Split (3)

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text stringlengths 1.55k 332k	label int64 0 8
with reference to fig1 of the drawing , the detent structure of the present invention is shown attached to a conventional valve body 10 which includes a conventional valve spool 12 extending through a bore 18 . the valving portions of the spool and adjacent cavities of the valve body have not been shown since they are not a part of the present invention and are commonly well - known in the prior art . valve spool 12 includes an inner portion 14 , which is not shown in detail , joined with an outer portion 16 which includes a centering spring 28 and the detent structure which will be later described . the opposite end of the valve spool 12 , which is not shown , is manually positioned by some form of handle which is not a part of the present invention . the valve spool 12 slides longitudinally in valve body bore 18 to its various positions which can include one or more detented positions depending upon the requirements of the valve design . located on the outer portion 16 is a centering compression spring 28 which is a commonly well - known design utilized in all types of spool valves . centering springs urge the spool back to a center neutral position from spool positions to the right or the left of the fig1 neutral position . as for example , if the spool 12 is shifted to the left , spacer sleeve 22 , fixed at the valve body 10 , begins to compress spring 28 through ring washer 24 , while outer shoulder 32 on the spool compresses the spring from the opposite side through ring washer 26 . this produces a rightward bias on the spool until it returns to its fig1 position which is limited by sleeve shoulder 21 . the detent mechanism of the present invention functions equally well on a valve spool without the centering spring mechanism just described . formed on the outer end of outer portion 16 is a cylindrical surface 48 which carries the lug means for holding the spool in the detented position . the lug means of the present invention is a wire retaining ring 52 positioned in a circumferential groove 50 cut in surface 48 . shown at the right end of cylindrical surface 48 is a second lug means 60 , which is the conventional type of lug means utilized in the prior art . lug 60 is formed while machining cylindrical surface 48 and requires heat treatment so that the lug can withstand the wear from the harder balls 40 , as they ride thereover . wire retaining ring 52 is a c - shaped ring , as seen in fig2 and is manufactured with sufficient hardness so that heat treating is not necessary . the detent mechanism comprises a sleeve member 20 which is threadably attached to valve body 10 . sleeve 20 includes a plurality of radially spaced holes 38 all in a common plane , as best seen in fig2 . the holes 38 contain six steel balls 40 , which freely slide back and forth in their respective holes . on the outside circumference of sleeve 20 , approximate the holes 38 is an annular groove 42 for receipt of a c - shaped spring 44 . the groove 42 contains all of the holes 38 as they exit the o . d . of sleeve 20 . ring 44 is flat in cross section with a width less than the width of groove 42 . the remaining space in groove 42 is filled with a plurality of spacer rings 46 , which permits the spring 44 to be moved longitudinally with respect to the position of the detent balls 40 . fig3 illustrates the spacer rings 46 on the left side of spring 44 so that the point of contact of the detent balls 40 is approximate the edge of spring 44 . in this position , when the balls are forced outward , the c - spring 44 is deflected into a cone shape rather than the cylindrical shape when the spring 44 is centered over the ball 40 , as shown in fig1 . by longitudinally moving the spring 44 relative to the balls 40 , the spring force can be varied with the minimum spring force being achieved with the spring 44 offset to the side as illustrated in fig3 . the slot 42 could have greater width so that the spring could be further offset from its point of contact with the balls 40 and an even lesser spring force was achieved . a modified c - shaped spring design is illustrated in fig4 wherein the spring 58 is round in cross section and is engaged in a narrow circumferential groove 56 located in the center of each hole 38 . groove 56 is sufficiently shallow so there is no spring force applied to balls 40 &# 39 ; or in turn cylindrical surface 48 . this prevents any drag from the detent means on spool 12 until the lug means is engaged by the balls 40 &# 39 ;. the resistance of c - spring 58 can be varied by diameter size and material . fig5 illustrates still a further form of spring means wherein detent sleeve 20 &# 34 ; is encapsulated by a plastic dust cover 54 which itself functions as a spring when the ball 40 &# 34 ; pushes outward as it rides over the lug means . utilizing the plastic dust cover 54 as a spring is not feasible with valves utilizing centering springs since the load from the centering spring while in the detented position would cold - flow the plastic . with the valve spool 12 , as shown in the fig1 position , there is no spring force from c - spring 44 which is transferred to the valve spools since the spring load is carried by sleeve 20 and balls 40 have adequate clearance between the inside diameter of spring 44 and spool surface 48 . there are a variety of valve spool working positions short of the detented positions which have no drag on the spool from the detent structure in light of the above - mentioned loose fit . as the valve spool 12 is shifted in a rightward direction , c - spring 44 is not deflected until wire ring 52 comes in contact with balls 40 , urging them outward into contact with c - spring 44 . once ring 52 passes the center of balls 40 , spool 12 will be held in its detented position until an overriding force to the left is applied . the resistance force of c - spring 44 can be varied by longitudinally sliding c - spring 44 to the right or left relative to its contact plane with balls 40 . six detent balls 40 are provided since c - spring 44 has an open area which at some time might receive one of the balls . with five detent balls still functioning , the detent mechanism and its deflection force remains substantially unchanged . in the fig5 embodiment , the holding force which retains spool 12 in its detented position is provided by the deformation of plastic dust cover 54 as all six balls 40 &# 34 ; are urged outward against cover 54 . utilizing cover 54 as a spring , of course , has limitations as to temperature range and duration of holding force due to the characteristics of plastic . it is to be understood that while the detailed drawings and specific examples give and describe preferred embodiments of the invention , they are for purposes of illustration only , that the apparatus of the invention is not limited to the precise details and conditions disclosed and that various changes may be made therein without departing from the spirit of the invention which is defined by the following claims .	5
a surface panel 1 according to an embodiment is used as part of a casing of a mobile device , such as a mobile phone and a personal digital assistance . as illustrated in fig1 to 3 , a front surface 2 of the surface panel 1 has a projecting shape and a back surface 3 of the surface panel 1 has a recessed shape . the front surface 2 is disposed to the front of the casing of the mobile device ( faces in the z1 direction ), and serves as an operation face or a display face . the back surface 3 faces rearward ( in the z2 direction ), that is , toward the inside of the casing of the mobile device . as illustrated in fig2 and 3 , the surface panel 1 is formed by closely attaching a resin layer 4 and a sensor film 5 to each other . the resin layer 4 is seen on a side of the front surface 2 and the sensor film 5 is seen on a side of the back surface 3 . the front surface 2 of the resin layer 4 has a wide front - surface front portion 2 a , which serves as a digitally operated operation face and a display face . the front - surface front portion 2 a is substantially flat or has a curved shape so as to project to the front ( in the z1 direction ). a front - surface upper portion 2 b is formed at a lengthwise upper end portion ( an end portion in the y1 direction ) of the resin layer 4 and a front - surface lower portion 2 c is formed at a lengthwise lower end portion ( an end portion in the y2 direction ) of the resin layer 4 . the front - surface upper portion 2 b and the front - surface lower portion 2 c have such surface shapes as to extend from the front - surface front portion 2 a to the rear ( in the z2 direction ). a front - surface right portion 2 d is formed at a right end portion ( an end portion in the x1 direction ) of the resin layer 4 and a front - surface left portion 2 e is formed at a left end portion ( an end portion in the x2 direction ) of the resin layer 4 . the front - surface right portion 2 d and the front - surface left portion 2 e have such surface shapes as to extend from the front - surface front portion 2 a to the rear . the back surface 3 of the resin layer 4 includes a back - surface front portion 3 a to the back of the front - surface front portion 2 a , an back - surface upper portion 3 b to the back of the front - surface upper portion 2 b , a back - surface lower portion 3 c to the back of the front - surface lower portion 2 c , a back - surface right portion 3 d to the back of the front - surface right portion 2 d , and a back - surface left portion 3 e to the back of the front - surface left portion 2 e . in the resin layer 4 , a boundary between the front - surface front portion 2 a and the front - surface upper portion 2 b or the front - surface lower portion 2 c and a boundary between the front - surface front portion 2 a and the front - surface right portion 2 d or the front - surface left portion 2 e are disposed at positions at which the resin layer 4 has a front surface curvature or a front surface angle that is different from that of the front - surface front portion 2 a . likewise , a boundary between the back - surface front portion 3 a and the back - surface upper portion 3 b or the back - surface lower portion 3 c and a boundary between the back - surface front portion 3 a and the back - surface right portion 3 d or the back - surface left portion 3 e are disposed at positions at which the resin layer 4 has a front surface curvature or a front surface angle that is different from that of the back - surface front portion 3 a . fig5 , which is an enlarged view of part of the surface panel 1 , illustrates a boundary b 2 between the front - surface front portion 2 a and the front - surface right portion 2 d and a boundary b 3 between the back - surface front portion 3 a and the back - surface right portion 3 d , which are defined on the basis of the above definition . the resin layer 4 is made of a transmissive synthetic resin material such as an acrylic material , for example , polymethyl methacrylate ( pmma ). as illustrated in fig5 and fig6 ( an exploded view illustrating the layered structure of the sensor film ), a sensor film 5 includes a transmissive base film 5 a , a decorative portion 6 formed on the front surface of the base film 5 a , and a touch sensor portion 30 formed on the back surface of the base film 5 a . the base film 5 a of the sensor film 5 is a transmissive synthetic resin film . the base film 5 a is made of polyethylene terephthalate ( pet ), which is a synthetic resin having a strength and heat resistance appropriate for forming the touch sensor portion 30 . cyclic polyolefin ( cop ) or the like can be employed , instead . herein , a material that is transmissive preferably means that the material has a total light transmittance of 90 % or more , that is , the material is transparent . however , the total light transmittance may be lower than 90 % as long as the material can transmit light therethrough , for example , the total light transmittance may be 60 % or more . as illustrated in fig1 and 4 , the decorative portion 6 formed on the front surface side of the sensor film 5 can be visually seen through the resin layer 4 from the front ( in the z1 direction ). the decorative portion 6 has a hue based on a design of the surface panel 1 and has a frame shape . a region surrounded by the frame - shaped decorative portion 6 is a transmissive region 7 . in the surface panel 1 illustrated in fig1 and 4 , the transmissive region 7 is rectangular . the transmissive region 7 is positioned in a region of the back - surface front portion 3 a of the resin layer 4 . as illustrated in fig5 , a right edge portion 7 a of the transmissive region 7 is positioned near the border b 3 between the back - surface front portion 3 a and the back - surface right portion 3 d . a left edge portion 7 b of the transmissive region 7 is positioned likewise . as illustrated in fig4 and 5 , the touch sensor portion 30 of the sensor film 5 includes multiple electrode layers 31 , multiple right wiring layers 32 a connected to the right of the electrode layers 31 , and multiple left wiring layers 32 b connected to the left of the electrode layers 31 . as illustrated in fig4 and fig7 ( a perspective plan view of patterns of the electrode layers 31 on the back surface side of the sensor film 5 , seen from the front surface side ), the electrode layers 31 are disposed in the transmissive region 7 surrounded by the frame - shaped decorative portion 6 , and the right wiring layers 32 a and the left wiring layers 32 b are disposed at a back side of the decorative portion 6 so as to be hidden by the decorative portion 6 . multiple pairs of right electrodes 31 a and left electrodes 31 b , each pair forming one electrode layer 31 , are arranged side by side in the length direction ( y1 - y2 direction ). the electrode layers 31 are made of indium tin oxide ( ito ). the electrode layers 31 are formed by being deposited on the back surface of the base film 5 a made of pet or the like , and then etching into the shapes of the right electrodes 31 a and the left electrodes 31 b . the right wiring layers 32 a are connected to the right electrodes 31 a and the left wiring layers 32 b are connected to the left electrodes 31 b . the right wiring layers 32 a and the left wiring layers 32 b are conductive organic layers made of a binder resin containing a low - resistive conductor , such as silver paste , gold paste , or carbon paste . the conductive organic layers that the right and left wiring layers 32 a and 32 b are made of are more flexible than ito that the electrode layers 31 are made of . specifically , the conductive organic layers exhibit a higher elongation and curvature than ito under the same load . the right wiring layers 32 a and the left wiring layers 32 b are formed by depositing a conductive organic layer on an ito layer on the back surface of the base film 5 a and then forming patterns for the electrode layers 31 , the right wiring layers 32 a , and the left wiring layers 32 b by etching . thereafter , part of the conductive organic layer deposited on the front surface of the electrode layers 31 is removed by etching . alternatively , the right wiring layers 32 a and the left wiring layers 32 b may be formed by a printing process . as illustrated in fig5 , the sensor film 5 is bent so as to follow the shape of part of the resin layer 4 from the back - surface front portion 3 a to the back - surface right portion 3 d and is closely attached to the resin layer 4 . the electrode layers 31 made of ito are disposed within a region of the back - surface front portion 3 a and thus are not greatly curved . on the other hand , a portion of the sensor film 5 that extends beyond , in the x1 direction , a region in which the electrode layers 31 are disposed is bent at a large curvature and the most part of the portion of the sensor film 5 is in close contact with the back - surface right portion 3 d . the front side of the right wiring layers 32 a is covered by the decorative portion 6 . the left wiring layers 32 b are covered likewise . a portion of the sensor film 5 in which the right and left wiring layers 32 a and 32 b formed of the conductive organic layer are disposed is more easily bent than the region in which the electrode layers 31 made of ito are disposed . the right and left wiring layers 32 a and 32 b easily follow flexure and are less likely to be damaged due to the flexure . for this reason , a portion of the sensor film 5 including at least part of the right wiring layers 32 a or the left wiring layers 32 b can be closely attached to the corresponding one of the back - surface right portion 3 d and the back - surface left portion 3 e . alternatively , a portion of the sensor film 5 including all the right wiring layers 32 a or the left wiring layers 32 b can be closely attached to the corresponding one of the back - surface right portion 3 d and the back - surface left portion 3 e . when at least part of the right wiring layers 32 a or the left wiring layers 32 b are disposed on the corresponding one of the back - surface right portion 3 d and the back - surface left portion 3 e , the area of the electrode layers 31 disposed on the back - surface front portion 3 a can be increased . consequently , it is possible to widen the transmissive region 7 and to bring the right edge portion 7 a and the left edge portion 7 b of the transmissive region 7 to be closer to the border b 3 between the back - surface front portion 3 a and the back - surface right portion 3 d and a border between the back - surface front portion 3 a and the back - surface left portion 3 e . furthermore , the right edge portion 7 a and the left edge portion 7 b of the transmissive region 7 can be positioned in a region on the back - surface right portion 3 d and the back - surface left portion 3 e beyond the border b 3 and the border between the back - surface front portion 3 a and the back - surface left portion 3 e . a mobile device employing the surface panel 1 includes a display device , such as a liquid crystal display panel , inside the casing , and a display screen of the display device faces the inner side of the transmissive region 7 . when a user uses the mobile device , the user can see the display screen through the transmissive resin layer 4 and the base film 5 a in the transmissive region 7 . when the user touches , with his / her finger , the front - surface front portion 2 a of the resin layer 4 in the transmissive region 7 through which the display screen can be seen , the touch sensor portion 30 changes its output in accordance with the capacitance between the finger and the corresponding one of the electrode layers 31 , and thus can sense the point of the transmissive region 7 that is touched with the finger . since the transmissive region 7 in the surface panel 1 can be widened as much as possible within the region of the back - surface front portion 3 a , the display area of the display screen and the area of the digitally operated operation region can be increased , accordingly . as illustrated in fig4 , the right wiring layers 32 a and the left wiring layers 32 b are formed on the back surface of the base film 5 a and extended in the y2 direction . part of the base film 5 a is extended outward beyond the back - surface lower portion 3 c and serves as a cable piece for wiring , and a land portion at a leading end of the cable piece can be connected to a connector mounted in the casing . as illustrated in fig1 and 2 , the surface panel 1 includes a first opening 8 and a second opening 9 . the first opening 8 is disposed at a position that is lower ( at a side in the y2 direction ) than a middle point of the surface panel 1 in the length direction ( y direction ). the second opening 9 is disposed at a position that is higher ( at a side in the y1 direction ) than the middle point . the first opening 8 and the second opening 9 penetrate through the resin layer 4 and the sensor film 5 . a microphone and a speaker are disposed inside the casing at such positions as to face the first opening 8 and the second opening 9 . thus , a sound corresponding to a speech operation , which is performed as a mobile phone , or a sound corresponding to an image displayed on the display screen can be output through the openings 8 and 9 . now , a method of manufacturing the surface panel 1 will be described . fig8 illustrates a first mold 10 and fig9 illustrates the first mold 10 and a second mold 20 . the y1 - y2 direction illustrated in fig8 and 9 and the x1 - x2 direction illustrated in fig8 correspond to the length direction ( y1 - y2 direction ) and the width direction ( x1 - x2 direction ) of the surface panel 1 to be formed . the first mold 10 and the second mold 20 are longitudinally placed such that the y2 direction coincides with the direction of gravity ( g direction ). the first mold 10 has an opposing flat face 11 that extends in the y1 - y2 direction and that has a molding recessed portion 12 in a middle portion thereof . as illustrated in fig8 and 9 , in the molding recessed portion 12 , a bottom surface serves as a center - surface molding portion 12 a for forming the front - surface front portion 2 a of the resin layer 4 , an end surface in the y1 direction serves as an upper - surface molding portion 12 b for forming the front - surface upper portion 2 b , an end surface in the y2 direction serves as a lower - surface molding portion 12 c for forming the front - surface lower portion 2 c , an end surface in the x1 direction serves as a right - surface molding portion 12 d for forming the front - surface right portion 2 d , and an end surface in the x2 direction serves as a left - surface molding portion 12 e for forming the front - surface left portion 2 e . in the center - surface molding portion 12 a , a rectangular first step portion 18 that corresponds to the first opening 8 is formed at a side in the y2 direction , and a rectangular second step portion 19 that corresponds to the second opening 9 is formed at a side in the y1 direction . the first mold 10 has a gate ( sprue gate ) 13 and an opening end 13 a of the gate 13 is open to the inside of the molding recessed portion 12 within a region of the first step portion 18 . fig9 illustrates a center o of the molding recessed portion 12 in the y1 - y2 direction . the center o is a middle point between the upper - surface molding portion 12 b and the lower - surface molding portion 12 c . the gate 13 is positioned to be lower than the center o ( at a side in the y2 direction ), and to be at a side in the y2 direction with respect to a middle point between the center o and the lower - surface molding portion 12 c . as illustrated in fig8 and 9 , the first mold 10 has a relief recess 14 at a side that is farther in the y1 direction than the molding recessed portion 12 . multiple air - exit paths 15 are formed between the upper - surface molding portion 12 b of the molding recessed portion 12 and the relief recess 14 . the air - exit paths 15 are shallow grooves that are slightly recessed from the opposing flat face 11 . as illustrated in fig8 , clearance holes 16 are formed at four positions outside the molding recessed portion 12 . as illustrated in fig9 , the second mold 20 has an opposing flat face 21 that extends in the y1 - y2 direction , and a molding projecting portion 23 that projects toward the first mold 10 is integrally formed in a center portion of the opposing flat face 21 . in the molding projecting portion 23 , a top portion serves as a center - back - surface molding portion 23 a for forming the back - surface front portion 3 a of the surface panel 1 , an end surface in the y1 direction serves as an upper - back - surface molding portion 23 b for forming the back - surface upper portion 3 b , and an end surface in the y2 direction serves as a lower - back - surface molding portion 23 c for forming the back - surface lower portion 3 c . the molding projecting portion 23 also has a right - back - surface molding portion for forming the back - surface right portion 3 d and a left - back - surface molding portion for forming the back - surface left portion 3 e , which are not illustrated . as illustrated in fig9 , a first release pin 24 and a second release pin 25 are mounted on the second mold 20 so as to be movable forward and backward . the first release pin 24 is disposed at such a position as to face the first step portion 18 of the first mold 10 , and the second release pin 25 is disposed at such a position as to face the second step portion 19 . positioning pins 26 are fixed to the second mold 20 at four positions outside the molding projecting portion 23 . each positioning pin 26 vertically projects from the opposing flat face 21 . when the first mold 10 and the second mold 20 are fitted together , the positioning pins 26 are inserted into the clearance holes 16 of the first mold 10 . the positions of the positioning pins 26 and the positions of the clearance holes 16 correspond to each other . as illustrated in fig8 , the four positioning pins 26 are positioned equidistantly from the center o of the molding recessed portion 12 . the center o is positioned at a point at which the molding recessed portion 12 is halved in the length direction ( y1 - y2 direction ) and in the width direction ( x1 - x2 direction ). the positioning pins 26 are positioned equidistantly from the center o and equiangularly ( at an angle θ ) with respect to a center line o 1 that passes the center o and that extends in the longitudinal direction . note that all the positions of the positioning pin 26 and the clearance holes 16 do not have to be equidistant from the center o depending on the shape of the surface panel 1 to be formed , i . e ., the shape of the molding recessed portion 12 and the molding projecting portion 23 . for example , a positioning pin 26 at a side in the y1 direction may be farther from the center o in the y direction than a positioning pin 26 at a side in the y2 direction . here , it is preferable that an interval in the x direction between the two positioning pins 26 at a side in the y1 direction be equal to an interval in the x direction between the two positioning pins 26 at a side in the y2 direction . as illustrated in fig9 , gap forming portions 27 project at multiple positions on the opposing flat face 21 of the second mold 20 . as illustrated in fig1 , when the first mold 10 and the second mold 20 are fitted together , the gap forming portions 27 come into contact with the opposing flat face 11 of the first mold 10 . thus , an opposing gap t between the opposing flat face 11 of the first mold 10 and the opposing flat face 21 of the second mold 20 is defined . the opposing gap t has a thickness that is substantially equal to or slightly larger than the thickness of the sensor film 5 . to be more specific , the thickness of the opposing gap t is not set such that the sensor film 5 is firmly nipped in the opposing gap t and is set such that the sensor film 5 can be elongated inside the opposing gap t when a stress is caused in the sensor film 5 due to the pressure from the melted resin . the gap forming portions 27 may be formed on the opposing flat face 11 of the first mold 10 , or both of the opposing flat face 11 and the opposing flat face 21 . fig6 is an exploded perspective view illustrating the structure of a sensor film 5 prior to a molding process , and fig7 is a perspective view of the sensor film 5 seen from the front . in the sensor film 5 , the frame - shaped decorative portion 6 is attached to the front surface of the base film 5 a around a window portion 7 c formed for forming the transmissive region 7 of the surface panel 1 . the base film 5 a has a thickness on the order of 0 . 05 to 0 . 5 mm . the decorative portion 6 is formed on the front surface of the base film 5 a by coating . the decorative portion 6 is colored with a hue that expresses the appearance of the casing of an electronic device , and is formed of multiple coated color films . if a protective film having a separator function is stacked on the base film 5 a , the thickness can be reduced to be lower than 0 . 05 mm . the electrode layers 31 , the right wiring layers 32 a , and the left wiring layers 32 b are formed on the back surface of the base film 5 a . each electrode layer 31 is formed by etching an ito film so as to be divided into the right electrode 31 a and the left electrode 31 b . the right wiring layers 32 a and the left wiring layers 32 b are the conductive organic layers and are formed by etching , or may be formed by printing . the untreated sensor film 5 is rectangular and has the positioning holes 5 b at four corners . as illustrated in fig9 , the sensor film 5 is mounted on the second mold 20 while the first mold 10 and the second mold 20 are being separated . the positioning pins 26 are inserted into the positioning holes 5 b illustrated in fig6 and 7 , and thus the sensor film 5 is positioned with respect to the second mold 20 . the sensor film 5 is placed such that the front surface having the decorative portion 6 faces the first mold 10 . the first mold 10 and the second mold 20 have been subjected to preheating in advance . the preheating temperature is higher than the room temperature but lower than the glass transition temperature of the base film 5 a of the sensor film 5 , for example , in a range of around 60 to 100 ° c . as illustrated in fig1 , when the first mold 10 and the second mold 20 are fitted together , the positioning pins 26 projecting from the second mold 20 enter the inside of the clearance holes 16 of the first mold 10 . thus , the gap forming portions 27 of the second mold 20 come into contact with the opposing flat face 11 of the first mold 10 and the opposing gap t is defined as being between the opposing flat face 11 of the first mold 10 and the opposing flat face 21 of the second mold 20 . here , a cavity c is also defined as being between the molding recessed portion 12 of the first mold 10 and the molding projecting portion 23 of the second mold 20 . as illustrated in fig1 , when the first mold 10 and the second mold 20 are fitted together , the sensor film 5 that is positioned using the positioning pins 26 is placed in the cavity c while a small amount of tension is applied to the sensor film 5 by the pressure of the molding projecting portion 23 . an outer peripheral portion of the sensor film 5 is placed in the opposing gap t between the first mold 10 and the second mold 20 . subsequently , as illustrated in fig1 , a melted resin 4 a made of , for example , pmma is injected into the cavity c from the gate 13 of the first mold 10 . when the preheated sensor film 5 comes into contact with the melted resin 4 a , the sensor film 5 is heated to a temperature that is almost the glass transition temperature to be softened and is pressed against the front surface of the molding projecting portion 23 by the injection pressure of the melted resin 4 a . the sensor film 5 that is pressed against the front surface of the molding projecting portion 23 is likely to elongate in the plane direction . here , since the sensor film 5 is not restrained inside the opposing gap t , the sensor film 5 easily elongates toward the outer periphery thereof . in this manner , the sensor film 5 that is pressed against the front surface of the molding projecting portion 23 can elongate relatively freely inside the cavity c and thus is less likely to become creased . by injecting the melted resin 4 a into the cavity c , the shapes of the front surface 2 and the back surface 3 of the resin layer 4 are determined by the melted resin 4 a and the sensor film 5 . furthermore , as illustrated in fig1 , the outer peripheral portion of the sensor film 5 that overruns the cavity c expands in the y1 , y2 , x1 , and x2 directions . here , since the base film 5 a of the sensor film 5 is softened , the positioning holes 5 b expand radially . as illustrated in fig1 , the outer peripheral portion of the sensor film 5 is supported by the four positioning pins 26 with a uniform force in the corresponding directions when the outer peripheral portion expands in the y1 , y2 , x1 , and x2 directions . thus , the window portion 7 c and the touch sensor portion 30 formed in the sensor film 5 can be kept being positioned in the center portion of the cavity c . as illustrated in fig1 , the transmissive region 7 and the touch sensor portion 30 are more likely to be positioned uniformly in the molded surface panel 1 with respect to the front - surface front portion 2 a . it is preferable that the shape or size of the window portion 7 c at the center of the decorative portion 6 and the shape or size of the electrode layers 31 , the right wiring layers 32 a , and left wiring layers 32 b , be preset in consideration of probable elongation of the sensor film 5 at the time of injecting the melted resin . the first mold 10 and the second mold 20 are vertically placed in line with the direction of gravity ( g direction ). since the gate 13 is positioned to be sufficiently lower than the center o of the cavity c , the sensor film 5 is prevented from being creased . as illustrated in fig1 a , in the stage where the first mold 10 and the second mold 20 are fitted together , the sensor film 5 crosses the inside of the cavity c between the lower - surface molding portion 12 c and the lower - back - surface molding portion 23 c . as illustrated in fig1 b , when the melted resin 4 a is injected into the cavity c from the gate 13 , the melted resin 4 a flows down into a space between the lower - surface molding portion 12 c and the lower - back - surface molding portion 23 c according to the gravity , and the sensor film 5 is thus pressed against and along the front surface of the lower - back - surface molding portion 23 c by the flow in the f1 direction . since the gate 13 is positioned at a lower position , the flow of the melted resin 4 a in the f1 direction is less likely to be disturbed . thus , the sensor film 5 is closely attached to the lower - back - surface molding portion 23 c without being creased . as illustrated in fig1 c , when a lower portion of the cavity c is filled with the melted resin 4 a and the sensor film 5 is closely attached to the lower - back - surface molding portion 23 c , the melted resin 4 a gradually rises in the y1 direction . at this time , the sensor film 5 is upwardly attached to the center - back - surface molding portion 23 a of the molding projecting portion 23 by the force of the flow of the melted resin 4 a in the f2 direction . while the melted resin 4 a is rising in the cavity c , the air in the cavity c is output to the inside of the relief recess 14 through the air - exit paths 15 formed at an upper end portion of the molding recessed portion 12 of the first mold 10 . since the sensor film 5 behaves in the above - described manner in the cavity c , the sensor film 5 is less likely to become creased and more likely to be closely attached to the front surface of the molding projecting portion 23 . fig1 a to 14c illustrate a molding operation according to a comparative example in which a gate 13 a is positioned to be close to an edge portion of the lower - surface molding portion 12 c of the first mold 10 . as illustrated in fig1 b , since the melted resin 4 a that is injected into the cavity c from the gate 13 a flows obliquely upward , or in the f3 direction , the sensor film 5 is more likely to become creased . as illustrated in fig1 c , the melted resin 4 a that thereafter flows in the f4 direction lifts up the creased portion of the sensor film 5 . thus , the crease is highly likely to remain unsolved . for this reason , a gate should be not disposed at a portion of the first mold 10 that faces a range from the opposing flat face 21 of the second mold 20 to a half point ( h / 2 ) at which the height h of the lower - back - surface molding portion 23 c is halved . after the melted resin 4 a is fed to the cavity c and cooled down , the first mold 10 and the second mold 20 are detached from each other . by projecting the first release pin 24 and the second release pin 25 of the second mold 20 , a molded product is detached from the molding projecting portion 23 of the second mold 20 . as illustrated in fig1 , the molded product removed from the molds 10 and 20 has a gate imprint 13 b and an imprint of the first release pin 24 at a thin portion 18 a that is formed by the first step portion 18 of the first mold 10 . the molded product also has an imprint of the second release pin 25 at a thin portion 19 a formed by the second step portion 19 . the gate imprint 13 b and the other imprints can be removed by forming the first opening 8 and the second opening 9 by punching out part of the resin layer 4 and the sensor film 5 at the thin portions 18 a and 19 a . the surface panel 1 is formed by further cutting part of the resin layer 4 and the sensor film 5 that overruns the cavity c . in this embodiment , the transmissive electrode layer 31 is made of ito . however , the electrode layer 31 may be formed of a transmissive conductive organic film made of , for example , polyethylenedioxythiophene ( pedot ). the conductive organic film is more flexible than ito . thus , the electrode layer 31 formed of the conductive organic film can be expanded beyond the border b 3 to the region of the back - surface right portion 3 d in the sectional view of fig5 . accordingly , the right edge portion 7 a and the left edge portion 7 b of the transmissive region 7 can be made closer to or can be positioned on the back - surface right portion 3 d and the back - surface left portion 3 e , and thus a region in which the transmissive region 7 and the touch sensor portion 30 are formed can be further widened the method of manufacturing the surface panel 1 according to the present invention is not limited to the one according to the embodiment . for example , the sensor film 5 may be preformed so as to follow the shape of the back surface 3 of the resin layer 4 by compressed - air molding or vacuum molding , the preformed sensor film 5 may be inserted into a space between the molds , and then the melted resin 4 a may be injected into the space . the surface panel according to the present invention is not limited to being used as a casing of a mobile device according to the embodiment , and may be used as part of a remote controller for controlling electric products or a casing of other electronic devices .	6
the rna isolation reagent of the present invention comprises , but is not limited to one or more , preferably two or more of the following components : one or more non - ionic detergent one or more ionic detergent one or more chelator one or more reducing agent one or more antibacterial agent ( e . g ., sodium azide , at about 0 . 5 %). the primary detergent may be any of the non - ionic detergents available , or in use : e . g ., igepal ® ( tergitol ) ( tert - octylphenoxy poly ( oxyethylene ) ethanol ) ( np - 40 replacement ), triton ® s , ( triton ® x - 100 ( octyl phenol polyethoxylate )), tween ® 20 ( polyoxyethylene sorbitan monolaurate ) and like kind , etc ., and is chosen for its ability to extract rna without co - isolation of dna . preferably , non - ionic detergent is present at a concentration of about 0 . 1 - 4 % by volume , more preferably at a concentration of about 0 . 5 - 3 %, or about 1 %- 2 %. a suitable non - ionic detergent is igepal ® ( tergitol ) ( tert - octylphenoxy poly ( oxyethylene ) ethanol ) at a concentration of 1 % by volume . the helper - detergent or secondary detergent may be any of the cationic or anionic detergents available ( e . g . sds , ctab ) and improves rna yields especially at high reducing agent concentrations , for example , 2 - mercaptoethanol concentrations of about 40 %. preferably , the concentration of ionic detergent is about 0 . 01 %- 0 . 5 %, more preferably , at a concentration of about 0 . 01 - 0 . 1 %. a suitable ionic detergent is sds at a concentration of about 0 . 02 % or up to about 0 . 2 %, depending on the plant material and the concentrations of other components , especially the reducing agent . the detergents are selected in an amount so as to render the cell membranes permeable so that agents can enter the cell cytoplasmic domain and rna can exit the cell cytoplasmic domain . preferably , the amounts of the detergents and reducing agent ( s ) are selected to retain degradative components within the cell so that harmful enzymes , etc ., are removed with the cellular debris . the greater the concentration of 2 - mercaptoethanol or similar reducing agent in the formulation , the higher the concentration of secondary ( ionic ) detergent that may be included . as the 2 - mercaptoethanol concentration is increased , the rna yield decreases , but rna is better protected , i . e ., extracted of higher quality . this high quality rna is remarkable especially for plants containing the highest levels of polyphenolics ( e . g ., cedar or juniper ). see tables 1 - 13 . the chelator may also provide the ‘ salt ’ requirement to maintain the cell membrane and / or the cell nucleus at physiological salt conditions , to avoid osmotic disruption . chelator may be chosen from those commonly in use . for example , edtas , egtas , citrates ( such as sodium citrate ), citric acids , salicylic acids , salts of salicylic acids , phthalic acids , 2 , 4 - pentanedines , histidines , histidinol dihydrochlorides , 8 - hydroxyquinolines , 8 - hydroxyquinoline , citrates and o - hydroxyquinones are representative of chelators known in the art . alternatively , one component of the reagent may be used to provide the salt strength , nacl , kcl , etc ., and a different agent ( e . g ., betaine ) may be used as the chelator . preferably , the chelator is present at a concentration of about 0 . 02 - 0 . 25 m . more preferably , the chelator is present at a concentration of about 0 . 05 - 0 . 2 m . a suitable chelator is edta at a concentration of about 0 . 1 m . the reducing agent may be chosen from 2 - mercaptoethanol or from any number that would replace 2 - mercaptoethanol ( e . g ., dtt , or other mercaptans ). preferably the reducing agent is present at a concentration of about 1 %- 40 % volume . more preferably the reducing agent is present at a concentration of about 10 %- 40 %. 2 - mercaptoethanol at a concentration of either 20 % or 40 % was found to produce rna at good yield and high quality in selected tissues . for some applications , about 4 % 2 - mercaptoethanol is suitable . the antibacterial agent , e . g ., sodium azide , is preferentially included to extend the shelf life of the reagent . accordingly , an antibacterial agent is not required when freshly prepared components are combined shortly before use . also , any antibacterial agent that extends shelf life without unduly degrading the quality of the rna obtained is therefore suitable for use in the present invention . the amount of antibacterial agent depends on the agent and the storage conditions and should be selected so as not to interfere with the extraction process and to provide the desired shelf life . notably , phenol is not included in the present rna isolation reagent . phenol has been found to act as a substrate for ( poly ) phenolic oxidases , thereby participating in the oxidation of extracted rna . therefore , although components other than those listed above may be included in the extraction reagent of the present invention , an appreciable amount of phenol is not permitted . all components and surfaces that might contact the sample are preferably rnase free . a subset of the components can be prepared in advance , separately , or in combination and be combined with the remaining components at a time before use or at the time of use to obtain the working formulation . the general protocol for isolating rna according to the present invention is suitable for a variety of rna containing materials , for example , plant cells or plant tissues , for example cells or tissues obtained from plant stems , leaves , roots , seeds and flowers . plant tissue is first ground to a coarse or fine powder . when the plant material is a cell culture , the cells are mixed , e . g ., by rocking , with the extraction medium for about five minutes . when the plant material is tissue material , the powder is mixed with the extraction medium for about 20 minutes . preferably , the plant material is mixed with reagent until ground tissue is thoroughly suspended . finer material requires less mixing time than coarser material . shorter mixing results in lower yields . extended mixing provides an increased yield , but lower quality rna . the mixing times can be adjusted depending on the plant material and the amount and quality of rna desired . the extract preparation is then centrifuged to remove cellular debris . a step of filtration or straining can also be used . concentrated nacl is then added to the preparation , for example about 0 . 