form an mbr module , the ipc - mbr plates 9 are placed vertically in arrays ( containing a multitude of these ipc - mbr plates ) positioned at a distance of 1 to 10 mm from each other allowing air bubbles to pass the membrane . the ipc - mbr module is now ready for use . preferably , an aeration system is placed at the bottom of the module , which serves for cleaning the membranes and for oxygen supply for the bacteria of the active sludge system . the ipc - membrane plates with at least two closed edges and at least one edge with inlet / outlet ports arrays of these ipc plates an optional aeration system at the bottom the ipc membrane sustains back - wash transmembrane pressures ( tmp ) in operation of above 10 bar , assuring long membrane life . the ipc membranes for this purpose preferably have a thickness in between 1 and 3 mm . in fig1 a schematic drawing is given of the ipc spiral membrane module concept . the ipc membrane leafs 32 are connected to the central permeate tube 31 just as like the envelope - like membrane types . in the ipc spiral membrane 30 there is no need for a permeate spacer since the distance between the two membrane surfaces is determined by the length of the spacer threads ( pillars ). it is also recommended to use a special feed spacer and to introduce special by - pass spacers . a more detailed view of the ipc spiral uf membrane along the line a - a ′ is represented in fig1 . the arrangement of membranes 32 with integrated permeate channel , feed spacers 33 and by - pass spacers 34 is shown with their respective dimensions for a preferred embodiment of the invention . the special feed spacer 33 is recommended to enhance the particle expulsion power during backwash operation . this is achieved by guiding the concentrate to the two topsides of the membrane module 30 . the spacer consists of massive pe , pp or pes foil 22 with continuous ribs 21 at both sides of the foil . the ribs 21 are in the longitudinal direction of the membrane module . the total thickness of this novel spacer is preferably between 0 . 5 and 3 mm , the rib height between 0 . 2 and 1 mm and the foil thickness between 0 . 05 and 0 . 3 mm . the distance between the ribs on the foil is preferably between 5 and 30 mm . fig8 and 9 show schematic representations of the special feed spacer the by - pass spacers 34 are also recommended to enhance the particle expulsion power during backwash operation in bigger modules . in fact it is quite similar to the special feed spacer 33 . moreover it contains a feed by - pass 23 ( see fig9 ). the feed by - pass 23 of the by - pass spacer has two functions : the first function is to help the particle expulsion during backwash operation . in fig1 a 240 inch long pressure vessel is shown with 4 membrane modules of 60 inches long . upon backwash the concentrate from modules c has to pass through the feed spacer of modules d , which is being back - washed at the same time . so the by - pass spacer of module d is used for the expulsion of the concentrate from module c . similar operation for the by - pass spacer of module a for the concentrate of module b . the second function is to help to distribute the feed water through all modules of the pressure vessel and especially the modules in the middle upon filtration ( modules b and c ). these functions are important for maintaining a stable transmembrane pressure ( tmp ) over a long period , and for postponing chemical cleaning of the membrane . due to the low transmembrane pressure in uf and mf membranes , modules are placed hydraulically in parallel to avoid pressure loss . applications for the membranes according to the invention are numerous and include mbr , microfiltration , ultrafiltration , membrane distillation , pervaporation , vapour permeation , gas separation , supported liquid membranes and pertraction .
| 3 |
reference is now made in detail to the present preferred embodiments of the invention , examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings . the present invention maintains a receiver - chip sequence in synchronization with a transmitter - chip sequence embedded in a spread - spectrum signal . the method may be realized using a processor , discrete circuitry , or logical gate components . these items would be located at the receiver . the appropriate receiver circuitry for performing the required receiver functions is illustrated herein . at the transmitter , the method includes the steps of generating the spread - spectrum signal . the spread - spectrum signal has a period for initial synchronization , a marker , and data . the period for initial synchronization , the marker , and the data are transmitted together as one message , and each is sequentially a part of the spread - spectrum signal . the period for initial synchronization may be a time period of the signal when a transmitter - chip sequence is transmitted with or without data modulation . alternatively , the period for initial synchronization may include a preamble of bits , which would be embodied as preamble data imposed on the transmitter - chip sequence during the period for initial synchronization . preambles for spread - spectrum signals are well known in the art . the marker typically is a known bit pattern . for example , the marker may include an eight bit pattern , such as 1 0 1 1 0 0 1 0 . the marker is used to designate a particular point in time , or position in the bit sequence , after the period for initial synchronization . the data follow the period for initial synchronization and the marker . the data include the information being conveyed from the transmitter to the receiver . the period for initial synchronization , the marker , and the data are spread - spectrum processed with the transmitter - chip sequence to generate the spread - spectrum signal . the spread - spectrum processing may be any of phase shift keying ( psk ), amplitude shift keying ( ask ), or frequency shift keying ( fsk ). additionally , these modulation techniques may be combined to generate the spread - spectrum signal . circuitry , methods and apparatus for implementing these modulation techniques are well known in the art . examples of such circuitry are shown in u . s . pat . no . 5 , 265 , 120 , which is incorporated herein by reference . the spread - spectrum signal is transmitted using radio waves from the transmitter over the communications channel . at the receiver , the method includes the steps of generating the receiver - chip sequence . the receiver - chip sequence is identical to the transmitter - chip sequence , for despreading of a received spread - spectrum signal . as illustratively shown in fig1 the method includes the step of synchronizing 21 the receiver - chip sequence to the transmitter - chip sequence . the initial synchronizing 21 would be accomplished during the period for initial synchronization of the spread - spectrum signal . the step of synchronizing 21 may , for example , be slewing 11 the receiver - chip sequence against the received spread - spectrum signal . the step of synchronizing 21 may further include the step of detecting 12 a correlation peak of the receiver - chip sequence cross - correlated with the transmitter - chip sequence . if a correlation peak is not detected 12 , then the method continues slewing 11 the receiver - chip sequence until a peak is detected . alternatively , other methods of initial synchronization may be used as is known in the art . when a correlation peak is detected 12 , then the method stops slewing 13 the receiver - chip sequence and proceeds with the step of detecting 14 whether a marker is present in the spread - spectrum signal . thus , the method further includes the step of detecting 14 the marker embedded in the spread - spectrum signal . the marker is used to denote a time , or position in the transmitted signal , from which a first reposition delay is determined at the receiver . the marker occurs in the spread - spectrum signal after the period for initial synchronization , and before data are transmitted on the spread - spectrum signal . when the marker is detected 14 , then the method initiates 15 a timer or bit counter or time stamp . the timer or bit counter or time stamp is used to determine a next , reposition delay . after the first marker is detected then an initial chip - code reposition resynchronization occurs , by re - aligning 16 the receiver - chip sequence with the transmitter - chip sequence . after re - aligning 16 the receiver - chip sequence , the receiver demodulates 17 the data embedded in the spread - spectrum signal , and outputs the data . the step of demodulating 17 uses the appropriate circuitry for detecting a spread - spectrum signal processed at the transmitter with the appropriate modulation , including ask , fsk , psk , or combination thereof . at the end of the first reposition delay , the method repeats the step of re - aligning 16 the receiver - chip sequence with the transmitter - chip sequence . the step of re - aligning 16 can include slewing the receiver - chip sequence until a correlation peak is detected or any of the several techniques noted later in this text . when the correlation - peak is detected , the method continues to demodulate 17 data from the spread - spectrum signal . additionally , the method includes the steps of determining 18 whether the timer or bit counter has reached a time or count precalculated to represent less than the maximum acceptable drift limit . if the timer or bit counter were not equal to the preset drift limit , then the method continues demodulating 17 data from the received spread - spectrum signal . if the timer or bit counter were equal to the preset drift limit , then the method initializes the step of re - aligning 16 the receiver - chip sequence position to within a chip time of the transmitter - chip sequence . in the instant invention re - alignment preferably is to within 1 / 8 of a chip time . the present invention may have more than a first reposition delay , and may have multiple reposition delays . during each reposition delay , the method includes the step of demodulating data from the spread - spectrum signal . at the end of each reposition delay , the method re - aligns the receiver - chip sequence to within one chip time of the transmitter - chip sequence embedded in the spread - spectrum signal . each subsequent reposition delay may be determined from a recurring marker , or alternatively , from preprogrammed delays from an initial marker . at the beginning of a new transmission of a spread - spectrum signal , some finite time is spent in order to achieve initial chip sequence timing acquisition . this can be done under either hardware or software control , or some combination of both . message data can be extracted for typically between three to 20 milliseconds , depending on baud rate and crystal accuracies of the receiver and transmitter . in this case , the longer the transmitted message , the higher the crystal cost at both the transmitter and receiver . in order for longer messages to be reliably received , additional synchronization techniques should be employed . the data synchronization techniques should rely on the transmitted signals in order to continuously or periodically realign the receiver - chip sequence phase position to match the transmitter - chip sequence of the transmitted signal . spread - spectrum systems can use data modulation techniques which are otherwise available to conventional narrow band systems . some of these modulation techniques , such as amplitude shift keying ( ask ), create periods of time when either less signal or no signal is present for the receiver to perform a code re - alignment routine upon . further , other constant carrier modulation techniques such as fast frequency shift keying ( ffsk ) and binary phase shift keying ( bpsk ) experience sudden but small variations in received powers as the receiver - chip sequence alignment is purposely changed by the receiver &# 39 ; s algorithm . this affects signal - to - noise ratio ( snr ) and , in the minimum detectable signal ( mds ) case , can affect the bit error rate ( ber ). depending on the goals of the system , an impact on bit error rate may or may not be acceptable during the periodic receiver - chip sequence realignment optimizations generated by the receiver . in either case , dummy bit times can be sent by the transmitter at a constant carrier level so that the receiver can re - optimize positions of the chip sequence during the dummy bit times without affecting information bits . the term &# 34 ; dummy bits &# 34 ; is defined herein to include an arbitrary sequence of bits , which do not necessarily carry information . preferably , the receiver is able to re - optimize the receiver - chip sequence position often enough so that the minimum snr for the required bit error rate is maintained . if , for example , the design goal at the minimum detectable signal case is that the signal does not vary more than 1 . 25 db due to receiver - chip sequence / transmitter - chip sequence misalignment , then in a typical 63 chip system , the chip sequence should not become more than 1 / 4 of a chip out of alignment with the transmitter - chip sequence due to crystal drift . in an 800 nanosecond chip time system , this yields an allowable 200 nanosecond of chip sequence misalignment . therefore , a chip sequence re - optimization should occur at the receiver at least once every two milliseconds if low cost , 50 parts per million ( ppm ) initial accuracy crystals are to be used . a difference in other circuit components , aging , voltage and in the operating temperature between the receiver and transmitter , also adds to the error , thus reducing message time even further . the receiver can use well known techniques for correlation peak optimization such as signal strength measurement or quieting detection or any equivalent means to sense if the correlation peak is improved as the receiver changes receiver - chip sequence alignment in sub - chip steps . furthermore , the receiver can use a number of techniques to determine a predicted receiver - chip sequence alignment drift correction . for example , the receiver can take two or more readings after repositioning the receiver - chip sequence alignment in order to determine the slope of the correction factor and then use the slope to generate a chip position correction factor and apply that correction factor . another technique for correlation peak optimization that the receiver can employ is to take a multiplicity of correlation improvement samples as the receiver consecutively increments the receiver - chip sequence alignment in sub - chip increments , thereby plotting out an actual correlation function . this procedure can optionally be preceded by an initial receiver - chip sequence misalignment with respect to the transmitter - chip sequence in the opposite direction . if the direction of receiver - chip sequence drift is known , however , then the initial misalignment can be eliminated . once the correlation function is plotted , one of several techniques can be used to determine optimal receiver - chip sequence / transmitter - chip sequence position : a ) the peak signal level can be used ; b ) the outer bounds of the correlation function can be determined and then divided by two in order to estimate the middle , or peak , of the correlation function . both of these techniques can be used in conjunction with slope information to further optimize alignment position . equivalent correlation peak determination / prediction method can provide this function . the receiver optionally can keep track of the information gained in the previously described algorithms to identify the rate and the direction of the receiver - chip sequence misalignment drift with respect to the transmitter - chip sequence . upon determining the drift rate and direction , the receiver can further use this information as a second order correction function to the receiver - chip sequence reposition algorithm . the correction function can be used in between the times when the receiver actually samples the correlation improvement of the carrier . in this way , the receiver can lengthen the time between dummy bits which may have to be inserted by the transmitter . alternatively , further reduced accuracy crystals can be used . if the transmitter does not use a constant carrier data modulation , or if data are demodulated at the maximum achievable snr for a certain bit error rate , then after the beginning of a new transmission , and initial receiver - chip sequence alignment to the transmitter - chip sequence , the transmitter inserts dummy bits ; the receiver knows when these dummy bits occur so that the receiver can perform the receiver - chip sequence re - optimization algorithm . for the receiver to be able to identify the dummy bits , the transmitter sends a marker in the transmitted message designed to notify the receiver where to find the dummy bit times in the subsequent message . this marker can be a signal strength , frequency or phase variation , or a special data key or the like . the marker need only appear once in the message , provided the subsequent dummy bits appear in the transmitted message in some preset fashion which the receiver likewise knows and searches . if , on the other hand , the dummy bits are inserted at times which are not known by the receiver , then the transmitter retransmits the marker each time to alert the receiver as to when the dummy bits reoccur so that the receiver can execute its chip sequence re - optimization algorithm . as illustratively shown in fig2 a preferred embodiment of the instant invention uses ask data 30 and sends a marker 32 , i . e ., a synchronization byte of a set pattern , subsequent to the period for initial synchronization 31 and prior to sending subsequent information data bits . the transmitter then inserts several dummy bits 33 after the ask synchronization marker 32 . the initial synchronization feature queues the receiver to use the subsequent dummy bits 33 to perform a receiver - chip sequence re - optimization algorithm . further , in this example , the transmitter automatically reinserts dummy bits once every eight data bytes 35 . the receiver &# 39 ; s algorithm is aware of the automatic reinsertion and uses the same timing spacing 34 so that the receiver can automatically perform subsequent receiver - chip sequence timing re - optimizations every eight bytes during the times when these subsequent dummy bits are transmitted . in this manner , the transmitter can send an arbitrarily long data message while the receiver maintains receiver - chip sequence alignment with the transmitter - chip sequence , with no greater than 1 / 4 chip code alignment error resulting from crystal drift between the transmitter and receiver . the marker generated by the transmitter is also useful in systems which use chip sequence position for external synchronization applications . many spread - spectrum systems such as the global positioning satellite ( gps ) system rely on the time synchronization provided by the chip sequence alignment to measure the time - of - flight of radio waves so that a time delay can be converted into distance and ultimately latitude / longitude / altitude position fixes . an example of a radio position system is discussed in u . s . pat . no . 4 , 799 , 062 , entitled radio position determination method and apparatus , to sanderford , which is incorporated herein by reference . in such systems , the marker can likewise reduce the crystal accuracy needed at remote devices . such a reduction in required accuracy is possible because in a typical time - of - flight system , the chip sequence optimization position can occur over the duration of the entire transmitted message or at varying positions within a received message . therefore the crystal drift at a remote unit can negatively effect the accuracy of the time - of - flight reading . by using the transmitted marker 32 , the devices , remote or otherwise , can take a chip sequence phase position reading which is optimized to the correlation peak at a known time distance from the purposely generated marker within a received message . therefore , the crystal drift error term can be reduced by several orders of magnitude since the drift factor that affects the time - of - flight measurement is reduced to several bits , as opposed to potentially an entire message . radio location systems that measure time - of - flight have a further requirement called lane counting . when a transmission is received from a distant station , the time delay of the transmission can be greater than that of the receiver - chip sequence repetition rate . when this happens , the chip sequence alignment yields an ambiguous range reading since the chip sequence position has rolled over one or more times . the maximum unambiguous ranging reading from a time - of - flight hyperbolic system is called a lane . for example , a time - of - flight radio location system which uses a five megachip per second code rate and a 127 chip code length would have a code repetition rate of 26 milliseconds , and therefore a lane distance of approximately five miles . transmissions from distances greater than five miles incorrectly roll over into a zero to five mile position determination . the marker 32 , which is purposely embedded into the transmitted message for the purpose of receiver - chip sequence realignment , also can generate a time stamp by which a macro - level timer can be used in increments of chip sequence repetition times . providing the embedded feature contains aspects which change in a time span equal to or shorter than a chip sequence repetition rate , then the feature can be used to initiate a timer , or to generate a time marker from a modulo counter , with resolution which is seamless and dovetails with the chip sequence phase positions . this macro - level time marker can be used to greatly enhance the unambiguous range measurements in a time - of - flight radio location system . in a hyperbolic time - of - flight radio location system , ambiguous relative time - of - flight measurements also generate multiple hyperbolic intersections causing ambiguous or multiple position fixes . the macro level timing just discussed , which is made possible by the embedded marker on the transmitted message , also serves to eliminate multiple ambiguous position fixes in a time - of - flight hyperbolic radio location system . as illustratively shown in fig3 the received signal , after passing through a receiver front - end and optionally undergoing a down conversion and appropriate filtering , as is well known in the art , is first applied to mixer 301 . mixer 301 provides bandwidth compression of an incoming spread spectrum signal to yield a compressed non - spread spectrum signal on mixer &# 39 ; s output port . mixer 301 is injected on the local oscillator port either directly by the chip code generator 303 or alternatively by a mixer / local oscillator combination 302 . the mixer / local oscillator combination 302 provides the optional second or third down conversion of the received signal to yield lower if frequencies , as is well known in the art . the chip code generator 303 provides the spread spectrum direct sequence modulation output . appropriate chip code generators can be fashioned from an exclusive or gate tapped shift register with feedback , or a random access memory / read only memory ( ram / rom ) look - up table wherein the appropriate chip code pattern is stored , or a serial shift register wherein the appropriate chip code pattern is stored , or any other means , as is well known in the art . the instant invention uses a sequentially addressed rom look - up table to store and recall the chip code pattern . the chip code generator 303 also has several inputs . the several inputs are designed to alter the time / phase offset of the repetitive chip code output . the advance input causes a time advance of the chip code position . the delay input causes a time delay of the chip code position . the advance and delay inputs can be in units of multiple chips , a single chip or in units of a portion of a chip . in the instant invention , the advance and delay lines are selected in two chip , one chip , or one - quarter chip increments . further , the chip code generator 303 is equipped with an input / output port which allows the processor 307 to read and write the chip code alignment phase . the chip code phase / alignment position output port allows the processor 307 to determine the aggregate time / phase position offset which has been selected / optimized by the processor 307 . when the processor 307 reads the chip code phase position from the chip code generator 303 , the processor 307 , is able to time stamp the phase / alignment position of an incoming received signal with a high degree of accuracy . the ability to read the chip code phase position allows the processor 307 to determine relative time - of - arrival measurements and to compare the chip code phase position to either a time reference or to another incoming received signal . the relative time - of - arrival information of the received signal can then be used to calculate a distance or a hyperbolic line of position . in addition to reading the chip code phase position , processor 307 can also set any chip code phase position by writing the input port of the chip code generator 303 . as illustrated in the preferred embodiment , a band pass filter 304 serves to eliminate received noise outside of the compressed output of mixer 301 . the filtered signal from the bandpass filter 304 is provided to a received signal strength indication ( rssi ) quieting detector 306 which makes possible a measurement of correlation . the rssi quieting detector 306 can be fashioned from available components which either measure signal strength or quieting detection or phase lock detection . alternatively , the rssi quieting detector could be located in earlier blocks of the receiver . the output of the rssi quieting detector 306 provides a measurement of correlation to the processor 307 so that the processor 307 can perform the reposition algorithm . the rssi quieting detector 306 can also provide part , or all , of the components necessary for data detection . alternatively , the rssi quieting detector 306 can be separate from the data detector 305 , in which case the data detector 305 would connect directly to the bandpass filter 304 output . the data detector 305 can be formed from any of the modulation detectors , as is well known in the art , such as amplitude modulation , frequency modulation or phase modulation methods . the purpose of the data detector 305 is to provide a data output to the processor 307 , so that the processor 307 can detect the presence of a marker and execute the reposition algorithm . the instant invention uses amplitude modulation as the data detector 305 , with the data detector 305 using the rssi quieting detector 306 . further , in the instant invention , the signal strength indication provides both correlation measurement and data amplitude information . the correlation measurement output of the rssi quieting detector 306 is therefore also used by the processor 307 to decode data output . in the preferred embodiment of the instant invention , the data detector 305 not a separate unit , but is part of the rssi quieting detector 306 . the processor 307 can be a micro - computer or digital logic , or discrete components , or an application specific integrated circuit ( asic ), or equivalent means which can run the reposition algorithm . the instant invention uses an analog to digital convertor to translate the correlation measurement input into a digital representation of correlation level and of the am data modulation output . the micro - processor in the instant invention further controls the advance and delay of the chip code phase position of the chip code generator 303 and identifies the presence of a marker and reads the phase position of a received signal for time - of - flight applications . it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications may be made to the spread spectrum alignment repositioning method and apparatus of the instant invention without departing from the scope or spirit of the invention , and it is intended that the present invention cover modifications and variations of the spread spectrum alignment repositioning method and apparatus provided they come within the scope of the appended claims and their equivalents .
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automatic focus adjustment in the embodiments to be described is based on a so - called zone - focus system . that is , the range finder device detects which of the near , middle and distant zones an object is placed in , and in response to the result , the objective lens positioning control mechanism sets an objective lens to the correct zone for the object . referring now to fig1 which shows the mechanical part of a first embodiment of the present invention , manual changeover member 1 for daylight photography and flash photography is set to the daylight photography mode of a camera with index 1a projecting from the center of the top surface of the member being set at the cloud symbol . in this condition , projection 1b facing downward at the right end of changeover member 1 rides on shoulder 13b on the top surface of lever 13 , rotating lever 13 counterclockwise against the action of spring 13c , whereby the left end of lever 13 abuts on switch sw1 which is , in turn , opened , thus causing an automatic focus adjusting device to operate properly . lens shift member 4 is biased left by spring 5 , and stop portion 4c at the right end of lens shift member 4 is restrained by lever 3 . provided at the left end of lever 3 is armature 3a which is normally attracted and held to electromagnet 2 , core 2a of which is a permanent magnet , and lever 3 maintains lens shift member 4 to be restrained at the position illustrated in fig1 . when the winding of electromagnet 2 is instantly energized by the operation of a release member ( not shown ), e . g . a shutter button , the attractive force of permanent magnet core 2a is offset to free armature 3a , causing lever 3 to rotate clockwise under the action of spring 3b , whereby lever 3 disengages from stop portion 4c of lens shift member 4 , which in turn starts travelling to the left by the action of spring 5 . provided on the top side of lens shift member 4 is rack 4a which engages with gear 6 on the outer circumference of the lens barrel for objective lens l . accordingly , the travelling of lens shift member 4 to the left causes the lens barrel to rotate clockwise , thus causing objective lens l to be retracted from the nearest zone toward the infinity zone ( the reverse may also be used ). at the same time , a range finder device ( not shown ) operates to detect which of the near , middle and distant zones an object is located in , and in response to that determination , electromagnet 8 is energized when the object is located in the near zone , and electromagnet 9 is energized when the object is in the middle zone , while neither electromagnet 8 or 9 is energized when the object is in the distant zone . electromagnets 8 and 9 , both having permanent magnet cores which normally attract and hold armatures , are of the type in which the instant energization of a winding offsets the attractive force to release the armature . when the object is in the near zone , the winding of electromagnet 8 is energized , causing lever 10 to be released and rotated clockwise by the action of spring 10a , and claw 10b at the left end of lever 10 projects into the left travelling path of engaging portion 4b of lens shift member 1 . when engaging portion 4b comes into engagement with claw 10b of lever 10 , lens shift member 4 is stopped at position p1 . in this manner , objective lens l is set to the near distance zone . further , when the object is in the middle zone , the winding of electromagnet 9 is energized to release lever 11 , which steps lens shift member 4 when the left end thereof is positioned at p2 , objective lens l thus being set to the middle distance zone . with the object in the distant zone , however , neither of electromagnets 8 or 9 is energized , permitting lens shift member 4 to move until its left end comes into contact with fixed stopper 12 , whereby lens shift member 4 is stopped at position p3 , objective lens l thus being set to the distant zone . fig2 illustrates an automatic focus adjusting circuit for operating electromagnets 8 and 9 . portions 8 and 9 correspond to electromagnets 8 and 9 , respectively . range finder device 7 generates a high level signal at terminal z1 when an object is located in the near zone , a high level signal at terminal z2 when the object is in the middle zone , and a high level signal at terminal z3 when the object is in the distant zone , respectively . terminal z1 is connected to the base of transistor tr1 , and when the signal at terminal z1 becomes a high level , transistor tr1 is turned on , and so is transistor tr2 . with transistor tr2 turned on , capacitor c , charged by power source e beforehand , is discharged through transistor tr2 and the winding of electromagnet 8 , the latter of which is instantly energized . similarly , when a high level signal appears at terminal z2 , transistors tr3 and tr4 are turned on because switch sw1 connected in parallel with transistor tr4 is normally opened , thereby causing the winding of electromagnet 9 to be instantly energized . it is to be noted that power source switch sm is closed at the initial stage of the shutter button depression . when changeover member 1 in fig1 is turned to the flash photography position marked with an electronic flash arrow , switch sw1 is closed . this causes switch sw1 to short - circuit the emitter and collector of transistor tr4 in fig2 whereby electromagnet 9 is energized independently of the operation of range finder device 7 so that objective lens l is always set to the middle zone . in the above embodiment , the automatic focus adjusting device is forced to remain inoperative in the case of flash photography . that is , when switch sw1 is closed , capacitor c is continuously short - circuited by the winding of electromagnet 9 , resulting in no remaining power strong enough to energize electromagnet 8 even if a high level signal is generated at terminal z1 of range finder device 7 . in the above construction , the objective lens is set to a position suitable for flash photography in association with a changeover to flash photography . this fact causes no failure in picture taking even if normal range finding and automatic focus adjustment are impossible due to too low scene brightness , thus ensuring a generally reasonable photograph with a minimum number of additional members . needless to say , the embodiment of the present invention may be applied when zone settings of automatic focus adjustment are made in a greater number of stages , or continuously . fig3 and 4 illustrate a second embodiment of the present invention . referring to fig3 in explaining the mechanical part of the embodiment , electromagnet 21 controls the stop of release operating member 24 by stop lever 22 . objective lens l is shifted in the direction of the optical axis by rack 23a cut on lens shift member 23 . slow governor 25 controls the shift speed of release operating member 24 . lens shift member 23 is biased left by spring 32 , as shown in fig3 from the position where objective lens l is focused on an object at the near zone to the position where objective lens l is focused on an object at the distant zone . however , lens shift member 23 is constructed to follow the movement of release operating member 24 , and when release operating member 24 is cocked in the right direction , for example , in association with shutter charging , lens shift member 23 is pushed by release operating member 24 to reach the position as illustrated in fig3 . when release operating member 24 is released from its restrained position effected by stop lever 22 , release operating member 24 moves left under the action of spring 24a to release the shutter ( not shown ) at its final stage . electromagnet 21 having a permanent magnet at its core normally holds stop lever 22 in the stop position illustrated in fig3 by the magnetic force of its permanent magnet . with an operating member ( not shown ), e . g . a shutter button , operated , the winding of electromagnet 21 is energized to generate magnetic force which offsets the magnetic force of the permanent magnet , whereby stop lever 22 is rotated counterclockwise by its spring force to release the stop of release operating member 24 . electromagnets 26 , 27 and 28 are provided in pairs to stop levers 29 , 30 and 31 , each of which is spring tensioned to be away from the core of each electromagnet . electromagnets 26 , 27 and 28 are designed to determine the stop position of lens shift member 23 and are of the type identical to electromagnet 21 , and normally maintain corresponding stop levers 29 , 30 and 31 in their inoperative positions by the magnetic force of permanent magnets included in the respective cores , i . e . out of the path of engaging projection 23b formed on lens shift member 23 . with their windings energized , electromagnets 26 , 27 and 28 release corresponding stop levers 29 , 30 and 31 from their restrained positions . released stop levers 29 , 30 and 31 are rotated clockwise by spring force to be brought into the path of engaging projection 23b . as a result , lens shift member 23 is respectively stopped at the position where objective lens l is set to the near zone when the winding of electromagnet 26 is energized , at the position where objective lens l is set to the first middle zone when the winding of electromagnet 27 is energized , and at the position where objective lens l is set to the second middle zone more distant than the first middle zone when the winding of electromagnet 28 is energized . it should be understood that when none of electromagnets 26 , 27 and 28 are energized , lens shift member 23 is stopped in engagement with projection 33 provided integrally on the camera body at the left of electromagnet 28 , thereby setting objective lens l to the more distant zone . with respect to fig4 range finder device 34 may have the construction described , for example , in u . s . pat . no . 3 , 945 , 023 for the embodiment of the present invention in which the distance of an object is divided into four zones and a high level signal is generated respectively at terminal z1 for an object in the near zone , at terminal z2 for an object in the first middle zone , at terminal z3 for an object in the second middle zone and at terminal z4 for an object in the distant zone . manual changeover member 35 is designed to select either daylight photography or flash photography , and setting index 35a at flash symbol 36 makes it possible for the camera to be set to the flash photography mode . with index 35a set at either symbol 37 or 38 for daylight photography , the camera can be set to the daylight photography mode , with the diaphragm ( not shown ) being set at either of two - step aperture sizes . switch sw2 operates in association with manual changeover member 35 , and is closed when index 35a is set at flash symbol 36 while it is opened at the other setting positions of manual changeover member 35 . inverter 39 and high potential power source + vcc constitute a conditional circuit together with switch sw2 , and the potential at node a becomes a high level when switch sw2 is opened , and it becomes a low level when switch sw2 is closed . the windings of electromagnets 26 , 27 and 28 are connected in series respectively to transistors tr5 , tr6 and tr7 but are in parallel connection to high potential power source + vcc , and the bases of transistors tr5 and tr6 are connected through resistors r4 and r5 respectively to terminals z1 and z2 . or circuit 40 receives the outputs at terminals z1 and z2 , nand circuit 41 receives the outputs of or circuit 40 and inverter 39 , and or circuit 44 receives the outputs at terminal z3 and of inverter 39 . and circuit 43 receives the outputs of nand circuit 41 and or circuit 44 , and the base of transistor tr7 is connected through resistor r6 to the output terminal of and circuit 43 . it should be noted that the relations between the operating member ( e . g . a shutter button ), range finder device 34 and electromagnet 21 in the embodiment are detailed below , although they are not illustrated . that is , a switch ( not shown ) is closed by the operation of the operating member , causing range finder device 34 to start operating . at the same time , after a predetermined lapse of time including the time required for range finder device 34 to complete its operation since the closure of the switch , the winding of electromagnet 21 is energized through the function of a delay circuit ( not shown ). further in the above embodiment , lens shift member 23 is associated with a known f . m . mechanism ( which automatically determines the diaphragm aperture commensurate with a photographic zone and which is not shown ), and with manual changeover member 35 is set to the flash photography mode , i . e . only with index 35a set at symbol 36 , the diaphragm aperture is determined for objective lens l in response to the setting position of lens shift member 23 . this is , however , due to the use of a manual strobo having a predetermined guide number as a flash device , and when a so - called automatic electronic flash device is used , the above mentioned f . m . mechanism is not required . in the operation of the embodiment comprising the above construction , manual changeover member 35 is first , in the case of daylight photography , set to a position where index 35a is set to symbol 37 or 38 , causing switch sw1 to be opened and inverter 39 to generate a low level signal as a conditional signal . with the operating member ( not shown ) operated in this condition , range finder device 34 begins operating , thus generating a high level signal at one of terminals z1 , z2 , z3 and z4 . with an object in the near zone , for example , a high level signal appears at terminal z1 , turning on transistor tr5 which energizes the winding of electromagnet 26 for its activation . however , transistor tr6 is maintained off , and or circuit 40 and nand circuit 41 generate high level signals while or circuit 40 and and circuit 43 generate low level signals , and as a result , transistor tr7 is also maintained off . in this case , therefore , stop lever 29 is brought into the path of engaging projection 23b . when an object is placed in the second middle zone , a high level signal appears at terminal z2 , turning on transistor tr6 which activates electromagnet 27 , whereby stop lever 30 is brought into the path of engaging projection 23b . transistor tr5 is maintained off , and or circuit 40 and nand circuit 41 generate high level signals while or circuit 44 and and circuit 43 generate low level signals , thereby causing transistor tr7 also to remain shut off . with an object in the second middle zone , a high level signal appears at terminal z3 and transistors tr5 and tr6 are maintained off . circuits 41 , 44 and 43 other than or circuit 40 generate high level signals which turn on transistor tr7 , thereby activating electromagnet 28 , whereby stop lever 31 is brought into the path of engaging projection 23b . further , with an object in the distant zone , a high level signal appears at terminal z4 . since terminal z4 is a floating terminal , however , its high level signal is applied as an input to none of the above circuits . however , low level signals are generated at terminals z1 , z2 and z3 , whereby transistors tr5 and tr6 are maintained off . also , low level signals are generated from circuits 40 , 44 and 43 other than nand circuit 41 , causing transistor tr7 also to remain shut off . as a result , stop levers 29 , 30 and 31 are all maintained at the positions illustrated in fig3 . when range finder device 34 generates a high level signal at one of terminals z1 , z2 , z3 and z4 as described above , the winding of electromagnet 21 is almost simultaneously energized for its activation . as a result , release operating member 24 is released from its restrained condition effected by stop lever 22 , thus being moved leftward by the action of spring 24a , and lens shift member 23 follows the movement of release operating member 24 under the action of spring 32 . during its movement , lens shift member 23 is stopped when projection 23b comes into contact with any one of stop levers 29 , 30 and 31 or projection 33 , whereby objective lens l is set to the lens shift position commensurate with the stop position of lens shift member 23 . release operating member 24 , however , continues to move leftward after lens shift member 23 has been stopped , to release the shutter ( not shown ) at its final step , thus commencing photography . as described above , with daylight photography selected , objective lens l is automatically focused on an object detected by range finder device 34 , thus ensuring an appropriate focus . when manual changeover member 35 is set to the position where index 35a matches symbol 36 to effect flash photography , switch sw2 is closed and inverter 39 generates a high level signal as a conditional signal . if a high level signal appears at none of terminals z1 , z2 and z3 under this condition , in other words , when an object is placed in the distant zone , or when an object is too dark for range finder device 34 to detect the distance of the object , transistors tr5 and tr6 are maintained off , and circuits 41 , 44 and 43 , other than or circuit 40 , generate high level signals . therefore , transistor tr7 alone is turned on to activate electromagnet 28 , whereby lens shift member 23 is restrained by stop lever 31 from moving to the left . that is to say , in this case , objective lens l is focused on the second middle zone , thus assuring a photograph which is not extremely out of focus and underexposed for an object in the distant zone and which is of appropriate focus and exposure at least for an object in the second middle zone permitting flash photography , whereby a generally satisfactory photograph is available . even with flash photography selected , objective lens l is accurately set to the position where it is focused on any of the near , first middle , second middle and distant zones , similar to daylight photography , if a high level signal appears at any one of terminals z1 , z2 and z3 , and photography with proper focus and exposure is made possible . that is , when a high level signal appears at terminal z1 , transistor tr6 is maintained off while transistor tr5 is turned on to activate electromagnet 26 . also , circuits 41 and 43 , other than or circuits 40 and 44 , generate low level signals , thus maintaining transistor tr7 off . when a high level signal appears at terminal z2 , however , transistor tr5 is maintained off while transistor tr6 is turned on to activate electromagnet 27 . similarly , circuits 41 and 43 , other than or circuits 40 and 44 generate low level signals , thus maintaining transistor tr7 also off . further , when a high level signal appears at terminal z2 , transistors tr5 and tr6 are maintained off , and circuits 41 , 44 and 43 , other than or circuit 40 , generate high level signals . accordingly , transistor tr7 alone is turned on to activate electromagnet 28 . it is to be noted that in the case of flash photography , a flash device ( not shown ) is supplied with power , for example , by setting manual changeover member 35 to the flash photography mode and flashes in synchronization with the shutter opening in a well - known manner . fig5 is a third embodiment of the present invention in which the circuit of fig4 is modified so that in response to film sensitivity setting or guide number setting of the flash device , the setting position of an objective lens is automatically altered when an object is placed in the more distant zone than the maximum permissible range for flash photography , or when range finder device 34 cannot detect the distance of an object . referring to fig5 changeover switch sw3 is changed either to terminal a or b by film sensitivity setting or the guide number setting of a flash device . changeover switch sw3 is changed to terminal a when the film sensitivity is high or the guide number is great , and to terminal b when the film sensitivity is low or the guide number is small . terminal b is connected to inverter 39a , as well as to high potential power source + vcc through a resistor , similar to terminal a , and the potential at node b is at a low level only when switch sw2 is closed and switch sw3 is on terminal b . that is to say , in the embodiment , switches sw2 and sw3 , inverters 39 and 39a , and high potential power source + vcc together constitute a conditional circuit . nor circuit 45 receives the outputs of or circuit 40 and terminal z3 , and or circuit 46 receives the outputs of and circuit 43 and nor circuit 45 , and circuit 47 receives the outputs of nor circuit 46 and inverter 44 , and or circuit 48 receives the outputs at terminal z2 and of and circuit 47 . the output of and circuit 43 is connected to the base of transistor tr6 . additionally , and circuit 49 receives the outputs of and circuit 43 and node b , and the output of and circuit 49 is connected to the base of transistor tr7 . in the above embodiment , switch sw2 is opened for daylight photography , and inverters 39 and 44 generate low level signals as a conditional signal independently of the setting of changeover switch sw3 . with a high level signal appearing at terminal z1 , transistor tr5 is turned on to activate electromagnet 26 . since or circuit 40 and nand circuit 41 generate high level signals while or circuits 42 , 46 and 48 , and circuits 47 and 49 , nor circuit 45 and and circuit 43 generate low level signals , transistors tr6 and tr7 are maintained off . with a high level signal appearing at terminal z2 , transistor tr5 is maintained off , and or circuits 40 and 48 , as well as nand circuit 41 generate high level signals while or circuits 42 and 46 , and circuits 43 , 47 and 49 as well as nor circuit 45 generate low level signals . therefore , transistor tr6 is turned on and transistor tr7 is maintained off , resulting in the activation of only electromagnet 27 . when a high level signal appears at terminal z3 , transistor tr5 is similarly maintained off , and or circuits 40 and 48 , nor circuit 45 and and circuit 47 generate low level signals , while nand circuit 41 , or circuits 42 and 46 as well as and circuits 43 and 49 generate high level signals . accordingly , transistor tr7 is turned on , and transistor tr6 is maintained off , resulting in the activation of only electromagnet 28 . further with a high level signal appearing at terminal z4 , nand circuit 41 , nor circuit 45 and or circuit 41 alone generate high level signals and all other circuits 40 , 42 , 43 , 47 , 48 and 49 generate low level signals . therefore , not only transistor tr5 but also transistors tr6 and tr7 are all maintained off , whereby all of electromagnets 26 , 27 and 28 are maintained deenergized . that is , in the case of daylight photography , objective lens l is alternatively set to one of the near , first middle , second middle and distant zones through the controls of electromagnets 26 , 27 and 28 , as detailed above . moreover , when changeover switch sw3 is at terminal a and switch sw2 is closed to effect flash photography , inverter 39 generates a high level signal while inverter 39a generates a low level signal . these signals in pairs become a conditional signal . in this condition , when a high level signal appears at none of terminals z1 , z2 and z3 , transistor tr5 is maintained shut off , and or circuits 40 and 48 , and and circuit 47 generate low level signals while nand circuit 41 , or circuits 42 and 46 , nor circuit 45 and and circuits 43 and 49 generate high level outputs . therefore , transistor tr6 is maintained off while transistor tr7 is turned on to activate electromagnet 28 . that is , upon activation of electromagnet 28 , objective lens l is set to the position where it is focused on an object in the second middle zone , resulting in a photograph which is not extremely out of focus and underexposed for an object even when placed in the distant zone , and ensuring proper exposure and focus for the field of an object at least in the second middle zone . on the contrary , with a high level signal appearing at terminal z1 , transistor tr5 is turned on to activate electromagnet 26 . at this time , circuits 41 , 43 , 45 , 46 , 47 , 48 and 49 , other than or circuits 40 and 42 , generate low level signals , thereby maintaining transistors tr6 and tr7 off . further , with a high level signal appearing at terminal 22 , transistor tr5 is maintained off and or circuits 40 , 42 and 48 generate high level signals while the other circuits 41 , 43 , 45 , 46 , 47 and 49 generate low level signals . therefore , transistor tr7 is also maintained off while transistor tr6 is turned on to activate electromagnet 27 . additionally , when a high level signal appears at terminal z3 , transistor tr5 is similarly maintained off , and or circuits 40 and 48 , nor circuit 45 and and circuit 47 generate low level signals while or circuits 42 and 46 , nand circuit 41 and and circuits 43 and 49 generate high level signals . therefore , transistor tr6 is maintained off , while transistor tr7 is turned on to activate electromagnet 28 . that is , when a high level signal appears at any one of the terminals z1 , z2 and z3 , objective lens l is accurately set to one of the near , first middle and second middle zones through the controls of electromagnets 26 , 27 and 28 , similar to daylight photography , so that it is focused on an object placed in the zone , thus enabling a proper focus and correct exposure for an object to be photographed . however , with changeover switch sw3 at terminal b , and switch sw2 closed to effect flash photography , inverter 39 generates a low level signal while inverter 39a generates a high level signal . when a high level signal appears at none of the terminals z1 , z2 and z3 under this condition , transistor tr5 is maintained off , and or circuits 40 and 42 and and circuits 43 and 49 generate low level signals while nand circuit 41 , nor circuit 45 , or circuits 46 and 48 and and circuit 47 generate high level signals . accordingly , transistor tr7 is also maintained off , while transistor tr6 is turned on to activate electromagnet 27 . further , with a high level signal appearing at terminal z3 , circuits 41 , 42 , 43 , 46 , 47 and 48 , other than or circuit 40 , and circuit 49 and nor circuit 45 generate high level signals , and similar to the above , transistor tr6 alone is turned on to activate electromagnet 27 . that is to say , when an object is placed in the zone more distant than the second middle zone or when range finder device 34 cannot detect the distance of an object to be photographed , objective lens l is set to the position where it is focused on an object in the first middle zone . this ensures satisfactory photography with proper exposure and focus for the field of an object placed at least in the first middle zone . setting objective lens l to the position where it is focused on an object in the first middle zone , in this case , prevents the maximum permissible range for flash photography from being shorter when the sensitivity of a film in use is low or the guide number of a flash device is small . even with changeover switch sw3 at terminal b and flash photography selected , on the contrary , objective lens l is accurately set to the position where it is focused on an object placed in either the near or first middle zone when a high level signal appears at either terminal z1 or z2 . that is , when the output at terminal z1 is at a high level , transistor tr5 is turned on to activate electromagnet 26 . circuits 42 , 43 , 45 , 46 , 47 , 48 and 49 , other than or circuit 40 and nand circuit 41 , generate low level signals , thus maintaining transistors tr5 and tr6 off . further , with a high level signal appearing at terminal z2 , transistor tr5 is maintained off , and or circuits 40 and 48 and nand circuit 41 generate high level signals , while the other circuits 42 , 43 , 45 , 46 , 47 and 49 generate low level signals , whereby transistor tr7 is maintained off . however , transistor tr6 is turned on to activate electromagnet 27 . as is clear from the above explanation , the automatic focus adjusting device for cameras according to the embodiments in fig3 through 5 has a conditional circuit including a switch changeable from a first condition to a second condition in response to flash photography setting . the conditional circuit is constructed such that it generates the first or second conditional signal when the switch is changed to the first or second condition . with the first conditional signal generated , the automatic focus adjusting device adjusts the focus position of an objective lens commensurate with a signal from a range finder device . with the second conditional signal generated , however , the automatic focus adjusting device adjusts the focus position of an objective lens commensurate with a signal equivalent to the signal corresponding to a predetermined distance within the permissible range for flash photography when the range finder device detects a signal corresponding to a distance beyond the maximum permissible range for flash photography , or the range finder device detects no signal of the distance for an object to be photographed . as a result , even when an object is located at a too distant position or an object is too dark , flash photography prevents any extreme de - focus or exposure failure for the object to be photographed , assuring appropriate focus and exposure for the field of an object placed at least in the predetermined distance within the permissible range for flash photography , whereby a generally satisfactory photograph is available .
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with reference first to fig1 an electrical connector housing 2 is shown which is a one piece molded item , and comprised of a plastic dielectric material . with reference to fig1 and 2 , an ear 4 extends from a sidewall 16 of the housing 2 and , with reference to fig2 includes a side opening 6 into the ear 4 . a latch member 8 projects outwardly and , as shown in fig3 comprises a beam section hinged at section 10 and includes an opening 12 beneath the beam section . on the upper surface of the beam 8 is a serrated edge 14 where , in the preferred embodiment of the invention , these serrations take on a sinuous shape . as shown in fig3 the latch member 8 is defined as a beam supported at one end only . in a plastic part such as a latch , the plastic is highly ductile , with a capability of yielding 100 % or more . however , when a plastic part is plated and is used as a spring member , the spring member must be flexible and the difference in strain causes problems . for example , considering a horizontal latch bent downwardly , the upper surface is put in tension by the deflection while the lower surface is in compression . the upper surface can yield , that is , grow longer in length , to distribute the required strain over much of the surface . the total strain , that is the change in length , can approach 100 % for many plastics without breaking although if deflected too far , yielding may occur resulting in a permanent set . however , if the part is unplated , the part will not break off . when the flexible beam is now plated and is deflected a similar amount , two problems result . first , the part is much stiffer when plated . plated samples show stiffness increasing from 1 . 25 pounds to deflect the unplated flexible beam whereas to deflect the same distance with a plated beam required a 7 . 5 pound force . secondly , when the strain exceeds about 2 . 5 % the metal surface cracks at the highest stress point . since the plastic on each side of this initial crack is bonded to the metal surface , which is not to continue to move once the crack occurs , all strain is concentrated on a very small section of plastic at the bottom of the crack . this section quickly exceeds the ultimate strain limit of the plastic and the crack propagates from the metal through the plastic , causing the plastic part to break off . the best plated plastic parts are much stiffer than unplated parts and break more easily when bent or deflected . it has been found that when an irregular pattern is formed in the surface of the dielectric part which requires the flexibility , and then the plastic part is plated , the above mentioned problem is alleviated . this surface acts as a zig - zag flat metal spring which uncoils as the part is deflected . this lowers the stiffness of the parts and it takes much less force to uncoil the spring than to yield the material . the extra length of the surface allows greater deflection without exceeding the 21 / 2 % strain limit at any one point . as mentioned earlier , when the plated beam without the serrations was deflected 0 . 085 inches , the required force was 7 . 5 pounds versus the same part without plating requiring only a 1 . 25 pound force . while the serrated part did become stiffer when plated , the increased force to deflect 0 . 085 inches only rose from 1 . 25 pounds to 2 . 1 pounds which is a 168 % increase versus a 600 % increase . the serrations also increased the possible deflection before cracking from 0 . 125 inches to 0 . 290 inches , a 230 % increase . in the preferred embodiment of the invention , the surface serrations should be smooth , and sinuous if possible to reduce the stress riser effects . the amplitude of the serrations should also be large and the pitch high to maximize the plated surface length . also , in the preferred embodiment of the invention , for reasons of effective emi shielding , the plating is nickel over copper . other configurations are possible , such as a sawtooth or scalloped pattern , or most combinations of a sinuous pattern . the most important aspect is that the surfaces are smooth , and that the linear surface length of the part is greater than the straight line distance of the part . with the latch member 8 produced in accordance with the above mentioned method , the latch is free to move within the opening 6 . in the preferred embodiment of the invention , a square nut is inserted within the opening 6 , and is bounded by the surfaces 14 , 16 , and 18 , and held in place by the latch surface 9 . with reference to fig4 - 9 , a second embodiment of electrical interconnection system will be described which utilizes the same inventive method . the details of the network interface shown in fig4 - 9 is described in greater detail in u . s . patent application ser . no . 07 / 475 , 620 , filed concurrently herewith . with respect first to fig4 the local area network interface includes a shielded junction box 20 , an edge card connector 150 which is insertable through the rear of the shielded junction box 20 and which receives through the front thereof a data connector assembly 200 which is latched to an adapter insert 300 . a face plate 400 is then insertable over the adapter insert 30 and is snap latchable to the shielded junction box 20 . on the exterior of the sidewalls are flanges 30 which include integral flexible arms 32 which include forwardly facing grounding stops 34 integral therewith . as best shown in fig6 the flexible arms 32 have a sinuous curviture 36 , or are corrugated in configuration which allows the resilient arms to flex without cracking the plating material which has been deposited on the resilient arms 32 . as shown in fig6 and 7 , the outlet box is latchable to a panel p . in fig7 the panel p is shown in phantom where the outlet box is attachable to the rear side of the panel p and mountable adjacent to an opening 0 in the panel p . the latch members 46 and the flexible arm members 32 cooperatively assist in mounting the outlet box 20 to the panel , without the use of extraneous hardware . as shown in fig6 and 7 , the latch members 46 are insertable through the opening 0 of the panel p , such that the rearwardly facing surfaces 50 abut the front face of the panel p as shown in fig6 . conveniently , the flexible arms 32 , which flank the outlet box 20 , are wider than the opening 0 in the panel p and therefore the grounding lugs 34 abut the rear face of the panel p . these surfaces 50 and 34 , therefore cooperatively retain the outlet box to the panel . it should be understood that the distance between the surfaces 50 and 34 , when the box is not inserted in the panel p , is less than the thickness of the panel p . in other words , the arms 32 are resilient to accommodate the thickness of the panel p therebetween . advantageously , due to the inventive method , the arms 32 are resiliently flexible to accommodate a variety of thicknesses of panels , without cracking the plating on the flexible arms 32 .
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fig1 a , 1b and 1c show respectively , top , edge and side views of one embodiment of the inventive device , comprising a solid state q - switching laser having integral emitter and absorber sections . as illustrated in fig1 a through 1c the device is integral in that it comprises a monocrystalline semiconductor which is doped to provide a plurality of regions of one and the opposite conductivity type including at least one active lasing region . as shown in fig1 b and 1c , the semi - conductor actually comprises five regions , regions 20 , 21 and 22 carry p doping while regions 23 and 24 are n - doped . this structure is described in more detail in an article by blum et al . entitled &# 34 ; oxygen implanted double heterojunction gaas / gaalas , injection lasers &# 34 ; dated july 1975 , and appearing in ieee j . of quantum of electronics , vol . 11 , p . 413 - 20 . briefly , the uppermost layer , layer 20 , is ge doped gaas , layer 21 is ge doped gaalas , layer 22 , the active lasing region , is si doped gaalas , region 23 is te doped gaalas and region 24 is si doped gaas , wherein 24 is normally the substrate on which the other layers are built . in addition to disclosing the composition of this laser the above referenced article also teaches the manner of its manufacture as well as the relative carrier concentrations in each of the different regions . those or ordinary skill in the art will understand that a five layered semic - conductive laser is not required and that as little as two regions , i . e ., sufficient to provide a p - n junction , can be employed , as well as employing materials other than those specified above . the active layer includes a laser material have two energy states which are separated by an amount corresponding to a characteristic frequency of the lasing material . the lasing material has the property of being excitable into an inverted population density condition , i . e ., an excess population can be established in one of its upper energy states . the active material may emit substantial coherent radiation as the atomic particles return from the higher energy level to a lower energy level . as is shown in fig1 a through 1c the laser device includes a pair of contacts 10 and 15 , on a major surface of the crystal , which are connected to leads 17 and 18 , respectively , for attachment to a pumping source or sources for exciting the molecules or ions in the active lasing region from a lower energy level to one of the desired higher energy levels . the pumping circuit is completed through contact 16 on another major surface of the crystal , which can be grounded via lead 25 &# 39 ;. in order to produce coherent radiation the laser device is positioned in a resonant optical cavity . to implement this the semi - conductive body is prepared to have a pair of end faces parallel and highly reflective , and the other surfaces are suitable for diffuse scattering . normally , the highly reflective end faces are realized simply by cleaving the crystal along a certain crystallographic plane , which in gaas is the ( 110 ) plane . certain portions of the operation of the inventive device are conventional in that the pumping sources conductively connected to their respective leads 17 and 18 energize the active lasing material to establish the inverted population condition . as the atomic particles are returned to a lower energy level , light is produced . the light may be visible or invisible . the light may then pass through the partially transparent reflectors and exit . integrally associated with the emitting section e of the laser device , which emitter section is characterized by an amplification factor , is a saturable absorber section a . since the saturable absorber a is integral with the semi - conductor body , radiation produced by the body must travel through the saturable absorber . the saturable absorber is designed so as to absorb a large percentage of light until it saturates . at that point , the saturable absorber is ineffective to absorb further light . as a result , transmission of the absorber section increases dramatically . the initial amount of absorption is controlled by the pumping source connected to lead 18 , namely , more current through section a will decrease the absorption . in operation the emitter section is driven by the pumping source connected thereto , relatively hard to saturate the absorber section . until the absorber section saturates stimulated emission is prevented . when the absorber section ceases to absorb , the laser suddenly , and quickly , switches to a condition in which it is far above the threshold level for stimulated emission . as a result , stimulated emission occurs and an optical pulse is produced . subsequent to emission of the aforementioned pulse , and in order to produce that pulse , the inverted population density substantially reverts to a lower energy state . assuming that the emitter and absorber sections remain driven , the entire cycle repeats itself with , first , the absorber section becoming saturated . since the laser body is monocrystalline , the respective physical structures of the emitter and absorber sections are substantially identical . thus , it is the amplitude of the different pumping sources which determine whether or not the associated section will be an emitter or an absorber , and the extent of that characteristic . it should be apparent , therefore , that insulation or other differentiation means is required to prevent current flow between emitter absorber sections in order to attain controllable characteristics of the q - switching device . to provide this insulation in this embodiment an insulating region i is provided . this is a region in which an ion has been implanted , subsequent to growing the body of the laser . the particular ion selected and the amount of its implantation depend upon the required characteristcs of the insulating region , and the extent to which the body had previously been doped . to provide effective insulation the doping density of the implanted ion , should be at least several times greater than the highest doping density theretofore present in the region to be made insulating . another requirement important for selection of the implanted ion is that , when implanted the energy level ( or levels it provides should be sufficiently widely separated from the conduction and valence bands of the charge carriers to prevent thermal excitation from transferring charge carriers from or to the conduction and valence bands to the energy of the implanted ion . furthermore , since the function of the implanted ion is to prevent leakage current from flowing between the emitter and absorber sections the implanation need not go beyond the upper portion of the active lasing region , i . e ., layers 20 - 22 . see the dotted lines in fig1 c showing the extent of the insulating region . fig1 c shows the desired implanation region . with present techniques , however , the implanted region may actually extend beyond that shown although the dosage will gradually decrease . this extension of the implanted region is not detrimental to device operation . for the gaas laser which has been disclosed as an exemplary embodiment , the implanted ion can be selected from the group of o , cr or fe . a particular embodiment which has been constructed employed o implanation . specifically the material used for this device is a four layer liquid phase epitaxy double heterostructure grown on an n - type silicon doped & lt ; 100 & gt ; oriented gaas substrate with a carrier concentration of 1 - 2 × 10 18 cm - 3 . a 8 um buffer layer , which is not shown on the figure , of tin or tellurium doped gaas with a carrier concentration of 1 × 10 18 cm - 3 is first grown on the substrate in order to smooth out irregularities sometimes seen at the interface between the substrate and the subsequent layer . the next four layers are grown as shown in the figure using conventional liquid phase epitaxial techniques . the two gaalas layers above and below the silicon doped active layer contain 30 % aluminum . the active layer contains as much as 10 % aluminum in it . a method of manufacturing a laser of the type disclosed above can employ the same procedures disclosed in the blum et al . article mentioned above . prior to deposition of the contacts 10 and 15 , however , an implantation mask is deposited on the upper major surface of the crystal . this mask is structured so as to prevent implantation from taking place in the emitter and absorber sections . with this mask in place the selected ion is implanted in region i with a dose selected in accordance with the already discussed requirements . subsequent to implantation , the mask may be removed and the contacts 10 and 15 deposited , as is illustrated in fig1 a and 1b . subsequent to deposition of the contacts 10 and 15 , respectively suitable leads may be attached for connection to pumping sources . the oxygen implantation may also be used , with a different dosage , if necessary , to define the boundaries of the lasing region ( referred to as &# 34 ; stripe &# 34 ; contact ) marked 12 , 13 in fig1 a . such oxygen implantation enables a small lasing region to be imbedded in a convenient - sized semiconductor crystal . since ion implantation is a known technique further description of the actual process of ion implantation is not believed necessary . in this regard see u . s . pat . no . 3 , 655 , 457 and favennec et al . &# 34 ; compensation of gaas by oxygen implantation &# 34 ; in ion implantation in semiconductors and other materials , edited by billy l . crowder , plenum press , n . y . 1973 , pp . 621 - 30 . fig2 a , 2b and 2c disclose , respectively , top , end and side views of another embodiment of the invention . this embodiment has a number of aspects which are in common with the embodiment illustrated in fig1 a through 1c . namely , the laser device includes emitter and absorber sections . however , a single conductive contact 19 is deposited in place of the two conductive contacts 10 and 15 , illustrated in fig1 a and 1c . corresponding to the single conductive contact , a single lead 25 is conductively connected thereto . this lead may be connected to a pumping source for pumping the injection laser . similar to the first embodiment , a plurality of regions of one and the opposite conductivity type comprise the body of the injection laser . more particular , fig2 b and 2c illustrate that there are five different regions . as in the case with the first embodiment , however , a number of regions of one and the opposite conductivity type may be increased and / or decreased , so long as an active lasing region is included which can have electrons excited by the pumping source to a higher energy level so as to result in an inverted population density . in constrast to the first embodiment , the entire saturable absorber section a is implanted with ions of a selected type and amount as shown within the dotted lines of fig2 c . the characteristics which determine the type of ion to be selected are the same for this embodiment , as in the first embodiment . the amount of implantation is , however , determined on a different basis . it was pointed out , with respect to the first embodiment , that it was the level of pumping current which determined whether a particular section of the laser was an emitter or absorber . in the embodiment of fig2 a - 2c , only a single pumping source is employed . as a result , if the resistivity of the laser body was uniform , the current through the p - n junction adjacent the lasing region would also be uniform . however , to achieve saturable absorber characteristics , the absorber section has had ion implantation effected in an amount to increase the resistivity of this section to result in the desired characteristics . thus , while this embodiment includes an implanted region for defining the extent of the emitter and absorber sections , the extent of the implanted region is co - extensive with the saturable absorber section . since a single conductive contact supplies pumping current to both the emitter and absorber sections , the potential difference across these sections will be identical . however , the current , and more importantly the current density across either the emitter or absorber section is determined by the resistivity of the material of that section . to give the absorber section the desired characteristics its resistivity is raised , by ion implantation , in proportion to the ratio between the pumping currents needed to give the desired emitter and absorber characteristic . in order to obtain this value of resistivity the implantation dose will be close or nearly equal to the doping of the material prior to implantation . from the foregoing description those skilled in the art will understand how a device , such as that disclosed , may be fabricated . in still another embodiment , the implantation dosage is increased to the level which was employed in the first mentioned embodiment , i . e ., to a level of such high resistivity that substantially no current flow through the implanted region . for instance the implanted dose is at least several times the doping density in the region prior to implantation . in this embodiment , which is also illustrated in fig2 a - 2c , the entire injection laser body is electroded , i . e ., the electrode covers substantially the entire body . however , by reason of the high resistivity substantially no injection current flows in the absorber section a . since no injection current is flowing in the absorption section , charge carriers will not be excited by any injection current . rather , photons emitted by the emitter section e can excite charge carriers in the absorption section which reduces the absorption by trap filling effects . when the absorption section saturates , lasing action occurs , much in the same manner previously outlined . still another embodiment of the invention is disclosed in fig3 a - 3c , in which the operation is substantially similar to that of the embodiment illustrtated in fig2 a - 2c wherein the resistivity of the absorption section is so high that substantially no injection current flows . in this embodiment , however , only a portion of the injection laser body is electroded , i . e ., that portion co - extensive with the electrode 26 , illustrated in fig3 a - 3c . at least a portion of the absorption section a is ion implanted to a sufficient level to prevent leakage current , from the emitter section , from flowing into the absorbtion section . to implement this , the entire absorption section a may be implanted with a dose that substantially raises the resistivity of the section . alternatively , only a portion of the absorption section , adjacent the emitter section , need be implanted with substantially the same dosage . either implementation prevents injection current from leaking from the emitter section to the absorption section . for example , the implanted dose in the entire absorption section , or in a region thereof directly adjacent the emitter section , will be at least several times the doping density of the region prior to implantation . fig4 a - 4c illustate an embodiment of the invention that was made and operated . a high resistivity absorbing section 30 was formed by implanting 0 near one end of a stripe contact , gaas / gaalas , double heterostructure laser . the implanted region was 25 um long and the laser was 250 um long . the lasing stripe 32 was also formed by oxygen implantation to render the side regions 31 highly resistive , as discussed by blum et al . in the previously cited reference . for simplicity , both regions 30 and 31 were implanted with 1 × 10 14 0 atoms / cmhu 2 at an energy of 2 . 5 mev , using a mask to prevent 0 atoms from reaching region 32 . the layer structure used to form the double heterostructure laser is shown in fig4 b and 4c , and was as follows : p - doped gaas contact layer 32 ( 1 . 4 um thick ), p - doped gaalas confining layer 33 ( 0 . 5 um thick ), p - doped gaas active layer 34 ( 0 . 3 um thick ), n - doped gaalas confining layer 35 ( 1 . 5 um thick ), and n - doped gaas substrate 36 . laser light was emitted by the active layer 34 in the directions indicated by the arrows marked l in fig4 a . fig4 a represents the structure at plane 4a -- 4a of fig4 c . full electrodes 37 and 38 were applied to the semiconductor chip and connected to a pumping pulse generator . the experimental unit is similar to the structure of fig2 with the absorber section 30 being of high resistance , except that the absorber section is near the middle of the lasting strip 32 instead of being at one end as shown in fig2 . the lasing output of this unit was observed with an optical detector and cathode - ray oscillascope whose response times were less than 0 . 5 n sec . at drive currents slightly above lasing threshold ( appox . 220 ma ), regular trains of pulses were obtained ( as shown in fig5 ) with frequencies in the range of 300 - 600 mhz . in a second unit , with a 50 um long absorber section , frequencies between 500 and 850 mhz were observed . the pulse repetition frequency was proportional to √( i d / i t ) - 1 , as would be expected on theoretical grounds where i d is the operating current and i t is the threshold current . ( see n . g . basov et al ., soviet physics uspekhi , vol . 12 , october 1969 , pp . 219 - 240 ).
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referring to the drawings , there is generally indicated at 1 in fig1 a vendor provided in accordance with this invention with coin transfer means generally designated 3 . the vendor 1 , as illustrated , is a hot beverage vendor of a type such as is presently manufactured and sold by national vendors division of umc industries , inc ., of st . louis , missouri , assignee of the invention . for purposes of understanding the present invention , it will suffice to say that the vendor comprises dispensing means indicated at 5 in fig2 under control of a coin controlled means indicated at 7 in a cabinet 9 having a front door 11 . for the hot beverage vendor illustrated , the dispensing means would include means for brewing a cup of coffee , means for dispensing a cup to a delivery station 13 , means for dispensing sugar and a cream product into the cup of coffee , means for dispensing hot chocolate , and other selections , typical of hot beverage machines . the coin controlled means 7 is that conventionally used in national vendors &# 39 ; said vendor . it controls the dispensing means in response to receipt of coins delivered thereto via a coin guide means 15 from the coin slot 17 of the vendor , this slot being in the front door 11 of the vendor at the right . in the case of national vendors &# 39 ; 72 - inch - high line of vendors , slot 17 is 583 / 4 inches above the floor . coins inserted in the slot 17 are guided by the guide means 15 to a slug rejector 19 at the top of the coin controlled means which rejects slugs and returns them to a return cup 21 in the front door 11 at an elevation well below the slot 17 ( approximately 27 inches above the floor in the case of national vendors &# 39 ; 72 - inch - high line of vendors ). genuine coins pass through the slug rejector to means in the coin controlled means 7 for totalizing the amount deposited and controlling the operation of the dispensing means in accordance therewith . the coin controlled means 7 may have a a change - making function , and include nickel and dime change tubes ( not shown ) for holding nickels and dimes for making change . nickels and dimes pass to the nickel and dime tubes , if they are not full , and to a money box 23 when the tubes are full . change is delivered to the return cup 21 . the coin controlled means 7 may have an escrow function , for escrowing coins until a purchase is made or the customer actuates a return means for releasing coins from escrow , the coins being delivered to the return cup 21 . push buttons for making the selection for vending are indicated at 25 in fig1 . the coin slot 17 constitutes a coin inlet at an upper level above the coin controlled means 7 , coins entering the slot or inlet 17 gravitating down through the guide means 15 to the slug rejector 19 , thence through the coin controlled means 7 , and thence to the money box 23 or the change tubes ( not shown ). the coin delivery means 3 receives coins at a lower level ( e . g ., 48 inches above the floor ) below the said upper level ( which is 583 / 4 inches , for example , above the floor ), elevates them to the coin slot or inlet 17 at the upper level , and enters them in the latter . as shown in fig1 - 5 , the coin transfer means 3 comprises an elongate housing designated in its entirety by the reference numeral 26 suitably secured in position extending vertically on the front of the front door 11 of the vendor with its lower end portion at a level within easy reach of a person seated in a wheel chair and its upper end portion in front of the coin slot 17 of the vendor . the housing has a front wall 29 , a back wall 31 , left and right side walls 33 and 35 , and upper and lower end walls 37 and 39 . in the front wall 29 adjacent the lower end of the housing is a vertical coin slot 41 adapted for insertion of coins of all the denominations which the coin controlled means 7 is to accept , e . g ., nickels , dimes and quarters . this slot 41 constitutes a lower inlet for entry of coins at a level within easy reach of a person seated in a wheel chair , being located 48 inches above the floor , for example . means indicated generally at 43 is provided in the housing 27 for moving coins entered in the coin slot or inlet 41 up to the level of the original coin slot 17 of the vendor ( at the 583 / 4 inch level , for example ). means such as indicated at 45 , and more particularly a vertical slot in the back wall 31 of the housing 27 in register with the original coin slot 17 of the vendor , is provided for passage of a coin reaching the level of slot 17 into the slot 17 at the level thereof ( which may be referred to as the upper level ). the coin moving means 43 of fig3 and 4 comprises an endless conveyor generally designated 47 having a series of coin lifters 49 spaced at equal intervals thereon . this endless conveyor comprises an endless chain , the individual links of which are indicated at 51 , with means constituted by upper and lower sprockets 53 and 55 in the housing 27 at its upper and lower ends guiding the endless chain for travel in an endless path including an upwardly movable left side reach 47a ( left as viewed from the front ) and a downwardly movable right side return reach 47b . the sprockets are mounted on upper and lower shafts 57 and 59 which extend horizontally in front - to - rear direction in the housing 27 adjacent its upper and lower ends . an electric motor 61 ( a gearmotor ) is provided in the housing for driving the chain . each of the coin lifters 49 on the chain 47 comprises an arm extending out from the chain in a plane parallel to the plane of the chain at one side of the chain , the arm being part of a sheet metal stamping having a body portion 63 fastened on the side of the chain on the outside of a link of the chain by means of the pins which secure this link to the two adjacent links . extending laterally from the arm is a coin - supporting finger 65 which , as appears in fig3 is inclined with respect to the arm . the coin slot or inlet 41 in the front 29 of the housing 27 ( which is located toward the left side of the housing ) provides for entry of coins up to the largest diameter coin to be handled ( e . g ., quarters ) to an inclined coin guide or chute 67 which slopes down from the front toward the back of the housing to the lower end of a vertical coin guideway 69 extending from adjacent the lower end to adjacent the upper end of the housing . this guideway 69 , which is located in the housing 27 at the back of the housing , is of channel shape in horizontal cross section ( see fig5 ) having left and right flanges forming side walls 71 and 73 spaced apart a distance somewhat greater than the thickness of the coin of greatest thickness to be handled ( e . g , a nickel ), a web forming a front wall 75 extending between the side walls , and lips 77 at the back of the side walls by means of which the channel is secured to the back wall 31 of the housing 27 . the latter forms the back wall of the guideway 69 up to the slot 45 in register with the original coin slot 17 of the vendor . pins such as indicated at 79 extend between the side walls 71 and 73 of the guideway at a level just below the level of the inner end of the bottom of the chute 67 for cradling a coin which has rolled down the chute 67 into the guideway . the lifter fingers 65 on the upwardly movable left side reach 47a of the chain extend into the guideway 69 through a vertical slot 81 in the right side wall 73 and out through a similar slot in the left side wall 79 of the guideway , these slots extending from adjacent the lower end to the upper end of the guideway . the arrangement is such that as each lifter finger 65 comes around the bottom of the sprocket 55 and up on the left side of this sprocket , it enters the slots 81 , and by the time it reaches a position such as indicated at a in fig3 and 4 somewhat below the pins 79 it extends into the guideway 67 from the right toward the left side of the guideway , the finger being inclined downwardly from the front to the back of the guideway . the pins 79 are located on opposite sides of the slots 81 . thus , with the chain at rest , and with a lifter finger 65 at position a , which may be referred to as the lifter starting position , a coin inserted in the slot 41 in the front of the housing 27 will roll down in the chute 67 and into the lower end portion of the guideway 69 , where it becomes supported on the pins 79 . fig3 shows how coins of the different denominations ( and sizes ), e . g ., nickels , dimes and quarters , are cradled on the pins . the lifter finger 65 at the starting position a underlies the coin on the pins . each finger 65 is movable from its said starting position a up through a position b at the level of the bottom of the slots 45 and 17 for elevating the coin to the level of these slots and entering the coin in the original coin slot or inlet 17 of the vendor , to a position such as indicated at c in fig4 . this entry of the coin in slot 17 occurs when the finger 65 reaches position b due to the inclination of the finger , the coin then rolling down off the finger through the slots 45 and 17 as indicated in fig3 . the fingers 65 are spaced at unit intervals of about 2 . 5 inches , for example . position c is four unit intervals ( ten inches ), for example , from position a , and beyond position b with respect to the direction of travel of the chain . operation of the motor 61 to drive the chain to lift a coin is initiated by means responsive to delivery of a coin via the chute 67 to the lower end of the guideway 69 ( i . e ., responsive to deposit of a coin in the slot 41 at the lower end of the housing 27 ). this means comprises a light source such as a light - emitting diode ( led ) 83 on one side of the guideway 69 ( its left side 71 as illustrated in fig5 ) which directs a beam of light through a window 85 in this side of the guideway through a window 87 in the other side of the guideway to a phototransistor 89 on the other side of the guideway . the windows , the led and the phototransistor are located for interception of the beam of light by any coin on the pins 79 as will appear from fig3 and 5 . on interruption of the beam by a coin , the phototransistor 89 delivers a positive pulse to a transistor 91 ( see fig6 ), which inverts this pulse to deliver a negative pulse to a timer 93 . the latter controls a relay r having a set of contacts r1 in a circuit 95 for the motor 61 . the relay is normally energized and its contacts r1 are normally open as shown in fig6 . when the timer 93 is activated by the stated negative pulse , it initiates a time cycle during which it de - energizes the relay for closure of contacts r1 to energize the motor . at the end of the time cycle ( 25 seconds , for example ), the relay is re - energized to open the contacts and stop the motor . the timer is of a well - known type which is operable on each delivery of a negative pulse thereto ( in response to interruption of the light beam by a coin ) to start the time cycle . the duration of the time cycle , and the resultant period of operation of the motor 61 , is such as to effect driving of the chain 47 to move a lifter finger 65 from position a to position c , another lifter finger coming into position a for the next cycle . in the operation of the vendor 1 with the coin transfer means , whenever a coin is inserted in the slot 41 , it rolls down the chute 67 into the lower end of the guideway 69 and onto the pins 79 . the slot 41 is at a level above the floor ( e . g ., 48 inches above the floor ), readily within the reach of a purchaser seated in a wheel chair , as well as being conveniently within reach of purchasers standing at the vendor . when the coin reaches the pins 79 , in intercepts the beam of light from the led 83 to the phototransistor 89 . the latter thereupon delivers a positive pulse to transistor 91 which in turn delivers a negative pulse to the timer 93 , thereby to de - energize the relay r for closure of the contacts r1 in the motor circuit 95 . the motor 61 is thereupon energized to drive the chain 47 . the coin lifter finger 65 , which was in the starting position a , moves up with the upwardly moving left - hand reach 47a of the chain and , engaging the bottom of the coin on the pins , passes up between the pins and lifts the coin , with the coin on edge in the plane of the guideway 69 and guided in the latter as it is lifted . the coin continues to be lifted by the finger until the finger reaches position b , at which point the coin rolls off the finger through the slots 45 and 17 into the coin guide means 15 of the vendor , which delivers the coin by gravity to the coin controlled means 7 of the vendor . the finger continues to move up with the chain to position c , at which point the timer 93 energizes the relay r to open the contacts r1 and de - energize the motor 61 . each additional coin which may be inserted in slot 41 while a previously inserted coin is being lifted re - starts the time cycle of timer 93 , so that the motor 61 continues in operation until the last coin has been lifted by a finger to position b and that finger has continued on to position c . fig7 and 8 show a modification 3a of the coin transfer means 3 , and one which may be presently preferred over the latter , in which the coin moving means comprises means indicated generally at 101 for shooting a coin entered in the slot 41 up in a guideway 69a to the level of the slots 45 and 17 , the coin being deflected through these slots into the coin guide means 15 by a deflector 103 at the upper end of the guideway . the coin transfer means 3a comprises a housing 27 generally the same as that shown in fig3 and 4 with the slot 41 on its front wall 29 and the slot 45 in its back wall 31 in register with the original coin slot 17 of the vendor . the guideway 69a is similar to the guideway 69 except that it has relative short vertical slots 105 in its sides 71 and 73 adjacent its lower end instead of the long slots 81 . the shooting means comprises a coin impeller or kicker 107 constituted by a lever pivoted at 109 on the back 31 of the housing 27 adjacent the right side of the housing and adjacent the lower end of the housing , the lever extending from the pivot 109 toward the left in the housing through the slots 105 in the guideway . the lever normally occupies the lowered retracted position in which it is shown in solid lines in fig8 in engagement with a stop 111 . in this retracted position of the lever , its free end portion is somewhat below the pins 79 , which are on opposite sides of the slots 105 . the lever is adapted rapidly to be swung up to impel a coin upwardly in the guideway 69a by means of a solenoid 113 having a hook 115 on the lower end of its plunger 117 hooked under the lever . the arrangement is such that on energization of the solenoid , plunger 117 is snapped up to snap up the lever . on de - energization of the solenoid , the plunger drops , and the lever swings back down to its retracted position . a coin entered in the slot 41 rolls down chute 67 into the guideway 69a and on to the pins 79 above the free end portion of lever 107 which extends across the guideway . the coin interrupts the beam of light from the led 83 to the phototransistor 89 , generally the same as in the embodiment of fig3 - 6 , and this results in energization of the solenoid 113 rapidly to swing the lever upwardly to kick the coin up in the guideway . circuitry similar to that shown in fig6 may be used with the solenoid 113 taking the place of the motor 61 , and being energized on de - energization of the relay r to close the contacts r1 . the timer 93 here would be set for a much shorter time interval , e . g ., a fraction of a second , or another suitable control may be used in place of the timer 93 for energizing the solenoid for a fraction of a second . the coin , kicked up in the guideway 69a , strikes the deflector 103 at the upper end of the guideway , which may be constituted simply as an angled upper end wall member for the guideway , and bounces off the deflector through the slots 45 and 17 into the coin guide means 15 of the vendor . while the coin transfer means 3 and 3a are herein shown as used in conjunction with existing vendors to adapt the vendors for insertion of coins at a level readily within reach of a person seated in a wheel chair , it will be understood that the principles of these coin lifters may be utilized in original equipment for insertion of coins at such a level while retaining the usual location of the coin handling means and return cup of the vendors . in view of the above , it will be seen that the several objects of the invention are achieved and other advantageous results attained . as various changes could be made in the above construction 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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reference will now be made in detail to the present exemplary embodiments of the invention , examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings . wherever possible , the same reference numbers will be used throughout the drawings to refer to the same or like parts . an exemplary embodiment of the electrical wiring device of the present invention is shown in fig2 , and is designated generally throughout by reference numeral 10 . as embodied herein , and depicted in fig1 , a schematic 100 of an electrical wiring device 10 in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention is disclosed . in this example , the schematic shows a protective device that includes ground fault interrupter circuitry . device 10 includes line terminals ( 2 , 4 ), load terminals ( 6 , 8 ), and receptacle terminals ( 300 , 320 ). again , the load terminals 6 , 8 may also be referred to herein as feed - through terminals . as noted above , these terminals may be connected to wiring configured to provide power to downstream receptacles or switches . receptacle load terminals 300 , 320 are configured to mate with an electrical plug to provide power to an appliance or other such user attachable loads . the line terminals 2 , 4 are electrically connected to both load terminals 6 , 8 and receptacle terminals 300 , 320 when device 10 is reset . when in the tripped state , the circuit interrupter 120 disconnects the load terminals from the line terminals . in addition , the circuit interrupter may disconnect at least one feed - through terminal from a corresponding receptacle terminal . the ground fault circuitry includes a differential transformer 102 which is configured to sense load - side ground faults . transformer 104 is configured as a grounded neutral transmitter and is employed to sense grounded - neutral fault conditions . both differential transformer 102 and grounded - neutral transformer 104 are coupled to detector circuit 106 . power supply 112 provides power for gfi detector circuit 106 . note that in this embodiment , the lighting assembly 200 is disposed in series with power supply 112 . the light assembly 200 will be described in greater detail below . referring back to the operation of the detection circuit , detector 106 provides an output signal on output pin 7 based on the transformer outputs . the detector output signal is filtered by circuit 108 . filter circuit 108 filters out noise to thereby substantially reduce the possibility of false tripping . the filtered output signal is provided to the control input of scr 110 . when scr 110 is turned on , solenoid 116 is energized . solenoid 116 actuates the trip mechanism to thereby trip circuit interrupter 120 . the trip solenoid 116 is energized until the circuit interrupter trips to remove the fault condition . accordingly , there is no signal at output pin 7 and scr 110 is turned off . the time that the solenoid remains energized is less than about 25 milliseconds . after the fault condition has been eliminated , circuit interrupter 120 may be reset by way of reset button 260 . although fig1 has disclosed a ground fault circuit interrupter circuit , those of ordinary skill in the art will understand that the present invention should not be construed as being limited to gfcis . the present invention is suitable for use in other types of protective devices such as afcis . for example , the sensor in an afci is similar to transformer 102 but is typically configured to sense load current by way of a toroidal transformer or a shunt and / or line voltage by way of a voltage divider . the detector in an afci is similar to detector 106 but is configured to detect an arc fault condition on the basis of frequency spectra or high frequency noise bursts . once an arc fault condition is detected , a signal is sent in a similar manner to an scr which in turn activates a trip mechanism to trip the circuit interrupter . the tvss ( spd ) is another example of a protective device . during a lightning storm , the tvss ( spd ) limits the voltages in the distribution system to a safe level . the tvss includes a voltage surge suppressing structure between hot and neutral terminals such as spark gap 130 . surge suppressing devices may be disposed between hot and ground terminals or between neutral and ground terminals . the surge suppressing device ( s ) are selected from a family of devices that includes spark gaps , movs , varistors , capacitors , avalanche and devices . more than one surge suppressing component may be disposed between a pair of terminals . thus the spirit of the invention disclosed herein applies to gfcis and to protective devices in general . the present invention addresses certain end of life conditions by denying power when the device is unable to function . one end of life condition may cause the solenoid to remain energized when a fault condition is not present or when the circuit interrupter is in a tripped state . the solenoid is susceptible to burn - out when scr 110 is permanently on . this typically happens when scr 110 is permanently shorted out . most solenoids are configured to be energized only momentarily . they tend to burn out if energized for more than about 1 second . once the solenoid burns out , the circuit interrupter is incapable of being tripped . as a result , the load terminals are permanently connected to the line terminals even when there is a fault condition . in this embodiment , solenoid burn - out is prevented by an auxiliary switch 114 . auxiliary switch 114 is configured to open when circuit interrupter 120 is in the tripped position . if scr 110 is shorted , or is permanently on , auxiliary switch 114 ensures that solenoid 116 is not permanently connected to a current source . accordingly , if reset button 260 is activated , circuit interrupter 120 resets but immediately trips in response to the trip mechanism , which in turn moves auxiliary switch 114 to the open position before solenoid 116 is able to burn out . the auxiliary switch 114 provides other benefits . those of ordinary skill in the art will understand that a metal oxide varistor ( mov ) is frequently employed in protective devices to protect the electrical circuit from voltage surges that sometimes occur in the electrical distribution system . the end - of - life failure mode of a mov is typically an electrical short . the resulting current can be enough to thermally damage the enclosure of the protective device . in one embodiment of the present invention , mov 118 is connected in series with auxiliary switch 114 and trip solenoid 116 to eliminate most over - current situations . thus , when mov 118 reaches end of life and shorts out , trip solenoid 116 is energized to open auxiliary switch 114 and the flow of short circuit current is terminated before any damage ensues . as noted above , the light assembly 200 is disposed in series with power supply 112 . the schematic shows that the light assembly 200 includes at least two light emitting diodes 202 . as such , light emitting diodes 202 are energized when the circuit interrupter 120 is reset and deenergized when the device is tripped . thus , the light assembly 200 functions as a reset indicator in this embodiment . referring to fig2 , an exploded view of the device 10 embodying the schematic provided in fig1 is shown . the device housing includes a back body 12 and separator member 14 . the electromechanical components forming gfci 100 are disposed therebetween . the gfci 100 is inserted into back body 12 such that the line terminals ( 2 , 4 ) and the load terminals ( 6 , 8 ) are accessible to the installer . the spark gap structure 130 is disposed between the line terminals ( 2 , 4 ). the separator is a molded member configured to accommodate both the various gfci structures disposed underneath it as well as the receptacle terminal structures ( 30 , 32 ) disposed above . the neutral receptacle terminal structure 30 includes neutral face receptacle terminals 300 and a fixed contact 302 . the terminal structure 30 is disposed in alignment slots formed in the separator 14 such that fixed contact 302 extends through separator 14 in alignment with the cantilevered line and load contacts in gfci 100 . the cantilevered structure is shown in greater detail in fig3 . the hot receptacle structure 32 is the mirror image of the neutral receptacle structure , and therefore , includes hot face receptacle terminals 320 and hot fixed contact 322 . the ground strap 16 is also mounted within separator 14 . the ground strap 16 includes an offset feature 162 . the amount of offset roughly corresponds to the thickness of the tamper - resistant shutter mechanism 18 . the offset 162 accommodates the thickness of the shutter mechanism 18 such that the front surface of the cover assembly 20 is flush with the wall plate after the device 10 is installed . in this embodiment , leds 202 are connected to the printed circuit board 101 via pigtail wires ( not shown for clarity of illustration ) that extend through the separator 14 . the leds 202 are inserted into a reflector portion 204 formed within the front cover assembly . reflector 204 is described in greater detail below . the cover assembly 20 includes face receptacle openings 22 disposed at either end thereof . a test button opening 24 , reset button opening 26 , and night light opening 208 are disposed in the surface area between the receptacle openings 22 . obviously , the test button opening 24 accommodates the test button 240 and the reset opening 26 accommodates the reset button 260 . the night light opening 208 extends across substantially the entire width of mesa 21 , which is the raised portion of the cover member 20 . the night light is configured to accommodate lens element 206 . of course , the reflector member 204 is coupled to the underside of the cover 20 within opening 208 . the reset button 260 includes a stem portion 262 and coil spring 264 that extend through strap 16 and into the latch block disposed in gfci 100 . therefore , the reset button is disposed on the central longitudinal axis of the device alongside the night light opening 208 . the test button 240 is disposed alongside the reset button 260 on one side of the central latitudinal axis opposite the night light opening 208 , which is disposed on the other side of the axis the major axis of the user accessible surfaces of the test and reset buttons are substantially normal to each other . turning now to the structure of the lighting assembly 200 , in one embodiment , the reflector is a molded portion of the front cover . of course , those of ordinary skill in the art will understand that the reflector 204 may be formed separately and snapped into place within opening 208 of front cover 20 . the interior surface of the reflector 204 may be imbued with its reflective quality using any suitable method . for example , the surface may be formed using a relatively shiny white plastic material that is naturally reflective . the surface may be polished like a mirror . a reflective surface may be disposed over a plastic surface by painting or plating techniques known to those of ordinary skill in the art . of course , separator 14 includes apertures disposed therein ( not shown ) that accommodate the leds 202 . those of ordinary skill in the art will understand that there may be one or more leds 202 employed within the scope of the present invention . in one embodiment , the leds are implemented using white leds that have a minimum 100 ° viewing angle . the amount of light emitted by each led on its optical axis is greater than about 500 mcd ( millicandelas ). the reflector and lens are configured so that the intensity of the light emitted by leds 202 into a region of space surrounding device 10 is greater than about 20 millifootcandles . in another embodiment , the intensity of the emitted light is greater than about 50 millifootcandles . lens 206 is substantially flush with the front surface of the cover member 20 . as noted previously , lens 206 extends across the full width of the front cover member 20 . in one embodiment , the surface area of lens 206 measures 0 . 300 inches by 1 . 160 inches . lens 206 is approximately 0 . 14 inches thick . if the separator is molded into the front cover 20 , lens 206 snaps into opening 208 from the top . in an alternate embodiment ( see fig9 ), lens 206 has a “ u - shaped ” cross - section , having the same cross - sectional profile as “ mesa ” 21 formed in front cover 20 . lens 206 wraps around mesa 21 when it is inserted from above . lens 206 may have lenticular lens elements formed on the interior surface disposed adjacent to the leds 202 . as those of ordinary skill in the art will understand , lenticular lens elements diffuse incident light to thereby provide uniform illumination . in yet another embodiment of the present invention , the combination of the leds 202 , plug tail wires , separator 204 , and lens 206 may be installed as a single unit that is snapped into the front cover . referring to fig3 , a perspective view of the gfci 100 portion of device 10 is shown with the back body 12 , separator 14 , and cover member 20 not shown . of particular note is the position of the receptacle terminal structures ( 30 , 32 ) with respect to the line and load cantilevers . neutral line terminal 4 includes a line terminal which extends into the interior of the gfci device . the neutral line cantilever includes contact 122 disposed at the end thereof . neutral load terminal 8 also includes a cantilever having dual contact 126 at the end thereof . contacts 122 and 126 are vertically aligned with fixed contact 302 . only hot fixed contact 322 may be seen on the “ hot side of the circuit interrupting structure . however , those of ordinary skill in the art will understand that the hot interrupting contacts ( 124 , 128 322 ) and the neutral interrupting contacts ( 122 , 126 , 302 ) form the four - pole circuit interrupter 120 that is shown schematically in fig1 . the leds 202 ( lighting assembly 200 ) appear to be suspended in space in fig3 . in actuality , the leds 202 are connected to printed circuit board 101 via pig tail wires that are not shown in this view for clarity of illustration . as embodied herein and depicted in fig4 , a perspective view of the shutter assembly optionally employed in the first embodiment of the present invention is shown . reference is made to u . s . patent application ser . nos . 10 / 729 , 685 , 10 / 900 , 778 , and 11 / 609 , 793 , which are incorporated herein by reference as though fully set forth in its entirety , for a more detailed explanation of various embodiments of the protective shutter assembly 18 . the shutter assembly may be optionally employed in any of the embodiments disclosed herein . when assembled , the upper shutter 190 is inserted into lower shutter 170 until stop members 1920 extend beyond rail guides 1782 and snap into place . this position represents the closed position , wherein the upper transverse structure 196 covers neutral aperture 174 ( not shown ) and upper base 198 covers hot aperture 176 ( not shown ). the lower shutter member 170 and the upper shutter member 190 are movable relative to each other from the closed position to the open position in response to being simultaneously engaged by the hot plug blade and the neutral plug blade of an electrical plug . to facilitate this movement , shutter members ( 170 , 190 ) are made from a family of plastics having natural lubricity . these include nylon 6 - 6 , delrin , and teflon . shutter members ( 170 , 190 ) may be made from a substrate on which these materials are coated , the substrate having a differing flammability or flexural characteristic . if a foreign object having a width substantially the same as a hot plug blade is inserted into the hot receptacle opening , the shutter assembly remains closed . the foreign object causes ramp 1784 , and therefore , lower shutter 170 , to move . however , this foreign object insertion does not cause upper shutter 190 to move relative to shutter 170 . as a result , the foreign object inserted into the hot receptacle opening strikes base member 198 of the upper shutter . on the other hand , if a foreign object having a width substantially the same as a neutral plug blade is inserted into the neutral receptacle opening , transverse structure 196 will move upper shutter 190 but not move lower shutter 170 . accordingly , the lower base member 173 does not move and the neutral aperture 174 ( not shown ) is not exposed . thus , the foreign object inserted into the neutral receptacle opening strikes lower base member 173 . only when the hot plug blade and the neutral plug blade of an electrical plug simultaneously engage ramp 1784 and ramp 1962 , respectively , will the lower shutter member 170 and the upper shutter member 190 move relative to each other from the closed position to the open position . in the open position , the lower hot aperture 176 is aligned with the upper hot contact aperture 194 and , the inward edge of the lower neutral contact aperture 174 is substantially aligned with the outer edge of ramp 1962 . in this position , the lower shutter 170 and the upper shutter 190 allow the plug contact blades to pass through the protective shutter 18 and engage the contacts disposed in the interior of the electrical wiring device . on the other hand , a foreign object such as a hairpin is likely to slide off of either side of ramp 1784 or ramp 1962 . obviously , if the foreign object has slid off the ramp , force cannot be applied to the object to open the corresponding shutter . in another embodiment , the predetermined electrical plug geometry that opens the shutters may include only some of the characteristics that have been described . the geometry may include just one or more of the following : two plug blades separated by a predetermined distance , plug blades contacting the two blade structures simultaneously , a neutral plug blade having a predetermined width , or a hot plug blade having a predetermined width . plug blade width will not matter if ramps 284 and / or 462 approach the widths of their respective contact structures . in another embodiment , shutters ( 170 , 190 ) open in response to the insertion of two objects without particular heed given to their geometries . this may be accomplished by extending the widths of ramp 1784 and ramp 1962 so that regardless of the sizes of the objects , there is nowhere for either or both objects escaping the ramps as they are inserted into the device . as such , it is assured that the two shutters will open . the movement of the upper shutter 190 and the lower shutter 170 is effected by spring member 180 . the spring member 180 is configured to bias the frameless shutter sub - assembly , i . e ., lower shutter 170 and upper shutter 190 , in the closed position . spring member 180 is compressed further in the open position and , therefore , opposes movement of the frameless shutter sub - assembly from the closed position to the open position . accordingly when the electrical plug is removed , the spring moves the frameless shutter sub - assembly from the open position to the closed position . stated differently , only a single spring is necessary to effect the closed position of the shutter assembly . as alluded to above , the protective shutter assembly 18 includes a spring retainer mechanism . the spring retainer mechanism includes lower shutter retainer pocket 1780 and upper shutter retainer pocket 1960 . the spring retainer mechanism is configured to retain the spring member 180 within the frameless shutter sub - assembly and substantially prevent the spring member from being separated from the frameless shutter sub - assembly . as those of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate , the protective shutter assembly 18 may be dropped and / or exposed to vibrational and / or mechanical forces during automated assembly . as shown in fig4 , retainer pockets ( 1780 , 1960 ) are equipped with retainer lips that prevent the spring member from being jarred loose . referring to fig5 , a perspective view of device 10 without the center night light lens 206 is shown . this view clearly shows reflector member 204 disposed within the front cover member 20 . in the embodiment shown , two leds 202 are disposed within the reflector member 204 . the “ bathtub ” shape of the interior surface of the reflector is configured to redirect light emitted from the side portions of leds 202 out from opening 208 . as noted above , the reset button 260 and test button 240 are disposed adjacent to the light assembly 200 in the manner previously described . fig6 is a perspective view of the fully assembled device with lens element 206 in place . the lens element is substantially flush with respect to the front surface of cover member 20 . as embodied herein , and depicted in fig7 , a schematic of a circuit protection device 10 in accordance with a second embodiment of the present invention is disclosed . the schematic shown in fig7 is almost identical to the one shown in fig1 . in fig1 , the lighting assembly 200 is disposed between resistors r 7 and r 8 . in fig7 , light assembly 200 is not included in the power supply circuit 112 . the power supply includes diode d 1 , and resistors r 6 , r 7 , and r 8 in series . in this second embodiment , the hot receptacle terminal structure 32 is connected to the light assembly 200 by way of connection “ a ”. the neutral receptacle terminal structure 30 is connected to the light assembly 200 by way of connection “ b ”. because the other elements in the schematic shown in fig7 are identical to fig1 , the description of the circuit is not repeated for brevity &# 39 ; s sake . referring to fig8 , a schematic of the center night light assembly 200 in accordance with the second embodiment of the present invention is shown . as shown in fig7 , connection “ b ” is connected to the neutral receptacle terminal structure 30 . the light assembly circuit 200 includes a current rectifying diode d 1 in series with leds 202 and current limiting resistors r 80 , and r 82 . comparing fig7 and fig8 , it becomes apparent to those skilled in the art that the lighting assembly 200 again functions as a reset indicator . when the device is in the reset state , leds 202 are on . when the device is tripped , the leds 202 are off . fig9 is an exploded view of the second embodiment of the present invention previously discussed relative to fig7 - 8 . fig9 is very similar to the exploded view previously shown in fig2 . accordingly , a description of like features is omitted for brevity &# 39 ; s sake and only the differences are explained . in the second embodiment , lens 206 has a “ u - shaped ” cross section similar to the cross - sectional profile as “ mesa ” 21 formed in front cover 20 . lens 206 wraps around mesa 21 when it is inserted into opening 208 from above . another difference between the first embodiment and the second embodiment relates to the light assembly 200 implementation . in the second embodiment , the light assembly 200 is disposed on a satellite printed circuit board 201 . connection points “ a ” and “ b ” are implemented as soldered pig tail wires disposed between pcb 201 and the terminal structures 30 , 32 . as embodied herein and depicted in fig1 , a schematic of a circuit protection device 10 in accordance with a third embodiment of the present invention is disclosed . the schematic shown in fig1 is very similar to the schematics provided in fig1 and 7 . again , in fig1 , light assembly 200 is not included in the power supply circuit 112 . like the second embodiment , the hot receptacle terminal structure 32 is connected to the light assembly 200 by way of connection “ a ”. the neutral receptacle terminal structure 30 is connected to the light assembly 200 by way of connection “ b ”. any description of the circuit elements ( fig1 ) that are identical to those shown in fig1 and fig7 would be repetitious and superfluous , and therefore , is omitted . the third embodiment includes an additional indicator 150 disposed in parallel with auxiliary switch 114 . as noted above , the auxiliary switch 114 is configured to open when circuit interrupter 120 is in the tripped position . if scr 110 is shorted , or is permanently on , auxiliary switch 114 ensures that solenoid 116 is not permanently connected to a current source . accordingly , if reset button 260 is activated , circuit interrupter 120 resets but immediately trips in response to the trip mechanism , which in turn moves auxiliary switch 114 to the open position before solenoid 116 is able to burn out . the indicator 150 is implemented as a trip indicator , emitting a visual and / or audible indicator signal when circuit interrupter 120 is in the tripped state , i . e ., when the auxiliary switch 114 is open . the trip indicator led 150 , therefore , is energized when there is power on the line terminals and the circuit interrupter is in the tripped condition . the indicator 150 is off when device 10 is in the reset state . indicator 150 may be implemented as a red led or as an audible indicator , or both . the indicator may also be configured to emit a repetitive signal ( flashing or beeping ). fig1 is an exploded view of the device shown in fig1 . in this embodiment , cover 20 includes indicator opening 28 for indicator 150 . indicator 150 , which is disposed on the main pcb 101 , is in optical communication with opening 28 by way of light pipe 152 . notched opening 27 accommodates lens window element 270 . lens 270 is configured to cover the ambient light sensor 212 . the window lens 270 may be implemented using a translucent “ wrap - around ” lens of the type shown in fig1 , or alternatively , the front cover 20 may include an integral translucent lens portion . in any event , lens 270 is configured to direct the ambient light in the spatial volume proximate device 10 toward ambient light sensor 212 . the window or lens are disposed in the front user accessible surface of the device , or alternatively , may “ wrap around ” the edge of the user accessible surface . reference is made to u . s . patent application no . ( 905p300 ), which is incorporated herein by reference as though fully set forth in its entirety , for a more detailed explanation of the sensor lens element 270 . ambient light is transmitted to the ambient light sensor 212 by way of the two outer surfaces of the wrap - around lens . these two surfaces are approximately normal to each another . an optical blocking structure is included such that light sensor 212 receives ambient light but not light emitted by light assembly 212 . in one approach , reflector member 204 is made out of an opaque material . in another , the inner ( or outer surfaces ) of the reflector member are painted or plated with an opaque material . in another , the ambient light sensor 212 is mounted such that the printed circuit board 201 serves as a blocking structure . in another , the light blocking structure is connected to ( or integral to ) the front cover 20 or separator member 14 . in another , lens 270 includes a light pipe disposed to couple ambient light , instead of light generated by the wiring device , to the light sensor . in yet another , the wrap - around lens is configured for sensing ambient light predominantly from the side surface of front cover 20 . this configuration reduces the likelihood that reflected light from lens 206 will pollute the ambient light . referring to fig1 , a detail perspective view of the center night light assembly 200 in accordance with the third embodiment of the present invention is shown . as shown , white leds 202 are connected to pcb 201 . pcb 201 is disposed between terminal structure 30 and terminal structure 32 in the manner shown . the pig tail connections ( a , b ) are not shown in this view . the main pcb 101 may be manufactured in a “ six up array .” pcb 101 has a non - rectangular shape , necessitating the removal of excess printed circuit board material . this material is typically wasted . however , the size of the waste regions are big enough to be used as satellite boards 201 . thus , the use of the satellite boards represents an efficient use of material . note that the test button 240 is coupled to pcb 201 via compression spring 244 . moveable switch member 242 is connected to test button 240 . switch member 242 is formed from an electrically conductive material that need not be flexible . spring 244 biases test switch member 242 in the open position . in the open position , there is an air gap between contact 2420 and one end of the switch member , and another between hot receptacle contact structure 32 and the other end of switch member 242 . when the test button is depressed , the test switch is closed . switch member 242 bridges hot receptacle terminal 32 and contact 2420 . contact 2420 , of course , is coupled to the neutral line conductor in the manner shown in fig7 . this structure facilitates the novel arrangement of the test button , reset button 260 , and the light assembly within the center portion of the cover assembly 20 . because of the added functionality in the third embodiment , there is not enough room in the device for a cantilever beam actuated by the test button . instead of a cantilever , a compression switch structure 242 is included . this switch mechanism has two advantages . first , it is more compact than a cantilever structure . second , by virtue of the switch closing two air gaps instead of one air gap , the test button need only travel half the distance to make connection . the reduced distance is important because the compact switch structure does not provide the mechanical advantage that is provided by the traditional cantilever test blade . as shown in the schematic ( fig1 ), the test switch is connected in series with resistor r 1 , typically 15k ohms . reference is made to u . s . patent application no . 905p185 , which is incorporated herein by reference as though fully set forth in its entirety , for a more detailed explanation of a dual air gap test button switch . referring to fig1 , a schematic of the center night light assembly in accordance with the third embodiment of the present invention is shown . again , the satellite pcb 201 receives power from the receptacle terminals 30 , 32 , which are connected at points “ a ” and “ b ”, respectively . when the ambient light is above a certain level , light sensor 212 reacts to the ambient light level and diode d 3 begins to conduct . in one embodiment , sensor 212 is implemented using a light sensing diode and the amount of current conducted by sensor 212 is related to the amount of incident ambient light . as the ambient light increases past a predetermined level , which may be adjusted by potentiometer r 6 in the factory , the darlington transistor pair ( q 1 , q 2 ) are turned off . in particular , the current flow through d 4 pulls down the base of transistor q 1 . q 1 , in turn , pulls down the base of q 2 . when the ambient light begins to decrease , e . g ., as night falls , the current flowing through sensor 212 begins to decrease accordingly . at some predetermined ambient light level , the current flowing through sensor 212 diminishes to the point where a current flow through diode d 3 and resistor r 1 is established . subsequently , the transistors q 1 and q 2 are turned on collector / emitter current in q 2 flows energizing leds 202 . in the schematic shown in fig1 , a dimmer potentiometer 216 is provided , allowing the user to adjust the brightness of the leds 202 . in another embodiment , light sensor 212 may be implemented using a light sensing variable resistor . in this embodiment , sensor 212 and resistor 214 function as a voltage divider . therefore , the voltage presented to diode d 3 changes in accordance with the variable resistance of sensor 212 . additional features and benefits may be included . for example , the circuit may be configured to provide hysteresis . for example , the amount of ambient light at which leds 202 turn on may differ from the amount of ambient light at which leds 202 turn off in accordance with the selected hysteresis curve . leds 202 can only be energized when two conditions are met . device 10 must be reset and the ambient light level must fall below a predetermined level . thus , the light assembly 200 in this embodiment is not a reset indicator per se . in another embodiment of the present invention , the sensor circuitry may be replaced , or augmented by , proximity , motion sensing , or temperature sensing circuitry . while the sensor circuitry may function as strictly an on / off control of the nightlight assembly 200 , it may also be configured to regulate the power to the nightlight such that the luminous intensity is proportional to the incident ambient light . reference is made to u . s . patent application no . ( 905p184 cip1 ), which is incorporated herein by reference as though fully set forth in its entirety , for a more detailed explanation of this type of light sensor circuitry . referring to fig1 , a schematic of an alternate center night light circuit in accordance with the third embodiment of the present invention is shown . the circuit depicted herein is similar to the one shown in fig1 except that dimmer potentiometer 216 is coupled to a switch s 1 that is normally in the open position . switch s 1 is coupled in parallel with transistors q 1 and q 2 . when the user goes beyond one of the adjustment limit of potentiometer 216 , switch s 1 is configured to close to provide a “ full - on ” bypass . in this mode , the leds are fully lit regardless of the intensity of the ambient light . the dimmer potentiometer 216 is also coupled to a switch s 2 that is normally in the closed position . switch s 2 is connected in series with transistors q 1 and q 2 . when the user adjusts potentiometer 216 beyond the other adjustment limit of potentiometer 216 , switch s 2 is configured to open to provide a “ full - off ” bypass . in this mode , the leds are never lit regardless of the intensity of the ambient light . those of ordinary skill in the art will understand that switch s 1 and switch s 2 may be used alone or in combination with each other . fig1 is a schematic of yet another alternate center night light assembly in accordance with the third embodiment of the present invention . in this embodiment , light assembly 200 is an “ intelligent pilot light ,” meaning that more light is emitted in response to a greater amount of room ambient light . photosensitive device 212 conducts an amount of current governed by the intensity of ambient light . when the intensity of the ambient light increases beyond some preset value , the current propagating through d 3 will turn on q 1 and q 2 . as a result , diodes d 1 and d 2 emit light . as the room ambient light increases , q 1 and q 2 are on for a longer duty cycle and d 1 and d 2 emit an increasing intensity of light . dimmer potentiometer 216 allows a user to adjust the intensity of the light emitted by d 1 and d 2 . switch s 1 or s 2 may be included . they provide a similar functionality to s 1 and s 2 described in fig2 . in another embodiment of the present invention , a secondary power source , such as a battery or a charged capacitor , may be disposed within the housing 12 as a back - up power source when the primary ac power source provided by the electrical distribution system has failed . reference is made to u . s . patent no . ( 905p 184 cip1 ), which is incorporated herein by reference as though fully set forth in its entirety , for a more detailed explanation of a secondary power source . referring to fig1 , a perspective view of the fully assembled device 10 in accordance with the third embodiment of the present invention is disclosed . this view illustrates the novel arrangement of the light assembly lens 206 , indicator lens 152 , test button 240 , reset button 260 , and sensor lens 270 within the space between the receptacle openings 22 in cover 20 . 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 ) are to be construed to cover both the singular and the plural , unless otherwise indicated herein or clearly contradicted by context . the terms “ comprising ,” “ having ,” “ including ,” and “ containing ” are to be construed as open - ended terms ( i . e ., meaning “ including , but not limited to ,”) unless otherwise noted . the term “ connected ” is to be construed as partly or wholly contained within , attached to , or joined together , even if there is something intervening . the recitation of ranges of values herein are merely intended to serve as a shorthand method of referring individually to each separate value falling within the range , unless otherwise indicated herein , and each separate value is incorporated into the specification as if it were individually recited herein . all methods described herein can be performed in any suitable order unless otherwise indicated herein or otherwise clearly contradicted by context . the use of any and all examples , or exemplary language ( e . g ., “ such as ”) provided herein , is intended merely to better illuminate embodiments of the invention and does not impose 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 . it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications and variations can be made to the present invention without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention . there is no intention to limit the invention to the specific form or forms disclosed , but on the contrary , the intention is to cover all modifications , alternative constructions , and equivalents falling within the spirit and scope of the invention , as defined in the appended claims . thus , it is intended that the present invention cover the modifications and variations of this invention provided they come within the scope of the appended claims and their equivalents .