25 parts of 5 m nacl . an organic extraction solvent , such as chcl 3 is added to the supernatant and mixed therewith . aqueous and organic phases are separated by centrifugation . the aqueous phase is subjected to alcohol , e . g ., ethanol , precipitation to obtain isolated rna . two formulations were used in the examples described below as preferred formulations . other formulations are suitable generically or for specific plant tissues . preferred formulations are the 40 % 2 - mercaptoethanol formulation and the 20 % 2 - mercaptoethanol formulation . these preferred formulations are listed below : the 40 % 2 - mercaptoethanol formulation is preferred for plants containing high levels of polyphenolics ; and the 20 % 2 - mercaptoethanol formulation is preferred for more general applications . the rna extraction reagents of the present invention preferentially extract cytoplasmic rna . the nuclear membrane is preserved retaining dna and other nuclear components within the cell . the cell membrane is permeabilized , but maintains a degree of integrity to retain many cytoplasmic components , such as degradative enzymes , within the cell . all patents , patent applications and publications cited herein are incorporated by reference in their entireties . fresh tissue , e . g ., plant leaf or root , was ground to a powder in liquid nitrogen . dried seed was ground at room temperature . all ground plant material was stored at − 70 ° c . to 0 . 1 g of ground tissue was added 0 . 5 ml of the present rna isolation reagent ( e . g ., 20 % 2 - mercaptoethanol formulation ). the sample was mixed until the ground tissue was thoroughly re - suspended , and then let stand for 5 minutes at room temperature . the sample was centrifuged for 2 minutes at 12 , 000 × g in a microcentrifuge . the supernatant was transferred to an rnase - free tube . a 0 . 1 ml aliquot of 5m nacl was added to the supernatant and the sample was mixed . an aliquot of 0 . 3 ml of chloroform was added and mixed . the sample was centrifuged at 4 ° c . for 10 minutes at 12 , 000 × g to separate the phases . the aqueous phase was transferred to an rnase - free tube , and an equal volume of isopropyl alcohol was added . the sample was mixed and let stand at room temperature for 10 minutes . the sample was centrifuged at 4 ° c . for 10 minutes at 12 , 000 × g . the supernatant was decanted , and the pellet was washed with 75 % ethanol , and dissolved in water . if any cloudiness was observed , the sample was centrifuged at 12 , 000 × g for 1 minute and the supernatant was transferred to a fresh tube . fresh tissue , e . g ., plant leaf or root , was ground to a powder in liquid nitrogen . dried seed was ground at room temperature . all ground plant material was stored at − 70 ° c . to 0 . 1 g of ground tissue was added 0 . 5 ml of the present rna isolation reagent ( e . g ., 20 % 2 - mercaptoethanol formulation ). the sample was mixed until the ground tissue was thoroughly re - suspended , and then let stand for 5 minutes at room temperature . the sample was poured onto a concert homogenizer and centrifuged for 2 minutes at 12 , 000 × g in a microcentrifuge to clarify the rna extract . to the flowthrough was added an equal volume of guanidinium isothiocyanate and ethanol , and processed through the concert rna cartridge , washed , and the rna was eluted with water , according to the protocol provided by the manufacturer . fresh tissue was ground to a powder in liquid nitrogen . dried seed was ground at room temperature . all ground plant material was stored at − 70 ° c . to 1 g of ground tissue was added 5 ml of the present rna isolation reagent ( e . g ., 20 % 2 - mercaptoethanol formulation ), mixed until the sample was thoroughly re - suspended , and let stand for 5 minutes at room temperature . the sample was centrifuged at 4 ° c . for 5 minutes at 2600 × g in a tabletop centrifuge . the supernatant was transferred to an rnase - free tube , passing the solution through a 100 - μm nylon sieve . a 1 ml aliquot of 5m nacl was added to the supernatant , and 3 ml of chloroform , and mixed . the sample was centrifuged at 4 ° c . for 30 minutes at 2600 × g to separate the phases . the aqueous phase was transferred to an rnase - free tube , and an equal volume of isopropyl alcohol was added . the sample was mixed and let stand at room temperature for 10 minutes . the sample was centrifuged at 4 ° c . for 30 minutes at 2600 × g . the supernatant was decanted , and the pellet was washed with 75 % ethanol , and dissolved in water . if any cloudiness was observed , the solution was centrifuged at 12 , 000 × g for 1 minute . the supernatant was transferred to a fresh tube and stored at − 70 ° c . the present rna isolation reagent isolates high quality rna from a variety of rna containing materials , especially from plant specimen including those enriched in polyphenolics and starch ( see tables 1 - 13 and fig1 ). the a 260 / 280 ratio is low for rna isolated using the two leading commercial rna isolation reagents ( rneasy and trizol ) from specimen rich in polyphenolics or starch indicating the poor quality of that rna . gel analysis shows that rna isolated using the present rna isolation reagent is intact whether the rna was isolated from plants enriched in polyphenolics or not ( fig1 ). the results shown in tables 1 - 12 and fig1 demonstrate that the present rna isolation reagent of the present invention isolates high quality rna from a variety of plant specimen including those enriched in polyphenolics and starch . the a260 / 280 ratio is comparatively low for rna isolated using the two leading commercial rna isolation reagents ( rneasy and trizol ) from specimen rich in polyphenolics or starch indicating the poor quality of that rna . gel analysis shows that rna isolated using the present rna isolation reagent of the present invention is intact even when the rna was isolated from plants enriched in polyphenolics ( fig1 ). rna isolated using the present rna isolation reagent has been used successfully as a template for rt - pcr and for the preparation of cdna libraries . results summarized in table 1 indicate that white pine spring shoot requires dtt , a reducing agent to obtain rna that is sufficiently undegraded to maintain its 28s ribosomal rna band , as determined by gel analysis . ( see fig1 for an example of rna obtained in accordance with the present invention isolated by gel electrophoresis ). as shown in table 2 , increasing the concentration of the reducing agent to 4 % 2 - mercatoethanol , the highest quality and highest rna yield is obtained . table 3 shows that a 4 % concentration of 2 - mercaptoethanol is not sufficient to maintain the integrity of rna for more problematic conifers such as juniper and cedar which require 40 % 2 - mercaptoethanol . increasing the concentration of 2 - mercaptoethannol for the two pines significantly reduces rna yields . when varying 2 - mercaptoethanol concentrations were tested with tomato leaves , which are rich in polyphenolics , table 5 shows that isolation of intact rna was preferably accomplished with 20 % to 40 % concentration of the reducing agent . plants with normal levels of polyphenolics or starch give lower rna yields with 40 % 2 - mercaptoethanol when compared with lower , e . g ., 20 %, amounts of 2 - mercaptoethanol . popcorn seeds yield an insignificant quantity of rna with 40 % 2 - mercaptoethanol . decreasing the 2 - mercaptoethanol concentration to 20 %, as well as reducing the sds concentration to 0 . 02 % results in a formulation useful for isolating high quality rna from seeds ( high starch content ), tomato , white pine and blue spruce ( high polyphenolic content ) and arabidopsis , soybean , rice , and corn that have normal levels of starch and polyphenolics . rna isolated using the present rna isolation reagent has been used in rt - pcr and after poly ( a +) selection for the preparation of cdna libraries ( data not shown ).	2
reference is now made to the various figures of the drawings in which like numerals denote like elements in the figures . a presently preferred embodiment of a fluid actuated portable straight line sander in accordance with the invention is shown at 10 in fig1 . sander 10 is comprised of a housing 12 and a mounting shoe or plate 14 for mounting an abrading tool such as a file , a sanding tool , sand paper , or a rubbing tool . mounting plate 14 is slidably mounted to housing 12 with side plates 16 . side plates 16 are rigidly mounted to the side of housing 12 with screws 18 and comprise a lower flange [ not shown ] for receiving a corresponding and mating flange [ also not shown ] extending upwardly from mounting plate 14 . on the top side of housing 12 is rigidly mounted a front handle 20 in the form of a knob and a partially hollow rear handle in the shape of an inverted &# 34 ; l &# 34 ;. mounted within and extending above the top surface of rear handle 22 is a trigger 24 for operating the main fluid throttle valve . because the preferred fluid for operating sander 10 is air , the latter term is used throughout the subsequent description of the preferred embodiments of the invention , but no limitation is intended thereby . an air inlet fitting 26 , which includes an air stop valve 28 operated by the operator supplies air to sander 10 . in the embodiment of the invention shown in fig1 sander 10 has been adapted to use sand paper . mounting plate 14 is comprised of a sanding plate 30 . an elongated rectangular piece of sand paper [ not shown ] can be rigidly secured to sanding plate 30 with a forward spring clip 32 and a rearward spring clip 34 , which are , in turn , respectively rigidly mounted on the top of mounting plate 14 with screws 36 and screws 38 . as shown in more detail in fig2 and 3 , mounting plate 14 is reciprocally driven by an air motor 40 located inside of housing 12 . air motor 40 is comprised of a cylinder 42 which has a bore therein and fluid end tight seals [ not shown ] located at each end . a double - ended piston 46 is slidably mounted for reciprocal movement within cylinder 42 . three circumferential main seals 48 , 50 , and 52 are mounted on piston 46 within annular slots 54 , 56 , and 58 , respectively , and extend radially , outwardly therefrom . first and second circumferential end seals 60 and 62 are located at respective ends of piston 46 in respective annular slots 64 and 66 . both the three main seals 48 , 50 , and 52 and the two end seals 60 and 62 are comprised of an inner o - ring 68 and a split seal ring 70 mounted coaxially over o - ring 68 . each seal abuts the inner surface 71 of cylinder 42 for providing a slidable sealing contact therewith . the external shape of piston 46 is shown more clearly in fig3 and 4 . each end of piston 46 has a beveled edge 72 and 74 , respectively , the purpose of which is explained hereinbelow . located near a first end 76 of piston 46 are main seals 48 , 50 and 52 , and end seal 60 which abuts main seal 54 on the inward side thereof and beveled edge 72 on the outward side thereof . main seals 54 and 56 define therebetween a first annular region 78 in which there is located an annular slot 80 in piston 46 . slot 80 is defined at its end proximate to main seal 54 by a substantially vertical wall 82 extending radially inward , and at the end proximate main seal 56 by a beveled wall 84 extending angularly in an inward radial direction away from main seal 56 . similarly , main seals 56 and 58 define a second annular region 86 therebetween in which piston 46 has an annular slot 88 . slot 88 is defined at its end proximate main seal 56 by a beveled wall 90 extending angularly in an inward radial direction away from main seal 56 . the other end of slot 88 , proximate main seal 58 , is defined by a substantially vertical wall 92 extending radially inward . between end seal 62 , located at a second end 94 of piston 46 and main seal 58 is a relatively large slot 96 . slot 96 comprises approximately half of the axial length of piston 46 . mounted within slot 96 is a connecting means , described hereinbelow , for connecting piston 46 to mounting plate 14 for reciprocally driving mounting plate 14 . located within piston 46 are a plurality of passages for alternately feeding compressed air to ends 76 and 94 of piston 46 , thereby reciprocally driving piston 46 . a first passage 98 connects a port 100 located in slot 88 with an end port 102 located in first end 76 of piston 46 . a second passage 104 connects a port 106 in slot 80 with a port 108 in second end 94 of piston 46 . a pair of additional passages 10 connect passage 98 with end seal 60 and main seal 54 for supplying pressurized air thereto for expanding seal rings 70 into contacting and sealing relationship with the inner surface 171 of cylinder 42 . further additional passages 112 connect passage 104 with end seal 62 and main seal 58 for a similar purpose . referring again to fig2 compressed air is supplied through air inlet fitting 26 to a main supply port 114 in housing 12 at the rearward end thereof . a passage 116 connects main supply port 114 to an inlet plenum 117 of an air stop and throttle valve 118 . valve 118 is actuated by depressing operator 28 . air stop and throttling valve 118 is of a type well known in the art and is constructed such that the further operator 28 is depressed , the greater the flow of air is permitted through the valve . a supply passage 120 communicates between valve 118 and an air supply port 122 located in cylinder 42 at a mid - portion thereof . air supply port 122 communicates with either first annular region 78 or second annular region 86 , depending upon the axial position of piston 46 in cylinder 42 . vent ports 124 and 126 are located at respective ends in cylinder 42 for respectively venting the spaces on end chambers 128 and 130 defined by the end portions of the inner surface 171 of cylinder 42 , the corresponding cylinder end seals , and the corresponding ends 76 and 94 of piston 46 . vent ports 124 and 126 are located in cylinder 42 such that only one vent port is uncovered at a time by piston 46 . the reciprocating motion of piston 46 is transmitted to mounting plate 14 through a connecting means 132 , as shown in fig2 . connecting means 132 is comprised of an upper rack 134 rigidly mounted in slot 96 of piston 46 and a lower rack 136 rigidly mounted to mounting plate 14 . a pinion 138 is rotatably mounted on a shaft 140 which in turn is rigidly mounted on housing 12 . pinion 138 engages both upper rack 134 and lower rack 136 and thereby transfers the longitudinal movement of upper rack 134 and piston 46 , which is in one direction , to the lower rack 136 , thereby longitudinally driving rack 136 in the other longitudinal direction . a starter means such as helical spring 142 resiliently urges piston 46 toward the end of cylinder 42 defining end chamber 128 . spring 142 has a relatively small spring constant such that the force exerted by the spring is relatively small compared with the force exerted on end 76 of piston 46 by the compressed air admitted to end chamber 128 . consequently , spring 142 does not have a tendency to impede or dampen the reciprocal motion of piston 46 . however , spring 142 does exert a sufficient force on piston 46 such that when sander 10 is not being used and no air is being admitted to air supply port 122 , piston 46 is displaced a sufficient amount such that slot 88 and port 100 in piston 46 is in communication with air supply port 122 . therefore , spring 142 prevents piston 46 from coming to rest with main seal 54 blocking air supply port 122 , thereby causing sander 10 to be in a stalled condition when it is subsequently started . a second embodiment of the invention , in which the starter means comprises a valve , is shown in fig5 through 7 . in this embodiment of the invention an air stop , starting and throttling valve 144 directs compressed air entering the valve body from main supply port 114 and passage 116 to either a starting air passage 146 or to supply passage 120 . valve 144 is comprised of a cylindrical housing 148 and a spool 150 slidably mounted therein . spool 150 is comprised of a lower spherical or ball section 152 which , in the stop position as shown in fig7 engages a beveled lower edge 154 of cylindrical housing 148 , thereby preventing air from passing into either supply passage 120 or starting air passage 146 . spool 150 further comprises a main body section 156 which has two annular slots , an upper slot 158 and a lower slot 160 , axially spaced therein by an annular dividing section 168 which sealingly engages the inner wall of cylindrical housing 148 . an internal passage 162 communicates with an upper port 164 located in upper slot 158 and a lower port 166 located in the lower end of body section 156 and above ball section 52 . the lower part of the body section 156 of spool 150 is comprised of an annular section 170 which extends radially outwardly in sealing engagement with the lower inner surface of cylindrical housing 148 . lower end 174 of body section 156 has an outwardly concave shape which is spaced from and connected to ball section 152 with a connecting member 176 . when valve 144 is in the start position , as shown in fig6 spool 150 is axially depressed slightly within cylindrical housing 148 such that ball section 152 is no longer in sealing engagement with beveled lower edge 154 of cylindrical housing 148 but with annular section 170 still in sealing engagement with the lower inner surface of cylindrical housing 148 . hence , air is admitted around ball section 152 , through passage 162 and upper port 164 , and then into starting air passage 146 . starting air passage 146 is connected to one end of piston 46 . thus , the compressed air is directed to one end of piston 46 to urge the piston in the other direction , thereby assuring that one of slots 80 and 88 will be in communication with supply port 122 . as spool 150 is depressed further , the upper portion of the spool completely blocks starting air passage 146 thereby preventing further delivery of air thereto . as shown in fig5 when valve 144 is in the run position , annular dividing section 168 is positioned just above the top of supply passage 120 and the lower slot 160 is in communication with both supply passage 120 and the supply panel 145 . thus , the compressed air is directed to supply passage 120 and air supply port 122 . to operate sander 10 , a compressed air supply is connected to air inlet fitting 26 and operator 28 is positioned to open its corresponding air stop valve and admit air to the main air stop throttle valve 118 , in the first embodiment of the invention , or air stop , starting and throttling valve 144 , in the second embodiment of the invention . trigger 24 is then depressed to admit air to supply passage 120 and to air supply port 122 . referring to fig4 one half of piston 46 , 46a , is shown in its furthermost axial position within cylinder 42 as it begins to move in the direction of arrow 180 . the other half of piston 46 , 46b , is shown in the other furthermost axial position as piston 46 begins to move in the direction of arrow 182 . with reference to piston half 46a , it can be seen that air supply port 122 is in communication with slot 80 and hence port 106 . passage 104 transports the compressed air to end 94 of piston 46 and thence out port 108 into end chamber 130 . vent 126 is covered by end seal 62 . hence , air pressure builds up in end chamber 130 thereby forcing piston 46 in the direction of arrow 180 . as piston 46a moves , slot 80 moves past air supply port 122 . when beveled wall 84 begins to move past air supply port 122 , the volume of slot 80 in communication with air supply port 122 gradually decreases , thereby gradually slowing the rate air is being admitted to end chamber 130 . finally , main seal 56 completely covers air supply port 122 at the same time beveled end edge 74 of piston 46a comes into register with vent port 126 . the end of piston 46a is beveled to permit a gradual , initial venting of end chamber 130 . the momentum of piston 46a moves main seal 56 to the other side of air supply port 122 as shown by piston half 46b . as beveled wall 90 of slot 88 comes into register with air supply port 122 , air is , at first , slowly admitted into passage 98 and then into end chamber 128 to cause a gradual breaking of piston 46a . finally , as shown by piston 46b , slot 88 is in full communication with air supply port 122 , thereby admitting full air flow to end chamber 128 and causing the reversal of piston 46a . at the same time , vent port 126 is completely uncovered , thereby permitting complete venting of end chamber 130 , and vent port 122 is completely covered by end seal 60 , thereby permitting full pressurization of end chamber 128 . as mentioned above , air is supplied from the respective passages in piston 46 to the end seal and the main seal closest to the pressurized end chamber . this permits an adequate seal to be developed between piston 46 and inner surface 171 of cylinder 42 before air pressure is built up in the respective end chamber , thereby assuring less air leakage and a more efficient utilization of the compressed air . it is apparent from the foregoing that a sander in accordance with the present invention is provided in which the piston itself replaces an air directing valve as shown in the prior art . thus , a sander in accordance with the present invention can be manufactured less expensively , having a lighter weight , and have its motive fluid supply used more efficiently . in addition , the elimination of an air directive valve further produces a sander which has a longer , more trouble free service life . although the invention has been described in detail with respect to an exemplary embodiment thereof , it will be understood by those of ordinary skill in the art that variations and modifications may be effected within the scope and spirit of the invention .	5
fig1 presents a schematic diagram of a power plant 11 of the type in which the present invention may be advantageously utilized . a pair of steam generators or boilers 13 output steam into a main steam header 15 for distribution to two or more steam turbines . one steam turbine 17 may be used solely for the production of a power output and therefore is coupled to a load 19 . the load may be for example , a pump , a compressor , an electrical generator or other driven load . the turbine 17 includes a control circuit 21 which electronically positions inlet steam valve 23 through valve operator 25 . the exact nature of the control circuit 21 is not pertinent to the present invention but it may include a speed feedback channel 27 for providing a speed feedback signal which is then compared with a set speed ( not shown ) to produce a speed error signal for valve adjustment . u . s . pat . no . 3 , 986 , 788 to rossi and assigned to the assignee of the present invention is one example of a speed control circuit . a second turbine 31 is also connected in fluid communication to the main steam holder . the second turbine differs from the steam turbine 17 in that it is used to supply process steam 33 . the turbine may also be connected to a driven load or an electrical generator 35 . in the usual manner of operation disclosed in u . s . pat . no . 2 , 977 , 768 to wagner and straney , a control system 37 is set up to position a throttle valve 39 and an extraction valve 41 through valve operators 43 and 45 respectively . the control system 37 receives inputs indicating actual turbine speed 47 and extraction pressure 49 . thus it is clear that each turbine includes its own control system capable of maintaining a desired set speed sufficient to meet the load requirements 19 and 35 . a crisis occurs when there is insufficient steam in the main header 15 to meet both the load and process steam requirements of the power plant . the present invention is directed toward resolving that crisis in an orderly and predetermined manner of assigned control priorities in the extraction type turbine control . the insufficient steam flow may be sensed by a throttle pressure indicator ( not shown ) which inputs that message into the extraction turbine control system 37 along electrical connection line 51 . fig2 discloses the control system 37 according to the present invention which may be used in combination with the extraction turbine 31 . power supplies and other electrical details obvious to the routineer in the art have been omitted to clarity . control system 37 receives three inputs which relate to turbine speed ( s ); inlet pressure ( p i ), and extraction pressure ( p e ). signal input 47 from fig1 is proportional to actual turbine speed ; signal input 49 ( fig1 ) is proportional to actual extraction pressure and signal input 51 from fig1 is proportional to actual turbine inlet pressure . these signals are compared with set signals indicating desired speed , extraction pressure and inlet pressure , respectively indicated by positive arrows . amplifiers , 57 , 59 and 61 are comparator amplifiers with accept set point and feedback signals as shown , and generate respective output signals which are proportional to the difference between the set point and reference signals . amplifiers 67 , 69 and 71 are integrating amplifiers whereas amplifiers 77 , 79 and 81 are used for dynamic stability compensation . the latter circuitry compensates for system lead - lag by phase shift of line signals . thus each signal output from amplifiers 77 , 79 and 81 represent an error signal based on the particular physical condition monitored . the control circuit 37 provides two output signals . the first output signal at terminal 85 is a throttle valve positioning signal . a second output signal at terminal 87 is an extraction valve positioning signal . amplifiers 89 and 91 are servo amplifiers having inputs designating valve position feedbacks 88 and 90 respectively and valve position demands 92 and 93 . two low value gates 101 and 105 determine the valve position demands 92 and 93 . low valve gate 101 is comprised of , in part , inverter amplifier 102 , resistors 103 ( a , b , c ) and diode 104 . the other half of low value gate 101 is comprised of inverter amplifier 106 , resistors 107 ( a , b ) and diode 108 . bias circuitry is provided for amplifier circuit 102 by resistor group 109 whereas bias circuitry is provided for amplifier circuit 106 by resistor group 110 . resistor 111 provides a path for current to either amplifier 102 or 106 when either of these devices are conducting . amplifier 113 represents a non - inverting unity gain amplifier whose input is obtained from low value gate 101 . the output of low value gate 101 can be a signal proportional to speed and extraction pressure ( s , p e ), or inlet pressure ( p i ). the manner in which the low value gate operates is as follows . the signal which will be applied to the input of amplifier 113 will be either the output of amplifier 102 or the output of amplifier 106 . if the output signal of amplifier 102 is more negative than the output signal of amplifier 106 , diode 108 will be back biased and the output of amplifier 106 will be effectively disconnected from the input to amplifier 113 . thus the input to amplifier 113 will be the signal output from amplifier 102 . in the event that amplifier 106 has an output which is more negative than the output of amplifier 102 , then amplifier 106 will provide the signal to amplifier 113 . the second low value gate 105 is comprised of , in part , inverter amplifier 115 , resistors 116 ( a , b ) and diode 117 . the second part of this gate comprises amplifier 119 and diode 121 . resistor group 123 provides the bias circuitry for amplifier 115 whereas resistor 124 is comparable to resistor 111 in gate 101 . the gating action of low value gate 105 is the same as the gating action described for low value gate 101 . amplifier 125 represents a unity gain non - inverting amplifier . the input to this amplifier is proportional either to the inlet pressure p i error signal of the extraction pressure p e error signal . amplifier 127 with its associated resistors 128 ( a , b , c ) and bias group 130 is a summing amplifier having signal inputs comprising the speed s error signal and one of the pressure error signals which exist at the output of amplifier 125 . the output of amplifier 127 provides the extraction valve lift set point signal 93 . the circuitry including amplifier 129 and its associated resistors and diodes ; and , amplifier 131 along with its associated resistors provides a limit function which acts to override pressure error signals p e to the inlet valves and extraction valves in the event that the extraction valve goes fully closed . this is to avoid a situation where excessive extraction flow can result in excessive rotor speed . whenever the extraction valves do go into the closed position , the resultant signal from amplifiers 129 and 131 passes through amplifier 133 where it adds to the speed signal input s into amplifier 102 through resistor 103a to reinforce the signal out of amplifier 102 . otherwise , when the extraction valves are open , the output of amplifiers 131 and 129 is zero . when operating as a speed / extraction pressure control , it is assumed that the inlet pressure set point will be set at a throttle pressure level which corresponds to the minimum pressure which will be permitted to exist before the control system is required to switch from a speed / extraction pressure control mode to an inlet pressure / speed control mode . inlet or throttle pressure will normally be higher than this set point . a pressure transducer ( not shown ) is included in the inlet line to sense throttle pressure and provide the inlet pressure feedback signal 51 as shown . when throttle pressure 51 is higher than the inlet pressure set point p i , the throttle pressure circuitry 61 , 71 and 81 will integrate to its full throttle flow limit which represents - 5 volts at the output of amplifier 81 . this will result in the output of amplifier 106 being at a + 5 volts which is higher than the output of amplifier 102 . diode 108 will be back biased and will not conduct current . the output of low value gate 101 will then be proportional to the output of amplifier 102 . the extraction pressure control loop includes amplifiers 59 , 69 and 79 . the output of amplifier 79 is applied to amplifier 119 in low value gate 105 . when operating in the speed / extraction pressure control mode , the inlet pressure signal p i which is applied to amplifier 115 in low value gate 105 will also result in the output of amplifier 115 being more positive than the output of amplifier 119 . thus the output of low value gate 105 will be a function of the extraction pressure control loop . the input to amplifier 125 will be the extraction pressure error signal p e . the output of amplifier 125 is input into amplifier 127 where it is combined with the speed loop signal from amplifier 77 . the output of amplifier 127 is now a function of speed and extraction pressure . the output of amplifier 125 also passes through amplifier 133 through its associated input resistor where it is summed at the input of amplifier 102 with the speed control loop signal . since the output of amplifier 102 is providing the input for amplifiers 113 , the inlet valve lift set point is also a function of speed and extraction pressure . in the event that the extraction valves go closed during speed / extraction pressure control , the limiting circuitry of amplifiers 129 and 131 acts to cancel out the effect of the pressure control system on the positions of the inlet and extraction valves in the following manner . the output of amplifier 129 is normally at 0 volts when the extraction valves are not closed . in this case , the input to amplifier 133 is a function of the extraction pressure control loop as previously explained . in those cases where the extraction valve gear is closed , the output of amplifier 129 switches from 0 to a voltage which is proportional to the voltage developed at point 93 . this voltage is inverted by amplifier 131 and is combined in amplifier 133 with the output of low value gate 105 which is proportional to extraction pressure . the gains of amplifiers 129 and 131 are set up such that the output of amplifier 125 is cancelled by the output of amplifier 131 . the output of amplifier 133 does not change any further as a result of the extraction pressure and , therefore , the output of low value gate 101 now is a function of speed only . in this manner , the inlet valves are controlled by speed alone . in normal operation , the net effect of the speed and pressure control loops on the valve positions is as follows . in the event that speed is to be increased or decreased while extraction pressure is maintained constant , both the inlet and extraction valve gear are moved in the same direction . in the event that a change in extraction flow causes a change in extraction pressure , the inlet and extraction valves will be moved in opposite directions . for example , a decrease in extraction flow will initially result in an increased extraction pressure . in order to restore extraction pressure and maintain turbine speed constant , the extraction valves will open to allow more flow to the back end of the machine and the inlet valves will close to reduce the amount of torque developed in the front section of the turbine to compensate for the increased torque developed across the back end of the turbine . the purpose of the inlet pressure control is to assure that the throttle flow to the turbine is maintained at a level which does not drive the inlet pressure below the desired set point p i . in the event that an external system malfunction occurs such that the inlet pressure begins to drop due to excessive throttle flow requirements , the system will automatically switch from a speed / extraction pressure control mode to an inlet pressure / speed control mode . the manner in which this is accomplished is as follows . as the inlet pressure begins to drop , the changing inlet pressure will be detected by comparator amplifier 61 . as the inlet pressure drops below the inlet pressure set point , a signal will be generated to integrating amplifier 71 which will drive the output of amplifier 106 in low value gate 101 more negative than the output of amplifier 102 . at this point , the input to amplifier 113 will now become a function of the inlet pressure control system . the speed control loop will no longer be affecting the inlet valve lift set point 92 . the output of the inlet pressure control loop p i which appears at amplifier 81 also results in the output of amplifier 115 becoming more negative than the output of amplifier 119 . the output of low value gate 105 which appears at the output of amplifier 125 now will be a function of the inlet pressure control loop only . the output of amplifier 125 is summed at the input of amplifier 127 with a signal from the speed control loop . the output of amplifier 127 represents a combined signal from the speed and inlet pressure control loops and determines the extraction valve lift set point 93 . the output of amplifier 125 also passes through amplifier 133 , through resistor 103c and provides an input to amplifier 102 . however , since amplifier 106 is the predominant amplifier in low value gate 101 , this signal path does not affect the output of low value gate 101 . since the control system can control only two parameters , operation in the inlet pressure / speed control mode will require that the extraction pressure be held constant by some other means whose steam source is other than that which supplies steam to the turbine inlet . the automatic transition from a speed / extraction pressure control to an inlet pressure / speed control is accomplished by the actions of low value gates 101 and 105 as described above . the automatic transition from speed / extraction pressure control to inlet pressure / speed control will result if the inlet pressure drops below a preset level . upon recovery of the inlet pressure to the minimum preset level , the control system will automatically revert back to a speed / extraction pressure control mode . it should be noted that there are basic differences in how the inlet and extraction valves are controlled in the speed / extraction pressure control system and the speed / inlet pressure control system . in the speed / extraction pressure control mode , the speed control circuitry positions both the inlet and the extraction valve gear in the same direction to change throttle flow and exhaust flow by the same amount in response to changes in required shaft horsepower without changing the extraction flow . therefore , throttle and exhaust flows are changed as required . the pressure control system positions the inlet and the extraction valve gear in opposite directions in order to change power developed in the back end of the machine by the same amount but in an opposite sense to the change in head end power . this allows a change in extraction flow ( the difference in throttle and exhaust flows ) with no change in total shaft horsepower developed . in the speed / inlet pressure control system , the speed control circuitry positions only the extraction valve gear so that the shaft power may be changed without changing inlet throttle flow . the inlet pressure control circuitry positions the inlet and extraction valve gear in opposite directions in order to change power developed in the back end by the same amount but in the opposite sense as the change in power in the head end . this allows a change in throttle flow with no change in total shaft horsepower . while there has been shown what is considered to be a preferred embodiment of the invention , it is also understood that other modifications may be made therein which may be obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art . it is intended to claim all such modifications as fall within the true spirit and scope of the invention .	5
the following description is disclosed to enable any person skilled in the art to make and use the present invention . preferred embodiments are provided in the following description only as examples and modifications will be apparent to those skilled in the art . the general principles defined in the following description would be applied to other embodiments , alternatives , modifications , equivalents , and applications without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention . referring to fig1 to fig2 b of the drawings , a game ball with non - slip layer according to a first preferred embodiment of the present invention is illustrated , wherein the game ball comprises a plurality of stretchable panels 10 , marginal edges 11 provided on edges of stretchable panels 10 sealed together to form a ball surface 100 , a non - slip layer 12 attached on the ball surface 100 to improve the friction of the ball surface 100 , and a bladder 13 received inside the ball surface 100 . preferably , there are four pieces of stretchable panels 10 are sealed with each other , within each of the stretchable panels 10 comprises a pair of marginal edges 11 . the stretchable panels 10 comprise a first to fourth stretchable panels 10 a , 10 b , 10 c , and 10 d , wherein the structures of the four stretchable panels 10 are identical . the first stretchable panel 10 a comprises a pair of marginal edges 11 a , and the second stretchable panel 10 b comprises a pair of marginal edges 11 b , and the third stretchable panel 10 c comprises a pair of marginal edges 11 c , and the fourth stretchable panel 10 d comprises a pair of marginal edges 11 d . as shown in fig2 , the non - slip layer 12 is attached on each of the stretchable panels 10 of the ball surface 100 by stitching , gluing , hot melting technology , etc ., wherein the non - slip layer 12 can be made of durable and flexible materials in order to improve the hardness of the ball surface 100 of the game ball . preferably , the non - slip layer 12 can be a mesh layer attached on the stretchable panels 10 of the game ball to provide better friction force of the ball surface 100 . moreover , non - slip layer 12 with different color and patterns can be customized based on the customers &# 39 ; needs . for example , cartoon images or pictures can be printed on the non - slip layer 12 to not only increase the friction force of the ball surface 100 , but also improve aesthetic effects of the game ball . furthermore , the mesh of the non - slip layer 12 can be designed as heart - like or star like meshes . accordingly , one of the pair of the marginal edges 11 a of the first stretchable panel 10 a is sealed with one of the pair of the marginal edges 11 b of the second stretchable panels 10 b . and , the other of the pair of the marginal edges 11 a of the first stretchable panels 10 a is sealed with one of the pair of the marginal edges 11 d of the fourth stretchable panels 10 d , so as to connect the first stretchable panels with the second and fourth stretchable panels . in addition , the other of the pair of the marginal edges 11 b , 11 d of the second and fourth stretchable panels 10 b , 10 d are sealed with the pair of the marginal edges 11 c of the third stretchable panels 10 c respectively , so as to connect the third stretchable panel 10 c with the second and fourth stretchable panels 10 b , 10 d . on the other hand , the first to fourth stretchable panels 10 a , 10 b , 10 c , 10 d are sealed with each other to form the ball surface 100 . as shown in fig1 , the ball surface 100 comprises an inflating hole 101 to inflate air into the bladder 13 . in addition , the bladder 13 comprises a inflation unit 131 arranged align with the inflating hole 101 to communicate with the ball surface 100 , so the air can be inflated into the bladder 13 through the inflating hole 101 and the inflation unit 131 . it is worth to mention that the inflation unit 131 is made of elastic and flexible material materials , and a diameter of the inflating unit 131 of the bladder 13 is slightly larger than a diameter of the inflatable hole 101 . therefore , when the bladder 13 is received inside the ball surface 100 , the inflating unit 131 is deformed and passed through the inflatable hole 101 of the ball surface 100 , and after the inflating unit 131 is passed through the inflatable hole 101 , the inflating unit 131 reinstates to its original shape , and is locked on the inflatable hole 101 , so the bladder 13 can be remained at a fixed position without sliding inside the ball surface 100 . therefore , the inflation unit 131 of the bladder 13 is not only used to inflate the bladder , but also used to affix the bladder 13 at a fixed position . alternatively , as shown in fig4 , an alternative mode of the non - slip layer 12 according to the above preferred embodiment of the present invention is illustrated , wherein a structure of the game ball in this alternative mode is the same , excluding a configuration of the non - slip layer 12 . in this alternative mode , the non - slip layer 12 is a non - slip layer bag 12 ′ having an bag opening 121 ′, and the game ball can be put inside the non - slip layer bag 12 through the bag opening 121 ′. on the other hand , the non - slip layer 12 ′ and the game ball are two separated items . preferably , the non - slip layer 12 ′ is a non - slip detachable bag which can be selectively cover on the ball surface 100 of the game ball . therefore , the player can use the game ball individual without non - slip layer 12 ′ in a normal playing environment , and after the non - slip layer 12 ′ is coved on the ball surface 100 ′ of the game ball , the game ball with non - slip layer 12 ′ can be used in wet and moist environment . it is worth mentioning that the non - slip layer bag 12 ′ is made of elastic materials , so when the non - slip layer bag 12 ′ is not in use the non - slip layer bag 12 ′ can be folded and stored in a compact size . and , when the game ball is putting inside the non - slip layer bag 12 ′, the non - slip layer bag 12 ′ is expanded to closely overlap on the outer surface of the ball surface 100 . a shape of the non - slip layer bag 12 ′ is shaped like the game ball . in order to deposit the game ball into the non - slip layer bag 12 ′, a diameter “ w ” of bag opening 121 ′ of the non - slip layer bag 12 ′ is changed while the game ball is depositing inside the non - slip layer bag 12 ′, wherein a maximum value of the diameter “ w ” of bag opening 121 ′ is slighting larger than a sectional radius “ w ” of the game ball . if the diameter “ w ” of the bag opening 121 ′ of the non - slip layer bag 12 ′ is much more larger than the diameter of the sectional radius “ w ” of the game ball , the non - slip layer bag 12 ′ is covered on the outer surface of the ball surface in an un - tightly state . otherwise , the game ball cannot be received inside the non - slip layer bag 12 ′ if the diameter “ w ” of bag opening 121 ′ is smaller than the sectional radius “ w ” of the game ball . accordingly , the non - slip detachable layer 12 can be attached on different portions of sport goods to improve the friction force thereof . for example , the non - slip detachable layer 12 ′ can be attached on handles of rackets in order to increase the friction force during the players are holding on the handles thereof . and , the non - slip detachable layer 12 can be attached on surfaces of the frisbee or snowboards . especially in the water sport goods or toys , such as noodle , handles of the water guns and water paddles , kickboards , surfboards and drive toys , the non - slip layer 12 can be applied thereon to provide better friction forces while the water sport goods are contacted with water during playing . referring to fig5 of the drawings , a manufacturing method of the game ball with non - slip layer according to a second preferred embodiment of the present invention is illustrated , wherein the manufacturing method comprising steps of : 1 . preparing a plurality of stretchable panels 10 having a plurality of marginal edges 11 ; 2 . attaching non - slip layer 12 on each of the stretchable panels 10 ; 3 . sealing each of the stretchable panels 10 together along the marginal edges 11 to form a ball surface 100 ; 4 . putting a bladder 13 inside the ball surface to form a game ball with non - slip layers 12 . in step 1 , the number of the stretchable panels 10 is four , and each of the stretchable panels 10 comprises a pair of marginal edges 11 . accordingly , the stretchable panels 10 comprise a first to fourth stretchable panels 10 a , 10 b , 10 c , and 10 d , wherein structures of the four stretchable panels are identical . the first stretchable panel 10 a comprises a pair of marginal edges 11 a , and the second stretchable panel 10 b comprises a pair of marginal edges 11 b , and the third stretchable panel 10 c comprises a pair of marginal edges 11 c , and the fourth stretchable panel 10 d comprises a pair of marginal edges 11 d . in step 2 , the non - slip layer 12 is attached on each of the stretchable panels of the ball surface 100 by stitching , gluing , hot melting technology , etc ., wherein the non - slip layer 12 can be made of durable materials in order to improve the life - span of the ball surface 100 of the game ball . in step 2 , the non - slip layer 12 can be a mesh layer . moreover , the non - slip layer with different color and patterns of 12 can be customized based on the customers &# 39 ; needs . for example , cartoon images or pictures can be attached on the non - slip layer 12 to not only increase the friction force of the ball surface 100 , but also improve aesthetic effects of the game ball . furthermore , the mesh of the non - slip layer 12 can be designed as heart - like or star like meshes . in step 3 , one of the pair of the marginal edges 11 a of the first stretchable panel 10 a is sealed with one of the pair of the marginal edges 11 b of the second stretchable panels 10 b . and , the other of the pair of the marginal edges 11 a of the first stretchable panels 10 a is sealed with one of the pair of the marginal edges 11 d of the fourth stretchable panels 10 d , so as to connect the first stretchable panels with the second and fourth stretchable panels . in addition , the other of the pair of the marginal edges 11 b , 11 d of the second and fourth stretchable panels 10 b , 10 d are sealed with the pair of the marginal edges 11 c of the third stretchable panels 10 c respectively , so as to connect the third stretchable panel 10 c with the second and fourth stretchable panels 10 b , 10 d . on the other hand , the first to fourth stretchable panels 10 a , 10 b , 10 c , 10 d are sealed with each other to form the ball surface 100 . in the step 4 , the ball surface 100 comprises as inflatable hole 101 , and the bladder 13 comprises an inflating unit 131 , wherein the inflating unit 131 can be interlocked with inflatable hole 101 to connect the ball surface 100 and the bladder 13 . referring to fig6 of the drawings , a manufacturing method of a game ball with non - slip layer according to a third preferred embodiment of the present invention is illustrated , wherein the manufacturing method comprises the steps of : 1 . preparing a plurality of stretchable panels 10 having marginal edges 11 ; 2 . sealing each of the stretchable panels 10 together along the marginal edges 11 to form a ball surface 100 ; 3 . putting a bladder 13 inside the ball surface to form a game ball ; and 4 . putting the game ball inside a non - slip layer bag 12 ′ through a bag opening 121 ′. in step 1 , the number of the stretchable panels 10 is four , and each of the stretchable panels 10 comprises a pair of marginal edge 11 . accordingly , the stretchable panels 10 comprise a first to fourth stretchable panels 10 a , 10 b , 10 c , and 10 d , wherein structures of the four stretchable panels are identical . the first stretchable panel 10 a comprises a pair of marginal edges 11 a , and the second stretchable panel 10 b comprises a pair of marginal edges 11 b , and the third stretchable panel 10 c comprises a pair of marginal edges 11 c , and the fourth stretchable panel 10 d comprises a pair of marginal edges 11 d . in step 2 , one of the pair of the marginal edges of the first stretchable panel 10 a is sealed with one of the pair of the marginal edges 11 b of the second stretchable panels 10 b . and , the other of the pair of the marginal edges 11 a of the first stretchable panels 10 a is sealed with one of the pair of the marginal edges 11 d of the fourth stretchable panels 10 d , so as to connect the first stretchable panels with the second and fourth stretchable panels . in addition , the other of the pair of the marginal edges 11 b , 11 d of the second and fourth stretchable panels 10 b , 10 d are sealed with the pair of the marginal edges 11 c of the third stretchable panels 10 c respectively , so as to connect the third stretchable panel 10 c with the second and fourth stretchable panels 10 b , 10 d . on the other hand , the first to fourth stretchable panels 10 a , 10 b , 10 c , 10 d are sealed with each other to form the ball surface 100 . in the step 3 , the ball surface 100 comprises as inflatable hole 101 , and the inflatable bag 13 comprises an inflating unit 131 , wherein the inflation unit 131 can be interlocked with inflatable hole 101 to connect the ball surface 100 and the inflatable bag 13 . and , the bladder 13 can be inflated through the inflatable hole 101 and the inflation unit 131 . in step 4 , the non - slip layer bag 12 ′ and the game ball are two separated items . preferably , the non - slip layer 12 ′ is a non - slip detachable bag which can be selectively cover on the ball surface 100 of the game ball . in the step 4 , the non - slip layer bag 12 ′ is made of elastic materials and shaped like a game ball , so when the non - slip layer bag 12 ′ is not in use the non - slip layer bag 12 ′ can be folded and stored in a compact size . and , when the game ball is putting inside the non - slip layer bag 12 ′, the non - slip layer bag 12 ′ is expanded to closely overlap on the outer surface of the ball surface 100 . in order to deposit the game ball into the non - slip layer bag 12 ′, a diameter “ w ” of bag opening 121 ′ of the non - slip layer bag 12 ′ is changed while the game ball is depositing inside the non - slip layer bag 12 ′, wherein a maximum value of the diameter “ w ” of bag opening 121 ′ is slightly larger than a sectional radius “ w ” of the game ball . one skilled in the art will understand that the embodiment of the present invention as shown in the drawings and described above is exemplary only and not intended to be limiting . it will thus be seen that the objects of the present invention have been fully and effectively accomplished . the embodiments have been shown and described for the purposes of illustrating the functional and structural principles of the present invention and is subject to change without departure from such principles . therefore , this invention includes all modifications encompassed within the spirit and scope of the following claims .	0
fig1 is a schematic , pictorial illustration of a mapping system 20 , for mapping a heart 24 of a patient 26 , in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention . system 20 comprises an elongate probe , such as a catheter 30 , which is inserted by a user 22 through a vein or artery of the patient into a chamber of the heart . catheter 30 comprises a wireless position transponder 40 , typically near the distal tip of the catheter . transponder 40 is shown in detail in fig2 . optionally , catheter 30 comprises two or more transponders of this sort , mutually spaced along the length of the catheter , in order to give position and orientation coordinates at multiple points along the catheter . to operate transponder 40 , patient 26 is placed in a magnetic field generated , for example , by situating under the patient a pad containing field generator coils 28 for generating a magnetic field . coils 28 are driven by driver circuits 32 to generate electromagnetic fields , typically at different , respective frequencies . a reference electromagnetic sensor ( not shown ) is typically fixed relative to the patient , for example , taped to the patient &# 39 ; s back , and catheter 30 containing transponder 40 is advanced into the patient &# 39 ; s heart . an additional antenna 54 , typically in the form of a coil , provides rf power to transponder 40 and receives signals therefrom , as described in detail hereinbelow . signals received by antenna 54 from transponder 40 in the heart are conveyed to a console 34 , which processes the signals and then displays the results on a monitor 36 . by this method , the precise location of transponder 40 in catheter 30 , relative to the reference sensor , can be ascertained and visually displayed . the transponder can also detect displacement of the catheter that is caused by contraction of the heart muscle . some of the features of system 20 are implemented in the above - mentioned carto system , including the use of the system to generate a map 38 of cardiac electrical and mechanical function . further aspects of the design of catheter 30 and of system 20 generally are described in the above - mentioned u . s . pat . nos . 5 , 391 , 199 , 5 , 443 , 489 and 6 , 198 , 963 and in u . s . patent application publication 2003 / 0120150 . the design of transponder 40 and the associated driver and signal processing circuits used in console 34 , however , as described hereinbelow , are unique to the present invention . reference is now made to fig2 and 3 , which schematically show details of transponder 40 and of driving and processing circuits in console 34 , in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention . as shown in fig2 , transponder 40 comprises a power coil 42 and at least one sensing coil 46 , coupled to a signal processing chip module 44 . signal processing chip module 44 typically comprises an arithmetical logic unit ( alu ) 48 and a power storage device , such as a capacitor 45 , typically having a capacitance of about 1 microfarad . alternatively , the power storage device comprises a battery or other power storage means known in the art . power coil 42 is typically optimized to receive and transmit high - frequency signals in the range above 1 mhz , e . g ., about 13 mhz receiving and about 433 mhz transmitting . sensing coil 46 , on the other hand , is typically designed for operation in the range of 1 - 3 khz , the frequencies at which field generator coils 28 generate their electromagnetic fields . alternatively , other frequency ranges may be used , as dictated by application requirements . the entire transponder 40 is typically 2 - 5 mm in length and 2 - 3 mm in outer diameter , enabling it to fit conveniently inside catheter 30 . as shown in fig3 , console 34 comprises an rf power driver 50 , which drives antenna 54 to emit a power signal , typically in the megahertz range , e . g ., about 13 mhz . an optional switch 51 , embodied in hardware or software , couples power driver 50 to antenna 54 for the duration of the emission of the power signal . the power signal causes a current to flow in power coil 42 of transponder 40 , which current is rectified by signal processing chip module 44 and used to charge capacitor 45 . typically , but not necessarily , console 34 includes a clock synchronization circuit 52 , which is used to synchronize rf power driver 50 and driver circuits 32 . as mentioned hereinabove , driver circuits 32 drive field generator coils 28 to generate electromagnetic fields . the electromagnetic fields cause a time - varying voltage drop across sensor coil 46 of transponder 40 . this voltage drop has frequency components at the same frequencies as the driving currents flowing through the generator coils . the components are proportional to the strengths of the components of the respective magnetic fields produced by the generator coils in a direction parallel to the sensor coil axis . thus , the voltage drop indicates the position and orientation of coil 46 relative to fixed generator coils 28 . processing chip module 44 measures the voltage drop across sensor coil 46 at the different field frequencies and , employing alu 48 , digitally encodes the phase and amplitude values of the voltage drop . for some applications , the measured phase and amplitude for each frequency are encoded into a 32 - bit value , for example with 16 bits representing phase and 16 bits representing amplitude . inclusion of phase information in the digital signal allows the resolution of the ambiguity that would otherwise occur in the signals with a 180 degree reversal of the sensing coil axis . the encoded digital values of phase and amplitude are typically stored in a memory 49 in processing chip module 44 using power supplied by capacitor 45 . the stored digital values are subsequently transmitted from transponder 40 to console 34 using a digital rf signal , as described hereinbelow with reference to fig4 . for some applications , processing chip module 44 digitally encodes and transmits only amplitude values of the voltage drop , and not phase values . the digitally modulated rf signal is picked up by a receiver 56 , which is coupled to antenna 54 via hardware - embodied or software - embodied switch 51 . ( fig3 shows switch 51 in a state that couples receiver 56 to antenna 54 . the receiver demodulates the signal to generate a suitable input to signal processing circuits 58 in console 34 . the digital signals are received and used by processing circuits 58 to compute the position and orientation of catheter 30 . typically , circuits 58 comprise a general - purpose computer , which is programmed and equipped with appropriate input circuitry for processing the signals from receiver 56 . the information derived by circuits 58 is used to generate map 38 , for example , or to provide other diagnostic information or guidance to operator 22 . in an embodiment , console 34 comprises two optional band pass filters 55 and 57 , in addition to or instead of switch 51 . band pass filter 55 couples rf power driver 50 to antenna 54 , and , for example , may allow energy in a narrow band surrounding 13 mhz to pass to the antenna . band pass filter 57 couples receiver 56 to antenna 54 , and , for example , may allow energy in a narrow band surrounding 433 mhz to pass from the antenna to the receiver . thus , even in embodiments in which switch 51 is replaced by a t - junction , rf power generated by rf power driver 50 is passed essentially in its entirety to antenna 54 , and substantially does not enter circuitry of receiver 56 . the single sensor coil 46 shown in fig2 is sufficient , in conjunction with field generator coils 28 , to enable processing circuits 58 to generate three dimensions of position and two dimensions of orientation information . the third dimension of orientation ( typically rotation of catheter 30 about its longitudinal axis ) can be inferred if needed from mechanical information about the catheter , or , when two or more transponders are used in the catheter , from a comparison of their respective coordinates . alternatively , transponder 40 may comprise multiple sensor coils , typically three mutually - orthogonal coils , as described , for example , in the above - mentioned european patent ep 0 776 176 . in this case , processing circuits can determine all six position and orientation coordinates of catheter 30 unambiguously . reference is now made to fig4 , which is a flow chart that schematically illustrates a method for transmitting a digital signal using system 20 , in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention . it is emphasized that the particular sequence shown in fig4 is by way of illustration and not limitation , and the scope of the present invention includes other protocols that would be obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art who has read the disclosure of the present patent application . at a first power transponder step 410 , rf power driver 50 generates an rf power signal , typically for about 5 milliseconds , which causes a current to flow in power coil 42 , thereby charging capacitor 45 . subsequently , driver circuits 32 drive field generator coils 28 to produce electromagnetic fields , typically for about 20 milliseconds , at a generate position signals step 415 . these fields induce a voltage drop across sensor coil 46 of transponder 40 , which is measured by signal processing chip module 44 , at a sense voltage step 420 . using the power stored in capacitor 45 , alu 48 converts the amplitude and phase of the sensed voltage into digital values , and stores these values in memory 49 , at a digital conversion step 430 . if capacitor 45 is constructed such that at this stage it has largely been discharged , then rf power driver 50 again generates an rf power signal , typically for about 5 milliseconds , to recharge capacitor 45 , at a second power transponder step 440 . using this stored energy , signal processing chip module 44 generates a digitally - modulated signal based on the stored digital values , and rf - modulates the signal for transmission by power coil 42 , at a transmit digital signal step 450 . alternatively , the signal is transmitted using sensing coil 46 , for example if a lower frequency is used . this transmission typically requires no more than about 3 milliseconds . any suitable method of digital encoding and modulation may be used for this purpose , and will be apparent to those skilled in the art , having read the disclosure of the present patent application . receiver 56 receives and demodulates the digitally - modulated signal , at a receipt and demodulation step 454 . processing circuits 58 use the demodulated signal to compute the position and orientation of transponder 40 , at a position calculation step 458 . a check is then performed to determine whether another operation cycle of transponder 40 is to be performed , at a program checking step 460 . if no additional cycle is to be performed , the method concludes . if another operation cycle is to be performed , steps 410 through 460 are repeated . typically , steps 410 through 460 are repeated continuously during use of transponder 40 to allow position and orientation coordinates to be determined in real time . fig5 is a schematic , pictorial illustration showing the use of location transponders in an orthopedic procedure , in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention . the use of wireless transponders , such as transponder 40 , with a wireless power source , allows the transponders to be inserted in or attached to implantable devices , and then left inside the patient &# 39 ; s body for later reference . the embodiment shown in fig5 illustrates hip implant surgery , in which a surgeon is required to position the head of an artificial femur 60 in an artificial acetabulum 62 . typically , before performing the procedure , the surgeon takes x - rays or ct images to visualize the area of the operation , but then performs the actual surgery without the benefit of real - time three - dimensional visualization . in the embodiment shown in fig5 , miniature transponders 64 are embedded in femur 60 , and further miniature transponders 66 are embedded in the pelvis in the area of acetabulum 62 . transponders 64 and 66 are typically similar to transponder 40 , as shown in fig2 . typically , each transponder is configured to transmit signals back to antenna 54 at a different carrier frequency , so that receiver 56 can differentiate between the transponders . at the beginning of surgery , an x - ray image is taken with the head of the femur in proximity to the acetabulum . the image is captured by computer and displayed on a computer monitor . transponders 64 and 66 are visible in the x - ray image , and their positions in the image are registered with their respective location coordinates , as determined by processing circuitry 58 . during the surgery , the movement of the transponders is tracked by circuitry 58 , and this movement is used to update the relative positions of the femur and acetabulum in the image on the monitor , using image processing techniques known in the art . the surgeon uses the updated image to achieve proper placement of the femur head in the acetabulum , without the need for repeated x - ray exposures while the surgery is in process . after the surgery is finished , the relative positions of transponders 64 and 66 ( which remain in the implant ) are typically checked periodically to verify that the proper relation is maintained between the bones . this sort of position monitoring is useful both during recovery and for monitoring the status of the implant over the long term . for example , such monitoring may be used to detect increasing separation of the femur from the acetabulum , which is known in some cases to precede more serious bone deterioration . the techniques described herein enable the determination of the position and orientation of an object in the body without the need for any wired connection between the sensing coil and the external processing unit . because the power transmission and digital signal transmission do not occur simultaneously , the techniques described herein typically prevent interference between the power transmission signal and the position signal . this lack of interference typically enhances the signal - to - noise ratio . additionally , only a small amount of digital information is necessary to characterize the voltage generated across the sensing coil . as a result , the transponder requires low power to transmit this digital information , allowing for the use of a small power storage device , such as a capacitor , that can quickly be adequately charged . furthermore , position coordinates are generally highly accurate because the information is transmitted digitally , and therefore is less susceptible to errors incurred from interference , distortion , or other phenomena sometimes associated with analog signal transmissions . while fig1 and 5 show only two particular applications of wireless position transponders in accordance with embodiments of the present invention , other applications will be apparent to those skilled in the art and are considered to be within the scope of the present invention . for example , and not by way of limitation , such transponders may be fixed to other types of invasive tools , such as endoscopes and feeding tubes , as well as to other implantable devices , such as orthopedic implants used in the knee , the spine , and other locations . in an embodiment of the present invention , a wireless position transponder similar to transponder 40 is provided , which outputs an analog signal instead of a digital signal . a power storage device such as capacitor 45 is used in this embodiment to store energy received by power coil 42 . during a time period following reception of the energy by power coil 42 , the transponder uses the stored energy to transmit an analog signal whose amplitude and phase are indicative of the position and orientation of sensor coil 46 . typically , techniques described in the above - referenced u . s . patent application publication 2003 / 0120150 are adapted for use with this embodiment , mutatis mutandis . it will thus be appreciated by persons skilled in the art that the present invention is not limited to what has been particularly shown and described hereinabove . rather , the scope of the present invention includes both combinations and subcombinations of the various features described hereinabove , as well as variations and modifications thereof that are not in the prior art , which would occur to persons skilled in the art upon reading the foregoing description .	0