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the present invention is now described in further detail . the monomer or monomers used in this invention may be acrylamide or a mixture of acrylamide and up to 50 mole % of vinyl monomers . such vinyl monomers may be of any type which is copolymerizable with acrylamide , for example , methacrylamide , n - substituted ( metha ) acrylamide , n , n - substituted ( metha ) acrylamide , ( metha ) acrylonitrile , ( metha ) acrylic acid , salt of ( metha ) acrylic acid , methyl ( metha ) acrylate , ethyl ( metha ) acrylate , butyl ( metha ) acylate , dimethylaminoethyl ( metha ) acrylate , various salts and quaternary ammonium salt of dimethylaminoethyl ( metha ) acrylate , diethylaminoethyl ( metha ) acrylate , various salts and quaternary ammonium salt of diethylaminoethyl ( metha ) acrylate , styrene , styrene derivatives , vinylpyridine and various salts thereof , vinylpyrrolidone and vinyl acetate . the monomer concentration is selected within the range of 30 to 70 % by weight in this invention . it is possible to obtain porous polymer gel by polymerization of monomer concentration of less than 30 % by weight , if the polymerization starts at higher temperature . but low polymer concentration results in an economical disadvantage when drying the obtained polymer gel . this goes against the object of this invention to obtain an economically advantageous acrylamide polymer in a powdery form . also , in case of practicing the reaction of obtained polymer such as mannich reaction in a salt solution for example , low polymer concentration necessitates large amount of the salt solution , resulting in elevated cost for recovery of the solution . on the other hand , if the monomer concentration is over 70 %, amount of water is insufficient to remove heat of polymerization , temperature of the polymerization system is increased to result undesirable reaction such as imidation reaction and the product substantially insoluble in water . the polymerization steps of the present invention is carried out under conditions used in the art except the control of the polymerization temperature . the polymerization starts by adding a polymerization initiator to an aqueous monomer solution at a temperature sufficient to initiate polymerization . as to the polymerization initiator any known type of polymerization catalyst can be used . illustrative of these catalysts are tertiarybutylhydroperoxide , ditertiarybutylperoxide , benzoyl peroxide , hydrogen peroxide , ammonium persulfate , potassium persulfate , sodium persulfate , sodium chlorate , potassium chlorate , ammonium chlorate , sodium perborate , and the like . as a redox system one may use such catalyst comprising an oxygen containing compound and a reducing agent such as the combination of sodium persulfate with potassium bisulfite , sodium persulfate with sodium bisulfite , potassium persulfate with potassium bisulfite , ammonium persulfate with sodium thiosulfate and the like . when higher molecular weight polymers are desired a combination of an alkali metal bromate and an alkali metal sulfite or an alkali persulfate with a tertiary amine can be used . these latter catalyst combinations are described in the u . s . pat . no . 3 , 002 , 960 . as a azo catalyst 2 , 2 &# 39 ;- azobis ( 2 - amidinopropane ) hydrochloride , 2 , 2 &# 39 ;- azobis ( 2 , 4 - dimethylvaleronitrile ), 2 , 2 &# 39 ;- azobis ( isobutyronitrile ), 2 , 2 &# 39 ;- azobis ( 4 - methoxy - 2 , 4 - dimethylvaleronitrile ) can be used . as a general rule , the catalyst will be used in conventional catalyst amount such as between about 0 . 001 % and 5 % by weight based on the weight of the dry monomer . preferred catalyst are a redox type initiator , a water - soluble azo compound or a combination thereof , or a combination of a reducing agent and a water - soluble or oil - soluble azo compound . if needed , it is also possible to use a chain transfer agent . there is no need of forming the polymerization solution into a film as in the method described in japanese pat . pub . no . 5222 / 74 . for instance , polymerization may be performed on an endless belt by providing means for preventing side stream or after - stream and feeding a high - concentration aqueous monomer solution so that such solution is formed with a thickness of 200 to 300 mm on said belt , or in some cases , polymerization may be carried out in a tank with the horizontal bottom by feeding a high - concentration aqueous solution in 500 mm height . it is however advisable to avoid too much enlargement of the distance from the vessel bottom to the surface of the solution therein , because it is not expedient to escape the vapors produced and it is dangerous because of increasing the pressure in the vessel . the preferred form of the polymerization vessel used in this invention is the one which spreads out gradually upwardly and is lined internally with polyester or polycarbonate , and which can be turned 180 degrees for taking out the produced polymer gel by letting it drop naturally . the reaction system is purged with n 2 or co 2 or other innert gas before the addition of the polymerization catalyst . after starting the polymerization the temperature of the polymerization system rises gradually to the boiling point of the system . generally , it takes about 5 to 20 minutes from the start to boiling and boiling state continues for about 1 to 5 minutes , though these times are different from the polymerization conditions , such as catalyst used , amount thereof , monomer concentration , and starting temperature . the temperature of the polymerization system falls slowly after boiling , but the polymerization is carried out until substantially all of the monomer is converted to polymer by leaving the reaction system as it is for about 3 hours or more . pg , 9 the resulted polymerization mixtures are hydrous gel of acrylamide polymers which is porous , and water content is reduced by evaporation of water , in other word , the solution is thickened . the polymer content in the hydrous gel is comparatively high , the gel can be dried quickly . known drying techniques are used to remove the water from the polymer gel . the molecular weight may be varied over a wide range and may be low as a few thousand such as 20 , 000 to 50 , 000 or may be exceedingly high in molecular weight such as 2 million , 10 million and even higher . the method for determining the molecular weight can be achieved by any one of known techniques such as viscosities . now , the method of this invention is described in further detail by way of some preferred embodiments thereof , but the present invention is not limited to these examples . 4 kg of acrylamide was dissolved in 6 kg of deionized water and this solution was put into a 15 - liter stainless steel polymerization vessel . the temperature in the system is maintained at 20 ° c . the thickness of the solution in the vessel , that is the distance from the vessel bottom to the surface of the solution was about 150 mm . nitrogen gas was passed into this system to remove dissolved oxygen , and when the dissolved oxygen concentration in the system became 0 . 3 ppm , 0 . 4 gr of ammonium persulfate and 0 . 2 gr of sodium bisulfite were added to the system . polymerization started immediately and bumping occurred 15 minutes thereafter to release a volume of water vapor . the system temperature elevated up to 110 ° c ., then 2 or 3 minutes later , release of water vapor ceased and the temperature of the polymerization system began to drop slowly . the resultant polymer gel had a plurality of pores in its inside . a part of this gel was collected and the polymer content was measured . it was found that said content was increased to 43 % by weight . this polymer gel was perfectly soluble in water and viscosity of the polymer at 1 % concentration in 1n sodium chloride solution with brookfield viscometer was 380 cp ( at 25 ° c .). the residual monomer content was 0 . 18 % by gas chromatography , after the polymer gel was contacted with an 80 % aqueous methanol solution for 24 hours . 2 kg of acrylamide and 1 kg of 2 - methacryloyloxytrimethylammonium chloride were dissolved in 5 kg of deionized water and the solution was fed into a 15 - liter stainless steel polymerization vessel by maintaining the inner temperature at 30 ° c . then nitrogen gas was passed into this vessel to remove dissolved oxygen , and when the dissolved oxygen concentration in the solution became 0 . 2 ppm , 2 gr of 2 , 2 &# 39 ;- azobis ( 2 - amidinopropane ) hydrochloride and 0 . 2 gr of sodium bisulfite were added . polymerization started immediately and bumping occurred 15 minutes later to release a great volume of water vapor . the boiling state lasted for about 2 minutes , and then the temperature of the polymerization system began to drop slowly . 4 hours after the start of polymerization , a part of the produced polymer gel was dehydrated by contacting with acetone in a domestic mixer , and granular copolymer of acrylamide and 2 - methacryloyloxytrimethylammonium chloride were obtained . this granular polymer was soluble in water and the viscosity thereof , at 1 % concentration in a 1n sodium chloride solution with brookfield viscometer was 85 cp ( measured at 25 ° c .). 1 kg of acrylamide and 0 . 5 kg of n - n - dimethylacrylamide were dissolved in 1 . 5 kg of deionized water and this solution was put into a 5 - liter stainless steel beaker while keeping the temperature in the system at 20 ° c . then nitrogen gas was passed into this system to remove dissolved oxygen , and when the dissolved oxygen concentration in the system became 0 . 3 ppm , 0 . 1 gr of potassium persulfate and 0 . 05 gr of sodium bisulfite were added to the system . polymerization started 15 seconds later , and bumping occurred 20 minutes later to release a great volume of water vapor . 24 hours later , the produced porous polymer gel was taken out and granulated into the grain size of about 3 mm by a meat chopper and then dried with hot air at 60 ° c . after drying , the granular material was pulverized by a powdering machine to obtain a powdery copolymer of acrylamide and n , n - dimethylacrylamide . this powder was soluble in water and its viscosity , measured in the same condition as example 1 , was 340 cp ( measured at 25 ° c .). 1 kg of acrylamide , 0 . 5 kg of n , n - dimethylacrylamide and 0 . 2 kg of diethylaminoethylmethacrylate hydrochloride were dissolved in 1 . 5 kg of deionized water and resulted solution was put into a 5 - liter stainless steel beaker while maintaining the temperature in the system at 20 ° c . then nitrogen gas was passed into this system to remove dissolved oxygen , and when the dissolved oxygen concentration in the system became 0 . 3 ppm , 0 . 1 gr of potassium persulfate and 0 . 1 gr of sodium bisulfite were added . polymerization started about 30 seconds thereafter and bumping occurred about 30 minutes later to release a great quantity of vapor . 24 hours thereafter , the resulted porous polymer gel was taken out and dehydrated by contacting with acetone in a domestic mixer under agitation , and a granular terpolymer of acrylamide , n , n - dimethylacrylamide and diethylaminoethylmethacrylate hydrochloride was obtained . this polymer was soluble in water and suited for use as a cationic high polymer flocculant . this viscosity of the polymer , measured in the same condition as in example 1 was 108 cp ( measured at 25 ° c .). a solution of 100 kg of acrylamide in 150 kg of deionized water and maintained at 20 ° c ., was placed in a 300 - liter stainless steel conical tank , and nitrogen gas was passed into this tank to remove dissolved oxygen . when the dissolved oxygen concentration in the polymerization system became 0 . 3 ppm , 10 gr of ammonium persulfate and 5 gr of sodium bisulfite were added to the system . polymerization started about one minute later . when the solution became viscous , the valve at the tank bottom was opened to drop the viscous solution onto a stainless steel belt until the thickness of the solution on the belt became about 16 . 7 cm . the stainless steel belt was 5 m long and 30 cm wide , equipped with guide plates of 25 cm height on both sides , and a polyester film ( dia foil ®) was laid thereon . polymerization proceeded , and 20 minutes later , the temperature rised above 100 ° c . and boiling occurred to release a great volume of water vapor . the boiling state lasted for about 5 minutes , and then the temperature began to drop gradually . 4 hours after start of polymerization , the produced porous polymer gel was discharged by removing the guide plates and driving the steel belt . this polymer was perfectly soluble in water and its viscosity , measured in the same condition as in example 1 , was 420 cp .
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the present invention relates to a select subgroup of aliphatic dipercarboxylic acids that can be prepared as solids that are stable at room temperature , easy to synthesize , and effective against a variety of pathogenic bacteria and spores . these dipercarboxylic acids are synthesized in a single step reaction , in which hydrogen peroxide solution is added into a solution of the parent dicarboxylic acid dissolved in sulfuric acid . the synthetic scheme is set out in equation ( 1 ) the procedure for preparation of dipercarboxylic acid use starting materials that are common industrial chemicals and are thus commercially available . the process involves addition of hydrogen peroxide into a solution of dicarboxylic acid in sulfuric acid with external cooling , then adding saturated ammonium sulfate to precipitate the dipercarboxylic acids . the precipitates are filtered , dried and are ready to use without any further purification . the yield of dipercarboxylic acids in this reaction is above 85 %. the dipercarboxylic acids of equation ( 1 ) with n = 3 to n = 5 are fairly soluble in water . they are isolated by diluting the reaction mixture with saturated ammonium sulfate solution at 0 ° c ., followed by filtration . the higher peracids can be precipitated using half - saturated ammonium sulfate . the dipercarboxylic acids have a variable melting decomposition temperature of about 80 - 100 ° c . at room temperature , the dipercarboxylic acids are relatively stable . the sterilizing solutions of dipercarboxylic acids of the present invention are operable at any temperature between the freezing point of the solution and the boiling point of the solution . the activity of the diper acids is believed to be greater at higher temperatures ( resulting in faster sterilization ), but the decomposition of the diper acids is also greater at higher temperatures . the preferred temperature of the sterilizing solutions is between 0 ° c . and 50 ° c ., most preferably at a temperature that is ambient , such as 20 - 30 ° c ., and even more preferably at 25 ° c . peracids are strong oxidizing agents , and have a high affinity for sulfhydryl , sulfide , disulfide , and carbon to carbon double bonds . these bonds play critical roles in the function of certain essential enzymes and of cell membranes . without limiting the present invention to any particular mechanism , it is believed that oxidative cleavage of these bonds inactivate the enzyme ( s ) in question and result in the death of the cell . alternatively , if the affected bonds are part of the cell membrane , then the material transport and osmotic functions of the membrane would be disrupted , again causing death of the cell . because spore coats are known to have a high concentration of disulfide bonds , disruption of the spore coat by oxidation of disulfide bonds would expose the sensitive interior of the spore to the sterilant and cause spore death . the entire electron transport system of all living cells is highly susceptible to oxidation , and its disruption would result in rapid cell death . in this context , it is interesting to note that most living cells protect themselves from oxidative damage with enzymes , such as catalase . catalase very effectively decomposes hydrogen peroxide as soon as it is formed in cells as a result of radiation or some other process . catalase does not decompose organic peroxides . organic peroxides deactivate catalase , and can therefore continue their action unhindered , while depriving the cell of an important protective mechanism . further , peracids can oxidize alcohol , amine , and a variety of other functional groups abound in living cells and are powerful protein denaturants , and that effect will be lethal to all cells , microorganisms , and spores . the relative importance of these various effects will vary from one species to another . while the exact modality by which peracids kill microorganisms , spores , and viruses is not known , any of the mechanisms described above could alone cause death , and most , if not all , probably contribute in causing death . the select subset of dipercarboxylic acids of the present invention are unique sterilizing agents in that they can be in the form of dry solid particulates , yet they can still be readily dissolved in water with minimal agitation , such as stirring . as dry solid particulates , the dipercarboxylic acids can be stored for extended periods without degradation . it is preferred that the dry solid dipercarboxylic acids be stored in the absence of other organic compounds that could be oxidized by the acids . however , many saturated organic compounds may not be oxidized and may therefore be included in formulations to improve dissolution of the material into water . examples of suitable saturated organic compounds include long chain aliphatic fatty acids , long chain aliphatic quaternary ammonium salts , or combinations thereof . it is also preferred that the dipercarboxylic acids are dissolved with stirring , but without heating , without using special solubilizers , and without using special solvents . accordingly , dissolution into water or an aqueous solution produces a very effective sterilizing solution in situ within equipment or in the field under austere environments . where necessary , insoluble peracids can be suspended by the use of a combination of a c12 - c15 primary alcohol ethoxylate having 7 ethylene oxides , alkylbenzene suphonate and very high levels (& gt ; 6 % w / w ) of an electrolyte such as sodium sulphate . insoluble peracids can also be suspended by a c12 - c14 alcohol ethoxylate having 7 . 5 ethoxylates in combination with sodium dodecylbenzene sulphonate , but the ph of these compositions must be maintained between 3 . 5 and 4 . 1 . a third solution for suspending insoluble peracids is a c12 - c15 alcohol ethoxylate having 3 ethoxylates in combination with a secondary alkane sulphonate and 10 % w / w sodium sulphate . the solubility of diperacids in water can be effected by changing the hydrophobicity of the alkyl chain present in the molecule . solubility of large chain diperacids like dipersabacic acid in water can be enhanced by incorporation of polar functional groups in the carbon chain . some examples of such groups are hydroxyl , amino , amido , alkoxy , carbonyl , and the like or combinations thereof . these groups can be attached at any or all positions within the alkyl chain of the less soluble diacids . the stability of peracids improves by avoiding impurities and also by adding stabilizers , preferably inorganic salts . examples of suitable stabilizers include , but are not limited to , stannates , dipicolinic acid , pyrophosphoric and polypyrophosphoric acids and their salts . the effectiveness of chemical sterilizers is sometimes reduced due to presence of organic load left on the medical / dental instruments . as a result , a pre - washing step is generally recommended to improve the degree of sterilization . the peracid formulations may optionally include an exothermic control agent admixed with the diperacid . the water level present in the diperacid - exothermic control composition is also carefully adjusted so that minimum destabilization of the diperacid is brought about by its presence , yet the exothermic control effects are maintained . the preferred exothermic control agents are na 2 so 4 , mgso 4 , and combinations thereof , each being in the hydrated form . hydrated alkali metal or alkaline earth metal salts may also be used as a means to control the exothermal deterioration of peracids . the diperacids and the stabilizing agents are preferably prepared as distinct granular components of the total composition . the efficacy of dipercarboxylic acids as broad - range sterilizing agents is demonstrated in the following examples in which diperglutaric acid is shown to kill a variety of pathogenic bacteria as well as spores . dipercarboxylic acids were synthesized by dissolving 0 . 05 moles of dicarboxylic acid in 30 grams of 95 % sulfuric acid in an open beaker . with good stirring , 13 . 5 grams ( 0 . 2 mole ) of 50 % hydrogen peroxide was added drop wise over 10 - 15 minutes keeping the internal temperature between 0 and 20 ° c . using an ice bath . stirring was continued for an additional 3 hours . adding several volumes of saturated aqueous ammonium sulfate then precipitated the dipercarboxylic acid , such as 10 grams of 85 % dipercarboxylic acid . the precipitate was washed several times until the filtrate was relatively free of sulfuric acid . the crude product was dried overnight in a vacuum oven at room temperature . the dried product was then dissolved in ethanol and recrystallized by gradual addition of water . the recrystallized dipercarboxylic acid was filtered and dried again in the vacuum oven over night at room temperature to obtain the desired solid particulate of dipercarboxylic acid . the recrystallized samples can be used to determine proton nmr , ftir , mass as well as elemental analysis . a crude experiment was done to first estimate the solubility in water of diperglutaric acid ( c5 ), dipersuberic acid ( c8 ), and dipersebacic acid ( c10 ) prepared in accordance with example 1 . it was estimated that the limit of solubility of these peracids in water was 10 %, 0 . 8 %, and 0 . 1 % wt / v for diperglutaric , dipersuberic , and dipersebacic , respectively . a saturated solution of each peracid was prepared in water . 1 . 2 ml of saturated peracid solution was placed in a 2 ml eppendorf ® tube . at t = 0 , 0 . 3 ml of a 2 . 5 × 10 8 spores per ml solution was placed in the eppendorf ® tube and mixed . the final spore concentration was 1 . 7 × 10 8 spores per ml . at various time points , a 0 . 2 ml aliquot ( containing 3 . 3 × 10 7 spores ) was removed from the eppendorf ® and added to 0 . 4 ml of a 10 % sodium thiosulfate , 10 % bovine serum albumin solution . this solution quenches unreacted peracid . the final spore concentration was 5 . 6 × 10 7 spores per ml . dilutions were made and 0 . 1 ml ( 5 . 6 × 10 6 spores ) of each was plated on nutrient agar plates . the plates were incubated at 37 ° c . overnight and colonies were counted the next day to determine the number of spores that survived exposure to peracid . the log of the number of spores plated ( 5 . 6 × 10 6 ) is 6 . 74 . in fig1 this value is plotted in the graph as a dark line and referred to as the “ starting contamination level ”. “ sterilization level ” which is the dark line near the bottom of the graph is simply the “ starting contamination level ” minus 6 . the x - axis in the graph is exposure time of the spores to peracid . zone of inhibition tests are qualitative screens for the inhibitory effect of the compound being tested . clear zones created by a compound on a bacterial lawn indicates bacteriostatic ability and possible bactericidal capability and the size of the zone of inhibition is a semi - qualitative measure of the strength of the compound . the procedure involved creating lawns of bacteria by spreading 100 μl of broth culture evenly on nutrient agar plates . the bacteria were drawn from broth cultures that had recently reached maximum density . the organisms were staphylococcus aureus , psuedomonas aeruginosa , and escherichia coli . sterile , 6 mm , white paper discs were placed in the middle of each bacterial lawn . 20 μl of treatment were dispensed onto the surface of each disc . the treatments were : 1 . 0 % and 0 . 033 % diperglutaric acid , 1 . 0 % glutaric acid in water . each treatment was performed in duplicate for each organism . the plates were incubated at 37 ° c . for 18 - 24 hours . all zones were then measured in millimeters across the diameter of the zone of inhibition . the results of the zone of inhibition study in table 1 show that diperglutaric acid at 1 % in water is very effective in preventing the growth of vegetative cells . photographs of the zones of inhibition are shown in fig2 . biopsy punch enumeration is an extension of the zone of inhibition test , which involves enumerating organisms on the surface or within a removed core ( punch ). this test provides a quantitative analysis of the viable organisms remaining after treatment . this procedure was carried out exactly the same as the zone of inhibition testing . after incubation , however , the disc was removed from the plate and a 6 - mm core was taken with a sterile , disposable biopsy punch precisely in the location where the disc had been removed . the same three organisms were used and the following treatments were sampled in duplicate : 1 . 0 % diperglutaric acid and 1 . 0 % glutaric acid in water . the core of each plate was aseptically placed in a microcentrifuge tube with 1 ml of sterile 0 . 85 % saline solution and placed on a vortex for 5 minutes . these samples were diluted and plated in duplicate on nutrient agar and allowed to incubate at 37 ° c . for 18 - 24 hours for enumeration . table 2 shows the results of the biopsy punch experiments , confirming the antimicrobial properties of diperglutaric acid compared to the unreacted parent compound . in conclusion , a 1 % diperglutaric acid solution in water has a high potential to be used as a broad spectrum high level disinfectant . additional spore testing experiments were done with diperglutaric acid . in this example , the diperglutaric acid was dissolved in a 90 % water and 10 % ethanol solution and used to kill bacillus subtilis spores . this experiment was done to demonstrate that an organic solvent can be used in the preparation of sporicidal formulation . sporicidal capabilities of diperglutaric acid were tested at various concentrations . these procedures called for a 30 - minute treatment of bacillus subtilis spores heat fixed to glass slides . glass slides were cut in half lengthwise . a suspension of spores , obtained from steris corporation of mentor , ohio ( order # na026 ) in 10 % bovine serum albumin ( as a simulated organic load ) was prepared at a concentration of 1 . 2 × 10 8 spores per ml . 100 μl of this suspension was heat - fixed to each glass slide . these slides were immersed in the following dilutions of the diperglutaric acid : 2 %, 1 %, 0 . 3 %, 0 . 1 %, and 0 . 03 %. control slides were treated in glutaric acid : 2 % and 1 % in a 10 % ethanol / water solution . all treatment concentrations were tested in duplicate . the spore coupons were immersed in 30 ml of test solution for 30 minutes . following the treatment , the slides were rinsed in sterile water to remove residual acid . each slide was then placed in a sterile 15 - ml test tube containing 2 ml of sterile water . these tubes were sonicated for one hour to resuspend all spores . the sonicated slides were removed from the test tubes . the remaining solutions were serially diluted , plated in duplicate on nutrient agar and incubated for 18 - 24 hours at 37 ° c . table 3 shows the results of the spore deactivation study . the control values ( pre - disinfection counts ) were obtained from spore carriers immersed in sterile distilled water for 30 minutes prior to rinsing , recovery , and enumeration . the average log 10 recovery from these controls was log 10 6 . 69 per carrier . this compares favorably with the initial number of spores added , which was log 10 7 . 08 . the number of viable spores recovered was 40 % of the number initially applied . thus losses due to drying , rinsing and sonication do not significantly affect spore viability . losses of 90 % or less are generally considered acceptable in this type of experiment . glutaric acid , at concentrations of 1 % and 2 % for 30 minutes , was not an effective sporicidal agent . a log reduction of less than log 10 0 . 5cfu / carrier was achieved . thus , the unreacted parent carboxylic acid has little effect on spores . in contrast , no viable spores were recovered from carriers that were exposed to diperglutaric acid at 1 % and 2 % for 30 minutes . table 3 shows that diperglutaric acid at these concentrations was significantly better at killing spores than that from freshly prepared 2 % glutaraldehyde preparation . even at a concentration of 0 . 33 %, the diperglutaric acid &# 39 ; s effect on spores was similar to that of 2 % glutaraldehyde . the results in table 2 show that diperglutaric acid solutions are highly sporicidal . in accordance with the above procedures , dipercarboxylic acids can be obtained in greater than 95 % purity . being solids , the dipercarboxylic acids can be dried , freed of gases , and stored under vacuum , as and when desired . dipercarboxylic acids are also more stable than their counterpart mono - peracids , in particular peracetic acid , and can perform cold sterilization under austere environments , such as where there is a lack of sophisticated equipment . it is anticipated that the dipercarboxylic acid solutions will be suitable for use in endoscope reprocessors . the contaminated lumens of the scopes are mounted in the reprocessor with or without the usual manual brushing steps . preferably , the endoscope is subject to multiple cleaning / disinfection cycles in an automated endoscope reprocessor having the disinfection tank of the reprocessor filled with an appropriate dipercarboxylic acid solution . it is believed that dipercarboxylic acid solutions will not damage even the most delicate medical instruments . the term “ comprising ” means that the recited elements or steps may be only part of the device and does not exclude additional unrecited elements or steps . it will be understood that certain combinations and sub - combinations of the invention are of utility and may be employed without reference to other features in sub - combinations . this is contemplated by and is within the scope of the present invention . as many possible embodiments may be made of this invention without departing from the spirit and scope thereof , it is to be understood that all matters hereinabove set forth or shown in the accompanying drawings are to be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense .
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as seen in fig2 , a vertical dry , or plastered , wall 20 is supported from a wood post structure 21 . the wall 20 forms one side of a room within a building and generally extends from the floor to a structural ceiling . a suspended ceiling of the grid type as shown , for instance , in the &# 39 ; 681 patent referred to above , has a beam 22 in the form of an inverted t . beam 22 integrally has a flange 23 , a web 25 , and a bulb 26 . beam 22 is roll formed from a longitudinally extending flat strip bent to form the beam elements . a cover piece 27 is wrapped around the flange 23 of the beam and is painted a desired color . such beams 22 are well known in the art and are interconnected to form the grid structure for the panels that are laid in the grids . an angle wall molding 30 is secured to wall 20 by screws or fasteners 31 . the wall molding 30 extends horizontally along the wall 20 at the desired suspended ceiling height . wall molding 30 forms an angle in cross section having a wall molding vertical face 32 and a wall molding horizontal ledge 33 . the wall molding 30 is formed of a continuously extending strip bent into folds 35 to form smooth edges , and bent at a right angle along the longitudinal center line to form face 32 and ledge 33 . the face 32 and ledge 33 each are of a width approximately equal to the width of the flange portion 23 of beam 22 , for instance , so when the ceiling is in place , the wall molding ledge 33 and flange portion 23 are uniform in appearance . the beam 22 does not have an offset portion as taught in the &# 39 ; 294 patent , since this would interfere with the free sliding of the beam 22 in the clip 40 , as described later , during an earthquake . the perimeter clip 40 of the invention is used to firmly secure the end of beam 22 to wall molding 30 at one end of the beam 22 , in a line of connected beams , and to slidably support end of the beam 22 at the other end of the line , independently of wall molding ledge 22 . the perimeter clip 40 of the invention is that shown in the &# 39 ; 294 patent , with modifications . clip 40 is in the form of a right angle having legs 41 and 42 . leg 41 is of a single thickness of sheet metal and has a tab or ear 43 lanced out in a u - shape with the top of the u at 45 remaining integral with leg 41 . holes 44 receive screws 79 . a space , slightly smaller in thickness than the thickness of face 32 of wall molding 30 is formed by tab 43 . relatively small , pointed barbs 47 are lanced on each side of the tab 43 . the points of barbs 47 are pointed upward in the clip . leg 41 is generally rectangular in shape . an edge of leg 41 has extending therefrom one opposing web 52 of leg 42 . web 52 has at its top thereof , offset 53 . leg 41 has formed at the top thereof bent portion 60 extending toward leg 42 . section 61 of portion 60 has an edge 62 that is connected to opposing web 63 of leg 42 . web 63 has an offset portion 65 corresponding to offset 53 on web 52 . a slot 70 , extends in leg 42 . the slot 70 extends through both sides of leg 42 , in registry . the slot can be , for instance , { fraction ( 3 / 16 )} inch wide . the slot has a combined length of about 2 inches , with a 1 inch long horizontal segment 91 forward from the mid - rest position 90 , and a one inch long inclined segment 92 rearward from the rest position 90 and the wall 20 . the inclined segment 92 of the slot 70 can , for instance , rise a distance of about ⅜ inch over its length to provide the required rise and fall for the flange 23 on the beam 22 to clear the ledge 33 on the angle wall molding 30 as beam 22 slides back and forth during an earthquake . in the clip 40 of the present invention , the length of the leg 42 , in the direction normal to leg 41 , is about 2 and ⅜ inches , whereas , in the clip of the &# 39 ; 294 patent , the length of leg 42 was not critical , in that there was no concern with a sliding beam during an earthquake . in the &# 39 ; 294 patent , the beam 22 was secured in clip 40 at both ends of a line of connected beams 22 , preventing any movement of the line . the present invention does not secure the beam 22 at one end of a line of connected beams , so that the end of the beam 22 , and thus the line of connected beams , is free to slide at one end of the line with respect to the wall molding 30 during a quake , and still be supported on the wall molding 30 . the leg 42 of the clip that supports the end of the beam is extended to about 2⅜ inches to support the end of the beam during the sliding that results from the quake . as with the &# 39 ; 294 clip , the perimeter clip 40 of the invention is applied to the vertical face 32 of wall molding 30 by snapping tab 43 downward on the face until barbs 47 ride over upper fold 35 and , tab section 45 rests on the upper fold 35 , as seen , for instance , in fig2 . self - tapping screws 79 , as seen in fig1 , secure the clip 40 through holes 44 to board 20 , so the clip 40 cannot move horizontally along the wall molding 30 at rest or during a quake . clips 40 are positioned along the angle wall molding 30 at points predetermined by the intended position of the suspended ceiling grid . for instance , where the beams 22 are interconnected to form a 2 foot × 4 foot grid , the clips 40 will be spaced at 4 foot intervals along one set of opposing walls , and at 2 foot intervals on the other set of opposing walls , in a rectangularly shaped room . the end of the beam 22 is inserted into a clip 40 as seen in fig2 . web 25 of beam 22 is inserted between opposing webs 52 and 63 of leg 42 , and bulb 26 of the beam engages opposing ofsets 53 and 65 . the webs 52 and 63 are so spaced from one another as to provide a snug , springy fit about the beam . the end of the beam 22 is held by the clip 40 above the ledge 33 of wall molding 30 so that virtually no weight of the beam 22 rests on the ledge 33 . the end of beam 22 , as seen in fig2 , is inserted into the clip 40 as described above , so that it rests at a position about ¾ inch away from the vertical face 32 of molding 30 . as seen in fig2 , a self - tapping screw 71 is inserted through the slot 70 in web 63 of leg 42 , into web 25 , at the end of beam 22 . the screw 71 pierces through the web 25 of beam 22 and then out through the slot 70 on the other web 52 of leg 42 . the screw 71 has a diameter slightly smaller than the width of slot 70 , so that the screw is free to travel along the slot during a quake , in the form of a sliding pin , as will be described . the screw 71 is not tightened at the end of the beam that is intended to slide . in the event that it is desired to fix and secure the end of beam 22 in the clip 40 , as discussed above , it is simply necessary to tighten screw 71 so that it fixes the beam 22 to the clip 40 . during an earthquake , the end of a line of connected beams 22 that is fixed in a clip 40 , by tightened screw 71 , will not move relative to molding 30 and wall 20 . however , at the other end of the line of connected beams 22 , the end of beam 22 is free to slide in clip 40 , since screw 71 is not tightened . the movement of the end of beam 22 in clip 40 is a reciprocal one , forward toward the wall from rest position 90 , and rearward from the wall and away from rest position 90 . as the end of beam moves toward the wall from rest position 90 , as seen in fig3 , it is supported in the horizontal segment 91 of slot 70 by screw 71 , and its movement remains horizontal . as the end of beam 22 reciprocates rearward , away from the wall 20 , it travels again in a horizontal movement , until screw 71 reaches mid - position 90 , at which point the end of the beam 22 is elevated as it moves toward its outermost position as shown in fig4 . in the segment 92 of the slot 70 , the end of beam 22 is elevated as it moves beyond the ledge 33 of molding 30 , as seen in fig4 . as the end of beam 22 reverses direction and travels back toward the wall 20 and molding 30 , the flange 27 on beam 22 is lowered until it reaches the rest position 90 as seen in fig2 . the action then repeats as the seismic event continues . the action of the clip in elevating the end of beam 22 as it travels beyond ledge 32 of molding 30 , as seen in fig4 , prevents interference between the beam and molding during the quake .
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fig1 shows a sensor 10 that comprises a substrate 11 and a mems structure 12 . the substrate 11 is formed from a ceramic material or a polymer material . a ceramic material can be tailored to provide a close match for the coefficient of thermal expansion to either si or glass and ceramics are known to maintain their material characteristics over time and thermal cycling resulting in a very stable material . an example of ceramic material may be aluminium nitride ( aln ). polymer materials are preferable for low cost applications due to the extremely low cost molding techniques . examples of polymers are injection molded glass - fiber , reinforced nylon or pps , or liquid crystal polymer ( lcp ). the substrate 11 is provided with an integral pedestal 13 onto which the mems structure 12 is bonded using adhesive 19 . the pedestal 13 is elongate and preferably has a circular cross section . although one of ordinary skill in the art would appreciate that any shape of cross section could be used , he would also appreciate that a circular cross section minimizes the stresses by reducing the number of sharp corners . the pedestal 13 has a constant cross sectional area or can be tapered having the smallest cross section closest to the mems die . depending on the die bonding technique the surface of the pedestal may be metallized . the substrate 11 is further provided with protective portions 14 , 15 that extend beyond the mems structure 12 . these portions 14 , 15 provide an enclosed environment for the mems structure 12 . in addition , the portion 14 , 15 are used for attaching wire bonds 16 , 17 which also attach to the mems structure 12 . in addition to the features described above in connection with fig1 , the sensor 10 of fig2 is provided with an inlet hole 18 . this sensor 10 is suitable for use as a pressure sensor with the inlet hole 18 allowing the fluid to be measured to impinge on the sensor 10 . the sensors 10 shown in fig1 and 2 are compatible with any standard mems structure 12 and no specific adaptation of the mems structure 12 is required before it can be used in the sensor 10 when using an adhesive for the die bonding process . for direct bonding , metallizing or oxidizing the reverse side of the mems die may be necessary depending on the die bonding process parameters . for mems dies containing glass substrate or glass layer direct bonding can be performed directly . the sensors 10 shown in fig1 and 2 are manufactured as follows . first , the substrate 12 is formed using a multi - layer technique for ceramic material or molding technique for polymer material . the mems structure is then bonded to the pedestal 13 using either direct bonding , e . g ., anodic or metal bonding . alternatively , the bonding may be adhesive using solder or an organic substance , e . g ., epoxy . while devices and methods have been described in detail with reference to specific embodiments thereof , it will be apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art that various changes and modifications can be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention . accordingly , it is intended that the present methods and devices cover the modifications and variations of this method and device provided they come within the scope of the appended claims and their equivalents .
| 1 |
reference will now be made in detail to embodiments , examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings . in the following detailed description , numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the present invention . however , it will be apparent 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 , circuits , and networks have not been described in detail so as not to unnecessarily obscure aspects of the embodiments . it will also be understood that , although the terms first , second , etc . may be used herein to describe various elements , these elements should not be limited by these terms . these terms are only used to distinguish one element from another . for example , a first contact could be termed a second contact , and , similarly , a second contact could be termed a first contact , without departing from the scope of the present invention . the first contact and the second contact are both contacts , but they are not the same contact . the terminology used in the description of the invention herein is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of the invention . as used in the description of the invention and the appended claims , the singular forms “ a ”, “ an ” and “ the ” are intended to include the plural forms as well , unless the context clearly indicates otherwise . it will also be understood that the term “ and / or ” as used herein refers to and encompasses any and all possible combinations of one or more of the associated listed items . it will be further understood that the terms “ includes ,” “ including ,” “ comprises ,” and / or “ comprising ,” when used in this specification , specify the presence of stated features , integers , steps , operations , elements , and / or components , but do not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features , integers , steps , operations , elements , components , and / or groups thereof . as used herein , the term “ if ” may be construed to mean “ when ” or “ upon ” or “ in response to determining ” or “ in response to detecting ,” depending on the context . similarly , the phrase “ if it is determined ” or “ if [ a stated condition or event ] is detected ” may be construed to mean “ upon determining ” or “ in response to determining ” or “ upon detecting [ the stated condition or event ]” or “ in response to detecting [ the stated condition or event ],” depending on the context . embodiments of computing devices , user interfaces for such devices , and associated processes for using such devices are described . in some embodiments , the computing device is a portable communications device such as a mobile telephone that also contains other functions , such as pda and / or music player functions . exemplary embodiments of portable multifunction devices include , without limitation , the iphone ® and ipod touch ® devices from apple , inc . of cupertino , calif . other portable devices such as laptops or tablet computers with touch - sensitive surfaces ( e . g ., touch screen displays and / or touch pads ) may also be used . it should also be understood that , in some embodiments , the device is not a portable communications device , but is a desktop computer with a touch - sensitive surface ( e . g ., a touch screen display and / or a touch pad ). in the discussion that follows , a computing device that includes a display and a touch - sensitive surface is described . it should be understood , however , that the computing device may include one or more other physical user - interface devices , such as a physical keyboard , a mouse and / or a joystick . the device supports a variety of applications , such as one or more of the following : a drawing application , a presentation application , a word processing application , a website creation application , a disk authoring application , a spreadsheet application , a gaming application , a telephone application , a video conferencing application , an e - mail application , an instant messaging application , a workout support application , a photo management application , a digital camera application , a digital video camera application , a web browsing application , a digital music player application , and / or a digital video player application . the various applications that may be executed on the device may use at least one common physical user - interface device , such as the touch - sensitive surface . one or more functions of the touch - sensitive surface as well as corresponding information displayed on the device may be adjusted and / or varied from one application to the next and / or within a respective application . in this way , a common physical architecture ( such as the touch - sensitive surface ) of the device may support the variety of applications with user interfaces that are intuitive and transparent . the user interfaces may include one or more soft keyboard embodiments . the soft keyboard embodiments may include standard ( qwerty ) and / or non - standard configurations of symbols on the displayed icons of the keyboard , such as those described in u . s . patent application ser . no . 11 / 459 , 606 , “ keyboards for portable electronic devices ,” filed jul . 24 , 2006 , and ser . no . 11 / 459 , 615 , “ touch screen keyboards for portable electronic devices ,” filed jul . 24 , 2006 , the contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference in their entirety . the keyboard embodiments may include a reduced number of icons ( or soft keys ) relative to the number of keys in existing physical keyboards , such as that for a typewriter . this may make it easier for users to select one or more icons in the keyboard , and thus , one or more corresponding symbols . the keyboard embodiments may be adaptive . for example , displayed icons may be modified in accordance with user actions , such as selecting one or more icons and / or one or more corresponding symbols . one or more applications on the device may utilize common and / or different keyboard embodiments . thus , the keyboard embodiment used may be tailored to at least some of the applications . in some embodiments , one or more keyboard embodiments may be tailored to a respective user . for example , one or more keyboard embodiments may be tailored to a respective user based on a word usage history ( lexicography , slang , individual usage ) of the respective user . some of the keyboard embodiments may be adjusted to reduce a probability of a user error when selecting one or more icons , and thus one or more symbols , when using the soft keyboard embodiments . attention is now directed towards embodiments of portable devices with touch - sensitive displays . fig1 a and 1b are block diagrams illustrating portable multifunction devices 100 with touch - sensitive displays 112 in accordance with some embodiments . the touch - sensitive display 112 is sometimes called a “ touch screen ” for convenience , and may also be known as or called a touch - sensitive display system . the device 100 may include a memory 102 ( which may include one or more computer readable storage mediums ), a memory controller 122 , one or more processing units ( cpu &# 39 ; s ) 120 , a peripherals interface 118 , rf circuitry 108 , audio circuitry 110 , a speaker 111 , a microphone 113 , an input / output ( i / o ) subsystem 106 , other input or control devices 116 , and an external port 124 . the device 100 may include one or more optical sensors 164 . these components may communicate over one or more communication buses or signal lines 103 . it should be appreciated that the device 100 is only one example of a portable multifunction device 100 , and that the device 100 may have more or fewer components than shown , may combine two or more components , or a may have a different configuration or arrangement of the components . the various components shown in fig1 a and 1b may be implemented in hardware , software , or a combination of both hardware and software , including one or more signal processing and / or application specific integrated circuits . memory 102 may include high - speed random access memory and may also include non - volatile memory , such as one or more magnetic disk storage devices , flash memory devices , or other non - volatile solid - state memory devices . access to memory 102 by other components of the device 100 , such as the cpu 120 and the peripherals interface 118 , may be controlled by the memory controller 122 . the peripherals interface 118 couples the input and output peripherals of the device to the cpu 120 and memory 102 . the one or more processors 120 run or execute various software programs and / or sets of instructions stored in memory 102 to perform various functions for the device 100 and to process data . in some embodiments , the peripherals interface 118 , the cpu 120 , and the memory controller 122 may be implemented on a single chip , such as a chip 104 . in some other embodiments , they may be implemented on separate chips . the rf ( radio frequency ) circuitry 108 receives and sends rf signals , also called electromagnetic signals . the rf circuitry 108 converts electrical signals to / from electromagnetic signals and communicates with communications networks and other communications devices via the electromagnetic signals . the rf circuitry 108 may include well - known circuitry for performing these functions , including but not limited to an antenna system , an rf transceiver , one or more amplifiers , a tuner , one or more oscillators , a digital signal processor , a codec chipset , a subscriber identity module ( sim ) card , memory , and so forth . the rf circuitry 108 may communicate with networks , such as the internet , also referred to as the world wide web ( www ), an intranet and / or a wireless network , such as a cellular telephone network , a wireless local area network ( lan ) and / or a metropolitan area network ( man ), and other devices by wireless communication . the wireless communication may use any of a plurality of communications standards , protocols and technologies , including but not limited to global system for mobile communications ( gsm ), enhanced data gsm environment ( edge ), high - speed downlink packet access ( hsdpa ), wideband code division multiple access ( w - cdma ), code division multiple access ( cdma ), time division multiple access ( tdma ), bluetooth , wireless fidelity ( wi - fi ) ( e . g ., ieee 802 . 11a , ieee 802 . 11b , ieee 802 . 11g and / or ieee 802 . 11n ), voice over internet protocol ( voip ), wi - max , a protocol for email ( e . g ., internet message access protocol ( imap ) and / or post office protocol ( pop )), instant messaging ( e . g ., extensible messaging and presence protocol ( xmpp ), session initiation protocol for instant messaging and presence leveraging extensions ( simple ), instant messaging and presence service ( imps )), and / or short message service ( sms ), or any other suitable communication protocol , including communication protocols not yet developed as of the filing date of this document . the audio circuitry 110 , the speaker 111 , and the microphone 113 provide an audio interface between a user and the device 100 . the audio circuitry 110 receives audio data from the peripherals interface 118 , converts the audio data to an electrical signal , and transmits the electrical signal to the speaker 111 . the speaker 111 converts the electrical signal to human - audible sound waves . the audio circuitry 110 also receives electrical signals converted by the microphone 113 from sound waves . the audio circuitry 110 converts the electrical signal to audio data and transmits the audio data to the peripherals interface 118 for processing . audio data may be retrieved from and / or transmitted to memory 102 and / or the rf circuitry 108 by the peripherals interface 118 . in some embodiments , the audio circuitry 110 also includes a headset jack ( e . g . 212 , fig2 ). the headset jack provides an interface between the audio circuitry 110 and removable audio input / output peripherals , such as output - only headphones or a headset with both output ( e . g ., a headphone for one or both ears ) and input ( e . g ., a microphone ). the i / o subsystem 106 couples input / output peripherals on the device 100 , such as the touch screen 112 and other input / control devices 116 , to the peripherals interface 118 . the i / o subsystem 106 may include a display controller 156 and one or more input controllers 160 for other input or control devices . the one or more input controllers 160 receive / send electrical signals from / to other input or control devices 116 . the other input / control devices 116 may include physical buttons ( e . g ., push buttons , rocker buttons , etc . ), dials , slider switches , joysticks , click wheels , and so forth . in some alternate embodiments , input controller ( s ) 160 may be coupled to any ( or none ) of the following : a keyboard , infrared port , usb port , and a pointer device such as a mouse . the one or more buttons ( e . g ., 208 , fig2 ) may include an up / down button for volume control of the speaker 111 and / or the microphone 113 . the one or more buttons may include a push button ( e . g ., 206 , fig2 ). a quick press of the push button may disengage a lock of the touch screen 112 or begin a process that uses gestures on the touch screen to unlock the device , as described in u . s . patent application ser . no . 11 / 322 , 549 , “ unlocking a device by performing gestures on an unlock image ,” filed dec . 23 , 2005 , which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety . a longer press of the push button ( e . g ., 206 ) may turn power to the device 100 on or off . the user may be able to customize a functionality of one or more of the buttons . the touch screen 112 is used to implement virtual or soft buttons and one or more soft keyboards . the touch - sensitive touch screen 112 provides an input interface and an output interface between the device and a user . the display controller 156 receives and / or sends electrical signals from / to the touch screen 112 . the touch screen 112 displays visual output to the user . the visual output may include graphics , text , icons , video , and any combination thereof ( collectively termed “ graphics ”). in some embodiments , some or all of the visual output may correspond to user - interface objects . a touch screen 112 has a touch - sensitive surface , sensor or set of sensors that accepts input from the user based on haptic and / or tactile contact . the touch screen 112 and the display controller 156 ( along with any associated modules and / or sets of instructions in memory 102 ) detect contact ( and any movement or breaking of the contact ) on the touch screen 112 and converts the detected contact into interaction with user - interface objects ( e . g ., one or more soft keys , icons , web pages or images ) that are displayed on the touch screen . in an exemplary embodiment , a point of contact between a touch screen 112 and the user corresponds to a finger of the user . the touch screen 112 may use lcd ( liquid crystal display ) technology , or lpd ( light emitting polymer display ) technology , although other display technologies may be used in other embodiments . the touch screen 112 and the display controller 156 may detect contact and any movement or breaking thereof using any of a plurality of touch sensing technologies now known or later developed , including but not limited to capacitive , resistive , infrared , and surface acoustic wave technologies , as well as other proximity sensor arrays or other elements for determining one or more points of contact with a touch screen 112 . in an exemplary embodiment , projected mutual capacitance sensing technology is used , such as that found in the iphone ® and ipod touch ® from apple , inc . of cupertino , calif . a touch - sensitive display in some embodiments of the touch screen 112 may be analogous to the multi - touch sensitive touchpads described in the following u . s . pat . no . 6 , 323 , 846 ( westerman et al . ), u . s . pat . no . 6 , 570 , 557 ( westerman et al . ), and / or u . s . pat . no . 6 , 677 , 932 ( westerman ), and / or u . s . patent publication 2002 / 0015024a1 , each of which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety . however , a touch screen 112 displays visual output from the portable device 100 , whereas touch sensitive touchpads do not provide visual output . a touch - sensitive display in some embodiments of the touch screen 112 may be as described in the following applications : ( 1 ) u . s . patent application ser . no . 11 / 381 , 313 , “ multipoint touch surface controller ,” filed may 2 , 2006 ; ( 2 ) u . s . patent application ser . no . 10 / 840 , 862 , “ multipoint touchscreen ,” filed may 6 , 2004 ; ( 3 ) u . s . patent application ser . no . 10 / 903 , 964 , “ gestures for touch sensitive input devices ,” filed jul . 30 , 2004 ; ( 4 ) u . s . patent application ser . no . 11 / 048 , 264 , “ gestures for touch sensitive input devices ,” filed jan . 31 , 2005 ; ( 5 ) u . s . patent application ser . no . 11 / 038 , 590 , “ mode - based graphical user interfaces for touch sensitive input devices ,” filed jan . 18 , 2005 ; ( 6 ) u . s . patent application ser . no . 11 / 228 , 758 , “ virtual input device placement on a touch screen user interface ,” filed sep . 16 , 2005 ; ( 7 ) u . s . patent application ser . no . 11 / 228 , 700 , “ operation of a computer with a touch screen interface ,” filed sep . 16 , 2005 ; ( 8 ) u . s . patent application ser . no . 11 / 228 , 737 , “ activating virtual keys of a touch - screen virtual keyboard ,” filed sep . 16 , 2005 ; and ( 9 ) u . s . patent application ser . no . 11 / 367 , 749 , “ multi - functional hand - held device ,” filed mar . 3 , 2006 . all of these applications are incorporated by reference herein in their entirety . the touch screen 112 may have a resolution in excess of 100 dpi . in an exemplary embodiment , the touch screen has a resolution of approximately 160 dpi . the user may make contact with the touch screen 112 using any suitable object or appendage , such as a stylus , a finger , and so forth . in some embodiments , the user interface is designed to work primarily with finger - based contacts and gestures , which are much less precise than stylus - based input due to the larger area of contact of a finger on the touch screen . in some embodiments , the device translates the rough finger - based input into a precise pointer / cursor position or command for performing the actions desired by the user . in some embodiments , in addition to the touch screen , the device 100 may include a touchpad ( not shown ) for activating or deactivating particular functions . in some embodiments , the touchpad is a touch - sensitive area of the device that , unlike the touch screen , does not display visual output . the touchpad may be a touch - sensitive surface that is separate from the touch screen 112 or an extension of the touch - sensitive surface formed by the touch screen . in some embodiments , the device 100 may include a physical or virtual click wheel as an input control device 116 . a user may navigate among and interact with one or more graphical objects ( e . g ., icons ) displayed in the touch screen 112 by rotating the click wheel or by moving a point of contact with the click wheel ( e . g ., where the amount of movement of the point of contact is measured by its angular displacement with respect to a center point of the click wheel ). the click wheel may also be used to select one or more of the displayed icons . for example , the user may press down on at least a portion of the click wheel or an associated button . user commands and navigation commands provided by the user via the click wheel may be processed by an input controller 160 as well as one or more of the modules and / or sets of instructions in memory 102 . for a virtual click wheel , the click wheel and click wheel controller may be part of the touch screen 112 and the display controller 156 , respectively . for a virtual click wheel , the click wheel may be either an opaque or semitransparent object that appears and disappears on the touch screen display in response to user interaction with the device . in some embodiments , a virtual click wheel is displayed on the touch screen of a portable multifunction device and operated by user contact with the touch screen . the device 100 also includes a power system 162 for powering the various components . the power system 162 may include a power management system , one or more power sources ( e . g ., battery , alternating current ( ac )), a recharging system , a power failure detection circuit , a power converter or inverter , a power status indicator ( e . g ., a light - emitting diode ( led )) and any other components associated with the generation , management and distribution of power in portable devices . the device 100 may also include one or more optical sensors 164 . fig1 a and 1b show an optical sensor coupled to an optical sensor controller 158 in i / o subsystem 106 . the optical sensor 164 may include a charge - coupled device ( ccd ) or complementary metal - oxide semiconductor ( cmos ) phototransistors . the optical sensor 164 receives light from the environment , projected through one or more lens , and converts the light to data representing an image . in conjunction with an imaging module 143 ( also called a camera module ), the optical sensor 164 may capture still images or video . in some embodiments , an optical sensor is located on the back of the device 100 , opposite the touch screen display 112 on the front of the device , so that the touch screen display may be used as a viewfinder for still and / or video image acquisition . in some embodiments , an optical sensor is located on the front of the device so that the user &# 39 ; s image may be obtained for videoconferencing while the user views the other video conference participants on the touch screen display . in some embodiments , the position of the optical sensor 164 can be changed by the user ( e . g ., by rotating the lens and the sensor in the device housing ) so that a single optical sensor 164 may be used along with the touch screen display for both video conferencing and still and / or video image acquisition . the device 100 may also include one or more proximity sensors 166 . fig1 a and 1b show a proximity sensor 166 coupled to the peripherals interface 118 . alternately , the proximity sensor 166 may be coupled to an input controller 160 in the i / o subsystem 106 . the proximity sensor 166 may perform as described in u . s . patent application ser . no . 11 / 241 , 839 , “ proximity detector in handheld device ”; ser . no . 11 / 240 , 788 , “ proximity detector in handheld device ”; ser . no . 11 / 620 , 702 , “ using ambient light sensor to augment proximity sensor output ”; ser . no . 11 / 586 , 862 , “ automated response to and sensing of user activity in portable devices ”; and ser . no . 11 / 638 , 251 , “ methods and systems for automatic configuration of peripherals ,” which are hereby incorporated by reference in their entirety . in some embodiments , the proximity sensor turns off and disables the touch screen 112 when the multifunction device is placed near the user &# 39 ; s ear ( e . g ., when the user is making a phone call ). the device 100 may also include one or more accelerometers 168 . fig1 a and 1b show an accelerometer 168 coupled to the peripherals interface 118 . alternately , the accelerometer 168 may be coupled to an input controller 160 in the i / o subsystem 106 . the accelerometer 168 may perform as described in u . s . patent publication no . 2005 / 0190059 , “ acceleration - based theft detection system for portable electronic devices ,” and u . s . patent publication no . 