table 1 shows comparative examples 1 and 2 , and example , i . e ., three kinds of retainers for use in deep groove ball bearings . these retainers were prepared and checked for properties . table 2 shows the measurements obtained . table 1______________________________________ base reinforce - material ment lubricant______________________________________comp . ex . 1 peek resin glass fiber none 30 wt . % comp . ex . 2 peek resin glass fiber ptfe resin 30 wt . % 10 wt . % example peek resin glass fiber carbon powder 30 wt . % 10 wt . % ______________________________________ table 2______________________________________ comp . ex . 1 comp . ex . 2 example______________________________________specific gravity 1 . 49 1 . 58 1 . 54tensile strength 1450 1600 1450kgf / cm . sup . 2bending strength 2250 2400 2400kgf / cm . sup . 2izod impact 9 10 8strengthkgf · cm / cmthermal deforma - 315 & gt ; 300 & gt ; 300tion temperature18 . 5 kgf / cm . sup . 2rockwell hardness r124 r105 r116______________________________________ with reference to table 1 , the glass fiber serving as the reinforcing material ( reinforcement ) is 6 micrometers in diameter . each of comparative examples and examples includes a plurality of retainers which are different in size . while the retainers of examples are prepared by injection molding , peek resin , carbon powder and glass fiber are kneaded together by a twin - screw extruder prior to injection molding . three feeders ( inlets ) are provided in front of the extruder . more specifically , feeders for peek resin , carbon powder and glass fiber are arranged in this order from the front toward the extruder . since glass fiber is fragile , the feeder therefor is in the rearmost position . an air vent is provided between the feeders . the materials contain water and release volatile gas upon reaction , and the gas is likely to embrittle the molding when incorporated therein . to preclude this , the air vent is provided for the removal of gas . further when the kneading temperature is in excess of 430 ° c ., the material per se is liable to thermally deteriorate ( oxidize ), so that speed , etc . are suitably controlled not to permit the temperature to exceed this level . for example , the materials , if kneaded intensely , autogenously evolve heat to become heated to a higher temperature , so that the process is controlled to maintain the temperature to not higher than 430 ° c . the retainers of comparative examples are prepared also substantially in the same manner as those of examples . fig1 to 4 show the configuration of an example of retainer according to the invention . the retainer is a crown - shaped retainer disclosed , for example , in unexamined japanese utility model publication hei 2 - 132125 ( u . s . pat . no . 5 , 015 , 105 ). the illustrated crown - shaped retainer 1 is generally in the form of a hollow cylinder and has a plurality of pockets 2 arranged circumferentially thereof at equal spacings , extending through the cylinder radially thereof and each left open at an axial one end 1a . each of wall portions 3 between the pockets 2 is formed , approximately in the circumferential midportion thereof , with an axial recess 4 opened at one end 1a and radially extending through the wall portion 3 . the recess 4 has an axial depth d approximately equal to the depth of the pocket 2 from the end 1a and a predetermined width w in the circumferential direction . the wall portion 3 is divided by the recess 4 into two approximately equal portions arranged in the circumferential direction , providing two cantilevered branches 3a resembling a tuning fork . the retainer 1 is disposed between illustrated inner and outer rings , and balls 5 rollable between the raceways of the respective inner and outer rings are accommodated in the respective pockets 2 . the recesses 4 in the wall portions 3 serve as relief spaces for the elastic deflection of the branches 3a when the balls 5 are to be inserted into the pockets 2 as will be described in detail later . the radially outer side of each pocket 2 is formed by a radial semicylindrical surface 2a centered about the center o of the pocket 2 and having a radius r1 , and planar surfaces 2b parallel to the axis , separated by a distance 2r1 and extending from the surface 2a . these surfaces 2a , 2b form a u - shaped surface which is open toward the end 1a . the radially inner side of the pocket 2 is formed by a spherical surface 2c centered about the center o of the pocket 2 and having a radius r1 , and an axial cylindrical surface 2d having an axis extending through the center o of the pocket 2 and having a radius r2 . the radius r1 of the spherical surface 2c is slightly larger than the radius r of the ball 5 . further the radius r2 of the cylindrical surface 2d is smaller than the radius r of the ball 5 by a predetermined dimension . since the radius r2 of the cylindrical surface 2d forming the radially inner side of the inlet 6 of the pocket 2 is smaller than the radius r1 of the spherical surface 2c , an angle θ which is shown in fig4 and over which the spherical surface 2c extends is larger than 180 degrees . accordingly , the retainer 1 is held axially engaged , over the spherical surface 2c , with each ball 5 accommodated in the pocket 2 . in other words , the retainer 1 is axially held engaged and axially supported by each ball 5 . the portions 2cl included in the surface 2c and subtending the respective angle portions in excess of 180 degrees are axially in engagement with the ball 5 , whereby the ball 5 is prevented from axially slipping off from the inlet 6 . simultaneously with the axial engagement , each spherical surface 2c of the retainer 1 is radially in engagement with the ball 5 , which in turn radially supports the retainer 1 . thus , the retainer is positioned between and held spaced apart from the inner and outer rings as specified . the cylindrical surface portions 2d of the branches 3a on opposite sides of the pocket 2 and positioned between the end 1a and the portions 2cl included in the spherical surface 2c and subtending the angle portions in excess of 180 degrees serve as clawlike engaging portions 7 constricting the inlet 6 of the pocket 2 . these engaging portions 7 hold each ball 5 in the axial and radial directions as described above . when the ball 5 is to be inserted into each pocket 2 of the retainer 1 , the pair of branches 3a positioned at circumferentially opposite sides of the inlet 6 of the pocket 2 are pressed on by the ball 5 , whereby the engaging portions 7 are elastically pushed away from each other to a position permitting passage of the ball 5 between these portions 7 . since the recess 4 is formed in the wall portion 3 , the entire wall portion 3 between the pockets 3 does not deflect , but the wall portion 3 deflects locally at the branches 3a . the depth d and the width w of the recess 4 are suitably determined in view of the flexibility of peek resin so as to give the branches 3a suitable deflective spring properties as required for the insertion of the ball 5 . consequently , the recesses 4 serve as relief spaces for the deflection of branches 3a , and the cantilevered branches 3a each having the engaging portion 7 radially inward undergo deformation which involves deflection in both circumferential and radial directions . thus , the branches 3a are greatly spreadable as illustrated in phantom lines in fig2 . although the retainer 1 is made of peek resin which is so low in flexibility that the balls are not insertable into the pockets if the retainer 1 is of the conventional crownshaped construction , the branches 3a and the engaging portions 7 are elastically deformable with ease smoothly to a position permitting the balls 5 to pass therebetween . as a result , the balls are elastically inserted into the pockets 2 with ease . with the balls 5 completely accommodated in the pockets 2 , the balls 5 are axially held in place by the engaging portions 7 of branches 3a of the wall portions 3 which are elastically restored , consequently preventing the retainer 1 from slipping off reliably . the retainer 1 holds the balls 5 smoothly rotatably inserted in the respective pockets 2 and arranged at a predetermined spacing in the circumferential direction . the branches 3a at opposite sides of each pocket 2 are easily movable away from each other through the combination of circumferential and radial movements . the retainer 1 can therefore be integrally formed by a mold from which the molding is removable by axially successively removing cores corresponding to the recesses 4 and the pockets 2 . alternatively , the retainer is moldable in such manner that the cores corresponding to the recesses 4 are axially removed , with the cores corresponding to the pockets 2 radially withdrawn . the retainers of comparative examples 1 and 2 were prepared in the same configuration as those of example . the retainers of specified size prepared in comparative examples 1 and 2 and example were used to fabricate deep groove ball bearings with a bearing number of 626 ( 6 mm in inside diameter , 19 mm in outside diameter and 6 mm in width ). the inner and outer rings and balls of these bearings were all made of sus 440c . all the bearings were subjected to an endurance test under the following conditions . the inner rings of two bearings including the same retainers were fixed to a rotary shaft , with the outer rings of the bearings fixed to a housing serving also as a weight , and the rotary shaft was rotated at a speed of 500 r . p . m . while applying a radial load of 2 . 3 kgf to each bearing . a band heater was attached to the outer periphery of the housing , and the outer surface temperature of the outer ring of one of the bearings was measured to maintain the temperature at 300 ° c . with respect to the two bearings having the retainers of comparative example 1 , the retainers were broken in about 150 hours or 170 hours . with respect to the two bearings incorporating the retainers of comparative example 2 , the retainers were broken in about 250 hours or 270 hours . with respect to the two bearings including the retainers of example , the retainers remained free of breakage even after the lapse of 300 hours . next , deep groove ball bearings with a bearing number of 6204 ( 20 mm in inside diameter , 47 mm in outside diameter and 14 mm in width ) were prepared using retainers of specified size obtained in example . the inner and outer rings and balls of these bearings were all made of sus 440c . using the same device as above , the bearings were tested for endurance at a temperature of 350 ° c . by rotating the inner rings at 500 r . p . m . for 700 hours and applying a radial load of 2 . 8 kgf to each bearing . the temperature of 350 ° c . employed for the endurance test is higher than the melting point of peek resin , the base material of the retainers , whereas none of the retainers completely melted even in 700 hours . this indicates that the retainers of example have considerably high heat resistance at temperatures close to the melting point . although the raceways of the inner and outer rings became somewhat rough - surfaced , the balls were neatly covered with carbon serving as a lubricant and transferred thereto and appeared glossy and black . these test results indicate that the bearing including the retainer of example are usable at a high temperature of at least 300 ° c . the crown - shaped retainer 1 shown in fig1 to 4 has the recess 4 in each wall portion 3 , so that the spring properties of the branches 3a are adjustable by suitably determining the shape and dimensions ( depth d and width w ) of the recess 4 in accordance with the flexiblity of the material , while the deflection of the branches 3a for the insertion of the ball 5 can be accommodated by the recess 4 . additionally , the branches 3a of the wall portion 3 defining each pocket 2 are formed , on the radially inner side , with engaging portions 7 for axially and radially engaging the ball 5 , so that when the ball 5 is to be axially inserted into the pocket 2 , the branches 3a at opposite sides of the pocket 2 can be elastically deflected away from each other through the combination of circumferential and radial movements . accordingly , even if the retainer 1 is formed of peek resin which is low in flexibility , the engaging portions 7 can be forced away from each other easily to a position permitting the passage of the ball 5 . thus , the ball 5 can be inserted into the pocket 2 easily and reliably . use of the retainer 1 realizes a ball bearing which is rotatable at a high speed and resistant to high temperatures . the retainer can be so shaped as shown in fig5 to 8 . fig5 to 8 correspond to fig1 to 4 , respectively . in this case , engaging portions 8 of the pocket 2 are formed by spherical surface portions 2c2 provided by radially outwardly extending the portions 2cl included in the pocket - forming spherical surface 2c of the foregoing embodment and subtending the angle portions in excess of 180 degrees , and a cylindrical portion 2e formed by radially outwardly extending the cylindrical surface 2d . the retainer 1 is held radially engaged with each ball 5 by the engaging portions 8 . with the exception of this feature , the present embodiment has the same advantage as the foregoing embodiment . the engaging portions are not limited to those composed of a spherical surface and a cylindrical surface as described above insofar as they are capable of axially and radially engaging the ball . further the configuration of the retainer is not limited to those of the two embodiments but can be altered suitably . fig9 and 10 show an embodiment wherein the invention is applied to a turntable bearing for use in vacuum devices . the bearing comprises an inner ring 10 , an outer ring 11 , a plurality of balls 12 provided between the inner and outer rings 10 , 11 , and a plurality of separators 13 interposed between the balls 12 . the inner ring 11 is formed with inner teeth 14 on its inner periphery . raceways 15 , 16 , which are approximately semicircular in cross section , are formed in the outer periphery of the inner ring 10 and the inner periphery of the outer ring 11 , respectively . the balls 12 are fitted in these raceways 15 , 16 . the separator 13 is in the form of a bored short cylinder , each end race of which is formed with a shallow spherical cavity 17 for the ball 12 to partly fit in . the balls 12 are held arranged at a predetermined spacing by separators 13 . seals 18 , 19 are provided between the inner and outer rings 10 , 11 at opposite ends thereof . the inner and outer rings 10 , 11 and the balls 12 are made of a material having high corrosion resistance , e . g ., sus 440c . like example listed in table 1 , the separators 13 are prepared from 30 wt . % of glass fiber , 6 micrometers in diameter , 10 wt . % of carbon powder and the balance peek resin . according to the foregoing embodiments , the inner and outer rings of antifriction bearings and the balls thereof are made of sus 440c in view of heat resistance and corrosion resistance . alternatively , these components may be made of a ceramic material consisting primarily of silicon nitride , or the balls only may be made of such a ceramic material . rollers may be used in place of the balls .	8
[ 0015 ] fig1 depicts a block diagram of the first illustrative embodiment of the present invention , telecommunications network 100 , which is a sonet / sdh ring network operating as a bi - directional line switched ring (“ blsr ”). in accordance with the illustrative embodiment , telecommunications network 100 comprises four nodes , nodes 101 - 1 through 1014 , that are interconnected by two sets of optical fibers , each of which carries an oc - 768 . therefore , each node comprises two oc - 768 line inputs and two oc - 768 line outputs . although the illustrative embodiment uses the sonet / sdh protocol , it will be clear to those skilled in the art how to make and use embodiments of the present invention that use other protocols . although the illustrative embodiment is a ring network , it will be clear to those skilled in the art how to make and use embodiments of the present invention in which some or all of the nodes are interconnected in a mesh topology or non - ring network . although the illustrative embodiment operates as a bi - directional line switched ring , it will be clear to those skilled in the art how to make and use embodiments of the present invention that operate in a different fashion ( e . g ., as a unidirectional path switched ring , as a four - fiber ring , etc .). although the illustrative embodiment comprises four nodes , it will be clear to those skilled in the art how to make and use embodiments of the present invention that comprise a different number of nodes . although the illustrative embodiment carries oc - 768 sonet / sdh frames , it will be clear to those skilled in the art how to make and use embodiments of the present invention that carry other sonet / sdh frames . as shown in fig1 node 101 - i , for i = 1 to 4 , is capable of receiving 16 oc - 192 tributaries , 122 - i - 1 through 122 - i - 16 , and of spawning 16 oc - 192 tributaries , 121 - i - 1 through 121 - i - 16 . although each node in the illustrative embodiment comprises the same number of tributaries , it will be clear to those skilled in the art how to make and use embodiments of the present invention in which some or all of the nodes have a different number of tributaries . although each tributary operates at an oc - 192 data rate , it will be clear to those skilled in the art how to make and use embodiments of the present invention in which some of the tributaries have a different data rate ( e . g ., oc - 48 , oc - 12 , oc - 3 , etc .). in accordance with the illustrative embodiment of the present invention , node 101 - i is capable of functioning as an add / drop multiplexor and in functioning as an add / drop multiplexor , node 101 - i is capable of : i . adding an sts - 1 from any tributary to one or more lines , or ii . dropping an sts - 1 from a line to one or more tributaries , or in functioning as a switch , node 101 - i is capable of routing any sts - 1 from any line or tributary to : because node 101 - i is capable of receiving a signal from one tributary and switching or copying it onto another tributary , and because this is an important aspect of the illustrative embodiment , it is given the name “ hairpinning .” for the purposes of this specification , the term “ hairpinning ” is defined as the receipt by a node of a signal on one tributary and the outputting of the signal onto another tributary . in functioning as a time - slot interchanger , node 101 - i is capable of moving or copying any sts - 1 from any time slot in any line or tributary to one or more other time slots . [ 0032 ] fig2 depicts a block diagram of the salient components of node 101 - i , which receives : 1 . an oc - 768 sonet / sdh signal from node 101 - j , 2 . an oc - 768 sonet / sdh signal from node 101 - k ; and transmits : 1 . an oc - 768 sonet / sdh signal to node 101 - j , and 2 . an oc - 768 sonet / sdh signal to node 101 - k ; where k = 4 and j = 2 when i = 1 ; k = 1 and j = 3 when i = 2 ; k = 2 and j = 4 when i = 3 ; and k = 3 and j = 1 when i = 4 . node 101 - i comprises : add / drop multiplexor / switch / time slot interchanger ( hereinafter “ adm / switch / tsi ”) 201 - i - 1 and adm / switch / tsi 201 - i - 1 , interconnected as shown . a salient characteristic of the illustrative embodiment is that line 111 - j - i ( i . e ., the oc - 768 from node 101 - j ) is fed into one of the line inputs of adm / switch / tsi 201 - i - 1 and line 111 - i - k ( i . e ., the oc - 768 to node 101 - k ) emanates from one of the line outputs of adm / switch / tsi 201 - i - 1 . analogously , line 112 - k - i ( i . e ., the oc - 768 from node 101 - k ) is fed into one of the line inputs of adm / switch / tsi 201 - i - 2 and line 112 - i - j ( i . e ., the oc - 768 to node 101 - j ) emanates from one of the line outputs of adm / switch / tsi 201 - i - 2 . in other words , line 111 only goes through adm / switch / tsi 201 - i - i and line 112 only goes through adm / switch / tsi 201 - i - 2 . this is in noted contrast to composite add / drop multiplexors in the prior art ( and as shown in fig3 ) in which both lines go through both constituent add / drop multiplexors . the advantages of the illustrative embodiment over the prior art are described below . in node 101 - i , line 203 - i is an oc - 768 from adm / switch / tsi 201 - i - 1 to adm / switch / tsi 201 - i - 2 and line 204 - i is an oc - 768 from adm / switch / tsi 201 - i - 2 to adm / switch / tsi 201 - i - 1 . adm / switch / tsi 201 - i - 1 receives eight oc - 192 tributaries , 220 - 1 through 220 - 8 , and spawns eight oc - 192 tributaries , 221 - 1 through 221 - 8 . adm / switch / tsi 201 - i - 2 receives eight oc - 192 tributaries , 220 - 9 through 220 - 16 , and spawns eight oc - 192 tributaries , 221 - 9 through 221 - 16 . the illustrative embodiment is advantageous over the prior art in two principal respects . first , if either constituent add / drop multiplexor in the prior art node fails , the traffic on both rings is affected . in contrast , if either constituent add / drop multiplexor in the illustrative embodiment fails , only the traffic on one ring is affected . from a fault - tolerance perspective , this is highly advantageous . second , because the through traffic on each ring does not go through both adm / switch / tsi 201 - i - 1 and adm / switch / tsi 201 - i - 2 , lines 203 - i and 204 - i need not carry through traffic , and , therefore , their bandwidth can be used for better purposes . for example , the bandwidth on lines 203 - i and 204 - i can be used is to ameliorate the well - known “ add - before - drop ” problem . in a non - composite or holistic add / drop multiplexor , the bandwidth recovered from dropping a tributary is immediately available for consumption by a received tributary and there is no add - before - drop problem . in contrast , in a composite add / drop multiplexor , such as that depicted in fig3 the addition and dropping of tributaries must be carefully coordinated because it might not be possible to add a tributary before another is dropped . for example , there is not enough bandwidth on line 203 - i , as shown in fig3 to carry a fully - provisioned oc - 768 from node 101 - j and an sts - 1 from tributary 122 - i - 1 even if an sts - 1 was being dropped out onto tributary 121 - i - 9 . in contrast and in accordance with the illustrative embodiment , line 203 - i need carry nothing and line 203 - i need only carry the tributary that is being dropped out onto tributary 121 - i - 9 . a second purpose for which the spare bandwidth on lines 203 - i and 204 - i can be used is to facilitate hairpinning between adm / switch / tsi 201 - i - 1 and adm / switch / tsi 201 - i - 2 . in other words , a tributary can be received at adm / switch / tsi 201 - i - 1 , switched to adm / switch / tsi 201 - i - 2 via line 203 - i , and dropped via adm / switch / tsi 201 - i - 2 . analogously , a tributary can be received at adm / switch / tsi 201 - i - 2 , switched to adm / switch / tsi 201 - i - 1 via line 204 - i , and dropped via adm / switch / tsi 201 - i - 1 . a third purpose for which the bandwidth on lines 203 - i and 204 - i can be used is to facilitate inter - ring traffic . for example , an sts - 1 on ring 111 that needs to be switched to ring 112 by node 101 - i needs to be carried by line 203 - i . analogously , an sts - 1 on ring 112 that needs to be switched to ring 111 by node 101 - i needs to be carried by line 204 - i . [ 0047 ] fig4 depicts a block diagram of adm / switch / tsi 201 - i - 1 , which comprises ten input ports , input ports 401 - 1 through 401 - 10 , ten output ports , output ports 402 - 1 through 402 - 10 , and switching fabric 403 . input ports 401 - 1 and 401 - 2 receive an oc - 768 and input ports 401 - 3 through 401 - 10 receive an oc - 192 signal . output ports 402 - 1 and 402 - 2 output an oc - 768 and output ports 402 - 3 through 402 - 10 output an oc - 192 signal . input ports 401 - 1 through 401 - 10 frame synchronize all of the incoming signals so that any sts - 1 on any line or tributary and in any time slot can be moved ( or copied ) into one or more time slots of : it will be clear to those skilled in the art how to make and use adm / switch / tsi 201 - i - 1 . [ 0053 ] fig5 depicts a block diagram of adm / switch / tsi 201 - i - 2 , which comprises ten input ports , input ports 501 - 1 through 501 - 10 , ten output ports , output ports 502 - 1 through 502 - 10 , and switching fabric 503 . input ports 501 - 1 and 501 - 2 receive an oc - 768 and input ports 501 - 3 through 501 - 10 receive an oc - 192 signal . output ports 502 - 1 and 502 - 2 output an oc - 768 and output ports 502 - 3 through 502 - 10 output an oc - 192 signal . input ports 501 - 1 through 501 - 10 frame synchronize all of the incoming signals so that any sts - 1 on any line or tributary and in any time slot can be moved ( or copied ) into one or more time slots of : adm / switch / tsi 201 - i - 2 advantageously comprises the identical hardware to adm / switch / tsi 201 - i - 1 . [ 0059 ] fig6 depicts a block diagram of a variation of the illustrative embodiment of the present invention , in which node 101 - i comprises four smaller add / drop multiplexors in contrast to the two larger add / drop multiplexors of the first illustrative embodiment . in the second illustrative embodiment , adm / switch / tsi 601 - i - x , for x = 1 to 4 , receives two oc - 768 lines and transmits two oc - 768 lines and receives four oc - 192 tributaries and spawns four oc - 192 tributaries . in this embodiment , like the first embodiment , the bandwidth on lines 603 - i - 1 - 2 , 603 - i - 2 - 3 , 603 - i - 3 - 4 , 604 - i - 1 - 2 , 604 - i - 2 - 3 , and 604 - i - 3 - 4 is not consumed by ring through traffic but is used for inter - ring traffic , inter - constituent add / drop multiplexor hairpinning , and tributary management . it is to be understood that the above - described embodiments are merely illustrative of the present invention and that many variations of the above - described embodiments can be devised by those skilled in the art without departing from the scope of the invention . it is therefore intended that such variations be included within the scope of the following claims and their equivalents .	7
in the following detailed description , reference will be made to the accompanying drawing ( s ), in which identical functional elements are designated with like numerals . the aforementioned accompanying drawings show by way of illustration , and not by way of limitation , specific embodiments and implementations consistent with principles of the present invention . these implementations are described in sufficient detail to enable those skilled in the art to practice the invention and it is to be understood that other implementations may be utilized and that structural changes and / or substitutions of various elements may be made without departing from the scope and spirit of present invention . the following detailed description is , therefore , not to be construed in a limited sense . additionally , the various embodiments of the invention as described may be implemented in the form of software running on a general purpose computer , in the form of a specialized hardware , or combination of software and hardware . in accordance with an embodiment of the inventive system , there is provided advertising targeting based on user geo preference . first , the user selects different geo regions ( country , zip code ) to be presented to content providers and advertisers , while real user &# 39 ; s geo region remains the same . the advertisement requests sent to the same database contain different geo region identifiers as selected by the user . in accordance with an embodiment of the invention , same user , connected to the same proxy server , receives different geo - targeted ads depending on the user &# 39 ; s selection of geo region . in accordance with an embodiment of this invention , geographical preference information is made specific to a particular internet site or to a particular content request . for example , user may specify a preference for the ip address from the united kingdom for requests to all domains registered in the uk ( for instance , ending with “ co . uk ”), or only for requests to specific sites ( for instance , http :// www . bbc . co . uk ), while also specifying preferences for ip addresses from the united states for all other content requests . in this way , users will enjoy content allowed only for requests with uk - specific ip addresses ( such as uk - specific video content from http :// www . bbc . co . uk ), while receiving content targeted to us users from other sites ( such as us - specific video content from http :// www . hulu . com ). in accordance with one embodiment of the invention , site - specific geographic preference is applied both to the content and to one or more advertisements displayed on the site . in accordance with one embodiment of the invention , site - specific geographic preference is applied both to the content and to one or more advertisements displayed on the site . in accordance with another embodiment of the present invention , different content elements on the same web page may be associated with different geographic preferences . for instance , user may receive content from uk - based sites in response to a request issued from uk - based ip addresses , while receiving advertisements displayed on that site in response to a request issued from us - based ip addresses . in accordance with a feature of the inventive methodology , the virtual private network server is operable to receive from the user a selection of language wherein the virtual private network server is further operable to alter the user &# 39 ; s online identity to reflect the selected language . the selection of the language indicates preferred content display language of the user and the online content of the user defers depending on the language selection . in accordance with an embodiment of the inventive system , there is provided a method for using one server with multiple ip addresses . pursuant to the inventive method , the service has at least one proxy server capable of sending requests to the content servers while using any of 2 or more ip addresses belonging to different countries ; user specifies conditions of ip address to use when establishing tunnel ( for instance , country ); request from the proxy server to the content server is sent while using ip address corresponding to specified conditions . fig2 illustrates an exemplary embodiment of inventive advertising - subsidized vpn system . in an embodiment of the inventive system , the client terminal 201 executes a vpn client software ( not shown ). this vpn client software operates to insert advertisements into every web resource ( such as web page ) received by the client terminal 201 from the vpn server 202 . the user terminal 201 first sends a request 204 to the vpn server 202 for the internet resource 203 . the request 204 may be sent via a secure channel , wherein all the transmitted information is encrypted . in response to receiving the request 204 , the vpn server 202 sends a request 205 to the internet resource 203 requested by the user . however , the vpn server 202 is configured to mask the information identifying the user terminal 201 from the request 205 . such information that is being masked includes , for example , user &# 39 ; s ip address . upon the receipt of the request 205 , the internet resource 203 provides a response 206 to the vpn server 202 . the vpn server 202 , in turn , forwards ( 207 ) this response to the client 201 via a secure channel . because of the presence of the secure channel 204 / 207 and the masking of the ip address by the vpn 202 , the internet resource 203 or any other internet entity does not detect any information identifying the client terminal 201 , which initiated the request . thus , user &# 39 ; s security and anonymity is achieved . to subsidize the costs of such service , advertisements are shown to the users . specifically , upon the receipt of the response 207 from the vpn server 202 , the vpn client software executing on the user terminal 201 operates to insert one or more advertisements into the information shown to the user of the user terminal 201 . in an embodiment of the invention shown in fig2 , the client terminal 201 receives the advertisements to be inserted into the content from the advertisement database 208 . to this end , the client terminal 201 may send a request 209 to the advertisement database 208 . in response , the advertisement 210 is provided by the advertisement database 208 to the user terminal 201 . in one embodiment of the invention , the advertisements served to the users are targeted based on the user &# 39 ; s online behavior . to this end , the vpn client software or any other software application executing on the client terminal is operable to collect information on the user &# 39 ; s online activities and store this information for subsequent use . at the time of the user request 204 or at the time the information 207 is received by the user terminal 201 , the vpn software residing on the client terminal 201 may make a determination regarding the nature of the advertisement to be shown to the user . the decision on the type of the advertisement may be based on the user &# 39 ; s prior online activities stored at the client terminal 201 as well as the nature of the user &# 39 ; s request 204 and / or the nature of the information 207 . thus , in one embodiment of the invention , the all the user - specific information , including the online history of the user is stored only on the client terminal 201 and never on the server 202 or any other server system . thus , the privacy of the user information is achieved . thus , the request 209 to the advertisement database 208 may include information on the type of the advertisement to be provided to the user terminal . the information in the advertisement database 208 may be updated periodically in order to ensure that it is up to date . the owner of the vpn service and the advertising database 208 may charge third parties for placing their advertisement into the advertising database 208 and , thereby , subsidize the costs of the vpn service . fig3 is a block diagram illustrating another exemplary embodiment of inventive advertising - subsidized vpn system . in this embodiment , the advertising database 308 is coupled with a vpn server 302 , which operates to request an advertisement from the advertising database 308 using a request 309 and to receive the advertisement 310 . after that , the vpn server 302 forwards the received advertisement to the client terminal 302 , see 311 . in this embodiment , the information specifying the advertisement , which is contained in the request 309 may be provided to the vpn service by the user terminal 301 , being embedded , for example , into the request 304 . in another embodiment , the user terminal may send a separate special request to the vpn server for advertising information ( not shown ). as in the embodiment shown in fig2 , the decision on the type of the advertisement may be based on the user &# 39 ; s prior online activities stored at the client terminal 301 as well as the nature of the user &# 39 ; s request 304 and / or the nature of the information 307 . in one embodiment of the inventive system , the vpn client software residing on the client terminal operates to disable all tracking cookies , which are normally set by various websites visited by the user . this provides the users with an additional degree of anonymity with respect to user &# 39 ; s online activities . in one embodiment , the inventive advertisement sponsored vpn system may utilize the client side user data collection and advertisement insertion algorithm described in detail in u . s . patent application ser . no . 11 / 471 , 247 , incorporated by reference herein in its entirety . in that or another embodiment , the inventive advertisement sponsored vpn server may be implemented using one or more features of the networking device with embedded advanced content and web traffic monetization functionality , as described in detail in u . s . patent application ser . no . 11 / 513 , 674 , incorporated by reference herein in its entirety . fig4 illustrates another exemplary embodiment of the inventive ad supported vpn system 400 . the user of the client system 401 , located in the us , makes a request for cars . com web page . the request is sent to the hss server cluster 402 via an encrypted traffic channel . the hss server cluster alters the identity information associated with the request . specifically , the hss server associates the request with an ip address in united kingdom . the altered request is sent to the cars . com server 403 . the cars . com server responds to the hss server cluster 402 with content and a cookie . the hss server cluster passes the content to the client 401 and disposes of the cookie . together with the content , the hss server cluster includes an ad script , which enables ad showing to the user of the client 401 . at the same time , the client software executing on the system 401 makes a request to the hss server cluster 402 for three advertisements . this request is passed by the hss server to the ad server cluster 408 , which provides the three advertisements related to bmw , audi and jaguar to the hss server cluster 402 , which , in turn passes the ads to the client 401 . the client software running on the system 401 chooses the most relevant ad based on , for example , prior online activities of the user and inserts this ad ( bmw ad 410 ) into the content 409 and shows it to the user . in another embodiment , the most relevant ad may be selected using the location of the user which may be determined from user &# 39 ; s ip address . in one embodiment of the invention , the user is provided with an ability to select any ip address ( from a choice of ip addresses corresponding to multiple counties ) through the inventive vpn , thus enabling the user to choose what region of the world would be reflected his online identity . in the same or another embodiment of the invention , the user may select a language from a predetermined set of world languages that the user prefers or wishes to receive the content in . the above features of the inventive methodology disrupt the ability of the isp or governments to block particular internet sites or online services in a given region , and creates a completely censorship free internet experience . in one embodiment of the inventive system , one server with multiple ip addresses is used . the service has at least one proxy server capable of sending requests to the content servers while using any of 2 or more ip addresses belonging to different countries . in accordance with an embodiment of the inventive concept , the user is able to specify conditions of ip address to use when establishing the tunnel ( for instance , country or language ) request from the proxy server to the content server is sent while using ip address corresponding to specified conditions . in accordance with another embodiment of the invention , the inventive system provides advertisement targeting based on the user &# 39 ; s ip address selection or language selection . in one embodiment of the invention , the user &# 39 ; s language selection is used by the inventive system to choose the language in which the advertisement is presented to the user . in one embodiment of the invention , the user selects different geographical regions ( country , zip code or language ) to be presented to content providers and advertisers , while real user &# 39 ; s geo region remains the same . the ad requests sent to the same database contain different geo region identifiers as selected by the user . the same user , connected to the same proxy server , receives different geo - targeted ads depending on the user &# 39 ; s selection of geo region . in an embodiment of the invention , the content server 403 or the proxy server 402 reads user &# 39 ; s preference ( from user - submitted form , or selection of the region on the map etc ., stored as session or cookie ) and sends it together with advertisement request to the advertising server 408 . in one embodiment , the inventive advertising supported vpn , in addition to masking user ip address , not storing the user ip address , and preventing third parties from analyzing user behavior by making users private only , also turns all http web traffic into https secure traffic . protecting all user data online ( such as forms , logins , emails , transactions , etc .) and creating encryption for each user &# 39 ; s entire web session . this also enables an exchange between a website and the advertising supported vpn ; every website that is turned from http into https ( secure & amp ; encrypted ) by the vpn , in exchange displays an extra ad unit within its content or within the users browser . the embodiment of the advertising supported vpn takes on the encryption , in exchange for providing encryption to websites , content publishers and online services and while protecting each user &# 39 ; s entire web session , by converting all traffic into https . fig5 is a block diagram that illustrates an embodiment of a computer / server system 500 upon which an embodiment of the inventive methodology may be implemented . the system 500 includes a computer / server platform 501 , peripheral devices 502 and network resources 503 . the computer platform 501 may include a data bus 504 or other communication mechanism for communicating information across and among various parts of the computer platform 501 , and a processor 505 coupled with bus 501 for processing information and performing other computational and control tasks . computer platform 501 also includes a volatile storage 506 , such as a random access memory ( ram ) or other dynamic storage device , coupled to bus 504 for storing various information as well as instructions to be executed by processor 505 . the volatile storage 506 also may be used for storing temporary variables or other intermediate information during execution of instructions by processor 505 . computer platform 501 may further include a read only memory ( rom or eprom ) 507 or other static storage device coupled to bus 504 for storing static information and instructions for processor 505 , such as basic input - output system ( bios ), as well as various system configuration parameters . a persistent storage device 508 , such as a magnetic disk , optical disk , or solid - state flash memory device is provided and coupled to bus 501 for storing information and instructions . computer platform 501 may be coupled via bus 504 to a display 509 , such as a cathode ray tube ( crt ), plasma display , or a liquid crystal display ( lcd ), for displaying information to a system administrator or user of the computer platform 501 . an input device 510 , including alphanumeric and other keys , is coupled to bus 501 for communicating information and command selections to processor 505 . another type of user input device is cursor control device 511 , such as a mouse , a trackball , or cursor direction keys for communicating direction information and command selections to processor 504 and for controlling cursor movement on display 509 . this input device typically has two degrees of freedom in two axes , a first axis ( e . g ., x ) and a second axis ( e . g ., y ), that allows the device to specify positions in a plane . an external storage device 512 may be connected to the computer platform 501 via bus 504 to provide an extra or removable storage capacity for the computer platform 501 . in an embodiment of the computer system 500 , the external removable storage device 512 may be used to facilitate exchange of data with other computer systems . the invention is related to the use of computer system 500 for implementing the techniques described herein . in an embodiment , the inventive server 103 may reside on a machine such as computer platform 501 . in an embodiment , the location database 104 may also be deployed on a machine such as computer platform 501 . according to one embodiment of the invention , the techniques described herein are performed by computer system 500 in response to processor 