2006 / 0017692 , “ methods and apparatuses for operating a portable device based on an accelerometer ,” both of which are which are incorporated by reference herein in their entirety . in some embodiments , information is displayed on the touch screen display in a portrait view or a landscape view based on an analysis of data received from the one or more accelerometers . in some embodiments , the software components stored in memory 102 may include an operating system 126 , a communication module ( or set of instructions ) 128 , a contact / motion module ( or set of instructions ) 130 , a graphics module ( or set of instructions ) 132 , a text input module ( or set of instructions ) 134 , a global positioning system ( gps ) module ( or set of instructions ) 135 , and applications ( or set of instructions ) 136 . the operating system 126 ( e . g ., darwin , rtxc , linux , unix , os x , windows , or an embedded operating system such as vxworks ) includes various software components and / or drivers for controlling and managing general system tasks ( e . g ., memory management , storage device control , power management , etc .) and facilitates communication between various hardware and software components . the communication module 128 facilitates communication with other devices over one or more external ports 124 and also includes various software components for handling data received by the rf circuitry 108 and / or the external port 124 . the external port 124 ( e . g ., universal serial bus ( usb ), firewire , etc .) is adapted for coupling directly to other devices or indirectly over a network ( e . g ., the internet , wireless lan , etc .). in some embodiments , the external port is a multi - pin ( e . g ., 30 - pin ) connector that is the same as , or similar to and / or compatible with the 30 - pin connector used on ipod ( trademark of apple , inc .) devices . the contact / motion module 130 may detect contact with the touch screen 112 ( in conjunction with the display controller 156 ) and other touch sensitive devices ( e . g ., a touchpad or physical click wheel ). the contact / motion module 130 includes various software components for performing various operations related to detection of contact , such as determining if contact has occurred ( e . g ., detecting a finger - down event ), determining if there is movement of the contact and tracking the movement across the touch - sensitive surface ( e . g ., detecting one or more finger - dragging events ), and determining if the contact has ceased ( e . g ., detecting a finger - up event or a break in contact ). the contact / motion module 130 receives contact data from the touch - sensitive surface . determining movement of the point of contact , which is represented by a series of contact data , may include determining speed ( magnitude ), velocity ( magnitude and direction ), and / or an acceleration ( a change in magnitude and / or direction ) of the point of contact . these operations may be applied to single contacts ( e . g ., one finger contacts ) or to multiple simultaneous contacts ( e . g ., “ multitouch ”/ multiple finger contacts ). in some embodiments , the contact / motion module 130 and the display controller 156 detects contact on a touchpad . in some embodiments , the contact / motion module 130 and the controller 160 detects contact on a click wheel . the contact / motion module 130 may detect a gesture input by a user . different gestures on the touch - sensitive surface have different contact patterns . thus , a gesture may be detected by detecting a particular contact pattern . for example , detecting a finger tap gesture includes detecting a finger - down event followed by detecting a finger - up event at the same position ( or substantially the same position ) as the finger - down event ( e . g ., at the position of an icon ). as another example , detecting a finger swipe gesture on the touch - sensitive surface includes detecting a finger - down event followed by detecting one or more finger - dragging events , and subsequently followed by detecting a finger - up event . the graphics module 132 includes various known software components for rendering and displaying graphics on the touch screen 112 or other display , including components for changing the intensity of graphics that are displayed . as used herein , the term “ graphics ” includes any object that can be displayed to a user , including without limitation text , web pages , icons ( such as user - interface objects including soft keys ), digital images , videos , animations and the like . in some embodiments , the graphics module 132 stores data representing graphics to be used . each graphic may be assigned a corresponding code . the graphics module 132 receives , from applications etc ., one or more codes specifying graphics to be displayed along with , if necessary , coordinate data and other graphic property data , and then generates screen image data to output to display controller 156 . the text input module 134 , which may be a component of graphics module 132 , provides soft keyboards for entering text in various applications ( e . g ., contacts 137 , e - mail 140 , im 141 , browser 147 , and any other application that needs text input ). the gps module 135 determines the location of the device and provides this information for use in various applications ( e . g ., to telephone 138 for use in location - based dialing , to camera 143 as picture / video metadata , and to applications that provide location - based services such as weather widgets , local yellow page widgets , and map / navigation widgets ). the applications 136 may include the following modules ( or sets of instructions ), or a subset or superset thereof : a contacts module 137 ( sometimes called an address book or contact list ); a telephone module 138 ; a video conferencing module 139 ; an e - mail client module 140 ; an instant messaging ( im ) module 141 ; a workout support module 142 ; a camera module 143 for still and / or video images ; an image management module 144 ; a video player module 145 ; a music player module 146 ; a browser module 147 ; a calendar module 148 ; widget modules 149 , which may include weather widget 149 - 1 , stocks widget 149 - 2 , calculator widget 149 - 3 , alarm clock widget 149 - 4 , dictionary widget 149 - 5 , and other widgets obtained by the user , as well as user - created widgets 149 - 6 ; widget creator module 150 for making user - created widgets 149 - 6 ; search module 151 ; video and music player module 152 , which merges video player module 145 and music player module 146 ; notes module 153 ; map module 154 ; and / or online video module 155 . examples of other applications 136 that may be stored in memory 102 include other word processing applications , other image editing applications , drawing applications , presentation applications , java - enabled applications , encryption , digital rights management , voice recognition , and voice replication . in conjunction with touch screen 112 , display controller 156 , contact module 130 , graphics module 132 , and text input module 134 , the contacts module 137 may be used to manage an address book or contact list , including : adding name ( s ) to the address book ; deleting name ( s ) from the address book ; associating telephone number ( s ), e - mail address ( es ), physical address ( es ) or other information with a name ; associating an image with a name ; categorizing and sorting names ; providing telephone numbers or e - mail addresses to initiate and / or facilitate communications by telephone 138 , video conference 139 , e - mail 140 , or im 141 ; and so forth . in conjunction with rf circuitry 108 , audio circuitry 110 , speaker 111 , microphone 113 , touch screen 112 , display controller 156 , contact module 130 , graphics module 132 , and text input module 134 , the telephone module 138 may be used to enter a sequence of characters corresponding to a telephone number , access one or more telephone numbers in the address book 137 , modify a telephone number that has been entered , dial a respective telephone number , conduct a conversation and disconnect or hang up when the conversation is completed . as noted above , the wireless communication may use any of a plurality of communications standards , protocols and technologies . in conjunction with rf circuitry 108 , audio circuitry 110 , speaker 111 , microphone 113 , touch screen 112 , display controller 156 , optical sensor 164 , optical sensor controller 158 , contact module 130 , graphics module 132 , text input module 134 , contact list 137 , and telephone module 138 , the videoconferencing module 139 may be used to initiate , conduct , and terminate a video conference between a user and one or more other participants . in conjunction with rf circuitry 108 , touch screen 112 , display controller 156 , contact module 130 , graphics module 132 , and text input module 134 , the e - mail client module 140 may be used to create , send , receive , and manage e - mail . in conjunction with image management module 144 , the e - mail module 140 makes it very easy to create and send e - mails with still or video images taken with camera module 143 . in conjunction with rf circuitry 108 , touch screen 112 , display controller 156 , contact module 130 , graphics module 132 , and text input module 134 , the instant messaging module 141 may be used to enter a sequence of characters corresponding to an instant message , to modify previously entered characters , to transmit a respective instant message ( for example , using a short message service ( sms ) or multimedia message service ( mms ) protocol for telephony - based instant messages or using xmpp , simple , or imps for internet - based instant messages ), to receive instant messages and to view received instant messages . in some embodiments , transmitted and / or received instant messages may include graphics , photos , audio files , video files and / or other attachments as are supported in a mms and / or an enhanced messaging service ( ems ). as used herein , “ instant messaging ” refers to both telephony - based messages ( e . g ., messages sent using sms or mms ) and internet - based messages ( e . g ., messages sent using xmpp , simple , or imps ). in conjunction with rf circuitry 108 , touch screen 112 , display controller 156 , contact module 130 , graphics module 132 , text input module 134 , gps module 135 , map module 154 , and music player module 146 , the workout support module 142 may be used to create workouts ( e . g ., with time , distance , and / or calorie burning goals ); communicate with workout sensors ( sports devices ); receive workout sensor data ; calibrate sensors used to monitor a workout ; select and play music for a workout ; and display , store and transmit workout data . in conjunction with touch screen 112 , display controller 156 , optical sensor ( s ) 164 , optical sensor controller 158 , contact module 130 , graphics module 132 , and image management module 144 , the camera module 143 may be used to capture still images or video ( including a video stream ) and store them into memory 102 , modify characteristics of a still image or video , or delete a still image or video from memory 102 . in conjunction with touch screen 112 , display controller 156 , contact module 130 , graphics module 132 , text input module 134 , and camera module 143 , the image management module 144 may be used to arrange , modify ( e . g ., edit ), or otherwise manipulate , label , delete , present ( e . g ., in a digital slide show or album ), and store still and / or video images . in conjunction with touch screen 112 , display controller 156 , contact module 130 , graphics module 132 , audio circuitry 110 , and speaker 111 , the video player module 145 may be used to display , present or otherwise play back videos ( e . g ., on the touch screen or on an external , connected display via external port 124 ). in conjunction with touch screen 112 , display system controller 156 , contact module 130 , graphics module 132 , audio circuitry 110 , speaker 111 , rf circuitry 108 , and browser module 147 , the music player module 146 allows the user to download and play back recorded music and other sound files stored in one or more file formats , such as mp3 or aac files . in some embodiments , the device 100 may include the functionality of an mp3 player , such as an ipod ( trademark of apple , inc .). in conjunction with rf circuitry 108 , touch screen 112 , display system controller 156 , contact module 130 , graphics module 132 , and text input module 134 , the browser module 147 may be used to browse the internet , including searching , linking to , receiving , and displaying web pages or portions thereof , as well as attachments and other files linked to web pages . in conjunction with rf circuitry 108 , touch screen 112 , display system controller 156 , contact module 130 , graphics module 132 , text input module 134 , e - mail module 140 , and browser module 147 , the calendar module 148 may be used to create , display , modify , and store calendars and data associated with calendars ( e . g ., calendar entries , to do lists , etc .). in conjunction with rf circuitry 108 , touch screen 112 , display system controller 156 , contact module 130 , graphics module 132 , text input module 134 , and browser module 147 , the widget modules 149 are mini - applications that may be downloaded and used by a user ( e . g ., weather widget 149 - 1 , stocks widget 149 - 2 , calculator widget 149 - 3 , alarm clock widget 149 - 4 , and dictionary widget 149 - 5 ) or created by the user ( e . g ., user - created widget 149 - 6 ). in some embodiments , a widget includes an html ( hypertext markup language ) file , a css ( cascading style sheets ) file , and a javascript file . in some embodiments , a widget includes an xml ( extensible markup language ) file and a javascript file ( e . g ., yahoo ! widgets ). in conjunction with rf circuitry 108 , touch screen 112 , display system controller 156 , contact module 130 , graphics module 132 , text input module 134 , and browser module 147 , the widget creator module 150 may be used by a user to create widgets ( e . g ., turning a user - specified portion of a web page into a widget ). in conjunction with touch screen 112 , display system controller 156 , contact module 130 , graphics module 132 , and text input module 134 , the search module 151 may be used to search for text , music , sound , image , video , and / or other files in memory 102 that match one or more search criteria ( e . g ., one or more user - specified search terms ). in conjunction with touch screen 112 , display controller 156 , contact module 130 , graphics module 132 , and text input module 134 , the notes module 153 may be used to create and manage notes , to do lists , and the like . in conjunction with rf circuitry 108 , touch screen 112 , display system controller 156 , contact module 130 , graphics module 132 , text input module 134 , gps module 135 , and browser module 147 , the map module 154 may be used to receive , display , modify , and store maps and data associated with maps ( e . g ., driving directions ; data on stores and other points of interest at or near a particular location ; and other location - based data ). in conjunction with touch screen 112 , display system controller 156 , contact module 130 , graphics module 132 , audio circuitry 110 , speaker 111 , rf circuitry 108 , text input module 134 , e - mail client module 140 , and browser module 147 , the online video module 155 allows the user to access , browse , receive ( e . g ., by streaming and / or download ), play back ( e . g ., on the touch screen or on an external , connected display via external port 124 ), send an e - mail with a link to a particular online video , and otherwise manage online videos in one or more file formats , such as h . 264 . in some embodiments , instant messaging module 141 , rather than e - mail client module 140 , is used to send a link to a particular online video . additional description of the online video application can be found in u . s . provisional patent application no . 60 / 936 , 562 , “ portable multifunction device , method , and graphical user interface for playing online videos ,” filed jun . 20 , 2007 , and u . s . patent application ser . no . 11 / 968 , 067 , “ portable multifunction device , method , and graphical user interface for playing online videos ,” filed dec . 31 , 2007 , the content of which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety . each of the above identified modules and applications correspond to a set of executable instructions for performing one or more functions described above and the methods described in this application ( e . g ., the computer - implemented methods and other information processing methods described herein ). these modules ( i . e ., sets of instructions ) need not be implemented as separate software programs , procedures or modules , and thus various subsets of these modules may be combined or otherwise re - arranged in various embodiments . for example , video player module 145 may be combined with music player module 146 into a single module ( e . g ., video and music player module 152 , fig1 b ). in some embodiments , memory 102 may store a subset of the modules and data structures identified above . furthermore , memory 102 may store additional modules and data structures not described above . in some embodiments , the device 100 is a device where operation of a predefined set of functions on the device is performed exclusively through a touch screen 112 and / or a touchpad . by using a touch screen and / or a touchpad as the primary input / control device for operation of the device 100 , the number of physical input / control devices ( such as push buttons , dials , and the like ) on the device 100 may be reduced . the predefined set of functions that may be performed exclusively through a touch screen and / or a touchpad include navigation between user interfaces . in some embodiments , the touchpad , when touched by the user , navigates the device 100 to a main , home , or root menu from any user interface that may be displayed on the device 100 . in such embodiments , the touchpad may be referred to as a “ menu button .” in some other embodiments , the menu button may be a physical push button or other physical input / control device instead of a touchpad . fig2 illustrates a portable multifunction device 100 having a touch screen 112 in accordance with some embodiments . the touch screen may display one or more graphics within user interface ( ui ) 200 . in this embodiment , as well as others described below , a user may select one or more of the graphics by making contact or touching the graphics , for example , with one or more fingers 202 ( not drawn to scale in the figure ) or one or more styluses 203 ( not drawn to scale in the figure ). in some embodiments , selection of one or more graphics occurs when the user breaks contact with the one or more graphics . in some embodiments , the contact may include a gesture , such as one or more taps , one or more swipes ( from left to right , right to left , upward and / or downward ) and / or a rolling of a finger ( from right to left , left to right , upward and / or downward ) that has made contact with the device 100 . in some embodiments , inadvertent contact with a graphic may not select the graphic . for example , a swipe gesture that sweeps over an application icon may not select the corresponding application when the gesture corresponding to selection is a tap . the device 100 may also include one or more physical buttons , such as “ home ” or menu button 204 . as described previously , the menu button 204 may be used to navigate to any application 136 in a set of applications that may be executed on the device 100 ( e . g ., applications depicted in fig1 a , 1 b and 3 ). alternatively , in some embodiments , the menu button is implemented as a soft key in a gui in touch screen 112 . in one embodiment , the device 100 includes a touch screen 112 , a menu button 204 , a push button 206 for powering the device on / off and locking the device , volume adjustment button ( s ) 208 , a subscriber identity module ( sim ) card slot 210 , a head set jack 212 , and a docking / charging external port 124 . the push button 206 may be used to turn the power on / off on the device by depressing the button and holding the button in the depressed state for a predefined time interval ; to lock the device by depressing the button and releasing the button before the predefined time interval has elapsed ; and / or to unlock the device or initiate an unlock process . in an alternative embodiment , the device 100 also may accept verbal input for activation or deactivation of some functions through the microphone 113 . fig3 is a block diagram of an exemplary multifunction device with a display and a touch - sensitive surface in accordance with some embodiments . device 300 need not be portable . in some embodiments , the device 300 is a laptop computer , a desktop computer , a tablet computer , a multimedia player device , a navigation device , an educational device ( such as a child &# 39 ; s learning toy ), a gaming system , or a control device ( e . g ., a home or industrial controller ). the device 300 typically includes one or more processing units ( cpu &# 39 ; s ) 310 , one or more network or other communications interfaces 360 , memory 370 , and one or more communication buses 320 for interconnecting these components . the communication buses 320 may include circuitry ( sometimes called a chipset ) that interconnects and controls communications between system components . the device 300 includes a user interface 330 comprising a display 340 , which is typically a touch screen display . the user interface 330 also may include a keyboard and / or mouse ( or other pointing device ) 350 and a touchpad 355 . memory 370 includes high - speed random access memory , such as dram , sram , ddr ram or other random access solid state memory devices ; and may include non - volatile memory , such as one or more magnetic disk storage devices , optical disk storage devices , flash memory devices , or other non - volatile solid state storage devices . memory 370 may optionally include one or more storage devices remotely located from the cpu ( s ) 310 . in some embodiments , memory 370 stores programs , modules , and data structures analogous to the programs , modules , and data structures stored in the memory 102 of portable multifunction device 100 ( fig1 ), or a subset thereof . furthermore , memory 370 may store additional programs , modules , and data structures not present in the memory 102 of portable multifunction device 100 . for example , memory 370 of device 300 may store drawing module 380 , presentation module 382 , word processing module 384 , website creation module 386 , disk authoring module 388 , and / or spreadsheet module 390 , while memory 102 of portable multifunction device 100 ( fig1 ) may not store these modules . each of the above identified elements in fig3 may be stored in one or more of the previously mentioned memory devices . each of the above identified modules corresponds to a set of instructions for performing a function described above . the above identified modules or programs ( i . e ., sets of instructions ) need not be implemented as separate software programs , procedures or modules , and thus various subsets of these modules may be combined or otherwise re - arranged in various embodiments . in some embodiments , memory 370 may store a subset of the modules and data structures identified above . furthermore , memory 370 may store additional modules and data structures not described above . attention is now directed towards embodiments of user interfaces (“ ui ”) that may be implemented on a portable multifunction device 100 . fig4 a and 4b illustrate exemplary user interfaces for a menu of applications on a portable multifunction device 100 in accordance with some embodiments . similar user interfaces may be implemented on device 300 . in some embodiments , user interface 400 a includes the following elements , or a subset or superset thereof : signal strength indicator ( s ) 402 for wireless communication ( s ), such as cellular and wi - fi signals ; time 404 ; bluetooth indicator 405 ; battery status indicator 406 ; tray 408 with icons for frequently used applications , such as : phone 138 , which may include an indicator 414 of the number of missed calls or voicemail messages ; e - mail client 140 , which may include an indicator 410 of the number of unread e - mails ; browser 147 ; and music player 146 ; and im 141 ; image management 144 ; camera 143 ; video player 145 ; weather 149 - 1 ; stocks 149 - 2 ; workout support 142 ; calendar 148 ; calculator 149 - 3 ; alarm clock 149 - 4 ; dictionary 149 - 5 ; and user - created widget 149 - 6 . in some embodiments , user interface 400 b includes the following elements , or a subset or superset thereof : 402 , 404 , 405 , 406 , 141 , 148 , 144 , 143 , 149 - 3 , 149 - 2 , 149 - 1 , 149 - 4 , 410 , 414 , 138 , 140 , and 147 , as described above ; map 154 ; notes 153 ; settings 412 , which provides access to settings for the device 100 and its various applications 136 , as described further below ; video and music player module 152 , also referred to as ipod ( trademark of apple , inc .) module 152 ; and online video module 155 , also referred to as youtube ( trademark of google , inc .) module 155 . fig4 c illustrates an exemplary user interface on a multifunction device with a separate display ( e . g ., 450 ) and touch - sensitive surface ( e . g ., 451 ). although many of the examples which follow will be given with reference to a touch screen display ( e . g ., where the touch sensitive surface and the display are combined , as shown in device 100 in fig4 a - 4b ), in some embodiments the display and the touch - sensitive surface are separate , as shown in fig4 c . in some embodiments the touch sensitive surface ( e . g ., 451 in fig4 c ) has a primary axis ( e . g ., 452 in fig4 c ) that corresponds to a primary axis ( e . g ., 453 in fig4 c ) on the display ( e . g ., 450 ). in accordance with these embodiments , the device detects contacts ( e . g ., 460 and 462 in fig4 c ) with the touch - sensitive surface 451 at locations that correspond to respective locations on the display ( e . g ., in fig4 c 460 corresponds to 468 and 462 corresponds to 470 ). in this way , user inputs ( e . g ., contacts 460 and 462 ) detected by the device on the touch - sensitive surface ( e . g ., 451 in fig4 c ) are used by the device to manipulate the user interface on the display ( e . g ., 450 in fig4 c ) of the multifunction device when the touch - sensitive surface and the display are separate . it should be understood that similar methods may be used for other user interfaces described herein . additionally , while the following examples are given primarily with reference to finger inputs ( e . g ., finger contacts , finger tap gestures , finger swipe gestures ), it should be understood that , in some embodiments , one or more of the finger inputs are replaced with input from another input device ( e . g ., a mouse based input or stylus input ). for example , a swipe gesture may be replaced with a mouse click ( e . g ., instead of a contact ) followed by movement of the cursor along the path of the swipe ( e . g ., instead of movement of the contact ). as another example , a tap gesture may be replaced with a mouse click while the cursor is located over the location of the tap gesture ( e . g ., instead of detection of the contact followed by ceasing to detect the contact ). similarly , when multiple user inputs are simultaneously detected , it should be understood that multiple computer mice may be used simultaneously , or a mouse and finger contacts may be used simultaneously . attention is now directed towards embodiments of user interfaces (“ ui ”) and associated processes that may be implemented on a multifunction device with a display and a touch - sensitive surface , such as device 300 or portable multifunction device 100 . fig5 a - 5q illustrate exemplary user interfaces for managing user interface content and user interface elements while resizing user interface content and user interface elements in accordance with some embodiments . the user interfaces in these figures are used to illustrate the processes described below , including the processes in fig6 a - 6c . in fig5 a - 5q any values , such as the dimensions or aspect ratio of user interface elements , are provided solely for purposes of illustration . further , the values may not be to scale , and scale may vary from figure to figure . while sizes are expressed in units of centimeters in fig5 a - 5q , any suitable unit type may be used in alternate embodiments . each of fig5 a - 5k include two sections , which illustrate a portable multifunction device 100 displaying a user interface with an electronic canvas that includes the display of a user interface element , which in these examples are resizable rectangles . the portable multifunction device 100 is displayed in the figures as 5 ′ n ′ 1 , where ‘ n ’= the figure letter in the series , e . g ., fig5 b contains a depiction of portable multifunction device 100 as 5 b 1 . for clarity in the figures , respective gridlines are not displayed on the electronic canvas in the figures in 5 n 1 , though in some embodiments , gridlines may be displayed directly on the canvas . a representation of exemplary gridlines associated with the electronic canvas is provided in the charts 5 ‘ n ’ 2 , where ‘ n ’= the figure letter in the series , e . g ., fig5 b contains a depiction of respective gridlines of the electronic canvas as 5 b 2 . to give more context in the examples discussed here , respective gesture path marks representing detected user gestures to resize the user interface element are overlaid on the exemplary gridlines in 5 n 2 . thus , the figures in 5 n 1 and 5 n 2 present a synchronized view of resizing a user interface element on touch screen 112 and the conceptual representation of resizing that same user interface element with respect to the electronic canvas &# 39 ; s gridlines . fig5 a depicts an exemplary user interface displayed on device 100 within user interface ui 500 a ( section 5 a 1 of fig5 a ). in this example , the user interface includes the display of an electronic canvas 500 , on which rectangle 501 is displayed at a slightly oblique angle . the device detects point of contact 505 p over rectangle 501 in 5 a 1 . as there is no directional path associated with point of contact 505 p in fig5 a , no corresponding gesture path mark is displayed in chart 5 a 2 . fig5 b illustrates an exemplary affordance 503 - b displayed within user interface ui 500 b ( section 5 b 1 of fig5 b ). affordance 503 - b is displayed in conjunction with user interface object 501 . in this example , affordance 503 - b is configured to display both the current size and the current aspect ratio of user interface object 501 . ui 500 b also illustrates that after point of contact 505 p was detected in 5 a 1 , resize handles are displayed for rectangle 501 , including first resize handle 501 - 1 and second resize handle 501 - 2 , which are on opposite corners of rectangle 501 . note that in this example , point of contact 505 p is at a location corresponding to first resize handle 501 - 1 . ui 500 b also illustrates user gesture 505 , which includes a directional path 505 - 1 . chart 5 b 2 includes a representation of point of contact 505 p and directional path 505 - 1 , which crosses respective x - axis gridlines 505 - x 1 , 505 - x 2 , 505 - x 3 , 505 - x 4 , and 505 - x 5 , as well as respective y - axis gridlines 505 - y 1 , 505 - y 2 , and 505 - y 3 . accordingly , in this example , directional path 505 - 1 crosses more respective x - axis gridlines than respective y - axis gridlines . ui 500 b also illustrates that within rectangle 501 , diagonal axis 507 is depicted , and extends from the interior of rectangle 501 through first resize handle 501 - 1 , and corresponds to the directional path 505 - 1 as well as extending through exemplary resize snap locations represented by snap lines 508 - 1 through 508 - 6 ( which may be displayed visibly in some embodiments , and not displayed visibly in other embodiments ). ui 500 b also depicts exemplary quantized distance multiples 509 - 1 and 509 - 2 . in these examples , quantized distance multiples 509 - 1 and 509 - 2 correspond to snap lines 508 - 1 and 508 - 2 , which correspond to respective x - axis gridlines in chart 5 b 2 . fig5 c depicts that in response to user gesture 505 in ui 500 b , rectangle 501 has been snapped to snap line 508 - 1 ( section 5 c 1 of fig5 c ). affordance 503 - c has been updated to display both the current size and the current aspect ratio of user interface object 501 . specifically , in this example , rectangle 501 has been snapped to snap line 508 - 1 , and as indicated by affordance 503 - c , the width of rectangle 501 is now 4 cm , while the height is 6 . 6 cm . thus , the aspect ratio of rectangle 501 has been maintained at a 3 : 5 aspect ratio . chart 5 c 2 illustrates the corresponding location of point of contact 505 p in relation to directional path 505 - 1 of user gesture 505 , where the current location is at x - axis gridline 505 - x 1 . this example illustrates that when rectangle 501 was snapped to snap line 508 - 1 in 5 c 1 , the snapping was to a respective x - axis gridline , i . e . 505 - x 1 . further , as indicated by chart 5 c 2 , rectangle 501 is being snapped to x - axis gridlines , which are separated by quantized distance multiples 509 ( as depicted in ui 500 b ). thus , though the size changes in the x - direction ( or width in this example ) are fixed by the quantized distance multiple , a y - axis size adjustment ( or height in this example ) to the user interface element is derived to maintain the aspect ratio of the user interface element . here , once rectangle 501 is snapped to 4 cm width ( x - axis size ), the height of rectangle 501 is derived , namely 6 . 6 cm height ( y - axis size ). fig5 d illustrates the continuation of exemplary user gesture 505 , which includes the directional path 505 - 1 within ui 500 d ( 5 d 1 in fig5 d ), and chart 5 d 2 shows the corresponding directional path 505 - 1 superimposed on respective gridlines . exemplary affordance 503 - d has been updated to reflect the size increase of rectangle 501 due to user gesture 505 . rectangle 501 is now at 4 . 9 cm width and 8 . 1 cm height , while maintaining the 3 : 5 aspect ratio . for illustrative purposes , magnified region 511 displays a magnified image of the area around rectangle 501 and point of contact 505 p . magnified region 511 includes images of snap lines 508 - 2 and 508 - 3 , as well as predefined distance threshold 512 - t , which is predefined distance 512 from snap line 508 - 2 . note that rectangle 501 is less than predefined distance 512 from snap line 508 - 2 . fig5 e illustrates the continuation of exemplary user gesture 505 , which includes the directional path 505 - 1 within ui 500 e ( 5 e 1 in fig5 e ), and chart 5 e 2 shows the corresponding directional path 505 - 1 superimposed on respective gridlines . exemplary affordance 503 - e has been updated to reflect the size increase of rectangle 501 due to user gesture 505 . rectangle 501 is now at 5 cm width and 8 . 3 cm height , while maintaining the 3 : 5 aspect ratio . because , as noted above , the directional path 505 - 1 intersects more x - axis gridlines than y - axis gridlines ( illustrated in chart 5 e 2 ), the device snapped rectangle 501 to snap line 508 - 2 since the perimeter of rectangle 501 was closer to snap line 508 - 2 than predefined distance threshold 512 - t . though not explicitly depicted , point of contact 505 p is lifted off touch screen 112 in ui 500 e , so in fig5 f , the snap lines 508 , gesture 505 , resize handles 501 - 1 and 501 - 2 , and affordance 503 are no longer displayed in ui 500 f ( 5 f 1 in fig5 f ). as there is no detected gesture in ui 500 f , no corresponding gesture path mark is displayed in chart 5 f 2 . fig5 g - 5k illustrate resizing another user interface element , rectangle 516 . fig5 g depicts an exemplary user interface displayed on device 100 within user interface ui 500 g ( section 5 g 1 of fig5 g ). in this example , the user interface includes the display of an electronic canvas 500 , on which rectangle 516 is displayed at an oblique angle . the device detects point of contact 518 p over rectangle 516 in 5 g 1 . as there is no directional path associated with point of contact 518 p in fig5 g , no corresponding gesture path mark is displayed in chart 5 g 2 . fig5 h illustrates an exemplary affordance 503 - h displayed within user interface ui 500 h ( section 5 h 1 of fig5 h ). affordance 519 - h is displayed in conjunction with user interface object 516 . in this example , affordance 519 - h is configured to display both the current size and the current aspect ratio of user interface object 516 . ui 500 h also illustrates that after point of contact 518 p was detected in 5 g 1 , resize handles are displayed for rectangle 516 , including first resize handle 516 - 1 and second resize handle 516 - 2 , which are on opposite corners of rectangle 516 . note that in this example , point of contact 518 p is at a location corresponding to first resize handle 516 - 1 . ui 500 h also illustrates a user gesture 518 that includes a directional path 518 - 1 . chart 5 h 2 includes a representation of point of contact 518 p and directional path 518 - 1 , which crosses respective x - axis gridline 522 - x 1 , as well as respective y - axis gridlines 522 - y 1 , 522 - y 2 , 522 - y 3 , 522 - y 4 , 522 - y 5 , and 522 - y 6 . accordingly , in this example , directional path 518 - 1 crosses more respective y - axis gridlines than respective x - axis gridlines . ui 500 h also illustrates that within rectangle 516 , diagonal axis 517 is depicted , and extends from the interior of rectangle 516 through first resize handle 516 - 1 , and corresponds to the directional path 518 - 1 as well as extending through exemplary resize snap locations represented by snap lines 520 - 1 through 520 - 6 . fig5 i depicts that in response to user gesture 518 in ui 500 h , rectangle 501 has been snapped to snap line 520 - 1 ( section 5 i 1 of fig5 i ). affordance 519 - i has been updated to display both the current size and the current aspect ratio of user interface object 501 . specifically , in this example , rectangle 516 has been snapped to snap line 520 - 1 , and as indicated by affordance 519 - i , the width of rectangle 516 is now 4 cm , while the height is 6 . 6 cm . thus , the aspect ratio of rectangle 501 has been maintained at a 3 : 5 aspect ratio . chart 5 i 2 illustrates the corresponding location of point of contact 518 p in relation to directional path 518 - 1 of user gesture 518 , where the current location is at y - axis gridline 522 - y 2 . this example illustrates that when rectangle 516 was snapped to snap line 520 - 1 in 5 i 1 , the snapping was to a respective y - axis gridline , i . e . 522 - y 1 , because the directional path 518 - 1 crosses more y - axis gridlines than x - axis gridlines . thus , though the depicted size changes in the y - direction are of evenly spaced distances , 1 cm in this particular example , an x - axis size adjustment to the user interface element is derived to maintain the aspect ratio of the user interface element . here , once rectangle 516 is snapped to 4 cm width , the height of rectangle 516 is derived , namely 6 . 6 cm height . fig5 j illustrates the continuation of exemplary user gesture 518 , which includes the directional path 518 - 1 within ui 500 j ( 5 j 1 in fig5 j ), and chart 5 j 2 shows the corresponding directional path 518 - 1 superimposed on respective gridlines . exemplary affordance 519 - j has been updated to reflect the size increase of rectangle 516 due to user gesture 518 . rectangle 516 is now at 5 cm width and 8 . 3 cm height , while maintaining the 3 : 5 aspect ratio . because , as noted above , the directional path 518 - 1 intersects more y - axis gridlines than x - axis gridlines ( illustrated in chart 5 j 2 ), the device snapped rectangle 516 to snap line 520 - 2 , corresponding to respective y - axis gridline 522 - y 3 , rather than any gridline corresponding to an x - axis gridline , such as 522 - x 1 . though not explicitly depicted , point of contact 518 p is lifted off touch screen 112 in ui 500 j , so in fig5 k , the snap lines 520 , gesture 518 , resize handles 516 - 1 and 516 - 2 , and affordance 519 are no longer displayed in ui 500 k ( 5 k 1 in fig5 k ). as there is no detected gesture in ui 500 k , no corresponding gesture path mark is displayed in chart 5 k 2 . ui 500 l - ui 500 q ( fig5 l - 5q ) illustrate exemplary user interfaces for snapping user interface elements to adjusted sizes and predetermined aspect ratios in response to detecting user gestures to resize objects . ui 500 l illustrates a detected user gesture 532 including contact 532 - c and resizing motion 532 - 1 , where contact 532 - c is at resize handle 530 - 1 of currently selected user interface object 530 . user interface object 530 also has other resize handles , including second resize handle 530 - 2 , which is opposite resize handle 530 - 1 . in the exemplary embodiment of ui 500 l , user interface object 530 can be resized to an adjusted size that is different from the initial size of object 530 . further , as object 530 is resized , a plurality of exemplary , predetermined aspect ratios may be snapped to ( e . g ., current aspect ratio 540 , native aspect ratio 542 , 1 : 1 aspect ratio 546 , and 4 : 3 aspect ratio 548 ). specifically in this example , detected user gesture 532 is in the direction of current aspect ratio 540 . ui 500 l also depicts the display in the user interface of an exemplary affordance 539 - l displayed in conjunction with user interface object 530 . in this example , affordance 539 - l is configured to display both the current size and the current aspect ratio of user interface object 530 . ui 500 m illustrates that , in response to detected user gesture 532 in ui 500 l , the device snaps the shape of currently selected user interface object 530 to current aspect ratio 540 . ui 500 m also depicts that affordance 539 - m has been updated to display both the current size and the current aspect ratio of user interface object 530 . ui 500 m also depicts resizing motion 532 - 2 of detected gesture 532 , which in this example , is in the direction of native aspect ratio 542 . ui 500 n illustrates that , in response to detected user gesture 532 in ui 500 m , which includes resizing motion 532 - 2 , the device snaps the shape of currently selected user interface object 530 to native aspect ratio 542 . ui 500 n also depicts that affordance 539 - n has been updated to display both the current size and the current aspect ratio of user interface object 530 , i . e ., native aspect ratio 542 . ui 500 n also depicts resizing motion 532 - 3 of detected gesture 532 , which in this example , is in the direction of 1 : 1 aspect ratio 546 . ui 500 o illustrates that , in response to detected user gesture 532 in ui 500 n , which includes resizing motion 532 - 3 , the device snaps the shape of currently selected user interface object 530 to 1 : 1 aspect ratio 546 . ui 500 n also depicts that affordance 539 - n has been updated to display both the current size and the current aspect ratio of user interface object 530 , i . e ., 1 : 1 aspect ratio 546 . ui 500 o also depicts resizing motion 532 - 4 of detected gesture 532 , which in this example , is in the direction of 4 : 3 aspect ratio 548 , which is also the aspect ratio of second user interface element 531 , which neighbors user interface element 530 . ui 500 p illustrates that , in response to detected user gesture 532 in ui 500 o , which includes resizing motion 532 - 4 , the device snaps the shape of currently selected user interface object 530 to 4 : 3 aspect ratio 548 . ui 500 p also depicts that affordance 539 - p has been updated to display both the current size and the current aspect ratio of user interface object 530 , i . e ., 4 : 3 aspect ratio 548 . though not explicitly illustrated , contact 532 - c is lifted off of touch screen 112 in ui 500 p , thus ending detected user gesture 532 . ui 500 q illustrates that after detecting the end of detected user gesture 532 , user interface object 530 is no longer currently selected , and thus affordance 539 and resize handles , including first resize handle 530 - 1 and second resize handle 530 - 2 , are no longer displayed . in some embodiments , the following method is used to maintain aspect ratio while resizing at least one user interface object or user interface element : upon detecting the start of a user gesture to resize an object , save the aspect ratio and dimensions of the object being resized ; while detecting user gesture movement , calculate the width and height the object would be if it were to be resized in accordance with the user gesture movement ; calculate the aspect ratio of the change that would happen if the object were to be resized in accordance with the user gesture movement ; when the difference between the calculated aspect ratio and the original aspect ratio is below a predefined threshold : when the original object width is greater than the original object height , round the value of the width adjustment that would happen in response to the user gesture movement so that the width adjustment falls on an even increment , and then derive the height adjustment value to maintain aspect ratio ; when the original object width is less than or equal than the original object height , round the value of the height adjustment that would happen in response to the user gesture movement so that the height adjustment falls on an even increment , and then derive the width adjustment value to maintain aspect ratio ; adjust the height and width of the object with the rounded and derived height and width adjustment values ; when the option to snap to respective gridlines is not activated , adjust the height and width of the object to an intersection point of a diagonal line extending from the object along the direction of the resize gesture and a line perpendicular to the diagonal line , wherein the perpendicular line crosses the current location of the user gesture , and the diagonal line crosses a plurality of possible object resize locations that maintain the original aspect ratio ; when the difference between the calculated aspect ratio and a predetermined aspect ratio is below a predefined threshold , adjust the height and width of the object with derived height and width adjustment values to correspond to the predetermined aspect ratio ; when the difference between the current aspect ratio and a 1 : 1 aspect ratio is below a predefined threshold , set the height and width of the object to the intersection point of a diagonal line extending from the object along the direction of the resize gesture and a line perpendicular to the diagonal line , wherein the perpendicular line crosses the current location of the user gesture , and the diagonal line crosses a plurality of possible object resize locations that maintain a 1 : 1 aspect ratio ; and otherwise , resize the object in accordance with the user gesture movement . in some embodiments , one or more techniques of the method just discussed are used to resize two or more currently selected user interface objects or user interface elements , so that while detecting a user gesture corresponding to an user interface object resize gesture : the two or more currently selected user interface objects are simultaneously resized in accordance with the detected user gesture , and the respective aspect ratios of the two or more currently selected user interface objects are also simultaneously adjusted . in some embodiments , the predefined threshold for comparing the difference between two different aspect ratios is a set value , e . g ., whether the difference between a current aspect ratio and the original aspect ratio is below a predefined value such as 0 . 2 . for example , the device may determine whether a current aspect ratio and the original aspect ratio are within 0 . 2 of one another , 0 . 1 , 0 . 3 , or any suitable value . in some embodiments , the predefined threshold for comparing the difference between two different aspect ratios includes determining whether the two aspect ratios fall within a range of values , e . g ., 0 . 1 - 0 . 3 , 0 . 15 - 0 . 35 , 0 . 2 - 0 . 4 , or any suitable range ; thus , when the difference between the two different aspect ratios falls within the predefined threshold range , the comparison is true , and when the difference between the two different aspect ratios does not fall within the predefined threshold range , the comparison is false . in some embodiments , the predefined threshold for comparing the difference between two different aspect ratios is the difference of the logarithms of the respective aspect ratios . for example , the following calculation and comparison to a tolerance variable can be used to determine whether to snap to the current aspect ratio or to the original aspect ratio : where tolerance is 0 . 1 ( or may be set to another suitable value ), and the result of the comparison is used to determine which aspect ratio to snap to , i . e ., snap to the current aspect ratio if the inequality is true , or snap to the original aspect ratio if the inequality is false . fig6 a - 6b are flow diagrams illustrating a method 600 of managing user interface content and user interface elements while resizing user interface content and user interface elements in accordance with some embodiments . the method 600 is performed at a multifunction device ( e . g ., device 300 , fig3 , or portable multifunction device 100 , fig1 ) with a display and a touch - sensitive surface . in some embodiments , the display is a touch screen display and the touch - sensitive surface is on the display . in some embodiments , the display is separate from the touch - sensitive surface . some operations in method 600 may be combined and / or the order of some operations may be changed . as described below , the method 600 provides an intuitive way to maintain aspect ratio while resizing user interface objects . the method reduces the cognitive burden on a user when resizing user interface objects , thereby creating a more efficient human - machine interface . for battery - operated computing devices , enabling a user to resize user interface objects faster and more efficiently conserves power and increases the time between battery charges . the method 600 is performed at a computing device with a display and one or more user input devices adapted to detect user gestures ( e . g ., fig5 a portable multifunction device 100 , fig3 device 300 ). the device displays ( 602 ) on the display a user interface including at least one user interface element , wherein the user interface element is configured to be resized within the user interface in response to user gestures detected with the one or more user input devices , the user interface element has an aspect ratio , and the user interface element is displayed on the display in conjunction with a plurality of gridlines , which include a plurality of x - axis gridlines and a plurality of y - axis gridlines ( e . g ., fig5 a , section 5 a 1 , display of electronic canvas 500 , on which rectangle 501 is displayed at a slightly oblique angle , and has an aspect ratio , and the chart in section 5 a 2 depicts a plurality of x - axis and y - axis gridlines ). in some embodiments , at least one user interface element is displayed on an electronic canvas ( 604 ) ( e . g ., fig5 a , section 5 a 1 , display of electronic canvas 500 , on which rectangle 501 is displayed ). in some embodiments , the user interface element is rotated to an oblique angle on the electronic canvas before detecting the user gesture ( 606 ) ( e . g ., fig5 g , section 5 g 1 , rectangle 516 is displayed at an oblique angle ). in some embodiments , the user interface element includes at least a first resize handle and a second resize handle , wherein the first and second resize handles are positioned on opposite sides of the user interface element during the detected user gesture ( 608 ) ( e . g ., fig5 b , section 5 b 1 , resize handles are displayed for rectangle 501 , including first resize handle 501 - 1 and second resize handle 501 - 2 , which are on opposite corners of rectangle 501 ). in some embodiments , resize handles include an activation region proximate to and surrounding the resize handle to make it easier for a user to perform a gesture involving selection or movement of the resize handle . for purposes of clarity , these activation regions are not displayed herein . in some embodiments , the display and at least one of the one or more user input devices comprise a touch - screen display ( 610 ) ( e . g ., fig5 a , section 5 a 1 , touch screen 112 ). in some embodiments , the plurality of gridlines is visibly displayed ( 612 ). the device detects ( 614 ) a user gesture performed with one or more of the one or more user input devices , the user gesture corresponding to a gesture to resize the user interface element ( e . g ., fig5 b , section 5 b 1 , user gesture 505 , which includes a directional path 505 - 1 and point of contact 505 p ). in some embodiments , the detected user gesture includes a point of contact corresponding to a first resize handle of the two or more resize handles , and a second resize handle of the two or more resize handles corresponds to a second location of the user interface element that is opposite the first resize handle ( 615 ) ( e . g ., fig5 b , section 5 b 1 , user gesture 505 , which includes a directional path 505 - 1 and point of contact 505 p , where the point of contact 505 p corresponds to first resize handle 501 - 1 , and first resize handle 501 - 1 and second resize handle 501 - 2 are on opposite corners of rectangle 501 ). in some embodiments , the second resize handle is dynamically designated as an origin handle for the duration of the detected user gesture , and location data associated with the origin handle is used to derive one or more parameters for resizing the user interface element . in response to detecting the user gesture , the device resizes the user interface element in accordance with the detected user gesture , wherein the detected user gesture has a directional path that intersects at least some of the plurality of gridlines ( 616 ) ( e . g ., fig5 c , section 5 c 1 , in response to user gesture 505 in section 5 b 1 of fig5 b , rectangle 501 has been snapped to snap line 508 - 1 , thus resizing it ; fig5 b , section 5 b 1 gesture 505 has directional path 505 - 1 extending through snap lines 508 - 1 through 508 - 6 , which correspond to the gridlines reflected in the chart in section 5 b 2 , i . e ., chart 5 b 2 includes a representation of point of contact 505 p and directional path 505 - 1 , which crosses respective x - axis gridlines 505 - x 1 , 505 - x 2 , 505 - x 3 , 505 - x 4 , and 505 - x 5 , as well as respective y - axis gridlines 505 - y 1 , 505 - y 2 , and 505 - y 3 ). while resizing the user interface element in accordance with the detected user gesture , the device maintains ( 618 ) the aspect ratio of the user interface element ( e . g ., fig5 c , section 5 c 1 , rectangle 501 has been snapped to snap line 508 - 1 , and as indicated by affordance 503 - c , the width of rectangle 501 is 4 cm , while the height is 6 . 6 cm , so the aspect ratio of rectangle 501 was maintained at a 3 : 5 aspect ratio ). the device maintaining the aspect ratio of the user interface element includes that when the directional path intersects more x - axis gridlines than y - axis gridlines , the device snaps a perimeter of the user interface element to respective x - axis gridlines when a respective distance between the perimeter of the user interface element and a respective x - axis gridline is less than a predefined distance threshold ( 620 ) ( e . g ., fig5 c , section 5 c 2 , chart 5 c 2 includes a representation of point of contact 505 p and directional path 505 - 1 , which crosses respective x - axis gridlines 505 - x 1 , 505 - x 2 , 505 - x 3 , 505 - x 4 , and 505 - x 5 , as well as respective y - axis gridlines 505 - y 1 , 505 - y 2 , and 505 - y 3 , indicating that directional path 505 - 1 crosses more respective x - axis gridlines than respective y - axis gridlines ; chart 5 c 2 also illustrates the corresponding location of point of contact 505 p in relation to directional path 505 - 1 of user gesture 505 , where the current location is at x - axis gridline 505 - x 1 , thus when rectangle 501 was snapped to snap line 508 - 1 in 5 c 1 , the snapping was to a respective x - axis gridline , i . e . 505 - x 1 ). in some embodiments , respective x - axis gridlines snapped to are separated by a quantized distance multiple ( e . g ., 5 pixels , 10 pixels , 15 pixels , ⅛ cm , ¼ cm , ⅓ cm , ½ cm , or any suitable distance ), and a y - axis size adjustment to the user interface element is derived to maintain the aspect ratio of the user interface element ( 622 ) ( e . g ., fig5 c , section 5 c 1 , size changes in the x - direction , i . e ., width in this example , are fixed by the quantized distance multiple 509 , and a y - axis size adjustment , i . e ., height in this example , to the user interface element is derived to maintain the aspect ratio of the user interface element , specifically , when rectangle 501 is snapped to 4 cm width , i . e ., x - axis size , the height of rectangle 501 is derived , namely 6 . 6 cm height , i . e ., y - axis size ). in some embodiments , derivation of the y - axis size adjustment to maintain aspect ratio includes calculation of a y - axis size adjustment using at least a distance corresponding to the quantized distance multiple , the aspect ratio of the user interface element , and / or the origin handle . the device maintaining the aspect ratio of the user interface element includes that when the directional path intersects more y - axis gridlines than x - axis gridlines , the device snaps a perimeter of the user interface element to respective y - axis gridlines when a respective distance between the perimeter of the user interface element and a respective y - axis gridline is less than the predefined distance threshold ( 624 ) ( e . g ., fig5 h , chart in section 5 h 2 illustrates that point of contact 518 p and directional path 518 - 1 crosses respective x - axis gridline 522 - x 1 , as well as respective y - axis gridlines 522 - y 1 , 522 - y 2 , 522 - y 3 , 522 - y 4 , 522 - y 5 , and 522 - y 6 , so directional path 518 - 1 crosses more respective y - axis gridlines than respective x - axis gridlines ; fig5 i , section 5 i 1 depicts that in response to user gesture 518 in ui 500 h , rectangle 501 has been snapped to snap line 520 - 1 ). in some embodiments , respective y - axis gridlines snapped to are separated by a quantized distance multiple , and an x - axis size adjustment to the user interface element is derived to maintain the aspect ratio of the user interface element ( 626 ). in some embodiments , derivation of the x - axis size adjustment to maintain aspect ratio includes calculation of a x - axis size adjustment using at least a distance corresponding to the quantized distance multiple , the aspect ratio of the user interface element , and / or the origin handle . in some embodiments , the device maintaining the aspect ratio of the user interface element includes that when the directional path intersects the same number of x - axis gridlines and y - axis gridlines , and when a respective distance between the perimeter of the user interface element and a respective gridline is less than the predefined distance threshold , the device snaps the perimeter of the user interface element to respective gridlines selected from the group consisting of respective x - axis gridlines , respective y - axis gridlines , and respective x - axis and y - axis gridlines ( 628 ). in some embodiments , while detecting the user gesture , the device displays an affordance in conjunction with the user interface element being resized , wherein the affordance is configured to display at least a current size of the user interface element ( 630 ) ( e . g ., fig5 b , section 5 b 1 affordance 503 - b is configured to display both the current size and the current aspect ratio of user interface object 501 ). in some embodiments , while detecting the user gesture , the device displays an affordance in conjunction with the user interface element being resized , wherein the affordance is configured to display at least a current aspect ratio user interface element ( 632 ) ( e . g ., fig5 b , section 5 b 1 affordance 503 - b is configured to display both the current size and the current aspect ratio of user interface object 501 ). in some embodiments , one or more techniques of the method 600 are used to resize two or more currently selected user interface elements , so that while detecting a user gesture corresponding to an user interface element resize gesture : the two or more currently selected user interface elements are simultaneously resized in accordance with the detected user gesture , and the respective aspect ratios of the two or more currently selected user interface elements are also simultaneously adjusted . fig6 c is a flow diagram illustrating a method 650 of managing user interface content and user interface elements while resizing user interface content and user interface elements in accordance with some embodiments . the method 650 is performed at a multifunction device ( e . g ., device 300 , fig3 , or portable multifunction device 100 , fig1 ) with a display and a touch - sensitive surface . in some embodiments , the display is a touch screen display and the touch - sensitive surface is on the display . in some embodiments , the display is separate from the touch - sensitive surface . some operations in method 650 may be combined and / or the order of some operations may be changed . additionally , operations in method 650 may be combined with some operations in method 600 and / or the order of some combined operations may be changed . as described below , the method 650 provides an intuitive way to maintain aspect ratio while resizing user interface objects . the method reduces the cognitive burden on a user when resizing user interface objects , thereby creating a more efficient human - machine interface . for battery - operated computing devices , enabling a user to resize user interface objects faster and more efficiently conserves power and increases the time between battery charges . the method 650 is performed at a computing device with a display and one or more user input devices adapted to detect user gestures ( e . g ., fig5 a portable multifunction device 100 , fig3 device 300 ). the device displays on the display a user interface including at least a first user interface element , wherein the first user interface element is configured to be resized within the user interface in response to user gestures , the first user interface element has a first aspect ratio , the first user interface element has an initial size , the first user interface element includes at least a first resize handle and a second resize handle , and , the first and second resize handles are positioned on opposite sides of the user interface element ( 652 ) ( e . g ., fig5 l , user interface object 530 has resize handles , including first resize handle 530 - 1 and second resize handle 530 - 2 which are positioned on opposite sides of user interface object 530 ; user interface object 530 has an aspect ratio and can be resized to an adjusted size that is different from the initial size of object 530 ). in some embodiments , the user interface element is rotated to an oblique angle on the electronic canvas before detecting the user gesture ( 654 ) ( e . g ., fig5 g , section 5 g 1 , rectangle 516 is displayed at an oblique angle ). the device detects ( 656 ) a user gesture performed with one or more of the one or more user input devices , the user gesture corresponding to a gesture to resize the user interface element , and the user gesture is performed at a location corresponding to the first resize handle ( e . g ., fig5 l , detected user gesture 532 including contact 532 - c and resizing motion 532 - 1 , where contact 532 - c is at resize handle 530 - 1 of currently selected user interface object 530 ). in response to detecting the user gesture , the device resizes ( 658 ) the user interface element in accordance with the detected user gesture ( e . g ., fig5 m , in response to detected user gesture 532 in fig5 l , the device resizes the currently selected user interface object 530 to current aspect ratio 540 , which includes resizing the user interface object in accordance with resizing motion 532 - 1 ). while resizing the user interface element in accordance with the detected user gesture , the device snaps ( 660 ) the first user interface element to an adjusted size that is different from the initial size , wherein the adjusted size corresponds to a predetermined aspect ratio ( e . g ., fig5 m , in response to detected user gesture 532 in fig5 l , the device snaps the shape of currently selected user interface object 530 to current aspect ratio 540 , which includes resizing the user interface object to a size that is different from the initial size ). in some embodiments , snapping the first user interface element to an adjusted size that is different from the initial size includes snapping the first user interface element to two or more adjusted sizes that are different from the initial size , wherein the two or more adjusted sizes correspond to two or more distinct predetermined aspect ratios ( e . g ., in fig5 n , the device snapped currently selected user interface object 530 to native aspect ratio 542 , and in fig5 o , the device snapped currently selected user interface object 530 to 1 : 1 aspect ratio 546 ). in some embodiments , the predetermined aspect ratio is selected from the group consisting of 1 : 1 aspect ratio , 2 : 3 aspect ratio , 3 : 2 aspect ratio , 3 : 5 aspect ratio , 5 : 3 aspect ratio , 5 : 7 aspect ratio , 7 : 5 aspect ratio , 8 : 10 aspect ratio , 10 : 8 aspect ratio , 3 : 4 aspect ratio , 4 : 3 aspect ratio , 16 : 9 aspect ratio , 9 : 16 aspect ratio , and an aspect ratio of the display ( 662 ). in some embodiments , the predetermined aspect ratio is the first aspect ratio of the first user interface element ( 664 ), e . g , the aspect ratio of the first user interface element is restored , i . e ., after adjustments , the aspect ratio snaps to its original value during an object resize gesture , which may be the original proportions of an image . in some embodiments , the adjusted size corresponds to a predefined aspect ratio . in some embodiments , the adjusted size corresponds to a preselected aspect ratio . in some embodiments , the aspect ratio corresponding to the adjusted size of the user interface element is that of a neighboring user interface element , any of a number of predefined aspect ratios , such as 1 : 1 , 2 : 3 , 3 : 2 , 3 : 5 , 5 : 3 , 5 : 7 , 7 : 5 , 8 : 10 , 10 : 8 , 3 : 4 , 4 : 3 , 16 : 9 , 9 : 16 , an aspect ratio of the display , an aspect ratio of the user interface element being resized at the time of the initiation of the detected user gesture , an aspect ratio based on predefined dimensions of the user interface element , e . g ., photo images having an initial size and aspect ratio , etc ., or any suitable aspect ratio . in some embodiments , the displayed user interface includes a second user interface element having a second aspect ratio that is different than the first aspect ratio , the second user interface element is within a predefined distance of the first user interface element i . e ., the first and second user interface elements are neighbors , or are proximate to one another , and the predetermined aspect ratio is the second aspect ratio ( 666 ) ( e . g ., fig5 p , the device snaps the shape of currently selected user interface object 530 to 4 : 3 aspect ratio 548 , which is the aspect ratio of user interface object 531 , which is near by user interface object 530 ). in some embodiments , while detecting the user gesture , the device displays an affordance in conjunction with the user interface element being resized , wherein the affordance is configured to display at least a current size of the user interface element ( 668 ) ( e . g ., fig5 p , affordance 539 - p displays both the current size and the current aspect ratio of user interface object 530 ). in some embodiments , while detecting the user gesture , the device displays an affordance in conjunction with the user interface element being resized , wherein the affordance is configured to display at least a current aspect ratio user interface element ( 670 ) ( e . g ., fig5 p , affordance 539 - p displays both the current size and the current aspect ratio of user interface object 530 ). in some embodiments , one or more techniques of the method 650 are used to resize two or more currently selected user interface elements , so that while detecting a user gesture corresponding to an user interface element resize gesture : the two or more currently selected user interface elements are simultaneously resized in accordance with the detected user gesture , and the respective aspect ratios of the two or more currently selected user interface elements are also simultaneously adjusted . the steps in the information processing methods described above may be implemented by running one or more functional modules in information processing apparatus such as general purpose processors or application specific chips , such as asics , fpgas , plds , or other appropriate devices . these modules , combinations of these modules , and / or their combination with general hardware ( e . g ., as described above with respect to fig1 a , 1 b and 3 ) are all included within the scope of protection of the invention . the foregoing description , for purpose of explanation , has been described with reference to specific embodiments . however , the illustrative discussions above are not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the invention to the precise forms disclosed . many modifications and variations are possible in view of the above teachings . the embodiments were chosen and described in order to best explain the principles of the invention and its practical applications , to thereby enable others skilled in the art to best utilize the invention and various embodiments with various modifications as are suited to the particular use contemplated .
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the particular values and configurations discussed in these non - limiting examples can be varied and are cited merely to illustrate an embodiment of the present invention and are not intended to limit the scope of the invention . in time division multiplexing ( tdm ) a series of very short optical pulses are time - interleaved ( multiplexed ) to get a single high speed data stream at one carrier wavelength . an alternate solution is to transmit each optical signal on a different wavelength , known as wavelength division multiplexing ( wdm ). this is analogous to transmitting different radio channels on different frequencies through air . a wdm channel is a signal running on a unique wavelength . each wdm channel is completely independent of the other channels , both with regards to bit rates , as well as protocols . fig1 depicts a known implementation of a tdm - wdm system using four lasers 101 , 102 , 103 , 104 of separate wavelengths λ 1 , λ 2 , λ 3 , λ 4 with a combiner 106 and a single common optical gate 108 . in this embodiment the combiner 106 is nonblocking , that is , with the four inputs depicted in fig1 the output is always in an “ on ” state . current tdm - wdm interrogated arrays use a single optical gate 108 to define the optical pulses used to access individual sensors . it is also known to use a phase modulator 110 to phase generate a carrier . the resulting output pulse is a combination or summation of wavelengths λ 1 , λ 2 , λ 3 , λ 4 at output 112 . fig2 depicts a known implementation of a tdm - wdm system using four lasers 201 , 202 , 203 , 204 of separate wavelengths λ 1 , λ 2 , λ 3 , λ 4 with a combiner 206 , but that omits the single common optical gate 108 and the phase modulator 110 . in this embodiment the combiner 206 is blocking , that is , the output of the combiner 206 directly produces the depicted waveform of interleaved pulses . also , the phase generator may be omitted if the lasers are fm ( frequency modulated ). this is because the sine wave frequency modulation is equivalent to sine wave phase modulation . this circuit will also emit the output pulse that is a combination or summation of wavelengths λ 1 , λ 2 , λ 3 , λ 4 at output 112 . fig3 depicts an embodiment with a nonblocking 4 × 1 matrix tdm optical switch according to the present apparatus . in this embodiment of a tdm - wdm system four lasers 301 , 302 , 303 , 304 of separate wavelengths λ 1 , λ 2 , λ 3 , λ 4 are operatively coupled to inputs of a matrix switch 306 . an output of the matrix switch 306 is operatively coupled to an optical gate 308 and a phase modulator 310 . the optical matrix switch 306 enables the interleaving of the pulses in the output 312 so that multiple wavelengths are never present in a single pulse . optical switching combined with optical gating makes more efficient use of the lasers and avoids the nonlinear effects of cross phase modulation and four wave mixing . the optical switch 306 may perform the gating with appropriate time delays of the different wavelength channels to form the regular sequence of pulses at the output 312 . the switch 306 may do all the gating and switching . an auxiliary optical gate 308 may be used to improve the extinction ratio and / or the pulse rise and fall times if needed . the auxiliary switch 308 may be either electro - optic or acousto - optic . a phase modulator 310 may also be used . optical matrix switches of the electro - optic type have been demonstrated by many researchers , and at least one is commercially available from lynx photonic networks , inc . fig4 depicts an embodiment with a blocking 4 × 1 matrix tdm optical switch according to the present apparatus in which an optical gate and a phase modulator are omitted . in this embodiment of a tdm - wdm system , four fm frequency modulated lasers 401 , 402 , 403 , 404 of separate wavelengths λ 1 , λ 2 , λ 3 , λ 4 are operatively coupled to inputs of a matrix switch 406 . the output has the sequence of pulses where wavelengths λ 1 , λ 2 , λ 3 , λ 4 occur in separate pulses and where the sequence repeats . fig5 depicts an embodiment of the present system in which a single wavelength channel may be switched to four separate output channels 511 , 512 , 513 , 514 . in this fashion , a single laser 501 may interrogate four times as many hydrophones , for example , as compared to known systems , thus quadrupling the acoustic sensor sampling rate per laser . an input of the nonblocking 1 × 4 matrix switch 508 may be operatively coupled to the laser 501 via an optical gate 504 and phase modulator 506 . in other embodiments the optical gate 504 and the phase modulator 506 may be omitted if a blocking matrix is used with an fm modulated laser . the outputs of the switch 508 may have individual pulses that are offset in time relative to one another as depicted in fig5 in short , the wdm implementation of the tdm matrix switch in fig3 and 4 eliminates severe non - linear effects by eliminating multi - wavelength pulse propagation and the tdm implementation of the tdm matrix switch in fig5 produces many more sensor returns per wavelength . fig6 depicts an embodiment of the present system , which has a nonblocking 4 × 4 version of a matrix tdm switch 606 that combines the wdm and the tdm features and advantages of the above described embodiments . in this embodiment of a tdm - wdm system , four lasers 601 , 602 , 603 , 604 of separate wavelengths λ 1 , λ 2 , λ 3 , λ 4 are operatively coupled to inputs of the matrix switch 606 . each of four outputs 612 , 618 , 624 , 630 may be coupled to the switch 606 via respective optical gate 608 , 614 , 620 , 626 and phase modulator 610 , 618 , 624 , 630 . as described above the optical gates and phase modulators may be eliminated if a blocking matrix switch is used with fm modulated lasers . fig7 depicts a block diagram of another embodiment of the present system . as depicted the tdmx system may interrogate xyz sensors 703 with x lasers 701 , y sensor returns 704 per laser , and z switch positions for a z x z switch 702 without multi - wavelength non - linear effects that degrade system performance . the steps or operations described herein are just exemplary . there may be many variations to these steps or operations without departing from the spirit of the invention . for instance , the steps may be performed in a differing order , or steps may be added , deleted , or modified . although exemplary implementations of the invention have been depicted and described in detail herein , it will be apparent to those skilled in the relevant art that various modifications , additions , substitutions , and the like can be made without departing from the spirit of the invention and these are therefore considered to be within the scope of the invention as defined in the following claims .
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with the pulsed light source according to the invention , biological tissue can be removed precisely and with little thermal side effects and in addition can be heated to a variable extent . the light emission of the light source according to the invention is modulated in a controllable manner in such a way that , within a pulse cycle , a high - power radiation pulse used for tissue removal is followed in a defined time by a light radiation with reduced irradiation intensity , which may have the form of a reduced - power end portion of the radiation pulse or the form of a series of pulses comprising one or more radiation pulses of which the power or energy content is not sufficient for tissue removal and consequently leads only to the tissue being heated . the pulsed light source according to the invention allows a hitherto unknown range of surgical applications in which a single radiation source can be used with little expenditure on apparatus , ranging from precision surgery with little thermal damage in areas which are not perfused with blood , or only to a slight extent , through to the removal of blood - perfused tissue with hemostasis . since the thermal side effect , and consequently the thickness of the coagulation zone , can be adapted to the individual intervention , in any case a just sufficient and at the same time minimally damaging thermal necrosis zone can be produced . in addition , such an enlarged coagulation zone does not lead to any sacrifices in the quality of the cut . the light source according to the invention is preferably an ultraviolet or infrared light source . the first radiation pulse of the pulse cycle corresponds to the radiation emission as commonly used for the ablation of biological tissue with little damage . the tissue removal commences when a specific amount of energy per element of volume h abl , dependent on the type of tissue and on the irradiation intensity , has accumulated on its surface . this corresponds to a threshold value of the irradiation ( f s ), which is likewise dependent on the tissue and the irradiation parameters . part of the irradiated energy remains in the tissue at the end of the pulse , heats the marginal region of the craters or cuts and leads to the thermal side effects described , in particular the coagulation of the tissue . according to a preferred refinement of the invention , the parameters of the first radiation pulse of the series of pulses is chosen such that the heating and tissue damage produced in connection with the tissue removal is low . this is achieved by the combination of high irradiation intensity and high absorption in the tissue ( typical coefficient of absorption greater than 10 cm - 1 ). the light source used for this is preferably a pulsed er : yag , er : ysgg , ho : yag , tm : yag , co , co 2 or excimer laser . some data on this can be taken from the publication by r . hibst and r . kaufmann , ` vergleich verschiedener mittelinfrarot - laser fur die ablation der haut ` [ comparison of various mid - infrared lasers for ablation of the skin ], lasermedizin [ laser medicine ], vol . 11 ( 1995 ), pages 19 - 26 . energy required for removal per element of volume h abl = 1 . 5 kjcm - 3 irradiation in clinical use on the skin about 5 - 20 jcm - 2 if removal is over a surface area , size of the spot 1 to 3 mm in diameter the laser - related power is calculated from the irradiation intensity and the size of the spot . the coagulation zone caused by the removing pulse is enlarged according to the invention by emitting after the short pulse leading to removal a respectively following light radiation with an irradiation intensity and / or irradiation which is not sufficient for the removal of tissue but produces a thermal effect . this subsequent light radiation in the form of a pulse end portion of reduced irradiation intensity or of at least one , but preferably more than one light pulses is dimensioned with regard to its power or energy such that , given a predetermined size of the irradiation zone , the removal threshold value of the tissue is not reached . according to a refinement of the invention , at least one pulse with low irradiation intensity is used for this . in order that the tissue is not removed and is only heated , pulses with such a low irradiation intensity that , as a result of the heat conduction , the energy per element of volume accumulated at the surface remains below h abl , i . e . the irradiation intensity remains below the threshold value required for removal . to estimate the upper limit of the irradiation intensity , it may be assumed that the energy h occurring per element of volume results from the supply of energy produced by light absorption and an energy loss proportional to h : ## equ1 ## ( i 0 : irradiation intensity , μ : coefficient of absorption ). the thermal relaxation time τ used as the proportionality factor for the rate of loss can be estimated from the known formulae . it decreases quadratically with the heated volume , and therefore with increasing μ . the threshold value of the irradiation intensity i s is reached when , in the state of equilibrium ( dh / dt = 0 ), the energy density at the surface is equal to h abl . it thus follows from the above equation that : ## equ2 ## for the er : yag laser , the thermal relaxation time of the tissue can be estimated as a few μs for the beginning of the irradiation , so that the remaining values ( see above ) give an irradiation intensity i s in the kwcm - 2 range . with increasing enlargement of the heated region , i s then decreases . the exact progression is difficult to calculate here . for a layer of a thickness of , for example , 80 μm , the thermal relaxation time is about 30 ms , which leads to a maximum permissible irradiation intensity of about 5 wcm - 2 . an advantageous refinement of this alternative is therefore a progression with decreasing irradiation intensity . the irradiation intensity ( power ) and the duration of the pulse then determines the extent of heating . if the required difference in the irradiation intensity between the removing pulses and the heating pulses is technically difficult to accomplish in the case of a given laser , according to a further refinement of the invention it is envisaged to use a sequence of pulses with an energy content below the removal threshold value . as a point of reference for this threshold value , the threshold values f s ( see above ) determined from the removal measurements may be used . the threshold values increase with decreasing irradiation intensity ( they are theoretically infinite at an irradiation intensity of i s ) and decrease in the case of preheated tissue . thus , for the er : yag laser , initially f s = 1 jcm - 2 would be assumed and , in an experimental situation , the irradiation intensity of each individual pulse or its duration would be changed such that removal no longer quite takes place . the individual factors , irradiation intensity and pulse duration , are governed by the technical requirements of the light source ; primarily decisive for the effect is their product . according to one embodiment , the irradiation intensity and the duration of the pulses following the first radiation pulse may vary from one another . this is appropriate , for example , for the er : yag laser if , for supplying the pumping flashlamp of this laser , the energy of a single capacitor bank is used for generating the entire series of pulses . the decreasing voltage causes the laser pulses to be increasingly weak , which however can be compensated by a correspondingly prolonged pulse duration . the optimum time interval between the subpulses or between the removing pulse and the series of pulses for heating results from the thermal relaxation time of the tissue surface . to be able to introduce as much energy as possible into the tissue without removing it , it is favorable to allow the tissue surface to cool between two such pulses with respect to the temperature leading to removal . in order at the same time to produce a great depth of the coagulation , this cooling should not proceed right down to the ( physiological ) starting temperature ( typically 37 ° c .). rather , the subsequent heating by the following pulse should take place at the latest when the surface has reached the temperature required for the desired coagulation , of about 60 ° c . to 70 ° c . this time period increases with the optical depth of penetration of the radiation used . in addition , the cooling behavior of the surface depends on its prehistory . in the case of the first laser pulse , the superficial heating of the tissue leads to a very steep temperature gradient with a correspondingly rapid falling of the temperature , caused by the heat conduction . the heat conduction also causes layers of tissue below the surface to be heated , so that the temperature gradient for a subsequent heating pulse is smaller . the increase in the thermal relaxation time with the number of heating pulses can be seen from a measurement of the surface temperature . an optimized sequence of heating pulses will therefore generally have different time intervals between the individual pulses . by analogy , the energy content of the individual pulses will be different . model calculations and measurements show for the er : yag laser that the temperature increase required for a coagulation of the skin in vivo from 30 k to 40 k is reached again at the surface a few ms after the end of the pulse . for the ho : yag laser , about 20 times this value can be expected . the exact times are to be determined experimentally in each case for the tissue under consideration and the wavelength used . for effects other than coagulation , for example hyperthermia , other temperatures and times which can be readily determined by a person skilled in the art are of course critical . in the case of this embodiment of the series of pulses used for heating , the energy introduced altogether ( per element of surface ) into the tissue , and consequently the depth of coagulation , can be advantageously controlled by the number of pulses in the series of pulses following the first pulse . in the case of a modified embodiment , as an alternative to the predetermination of fixed parameters for the individual heating pulses , a control of the pulse energy levels , durations and interpulse periods on the basis of the surface temperature measured continuously or intermittently can be used . as soon as the surface temperature drops below a predetermined minimum value ( for example 70 ° c . ), the laser is activated . the laser emission is stopped again when the preset upper limit value ( for example 200 ° c .) is reached . in the case of this way of accomplishing the series of pulses used for heating , the energy introduced altogether ( per element of surface ) into the tissue , and consequently the depth of coagulation , can be advantageously controlled by the number of pulses in the series of pulses following the first pulse . of course , the optimized series of heating pulses may also be used without the removing pulse for coagulating . similarly , it may be advantageous to apply the heating pulses before the removing pulse ( as well ), if , for example , infected tissue is to be killed off before the removal , which is accompanied by a dispersion of tissue fragments . the invention is explained in more detail below with reference to the drawings , in which : fig1 shows a section through a region of tissue after irradiation in the case of high tissue absorption and low irradiation intensity , fig2 shows a section through a region of tissue after irradiation in the case of high tissue absorption and high irradiation intensity , fig3 shows a section through a region of tissue after irradiation with a pulsed light source according to the invention , fig4 shows a first embodiment of a pulse which has a beginning - of - pulse portion , inducing removal , and an end - of - pulse portion , following the first , with reduced irradiation intensity , fig5 shows a preferred embodiment of a sequence of pulses with a first pulse , inducing removal , and a pulse following the latter with decreasing irradiation intensity , fig6 shows a further embodiment of a sequence of pulses with a first pulse , inducing removal , and a series of pulses following the latter with increasingly weaker , but correspondingly prolonged pulses , fig7 shows a configuration of an apparatus with a control of the laser in dependence on the surface temperature of the tissue . in fig1 there is shown a section through a region of tissue as obtained , for example , in the case of high absorption in the tissue and low irradiation intensity . this occurs , for example , in the case of the co 2 continuous - wave laser , which is directed at the tissue surface 1 . the crater or cut 2 formed in the tissue is surrounded by a carbonization zone 3 , a zone 4 broken up by vacuoles , a coagulation zone 5 and a reversibly thermally damaged region 6 . the coagulation of the tissue produced by the heating and the accompanying hemostasis is of practical advantage in many cases , because it makes possible cuts which do not bleed . for applications in which as little damage as possible to the remaining tissue and good healing of the wound are important , great thermal effects are disadvantageous . carbonization of the tissue surface is likewise unfavorable . in fig2 there is shown a section corresponding to fig1 which shows the irradiation of a pulsed light source of high power and a wavelength in the ultraviolet or infrared range . examples of such a light source are tea - co 2 , er : yag , er : ysgg or excimer lasers . with these lasers , hard or soft tissue can be removed without carbonization and with only little thermal damage by a very effective thermomechanical ablation process . the zone 5 which , in the case of soft tissue , coagulated after use of the free - running er : yag laser has in vivo only a thickness of about 30 - 40 μm . this is of particular interest for the treatment of superficial skin lesions or for cosmetic surgery , because damage of the tissue beyond that which is removed is largely avoided . if , however , the capillary layer is reached , the removal is stopped by emerging blood . fig3 shows a section corresponding to fig1 and 2 through a tissue after irradiation with the pulsed light source according to the invention . as will be explained in more detail below with reference to fig4 and 5 , in this case the light emission of a pulsed ultraviolet or infrared light source is modulated in a controllable manner in such a way that , within a pulse cycle , a high - power pulse sufficient for tissue removal is followed in a defined time by a series of pulses comprising one or more pulses of which the power or energy content is not sufficient for tissue removal and consequently leads only to the tissue being heated . in this case , the crater 2 is surrounded by a coagulation zone 5 of controllable size . in this way , it is possible to remove tissue precisely and at the same time with little thermal side effects and without carbonization of the surface and , independently of the removal , can be heated in a specifically directed and controllable manner . fig4 shows a first embodiment of a pulse for achieving the removal shown in fig3 . in this case , each pulse comprises a short , first beginning - of - pulse portion 10 , sufficient for removal , and a subsequent end - of - pulse portion of reduced irradiation intensity . with regard to the individual parameters of the pulse portions , reference is made to the discussion above . fig5 shows a second embodiment of a sequence of pulses for achieving the removal shown in fig3 . in this case , in a pulse cycle , a first , short pulse 10 , sufficient for removal , is followed by at least one further pulse 11 , which is separated from the pulse 10 by a time interval , has an irradiation intensity decreasing over time and merely produces a heating effect . in fig6 there is shown a further embodiment of a sequence of pulses in which , in a pulse cycle , the short pulse 10 of high irradiation intensity , sufficient for removal , is followed by a sequence of pulses 12 to 14 of which the irradiation intensity decreases in each case , but the duration of which increases . of course , the irradiation intensity of the pulses 11 , or 12 to 14 , following the first pulse 10 and their duration could also be constant , as long as they do not lead to further damage or removal of the tissue . furthermore , the number of these pulses 12 to 14 may be selected according to the purpose in question on the basis of the criteria stated at the beginning for the respective application . an alternative to the predetermination of fixed parameters for the individual heating pulses is the control of the pulse energy levels , durations and interpulse periods on the basis of the surface temperature measured continuously or intermittently , for example between the individual pulses . as soon as the surface temperature drops below a predetermined minimum value ( for example 70 ° c . ), the laser is activated . the laser emission is stopped again when the preset upper limit value ( for example 200 ° c .) is reached . a possible refinement of such an apparatus in the form of a hand - held appliance is diagrammatically shown in fig7 . the laser radiation from a laser source q is deflected by means of a beam - splitting mirror s , which is transmissive to thermal radiation , and is focussed on the tissue by a lens l which is transparent to laser radiation and thermal radiation . the irradiated surface region of the tissue is likewise projected through the lens l onto the end face of a light - conducting fiber transmitting the thermal radiation ( for example a silver halide fiber or chalcogenide fiber ). this fiber conducts the thermal radiation to an infrared detector d . from the output signal of the latter , which is amplified in an amplifier v , after appropriate calibration the surface temperature of the tissue being worked at the time can be calculated , and this can then be used for the described control of the laser . in the case of this embodiment of the series of pulses used for heating , the energy introduced into the tissue altogether ( per element of surface ), and consequently the depth of coagulation , can be advantageously controlled by the number of pulses in the series of pulses following the first pulse . although only laser light sources have been mentioned above as examples of the light source , these examples are in no way restrictive , since other light sources , the light generating process of which is not based on the laser principle , with a corresponding wavelength and irradiation intensity may also be used , such as for example pulsed high - pressure gas discharge lamps with xenon or other gas filling .
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the convertible garment 1 disclosed herein is illustrated in fig1 through fig1 . fig1 is a front view of the jacket 1 showing a sleeveless style with vertical front opening 5 , amenable to a variety of closure means including but not limited to for example , velcro ®, zippers , buttons and snaps and other closure means , and collar 8 with a blanket 12 observed at neck opening 19 . the jacket 1 has a right and a left side 22 , 20 . the collar 8 has a collar front and a collar back 9 , 10 . the collar 8 is shown in fig1 through 4 , 5 through 8 and 11 . the collar front 9 is shown in fig1 through 4 and 5 while the collar back 10 is shown in fig6 and 11 . the left side 20 of the jacket 1 is shown partially opened in fig2 . fig3 illustrates the right and left sides 22 , 20 of the jacket 1 in partially opened positions . fig3 also shows the blanket 12 of the jacket 1 . fig4 shows the jacket 1 from the back 40 with left and right seams 45 , 47 illustrating or indicating a portion of the jacket 1 structure forming the perimeter or boundary of a pocket 35 formed between the back 40 and the blanket 12 . the pocket 35 has a pocket opening 37 positioned , for example in the preferred embodiment , proximal to the collar 8 at the collar front 9 , as shown in fig1 through 2a , 11 and 12 , and a pocket bottom 39 positioned distal from the pocket opening 37 , as shown in fig1 through 5 and 11 and 12 . the blanket 12 forms a portion of the pocket 35 as is shown in fig1 through 5 and 9 through 12 . the blanket 12 is additionally folded into and contained within the pocket 35 . the blanket 12 in the preferred embodiment is composed of a double folded layer of blanket material . however , the blanket 12 may be composed of many different fabrics or materials including but not limited to , for example , canvas and fire resistant materials , plastics and reflective materials including but not limited to mylar , blanket stock and other materials recognized by one of ordinary skills in the garment arts . in an alternative embodiment the pocket opening 37 may be positioned proximal to the collar 8 at the collar back 10 , at the jacket inside and at the jacket side . the jacket 1 may be in a vest , jacket or coat form , with or without collar or sleeves . a jacket shell or other outer garment or an inner lining may be utilized . the pocket opening 37 will be amenable to a variety of fastening or closure means including but not limited to velcro ®, zippers , buttons and snaps and other closure means devices or methods . the pocket 35 may be oriented so that the pocket opening 37 is positioned in a multitude of orientations including , as examples without limitation , proximal to the jacket top or bottom 17 , 18 , proximal to the right or left 22 , 20 , diagonal to a vertical from the jacket top to bottom 17 , 18 at the front or back 3 , 40 or inside 26 . fig5 is illustrative of an arm and hand having partially pulled the blanket 12 out of the pocket 35 after first reaching in through the pocket opening 37 proximal to the collar 8 at the collar front 9 . the blanket 12 is removed from the pocket 35 to reveal and present a fabric or material covering . the blanket 12 is removed from the pocket 35 by inserting hands into the pocket opening 37 and grasping , at the inside of the pocket , the pocket bottom 39 . the blanket 12 is extracted from the pocket 35 after extending one &# 39 ; s arm fully into the pocket 35 via the pocket openings 37 and pulling the blanket 12 from the pocket 35 . fig6 shows the blanket 12 in a double folded form where the blanket 12 is completely extracted from the pocket 35 and flattened in the preferred folded configuration of this embodiment . fig6 also illustrates the collar back 10 and the blanket 12 which was contained within the pocket 35 . fig7 illustrates the blanket 12 in a partially unfolded orientation . a remaining fold 14 is demonstrated in fig7 . fig8 shows what was depicted as a remaining fold 14 , in fig7 unfolded into the full - length of the blanket 12 which remains , in fig8 partially folded . fig9 illustrates a remaining lengthwise fold 16 . fig1 displays the blanket 12 in the position where the pocket 35 has been turned inside - out revealing additionally the pocket bottom 39 and the left and right seams 45 , 47 . fig1 is a view of the blanket 12 extracted from the pocket 35 with the pocket 35 turned inside - out and bounded by the left and right seams 45 , 47 , the pocket opening 37 , the pocket bottom 39 and the jacket back 40 . fig1 shows the opposite side of jacket 1 from that shown in fig1 . fig1 additionally demonstrates the collar 8 facing downward revealing the collar back 10 . fig1 shows the collar 8 folded into the pocket 35 at the pocket opening 37 . the jacket 1 is returned to a jacket form by reversing the process described . the folded orientation of the blanket 12 in fig6 demonstrates the position for reinsertion of the blanket 12 into the pocket 35 to return to the form of a jacket . the jacket 1 is returned to the jacket 1 form by reaching through the pocket opening 37 into the pocket 35 and grasping the pocket bottom 39 and drawing the folded blanket 12 into the pocket 35 as the pocket 35 is again turned inside - out to the position demonstrated by fig1 through 4 . the convertible garment is comprised in the elemental sense of a garment , shown here for convenience as a jacket 1 , with a blanket 12 affixed by means to the jacket 1 , forming a pocket 35 ; the blanket 12 affixed to the jacket such that portions of the blanket 12 are foldably received into the pocket 35 . the jacket 1 may have a liner or a shell , be collar or collarless , sleeve or sleeveless and possess other commonly understood structures in the garment arts . the blanket 12 may be of regular geometric shapes including but not limited to square , rectangular and circular or irregular shapes . the blanket 12 , for convenience , is described as having a blanket top and bottom 13 , 14 , a blanket right and left edge 15 , 16 and a centerline 42 extending generally centrally from blanket top to blanket bottom 13 , 14 ; the blanket 12 is affixed to the jacket 1 generally by stitching with other commonly understood affixing means appropriate including but not limited to velcro ®, snaps , buttons , brads , glues and other affixing means . the blanket 12 is affixed to the jacket 1 in a variety of orientations including at the jacket back 40 , front 3 and inside 26 . the blanket 12 is affixed to the jacket 1 such that portions of the blanket 12 will be folded and received into the pocket 35 at the pocket opening 37 . the blanket 12 may be affixed to the jacket 1 intermediate to the blanket right edge 15 and the centerline and intermediate to the blanket left edge 16 and the centerline and proximal to the blanket bottom 14 forming a pocket having a pocket opening proximal to the blanket top 13 and distal to the blanket bottom 14 which foldably receives , at the pocket opening 37 , those portions of the blanket 12 positioned between the affixing means and the blanket right and left edges 14 , 15 and between the pocket opening 37 and the blanket top 13 . the jacket 1 has an outer covering 2 , a front and a back 3 , 40 , a jacket top and bottom 17 , 18 ; a jacket inside 26 ; the jacket 1 at the front 3 has a right and a left side 22 , 20 ; and a neck opening 19 at the jacket top 17 . the blanket 12 may be affixed by means to the jacket outer covering 2 at the back 40 , at the front 3 and at the inside 26 . another description of the orientation of the blanket and jacket is found in the description of the blanket 12 as affixed by means to the jacket 1 by left and right seams 45 , 47 and a bottom seam 48 ; the bottom seam 48 is generally orthogonal to the left and right seams , which are generally parallel , and intersecting the left and right seams 45 , 47 ; the left and right seams 45 , 47 and the bottom seam 48 fasten by affixing means to the blanket 12 to the jacket 1 forming the perimeter or boundary of a pocket 35 , the pocket 35 having a pocket opening 37 and a pocket bottom 39 positioned distal from the pocket opening 37 and the bottom seam 48 . again , the blanket 12 may be affixed by means to the back 40 , front 3 and inside 26 . alternatively the left and right seams 45 , 47 are generally vertically formed commencing proximal to the jacket top 17 and proceeding proximal to the jacket bottom 18 ; the bottom seam 48 is generally horizontally formed proximal to the jacket bottom 18 at the back 40 intersecting the left and right seams 45 , 47 ; the left and right seams 45 , 47 and the bottom seam 48 fasten by means the outer covering 2 at the back 40 to the blanket 12 forming the perimeter or boundary of a pocket 35 residing between the back 40 and the blanket 12 ; the pocket 35 having a pocket opening 37 positioned proximal to the jacket top 17 , and a pocket bottom 39 positioned distal from the pocket opening 37 proximal to the jacket bottom 18 and the bottom seam 48 ; the blanket 12 is folded into and contained within the pocket 35 . the blanket 12 may be affixed by means to the front 3 , the back 40 and / or the inside 26 . in all events , the blanket 12 is folded into and contained within the pocket 35 when the jacket 1 is used and is otherwise unfolded and used as a blanket 12 . it will be recognized by one of ordinary skill in the garment arts that the affixing pattern , above described as right and left seams 45 , 47 and a bottom seam 48 , may form other patterns including but not limited to “ u ” shaped and semicircular . the affixing means in the preferred embodiment is stitching . however other affixing means will suffice including but not limited to , velcro ®, zippers , buttons , snaps , brads , glues and other affixing means recognized by one of ordinary skill in garment arts . the jacket 1 may have a collar 8 , at the neck opening 19 , having a collar front and a collar back 9 , 10 ; arm openings 23 proximal to the jacket top 17 at the right and left sides 22 , 20 ; the outer covering 2 at the front 3 may have a center front opening 5 from the neck opening 19 to the jacket bottom 18 ; the center front opening 5 amenable to a variety of jacket closure means including but not limited to velcro ®, zippers , buttons and snaps and other closure means devices or methods . the pocket 35 may be positioned to place the pocket opening 37 proximal to the collar 8 at the collar front or back 9 , 10 or proximal to the jacket top 17 at the front or back 3 , 40 or inside 26 . the pocket 35 may alternatively be oriented to place the pocket opening 37 toward the right or left 22 , 20 or in other orientations . in any event , the blanket 12 is folded and inserted into and contained within the pocket 35 . the method of converting the garment of claim 7 comprises inserting a hand through the pocket opening 37 into the pocket 35 ; grasping , at the inside of the pocket , the pocket bottom 39 ; turning the pocket 35 inside - out revealing additionally the pocket bottom 39 and the left and right seams 45 , 47 ; extracting the blanket 12 from the pocket 35 ; unfolding the blanket 12 . the reverse returns the blanket 12 into the pocket 35 including folding the blanket 12 , reaching through the pocket opening 37 into the pocket 35 and grasping the pocket bottom 39 ; drawing the folded blanket 12 into the pocket 35 as the pocket 35 is again turned inside - out to the starting position . alternative embodiments apply to this invention , as would be recognized by those of ordinary skill in the garments art , to articles of clothing other than jackets including for example , without limitation , overcoats , pants and trousers . the matter of the application of a pocket foldably containing a blanket or other covering is equally applicable to other articles of clothing other than upper jacket type apparel . while a preferred embodiment of the present invention has been shown and described , it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that many changes and modifications may be made without departing from the invention in its broader aspects . the appended claims are therefore intended to cover all such changes and modifications as fall within the true spirit and scope of the invention .
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referring to fig1 a , there is shown an electronic delay device in accordance with an embodiment of the invention and which illustrates principles of the invention . a chromium - doped gallium arsenide semi - insulating substrate 20 has a p - type buffer layer 30 of gallium arsenide thereon . an n - type layer of gallium arsenide 40 is disposed on the layer 30 . a schottky barrier metal contact 50 is disposed over a region of the n - type layer 40 and defines a channel 41 in the n - type piezoelectric semiconductor material 40 that is beneath the schottky barrier layer . an acoustic interdigital transducer 55 is disposed on the layer 40 in spaced relation to the barrier layer 50 . an ohmic contact 61 , which in conjunction with the layer 40 and the schottky barrier layer 50 , comprises a positively biased input diode in this structure , is disposed on the layer 40 in the region between the barrier layer 50 and the transducer 55 , and preferably in close proximity to the barrier layer 50 . an ohmic contact 71 , which , in conjunction with the layer 40 and the schottky barrier layer 50 , comprises a positively biased output diode in this structure , is disposed on the layer 40 in close proximity to the other end of barrier layer 50 . acoustic absorbers 56 are disposed on layer 40 , as shown . an energizing signal to the negatively biased piezoelectric transducer 55 is provided from source 58 . an input electrical signal is applied to diode 61 via input terminal 62 and capacitor 63 . the output signal from diode 71 is applied to output terminal 75 via capacitor 72 and amplifier 73 . forms of the physical geometry of the multilayer buried channel structure are further shown in fig2 a and 2b . in an operating embodiment , the layers , grown by molecular beam epitaxy on [ 100 ] cut cr doped gaas substrate 20 , were a 1 . 7 microns thick p layer ( na ˜ 10 15 cm - 3 ) 30 and a 4 . 7 microns n layer ( nd ˜ 10 15 cm - 3 ) 40 . the device transfer channel , oriented in the & lt ; 110 & gt ; direction , is delineated by a preferential mesa etch to a depth of 5 microns as shown in fig2 b . ohmic contacts to the input and output diodes and to the exposed p layer are formed using the lift off process . after the contacts are alloyed the al schottky barrier 50 , acoustic interdigital transducer 55 , and interconnect pads are formed using standard photolithographic techniques . the interdigital transducer 55 , which has approximately 100 electrode pairs in this embodiment , generates a 7 . 9 microns wavelength saw over a beam width of 150 wavelengths at a source ( 58 ) frequency of 367 . 1 mhz . the transport channel is 1 mm wide and 1 . 55 mm long in this embodiment , corresponding to an acoustic delay between the input and output diodes of about 0 . 54 microseconds . depletion of the channel electrons under the schottky barrier 50 is achieved in this embodiment by biasing the diodes 61 and 71 with about 8 volts ( fig1 ). the generating efficiency of the saw transducer 55 is increased significantly when it is also biased , again with about 8 volts , such that the n type region underneath the electrodes is depleted . this insures that the transducer fields are not screened by charge carriers in the vicinity of the electrodes . a reverse biased metal isolation bar ( not shown ) can be disposed between the transducer 55 and the diode 61 to prevent electrons from the transducer from entering the channel . further considerations of isolation in devices pursuant to the invention are discussed below . fig3 shows the depletion potential and the saw potential magnitude within the depleted channel . if the depth of the channel is roughly one half of an acoustic wavelength , the saw potential profile within the depleted region peaks in the center of the channel when the wave is fully screened by the surface metal and the conductive p layer . both the depletion potential and the saw potential provide electron confinement to the channel center , although the depletion potential is more important in this regard because it is the larger of the two . charge carriers can be injected into the wave , for example , by applying a short negative pulse to the input diode . fig1 b shows the interaction of the wave with the injected charge . electrons diffusing toward the p layer 30 and the schottky barrier 50 are bunched and translated down the channel by the potential wells of the saw . when the wave amplitude is large the injected electrons quickly reach a steady state condition whereby the charge moves synchronously with the wave , with each packet moving precisely at the sound velocity . upon reaching the output diode 71 , the delayed charge packets are swept out of the wave by the applied reverse bias resulting in a current spike in the output detection circuit . in the absence of charge loading and diffusion effects , it has been previously shown that the minimum wave electric field necessary for the transport to occur is v s / u = 40 v . cm - 1 where v s is the sound velocity and u is the mobility of electrons in gaas . the rather large electron mobility in gaas allows the synchronous condition to be achieved with relatively small wave potential , particularly when the saw frequency is large . transducer insertion loss measurements can be used to obtain estimates of the acoustic power flowing in the channel . from this calculation the wave potential and electric field can be calculated . in applicants &# 39 ; experiments the acoustic power is about 10 mw resulting in a peak wave potential of 0 . 077 v and a peak electric field of ˜ 600 v / cm . fig4 shows an oscillograph of the output diode current that was obtained by applying a 100 ns duration pulse to the input diode while the saw transducer 58 was driven by an 8 microseconds 367 mhz r . f . burst . the 0 . 54 microseconds acoustic delay between the contacts was observed , showing that the injected charge is moving synchronously with the wave . the response of the charge transport delay line to an r . f . burst at 10 mhz is shown in fig5 . the output amplifier was inverting in this experiment , so an electron output current appears as a positive trace deviation . the response is a close replica of the input waveform delayed by 540 ns . of special interest was the absence of an interfering signal in the output due to radiated or acoustic pickup at the saw frequency . the interfering signals are suppressed by using a high q narrowband reject filter 78 at the saw frequency , as shown in fig1 . it will be understood that there were several factors which limited the performance of the described experimental saw transport device . it was learned that the bandwidth of the device was limited primarily by the rc time constants associated with the input and output diodes , an effect which can be significantly reduced by positioning the diodes in closer proximity to their schottky barrier . input gates for charge injection can reduce the disadvantages of a poorly defined injection region and the removal of some charge from the wave when the input contact returns to the bias potential . also , the wave power in the channel was limited by the large insertion loss in the saw transducer due to fabrication imperfections in the electrodes . nevertheless , applicants believe that their experiments indicate that the disclosed transport process and device is potentially suitable for implementation of high speed , large time - bandwidth product , large dynamic range monolithic delay elements . in the previously described embodiment , lateral channel confinement was achieved with a mesa approach . alternative techniques can be employed . for example , metal guard rails , such as are shown in fig6 a ( and used in conjunction with a bias ring , as described below ), or p - type diffusions , as shown in fig6 b , can be employed to help confine charge packets to the channel . in the previously described embodiment a single delay section and diode are shown , but it will be understood that multiple delay sections and output sensing elements or taps can be employed . fig7 illustrates a configuration wherein three receiving taps are employed . the piezoelectric semiconductor layer 40 , saw 55 , acoustic absorbers 56 , and input diode 61 and output diode 71 ( used as a termination in the illustrated embodiment ) correspond to their counterparts in fig1 . the barrier layer portions 50a , 50b , 50c and 50d correspond to barrier layer 50 of fig1 and the recited elements can be biased and energized in a manner similar to previous description . in this embodiment , a guard ring 181 and a bias ring 182 are illustrated and surround most of the device as shown in fig9 . the guard ring 181 , a schottky barrier metal ring , is biased more negatively than anything else . it serves to deplete the channel and provide electrical isolation between the channel ( and its associated input and output structures ) and the rest of the epi - layer 40 . the bias ring 182 clamps the layer 40 to a defined positive potential so that electrons outside the guard ring cannot enter the channel . leakage current which may be generated under the guard ring is shunted away from the channel region by the bias ring . a further ring of the bias ring 182 can surround the saw transducer 55 , as shown in fig9 . a negatively biased input gate 84 is utilized in this embodiment , and has a control terminal 85 . the negative bias prevents electrons from diode 61 from entering the channel . a plurality of metal barrier taps 91a , 91b and 91c are respectively disposed after the barrier sections 50a , 50b and 50c . each tap has an associated output terminal and is also coupled through a capacitor c to ground . applicants have discovered that the taps are non - destructive of the signal as it is passed and is sensed . this will be described further hereinbelow . also , in the embodiment of fig7 the support layer 21 is a semi - insulating substrate of chromium - doped gallium arsenide , and there is no additional p - type layer of gallium arsenide , as in the fig1 embodiment , although such a layer can be included , if desired . advantageous fabrication can also be implemented using vapor phase epitaxy on liquid encapsulated czochralski semi - insulating substrates . other epitaxial growth techniques can also be used . also , techniques such as diffusion and ion implantation are being considered . in operation of the fig7 embodiment , the signal from input diode is injected into the channel ( which effectively includes the region under gate 84 when it is biased on ) and proceeds toward the output diode 71 , being transported along the channel by the travelling wave electric field produced by the saw . at each tap a delayed version of the input signal is obtained , the amount of delay being dependent upon the selected geometry and saw propagation velocity . when a charge packet is injected into the device channel , to be transported by the wave down the channel , the electric fields associated with the charge packet interact with any electrically conductive structures which are in proximity to the transport channel . the net effect of this interaction is to create a charge distribution in the conductors whose electric fields tend to cancel the fields set up by the charge packet . the simplest geometry to consider in this case is a metallic conducting plane parallel to the transport channel which lies on the surface of the device . the charge which collects in the metal can be referred to as the &# 34 ; image &# 34 ; charge . ( this image will occur in any conductive structure , including , for example , a conductive p type layer .) the image charge will move with its corresponding charge packet as the wave moves the charge down the channel . if the conductive structure is a perfect conductor , then the wave expends energy only to move the charge in the channels and the image charge rides along &# 34 ; free .&# 34 ; if the conductive structure has some resistance associated with it , then the wave must expend additional energy to move the image charge . in the practical cases to be considered here , the conductive structure should have low enough resistance that this additional energy can be considered to be negligible . the concept of the image charge is clarified by introducing the idea of an equivalent capacitance . in this model the transported charge resides on one plate of the equivalent capacitor while the image charge resides on the other . the sum of all charge in the image plate exactly equals the sum of all the charge in the transported packet except that the image charge has the opposite polarity of the transported charge . the ability to non - destructively sense the transported charge as it moves along the channel is made possible by monitoring the currents associated with the image charge . this is illustrated in simplified form in fig8 . a small gap is introduced in the conductive metal structure and a current sensing instrument ( such as a resistor ) is inserted between the two conductors to sense the current associated with the movement of the image charge . the voltage across the gap induced by the image current through the resistor can represent the output signal of the non - destructive &# 34 ; tap .&# 34 ; if the value of the resistor is chosen to be too large , this potential difference will &# 34 ; tilt &# 34 ; the potential wells of the wave , letting charge leak out of the transported packet . however , it can be shown that for values of r which give good detection sensitivity this effect is very small , provided the gap is very small . the power delivered to the resistor comes from the wave which works to push the charge across the gap . hence , for appropriate values of r , as noted , the signal ( charge packet ) is substantially unperturbed even though the power is dissipated in the resistor . the power lost from the wave will decrease the magnitude of the wave potential wells only slightly . this decrease in wave potential well size does not affect the charge in the well because of the strong non - linearity of the transport process . in other words , there are many well depths which can carry the same size charge packet . multiple signal taps of the form shown in fig8 use a floating current detector for each tap and can tend to be impractical when a large number of non - destructive taps are desired . a voltage sensing configuration , which does not require floating detectors , is employed in conjunction with the fig7 taps . in this case , an independent metal electrode is situated between grounded sections of the metal plate . as the transported charge moves under this electrode , the corresponding image charge proceeds from ground through the capacitor ( via displacement current ), onto the sense electrode . the capacitor integrates this current , giving an output voltage which varies in proportion to the amount of transport charge under the sense electrode . when the transport charge finishes its transit across the sense electrode , the same process occurs , discharging the capacitor , the voltage across it collapsing correspondingly . thus , longer impulse responses can be achieved by making the sense electrode longer . also , if desired , the signals from these electrodes can be readily summed , for example , by connecting them all to the same buss bar . in addition , the strength of each electrode can be varied by adjusting the width of the electrode . these characteristics can be useful for signal processing applications . further , multiple injection means could be respectively employed at tap positions ( for taps designed for injection ) and a combined output extracted from an end of the channel . referring to fig1 there is shown an embodiment of the invention which can be used , inter alia , as an analog or digital register device in which input signals are controlled with clock signals or other control signals . the semi - insulating substrate 21 and the layer 40 may be substantially the same as in the fig7 embodiment . also , the transducer 55 , absorbers 56 , guard ring 181 , bias ring 182 , input diode 61 , and input gate 84 may be substantially as shown in fig7 . in the fig1 embodiment , a negatively biased output gate 191 , under control of a signal applied via control terminal 193 and capacitor 192 is used to gate the output signal . an output gate can , of course , also be used in other embodiments . the barrier layer of the fig1 embodiment includes portions designated 50e1 , 50e2 , and 50e3 , and between these other portions designated 50f1 and 50f2 . the control or clock voltage applied to the three ( in this example ) &# 34 ; e &# 34 ; barrier layer portions is designated ve , and the control or clock voltage applied to the two &# 34 ; f &# 34 ; barrier layer portions is designated vf . as in the case of other embodiments of the invention where the channel barrier layer is divided into a plurality of portions , if the gaps between adjacent portions are very small , the effect on potential variation will be minimized . an example of a procedure for operating the fig1 embodiment is as follows : if ve = vf , the device will initially act like the device of fig1 . ( a suitable voltage , ve = vf , for normal transport operation will depend upon several factors , including the saw wavelength , the thickness and doping density of the layer 40 , and the type of substrate .) next , assume that an input signal is sampled and applied to the channel input ( via input terminal 62 , and under control of a gate control signal applied to terminal 85 ) using timing that causes signal charge packets to be spaced in time such that they are simultaneously under successive &# 34 ; e &# 34 ; portions of the barrier layer ; i . e . barrier layer portions 50e1 , 50e2 , and 50e3 . ( this can be achieved , for example , by setting the sampling period equal to the distance between the centers of the &# 34 ; e &# 34 ; portions divided by the velocity of saw wave .) the same timing associated with the input signal sampling can then be used to switch the voltages - ve and / or - vf such that - ve is less negative than - vf ( such as , 6 volts less negative ). this will result in small storage wells being effectively positioned beneath the &# 34 ; e &# 34 ; barrier layer portions , which will result in the charge packets thereunder being trapped , even in the presence of the saw wave attempting to sweep them along . to release the charge packets so that they can continue on toward the output ( e . g . after a selected delay ), - ve can again be set equal to - vf . it will be understood that if there is a lack of precise synchronization with the input sampling , there may be averaging of samples , which may be acceptable or even desirable , depending upon the application of the device . also , it will be understood that barrier layer portions of this and other embodiments may be used for optical inputs and / or non - destructive sensing taps , e . g . described herein . fig1 illustrates the barrier layer portions of another version of the fig1 embodiment , the remainder of the device being similar to that shown in fig1 . in this case , the progressing charge packets are confined under the barrier layer portions 50g1 , 50g2 , and / or 50g3 by virtue of potential barriers temporarily established under the small barrier layer portions 50h1 , 50h2 and 50h3 . in operation , the voltages - vg and - vh can initially be the same , with - vh being switched to a more negative voltage at the time when it is desired to establish under the &# 34 ; h &# 34 ; electrodes a barrier which prevents the charge packets from continuing to be carried along by the saw wave . the voltages can then , at a desired time , be made equal again to release the charge packets so they can continue to be carried along by the saw wave . referring to fig1 , there is shown a version of the fig1 embodiment wherein the charge can be injected in parallel into the regions in the channel beneath the barrier layer portions 50g1 , 50g2 and / or 50g3 , from electrodes 150g1 , 150g2 and / or 150g3 . a portion of the guard ring , designated 180a , is used as a gate to control transfer of the charge from the electrodes 150g1 , 150g2 and 150g3 ( which are preferably ohmic contacts ), to the regions beneath barrier layer portions 50g1 , 50g2 and 50g3 . the barrier layer portions 50h1 , 50h2 and 50h3 can extend past the guard ring portions 181a so as to also provide isolation of the electrodes 150g1 , 150g2 and 150g3 . the electrodes 150g1 , 150g2 and 150g3 can be optimized optical sensors used , for example , for sensing a line of optical information , and a field of video information can be produced from a series of side - by - side lines . alternatively , the device can be used , for example , for parallel - in - serial - out applications where the electrical signals to be read in are applied to terminals coupled to the electrodes 150g1 , 150g2 , and 150g3 . operation , after transfer of the input signals to the channel regions , can be as described in conjunction with fig1 , with controlled read - out of the stored charge packets being achieved , for example , by changing the voltage on barrier layer portions 50h1 and 50h2 . for serial - in - parallel - out operation , the electrodes 150g1 , 150g2 and 150g3 can be used to obtain the parallel output signals from the channel . in the illustrative embodiments hereof , the buried layer in which most of the acoustic wave energy ( and accompanying electromagnetic potential ) and the transported electrical signal travels is a layer of n - type gallium arsenide grown on one or more layers of gallium arsenide support and / or confining layers . in such case , each layer is a semiconductor which exhibits piezoelectricity . while this is preferred , it is only necessary that the first - mentioned buried layer be piezoelectric semiconductor . also , a heterojunction structure may be used wherein , for example , the confining layer beneath the gallium arsenide is aluminum gallium arsenide . other materials may also be used . further , while metal barrier layers have been illustrated , it will be understood that other conductive layers , such as a conductive p - type semiconductor layer ( which may be transparent ) can be employed for this purpose . the invention has been described with reference to particular preferred embodiments , but variations within the spirit and scope of the invention will occur to those skilled in the art . for example , counter - propagating channels with mutual coupling could be used to implement a convolver . gallium arsenide has photosensitivity to near infrared and visible light . as indicated above , the disclosed technique can be employed in image detection applications . the light can be received through openings in the barrier layer , through a transparent barrier or the back side of the device , or can be received by auxiliary sensors and transferred to the channel . further , a light source can be used as one or more discrete injection means .
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an common bus structure for avionics and satellites 10 as illustrated in fig1 - 5 is comprised of any number of stackable modules 12 of same or varying heights , electrically interconnected via an internal connector raceway system 24 within raceway sealed chamber volume 44 and physically via module sealing tongue 32 and module base female sealing groove 18 and wall female sealing groove 40 and wall male scaling tongue 42 in addition to module compression bolt holes 20 and module compression bolts 22 forming a complete integrated and sealed common bus structure for avionics and satellites as illustrated in fig5 where module lid 14 interfaces with the top of stackable module 12 and beneath stackable module 12 with module stack base 16 by utilizing the same module sealing tongue 32 and module base female sealing groove 18 as occurs between any stackable module 12 . when a stackable module 12 is secured on top of another stackable module 12 , module floor underside 46 seals the top of another module 12 in the exact manner that module lid 14 does , forming a sub - dividable module sealed chamber volume 45 , while simultaneously if two stackable modules 12 are connected , internal connector raceway system 24 connects to another internal connector raceway system 24 via inserting internal raceway male connection guide 48 into internal raceway female connection guide 50 in conjunction with securely fitting internal raceway male connection 30 into internal raceway female connection 26 . in fig1 , internal to module 12 is module floor 38 forming a sealed chamber when either another module 12 is secured above it , or a module lid 14 is secured above it . all electrical connections into a raceway sealed chamber volume 44 are via a representative subdividing wall connector 36 electrically interfacing with subdividing wall connector female interface 29 integral to raceway wall connection interface 28 via a back - to - back representative subdividing wall connector 36 facing directly opposite to representative subdividing wall connector 36 as frontally shown in fig3 . a representative second module partitioning wall 34 is also shown inside stackable module 12 in fig3 . a stackable module 12 can be internally subdivided any number of times via placement of an additional module partitioning wall 34 at any predetermined location within stackable module 12 . a common bus structure for avionics and satellites 10 as illustrated in fig5 shows its versatility in fig6 with instant unmodified placement as a stand - alone consolidated avionics system 11 aboard a representative aircraft platform 52 which has direct communication paths to gps satellite constellation 54 , generic relay satellite constellation 56 , and standard telemetry ground receiving system 58 . a common bus structure for avionics and satellites 10 as illustrated in fig5 shows its versatility in fig7 with instant unmodified placement as a stand - alone consolidated avionics system 11 aboard a representative missile / rocket platform 60 which has direct communication paths to gps satellite constellation 54 , generic relay satellite constellation 56 , and standard telemetry ground receiving system 58 . a common bus structure for avionics and satellites 10 as illustrated in fig5 is instantly adaptable into becoming stand - alone complete satellite system 64 as shown in fig8 , with the addition of representative solar panels 62 , a representative thrusting propulsion system 70 , a representative attitude control thrusting system 72 and a representative antenna 66 , all accommodated and integral to a common stackable module 12 . a common bus structure for avionics and satellites 10 as illustrated in fig5 shows its versatility in fig9 with instant unmodified placement as a stand - alone consolidated avionics system 11 aboard a representative satellite platform 68 which has direct communication paths to gps satellite constellation 54 , generic relay satellite constellation 56 , and standard telemetry ground receiving system 58 . a common bus structure for avionics and satellites 10 as illustrated in fig1 , 5 and 8 specifically detailing representative power / battery charging connector / cabled communication / monitoring interface 74 being an interface access point for monitoring / controlling an array of electronic component internals of cbsas by externally cabling in power for charging on - board batteries and for cabled bi - directional communication with all systems within common bus structure for avionics and satellites 10 . the common bus structure for avionics and satellites 10 as illustrated fully in fig1 and 5 , and incrementally in fig2 , 4 has solved the design and operational complexities involved with finally manifesting a single box which is the mainstay and common backbone of an avionics or satellite system capable of operating equally and as efficiently within benign atmospheric conditions as it does in the harsh environment of space , including the transit into space aboard any missile or rocket . this then being the first ever manifestation of a truly modular , stackable , scalable , flexible , inter - connectable , adaptable , reconfigurable , consolidated and interchangeable system combining the functions of rf ( wireless communication ), processor , data communication and i / o , emi / rfi , power with a emi / rfi chamber design along with the integration of complex interchangeable hardware , software and firmware into a single unit which allows for the never - before combined functions such as time / space / position information ( tspi ), data acquisition / processing / relay ( da / p / r ), wireless communication , avionics , navigation , command and data handling and power generation / distribution ( pg / d ) to be contained in a single consolidated structure . additionally , the combining of all these functions to comprise the common bus structure for avionics and satellites 10 allows for unprecedented efficiencies in design , manufacture and space qualification testing to occur on a one - box system level , and provides for all components and capabilities within stackable modules 12 to be instantly accessible for any reason by simply removing module compression bolts 22 from modular bolt holes 20 , and subsequently easily separating any stackable module 12 from another stackable module 12 , including module lid 14 , modular stack base 16 that forms a parallel secondary floor to module floor 38 , and simultaneously separates internal raceway female connection 26 from internal raceway male connection 30 , along with internal raceway male connection guide 48 from internal raceway female connection guide 50 , or removing module lid 14 from the top of a stackable module 12 if it is the top module stackable module 12 . stackable module 12 can be of varying height as shown in fig8 , depending upon the needs of the user , with internal connector raceway system 24 being variable to any measurement required to support any varied stackable module 12 height . any components with functions such as rf ( wireless communication ), processor , data communication and i / o , emi / rfi , power , navigation sources ( gps receiver , ins , imu , etc .) can be placed in any module , and instantly interfaces with standard communication protocols through module subdividing wall connectors 36 into subdividing wall connector female interface 29 that is integral with raceway wall connection interface 28 . the innovations at the heart of the common bus structure for avionics and satellites 10 make obsolete the need to employ many distributed / federated black boxes which today results in a huge price tag for development , unnecessary size and weight implications , qualification testing of many black - boxes instead of just one , and the present need in all black - box systems to always have rf , processor and power devices separated . each stackable module 12 is the equivalent of one black - box which would only provide one function of the array necessary in an aerospace hardware suite , those functions , amongst others are rf ( wireless communication ), processor , data communication and i / o , emi / rfi , power , and other navigation sources ( gps receiver , ins , imu , etc .) input . by combining all these functions individually , each into a stackable module 12 , one quickly and simply achieves the first truly modular , stackable , scalable , flexible , inter - connectable , adaptable , reconfigurable , consolidated and interchangeable single box that does all functions necessary in an aerospace hardware suite , while not restricting its use to being only of avionics , but also includes but is not limited to any tspi , da / p / r , wireless communication , navigation , command and data handling , pg / d function or even as a stand - alone satellite which can be networked in space with an unlimited number of other similar or different satellites and ground stations . the emi / rfi chambers that instantly manifested as a module sealed chamber volume 45 and raceway sealed chamber volume 44 upon mating two stackable modules 12 or a single stackable module 12 with a module lid 14 and a module stack base 16 allow for the first time mixing of rf ( wireless communication ), processor , data communication and i / o , emi / rfi , power , gps rx / ins / imu navigation input in one singly space qualified box which can be used instantly on a vehicle operating in benign atmospheric conditions up through and including the harsh environment of space , and without any increase in cost due to the innovative design which is applicable and cross - cutting for use in all environments on practically any aerospace or other vehicle type . the tongue in groove design exemplified and applied with module sealing tongue 32 , module base female sealing groove 18 , module floor underside 46 , wall male sealing tongue 42 and wall female sealing groove 40 , all in combination with module partitioning walls 34 with their associated back - to - back subdividing wall connectors 36 , and internal connector raceway system 24 cumulatively create the raceway sealed chamber volume 44 and subsequent individual stacked emi / rfi chambers necessary to co - locate and mix for the first time rf , processor , data communication and i / o , emi / rfi , power , gps rx / ins / emu navigation input in one singly space qualified box which can be used instantly on a vehicle operating in benign atmospheric conditions up through and including the harsh environment of space , and without any increase in cost in any environment due to the innovative design which is applicable and cross - cutting for on practically any aerospace or other vehicle type . additionally , external power and cabled communication are interfaced with common bus structure for avionics and satellites 10 via representative power / battery charging connector / cabled communication / min interface 74 as illustrated in fig1 , 5 and 8 . fig6 and 9 clearly show how simple it is to use a common bus structure for avionics and satellites 10 as a stand - alone consolidated avionics system 11 on a representative aircraft platform 52 in fig6 , as a stand - alone consolidated avionics system 11 on a representative missile / rocket platform 60 in fig7 , and as a stand - alone consolidated avionics system 11 on a representative satellite platform 68 in fig9 . fig8 illustrates how a common bus structure for avionics and satellites 10 is manifested as a completely stand - alone satellite system 64 appended with representative solar panels 62 , a representative thrusting propulsion system 70 appended to module stack base 16 , an appended representative antenna 66 , and a representative attitude control thrusting system 72 appended to a stackable module 12 , clearly creating a completely modular stand - alone military class robust satellite capability with core bus commonality to a stand - alone consolidated avionics system 11 , employable on any aerospace platform as shown in fig6 and 9 . in the aircraft application as shown in fig6 , the missile / rocket application of fig7 , the stand alone satellite application of fig8 , and the larger satellite avionics application within representative satellite platform 68 as depicted in fig9 , the same gps satellite constellation 54 is employed as is the same generic relay satellite constellation 56 and the same standard telemetry ground receiving system 58 . the use of the architecture described in the common bus structure for avionics and satellites 10 when applied to a stand - alone complete satellite system 64 will dominate and change the satellite industry by providing the capability to build satellites which are at least as , or more robust as the currently employed individual designed ones which cost orders of magnitude more to design and develop due to their proprietary nature , and are not nearly as efficient to integrate and deploy in a responsive manner due to their unique individualistic black - box designs integrated on a case - by - case basis . the use of the architecture described in the common bus structure for avionics and satellites 10 when applied to a stand - alone consolidated avionics system 11 will dominate and change the satellite industry by providing the capability to build consolidated avionics systems which are at least as , or more robust as the currently employed ones which cost orders of magnitude more to design and develop due to their proprietary and federated nature , and are not nearly as efficient to integrate and deploy in a responsive manner in comparison to stand - alone complete satellite system 64 due to their unique individualistic black - box designs integrated on a case - by - case basis . the above description distills the essence of the invention into the key component and integrated capabilities which illustrate the unprecedented aspect of this invention being the first time an avionics bus structure is usable on any aerospace platform whether employed within the atmosphere or in space , and can be equally and easily used as a standalone satellite . the qualities of complete modularity , scalability , flexibility , stackability , interconnectivity , adaptability , reconfigurability and interchangeability of an intelligent consolidated architecture into a single consolidated structure and function for multiple applications easily and elegantly takes the place of many federated black - boxes while combining functions never contemplated to combine before into one single box structure , and is capable of operating in a space or earth environment instantly without any modification , with more detailed qualities and capabilities being further described as follows : 1 ) commonality of manufacture and integration by a single entity into a single consolidated structure enables the establishment of all functions and interfaces to be controlled or quickly worked - around by that single entity , which leads to unprecedented internal flexibility of capabilities which can be reconfigured and controlled if hardware changes are necessary , in addition to rapid workarounds that may be required in the event of an unplanned failure within a module . 2 ) the simplicity and elegance of cbsas allows for reliability to be maintained and monitored simultaneously between all modules via integrated tests that can be automated or controlled via ground software . 3 ) similarly to tests while on the ground , cbsas has the integrated capability to do self or ground controlled integrated testing while in flight or on - orbit , and subsequently transmit that integrated data down to earth or any other monitoring location via a telemetry stream . 4 ) single or multiple inputs ingested into the cbsas from external sources are processed and distributed throughout the consolidated structure via the most efficient high - speed electronic routing in order for the system to respond in the most efficient actionable manner possible . 5 ) operational readiness is easy maintained by replacing electrical or mechanical components within a module at any desired time , as well as simply removing a module and replacing it with another module with similar internal components to accomplish the same function as previously required . 6 ) upgrading a single module &# 39 ; s components , or any number of module components simultaneously is easily accomplished within the responsibility of a single integrator at a single location , who can effectively accomplish a minimal cost upgrade to the entire system , vs . the extremely expensive approach for individually upgrading numerous black - boxes , not to mention the extended timeline and coordination that would be required from numerous individual suppliers . 7 ) the open architecture and commonality of this system for an avionics or satellite application drives the use of the lightest and most state - of - the - art components to be employed within the modules , whether the upgrade is as simple as replacing an internal component , or if a more rapid scenario is desired , a separate substitute module can be prepared independent of the existing module desired to be replaced , and then replaced into the consolidated stack of modules on a timeline that best suits the integrator . 8 ) a single suite of common test equipment is employed on the consolidated stack of modules , whether it is configured as an avionics bus or a satellite , and whether or not modules are divided into two or more chambers . 9 ) the completely independent arrangement of modules in a consolidated stack allows for a customer to configure it in any order for any reason , especially if an attitude control system ( acs ) with thrust ports are desired to be appended to a module comprising a stand - alone satellite configuration , whereby the most momentum leverage would be achieved by mounting the acs towards the top of the consolidated stack . 10 ) the size , weight and power reductions enabled by use of cbsas as an avionics unit or as a satellite are unparalleled in the avionics or satellite industries , and frees up acreage and weight that can be better utilized for other equipment and / or payload space , or in the case of a small satellite , the space and weight parameters freed up can be utilized for carrying more sensors or other specialized payload packages . 11 ) the internal raceway contained in both the avionics and satellite manifestations of cbsas enable high - speed secure communications throughout the entire stack of modules , irrespective of the order in which they are stacked , and allows for a communications port to interface with any standard communications network . 12 ) the direct interconnectivity of all systems contained in all the modules insure the most robust backup capability possible whether as a standalone avionics unit or as a standalone satellite , complete with internal diagnostics that give deep insight into the status of an individual module at anytime and at any place . 13 ) whether in use as a satellite or an avionics unit , cbsas has the capability to ingest external commands from an off - board location to adjust or even completely change the previously programmed flight parameters it was initially instructed to carry out . 14 ) the system architecture of cbsas allows it to internally accommodate the most tiny and powerful state - of - the - art components , allowing for redundant and fault tolerant systems to be integral with the primary ones with very little increased weight . 15 ) a satellite or avionics configuration in its stacked and consolidated arrangement can be environmentally qualification tested as a whole unit , thus saving many times over what environmentally qualifying the equivalent number of individual black - boxes would be . 16 ) all components contained or planned to be upgraded within a satellite or avionics manifestation of cbsas have been meticulously pre - selected , along with having a full reliability assessment compliment each component , which in - turn allows for extremely high initial system reliability . 17 ) in addition to the size , weight and power reductions made possible by deployment of cbsas , which in - turn leads to greater customer earning power , other huge benefits become apparent when one sees the design and manufacturing simplicity that accompanies the consolidated modular approach , allowing for rapid production to simultaneously benefit the satellite and avionics industry . 18 ) the simplicity inherent in the cbsas design allows for either a satellite in orbit or an avionics package in flight to have full duplex communications with the unit , while simultaneously having continual telemetry reporting of the health and status of all systems throughout all mission phases . 19 ) in sharp contrast to a federated black - box avionics or satellite system , cbsas &# 39 ; s modular and consolidated approach to manifest either an avionics or satellite system is capable of combining previously un - combinable disciplines such as comm and power into one unit , therefore allows the essence of this invention to exist for the first time ever in aerospace or any other industry . 20 ) the avionics manifestation of cbsas can equally function within the benign atmosphere or aboard a satellite in space without any modification , in sharp contrast to existing black - box avionics systems comprised of individual boxes , where each box is either space rated or atmosphere rated , and if space rated , by simple fact of that designation will cost orders of magnitude more than a box solely used within the atmosphere , but not so with cbsas . 21 ) costly space qualification tests are slashed by cbsas due to only needing to test one consolidated unit that would normally be comprised of approximately 5 individual units with a federated standard black - box system , which would require the corresponding number of space qualification tests , with one qualification test being required for each box , vs . cbsas where only testing one consolidated box containing all five previously segregated functions is necessary . 22 ) the integration of previously segregated emi / rfi enclosures into a single stacked unit with an internal raceway with its own separate emi / rfi chamber adjacent to the enclosures contained within a module is unprecedented , and is what allows the miniaturization of an avionics suite or a complete satellite system to be manifested into the single stacked unit known as cbsas 23 ) assembly of cbsas into a solid single structure is unprecedented amongst all the other federated black - box avionics and satellite systems whereby the vehicle attach points of the various black - boxes require full individual integration and cabling to each separate box , in sharp contrast to cbsas which utilizes a unique interlocking tongue and groove system to secure each module to each other , resulting in an integrated structure with internal cabling that withstands any severe environment encountered within or outside of the atmosphere 24 ) in order for cbsas to be usable as a standalone satellite in addition to an avionics system , it was important to remove all outer cabling from the modules structure and run the cables internally as the invention shows , which additionally provides the most stable structure possible when it comes to passing space qualification testing , especially since an external cable system would subject the unit to immediate emi hazards when deployed in space , rendering it useless . 25 ) cbsas levels the playing field for applications on small satellite launching systems up through large and expensive satellite launching systems without requiring any modification , and when coupled with the sustainability and repeatability of manufacture , large numbers of units can be quickly manufactured , keeping the price point lower than any federated avionics system . 26 ) the military robustness rating of cbsas allows for the armed forces to quickly proliferate space with the inexpensive bus structures of this invention for all types of satellite applications in a rapid deployment fashion , and while keeping increased numbers ready in orbit , and their tiny size makes them much more survivable than a larger satellite with an equivalent mission . given all the above detailed description of this first bus usable for atmospheric avionics , avionics on satellites in space , and as a stand - alone satellite , it also removes the cost barrier whereby a system utilized in the harsh conditions of space is also cost effective for use on vehicles operating within the atmosphere . previously it would have also been cost prohibitive and impractical to adapt any avionics utilized in atmospheric conditions for use in a space environment . for the first time in the aerospace or any industry , the data acquisition , computational and system components and interfaces of a satellite or avionics system are of a nature whereby their associated physical outer structure is integral with the components themselves that comprise it within a single assembled box system , thereby making the whole satellite or avionics system an integrated and consolidated structure . in sharp contrast to this approach , all other existing avionics and satellite systems employ a physical outer enveloping structure that houses many black boxes connected with external cabling in a federated manner to comprise the satellite or avionics suite in a distributed , non - integrated way . the integrated and consolidated approach of this invention creates an opportunity in the aerospace or any industry to forge a new dimension and paradigm when it comes to the assemblage of components which comprise a satellite or avionics system which can function equally as well on vehicles operating within benign atmospheric conditions either terrestrially or not , up through and including the harsh environment of space . of further note , accompanying this invention is the unprecedented ease of incremental or full upgrades of internal components which paves the way for extreme employment and modification cost reductions on a global scale , with no other federated system even coming close to the capabilities made instantly possible with this invention . finally , cbsas allows for the ease of deployment of hundreds of nano / micro satellites to form constellations in space with different payload instruments that communicate at high speed rates between each other to form a disaggregation architecture which emulates a large satellite and / or make hundreds of scientific measurements simultaneously to gain additional scientific insight and knowledge . it has unprecedented flexibility from design , buildup , test and operations due to its simplistic open architecture that allows it to function as a satellite or an avionics system for use within the atmosphere or in space without any internal modification , while additionally allowing for the most fail - safe operations possible via the lightweight internal components which can have backup systems resident within the modules . it employs the same open architecture within a satellite or avionics configuration , allowing for unprecedented and highly repeatable assembly and testing to occur prior to flight to maximize its reliability , and if an anomaly occurs , rapid replacement of module components or the module itself can occur , in addition to fail - over and fault tolerant software being present that can reconfigure the flight unit if deployed and inaccessible to human intervention . it is equally possible to have a satellite or avionics configuration function during all mission phases as a completely self - contained system that provides a data downlink for monitoring all systems within the consolidated stack of modules . it has a crossover nature with standard protocols enabling it to interface with any sensors in a common way that has direct applicability for a satellite or avionics implementation , while also enabling a simplistic approach for integration into any vehicle when manifested as an avionics suite for use within the atmosphere or in space . it is possible to reconfigure cbsas quickly and efficiently on a module level , on down to a component level within the modules in a manner that allows for a rapid response capability to maintain a timeline , whether during a production , testing or flight phase . it has an unparalleled capability for instantaneous upgrades whether in an avionics or satellite configuration , therefore allowing for the latest component technologies to be integrated as soon as they are available , and thereby minimizing risks when adopting and integrating these new technologies . it has the smallest footprint , weight and power requirements of any stand - alone satellite or avionics suite of similar capability , while additionally possessing complete crossover architecture for the first time between the avionics and satellite disciplines . it can be reconfigured in a very rapid manner in the event that mission objectives change which require new internal components , or even the addition of new modules to be added to the stack . it provides for the most responsive implementation of satellite vs . avionics buildup whether in the early manufacturing stages , or later on during final assembly with test and check - out , while simultaneously even allowing for a last minute change of the unit being manifested as a satellite or an avionics package . it is employable on any size vehicle currently utilizing avionics comprised of many federated black - boxes , while subsequently requiring a fraction of a footprint , power and allowing those metrics to be utilized by other disciplines for housing new capabilities which can generate additional revenue which would otherwise not have been possible . it has an on - board ability for monitoring or being controlled via full duplex communications , giving a real - time connection with all systems whether functioning as a consolidated avionics suite or as a stand - alone satellite . it employs a design philosophy whereby multiple pathways to mission success are assured , from having backup systems aboard to the uplink of new instructions to perform self reconfiguration , even while a mission is underway when functioning either as a satellite or as an avionics suite . it employs a programmed internal test and checkout sequence to evaluate the health of all components , and re - tests all systems upon the issuance of a reconfiguration command , whether the system is manifested as a satellite or an avionics suite . it has unparalleled reliability whether functioning as a satellite or as an avionics suite due to the failure analysis intricately performed in software which governs the processing part of the system in either application . it emulates the functions of a federated black - box system without requiring the rigorous multi - box qualification testing necessary with all other avionics or satellite systems , while additionally being internally upgradeable without causing a full re - qualification testing on an individual single box basis . it minimizes the complexities normally involved with the upgrade and interface testing of a federated black - box system , even if the upgrades and changes are relatively minor but could still cause unpredicted anomalies to occur . it greatly simplifies the cabling and accelerates the installation time required to install an avionics system on any aerospace platform , while simultaneously reducing size , weight and power , by not only by having a single consolidated box with all connections being completed internally , but also realizes the benefit of not having many pounds of external wire harnesses connecting numerous black - boxes . it has an active internal cross - talk capability between all modules which also streams the health and status state of all systems to a monitoring station via telemetry which can travel via uhf , shf and ehf communication simultaneously with a backup stream traveling via a worldwide consumer satellite network to any location . it is the first single integrated common avionics or satellite bus to integrate rf , power , processing , communications and other singular functions into a single box , therefore making it possible to employ that box as the first to be instantly usable as a satellite or an avionics system employed within the atmosphere or aboard a large satellite in space . it is quickly deployable within the rigid guidelines required for critical responsive space missions , while assuring it is as robust as any military satellite or avionics system in any scenario within atmospheric conditions , or if deployed in the harsh environment of space . it decisively shortens the timeframe required for pre - deployment systems qualification testing by only requiring one box to undergo this testing , vs . existing federated black - box systems typically requiring approximately five individual boxes to undergo this testing , which in - turn sharply decreases the associated cost of employing cbsas as an avionics suite or a satellite system , as systems qualification testing is very expensive and requires up - front long term scheduling . it is the first single structure of its kind that incorporates all aspects of avionics or equally a satellite bus into one distinct box that is universally adaptable for use in any aerospace vehicle under any environmental condition . it employs a design method to negate the effects of shock and vibration while simultaneously maintaining an assemblage of interlocking faraday cages that seamlessly pass data between each other in any order and subsequently transmit all required data to a receiving station . it is the only aerospace structure in existence that integrates a multitude of previously unmixable disciplines such as rf and power into a single structure without external cabling between what used to be these external rf and power black - boxes , with only a single cable being required to externally interface with cbsas for charging its internal batteries and for bi - directional health / status communication between cbsas and an external monitoring system . it achieves the most important goal of a responsive space system , that of being quickly fielded in the shortest timeframe possible by employing a standardized assembly line type of buildup operation due to the elegant simplicity of all the repeatable components which make up the system , whether for ultimate use as a satellite or as an avionics system . it is the first system that can be used as a stand - alone satellite , an avionics package within a larger satellite , or as an avionics package onboard a vehicle within the atmosphere , thus employing a standardized approach and interface that is unprecedented in the aerospace field . the many detailed descriptions above must not be interpreted in any manner to indicate a limit to the scope of this invention , as its only intent is to provide examples of its functionality obtained by employing it in many possible configurations . for example , the cbsas may contain any number of partitioned internal rfi / emi chambers and raceways than the three illustrated in fig3 . although many specifics have been contained therein to help describe the functioning of this system in a simple modular way , they should not be construed to confuse the main aspect of this invention being the first time an avionics bus system and a satellite system share a common core bus structure , and that common core bus is instantly usable as an avionics system within the atmosphere or outside of it aboard a larger satellite , and additionally can serve as a stand - alone satellite itself employed in space . in order to make this instantly transformable capability possible , cbsas is designed , manufactured and tested by incorporating the aspects of complete scalability , modularity , open architecture , flexibility , stackability , interconnectivity , reconfigurability , adaptability , interchangeability and consolidation in a single unit system which takes the place of many black - boxes boxes comprising all previously existing avionics , satellite or other types of technology systems functioning terrestrially or up though and into the environment of space . additionally , for the first time in the history of the aerospace industry , no longer will there be a reliance upon the distributed , inefficient and unique black - box systems which very inefficiently proliferate the avionics and satellite industries to provide the functions of tspi , da / p / r , pg / d , wireless communication , avionics , navigation , command and data handling , which are certainly not adaptable into becoming a stand - alone deployed satellite or consolidated avionics system , and certainly not of a common design and structure to be equally and instantly utilized as either a stand alone satellite or avionics system within or outside of the atmosphere . additionally , all multiple black - box avionics systems and satellites always have their internal components housed in a uniquely fabricated box assembly structures , opposed to the essence of this invention being that of a mass - producible and repeatable common structure that can be instantly utilized as either a stand - alone satellite or an avionics system employed within or outside of the atmosphere without any modification . therefore with cbsas , the single integrated and consolidated inner and outer structure together comprise the totality of the complete system , including the capability to provide rfi / emi shielding on a modular or sub - modular level , as well as an integrated box system level , while easily passing all required environmental full - scale qualification testing , including shock , vibration , thermal and the like . thus , the scope of this invention should only be determined by the appended claims and their legal equivalents .
| 1 |
the catalysts utilized in the co - catalyst system of the instant invention are organo - metallic compounds , for example , metal salts of carboxylic acids , metal alcoholates , metal phenolates and metal oximes , wherein the metal is bismuth , zinc , antimony and / or lithium , and may be prepared by any known method . metal salts of carboxylic acids are preferred and may be produced , for example , by reacting a metal - containing base with a carboxylic acid having 2 to 20 carbon atoms in the molecule , preferably 6 to 16 carbon atoms in the molecule and more preferably 8 to 12 carbon atoms in the molecule , wherein the metal is bismuth , zinc , antimony and / or lithium . useful carboxylic acids are represented by the formula rcooh wherein r is a hydrocarbon radical containing 1 to about 19 carbon atoms . r can be alkyl , cycloalkyl , aryl , or alkylaryl , such as methyl , ethyl , propyl , isopropyl , neopentyl , octyl , neononyl , cyclohexyl , phenyl , tolyl or naphthyl . r is preferably alkyl or cycloalkyl , more preferably alkyl . see for example u . s . pat . nos . 4 , 584 , 362 ( bismuth catalysts ); 3 , 245 , 958 ( antimony catalysts ); and 3 , 714 , 077 ( bismuth and antimony catalysts ). metal alcoholates are disclosed in u . s . pat . nos . 3 , 245 , 957 ( antimony catalysts ); 3 , 407 , 151 ( antimony and bismuth catalysts ); and 3 , 714 , 077 ( antimony and bismuth catalysts ). the individual catalysts are also available commercially . the primary use of the co - catalyst system is to accelerate the reaction between the isocyanate and the hydroxyl groups . the co - catalyst system can be employed in a wide range of non - cellular elastomer formulation systems where reduced catalyst toxicity is desirable , particularly plywood - patch applications . the co - catalyst system provides an alternative to the use of catalysts based on lead , tin or mercury with respect to reduced catalyst toxicity and to the sole use of bismuth - based catalysts with respect to reduced costs and improved flowability . catalysts in use prior to this invention all had the capability of promoting reaction between a hydroxyl group and isocyanates to produce urethane linkages and , ultimately , polyurethane products . the major disadvantage of organo - mercury based catalysts is that , as supplied , they must be handled with extreme caution due to their classification as poisons and the shipping containers must be managed under the resources conservation and recovery act as hazardous waste . organo - lead catalysts must also be handled with a great deal of caution due to their toxicity classification as a hazardous substance under the resources conservation and recovery act . organo - antimony catalysts must also be handled with caution due to their toxicity classification as a hazardous chemical by osha . at levels of less than 1 percent by weight antimony , polyurethanes are considered safe but such levels are not useful for plywood - patch applications due to slow reactivity . organo - antimony catalysts also tend to promote the water / isocyanate reaction . primarily due to these considerations of toxicity and handling , the use of organo - tin catalysts in non - cellular urethane systems has occurred . as a class , organo - tin compounds do not provide the same type of catalytic performance as organo - mercury and organo - lead compounds , since organo - tin compounds also promote the reaction between moisture and isocyanates in addition to the hydroxy group - isocyanate reaction . the non - specific nature of the tin catalysts makes their use difficult , with the processor required to go to extreme measures to reduce the presence of moisture in the reactants and other ingredients utilized therein in order to eliminate bubbling or pinhole formation in the elastomers obtained . in addition , when using catalysts based on mercury , lead or tin , monitoring of the work place environment must be done in order to ascertain ambient air quality compliance with occupational safety and health administration standards (&# 34 ; osha &# 34 ;). only general ventilation is required when using catalysts based on antimony . the co - catalyst system of this invention provides optimum performance based on flowability , tailored gel times , adhesion , and hardness in plywood - patch applications and will not contribute to embrittlement of the cured elastomer . as a precautionary measure , a desiccant such as molecular sieve may be added to the formulation in amounts effective for eliminating , or at least minimizing , any foaming that may occur . most importantly , the co - catalyst system has an excellent acute toxicity profile . no occupational exposure limit standard must be met when using the co - catalyst system and only general ventilation is required . it is apparent , therefore , that , when contrasted with organo - mercury compounds and lead salts of organic acids , the co - catalyst system of this invention is much less toxic . the toxicity profiles of organo - tin based chemicals are somewhat poorer , but within about the same order of magnitude as the compounds of this invention , but when considering their limitations based on moisture sensitivity and osha monitoring requirements , the safety and ease of use of the compounds of this invention are evident . the toxicity profiles of organo - bismuth based chemicals are within about the same order of magnitude as the compounds utilized herein , but are also about 2 to 4 times more expensive than the co - catalyst system utilized herein since the organo - bismuth catalyst is not used as the sole catalyst . the primary hydroxy containing reactants used in the preparation of the polyurethane elastomers utilized in the plywood - patch compositions embodying the present invention are primary and secondary hydroxy terminated polyalkylene ethers and polyesters having from 2 to about 4 hydroxyl groups and a molecular weight of from about 1000 to about 10 , 000 . they are liquids or are capable of being liquified or melted for handling . examples of polyalkylene polyols include linear and branched polyethers having a plurality of ether linkages and containing at least 2 hydroxyl groups and being substantially free from functional groups other than hydroxyl groups . typical examples of the polyalkylene polyols which are useful in the practice of the invention are the polyethylene glycols , polypropylene glycols and polybutylene ether glycols . linear and branched copolyethers of ethylene oxide and propylene oxide are also useful in preparing the elastomers of this invention . those having molecular weights of from about 1000 to about 5000 are preferred . polyethers having a branch chain network are also useful . such branch chain polyethers are readily prepared from alkylene oxides and initiators having a functionality greater than 2 . a variety of poly ( oxyalkylene ) polyols are available commercially with an exemplary list provided in table a below : table a______________________________________ avg . commercial prod . hydroxyl no . molecular wt . f . sup . a mfgr . sup . b______________________________________niax lht - 112 112 1500 3 uccniax lht - 67 67 2000 3 uccniax 11 - 34 34 4800 3 uccthanol sf - 1502 112 1500 3 arcovoranol 2228 28 2715 3 dowvoranol 15096 . 0l 112 1500 3 dowxvr 1663 - 40557 - 23 110 1500 3 dowvoranol 4815 28 6000 3 dowvoranol 2140 28 4000 2 dowvoranol 2012 94 1200 2 dowvoranol 2120 56 2000 2 dowvoranol 2100 56 3000 3 dowfomrez x6017 - 183 140 1600 4 witcofomrez et 1500 112 1500 3 witcofomrez 6017 - 133 60 3740 4 witcopoly g - 30 - 112 112 1500 3 olinpoly g - 76 - 120 110 1500 3 olinpoly g - 55 - 56 56 2000 2 olinpoly g - 20 - 28 28 4000 2 olinpoly g - 85 - 28 27 6500 3 olin588 - 186 60 1870 2 jwres - d - 2116 82 1370 2 herc______________________________________ . sup . a functionality , i . e ., number of hydroxyl groups in the polyol , for example , f = 3 refers to a triol . . sup . b manufacturers . the abbreviations correspond to the following manufacturers : ucc union carbide corp ., danbury , connecticut arco arco , newtown square , pennsylvania dow dow chemical co ., midland , michigan witco witco corporation , chicago , illinois olin olin chemicals , stamford , connecticut jw jim walters , st . petersburg , florida herc hercules , inc ., wilmington , delaware any organic di or tri isocyanate can be used in the practice of the present invention . diisocyanates are preferred . examples of suitable organic polyisocyanates are trimethylene diisocyanate , tetramethylene diisocyanate , pentamethylene diisocyanate and hexamethylene diisocyanate . examples of aromatic diisocyanates include 2 , 4 tolylene diisocyanate , and 2 , 6 tolylene diisocyanate . in addition , methylene diphenyldiisocyanates and polymeric isocyanates based on methylene diphenyldiisocyanates can be employed . the tolylene diisocyanates ( tdi ) are monomeric and possess a high vapor pressure relative to the methylene diisocyanates ( mdi ), which are polymeric . the tdi vapors are very toxic and have a propensity of reacting once in a person &# 39 ; s respiratory system . as such , tdi poses a handling problem and a health hazard . as a result , mdi is preferred for many applications , including plywood patch material . the amount of polyisocyanate employed is greater than 1 . 00 , and preferably ranges from greater than 1 . 00 to about 2 . 0 , more preferably about 1 . 05 to about 1 . 7 , moles of nco in the polyisocyanate per mole of active hydrogen in the polyols . in certain instances it may be desirable to add a chain extender to complete the formulation of polyurethane polymers by reacting isocyanate groups of adducts or prepolymers . examples of some types of polyol chain extenders include 1 , 4 butanediol , diethylene glycol , trimethylol propane and hydroquinone di ( beta hydroxyethyl ether ). the chain extender when present is added at about 1 % w to about 20 % w , preferably about 3 % w to about 6 % w based on the weight of the reactants . plywood - patch compositions may additionally incorporate diluents , fillers , compatibilizers , thixotropes , pigments and anti - settling agents . suitable fillers include barium sulfate , calcium sulfate , calcium carbonate , silica , and clay particles , such as aluminum silicates , magnesium silicates and kaolin . suitable compatibilizers are hydroxy containing organic compounds , preferably hydroxy containing monocyclic arenes such as ethoxylated nonyl phenol , which compatibilize the polyol and aromatic diisocyanate reactants in the formulation . suitable diluents include hydrotreated paraffinic oils , hydrotreated naphthenic oils , petroleum solvents , aliphatic solvents and propylene carbonate . an exemplary list of commercial available diluents is given in table b below . table b______________________________________diluent flash point ( f .) manufacturer . sup . a______________________________________propylene carbonate 270 texaco ; arcohydrotreatednaphthenic oil : sunthene 204 265 sunhyprene v - 60 300 ergonhydrotreatedparaffinic oil : sunpar 107 350 sunsunpar lw104 260 sunsunpar lw003 200 sunaromaticpetroleum solvent : aromatic 100 108 exxonhisol - 10 110 ashlandpetroleum solvent : exxsol d110 221 exxonvarsol 1 108 exxonvarsol 18 106 exxonaliphatic solvents : pd - 23 225 witcopd - 25 225 witco______________________________________ . sup . a the abbreviations correspond to the following : texaco texaco , inc ., bellaire , texas arco arco , newtown square , pennsylvania sun sun refining , philadelphia , pennsylvania exxon exxon chemical , houston , texas ashland ashland chemical , columbus , ohio witco witco , sonnaborn division , ny , new york ergon ergon , jackson , mississippi a preferred plywood - patch composition comprises two components -- a component a and a component b wherein component a ranges from about 6 to about 15 parts to each part of b by volume . component a comprises ( a ) from about 15 to about 40 % w of a poly ( oxyalkylene ) polyol having a functionality of at least 3 , preferably a poly ( oxyalkylene ) triol ; ( b ) from 0 to about 16 % w of poly ( oxyalkylene ) diol ; ( c ) from 0 to about 2 . 5 % w of a compatibilizer such as ethoxylated nonyl phenol ; ( d ) from 0 to about 12 % w of a non - reactive diluent ; ( e ) from 0 to about 2 % w of a desiccant such as micronized molecular sieve , preferably 0 to about 1 % w ; ( f ) from 0 to about 0 . 8 % w of a thixotrope , more preferably from 0 to about 0 . 5 % w ; ( g ) from about 30 to about 70 % w of a filler , more preferably from about 50 to about 65 % w ; ( h ) from 0 to about 2 % w of a pigment , more preferably from about 0 . 05 to about 0 . 2 % w ; ( i ) from 0 to about 2 % w of an anti - settling agent , more preferably from 0 to about 0 . 5 % w ; and ( j ) from about 0 . 1 to about 3 % w of the co - catalyst system , wherein % w is based on the weight of component a . in one embodiment , the poly ( oxyalkylene ) polyol having at least three ( 3 ) hydroxyl groups is a mixture of a first and a second poly ( oxyalkylene ) triol , wherein the first poly ( oxyalkylene ) triol is present from about 15 to about 30 % w and has a molecular weight from about 1 , 000 to less than 3 , 000 and a hydroxyl number from about 60 to about 150 and the second poly ( oxyalkylene ) triol is present from about 5 to about 15 % w and has a molecular weight from about 3 , 000 to about 10 , 000 , and a hydroxyl number from about 30 to about 100 , preferably with no poly ( oxyalkylene ) diol , wherein % w is based on the weight of component a . in another embodiment , the poly ( oxyalkylene ) polyol having at least three ( 3 ) hydroxyl groups is a poly ( oxyalkylene ) triol and is present from about 15 to about 30 % w and has a molecular weight from about 1 , 000 to about 5 , 000 and a hydroxyl number from about 60 to about 150 and a poly ( oxyalkylene ) diol is present from about 5 to about 15 % w and has a molecular weight from about 1 , 000 to about 5 , 000 and a hydroxyl number from about 30 to about 100 , wherein % w is based on the weight of component a . the component b of the plywood - patch composition is preferably entirely methylene diphenyl diisocyanate , though mixtures of diisocyanates are also permissible . additionally , chain extenders including that amount utilized as a solvent in the catalyst solution may be present from 0 to about 5 % w , preferably from 0 to about 2 % w , based on the weight of component a . chain extenders in excess of these amounts have an adverse affect on adhesion ( american plywood association boil test ) and hardness ( shore a durometer hardness ). the following examples are for illustrative purposes only and are not meant to limit the claimed invention in any manner . the following tests have been utilized in some of the examples that follow : ( 1 ) flowability : the flowability of the chemicals relates to how well the chemicals process through the mixing / metering equipment and how they flow to fill surface defects , for example , voids , cracks , knot - holes , splits , and the like , in the plywood panels . for the mixed chemicals , flowability relates to two phenomena . first , the initial flowability which is related to the viscosity of the chemicals initially and which can be measured on a brookfield viscometer under high spindle speeds ( i . e ., the # 4 spindle @ 60 rpm &# 39 ; s for a model lvf brookfield ). chemicals of 3000 cps or less will have good initial flowability for this application . secondly , as the chemicals react , the viscosity changes . with an increase in viscosity due to the crosslinking reaction between the isocyanate and polyol , the flowability of the chemicals decreases until the gel point is reached , at which time flow stops . generally speaking , gel times of 17 to 18 seconds or longer result in good flowability . gel times of less than 17 seconds lead to poor flowability . ( 2 ) gel time is the point in time from the initial reaction of the chemicals until the viscosity has increased sufficiently so no flow occurs or when the polymer has crosslinked sufficiently to form a permanent shape . the gel time of the chemicals relates to mixing gun tube plugging and tube replacement costs . the desired gel time is one that is as close to the tack free time as possible as to maximize flowability . ( 3 ) tack free time is defined as the time from initial mixing until the surface of the urethane mass loses its stickiness or adhesive quality as measured by touching the surface with a tongue depressor or one &# 39 ; s finger tip . tack free time relates to how quickly the plywood patch cures on the plywood board such that the boards do not stick together during the stacking operation at the end of the plywood patch operating line . ( 4 ) shore a durometer hardness test per astm d - 2240 - 75 , &# 34 ; rubber property - durometer hardness &# 34 ;. shore a durometer hardness versus time relates to how quickly the patch cures on the board so that it resists damage during stacking , handling , sanding and other plant operations . ( 5 ) adhesion . a point in time when the urethane mass adheres to the surface of a plywood panel and cannot be removed by pulling at the edges with one &# 39 ; s fingernail or by thumb pressure . adhesion is a property that is very important in terms of the synthetic patch remaining in the filled defect area as the boards are sanded . the quicker the adhesion times the more likely the patch will remain in the defect . in the following examples , the plywood - patch formulation shown in table 1 was utilized , unless otherwise specified . in preparing component a , various amounts and types of catalyst and co - catalysts were added to about 100 grams of the base composition shown in table 1 and mixed thoroughly . component a was then combined with component b in the proportion of about 10 parts by volume of component a to one part of by volume of component b , which corresponded to the addition of about 8 grams of mdi . components a and b were mixed under high speed agitation for about 10 seconds . the mixture was then poured onto the surface of an unsanded plywood panel at about room temperature , about 73 ° f . each mixture ( sample ) was tested for flowability of the mixture onto the panel , gel time in seconds , tack free time in seconds , adhesion to the wood surface in seconds , and the curing hardness profile as measured by shore a durometer with time as the variable . table 1______________________________________plywood - patch composition formulation______________________________________ingredientscomponent a : 1 . base composition percent by weight poly ( oxyalkylene ) triol . sup . a 18 . 4 poly ( oxyalkylene ) triol . sup . b 13 . 3 diluent . sup . c 5 . 3 anti - settling agent . sup . d 0 . 2 thixotrope . sup . e 0 . 4 desiccant . sup . f 1 . 0 filler . sup . g 61 . 3 pigment . sup . h 0 . 12 . catalyst or catalyst solution variedcomponent b : methylene diphenyl diisocyanate ( mdi ) ratio a to b 10 to 1 ( parts by volume ): ______________________________________ . sup . a a triol having a molecular weight of about 1500 and hydroxyl numbe of about 120 . . sup . b a triol having a molecular weight of about 4800 and a hydroxyl number of about 34 . . sup . c an aromatic petroleum solvent having 100 % aromatic content and having a flash point of about 105 ° f . and a boiling point of about 308 ° f . . sup . d anti - terra ® - u80 available from byk chemie usa , wallingford , conn . and described as a solution of a salt of unsaturated polyamine amid and higher molecules of acidic esters . . sup . e cab - o - sil type m5 available from cabot corporation ; a fumed silica . sup . f molecular sieve type 4a is powder form available from union carbid corporation , tarrytown , new york , having a nominal pore diameter of about 4 angstroms . . sup . g wingdale white available from georgia marble co ., atlanta , ga ., a calcium carbonate having a mean particle size of about 6 microns . . sup . h yellow iron oxide commercially available as mapico yellow 1075a from columbian chemicals co ., atlanta , ga . the catalysts or catalyst solutions shown in table 2 were used in the following examples : table 2______________________________________catalyst code description______________________________________a catalyst 320 available from mooney chem - icals , inc ., cleveland , ohio , is a catalyst solution containing about 78 % by weight bismuth 2 - ethylhexoate and about 22 % by weight mineral spirits and contains about 28 % by weight bismuth . b 22 % zinc hex chem available from mooney chemicals , inc . is a catalyst com - posed of 100 % zinc octoate ( zinc 2 - ethylhexoate ) and contains about 22 % by weight zinc . c 18 % antimony hex chem available from mooney chemicals , inc . is a catalyst solu - tion containing about 98 % by weight anti - mony 2 - ethylhexoate and about 2 % by weight mineral spirits and contains about 18 % by weight antimony . d 2 % lithium ten - cem hf available from mooney chemicals , inc ., is a catalyst solu - tion containing about 57 % by weight lith - ium neodecanoate and about 43 % by weight diethylene glycol monobutyl ether and con - tains about 2 % by weight lithium . ______________________________________ in this example , various catalysts were utilized alone with the base composition of component a . the metals in these catalysts were bismuth ( bi ), zinc ( zn ), antimony ( sb ) and lithium ( li ). as indicated in table 3 , the bismuth catalyst solution ( sample no . 1 - 1 ) reacts and gels quite quickly and , as a result , flowability of the plywood patch formulation is very poor . as for the zinc -, antimony - and lithium - based catalysts , none of these catalysts produced an acceptable plywood patch as measured by the reactivity profile ( shore a hardness vs . time ). an acceptable plywood patching formulation would be one for which reaction and curing begin within about 30 ± 3 seconds . at the catalyst levels of about 0 . 41 to 0 . 42 parts of catalysts or catalysts solution per 100 parts of the base composition of component a ( pph ) ( samples no . 1 - 2 , 1 - 4 and 1 - 6 ), all three catalyst types took well over 200 seconds for any reaction to occur , and then only the lithium - based catalyst showed any promise with a final cure hardness of 72 as measured by shore a after 3000 seconds ( 50 minutes ). the antimony - based catalyst produced a foaming patch which did not cure and remained tacky and spongy well past 3000 seconds . the zinc - based catalyst likewise showed a very slow reaction with very little activity until about 1400 seconds . additionally , the concentration of zinc -, antimony -, and lithium - based catalyst or catalyst - solution used separately had to be increased greatly to between 2 . 5 to 6 . 0 pph levels to get any type of reaction to occur . these catalysts separately did not produce acceptable patch formulations and at these concentration levels would be cost prohibitive to use . table 3__________________________________________________________________________ ( sole catalyst ) __________________________________________________________________________sample no . 1 - 1 1 - 2 1 - 3 1 - 4 1 - 5 1 - 6 1 - 7catalyst level . sup . a / catalyst 0 . 26 / a 0 . 42 / b 2 . 5 / b 0 . 42 / c 2 . 5 / c 0 . 41 / d 6 . 0 / dmetal bi zn zn sb sb li limoles of metal 3 . 48 × 10 - 6 1 . 4 × 10 . sup .- 5 8 . 4 × 10 . sup .- 5 6 × 10 . sup .- 6 3 . 7 × 10 . sup .- 5 1 . 2 × 10 . sup .- 5 1 . 7 × 10 . sup .- 4flowability very poor good good good excellent good goodgel time ( sec .) 14 none 380 none 50 180 80tack free time ( sec .) 22 1300 450 2700 60 220 150shore a hardness 80 sec . 48 none -- none 5 none -- 100 sec . 50 none -- none 6 none -- 120 sec . 53 none -- none -- none -- 150 sec . 56 none -- none -- none -- 175 sec . 58 none -- none ( foam ) -- none -- 200 sec . 62 none -- none 20 none -- 250 sec . 68 none -- none -- 19 -- 300 sec . 69 none -- none -- 28 28 400 sec . 72 none -- none 25 36 -- 500 sec . 74 none -- none -- 45 -- 600 sec . 76 none -- none -- 50 -- 800 sec . -- none -- none -- 58 -- 1000 sec . -- none -- none -- 60 -- 1400 sec . -- 20 -- none -- -- -- 2000 sec . -- -- -- none -- 68 -- 2500 sec . -- 36 -- none -- 70 -- 3000 sec . -- 42 20 / 15 min . spongy 32 / 30 min . 72 40 / 30 min . adhesion time ( sec .) 556 2175 1800 none ( foam ) none 2300 1800comments sticky no foam foam no foam__________________________________________________________________________ . sup . a parts catalyst or catalyst solution per 100 parts of base composition of component a . &# 34 ;--&# 34 ; denotes test not performed . in this example , various ratios of bismuth - based catalyst to zinc - based catalyst were utilized with the base composition of component a . the weight ratio of the bismuth - based catalyst solution to the zinc - based catalyst ranged from about 20 : 80 to about 90 : 10 which corresponds to a mole ratio range of bismuth to zinc metal of about 1 : 10 to about 1 : 0 . 25 . as indicated in table 4 , an acceptable plywood patch formulation was one having a bismuth - based catalyst solution to zinc - based catalyst weight ratio ranging from about 40 : 60 to about 70 : 30 , which corresponds to a mole ratio range of bismuth to zinc metal of about 1 : 3 . 8 to about 1 : 1 . 1 . above about 70 : 30 weight ratio ( mole ratio of bismuth to zinc of about 1 : 1 . 1 ), the plywood patch formulation tends to gel too quickly for adequately processing it through the mixing equipment . whereas below the 40 : 60 weight ratio ( mole ratio of bismuth to zinc metal of about 1 : 3 . 8 ), the patch formulation tack free time starts to become too slow for on - line processing and could result in a soft patch which may cause boards to stick together when stacked . thus , to produce a most acceptable plywood patch formulation utilizing a co - catalyst system using a bismuth - based catalyst and a zinc - based catalyst , the bismuth and zinc metals therein should be present such that the mole ratio of bismuth metal to zinc metal is from about 1 : 4 to about 1 : 1 . table 4__________________________________________________________________________ ( bismuth / zinc ) __________________________________________________________________________sample no . 2 - 1 2 - 2 2 - 3 2 - 4 2 - 5 2 - 6 2 - 7 2 - 8ratio a / b catalyst 20 / 80 30 / 70 40 / 60 50 / 50 62 . 5 / 37 . 5 70 / 30 75 / 25 90 / 10a catalyst level . sup . a . 084 . 126 . 168 . 21 . 26 . 294 . 315 . 378b catalyst level . sup . a . 336 . 294 . 252 . 21 . 15 . 126 . 105 . 040moles of metal : bi 1 . 1 × 10 . sup .- 6 1 . 7 × 10 . sup .- 6 2 . 25 × 10 . sup .- 6 2 . 8 × 10 . sup .- 6 3 . 48 × 10 . sup .- 6 3 . 9 × 10 . sup .- 6 4 . 2 × 10 . sup .- 6 5 . 1 × 10 . sup .- 6zn 1 . 13 × 10 . sup .- 5 9 . 9 × 10 . sup .- 6 8 . 5 × 10 . sup .- 6 7 . 1 × 10 . sup .- 6 5 . 05 × 10 . sup .- 6 4 . 24 × 10 . sup .- 6 3 . 5 × 10 . sup .- 6 1 . 3 × 10 . sup .- 6mole ratio of 1 : 10 1 : 5 . 8 1 : 3 . 8 1 : 2 . 5 1 : 1 . 5 1 : 1 . 1 1 : 0 . 8 1 : 0 . 25bi : znflowability real good good good good good good poor poorgel time ( sec .) 72 36 26 27 21 20 16 16tack free time ( sec .) 92 56 42 44 28 34 25 23shore a hardness 80 sec . -- 42 40 32 42 40 55 52100 sec . 15 47 48 40 47 48 60 58120 sec . 22 53 55 46 57 56 62 61150 sec . 38 60 58 53 59 58 66 65175 sec . 44 62 64 55 62 61 70 65200 sec . 50 66 65 60 64 63 73 67250 sec . 54 70 68 64 66 66 77 69300 sec . 58 71 72 68 71 67 78 70400 sec . 64 74 73 72 73 70 79 72500 sec . 70 77 74 75 75 73 80 73600 sec . 74 79 76 76 78 75 80 76adhesion time ( sec .) 165 95 90 110 240 180 160 155comments tack free good appears would be acceptable acceptable gels gels too too slow adhesion ; acceptable acceptable but fast fast tack free beginning too slow to gel too quickly__________________________________________________________________________ . sup . a parts of catalyst or catalyst solution per 100 parts of base composition of component a . in this example , various ratios of bismuth - based catalyst to antimony - based catalyst were utilized with the base composition of component a . the weight ratio of the bismuth - based catalyst solution to the antimony - based catalyst solution ranged from about 25 : 75 to about 80 : 20 , which corresponds to a mole ratio range of bismuth to antimony metal of about 1 : 3 . 5 to about 1 : 0 . 3 . as indicated in table 5 , an acceptable plywood patch formulation is one having a bismuth - based catalyst solution to antimony - based catalyst solution ranging from about 50 : 50 to about 75 : 25 , which corresponds to a mole ratio range of bismuth to antimony of about 1 : 1 . 1 to about 1 : 0 . 4 . below the 50 : 50 weight ratio ( mole ratio of bismuth to antimony of 1 : 1 . 1 ), the reaction tends to proceed too slowly to be processable at a rapid rate and no adhesion occurred even after 30 minutes . above the 75 : 25 weight ratio ( mole ratio of bismuth to antimony of 1 : 0 . 4 ), the reaction tends to occur too fast for desired processability and did not achieve a good flow into defect areas on the plywood board . thus , to produce a most acceptable plywood patch formulation utilizing a co - catalyst system using a bismuth - based catalyst and an antimony - based catalyst , the bismuth and antimony metals therein must be present such that the mole ratio of bismuth metal to antimony metal is from about 1 : 1 . 1 to about 1 : 0 . 4 . table 5__________________________________________________________________________ ( bismuth / antimony ) __________________________________________________________________________sample no . 3 - 1 3 - 2 3 - 3 3 - 4 3 - 5 3 - 6 3 - 7ratio a / c catalyst 25 / 75 30 / 70 40 / 60 50 / 50 60 / 40 75 / 25 80 / 20a catalyst level . sup . a . 085 . 102 . 136 . 17 . 204 . 255 . 27c catalyst level . sup . a . 255 . 238 . 204 . 17 . 136 . 085 . 07moles of metal : bi 1 . 1 × 10 . sup .- 6 1 . 4 × 10 . sup .- 6 1 . 8 × 10 . sup .- 6 2 . 3 × 10 . sup .- 6 2 . 7 × 10 . sup .- 6 3 . 4 × 10 . sup .- 6 3 . 6 × 10 . sup .- 6sb 3 . 8 × 10 . sup .- 6 3 . 5 × 10 . sup .- 6 3 . 0 × 10 . sup .- 6 2 . 5 × 10 . sup .- 6 2 . 0 × 10 . sup .- 6 1 . 26 × 10 . sup .- 6 1 . 04 × 10 . sup .- 6mole ratio of 1 : 3 . 5 1 : 2 . 5 1 : 1 . 67 1 : 1 . 1 1 : 0 . 75 1 : 0 . 4 1 : 0 . 3bi : sbflowability good good excellent good good good poorgel time ( sec .) 54 50 40 20 20 20 15tack free time ( sec .) 105 80 66 38 32 33 24shore a hardness 80 sec . -- -- 5 20 41 40 48100 sec . -- 5 5 34 48 45 58120 sec . 5 18 20 43 50 50 64150 sec . 10 26 28 47 55 54 70175 sec . 13 32 38 52 57 58 70200 sec . 30 40 40 56 60 61 72250 sec . 42 45 46 58 63 65 73300 sec . 44 50 53 60 65 66 73400 sec . 50 55 55 63 69 71 75500 sec . 56 59 57 65 71 72 77600 sec . 58 62 63 68 72 73 77adhesion time ( sec .) none none 750 + 230 200 210 175comments slow slow , soft and reacts reacts reacts gels too reacting . sticky . sticky . ok . ok . ok . fast sticky . no slow shore a = no adhesion . adhesion . 72 max . adhesion . __________________________________________________________________________ . sup . a parts of catalyst or catalyst solution per 100 parts of base composition of component a . in this example , various ratios of bismuth - based catalyst to lithium - based catalyst were utilized with the base composition of component a . the weight ratio of the bismuth - based catalyst solution to the lithium - based catalyst ranged from about 25 : 75 to about 75 : 25 , which corresponds to a mole ratio range of bismuth to lithium metal of about 1 : 6 . 6 to about 1 : 0 . 7 . as indicated in table 6 , an acceptable plywood patch formulation was one having a bismuth - based catalyst solution to lithium - based catalyst solution ranging from about 25 : 75 to about 57 : 43 , which corresponds to a mole ratio range of bismuth to lithium metal of about 1 : 6 . 6 to about 1 : 1 . 65 . at the 25 : 75 weight ratio , the adhesion of the reacted plywood patch formulation to the plywood board tends to be too slow ( about 10 minutes ). this would require an extended cure of the plywood boards or panels before they are processed further in a processing plant , which may or may not be acceptable to some existing plant operations . weight ratios of 60 : 40 or higher produce fast reacting formulations which make it difficult to process in plant operations and tend to affect flowability into defect areas of the plywood board . thus , to produce a most acceptable plywood patch formulation utilizing a co - catalyst system using a bismuth - based catalyst and a lithium - based catalyst , the bismuth and lithium metal therein must be present such that the mole ratio of bismuth metal to lithium metal is from about 1 : 6 . 6 to less than about 1 : 1 . 6 ( i . e . more lithium per mole of bismuth ). table 6__________________________________________________________________________ ( bismuth / lithium ) __________________________________________________________________________sample no . 4 - 1 4 - 2 4 - 3 4 - 4 4 - 5 4 - 6ratio a / d catalyst 25 / 75 40 / 60 50 / 50 57 / 43 60 / 40 75 / 25a catalyst level . sup . a . 115 . 184 . 23 . 26 . 276 . 345d catalyst level . sup . a . 345 . 276 . 23 . 20 . 184 . 115moles of metal : bi 1 . 5 × 10 . sup .- 6 2 . 5 × 10 . sup .- 6 3 . 1 × 10 . sup .- 6 3 . 5 × 10 . sup .- 6 3 . 7 × 10 . sup .- 6 4 . 6 × 10 . sup .- 6li 9 . 9 × 10 . sup .- 6 7 . 96 × 10 . sup .- 6 6 . 6 × 10 . sup .- 6 5 . 8 × 10 . sup .- 6 5 . 3 × 10 . sup .- 6 3 . 3 × 10 . sup .- 6mole ratio of 1 : 6 . 6 1 : 3 . 2 1 : 2 . 1 1 : 1 . 65 1 : 1 . 4 1 : 0 . 7bi : liflowability excellent good fair excellent poor poorgel time ( sec .) 33 20 20 22 16 16tack free time ( sec .) 43 32 28 33 22 21shore a hardness 80 sec . 42 48 50 40 50 49100 sec . 48 54 56 48 58 60120 sec . 55 59 60 52 64 63150 sec . 56 63 64 56 65 66175 sec . 58 65 66 60 67 68200 sec . 61 65 69 63 70 70250 sec . 64 68 70 65 72 71300 sec . 66 70 72 66 73 73400 sec . 70 72 73 70 74 75500 sec . 73 74 74 71 75 78600 sec . 75 76 78 73 75 81adhesion time ( sec .) 550 375 300 400 275 170comments slow acceptable would rubbery gels too gels too reactivity . reactivity . make fast . fast . slow slow acceptable adhesion . adhesion . patch . __________________________________________________________________________ . sup . a parts of catalyst or catalyst solution per 100 parts of base composition of component a . the reaction product of isocyanates and polyols and other hydroxyl containing compounds utilizing the co - catalyst system of the present invention may be further utilized as elastomers , coatings , foundry resins , adhesives , urethane - isocyanate sealants and caulkings , carpet backings and any structural polymers which incorporate such reaction products . it will be apparent from the foregoing that many other variations and modifications may be made in the processes and the compositions hereinbefore described , by those having experience in this technology , without departing from the concept of the present invention . accordingly , it should be clearly understood that the processes and compositions referred to in the foregoing description are illustrative only and are not intended to have any limitations on the scope of the invention .
| 2 |
the method for recovery of cerium oxide from the abrasive waste arising from the polishing of glass substrates according to the present invention is intended to recover abrasive composed mainly of cerium oxide . it permits to recover cerium oxide containing few impurities . it achieves its object by sequential treatment of abrasive waste with an alkali , precipitant , acid , and organic solvent . the procedure for recovery starts with addition of an aqueous solution of a basic substance to abrasive waste . this step is intended to make abrasive waste free of sio 2 and impurities ( soluble in a basic aqueous solution ) which otherwise would form voids in the precipitates to be produced later . the basic aqueous solution should be prepared from such base as alkali metal hydroxide , amine , and ammonia , with alkali metal hydroxide being particularly preferable . an aqueous solution of sodium hydroxide or potassium hydroxide which has at least ph 12 is preferable . from the standpoint of treatment of metal substances from the basic aqueous solution , sodium hydroxide is more desirable because sodium can be removed comparatively easily . the basic substance helps remove sio 2 which is contained in large amounts in abrasive waste left after the polishing of synthetic quartz glass substrates . this sio 2 prevents the sedimentation of solids in abrasive waste . forced sedimentation with excessive precipitant gives rise to precipitates in the form of hard - to - handle voluminous cake containing a large number of voids . the basic aqueous solution to be added to abrasive waste should preferably have at least ph 12 . in other words , it should have a concentration of 2 . 0 to 8 . 0 normal , particularly 2 . 0 to 4 . 0 normal , from the standpoint of its ability to dissolve sio 2 . with a lower ph value , the basic aqueous solution does not dissolve sio 2 from abrasive waste completely or rapidly . the basic aqueous solution should be added in an amount large enough to dilute abrasive waste 2 to 5 times . in the next step , a precipitant is added to settle solids which have been treated with the basic aqueous solution . the precipitant includes , for example , aluminum sulfate and polyaluminum chloride . these precipitants are desirable in view of the fact that cerium oxide as abrasive inherently has a small particle diameter , the particles of cerium oxide become smaller due to crushing by polishing , and the particles of cerium oxide have electric charges . the precipitant should be used in an amount of 0 . 2 to 1 . 0 wt %, preferably 0 . 2 to 0 . 5 wt %, of the basic aqueous solution containing the abrasive . with solids settled to form precipitate , the supernatant liquid is removed . in this way it is possible to remove sio 2 from abrasive waste and impurities soluble in the basic aqueous solution . in addition to the above step , the remaining precipitates should preferably be washed with pure water several times by decantation , so that the solution containing impurities is removed from the precipitates . then , the resulting precipitates are treated with a solution of an acid substance so as to make them weakly acidic or neutral . this step is intended to remove residual impurities remaining after treatment with the basic aqueous solution and also to make the precipitates nearly neutral . the acid substance includes , for example , acetic acid , carbonic acid , dilute nitric acid , and dilute hydrochloric acid , each having a concentration of 0 . 2 to 5 . 0 normal . the acid treatment should preferably be performed in such a way that the resulting solution which contains the precipitates has a ph value of about 5 . 5 to 7 . the solution with a ph value higher than 7 will weaken the precipitant contained in the precipitates . conversely , the solution with an excessively low ph value will dissolve cerium oxide , thereby reducing the recovery rate . the foregoing acid treatment should preferably be followed by decantation with pure water repeated several times , so that the precipitates are freed of solution containing impurities . then , the thus obtained precipitates composed mainly of cerium oxide are washed with an organic solvent so that they are freed of residual metal ( such as sodium and potassium ). the organic solvent should preferably be an hydrophilic one , such as methanol . contamination with metal impurities in the abrasive is fatal to the polishing of synthetic quartz glass substrates for photomasks and reticles to be used for fabrication of semiconductors . therefore , the recovered cerium oxide abrasive should preferably contain as little abrasive - derived metal impurities as possible aside from inevitable metal ions derived from the polishing machine . the recovered precipitates composed mainly of cerium oxide are subsequently dried at 50 to 80 ° c . to be made into a cake - like lump . this lump is crushed into powder having a primary particle diameter of 0 . 5 to 2 μm . the resulting powder can be reused as a cerium oxide - based abrasive . this abrasive should contain cerium oxide ( as solids ) in an amount at least 50 wt %, particularly 55 to 70 wt %, with the sio 2 content ( as solids ) being limited to 0 . 1 to 3 . 0 wt %, particularly 0 . 1 to 2 . 0 wt %. the invention will be described in more detail with reference to the following examples and comparative examples , which are not intended to restrict the scope thereof . experiments in the examples were carried out using a virgin abrasive containing 62 . 1 wt % of cerium oxide ( as solids ) and abrasive waste containing 54 . 0 wt % of cerium oxide and 12 . 0 wt % of sio 2 ( both as solids ). a sample of abrasive waste ( in liquid form ) containing cerium oxide , which was collected after the polishing of quartz glass substrates , is prepared . this abrasive waste was diluted three times with aqueous solution ( 2 . 0 n ) of sodium hydroxide . the resulting liquid was stirred so that the abrasive waste and the basic aqueous solution become thoroughly intimate with each other . the resulting mixture was given aluminum sulfate ( 0 . 5 wt %) for precipitation of solids . the supernatant liquid was removed and the remaining solids were washed several times with pure water . with solids existing therein , the pure water was acidified to ph 5 . 8 with 2 . 0 n of nitric acid . the solids were washed several times with pure water and finally with methanol . the washed solids were dried to be made into a cake composed mainly of cerium oxide . this cake was crushed into powder having a primary particle diameter of 1 to 1 . 2 μm . thus there was obtained a recovered abrasive as desired . upon analysis by fluorescent x - ray spectrometry , the recovered abrasive was found to contain 0 . 5 wt % of sio 2 ( as solids ). this suggests that the recovered abrasive has almost the same composition as the virgin abrasive composed mainly of cerium oxide . the recovered abrasive thus obtained was made into an abrasive slurry , which was used for the polishing of quartz glass substrates . the abrasive slurry produced the same effect as the slurry of the virgin abrasive composed mainly of cerium oxide . the same abrasive waste as used in example 1 was diluted 2 . 5 times with an aqueous solution ( 3 . 5 n ) of potassium hydroxide . the resulting liquid was stirred so that the abrasive waste and the basic aqueous solution become thoroughly intimate with each other . the resulting mixture was given polyaluminum chloride ( 1 . 0 wt %) for precipitation of solids . the supernatant liquid was removed and the remaining solids were washed several times with pure water . with solids existing therein , the pure water was acidified to ph 6 . 3 with acetic acid . the solids were washed several times with pure water and finally with methanol . the washed solids were dried to be made into a cake composed mainly of cerium oxide . this cake was crushed into powder having a primary particle diameter of 1 to 1 . 2 μm . thus there was obtained a recovered abrasive as desired . upon analysis by fluorescent x - ray spectrometry , the recovered abrasive was found to contain 0 . 3 wt % of sio 2 ( as solids ). the recovered abrasive thus obtained was used for the polishing of quartz glass substrates . the abrasive slurry produced the same good effect as that in example 1 . a sample of abrasive waste was diluted three times with pure water in the same way as in example 1 . the resulting liquid was stirred so that the solids were thoroughly dispersed . the resulting mixture was given aluminum sulfate ( 1 . 0 wt %) for precipitation of solids . the supernatant liquid was removed and the remaining solids were washed several times with pure water . the washings were found to have ph 6 . 9 . the solids without acid treatment were washed with methanol . the washed solids were dried to be made into a cake , which was subsequently crushed into powder having a primary particle diameter of 1 to 1 . 2 μm . upon analysis by fluorescent x - ray spectrometry , this powder was found to contain 12 . 3 wt % of sio 2 ( as solids ). when used as an abrasive for glass polishing , this powder caused chattering to the polishing machine without no good polishing effect . a sample of abrasive waste was diluted three times with 2 wt % aqueous solution of fluoronitric acid ( rich with nitric acid ) in the same way as in example 1 . the resulting liquid was stirred so that the solids were thoroughly dispersed . the resulting mixture was given aluminum sulfate ( 1 . 0 wt %) for precipitation of solids . the supernatant liquid was removed and the remaining solids were washed several times with pure water . the washings were found to be strongly acid . the solids without ph control such as neutralization were washed with methanol . the washed solids were dried to be made into a cake , which was subsequently crushed into powder having a primary particle diameter of 1 to 1 . 2 μm . upon analysis by fluorescent x - ray spectrometry , this powder was found to contain 0 . 5 wt % of sio 2 ( as solids ). however , the content of cerium oxide was only about 50 wt % of that in the virgin abrasive . this poor yield is due to treatment with a strong acid which leaches out cerium oxide . an aqueous slurry of this powder as an abrasive for glass polishing was so strongly acid that it damaged the polishing cloth more rapidly than usual and it was poor in polishing performance . although some preferred embodiments have been described , many modifications and variations may be made thereto in light of the above teachings . it is therefore to be understood that the invention may be practiced otherwise than as specifically described without departing from the scope of the appended claims .
| 2 |
poly ( siloxane - g - ethylene oxide ) ( see general formula i below ) electrolyte shows outstanding flame resistance . its propagation rate is significantly lower than conventional liquid electrolyte for lithium ion batteries and low molecular weight polyethylene oxide electrolyte . this is because the inorganic siloxane backbone naturally acts as a combustion inhibitor , resulting in a two stage combustion process . the initial stage involves decomposition of the stable polymer into flammable volatile by - products . for polysiloxanes such as our electrolyte , this requires a lot of energy due to the strength of the si — o backbone . this means that in order for combustion to occur , the heat added must be sufficient to decompose the polymer , ignite the by - products , and transfer enough heat back to the polymer to the sustain the reaction . additionally , our polymer is more thermally stable than the carbonates presently used in the industry as a standard . this is stability arises from the polymer &# 39 ; s large molecular size , nonvolatile nature and the higher temperatures required to vaporize . the si — o backbone also gives this polymer the added benefit of being nontoxic . the thermal stability and nontoxicity of this polymer electrolyte make it particularly well suited for medical device applications , especially implanted batteries for such devices as cardiac assist pumps , insulin pumps , neuromuscular stimulators , cardiac pacemakers , automatic defibrillators , cochlear implants , and other bioelectronic devices . the usage of this polymer in place of the traditional carbonates in medical device batteries would substantially improve safety . the polymer electrolyte of the present invention is also well suited for high energy applications such as electric and hybrid vehicles , submarines , satellites , and load - leveling installations . referring to fig1 a visual summary of the synthesis , the liquid polymer electrolyte of the form visually depicted by general formula i was synthesized . in particular , a species of this type with ( n ˜ 8 and m = 0 ), labeled w100 poly ( siloxane - g - 3 ethylene oxide ) ( n ˜ 8 ) ( general formula ii ) was synthesized using commercially available precursors involved in two major steps , as described below . note r4 is [— o -( alkylene oxide ) k - r11 ] wherein r11 is alkyl group . note further that viscosity increases with n , becoming a solid at values exceeding about 20 . preferably , n should range from 4 to 20 , more preferably from 4 to 12 , and most preferably approximately 8 . r1 , r2 , r3 , r8 , r9 and r10 are preferably chosen from the group consisting of : methyl , ethyl , propyl , and butyl . r5 , r6 and r7 are preferably chosen from the group consisting of : methyl , ethyl , propyl , and butyl . step 1 : ring opening polymerization synthesizing a md n h m ( n ˜ 8 ) intermediary the commercially available compounds 1 , 3 , 5 , 7 - tetramethylcyclotetrasiloxane ( d 4 h , gelest inc ., 68 . 59 g or 0 . 286 mol ) ( general formula iii ) and hexamethyldisiloxane ( hmds , aldrich , 23 . 15 g or 0 . 143 mol ) ( a disiloxane described by general formula iv for the case wherein , r1 = r2 = r3 = r8 = r9 = r10 = ch3 ) were used as precursor materials . note that alternate precursor materials may be used such as cyclical polysiloxane with three to ten silicon - oxygen repeating units , for example : a ring opening polymerization of the cyclic compound was performed through the addition of a chain - stopping compound , hmds ( in a 1 : 2 molar ratio ), in the presence of concentrated sulfuric acid ( 2 . 6 % by wt , fisher scientific , 1 . 85 g ) and stirred at 60 ° c . for 24 hours . the 1 : 2 ratio was used in this preferred example ; however , the ratio is not limited to 1 : 2 . preferably , the chain - stopping compound is added in an amount sufficient to limit final chain lengths to n = 4 to 20 . for example , if the ratio is 2 d 4 h : 1 disiloxane , n will be ˜ 8 ; for 3 d 4 h : 1 disiloxane , n will be ˜ 12 ; etc . the resulting mixture was then allowed to return to room temperature and washed with 10 % nahco 3 ( 3 × 15 ml ) and deionized water ( 6 × 10 ml ). this liquid was dissolved in diethyl ether ( 200 ml ) and then dried over na 2 so 4 . the diethyl ether solvent was removed on a rotary evaporator . the sample was then again dried at 70 ° c . under vacuum ( 0 . 05 torr ) overnight ( about 16 hours ). at this step nuclear magnetic resonance ( nmr ) characterization was performed on the current product , md n h m ( n ˜ 8 ) ( general formula v , with a more generalized chemical structure of the intermediary shown in general formula vi ), yielding a spectrum consistent with the proposed structure ( table 2 ). r1 , r2 , r3 , r8 , r9 and r10 are preferably chosen from the group consisting of : methyl , ethyl , propyl , and butyl . r5 , r6 and r7 are preferably chosen from the group consisting of : methyl , ethyl , propyl and butyl . step 2 : addition of a peo side - chain the above sample md n h m ( n ˜ 8 ) ( 48 . 54 g , 0 . 617 mol si — h ) was then mixed in a 500 ml flame dried flask containing tri ( ethyleneglycol ) monomethyl ether ( peo — me ) ( k = 3 ) ( aldrich , 101 . 22 g or 0 . 617 mol ) ( described by the general formula vii for the case wherein k = 3 ). also added to the mixture was tris ( pentafluorophenyl ) boron , b ( c 6 f 5 ) 3 , ( aldrich , 0 . 16 g or 0 . 31 mmol ) ( general formula viii ), which served as a catalyst for the dehydrocoupling reaction which occurs between the si — h groups of the md n h m ( n ˜ 8 ) and the o — h groups of the peo — me ( m = 3 ). note , the dehydrocoupling catalyst should be loaded as a percentage of the moles of si — h groups present in the substrates , preferably between 0 . 01 % and 10 %, more preferably between 0 . 01 % and 2 . 00 %, and most preferably about 0 . 05 % on a per mole basis . this mixture was vacuum pumped down (˜ 0 . 05 torr ) and then filled with argon , four times in succession . next , a solvent ( 150 ml toluene , dried over sodium ) was added and the entire mixture was heated to 70 - 75 ° c ., which caused bubbling to occur . other solvents such as benzene may be used in place of toluene , and the mixture may be heated to between 40 ° c . and 200 ° c . the mix was then stirred until this bubbling ceased , approximately 17 hours . the sample was then further dried at 125 ° c . under vacuum ( 0 . 02 torr ) to generate a colorless oil ( 137 . 6 g ). infrared spectroscopy ( ir ) showed the absence of h — o or si — h groups , an indication that our reaction proceeded to completion . table 3 shows the spectra resulting from the nmr , similarly indicative of the absence of h — o or si — h groups , and that the reaction proceeded to completion ( table 3 ). detecting traces of boron via mass spectroscopy , ftim , x - ray diffraction , and / or neutron diffraction in a polysiloxane , and in particular in poly ( siloxane - g - 3 ethylene oxide ) ( n ˜ 8 ), could be used to reveal that our inventive employment of a boron catalyst was utilized . it is noted that , although boron is considered the best catalyst , alternate catalysts including alkali metal or alkaline earth hydroxides , alkali metal or alkaline earth carbonates , triethylamine , and pyridine may be used . see , s . kohama , y umeki , j ., applied polymer sci ., 21 , 863 ( 1977 ). for example , and without limitation , zinc octanoate , triethylamine , pyridine , potassium hydroxide , magnesium hydroxide , potassium carbonate may be used . experiments have further demonstrated that a rhodium complex , rhcl ( pph 3 ) 3 , is an efficient catalyst but produces a dark color in the polymer which is difficult to remove . ionic conductivity : when doped , sample w100 , by virtue of its low molecular weight and viscosity , displays high levels of ionic conductivity . the sample was initially dried on a high vacuum line ( pressure reached 9 . 5 × 10 − 5 torr ) following synthesis . before testing the samples were doped with the lithium salt , lin ( so 2 cf 3 ) 2 ( litfsi ) at various concentrations . these concentrations were calculated based on the molar ratios between the amount of side - chain oxygen molecules in the sample and lithium cations present in the salt ( table 4 ). alternate candidate alkali metal salts include the lithium salts : liclo 4 , libf 4 , liasf 6 , lipf 6 , licf 3 so 3 , li ( cf 3 so 2 ) 2 n , lic ( cf 3 so 2 ) 3 , lin ( so 2 c 2 f 5 ) 2 , lithium bis ( oxalato ) borate (“ libob ”), lithium alkyl fluorophosphates , and mixtures thereof . other alkali metal salts may be used , particularly those comprising at least one quaternary ammonium salt having an anion selected form the following groups : clo 4 − , bf 4 − , asf 6 − , pf 6 − , cf 3 so 3 − ; ( cf 3 so 2 ) 2 n − , c ( cf 3 so 2 ) 3 c − , ( c 2 f 5 so 2 ) 2 n − , pf 3 ( c 2 f 5 ) 3 − , pf 3 ( cf 3 ) 3 − and b ( c 2 o 4 ) 2 . this doping was achieved through one of two methods . the first involves direct doping of the salt and polymer by placing them in a nalgene cup in an argon atmosphere dry box . once inside the box the mixture was placed in a drying tube containing a teflon stir bar . next the tube was removed from the dry box and placed on a schlenk line to enable the sample and salt to mix under an argon flow until homogenous mixing occurred . the criterion used to evaluate this level of mixing was the absence of salt crystals based on unaided visual inspections . this was achieved following several hours ( overnight ) of constant stirring . the second , or solution , method involves placing the desired amount of sample in a nalgene cup that is then transferred to a sealed drying tube with a teflon stir bar within the dry box . the salt is transferred into the tube through a syringe containing 0 . 052 m litfsi in a tetrahydrofuran ( thf ) solution under an argon flow . the mix was then allowed to stir to achieve homogeneity on a schlenk line . the thf solvent is removed on the schlenk line and the tube is then placed on a high vacuum line until a pressure below 3 × 10 − 5 torr is reached . the direct doping method was used in the preparation of doped sample w100 . the solution doping method was used when less than 15 mg of salt will be used since that small amount of salt cannot be measured precisely in a dry box . when using 50 to 100 mg of salt , precise amounts can be measured in a dry box allowing the use of the direct method , which does not expose the sample to additional solvent ( which then needs to be removed ). sample w100 was mixed with the direct method since about 100 mg of salt was added to the pure polymers . it is quicker and ensures that no additional solvent needs to be used . sandwich conductivity cells sealed with o - rings were used to measure conductivity . the cells were placed in the dry box and had their dimensions measured to enable the calculation of conductivity according to the equation , where σ is conductivity ( s / cm ), l is the length of the containment ring ( cm ), r is the resistance ( ω ) and a is area ( cm 2 ). three ( 3 ) different containment rings were used on our cells , giving geometric factors between 0 . 208 and 0 . 293 cm − 1 . resistance was derived from impedance measurements according to the following equation , r = z × cos ( θ ), where z is impedance ( ω ) and θ corresponds to the phase angle . these values were measured by a princeton applied research potentiostat / galvanostat model 273a with a model 1025 frequency response analyzer using par powersine software . the parameters for these tests were a frequency range of between 75 . 0 hz and 100 khz and a default ac amplitude of 10 mv . variations in temperature were achieved using a condenser connected to a brinkman mgw lauda rm 6 circulating bath . [ 0041 ] fig2 shows the results of impedance measurements yielding conductivity calculations , which were recorded at various temperatures and plotted . it is apparent that an eo : li ratio of 15 : 1 yields the best conductivity for our sample w100 . this data was then fit to the vogel - tamman - fulcher ( vtf ) equation , σ = at - 1 / 2 exp [ - b t - t 0 ] , where a sk 1 / 2 ( cm ) and b ( k − 1 ) are constants and to ( k ) is the ideal glass transition temperature . the equation parameter b , is related to activation energy ( e a ) by a constant such that , e a = b × ( 8 . 31 j mol k ) table 6 summarizes the conductivity measurements and vtf derived data for both the 24 . 8 : 1 and 15 : 1 eo : li doping ratios . the values of temperature and conductivity are presented in the forms of 1 / t × 1000 and log σ , respectively , so that the data can be easily plotted ( as in fig2 and 6 ) and related to the vtf equation . the corresponding calculated log σ values derived from the vtf fit are also presented for data point for comparison . electrochemical stability . for the measurement of the electrochemical stability window of the polymer electrolyte , stainless steel type 2032 button cell assemblies were used , with a stainless steel disc as a working electrode and a lithium metal disc as a counter electrode . the measurement cell was assembled in an argon - filled dry box . [ 0046 ] fig3 shows the electrochemical stability of the polymer electrolyte measured by using zahner electrochemical workstation im6 with scan rate of 5 mv / sec from 2 . 8 v to 6 . 0 v measured at 25 ° c . the first scan cycle displays small current increase from 4 . 0 v onward . successive scans show that sample w100 doped with litfsi can be cycled up to 4 . 5 v without an additional decomposition . viscosity ( η ): the viscosity of sample w100 ( see table 7 ) was measured by using a brookfield type viscometer ( dv - ii +) with a spindle speed of 50 rpm measured at 25 ° c . to further explore the properties of related polymer electrolytes , the three linear polysiloxane polymers shown in fig4 a and 4b were synthesized . the liquid samples were doped with litfsi at various concentrations before measuring conductivity . a previous study found the 32 : 1 eo : li ratio to be the optimum ratio for maximum conductivity , but the polymers examined in that study were double - comb polysiloxanes . ( see , hooper , supra .) past studies have measured conductivities that could be considered commercially viable ( ibid . ), but the polysiloxanes that were studied had to be meticulously synthesized at the laboratory level . trying to convert these syntheses to commercial volumes would likely prove to be too difficult and costly . thus , the methyl polysiloxane samples have the advantage of having been synthesized by much simpler schemes from the readily available starting materials poly ( methylhydrosiloxane ), pmhs , and poly ( ethylene glycol ), peo , as a step toward making the transition from laboratory to market . for comparison purposes , the liquid polymers w22p , w76 , w100 , and w102 were synthesized at the organosilicon research center at the university of wisconsin - madison . the liquid samples were dried on a high vacuum line until ultimate pressure was reached ( w22p , 1 . 5 × 10 − 5 torr ; w76 , 2 . 2 × 10 − 5 torr ; w100 , 9 . 5 × 10 − 5 torr ; w102 , 9 . 5 × 10 − 5 torr ). specifically , and by way of example , sample w76 ( fig4 a ) was synthesized in the same way as w100 except omitting step 1 (“ ring opening polymerization synthesizing a md n h m ( n ˜ 8 ) intermediary ”) above . the materials used were : 55 % pmhs - co - pdms ( m w = 900 ˜ 1200 from gelest inc ., 25 . 0 g , 0 . 167 mol si — h ) b ( c 6 f 5 ) 3 ( aldrich , 0 . 77 g , 1 . 5 mmol ); sample w76 ( 27 g ) was thus obtained and tested . spectra data ( ir , nmr ) for w76 were similar to that for w100 except for the presence of an additional absorption band at − 19 ˜- 22 ppm on the 29 si nmr spectrum . sample w76 , where the peo side chains are attached to the siloxane backbone through si — o bonds , is a novel material for use as an electrolyte . ( note that in terms of general formula i , the precursor for sample w76 , n ˜ 7 and n ˜ 6 . 3 . generally , in the present invention , m may range from 0 to about 20 , or more preferably from 0 to about 8 , and most preferably should be about 0 ). similarly , sample w102 ( fig4 b ) was synthesized according to step 2 in the sample w100 preparation above ( i . e ., omitting step 1 ). the materials used were : b ( c 6 ( f 5 ) 3 ( aldrich , 0 . 17 g , 0 . 33 mmol ); sample w102 ( 139 . 3 g ) was thus obtained and tested . spectra ( ir , nmr ) data for w102 were similar to w100 . referring to fig4 b , it may be seen that sample 22p is almost identical to sample w102 . the difference in the length of the silicon oxide backbone results from the use of potassium carbonate ( k 2 co 3 ) as a catalyst in formulating sample w22p versus the use of tris ( pentafluorophenyl ) boron ( b ( c 6 f s ) 3 ) as a catalyst in formulating sample w102 . importantly , the boron - containing catalyst results in more precise control of the length of the silicon oxide backbone , and a significant improvement in performance . the use of a boron - containing catalyst is therefore much preferred to other catalysts . viscosity ( η ): the viscosity of samples w22p , w76 , and w102 ( see table 8 ) was measured using the same method as sample w100 ( using a brookfield type viscometer ( dv - ii +) with a spindle speed of 50 rpm measured at 25 ° c .). doped polymer samples were prepared by direct mixing of the salt with the polymer . both polymer and the calculated amount of salt ( side - chain oxygen to lithium ion ratio ) were placed in a nalgene cup in the dry box and sealed in a custom drying tube with a stir bar . once out of the dry box , the tube was placed on a schlenk line to allow the polymer and salt to stir under an argon flow until a homogeneous mixture was achieved . [ 0067 ] fig5 is a plot of conductivity derived from impedance measurements of the samples of example 2 . o - ring sealed sandwich conductivity cells were loaded in the dry box of each sample using one of three containment rings . the geometric factor , 1 / a , for the rings ranged from 0 . 208 to 0 . 293 cm − 1 . ionic conductivities were calculated with the equation s = 1 / r * 1 / a , where s is conductivity and r is resistance . resistance was calculated from the impedance ( z ) using the equation , r = z * cos ( q ) where q is the phase angle and z is the impedance . the impedance was measured on a princeton applied research potentiostat / galvanostat model 273a with a model 1025 frequency response analyzer operated under computer control using par powersine software . the frequency ranged from 75 . 0 hz to 100 khz and the default ac amplitude of 10 mv was used for each measurement . measurements were taken at temperatures ranging from 0 to 70 ° c . by placing the conductivity cell inside a condenser attached to a brinkman mgw lauda rm 6 variable temperature , circulating bath . conductivity was calculated from the impedance measurements and plotted with respect to temperature . the plot of fig5 was fit to the vtf equation , ( see , fulcher , g . s . j . am . ceram . soc . 1925 , 8 , 339 ) in order to calculate the activation energy from the equation parameters . the samples w100 ( tested at eo : li doping ratios of 15 : 1 and 24 . 8 : 1 ) and w102 ( tested at a eo : li doping ratio of 24 . 8 : 1 ) outperformed the other samples tested . it is anticipated that w102 would also perform well at the 15 : 1 level . from fig5 there appears to be a trend over all samples that there is an optimum eo : li doping ratio range of about 5 : 1 to 50 : 1 , more preferably about 12 : 1 to 28 : 1 , even more preferably about 15 : 1 to 25 : 1 , and most preferably about 15 : 1 . [ 0068 ] fig6 is a plot of vtf derived conductivity for various concentrations of litfsi . it is evident that the sample w100 doped at 15 : 1 outperforms all other samples tested throughout the test range . it should be apparent that the present invention solves the long - felt need to create safe , high energy , lightweight electrochemical storage devices having liquid electrolytes . batteries containing the present electrolyte would be inherently safer than those with more volatile , flammable , and unstable electrolytes , and have significantly better performance due to the lower impedance and increased conductivity . additionally , the cost of manufacturing the electrolyte of the present invention is anticipated to be lower than other alternate electrolytes . following the same synthetic procedures as in example 1 , but varying the amount of starting materials , sample w119 was synthesized . step 1 : ring opening polymerization synthesizing a md n h m ( n =˜ 4 ) commercially available hexamethyldisiloxane hmds ( aldrich , 41 . 44 g or 0 . 255 mol ), 1 , 3 , 5 , 7 - tetramethylcyclotetrasiloxane d 4 h ( gelest inc ., 61 . 24 g or 0 . 255 mol ) ( general formula iii ), and concentrated sulfuric acid h 2 so 4 ( fisher scientific , 2 . 46 g ) were used as precursors for the product md n h m ( n =˜ 4 ) ( 78 g ). nmr analysis showed the following data : 1 h nmr ( in cdcl 3 ): 4 . 70 ppm ( broad , 1h , si — h ), 0 . 21 ppm ˜ 0 . 12 ppm ( m , 7 . 4h , si — ch 3 ). 29 si nmr ( in cdcl 3 ): 8 . 78 ppm ( m , osi ( ch 3 ) 3 ), − 36 . 54 ppm ( m , si — h ). tri ( ethyleneglycol ) monomethyl ether ( aldrich , 65 . 85 g , 0 . 402 mol ), md n h m ( n =˜ 4 ) ( 40 . 39 g , 0 . 402 mol si — h ), tris ( pentafluorophenyl ) boron b ( c 6 f 5 ) 3 ( aldrich , 0 . 104 g , 0 . 202 mmol ) were used to afford the colorless liquid product designated sample w119 ( 96 . 7 g ). referring to general formula ii ( as well as the final product in fig1 ), n =˜ 4 . spectroscopic data : ir showed no ho groups ( at 3300 ˜ 3500 cm − 1 ) and no si — h ( at 2160 cm − 1 ) present . 1 h nmr ( in cdcl 3 ): 3 . 70 ˜ 3 . 30 ppm ( m , 12h , ch 2 ), 3 . 15 ppm ( s , 3h , och 3 ), 0 . 05 ˜− 0 . 10 ppm ( m , 7 . 4 h , si — ch 3 ). conductivity was measured at 2 . 10 × 10 − 4 scm − 1 at 25 . 1 ° c . ( at doping level of o / li = 24 , using litfsi ). following the same synthetic procedures as in example 1 , but varying the amount of starting materials , sample w168 ( n =˜ 6 ) was synthesized . step 1 : ring opening polymerization synthesizing a md n h m ( n =˜ 6 ) commercially available hexamethyldisiloxane hmds ( aldrich , 19 . 59 g , 0 . 121 mol ), 1 , 3 , 5 , 7 - tetramethylcyclotetrasiloxane d 4 h ( gelest inc ., 43 . 42 g , 0 . 181 mol ), and concentrated sulfuric acid h 2 so 4 ( fisher scientific , 1 . 59 g ) were used as precursors for the product md n h m ( n =˜ 6 ) ( 46 . 5 g ). nmr analysis yielded the following data : 1 h nmr ( in cdcl 3 ): 4 . 70 ppm ( broad , 1h , si — h ), 0 . 21 ppm ˜ 0 . 12 ppm ( m , 6 . 1h , si — ch 3 ). 29 si nmr ( in cdcl 3 ): 8 . 92 ppm ( m , osi ( ch 3 ) 3 ), − 36 . 72 ppm ( m , si — h ). tri ( ethyleneglycol ) monomethyl ether ( aldrich , 39 . 72 g , 0 . 242 mol ), md n h m ( n =˜ 6 ) ( 21 . 56 g , 0 . 243 mol si — h ), and tris ( pentafluorophenyl ) boron b ( c 6 f 5 ) 3 ( aldrich , 0 . 150 g , 0 . 293 mmol ) were used to afford the colorless liquid product designated sample w168 ( 59 . 0 g ). referring to general formula ii ( as well as the final product in fig1 ), n =˜ 6 . spectroscopic data : ir showed no ho groups ( at 3300 ˜ 3500 cm − 1 ) and no si — h ( at 2160 cm − 1 ) present . 1 h nmr ( in cdcl 3 ): 3 . 70 ˜ 3 . 30 ppm ( m , 12h , ch 2 ), 3 . 15 ppm ( s , 3h , och 3 ), 0 . 05 ˜- 0 . 10 ppm ( m , 5 . 9h , si — ch 3 ). following the same synthetic procedures as in example 1 , but varying the amount of starting materials , sample w169 ( n =˜ 11 ) was synthesized . step 1 : ring opening polymerization synthesizing a md n h m ( n =˜ 11 ) commercially available hexamethyldisiloxane hmds ( aldrich , 8 . 28 g , 0 . 051 mol ), 1 , 3 , 5 , 7 - tetramethylcyclotetrasiloxane d 4 h gelest inc ., 42 . 84 g , 0 . 179 mol ), and concentrated sulfuric acid h 2 so 4 ( fisher scientific , 1 . 58 g ) were reacted at 75 ° c . for 72 hours to afford the product md n h m ( n =˜ 1 ) ( 46 . 5 g ). nmr analysis yielded the following data : 1 h nmr ( in cdcl 3 ): 4 . 70 ppm ( broad , 1h , si — h ), 0 . 21 ppm ˜ 0 . 12 ppm ( m , 4 . 7 h , si — ch 3 ). 29 si nmr ( in cdcl 3 ): 8 . 87 ppm ( m , osi ( ch 3 ) 3 ), − 36 . 31 ppm ( m , si — h ). tri ( ethyleneglycol ) monomethyl ether ( aldrich , 45 . 77 g , 0 . 279 mol ), md n h m ( n =˜ 11 ) ( 21 . 93 g , 0 . 291 mol si — h ), and tris ( pentafluorophenyl ) boron b ( c 6 f 5 ) 3 ( aldrich , 0 . 101 g , 0 . 197 mmol ) were used to afford the colorless liquid product designated sample w169 ( 62 . 8 g ). referring to general formula ii ( as well as the final product in fig1 ), n =˜ 11 . spectroscopic data : ir showed no ho groups ( at 3300 ˜ 3500 cm − 1 ) and no si — h ( at 2160 cm − 1 ) present . 1 h nmr ( in cdcl 3 ): 3 . 70 ˜ 3 . 30 ppm ( m , 12h , ch 2 ), 3 . 15 ppm ( s , 3h och 3 ), 0 . 05 ˜− 0 . 10 ppm ( m , 4 . 7h , si — ch 3 ). the specific implementations disclosed above are by way of example and for enabling persons skilled in the art to implement the invention only . we have made every effort to describe all the embodiments we have foreseen . there may be embodiments that are unforeseeable or which are insubstantially different . we have further made every effort to describe the invention , including the best mode of practicing it . any omission of any variation of the invention disclosed is not intended to dedicate such variation to the public , and all unforeseen or insubstantial variations are intended to be covered by the claims appended hereto . accordingly , the invention is not to be limited except by the appended claims and legal equivalents .
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fig1 shows an exemplary led lighting device according to one embodiment of the present invention . the led lighting device 2 includes an led package 4 , heatsink 5 , and cooling liquid 9 . the led package 4 includes at least one led chip 10 which is typically an led element having an emitting area that emits light and a substrate 12 on which the chip is mounted . the emitting area includes an optional transparent window 7 that protects the led chip 10 . the heatsink 5 is attached to the substrate 12 to carry heat away from the led chip 10 . such led packages , for example , are available from luminus devices , inc . of billerica , mass . cooling liquid 9 contained in a liquid sealed housing is positioned in close proximity to or near the led chip 10 . in fig1 , the boundary of the housing containing the cooling liquid is not shown as it can be used in many different applications that use different types of housings . preferably , the cooling liquid 9 is in direct contact with the led chip 10 ( i . e ., the led semiconductor itself or the window 7 ) so that any heat generated by the chip will be carried away by the liquid immediately with very little heat resistance . in the case of fig1 , the cooling liquid 9 is in direct contact with the transparent window 7 of the chip . in cases where the transparent window 7 is absent , the cooling liquid 9 will be in direct contact with the led semiconductor itself . preferably , the cooling liquid 9 has low thermal expansion , high heat conductivity , chemically inert , and electrically insulating characteristics . one such liquid is a perfluorinated liquid called fluorinert ™ available from 3m company of st . paul , minn . other lower cost liquids can be mineral oil , paraffin or the like . fig2 shows an led lighting device with a recycling reflector as disclosed in applicant &# 39 ; s earlier filed application ser . no . 13 / 077 , 006 , filed mar , 31 , 2011 , which is incorporated herein by reference . the led lighting device includes an led package 4 , a driver circuit 3 for driving the led chips 10 , a recycling reflector 6 such as a recycling collar positioned in front of the led chip and a transmissive aperture 8 through which the led light passes . the led chips / elements 10 can be a single chip or multiple chips of white color , single color , or multiple color . for particular applications , they can be arranged such that the optical axis 16 of the transmissive aperture 8 of the recycling reflector 6 goes through the center 20 ( see fig3 ) of the led elements and the center is also substantially at the proximity of the center of curvature of the recycling reflector . the led elements 10 are preferably arranged in the same plane and closely positioned to minimize any space between any two emitting areas of the led elements . the led elements 10 can emit light of a single color such as red , green and blue or emit white light . the emission angle is typically 180 degrees or less . the recycling collar 6 is curved in a concave manner relative to the led element 10 . the inner surface 14 is a reflective surface such that the led light that impinges on the inner surface is reflected back to the light source , i . e ., led elements . the reflective surface can be provided by coating the exterior or interior surface of the collar 6 or by having a separate reflective mirror attached to the collar . according to a preferred embodiment , the recycling collar 6 is spherical in shape relative to the center 20 of the led elements 10 such that the output is reflected back to itself with unit magnification . thus , it is effectively an imaging system where the led elements 10 form an image on to itself . advantageously , substantially all led light that impinges on the inner spherical reflective surface 14 is reflected back to the light source , i . e ., emitting areas of the led elements 10 . as persons of ordinary skill in the art can appreciate , any led light that does not pass through the transmissive aperture of a conventional illumination system is lost forever . however , by using the curved reflective surface 14 , the led lighting device of the present invention allows recovery of a substantial amount of light that would have been lost . for example , in an illumination system whose transmissive aperture size captures about 20 % of emitted light , the recycling collar 6 allows collection of an additional 20 % of the emitted light . advantageously , that is an improvement of 100 % in captured light throughput , which results in a substantial improvement in brightness . the led in the present invention can be a single led or an array of leds . the led can be white , single color , or composed of multiple chips with single or multiple colors . the led can also be a dc led , or an ac led . fig3 shows some of the led chips that can be used with the present invention . fig3 a shows an led array 18 of four colored led elements 10 . specifically , the led array 18 includes one red led element r emitting red color light , one blue led element b emitting blue color light arranged at opposite corners and symmetrically about the center 20 , and two green led elements g 1 , g 2 emitting green color light arranged at opposite corners and symmetrically about the center 20 of the led array . the led array 18 is arranged such that the optical axis 16 of the recycling reflector 6 passes through the center 20 and the center is also substantially at the proximity of the center of curvature of the recycling reflector 6 . while the led array 18 is shown with four led elements , the present invention can work with at least one led element . also , in the case of a pair of led elements , while it is preferable that the led elements in the pair emit the same color , they can emit different colors although the efficiency may be lower . moreover , the size of each led element in the array can be different from any other led element . it is to be noted that while each led element 10 is shown as a square , it can be rectangular . preferably , the total emitting area of the led array 18 should have the same aspect ratio as the image to be projected . for example , to project a high definition television image whose aspect ratio is 9 : 16 , the total emitting area of the led array 18 should have the same 9 : 16 dimension . similarly , the dimension of the led array 18 can be , among others , 4 : 3 , 1 : 1 , 2 . 2 : 1 , which are also popular aspect ratios . in the embodiment of fig3 a , the two green led elements g 1 , g 2 are imaged on to each other . specifically , any light from led element g 1 impinging on the interior reflective surface 14 is reflected back to the symmetrically positioned led element g 2 and vice versa . for the symmetrically arranged same color led elements to work well , the driver circuit 3 drives the same color led elements ( e . g ., g 1 , g 2 ) simultaneously . thus , this arrangement provides high recycling efficiency . on the other hand , light from the blue led element b is imaged onto the red led element r and vise versa . thus , the recycling efficiency is lower for these two colors . in order to increase the efficiency with multi - colored led elements , a symmetric configuration as shown in fig3 b can be used . in this embodiment , the red chips ( led elements r ) are arranged symmetrically with respect to the center 20 . as such , the red chips are imaged onto each other with high recycling efficiency . similarly , the blue chips ( led elements b ) and green chips ( led elements g ) are also arranged symmetrically with respect to the center 20 and will be imaged onto each other with high recycling efficiency . fig4 shows a liquid cooled led lighting device invention in which the light output is recycled to allow higher output intensity according to an embodiment of the present invention . in fig4 , the led lighting device is an led light bulb 22 having a sealed housing / bulb 24 and a base 26 . the sealed bulb 24 can be made of plastic , glass or metal . an led mount 28 is attached to the base 26 and provides the rigid support structure for attaching a control circuit 3 , heat sink 5 , substrate 12 and led chips 10 which are electrically connected to the control circuit . the substrate 12 supporting the led chip 10 is mounted on the heatsink 5 . the led mount 28 also has a conduit for carrying electrical wires from the control circuit to an electrical foot contact 32 and screw threaded contact 30 . in operation , line voltage from the electrical contacts 30 , 32 is converted to the desired level for the led chip 10 by the control / driver circuit 3 . although fig4 shows a light bulb having an edison type threaded base connector , any other led lighting devices such as one having mr - 16 type base are also suitable for use with the present invention . the bulb 24 has an optically transparent transmissive aperture 8 through which the emitted light from the led chip 10 passes . the aperture 8 can be a simple optically transparent spherical window or can have a lens such as a focusing lens or collimating lens to obtain a desired output divergence . the part of the bulb 24 above the substrate 12 is spherically shaped relative to the center of the led chip 10 emitting area . a part of the spherical bulb surface around the transmissive aperture 8 is coated with reflective coating 14 for reflecting the emitted light back to the led chip 10 light emitting area . this functions as the recycling collar 6 as shown in fig2 . according to the invention , the sealed light bulb 24 is filled with cooling liquid 9 for heat sinking . similar to fig1 , the sealed cooling liquid 9 is positioned in close proximity to or near the led chip 10 . as shown , the cooling liquid 9 is in direct contact with the led chip 10 emitting area so that any heat generated by the chip will be carried away by the liquid immediately with very little heat resistance . the led chip 10 generates heat when emitting light . the heat in turn heats the cooling liquid 9 which expands in volume . since the cooling liquid 9 is sealed inside the bulb 24 , a relief is needed to prevent explosion due to expansion of the cooling liquid . as shown in fig4 , compressible material 34 is positioned inside the bulb to absorb the expanding volume of the cooling liquid 9 by compressing . in the embodiment shown , the compressible material 34 is immovably positioned and is outside of the optical path of the emitted light so that it does not interfere with the light being transmitted through the transmissive aperture 8 . if not , the compressible material 34 may travel into the optical path of the light and create distortions and shadows in the light exiting the aperture 8 and may also reduce the light output . in fig4 , the compressible material 34 is attached to the inner surface of the bulb 24 . alternatively , the compressible material 34 can be immovably attached to the led mount 28 , heat sink or other parts within the bulb 24 so long as the material is positioned outside of the optical path of the emitted light . in some embodiment the compressible material is contained in a sealed enclosure as shown in fig4 . the compressible material as shown in fig4 is a pocket of air . the air pocket is contained inside a small sealed balloon enclosure . as the pressure inside the bulb 24 increases , the air pocket 34 will reduce in volume , relieving the pressure inside the light bulb . instead of positioning the compressible material 34 inside the housing 24 , a part of the housing can be made of flexible material such as rubber so that it can expand as the cooling liquid 9 expands . however , this is not a preferred solution because it is difficult to maintain a seal between the flexible material and the rigid housing . thus , positioning of the compressible material 34 inside the housing 24 according to the present invention allows the housing to be made entirely of rigid , non - expanding material which is completely sealed , thereby improving the reliability and durability of the led lighting device . in an alternative embodiment , the compressible material 34 such as air is contained in an enclosure and is confined within an internal chamber 35 defined by an internal wall 33 having openings so that the fluid 9 flows freely therethrough . in this way , the compressible material 34 do not need to be immovably positioned . preferably , the wall 33 and therefore the compressible material 34 and its enclosure are outside of the optical path of the emitted light . although the embodiment of fig4 shows air as the compressible material , any other types of gas , which by nature are compressible , such as nitrogen can be used . in fact , even vacuum can be used so long as the enclosure is sufficiently rigid to withstand the force of vacuum , yet sufficiently flexible to compress due to the external pressure of the expanding cooling liquid 9 . fig5 shows various types of enclosures for enclosing compressible materials according to the present invention . fig5 a is a section of tubing containing air with both ends sealed . the tubing can be rubber , silicone , plastic or the like . the shape of the enclosure can be cylindrical as shown in fig5 a , spherical as shown in fig5 b , toroidal as shown in fig5 c , a flat cavity such as a disk as shown in fig5 d , or the like . the air pocket can be independent of the package , or can be attached to the package , or can be integrated with the package . as shown in fig5 e , the compressible material 34 can be a collection of small air pockets packed together as a piece of “ foam ”. such materials provide the necessary volume of gas required that is easy to handle and that can be cut to size as needed . the foam material can be found in packing cushion materials , for example . materials that make up these foams could be vinyl , silicone , rubber , etc . the gas inside the pockets can be air , nitrogen , or the like . to enhance the efficiency of cooling and heat sinking , a pump 38 can be added to circulate the cooling liquid inside the housing 24 . the pump 38 quickly moves away the hot liquid near the led chips 10 and replaced it with cooler liquid , thereby increasing the efficiency of cooling in order to reduce the junction temperature of the led chips . in a preferred embodiment , the pump 38 is an ultrasonic pump . ultrasonic signal is used to drive a transducer such that it generates acoustic waves in the cooling liquid 9 . the configuration of the pump 38 is such that the acoustic wave produces a net flow of liquid . fig6 a shows an led lighting device with such a pump . the liquid sealed housing 24 contains an ultrasonic pump 38 having an inlet 40 on one side and an outlet 42 on another side . the ultrasonic pump 38 is driven by an ultrasonic driver circuit 44 located outside the housing 24 that generates an ultrasonic drive signal . in fig6 a , the substrate 12 and led chip 10 attached to the substrate are mounted to the outer surface of the housing 24 instead of being attached to the inside of the housing as shown in fig4 . cooling fins 50 are attached to the housing 24 to remove heat from the cooling liquid 9 . preferably , the housing 24 in fig6 a is made of heat conductive material such as metal or metal alloy . the air pocket 34 in fig6 a is similar to that of fig4 , except that since the led chip 10 is attached to the outside of the housing 24 , the air pocket does not have to be immovably attached to the housing 24 . fig6 b shows an alternative led lighting device in which the led chip 10 and internal heat sink 5 are immersed in the cooling liquid 9 for effective cooling . the compressible material 34 is similar to that of fig4 and is attached to the interior surface of the liquid sealed housing 24 away from the optical path of the led chip 10 . fins 50 are attached to the housing 24 to remove heat from the cooling liquid 9 . preferably , the housing 24 in fig6 b is made of heat conductive material such as metal or metal alloy . the heatsink 5 is attached to the interior surface of the housing 24 so that the heat from the heatsink can be redistributed throughout the housing . the base 26 attached to the housing 24 couples electrical wires from the led chip 10 and pump 38 to connectors 46 . the light emitting from the led chip 10 is transmitted through the aperture / optical window 8 . fig7 shows an led lighting device according to another embodiment of the present invention . an array of led chips 10 and substrate 12 are mounted on a heatsink 5 attached to the interior surface of the housing 24 . the compressible material 34 is attached to the interior surface of the housing 24 and is positioned outside of the optical path of the emitted light . the housing 24 has an inlet 52 and outlet 54 . a flow tube 56 is coupled between the inlet 52 and outlet 54 . cooling fins 50 are attached to a portion of the flow tube 56 defining a cooling chamber 58 . a pump such as an ultrasonic pump 38 is connected inline with the flow tube 56 to pump the cooling liquid 9 from the housing 24 to the cooling chamber 58 for efficient heat sinking by the cooling fins . the above disclosure is intended to be illustrative and not exhaustive . this description will suggest many modifications , variations , and alternatives may be made by ordinary skill in this art without departing from the scope of the invention . those familiar with the art may recognize other equivalents to the specific embodiments described herein . for example , although the present invention is shown with a recycling reflector , it can be used without the recycling of light . also , while the present invention has been shown in the context of an led as the light source , it can be used with any light source that generates a significant amount of heat in operation . for example , the present invention can be used with laser , arc lamp , or the like . the principles of the present invention can also be applied to any other non - optical applications where heat is generated such as power transistors , microprocessors , inductors , rectifiers and transformers . accordingly , the scope of the invention is not limited to the foregoing specification .
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for the purposes of promoting an understanding of the principles of the embodiments disclosed herein , reference will now be made to the drawings and descriptions in the following written specification . it is understood that no limitation to the scope of the subject matter is thereby intended . it is further understood that the present disclosure includes any alterations and modifications to the illustrated embodiments and includes further applications of the principles of the disclosed embodiments as would normally occur to one skilled in the art to which this disclosure pertains . a method 100 for registering and matching the input biometric signal of the consent biometric system is depicted in fig1 . during enrollment ( 100 ( a )), the method begins by acquiring a biometric signal for biometric trait comparison ( block 104 ) and a dynamic biometric signal for willingness test ( block 108 ). the region of the signal containing the biometric traits of interest is segmented from the signal acquired from 104 ( block 112 ). the segmented signal is processed by block 116 and a feature descriptor is calculated and generated ( block 116 ). at the same time , the dynamic biometric signal acquired from 108 is processed by block 120 to test whether the biometric trait is live . the method continues by extracting a consent signature from the live dynamic sequential signal by block 124 . this requires the biometric sensor to have the capability to acquire dynamic sequential data ( such as videos ). taking fingerprint recognition as an example , the user applies different strokes to operate the fingerprint acquisition device . the device will recognize and record the stroke patterns to generate a signature . for iris recognition , the consent signature can be a sequence of eye movement patterns . for face recognition , the consent signatures can be the head movement sequence , or facial expression sequence . the method 100 ( a ) continues by registering the generated feature templates and consent signature in electronic database ( block 128 ). during authentication ( 100 ( b )), the method begins by acquiring a biometric signal for biometric trait comparison ( block 132 ) and a dynamic biometric signal for willingness test ( block 136 ). the region of the signal containing the biometric traits of interest is segmented from the signal acquired from 132 ( block 140 ). the segmented signal is processed by block 144 and a feature template is calculated and generated . at the same time , the dynamic biometric signal acquired from 136 is processed by block 148 to test whether the biometric trait is live . the method continues by extracting a consent signature from the live dynamic sequential signal by block 152 . the method 100 ( b ) continues by matching the generated feature template and consent signature with the ones retrieved from database . ( block 156 ) the matching results from block 156 are fused to generate the final decision . access is authorized only if both of the biometric feature descriptors and consent signatures are matched . one type of scheme named combinational consent biometric system ( 200 ) is depicted in fig2 . the biometric pattern b ( x ) ( 204 ) and consent signatures c ( x ) ( 216 ) are acquired separately from user x . b ( x ) will go through biometric recognition module ( 208 ) with a recognition function p 1 ( w 1 | b ( x )) and output a probability p 1 ( w 1 ) ( 212 ). the consent signature will be transmitted into the signature recognition module ( 220 ) with a recognition function p 2 ( w 2 | c ( x )) for processing , feature extraction and signature matching and a result p 2 ( w 2 ) ( 224 ) is generated . finally , the two outputs are combined by block 228 to give the final authentication result ( 232 ). this type of system may need two kinds of sensors to acquire data . however traditional biometric systems can be used to obtain , process , extract and match biometric features . the other type of scheme named incorporating consent biometric system ( 300 ) is depicted in fig3 . the consent signature is acquired simultaneously with the biometrics data ( block 304 ). in other words , the biometric data incorporates the consent signature . this requires the biometric sensor to have the capability to acquire sequential data ( such as videos ). in this scheme , the consent signature includes both active and passive physiological / behavior information . biometric pattern b ( x ) ( 308 ) and consent signature c ( x ) ( 320 ) are extracted from the incorporated input . in this scheme , the biometric pattern b ( x ) is processed through the biometric recognition module ( block 312 ) with function p 1 ( w 1 | b ( x )) and compared with the entire database . the user selects his / her own dynamic pattern as the consent signature c ( x ) during the biometric registration process ( block 128 ). during matching stage ( block 132 ), the dynamic biometric data would be acquired by the biometric system . the consent signature will be extracted as well as the biometric features and processed through the consent signature module ( block 324 ) with function p 2 ( w 2 | c ( x )). only if the biometric data and consent signature are matched and proved to be from an eligible user , the access is authorized . an example authentication design 400 of method 200 using face is depicted in fig4 . the example design begins by acquiring a video sequence of subject &# 39 ; s face with multiple facial expressions ( block 404 ). the video acquisition may be performed with a digital camera having an adequate resolution for imaging features within the face area of the subject . the facial expression sequence is used to test liveness of biometric traits . the example design 400 continues by segmenting the face area from each frame of the acquired face sequence 412 ( block 408 ). skin color can be used to determine the interest region . the location , shape and size information is considered to further eliminate the non - face parts . the face area is cropped out , normalized and enhanced to reduce lighting variation . any other effective face segmentation method can be applied in 408 . neutral face image ( 420 ), i . e ., face frame without facial expressions is then extracted from the video sequence by block 416 . at the same time , a facial expression sequence ( 424 ) is extracted from the video to generate the consent signature by 416 . each segmented face frame is normalized and smoothed by a gaussian filter and compare to an average neutral face frame to determine whether it is an element of 424 . the corresponding facial expression is detected and extracted by 416 and a consent signature is generated and encoded from 424 . the design continues by processing the generated 420 and 424 . face template is calculated and generated by block 428 for 420 and by block 432 for 424 respectively . a face recognition method is applied to block 428 . a classifier was trained by facial expression images and applied to block 432 to classify each face expression frame in 424 . the generated feature descriptors generated from 428 and 432 are compared to the corresponding ones stored in electronic database during registration belonging to the identity the subject claims to be . the authentication example design was then followed by fusing the comparison results from 428 and 432 to generate a final result 440 ( block 436 ). there are four scenarios possible during the process of 436 : both 428 and 432 are matched , 428 is matched but 432 is not , 432 is matched but 428 is not , neither of 428 and 432 are matched . only the first scenario is considered to be a valid access . an illustration of a human eye is shown in fig5 . the eye 500 includes a pupil 504 surrounded by an iris 508 . a limbic boundary 512 separates the iris 508 from the sclera region 516 . a medial point 520 identifies the area where a tear duct is typically located and the lateral point 524 identifies an outside edge of the image . within the iris 508 are textured patterns 528 . these patterns have been determined to be sufficiently unique that may be used to identify a subject . an example authentication design 600 of method 300 using the iris is depicted in fig6 . the method begins by acquiring a video sequence of the subject &# 39 ; s eye with eye movement ( block 604 ). imaging of an eye may include illumination of the eye in near infrared , infrared , visible , multispectral , or hyperspectral frequency light . the light may be polarized or non - polarized and the illumination source may be close or remote from the eye . a light source close to an eye refers to a light source that directly illuminates the eye in the presence of the subject . a remote light source refers to a light source that illuminates the eye at a distance that is unlikely to be detected by the subject . as noted below , adjustments may be made to the image to compensate for image deformation that may occur through angled image acquisition or eye movement . thus , the eye image may be a frontal image or a deformed image . the image acquisition may be performed with a digital video camera having an adequate resolution for imaging features within the iris of the subject &# 39 ; s eye . the eye movement sequence is used to test liveness of biometric traits . the acquired video sequence with dynamic eye movement is processed by a consent signature extraction module ( block 608 ) and a video - based iris recognition module ( block 620 ) respectively . 608 extracts the consent signature from 604 . one embodiment of consent signature in this design is a sequence of eye movement , e . g ., the eye orientation sequence , including center , left , right , up , up - left and up - right , altogether six directions . it is required that each eye position should be kept for more than certain time to validate the movement state . the corresponding consent signature is bound with each subject &# 39 ; s enrolled iris pattern and pre - stored in the consent signature database ( 616 ). once the consent signature sequence is extracted by 608 , it is compared with the one registered in 616 frame by frame ( block 612 ). only when the distance between the extracted and the registered signature is smaller than a threshold are their orientations considered to be the same . in this way , the extracted signature is verified by 612 . block 616 continues by segmenting the eye image to isolate the region of the image containing the iris . the segmentation extracts a region of an image containing the pupil at the center with the iris surrounding the pupil . in one embodiment , the pupil acts as the center of the segmented region , with other portions of the iris being described using polar coordinates that locate features using an angle and distance from the center of the pupil . the segmented iris frames are categorized by their orientations , e . g ., center , left , right , up , up - left and up - right . after the iris region is segmented , one or more features presented in the iris image are detected and extracted . the features in question include any unique textures or structural shapes present in the iris region of the eye image . in one embodiment , the stable feature points which are invariant to scale , shift , and rotation are identified in each iris pattern . the sub - regions are distributed in a circular pattern about the pupil , with one partition scheme forming 10 sub - regions in the radial direction , and partitioning the full 360 ° angle about the pupil into 72 sub - regions for a total of 720 sub - regions . because a feature might lie on the boundary of a sub - region , the partitioning process in an example embodiment is repeated by offsetting the angle at which partitioning begins by 2 . 5 °. the offsetting ensures that a detected feature will always be included in one of the sub - regions . for each sub - region , extrema points are selected . these extrema points are the points that are tested to be different from its surrounding neighbors , which could be corner points , edge points and feature points . the block 6 continues by extracting the described iris feature using a bank of two - dimensional gabor filters . the gabor wavelet is selected by altering the values of the frequency and standard deviation parameters applied as part of the gabor filter transformation . the magnitude response to the 2d gabor filter of the filtered area is gaussian weighted based on the spatial distance between each point and the feature point . specifically , the identified feature points are next described by using a 64 - length descriptor that is based on the normalized and gaussian weighted position of each feature point within a normalized window about the feature point . in one embodiment , the normalized window includes 4 sub - divided bins in the horizontal ( x ) direction , 4 sub - divided bins in the vertical ( y ) direction , and 4 subdivided bins corresponding to phase response directions of a 2d gabor filter of the feature point . if each of the 4 bins is thought of as a dimension , the 4 × 4 × 4 matrix forms 64 bins , each one of which holds one of the descriptor values that identifies a feature point . the generated feature descriptors are then categorized by the eye orientations and matched with the corresponding registered descriptors in the iris database 624 . a matching score indicating the similarity between the authenticating iris and the registered one belonging to the identity the subject claims to be is generated for each orientation ( block 628 ). in one embodiment , six match scores are generated by matching the six orientations , center , left , right , up , up - left and up - right respectively . the example design 600 continues by fusing the multimodal matching scores generated by 628 . in one embodiment , five score fusion strategies are applied to 628 and the one with the best accuracy is selected for the 600 . the score fused by 628 is then compared to a threshold by block 632 to determine whether the authenticating iris and the registered one are matched . the matching result of 612 and 632 are inputted to a final fusion module ( block 632 ) to determine whether a valid access should be granted . the decision ( 640 ) is given by the following rules : registered user with right consent signature : the user will be accepted because the right consent signature connecting to his or her identity is matched . registered user with wrong consent signature : the user will be rejected since the consent signature generated from consent signature extraction module ( 608 ) is unique to each identity and cannot match with the wrong input . non - registered user : the user will be rejected in both consent signature matching module ( 612 ) and iris matching module ( 632 ). those skilled in the art will recognize that numerous modifications can be made to the specific implementations described above . therefore , the following claims are not to be limited to the specific embodiments illustrated and described above . the claims , as originally presented and as they may be amended , encompass variations , alternatives , modifications , improvements , equivalents , and substantial equivalents of the embodiments and teachings disclosed herein , including those that are presently unforeseen or unappreciated , and that , for example , may arise from applicants / patentees and others .
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an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings . fig1 shows schematically an address region detection apparatus according to the present embodiment . in fig1 postal matter 301 to be processed is sent to an image input unit 302 by transfer means ( not shown ). in the image input unit 302 , the postal matter 301 is optically scanned and a surface image is photoelectrically converted . thereby , the image on the postal matter 301 is input and sent to an address region detection unit 303 . in the address region detection unit 303 , the image is subjected to image processing , as described later , and a plurality of character lines assumed to be a beginning portion of the address information are detected and sent to a character recognition unit 304 . in the character recognition unit 304 , characters are taken out from each character line one by one and recognized one by one . the recognition result is sent to a word recognition unit 305 . in the word recognition unit 305 , the character recognition result sent from the character recognition unit 304 is collated with address information registered in an address data base . thereby , the recognition result is corrected and a word recognition process is carried out . the recognition result is sent to a block recognition unit 306 . in the block recognition unit 306 . information of &# 34 ; chome &# 34 ; ( street number ) and &# 34 ; banchi &# 34 ; ( house number ) stated near the recognized line is read to perform a block recognition process . the recognized result is output as address recognition result 307 . fig2 is a flow chart illustrating the process performed in the address region detection unit 303 . the processing operations of the address region detection unit 303 will now be described with reference to this flow chart . at first , the image of postal matter 301 input by the image input unit 302 is subjected to a digitizing process ( s1 ). pixel regions connected on the digital image are found and a rectangular region circumscribed on these regions is found ( s2 ). then , the shape , position , etc . of each found rectangular region are determined on the basis of initially prepared determination reference data , and unnecessary rectangular data ( noise ) is eliminated ( s3 ). regarding the rectangular data remaining after step s3 , vertical and horizontal directions of lines of characters on the postal matter 301 are assumed ( s4 , s5 ). in each direction , the rectangular data is independently subjected to character line extraction ( s6 , s7 ), character line block evaluation ( s8 , s9 ), and a process of synthesizing character line blocks and detecting an address region candidate ( s10 , s11 ). the address region candidate detected in the process of steps s10 and s11 is evaluated on the basis of initially prepared determination reference data ( s12 ). the address region candidate is output from the one with a highest evaluation result ( s13 ). the circumscribed rectangular data preparing process performed in step s2 in fig2 will now be described with reference to fig3 . if a region 20 of an aggregation of pixels is detected from a digital image of postal matter , the maximum and minimum coordinate values of the region 20 in the x - and y - directions are found ( 21 ), and a rectangular region circumscribed about the aggregation of pixels is found ( 22 ). when attempting to detect a connection of pixels , if one character 23 is detected as discontinuous parts , the maximum and minimum coordinate values of each part in the x - and y - directions of a region 24 are found . fig4 shows methods of extracting pixel connection components . in a 4 - proximity method ( 26 ), if there are pixels adjoining a pixel - of - interest ( the shaded region in the center of 26 ) in the x - and y - directions , the pixels are determined to be connected with the pixel - of - interest and synthesized . in an 8 - proximity method ( 27 ), pixels adjoining a pixel - of - interest ( the shaded region in the center of 27 ) in four diagonal directions , in addition to the pixels of the 4 - proximity , method are synthesized . the noise elimination process performed in step s3 in fig2 will now be described with reference to the flow chart of fig5 . at first , circumscribed rectangular data formed in step s2 in fig2 is fetched in ( s40 ). then , based on initially prepared determination reference data , the shape of each rectangular data unit is determined and it is determined whether or not each rectangular data unit is a data unit for character line detection ( s41 ). invalid rectangular data is excluded from the subsequent process ( s42 ), and valid data is treated as data for character line detection processing ( s43 ). fig6 to 8 show examples of the determination reference data . specifically , as shown in fig6 when circumscribed rectangular data 45 is found from digital image 44 of a character , rectangular data with an area equal to or larger than a predetermined value is determined as data not to be subjected to character line detection processing and is removed ( 46 ). as is shown in fig7 when circumscribed rectangular data 49 is found from a digital image 47 including a stain 48 or the like , rectangular data 50 with an area equal to or less than a predetermined value is determined as data not to be subjected to character line detection processing and is removed ( 51 ). as is shown in fig8 when circumscribed rectangular data 55 and 56 is found from a digital image 52 including an underline 53 , rectangular data 55 having a width of a predetermined value or less and a length of a predetermined value or more is determined as data not to be subjected to character line detection processing and is removed ( 51 ). in this context , the width of a rectangle refers to a shorter side thereof and the length of a rectangle refers to a longer side thereof . image data 57 of , e . g . a zip code , as shown in fig9 is recognized as rectangular data having a prestored width and length . thus , it is clear that the image data 57 representing a zip code is not an address region . accordingly , the rectangular data is determined as data not to be subjected to character line detection processing . in this context , the width of a rectangle refers to a shorter side thereof and the length of a rectangle refers to a longer side thereof . fig1 is a flow chart illustrating another example of the noise elimination process performed in step s3 in fig2 . at first , circumscribed rectangular data formed in step s2 in fig2 is fetched in ( s60 ). the position and density of each rectangular data unit are determined on the basis of initially prepared determination reference data and it is determined whether the rectangular data is data to be subjected to character line detection ( s61 ). invalid rectangular data is excluded from the subsequent process ( s62 ), and valid data is used as data for character line detection processing ( s63 ). fig1 shows an example of the determination reference data . if there are circumscribed rectangles 66 having preset width and length in a predetermined region of an image 64 , 65 , those rectangles are considered to have information of the kind registered in accordance with set values of width and length . for example , in the case of postal matter , if there is a circumscribed rectangle group of a predetermined size in an upper specific region of the postal matter , the circumscribed rectangle group may be determined as a zip code region . the character line extraction process in steps s4 to s7 in fig2 will now be described with reference to fig1 . with respect to the circumscribed rectangular data 80 obtained by image processing , rectangular data units adjacent to one another in the x - direction are synthesized ( 81 ), thereby detecting ( 82 ) an x - directional character line . independently of the x - directional character line detection process , the same circumscribed rectangular data units are synthesized in the y - direction ( 83 ). thereby , the y - directional character line is detected ( 84 ). fig1 is a flow chart illustrating an example of a method of synthesizing rectangular data and detecting a character line . the processing operation of this method will now be described with reference to the flow chart . during preprocessing , excessively small and large circumscribed rectangular data units are eliminated ( s100 ), and rectangular data units of the inclusion - relationship are synthesized and rearranged ( s101 ). then , the direction of synthesizing rectangular data units is determined ( s102 , s103 ) and the line detection process is initiated ( s104 ). in the line detection process in step s104 , the number - of - lines n is set at &# 34 ; 1 &# 34 ; ( s105 ). then , it is determined whether there are rectangular data units which are not synthesized in any line ( s106 ). if not , the process is completed ( s107 ). if there are such rectangular data units , one of them is selected ( s108 ) and the n - th line region is initialized to the rectangular region ( s109 ). then , with respect to the present line region , it is checked whether or not there are rectangular data units adjacent to each other in the direction of synthesis ( s110 ). if not , &# 34 ; n &# 34 ; is incremented ( s115 ) and the control returns to s106 . otherwise , the distance between the selected rectangular data unit and line is found ( s111 ). if the distance exceeds a set value , the rectangular data unit is deleted from the list of all rectangular regions ( s112 ) and the control returns to s110 . if the distance is less than a set value , a ratio of line width variation is checked before and after the rectangular data unit selected in s110 is synthesized into the line region ( s113 ). if the ratio of line width variation exceeds a predetermined value , the rectangular data unit is deleted from the list and the control returns to s110 . otherwise , the rectangular data unit selected in s110 is synthesized and the line region is changed ( s114 ). the rectangular data unit is deleted from the list and the control returns to s110 . in the above line detection process , simultaneously with the vertical detection process , the horizontal detection process is performed independently on the basis of the same rectangular data ( s116 ). the extracted character line evaluation process performed in s8 and s9 in fig2 will now be described with reference to the flow chart of fig1 . at first , extracted character line data is fetched in ( s120 ). then , with respect to the shape of each character line data unit , it is determined whether or not the character line data is address indication object data based on initially prepared determination reference data ( s121 ). invalid character line data is excluded from the subsequent process ( s122 ) and valid character line data is used as address indication object data ( s123 ). as is shown in fig1 , a block 124 having a width of a predetermined value or more among obtained character line blocks is determined to be a data unit not to be subjected to address indication and deleted ( 125 ). as is shown in fig1 , a block 126 having a width of a predetermined value or less among obtained character line blocks is determined to be a data unit not to be subjected to address indication and deleted ( 127 ). as is shown in fig1 , a block 128 having a ratio of length and width outside a predetermined range among obtained character line blocks is determined to be a data unit not to be subjected to address indication and is deleted ( 129 ). fig1 is a flow chart showing an example of another process of evaluating an extracted character line performed in steps s8 and s9 in fig2 . at first , extracted character line data is fetched ( s140 ), and a characteristic value of the shape of each character line data unit is found ( s141 ). thereafter , a calculation based on the shape of each character line data unit is performed with an initially prepared evaluation function ( s142 ), and an evaluation value for determining the order of priority of processing the character line data as address indication object data is calculated ( s143 ). the evaluation function of the character line data will now be additionally described . the evaluation function is used to evaluate the width of the character line block and the number of characters of the character line block . regarding the width of the character line , it is evaluated , for example , ( 1 ) whether the width of the character line is within a range of set values and ( 2 ) whether the ratio of the width of the character line to an average value of the width of the circumscribed rectangular data included in the character line is a predetermined value or less . the closer the character line block matches the evaluation items , the higher the evaluation value thereof . in this context , the width of the character line refers to the dimension of the character line in a direction perpendicular to the direction of the line , and the width of the circumscribed rectangular data refers to the dimension of the circumscribed rectangular data in a direction perpendicular to the direction of the line . regarding the number of characters of the character line block , it is evaluated , for example , ( 1 ) whether the number of characters in the character line is within a range of set values and ( 2 ) whether or not the ratio of the number of circumscribed rectangular data units included in the character line to the number of characters in the character line is a predetermined value or less . the closer the character line block matches the evaluation items , the higher the evaluation value thereof . in this context , the number of characters in the character line refers to a value obtained by dividing the length of the character line by the width of the character line , or a value obtained by dividing the length of the character line by an average value of the widths of circumscribed rectangular data units included in the character line . the length of the character line refers to the dimension of the character line in the direction of the line . the process of synthesizing character line blocks and deleting the character statement region in steps s10 and s11 in fig2 will now be described with reference to fig1 and 20 . as is shown in fig1 , with respect to x - directional character line block data 160 extracted by synthesizing circumscribed rectangular data units in the x - direction , the character line blocks adjacent in the y - direction and the character line blocks aligned in the x - direction are synthesized to obtain synthesis data 161 . based on the synthesis data 161 , data 162 having x - directional character statement regions ( in broken lines ) are specified . similarly , as shown in fig2 , with respect to y - directional character line block data 163 extracted by synthesizing circumscribed rectangular data units in the y - direction , the character line blocks adjacent in the x - direction and the character line blocks aligned in the y - direction are synthesized to obtain synthesis data 164 . based on the synthesis data 164 , data 165 having y - directional character statement regions ( in broken lines ) are specified is obtained . fig2 is a flow chart showing a method of synthesizing the character line blocks and detecting the character statement region . the processing operations in this method will now be described with reference to this flow chart . at first , line data in the direction of the shorter side of postal matter is fetched ( s180 ). the direction of synthesis is set to the direction of the longer side of the postal matter ( s181 ), and the region detecting process is performed ( s182 ). simultaneously , line data in the direction of the longer side of the postal matter is fetched ( s183 ). the direction of synthesis is set to the direction of the shorter side of the postal matter ( s184 ) and the region detecting process is performed ( s185 ). in the region detecting process in step s182 , s185 , the number n of character statement regions is set at &# 34 ; 1 &# 34 ; ( s186 ). then , it is determined whether there are lines which are not synthesized in any region ( s187 ). if not , the process is completed ( s188 ). if there are such lines , one of them is selected ( s189 ), and the n - th character statement region is initialized to the associated line region ( s190 ). subsequently , it is checked whether there is a line adjacent to the present line region in the direction of synthesis ( s191 ). if there is such a line , the line is determined with use of initially prepared determination reference data ( s192 ). if the line is determined to be valid , the line is synthesized in the region and the region is updated ( s193 ). the line is deleted from the list ( s194 ) and the control returns to s191 . if the line is determined to be invalid , the line is deleted from the list ( s194 ) and the control returns to s191 . in s191 , if there is no such line , it is checked whether there is a line adjacent to the present region in a direction perpendicular to the direction of synthesis ( s195 ). if there is such a line , the line is determined with use of initially prepared determination reference data ( s196 ). if the line is determined to be valid , the line is synthesized in the region and the region is updated ( s197 ). the line is deleted from the list ( s198 ) and the control returns to s195 . if the line is determined to be invalid , the line is deleted from the list ( s198 ) and the control returns to s195 . in step s195 , if there is no such line , n is incremented by one ( s199 ) and the control returns to step s187 . fig2 a and 22b show an example of the determination process performed in step s192 in fig2 . in this example , as shown in fig2 a , if the distance d1 between two regions 200 and 201 in the direction of synthesis , the vertical direction , is a predetermined threshold or less , the synthesis is performed . if the distance d2 between two regions 202 and 203 in the direction of synthesis is a predetermined threshold or more , the synthesis is not performed . in one example , d1 = 2 mm , d2 = 10 mm , and threshold set value = about 8 mm . if the displacement d3 between regions 204 and 205 in a direction perpendicular to the direction of synthesis , the horizontal direction , or the displacement d4 between regions 206 and 207 in a direction perpendicular to the direction of synthesis is a predetermined threshold or less , as shown in fig2 b , the synthesis is performed . however , if the displacement d5 between regions 208 and 209 in a direction perpendicular to the direction of synthesis or the displacement d6 between regions 210 and 211 in a direction perpendicular to the direction of synthesis is a predetermined threshold or more , the synthesis is not performed . in one example , d3 = 5 mm , d4 = 25 mm , d5 = 10 mm , d6 = 30 mm , and threshold set value = about 20 mm . fig2 shows an example of the determination process performed in step s196 in fig2 . in this example , as shown in fig2 , if the displacement d7 between regions 212 and 213 in a direction perpendicular to the direction of synthesis , the horizontal direction , is a predetermined threshold or less , the synthesis is performed . if the displacement d8 between regions 214 and 215 in a direction perpendicular to the direction of synthesis is a predetermined threshold or more , the synthesis is not performed . in one example , d7 = 10 mm , d8 = 40 mm , and threshold set value = about 20 mm . in another case , if the displacement d9 between regions 216 and 217 in the direction of synthesis , the vertical direction , is a predetermined threshold or less , the synthesis is performed . if the displacement d10 between regions 218 and 219 in the direction of synthesis is a predetermined threshold or more , the synthesis is not performed . in one example , d9 = 2 mm , d10 = 5 mm , and threshold set value = about 4 mm . the threshold value is set at a fixed value or a value calculated from a line size . the process for evaluating the extracted character statement region performed in step s12 in fig2 will now be described with reference to the flow chart of fig2 . extracted character statement region data is fetched ( s220 ). with respect to the region data , a characteristic value relating to the shape of each region is found ( s221 ). thereafter , a preset evaluation function relating to the shape and the number of lines in each region is calculated ( s222 ). furthermore , based on the arithmetic operation result of the evaluation function , it is found that target information is stated and an evaluation value for determining the order of priority of processing is obtained ( s224 ). the evaluation function will now be additionally described with reference to fig2 a1 - 25a2 and 25b1 - 25b2 . as regards the shape and the number of lines of the region , it is determined ( 1 ) whether or not the ratio of | x |/| y | of regions 225 and 226 is within a predetermined range of set values , as shown in fig2 a . if the ratio is outside the range , the evaluation value decreases . in addition , it is determined ( 2 ) whether or not the number of lines included in the region is within a predetermined range of set values , as shown in fig2 b1 - 25b2 . if not , the evaluation value is set at a low value . in other words , the better the region matches the conditions of items , the higher the evaluation value given to the region . the ratio of | x |/| y | and the range of set values of the number of lines in the region are calculated , respectively , in the case where the line direction is the x - direction and in the case where the line direction is the y - direction . as regards the position of the region , as shown in fig2 , priority evaluation is performed on the basis of the distance d between the center p of postal matter and each region candidate 241 , as a standard for selecting the region candidate . in fig2 , priority evaluation is performed on the basis of the distance d between the center p of an upper edge portion of postal matter and each region candidate 243 , as a standard for selecting the region candidate . in fig2 , priority evaluation is performed on the basis of the distance d between the zip code region p of postal matter and each region candidate 245 , as a standard for selecting the region candidate . in fig2 , priority evaluation is performed on the basis of the distance d between the postage area p of postal matter and each region candidate 247 , as a standard for selecting the region candidate . reference points used in evaluating the positions of regions are given , as shown in fig3 , 31a and 31b . in fig3 , with respect to both x - directional 262 and y - directional 261 regions , evaluation is performed on the basis of the distance d from a common reference point p to the x - directional or y - directional region . in fig3 a , with respect to an x - directional region 263 , evaluation is performed on the basis of reference point p for x - directional evaluation . in fig3 b , with respect to a y - directional region 265 , evaluation is performed on the basis of the distance d from reference point p for y - directional evaluation . by these evaluations , n - candidates with high evaluation values are selected . examples of methods of selecting n - candidates are ( 1 ) n - candidates are selected from all x - directional and y - directional regions from ones with high evaluation values , and ( 2 ) m - candidates and ( n - m )- candidates are selected from x - directional and y - directional regions . the process of generally evaluating address region candidates and outputting upper n - candidates with higher evaluation values will now be described with reference to the flow chart of fig3 . at first , character line data included in n - regions selected in the preceding step is fetched ( s280 ). next , the positional relationship between each a line and other lines located in the region to which the line belongs is determined by an initially prepared function ( s281 ). specifically , an evaluation value relating to a positional relationship with other lines is found ( s282 ), an evaluation result relating to the shape of the line is found ( s283 ), an evaluation result of the region to which the line belongs is obtained ( s284 ), and the evaluation results are totally evaluated ( s285 ). thus , the upper n - candidates with the highest general evaluation are output ( s286 ). with respect to the address candidate region having the highest evaluation result , character recognition processing is performed ( s287 ). with respect to the address candidate region , if correct address information is confirmed ( s288 ), the process is completed . if not , character recognition is performed with respect to the region candidate with the second highest evaluation ( s289 ). if correct address information is not confirmed once again , the recognition of the next candidate region is performed . in this manner , the regions are subjected to character recognition in the order of evaluation values . thereby , the frequency of character recognition in useless regions decreases , and the character recognition process can be performed more efficiently than in the prior art . pigs . 33a , 33b and 33c are views for illustrating the steps of the address region detection process in the present invention . fig3 shows an example of postal matter subjected to evaluation of the position of region . fig3 is a table showing values of an evaluation function relating to the position of the address region . fig3 a is a table showing values of an evaluation function relating to the shape of the address region in the x - direction . fig3 b is a table showing values of an evaluation function relating to the shape of the address region in the y - direction . fig3 is a table showing values of an evaluation function relating to the number of lines in the address region , and fig3 is a table relating to the evaluation of each address region of postal matter in fig3 . fig3 a , 33b and 33c show examples of the postal matter processed in the address region detection process of the present invention , and the image data processing based on the postal matter . the steps of the image data process are shown specifically in accordance with the flow chart of fig2 . postal matter 301 is fetched as a digital image 311 by the image input unit 302 ( s1 ). the digital image 311 is converted to rectangular image data 313 ( s2 ). further , as shown in fig7 the image data is converted to an image 315 from which fine noise images are removed ( s3 ). furthermore , the image 315 is processed assuming the direction of characters is vertical ( 317 , 319 , 321 , 323 ) and processed assuming the direction of characters is horizontal ( 325 , 327 , 329 , 331 ). the above - mentioned horizontal and vertical processing is performed in parallel . the image 317 , the direction of characters of which is assumed to be vertical , is converted to an image 319 in which the character line is extracted . a line block is evaluated by a method , etc . as illustrated in fig1 to 17 , and converted to an image 321 in which a portion unmatched with the address region is removed . finally , the image 321 is converted to a synthesis image 323 ( s4 , s6 , s8 , s10 ). in the case of the image 315 the direction of characters of which is assumed to be horizontal , the image 315 is similarly converted to images 325 , 327 , 329 and 331 successively ( s5 , s7 , s9 , s11 ). the two images 323 and 331 are integrated into an image 333 in which chosen address region candidates are included . evaluation functions on these address region candidates are calculated ( s12 ) and output along with ranks ( s13 ). fig3 shows postal matter 335 in which address region candidates a to e are stated . as regards the address region candidates a to e , evaluation functions , as mentioned below , are calculated and finally ranks of certainty are determined . fig3 is a table showing values of an evaluation function relating to the position of the address region . evaluation points from 50 to 100 are given in accordance with the magnitude 1 cm ! between reference point p1 to the address region candidate . if the distance l is 20 cm or more , at least 50 points are given . when the distance l is 4 to 10 cm , the highest evaluation point of 100 is given since it is considered to be the value of the most normal position of the address region . fig3 a is a table showing values of an evaluation function relating to the shape of the address region in the x - direction , and fig3 b is a stable showing values of an evaluation function relating to the shape of the address region in the y - direction . by these functions , the shape of the address region can be evaluated . specifically , when x - directional processing is performed , the evaluation value of | x |/| y |= r is the lowest point of - 50 when 0 & lt ; r & lt ; 1 . if 2 & lt ; r ≦ 10 , the value is the highest point of 10 and is considered to be the value most closely associated with the most normal address region . on the other hand , when y - directional processing is performed , the value of | y |/| x |= r is the lowest point of - 50 when 0 & lt ; r ≦ 1 . if 2 & lt ; r ≦ 10 , the value is the highest point of 10 and is considered to the value most closely associated with the most normal address region . fig3 is a table showing values of an evaluation function relating to the number of lines in the address region . if the number - of - lines n of the address region is 10 or more , the evaluation value is the lowest , - 40 . if n is between 3 and 5 , the evaluation value is the highest , 0 . thus , the values of the evaluation functions relating to the three factors are summed , and the address region candidates are ranked . fig3 is a table relating to the evaluation of each address region of the postal matter as shown in fig3 . as a result , region a is ranked &# 34 ; 4 &# 34 ; with 45 points , region b is ranked &# 34 ; 2 &# 34 ; with 80 points , region c is ranked &# 34 ; 1 &# 34 ; with 110 points , region d is ranked &# 34 ; 3 &# 34 ; with 75 points , and region e is ranked &# 34 ; 5 &# 34 ; with 40 points . the probability of each address region candidate is expressed in numerals , and the address region candidates are arranged in order . thus , character recognition can be performed for the address region candidates with higher ranks . thereby , the character recognition can be performed more efficiently than in the prior art and the total time needed for recognition can be decreased . as has been described above , according to the above embodiment , the circumscribed rectangular data is used in calculating the address statement region of the postal matter . thereby , the data amount can be reduced and efficient processing can be achieved . since the address indication object data is determined by using the shape and position data of the circumscribed rectangular data , the address region data to be recognized can be selected exactly and efficiently from the postal matter including advertisement , a postage stamp and / or an underline , in addition to the address information . as to the direction of character lines , both vertical and horizontal circumscribed rectangular data units are generally determined . as compared to the case where an address region is detected in a predetermined single direction of character line , the address line detection precision can be enhanced . furthermore , a plurality of address region candidates with the highest rankings are selected . thus , image processing ambiguity can be eliminated in character recognition and word recognition . as compared to the case where only a single candidate is selected , the possibility of erroneous detection of the address region can be decreased . as has been described above in detail , the present invention can provide an address region detection apparatus capable of detecting an address region on postal matter quickly and exactly . additional advantages and modifications will readily occur to those skilled in the art . therefore , the invention in its broader aspects is not limited to the specific details , and representative devices shown and described herein . accordingly , various modifications may be made without departing from the spirit or scope of the general inventive concept as defined by the appended claims and their equivalents .
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referring to fig1 there is illustrated a processing apparatus 10 made in accordance with the present invention . the apparatus 10 is designed to process photosensitive material , such as photographic filmstrip . in the particular embodiment illustrated , the apparatus is particularly adapted for processing photosensitive filmstrip that has been provided in a thrust - type filmstrip cartridge , such as disclosed in u . s . pat . no . 4 , 834 , 306 , commonly assigned to the assignee of the present application and which is hereby incorporated by reference . the apparatus 10 includes a load / unload station 12 , a filmstrip processing section 14 , and a drying section 16 . at the load / unload station 12 a filmstrip from a filmstrip cartridge is initially driven out of the cartridge into a processing reel and after processing back into the cartridge , as is discussed in greater detail later herein . as is typical with such processing apparatus , a housing 18 is provided for containing the load / unload station , filmstrip processing section , and drying section and for providing a light - tight environment within the housing 18 . housing 18 is appropriately sized and configured so as to fully enclose the components and allow access as required . a detailed description of the apparatus 10 and its operation is described in u . s . pat . no . 5 , 543 , 882 , which has previously been incorporated herein by reference . the apparatus 10 is designed such that it is possible to process filmstrip while the filmstrip is still attached to a filmstrip cartridge . referring to fig2 and 3 , there is illustrated a holding mechanism 20 having a nest 22 for holding a filmstrip cartridge 24 . the cartridge 24 is of the thrust - type and contains a filmstrip 26 . the holding mechanism further includes a cover 28 designed to mate with at least one processing tank . in the embodiment illustrated , six processing tanks are provided ( see fig1 ). in particular , there is provided a development tank 30 which contains a photographic developer solution , a bleach tank 32 containing a photographic bleach solution , a first wash tank 34 containing a wash solution , a fix tank 36 containing a fixing solution , a second wash tank 38 containing a wash solution , and a stabilizer tank 40 containing a stabilizing solution . it is , of course , understood that any desired number of processing tanks may be provided , each containing the desired processing solution . a transport mechanism 42 is provided for transporting the holding mechanism 20 through each of the processing tanks 30 , 32 , 34 , 36 , 38 , 40 . the transport mechanism includes a base 44 secured to apparatus 10 , a mounting block 46 which is rotatably mounted to base 44 , and a lift member 48 having one end secured to mounting block 46 and the other end secured to holding mechanism 20 . the mounting block 46 is mounted to base 44 such that the holding mechanism 20 may be rotated between an operative position ( as shown in fig2 ) and the transport position ( as illustrated in fig3 ). the mounting block 46 is also capable of being moved in a direction such that the holding mechanism 20 will be moved to a position adjacent to each of the processing tanks 30 , 32 , 34 , 36 , 38 , 40 . further details of the transport mechanism 42 and holding mechanism 20 is set forth in previously referred to u . s . pat . no . 5 , 543 , 882 . the holding mechanism 20 further includes a filmstrip processing reel 50 which is used to hold the portion of filmstrip 26 that has been thrust out of cartridge 24 at load / unload station 12 . the filmstrip 26 is held in a spiral pattern in reel 50 such that the processing solution can flow between adjacent convolutions of the filmstrip while it is transported through the desired sequence of processing tanks . a support arm 52 connects reel 50 with tank cover 28 . fluid 54 fills tank 30 to a level between the top of reel 50 and the bottom 56 of tank cover 28 . appropriate means , as shown in fig9 - 11 , is provided for thrusting the portion of filmstrip 26 to be processed out of the cartridge 24 and into reel 50 and then back into cartridge 24 , and as more fully described in u . s . pat . no . 5 , 543 , 882 . the trailing end portion of filmstrip 26 remains attached to cartridge 24 as it is being processed . a baffle 58 is attached to support arm 52 and placed above reel 50 , but below the top level of fluid 54 . a slot ( not shown ) is provided for allowing the filmstrip 26 to pass through baffle 58 and onto reel 50 . in the embodiment illustrated , means are also provided for agitating and passing the processing solution adjacent the surface of the filmstrip while in reel 50 . in particular , there is provided a motor 60 having a propeller 62 for providing agitation and causing the processing solution 54 to pass through openings 53 in the side walls of the reel 50 such that the processing solution 50 is continuously allowed to flow past the emulsion placed on the filmstrip 26 . the cover 28 mates with the upper end of the tank so as to provide a substantially sealed processing tank , such that when the motor 60 is activated , the processing solution will be maintained within the processing tank . a shroud 64 is provided around the periphery of propeller 62 so as to direct the processing solution to reel 50 . referring to fig4 - 8 , there is illustrated in greater detail the processing reel 50 . the processing reel 50 includes a pair of substantially parallel side walls 121 , 123 . side wall 123 has an annular inner projection 127 which extends therefrom and mates with an annular outer projection 129 extending from side wall 121 so as to form a central hub in reel 50 . the inner surfaces 111 , 131 of side walls 121 , 123 facing each other are each provided with a projecting wall member 132 , 134 , respectively . the wall members 132 , 134 on each respective side wall 121 , 123 are provided in a substantially spiral pattern about hub 130 and are aligned with respect to each other so as to form a spiral path 135 for receiving the side edges 139 of a photosensitive material , such as a filmstrip 26 , as illustrated in fig5 . the side walls 121 , 123 , through annular portions 127 , 129 , are mounted to each other such that a rotating reciprocating motion about axis x -- x is provided between walls 121 , 123 . in the particular embodiment illustrated , the side wall 123 is allowed to oscillate back and forth approximately 30 ° with respect to side wall 121 . referring to fig6 - 8 , each of the side walls 121 , 123 are provided with a clutch mechanism 136 such that when the side walls are reciprocated in one direction relative to each other , the filmstrip will be advanced through spiral path 135 , and when oscillated in the opposite circumferential direction , will prevent movement of the photosensitive material out of path 135 . in particular , the clutch mechanism includes a cage 144 designed to receive a spherical member / ball 146 . in the particular embodiment illustrated , spherical member 146 is a steel ball . the cage 144 is configured and sized such that the ball 146 is trapped within cage 144 and can be moved only along the circumferential direction as illustrated in fig6 by arrow 148 . the clutch mechanism includes a ramp surface 152 within cage 144 . the ramp surface 152 is designed such that when the photosensitive material is moved in the direction indicated by arrow 154 , the filmstrip will be caught between the top surface of the ball 146 and outer wall 151 causing it to be moved in a direction in which the wall member is being oscillated , and when one wall member is moved in the opposite direction with respect to the other side as indicated by arrow 158 , the ball member 146 will be at the lower end 153 of ramp 152 , as illustrated by dash line in fig8 thus allowing movement of one of the side walls 121 , 123 without moving the filmstrip 26 . if the filmstrip 26 is pulled in a direction to remove the filmstrip 26 from the spiral path 135 as indicated by arrow 154 , the balls in each of the cages will prevent the filmstrip 26 from being pulled out . in the prior art , in order to allow the filmstrip 26 to be removed from the spiral path 135 , a clutch disengaging means is provided for disengaging of the balls 146 from the filmstrip 26 when the filmstrip 26 is moved in the direction indicated by arrow 158 ( see fig1 ). in the embodiment illustrated , there is provided a pair of spring members 160 , one associated with each of the cages 144 having a forward engaging portion 166 and a rear end 168 which is secured to the associated wall members 121 , 123 . it is to be understood that the rear end 168 may be secured in any desired manner , for example , means such as screws , adhesive , rivets , etc . each spring member 160 has a central portion 170 which extends in a direction outwardly from adjacent wall members 121 , 123 and terminates in forward end 166 . forward end 166 is provided with a projecting portion 172 which has an engaging surface 174 which can pass through an access opening provided in cage 144 . the surface 174 is configured so as to engage the ball 146 and thereby force the spherical ball 146 to be retained at the lower end portion 153 of the ramp surface 152 so that the filmstrip 26 will not engage ball 146 as it is moved in the removal direction . referring to fig9 , and 11 , there is illustrated actuation mechanisms 180 , 181 located at station 12 for engaging and disengaging surfaces 174 with balls 146 . in the embodiment illustrated , mechanism 180 comprises a projecting member 182 which is secured to the end of arm 183 which is secured to the drive shaft 184 of motor 185 . motor 185 is mounted to the upper section 186 of l - shaped member 187 . the shaft 184 is keyed and engages a correspondingly shaped opening 189 in inner projection 127 of side wall 123 of reel 50 . the motor 185 is used to oscillate side wall 123 of reel 50 . the l - shaped member 187 has a base section 191 which is secured to slide block 195 which is slideably mounted to slide projection 196 which is secured to the frame of apparatus 10 by any conventional means . a rack 198 is provided on base section 191 having teeth 201 which engage a gear ( not shown ) which is driven by motor 199 which is also secured to the frame of apparatus 10 . by activating motor 199 in the appropriate direction , the l - shaped member will be caused to be moved toward or away from reel 50 , causing projecting member 182 to engage or disengage spring member 160 , causing the ball 146 to freely move within cage 144 or force the ball 146 to be retained in the lower portion of the cage for allowing removal of the filmstrip 26 . mechanism 181 is used to engage and disengage the spherical ball 146 in side wall 121 . mechanism 181 comprises an arm 202 mounted to rod 204 which is rotatably mounted to the apparatus 10 . a projecting member 206 is provided for engaging spring member 160 on side wall 121 . by rotating rod 204 , by any desired means , such as a motor or circular solenoid , member 206 can engage or disengage spring member 160 causing the spherical member 146 to be free within cage 144 or retained at the lower end for allowing removal of the filmstrip out of the reel 50 in the direction indicated by arrow 39 . after the filmstrip 26 has been properly developed and dried , it is returned to the load / unload station 12 where the filmstrip 26 is rewound back into the cartridge 24 . applicants have found that simply pulling of the filmstrip , for example , by rotating of the spool in the thrust cartridge 24 , will result in the edges of filmstrip 26 binding on the ridges in the side walls 121 , 123 of the reel 50 . applicants have found that by simply oscillating one of the side walls with respect to the other side wall , this will release any binding forces experienced during withdrawal of the filmstrip from the reel 50 . after the filmstrip 26 has been developed and returned to station 12 , the filmstrip 26 is rewound back into the cartridge 24 . motor 199 is activated so as to move the l - shaped member toward the reel 50 so that projection 182 engages spring 160 . at the same time , rod 204 is rotated so that projection 206 engages spring 160 on side wall 121 . the filmstrip 26 is then rewound back into the cartridge 24 by applying a removal force to the rear end of the filmstrip 26 . a motor 207 rotates the spool of the cartridge . this causes the filmstrip 26 to exit reel 50 through guide 192 into the cartridge 24 . motor 207 is initially used to thrust the filmstrip 26 out of the cartridge and into the reel prior to processing . as previously noted , binding of the filmstrip edges with the projections may result during rewinding of the filmstrip 26 back into the cartridge 24 . in order to avoid this binding , simultaneously , as a rewinding force is applied to the filmstrip 26 by motor 207 , one of the side walls of reel 50 is oscillated in a direction indicated by arrow 148 such that this releases any tensioning forces between the edges of the filmstrip 26 and the spiral ridges . in particular , motor 185 is appropriately activated for oscillating side wall 123 with respect to side wall 121 . preferably , oscillation of the side wall 123 occurs at the same time or prior to applying the rewinding force on the trailing end of the filmstrip 26 so as to prevent cinching of the filmstrip to the reel . also , the direction of the first oscillation is preferably in the direction for rewinding as indicated by arrow 158 . the present invention provides an improved method for reducing friction forces between the filmstrip and the reel as the filmstrip is being withdrawn therefrom . it is to be understood that various other modifications and changes may be made without departing from the scope of the present invention , the present invention being defined by the following claims .
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fig2 is a figure illustrating a magnetic carrier comprising an enzyme for inhibiting biofilm formation immobilized thereon according to an embodiment of the present invention . fig3 is a figure illustrating a process for separating and collecting the used magnetic carrier comprising an immobilized enzyme according to an embodiment of the present invention using a magnetic device such as a magnet in the membrane bioreactor process . the present invention provides a magnetic carrier that comprises a magnetic core , a layer for enzyme immobilization formed on the magnetic core , and an enzyme for inhibiting biofilm formation immobilized on the layer for enzyme immobilization . there is no particular limitation on the magnetic core of the present invention , and any magnetic core can be used , which are given magnetism to be easily separated and collected for recycling with a magnetic device such as a magnet after it is used for a certain time in a membrane process . the magnetic core is made of at least one selected from powder , particles , beads and resin , and which are containing magnetic ingredients preferably . for example , magnetite ( fe 3 o 4 ) powder , commercially available magnetic particles ( simag ® produced by chemicell company ), resin and beads impregnated with magnetic ingredients can be used . the size of the magnetic core can be a level or larger enough to be rejected by the microfiltration membrane ( pore size : 0 . 1 ˜ 0 . 45 μm ) or ultrafiltration membrane ( pore size : about 0 . 01 μm ) that are generally used in a mbr . in order to collect magnetic particles easily in a large - scale engineering system , magnetic particles , resin or beads impregnated with magnetic ingredients of several tens of micrometers or larger are preferable as the magnetic core of the present invention . further , a spherical magnetic carrier is preferable to minimize damage of the membrane surface , considering the magnetic carrier may unavoidably collide with a membrane module due to the flow of mixture in a mbr . the above resin or beads impregnated with magnetic ingredients can be commercially available products ( e . g ., magnetic ion exchange resin , miex , produced by orica company ), and can be fabricated directly by a cross - linking polymerization method for polymerizing monomers ( e . g ., styrene ) mixed with magnetic ingredients . there is no particular limitation on the feature of the layer for enzyme immobilization of the present invention , and any layer for enzyme immobilization can be formed on the magnetic core which may protect magnetic ingredients from external bacteria ( corrosion inhibition ), and consist of multi - functional polymers including functional groups for immobilizing enzymes . specifically , the layer for enzyme immobilization may be formed of materials including functional groups { e . g ., hydroxyl group (— oh ), carboxylic acid group (— cooh ), amine group (— nh 2 )} for forming chemical covalent bonding . more specifically , the layer for enzyme immobilization comprises at least one selected from the group consisting of chitosan ; 3 - aminopropyltriethoxsilane ; polyethyleneimine ; poly ( 2 - hydroxyethyl methacrylate ( phema ); and polysaccharides such as cellulose , agarose and dextran . further more specifically , chitosan is preferred because an amine group included therein can be used in enzyme immobilization , and the antibacterial feature of the chitosan prevents growth of microorganisms on the surface of the magnetic carrier , thereby inhibiting corrosion of the magnetic core . there is no particular limitation on the enzyme for inhibiting biofilm formation of the present invention , any enzyme for inhibiting biofilm formation can be used which can prevent biofilm formation by microorganisms such as i ) an enzyme for quenching quorum sensing that decomposes signal molecules used in the quorum sensing mechanism or ii ) an enzyme for decomposing extracellular polymer substances ( eps ) consisting of the slime matrix of the biofilm . for example , the enzyme for quenching quorum sensing can be acylase and lactonase for decomposing acyl - homoserine lactone , which is a signal molecule of gram - negative bacteria . since the soluble product by lactonase may be re - synthesized to a signal molecule depending on ph ( camara et al ., lnacet . infect . dis ., 2002 , vol . 2 , pp . 667 - 676 ), it is preferable to use acylase . as for acylase and lactonase , other commercially available products can be used , otherwise it can be extracted and refined from microorganisms that have the above - described enzyme activity , e . g ., bacillus sp . 240b1 , bacillus strain cot1 , strains of bacillus thuringiensis , anthrobacter sp . ibn110 , variovorax paradoxus strain vai - c , and ralstonia strain xj12b . the decomposition reaction of the signal molecule by the enzymes such as lactonase and acylase is as follows . the eps - decomposing enzyme may include carbohydrases ( e . g ., cellulose , glucanase ) and protease ( e . g ., aminopeptidase , elastase ) that can decompose polysaccharides and proteins respectively , which are main ingredients of eps . cellulase cleaves 1 , 4 - beta - d - glycosidic bonding of cellulose , glucanase decomposes glucane , which is a polysaccharide secreted by microorganisms , aminopeptidase hydrolyzes the terminal peptide bond at the amino end of a polypeptide , and elastase decomposes elastine or a collagen ingredient , thereby disintegrating the eps matrix of the biofilm . in the embodiment of the present invention , the magnetic carrier comprising an enzyme for inhibiting biofilm formation immobilized thereon can be fabricated by a method that comprises manufacturing a magnetic core , forming a layer for enzyme immobilization on the magnetic core , and immobilizing enzyme . the method of forming a magnetic core is not limited particularly . the magnetic core may be purely composed of magnetic ingredients ( e . g ., magnetite ), and may include magnetic ingredients impregnated during the manufacturing of particles , beads or resin to be given magnetism . the method of using particles , resin or beads impregnated with magnetic ingredients is preferable because the method facilitates following step of formation of the layer for enzyme immobilization . the method of forming a layer for enzyme immobilization on the magnetic core is not limited particularly , and any method of forming a layer on the core can be used . specifically , a layer - by - layer ( lbl ) method using electrostatic interaction ( attraction ) depending on the type and characteristics of the magnetic core , or a polymerization method on the core surface can be selected . as shown in fig4 , in order to form a layer of chitosan ( layer for immobilization ), which is a cationic polyelectrolyte , on a magnetic resin carrying positive surface charge , a negative polymer layer can be formed on a magnetic resin using a lbl method by the electrostatic interaction , and cationic chitosan layers can be sequentially formed . in this case , a zeta potential of the magnetic core surface is measured so as to confirm formation of a desired layer for enzyme immobilization . the method for immobilizing enzymes is not limited particularly , and any method capable of immobilizing an enzyme for inhibiting biofilm formation on a layer for enzyme immobilization formed on the magnetic core surface can be used . for example , after a magnetic core ( e . g ., resin ) with a layer for enzyme immobilization formed thereon carrying positive charge is added to a solution of enzyme ( e . g ., acylase ) of negative charge for inhibiting biofilm formation , the resultant solution is stirred under a predetermined condition , so that an acylase enzyme is immobilized ( physically ) on the layer for enzyme immobilization of the magnetic core surface by electrostatic interaction ( attraction ). in addition to the physical immobilization , as shown in fig5 , a covalent bond can be formed between amine groups of the layer for enzyme immobilization ( chitosan layer ) and the enzyme for inhibiting biofilm formation through addition of a cross - linking agent such as glutaraldehyde , so that the enzyme can be immobilized ( chemically ) by a chemical method . the method of chemical immobilization for the enzyme includes various methods depending on the types of functional groups used in the formation of the covalent bond with the enzyme , and is not limited to the methods described above . for example , when a hydroxyl group is used in enzyme immobilization on the magnetic carrier surface , the hydroxyl group is activated with cyanogens bromide and s - triazine etc ., thereby forming the covalent bond with the enzyme using the activated hydroxyl group . when a carboxylic acid group is used in enzyme immobilization , the enzyme is chemically immobilized using carbodiimides reagents such as 1 - ethyl - 3 -( 3 - dimethylaminopropyl )- carbodiimide ( edc ) and 1 - cyclohexyl - 3 -( 2 - morpholino - ethyl )- carboimide ( cmc ). when an amine group is used in enzyme immobilization , difunctional reagents such as diimidate esters , disiocyannate , and dialdehyde in addition to glutaraldehyde described above can be used . in order to minimize outward loss of the enzyme by immobilizing the enzyme permanently , it is preferable to use the chemical immobilization corresponding to an irreversible reaction rather than the physical immobilization corresponding to a reversible reaction . after the magnetic carrier is prepared which comprises the enzyme for inhibiting biofilm formation by the above - described method , the magnetic carrier can be put in a reactor of a mbr system , thereby operating stably a wastewater treatment process without degrading filtration performance of the membrane over a long period . and , after the mbr process is stopped as a certain level of biofilm is formed on the membrane surface , some sludge is taken out and the magnetic carrier according to the present invention can be selectively collected using a magnet so as to be reused in the next operation . moreover , the magnetic carrier can be put in equipment or facilities of water systems such as a water tank or a water pipe in addition to the mbr process by a suitable method , thereby inhibiting formation of biofilm or microorganic slime by microorganisms so as to keep the performance of the equipment or facilities over a long period . hereinafter , the present invention will be described in detail through preparation examples and examples , which is not limited herein . a commercially available magnetic ion exchange resin { miex , produced by orica } was used as a magnetic core , and a layer for enzyme immobilization is formed on the magnetic core by a lbl method using electrostatic interaction ( attraction ). specifically , 20 ml of poly ( sodium - 4 - styrene sulfonate ) ( pss ) solution ( 1 % w / v ), which is solution of anionic polyelectrolyte , was added in the magnetic ion exchange resin ( 1 g ) carrying positive charge , and stirred to form a pss layer on the magnetic resin surface . 20 ml of poly ( d - glucosamin ) deaceylated chitin (“ chitosan ”) solution ( 1 % w / v ), which is solution of a cationic polyelectrolyte , was added to the resultant resin , thereby forming a layer for enzyme immobilization consisting of pss - chitosan over the resultant resin , and an amine group of chitosan was used in the next step , chemical immobilization of the enzyme . a zeta potential on the surface of the magnetic ion exchange resin was measured with a zeatmeter { zetasizer nano z , malvern , uk } in each step of forming the layer for enzyme immobilization , thereby confirming formation of the layer for enzyme immobilization . since the magnetic ion exchange resin used in the embodiment of the present invention has quaternary ammonium as a functional group of the surface site , the zeta potential has a positive value . however , when the pss layer is formed on the surface of the magnetic resin , the zeta potential of the surface changes into a negative value . when the pss - chitosan layer is formed on the magnetic resin by adding chitosan which is a cationic polyelectrolyte , the zeta potential of the surface changes into a positive value again . table 1 shows the zeta potential of the surface measured in each step . referring to table 1 , it was confirmed that the pss - chitosan layer was formed on the magnetic resin through the change of the zeta potential . after the magnetic resin ( 1 . 3 g ) having a layer for enzyme immobilization was put in an acylase enzyme solution ( 500 ppm , 10 ml ), the resulting mixture was stirred at 10 ° c . with 180 rpm . since the acylase enzyme carried a negative charge and the layer for enzyme immobilization on the magnetic core carried a positive charge , the enzyme could be physically immobilized by electrostatic attraction . when the enzyme concentration of the bulk reached an equilibrium state , acylase was additionally immobilized by chemical immobilization by adding glutaraldehyde ( 0 . 05 % v / v ) as a cross - linking agent ( see fig6 ). in order to confirm space distribution of acylase immobilized on the magnetic carrier , the magnetic carrier comprising immobilized enzyme was stained with sypro orange , which is a fluorescence probe combining selectively with protein , and observed with a red fluorescence channel ( excitation 543 nm and emission 600 / 50 nm ) of confocal laser scanning miscroscopy ( clsm ), in which the combination of the acylase enzyme ( protein ) with sypro orange is detected by red fluorescence , and the location of acylase in the magnetic carrier is confirmed . as a result , as shown in fig7 , it was confirmed that the acylase enzyme was uniformly distributed on the surface of the magnetic carrier . the magnetic carrier comprising immobilized enzyme prepared from the above preparation example was applied to a lab scale mbr process ( see fig8 ). in order to observe the effect of biofouling alone by a biofilm formed by self - growth of the microorganism attached on the membrane surface , the mbr was operated with a batch type ( total recycle method ) where a microorganism layer transferred and accumulated from a suspended region to the membrane surface region in a mbr is swept away by inflow of permeate ( treated water ) which is circulated from a reservoir to a membrane module . specifically , after activated sludge was inoculated to synthetic wastewater in a 150 ml reservoir ( flask ), the synthetic wastewater and the activated sludge were transferred and circulated through a pump into a glass tube ( hollow fiber module ) where a hollow fiber membrane was vertically included . the filtration was performed with a batch type ( total recycle method ) where the permeate was filtered through the membrane with a predetermined flow rate using a suction pump , and flowed in the reservoir again . the synthetic wastewater using glucose as a main carbon source had a chemical oxygen demand ( cod ) of 1 , 000 ppm . the activated sludge was collected from si - hwa sewage disposal plant ( located in gyeongki - do , korea ) and acclimated sufficiently to the used synthetic wastewater . as for the membrane , a submerged hollow fiber ultrafiltration membrane ( zeeweed500 ™ produced by ge - zenon company , diameter : 0 . 04 μm ) was used . the mbr was operated with a constant flux , 15 lmh ( l · m − 2 · hr − 1 ), of permeate penetrating the membrane . the magnetic carrier of the present invention was put into the mbr so that the concentration of the acylase enzyme was to be 10 ppm . as the operation proceeded , the biofilm was formed on the membrane surface , which degraded permeability of the membrane due to increase of biofouling . the degree of the biofouling was represented with a value of transmembrane pressure ( tmp ). as the tmp increases , the degree of biofouling deepens . as a result of the operation for a duration of 1 , 200 minutes , the tmp was no more than 15 kpa ( see fig9 ). the same procedure from example 1 was repeated except injecting the acylase enzyme , with a solution state not immobilized state into the mbr so that the concentration of acylase in the reactor was to be 10 ppm . as a result of the operation for a duration of 1 , 200 minutes , the tmp reached 22 kpa . the same procedure from example 1 was repeated except the magnetic carrier according to the present invention where the acylase enzyme was immobilized was not injected into the mbr . as a result of the operation for a duration of 1 , 200 minutes , the tmp reached 70 kpa . the magnetic carrier comprising immobilized enzyme prepared from the above preparation example was applied in a laboratory - scaled mbr process of continuous type ( see fig1 ). example 2 was performed to simulate an actual mbr process where flow of wastewater and filtration of treated water were continuously performed . the same synthetic wastewater and activated sludge as those of example 1 were used . the magnetic carrier comprising immobilized enzyme ( 0 . 5 g ) of the present invention was put into a reactor which has a working volume of 1 l and mixed liquor suspended solids ( mlss ) of 26 , 000 (± 1 , 300 mg / l ), so that enzyme concentration in mbr reactor is to be 8 . 3 ppm . while the synthetic wastewater flowed into a reactor at a flow rate of 100 ml / hr { hydraulic retention time ( hrt ): 10 hr }, the synthetic wastewater was filtered with a constant flux , 15 lmh ( l · m − 2 · hr − 1 ), through a hollow fiber membrane module { membrane area : 0 . 008 m 2 , pore size : 0 . 04 μm , zeeweed 500 ™, ge - zenon usa } submerged in the reactor . the permeate ( treated water ) was transferred to a reservoir . about 20 ml of sludge per day was extracted from the reactor , thereby maintaining the solids retention time ( srt ) to be 50 days . in the sludge extraction line of a reactor , a magnetic retriever was installed to collect the magnetic carrier comprising immobilized enzyme according to the present invention extracted along with the sludge . the collected magnetic carrier was re - injected into the reactor . an electronic pressure gauge was installed in the downstream of a membrane module so as to record change of tmp of the mbr during continuous operation . fig1 shows the results . in the continuous mbr process where the magnetic carrier comprising immobilized enzyme was injected , the tmp was shown to hardly increase from its initial value . after 48 hours of continuous operation , the membrane module of the reactor was replaced with a new one , and the operation restarted . even after further operation for 6 days , there was a negligible change to the tmp . in an actual operation of the mbr process , the treatment quality of treated water as well as the increase of the tmp by biofouling is an important performance evaluation index . the cod of treated water of the mbr in the above operation was measured as 13 . 2 (± 4 . 5 ) mg / l . it was confirmed that the microbial quorum sensing mechanism , which occurs in the magnetic carrier comprising immobilized enzyme of the present invention for alleviating the biofouling , had no negative side effect upon microbial activity related to removal of organisms of wastewater . meanwhile , the regulation of gene transcription for microorganisms through the quorum sensing mechanism has a close relation to a physiological state of the microorganisms . it has been reported that the physiological state of the microorganisms affects the secreting characteristic of soluble microbial products ( smp ) and eps consisting of the biofilm , and determines the degree of biofouling in the mbr ( kim et al ., separation science and technology , 2006 , vol . 41 , pp . 1213 - 1230 ; chang et al ., desalination , 1998 , vol . 120 , pp . 221 - 233 ). based on this point , the present inventor analyzed smp and eps of the reactor to observe change of physiological feature for microorganism by the magnetic carrier comprising immobilized enzyme . according to the analysis , when the magnetic carrier comprising immobilized enzyme of the present invention is used , it is considered that the secretion of smp and eps for microorganisms is reduced and regulated , so that the biofouling of the mbr is reduced ( that is , the permeability is improved ). the same procedure from example 2 was operated at the same time as shown in fig1 except that the magnetic carrier comprising immobilized enzyme was not injected into the mbr , and mixed liquor suspended solids ( mlss ) was 24 , 000 (± 3 , 500 mg / l ) slightly different from example 2 { the slight difference of mlss was not intentional , but the difference was negligible not to have an substantial effect on the present invention .}. as a result of the operation for a duration of 48 hours , the tmp reached 30 kpa . at that time the membrane module was replaced with a new one , and the operation restarted . as a result of the further operation for about 2 days , the tmp reached 30 kpa . the cod of treated water of the mbr was shown to be 16 . 9 (± 5 . 7 ) mg / l . as described above , a magnetic carrier comprising an enzyme for inhibiting biofilm formation immobilized thereon according to the present invention inhibits biofouling of the membrane by a mechanism for inhibiting biofilm formation on the membrane surface by decomposing signal molecules of microorganisms , thereby improving membrane filtration performance . since the enzymes can be separated and collected with a magnetic field ( magnetism ) if necessary , a wastewater treatment process can be operated stably and efficiently over a long period . specifically , the magnetic carrier according to the present invention can be properly used in a large - scale engineering system where biofouling prevention is important .
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