505 executing one or more sequences of one or more instructions contained in the volatile memory 506 . such instructions may be read into volatile memory 506 from another computer - readable medium , such as persistent storage device 508 . execution of the sequences of instructions contained in the volatile memory 506 causes processor 505 to perform the process steps described herein . in alternative embodiments , hard - wired circuitry may be used in place of or in combination with software instructions to implement the invention . thus , embodiments of the invention are not limited to any specific combination of hardware circuitry and software . the term “ computer - readable medium ” as used herein refers to any medium that participates in providing instructions to processor 505 for execution . the computer - readable medium is just one example of a machine - readable medium , which may carry instructions for implementing any of the methods and / or techniques described herein . such a medium may take many forms , including but not limited to , non - volatile media , volatile media , and transmission media . non - volatile media includes , for example , optical or magnetic disks , such as storage device 508 . volatile media includes dynamic memory , such as volatile storage 506 . transmission media includes coaxial cables , copper wire and fiber optics , including the wires that comprise data bus 504 . transmission media can also take the form of acoustic or light waves , such as those generated during radio - wave and infra - red data communications . common forms of computer - readable media include , for example , a floppy disk , a flexible disk , hard disk , magnetic tape , or any other magnetic medium , a cd - rom , any other optical medium , punch cards , paper tape , any other physical medium with patterns of holes , a ram , a prom , an eprom , a flash - eprom , a flash drive , a memory card , any other memory chip or cartridge , a carrier wave as described hereinafter , or any other medium from which a computer can read . various forms of computer readable media may be involved in carrying one or more sequences of one or more instructions to processor 505 for execution . for example , the instructions may initially be carried on a magnetic disk from a remote computer . alternatively , a remote computer can load the instructions into its dynamic memory and send the instructions over a telephone line using a modem . a modem local to computer system 500 can receive the data on the telephone line and use an infra - red transmitter to convert the data to an infra - red signal . an infra - red detector can receive the data carried in the infra - red signal and appropriate circuitry can place the data on the data bus 504 . the bus 504 carries the data to the volatile storage 506 , from which processor 505 retrieves and executes the instructions . the instructions received by the volatile memory 506 may optionally be stored on persistent storage device 508 either before or after execution by processor 505 . the instructions may also be downloaded into the computer platform 501 via internet using a variety of network data communication protocols well known in the art . the computer platform 501 also includes a communication interface , such as network interface card 513 coupled to the data bus 504 . communication interface 513 provides a two - way data communication coupling to a network link 514 that is connected to a local network 515 . for example , communication interface 513 may be an integrated services digital network ( isdn ) card or a modem to provide a data communication connection to a corresponding type of telephone line . as another example , communication interface 513 may be a local area network interface card ( lan nic ) to provide a data communication connection to a compatible lan . wireless links , such as well - known 802 . 11a , 802 . 11b , 802 . 11g and bluetooth may also used for network implementation . in any such implementation , communication interface 513 sends and receives electrical , electromagnetic or optical signals that carry digital data streams representing various types of information . network link 513 typically provides data communication through one or more networks to other network resources . for example , network link 514 may provide a connection through local network 515 to a host computer 516 , or a network storage / server 517 . additionally or alternatively , the network link 513 may connect through gateway / firewall 517 to the wide - area or global network 518 , such as an internet . thus , the computer platform 501 can access network resources located anywhere on the internet 518 , such as a remote network storage / server 519 . on the other hand , the computer platform 501 may also be accessed by clients located anywhere on the local area network 515 and / or the internet 518 . the network clients 520 and 521 may themselves be implemented based on the computer platform similar to the platform 501 . local network 515 and the internet 518 both use electrical , electromagnetic or optical signals that carry digital data streams . the signals through the various networks and the signals on network link 514 and through communication interface 513 , which carry the digital data to and from computer platform 501 , are exemplary forms of carrier waves transporting the information . computer platform 501 can send messages and receive data , including program code , through the variety of network ( s ) including internet 518 and lan 515 , network link 514 and communication interface 513 . in the internet example , when the system 501 acts as a network server , it might transmit a requested code or data for an application program running on client ( s ) 520 and / or 521 through internet 518 , gateway / firewall 517 , local area network 515 and communication interface 513 . similarly , it may receive code from other network resources . the received code may be executed by processor 505 as it is received , and / or stored in persistent or volatile storage devices 508 and 506 , respectively , or other non - volatile storage for later execution . in this manner , computer system 501 may obtain application code in the form of a carrier wave . it should be noted that the present invention is not limited to any specific types of wireless or wired network protocols . the requisite network configuration may be achieved using a variety of known networking protocols . finally , it should be understood that processes and techniques described herein are not inherently related to any particular apparatus and may be implemented by any suitable combination of components . further , various types of general purpose devices may be used in accordance with the teachings described herein . it may also prove advantageous to construct specialized apparatus to perform the method steps described herein . the present invention has been described in relation to particular examples , which are intended in all respects to be illustrative rather than restrictive . those skilled in the art will appreciate that many different combinations of hardware , software , and firmware will be suitable for practicing the present invention . for example , the described software may be implemented in a wide variety of programming or scripting languages , such as assembler , c / c ++, perl , shell , php , java , etc . moreover , other implementations of the invention will be apparent to those skilled in the art from consideration of the specification and practice of the invention disclosed herein . various aspects and / or components of the described embodiments may be used singly or in any combination in the computerized system for providing vpn services . it is intended that the specification and examples be considered as exemplary only , with a true scope and spirit of the invention being indicated by the following claims .	7
referring to the drawings and initially to fig1 and 2 , a tape recording and / or reproducing apparatus or simply a tape recorder is provided with a plurality of mode selecting depressible push buttons including a rewind push - button 1 , a stop push - button 2 , a reproducing push - button 3 , a fast forward push - button 4 , a record push - button 5 and a pause push button 6 . these push - buttons are alined on a front panel ( not shown ) of the tape recorder , or alternatively the front panel of the tape recorder may constitute an operating panel . the mode selecting push - buttons 1 through 6 are fixed , respectively , at the front end of slides 7 through 12 which are slidably supported on the chassis ( not shown ) of the tape recorder . the push buttons and slides are urged toward their indicated positions ( to the left as viewed in fig1 ) by respective coil springs 13 through 18 . the rear end of each slide is bent upwardly to form bent tabs 7a through 12a , respectively , to provide a contact surface to contact a switching plate 20 ( tabs 7a through 11a ) while tab 12a is positioned to contact a micro - switch 21 to push the actuating element of switch 21 when slide 12 is displaced to the right as viewed in fig1 . switching plate 20 is rotatably supported on the chassis by a pair of pins 19 and is urged in the counter - clockwise direction as viewed in fig3 by torsion springs 22 secured about pins 19 . a micro - switch 23 is arranged behind switching plate 20 and is pushed to activate the switch whenever plate 20 is rotated against the urging of torsion spring 22 because of the rightward movement ( as viewed in fig1 ) of any of the slides 7 through 11 . a motor 24 suitably supported on the chassis is arranged beside micro - switch 23 and is electrically connected with switch 23 . motor 24 includes a pulley 25 fixed to the end of the output shaft of motor 24 . a drive belt 26 is disposed about pulley 25 and a pulley 27 fixed to one end of a rotatably supported shaft 28 . shaft 28 is disposed above slides 7 through 12 at a right angle to these slides as viewed in fig1 . fixed to shaft 28 are five pinions 29 , 30 , 31 , 32 and 33 . the pinions 29 through 33 are spaced along shaft 28 corresponding to the spacing between slides 7 , 9 , 10 , 11 and 12 . no pinion is provided to correspond with slide 8 which is associated with stop push - button 2 . five rotatable gear members 34 , 35 , 36 , 37 and 38 are arranged under shaft 28 on a supporting shaft 39 which is disposed under and parallel to shaft 28 . gears 34 , 35 , 36 , 37 and 38 each have a toothless portion 34a , 35a , 36a , 37a and 38a and are engageable , respectively , with pinions 29 , 30 , 31 , 32 and 33 . gears 34 through 38 are also provided with an integral cam surface 40 through 44 , respectively , extending from one planar surface . cam surfaces 40 , 41 , 42 , 43 and 44 are contacted by leaf springs 45 , 46 , 47 , 48 and 49 , respectively , so that the cam surfaces extending from gears 34 through 38 are under the influence of the urging force of the corresponding leaf spring . each cam surface is radiused and includes a segment of minimum radius extending to a segment of maximum radius and back to the segment of minimum radius . in addition , cam surfaces 40 through 44 are contacted by operating levers 50 through 54 , respectively , when a corresponding one of the push - buttons 1 , 3 , 4 , 5 or 6 is depressed . levers 50 through 54 , are all rotatably supported on a supporting shaft 55 suitably mounted on the chassis . the forward or actuating end 50a through 54a , respectively , of each lever 50 through 54 face the lower end 56a of a rewind operating slide 56 , 57a , of a reproducing operating slide 57 , 58a of a fast forward operating slide 58 , 59a of a recording operating slide 59 and 60a of a pause operating slide 60 , respectively . upon actuation of any of these push - buttons the corresponding operating slide is pushed upwardly . operating levers 50 through 54 are also arranged in such a manner that the respective rear ends 50b through 54b , respectively , are engageable with a locking plate 61 which includes a locking surface 61a to engage ends 50b through 54b of the operating levers . locking plate 61 is rotatably supported on a shaft 62 and urged clockwise , as viewed in fig3 about shaft 62 by a coil spring 63 . locking plate 61 is pivoted responsive to the actuation of a plunger solenoid 64 which is linked by a rod 65 extending from the plunger element of the solenoid to locking plate 61 . thus locking plate 61 rotates counter - clockwise , as viewed in fig3 against the urging force of coil spring 63 when plunger solenoid 64 is energized to engage locking surface 61a with a corresponding end 50b through 54b of the operating levers . five trigger levers 66 through 70 , respectively , are arranged beside operating levers 50 through 54 , respectively . the trigger levers are also rotatably supported on shaft 55 and include engaging portions 66a through 70a , respectively , formed at the lower ends of trigger levers 66 through 70 . these engaging portions 66a through 70a are received in recesses 7b , 9b , 10b , 11b and 12b formed in slides 7 , 9 , 10 , 11 and 12 , respectively . the upper ends of trigger levers 66 , 67 , 68 and 70 are formed with flat end surfaces 66b , 67b , 68b and 70b , respectively . these flat end surfaces respectively engage with first stop pins 34b , 35b , 36b and 38b which extend from the planar surface of gears 34 , 35 , 36 and 38 , respectively , near the periphery thereof . thus when the flat end surfaces 66b , 67b , 68b and 70b contact stop pins 34b , 35b , 36b and 38b , respectively , gears 34 , 35 , 36 and 38 are prevented from rotating . trigger lever 69 , which corresponds to record push - button 5 , includes a sub - trigger lever 71 rotatably secured to its upper end by a pin 72 ( see fig4 ). a coil spring 73 is extended between a pin 74 on sub - trigger lever 71 and a pin 75 formed on an intermediate extending arm 76 of trigger lever 69 to urge sub - trigger lever 71 to rotate in the clockwise direction as viewed in fig4 around pin 72 . a pin 78 is provided on trigger lever 69 to limit the extent of rotation of sub - trigger lever 71 . sub - trigger lever 71 also includes a hooked end portion 79 defining a contact surface 69b which contacts a first stop pin 37b extending from gear 37 in the same manner as the first stop pins 34b , 35b , 36b , and 38b . sub - trigger lever 71 also includes an angled surface portion 80 formed beneath contact surface 69b . in addition , trigger levers 66 through 70 are also provided with integral arms 66c through 70c , respectively , which are disposed on the opposite sides of gears 34 through 38 , respectively . the ends of arms 66c through 70c include extending hook segments 66d through 70d , respectively , which are arranged to engage respective second stop pins 34c through 38c mounted on the opposite planar surface of gears 34 through 38 , respectively , at a position more radially inwardly than the first stop pins 34b through 38b and on the opposite side of the gear . a transmitting lever 81 rotatably supported on a pin 82 mounted on the chassis is arranged under the slides 8 , 9 , 10 and 11 . one end 81a of lever 81 is engageable with a pin 83 extending downwardly from slide 8 and the other end 81b of lever 81 is engageable with a pin 84 extending downwardly from slide 11 for a purpose which will be described more fully hereinbelow . next , the operation of the tape recorder which has been structurally described above will be described . first , the operation for changing the tape recorder over from the stop mode to the reproducing mode will be described . the stop mode is shown in fig1 and 4 . when the reproducing push - button 3 is pushed while the recorder is in the stop mode , slide 9 displaces to the right as viewed in fig6 and bent tab 9a extending upwardly from slide 9 contacts and pushes switching plate 20 rotating it clockwise , as viewed in fig6 about pin 19 against the urging force of torsion spring 22 . switching plate 20 pushes the actuator of micro - switch 23 actuating it to supply electric power to cause motor 24 to rotate . with the rotation of motor 24 , which is coupled to shaft 28 , shaft 28 is driven and pinion 30 secured to shaft 28 is also driven . motor 24 continues to rotate for a predetermined period of time , for example about 3 minutes , as determined by a time constant circuit . accordingly , the operator need not continue to push the recording push - button 3 while the change over operation is accomplished . micro - switch 23 also controls the energizing of plunger solenoid 64 , because switch 23 is connected with the drive circuit of plunger - solenoid 64 . therefore , plunger - solenoid 64 is energized when reproducing push - button 3 is pushed . with activation of plunger - solenoid 64 , locking plate 61 is rotated about shaft 62 against the urging force of coil spring 63 . this releases the lock of operating levers 50 through 54 to clear any mode previously established in the recorder . thus the tape recorder is automatically changed over directly to the reproducing mode from any other operating mode by pushing reproducing push - button 3 . rod 65 of plunger - solenoid 64 is pulled only momentarily and after the release of the lock on the operating levers plunger - solenoid 64 is quickly deenergized . after plunger - solenoid 64 is deenergized , locking plate 61 rotates clockwise , as viewed in fig6 about pin 62 under the urging force of coil spring 63 to be in position to be able to lock operating slide 51 which is associated with the reproduce mode . with the depression of push - button 3 , slide 9 moves to the right , as viewed in fig6 to rotate trigger lever 67 counter - clockwise , as viewed in fig6 about shaft 55 in response to the displacement of slide 9 because engaging portion 67a of trigger lever 67 is received in recess 9b of slide 9 . this rotation of trigger lever 67 disengages the end surface 67b of lever 67 from the first stop pin 35b of gear 35 , thereby freeing gear 35 to rotate . leaf spring 46 in contact with cam surface 41 on the planar surface of gear 35 urges gear 35 to rotate due to the fact that leaf spring 46 moves into contact with the smallest radiused portion of cam surface 41 . therefore , cam surface 41 and gear 35 rotate counter - clockwise , as viewed in fig6 due to the urging force of spring 46 . after the initial rotation of gear 35 under the urging of leaf spring 46 , toothless portion 35a of gear 35 is displaced from registry with pinion 30 until the toothed portion of gear 35 engages with pinion 30 , which is driven by motor 24 , as described above . at this juncture gear 35 is driven by pinion 30 and rotates counter - clockwise , as viewed in fig7 . with this rotation cam surface 41 of gear 35 contacts and pushes operating lever 51 to rotate lever 51 clockwise , as viewed in fig7 about shaft 55 . as lever 51 rotates , end 51a of lever 51 contacts and pushes lower end 57a of reproducing operating slide 57 to displace slide 57 upwardly to place the tape recorder into the reproducing mode where signals recorded on the magnetic tape may be reproduced . during rotation of lever 51 , the other end 51b of lever 51 rides down the angled surface 61a of locking plate 61 and rotates plate 61 counter - clockwise , as viewed in fig7 about shaft 62 against the urging force of coil spring 63 until end 51b is free of the locking plate which returns to its unitial position due to spring 63 to lock lever 51 as shown in fig8 . thus the tape recorder is maintained in the reproducing mode . even though lever 51 is locked , gear 35 continues to be driven by the pinion 30 through almost one revolution until toothless portion 35a of gear 35 again moves into facing position with pinion 30 , whereby gear 35 is disengaged from pinion 30 . however , gear 35 continues to rotate in the counterclockwise direction under the urging force of leaf spring 46 in contact with the peripheral surface of cam surface 41 until gear 35 reaches the position shown in fig8 . thus , one revolution of gear 35 is established and first stop pin 35b of gear 35 is again brought into contact with flat end surface 67b of trigger lever 67 which has been restored to its original position responsive to the restoring movement of slide 9 under the urging of coil spring 15 . thus gear 35 stops rotating and is precluded from further rotation , and the operation for changing the recorder over to the reproducing mode is accomplished . the mode change - over mechanism is designed to operate with a single light touch by the operator on a mode selecting push button . however , should the operator maintain prolonged pressure on a push - button 1 , slide 9 would be maintained in its active position as shown in fig9 and the actuator of switch 23 would be maintained in the depressed state because switching plate 20 would be maintained pressed against switch 22 . accordingly , motor 25 would continue to be energized and rotate and after one revolution of gear 35 , gear 35 would be disengaged from pinion 30 , and would further rotate under the urging force of leaf spring 46 and would then engage again with pinion 30 . whereby the gear 35 would rotate once again counter - clockwise because trigger lever 67 , associated with slide 9 , would be maintained in its active position where flat end surface 67b of lever 67 does not contact with first stop pin 35b extending from gear 35 . the largest radiused portion of cam surface 41 provides lever 51 a stroke which is larger than the stroke to be locked by locking plate 61 . accordingly , cam surface 41 strikes operating level 51 to generate a mechanical noice as gear 35 continues to rotate further . to rectify the above described disadvantage , gear 35 is precluded from rotating more than one revolution by the engagement of hook segment 67d on arm 67c with second stop pin 35c on gear 35 , as shown in fig9 because hook segment 67d of trigger lever 67 is in its active position when trigger lever 67 is maintained in its rotated position in accordance with the continued depression of reproducing push - button 3 after one revolution of gear 35 and after the recorder has been placed in the reproducing mode . accordingly , gear 35 is locked and precluded from rotating when gear 35 has completed one revolution and the operation for changing the tape recorder over to the reproducing mode has been completed even if reproducing push - button 3 is continued to be depressed . accordingly , cam surface 41 is precluded from striking operating lever 51 locked by locking plate 61 and the tape recorder is precluded from generating the undesirable mechanical noises . further , reproducing slide 57 in its active position is not mechanically effected by cam surface 41 through lever 51 . in this condition , shown in fig9 slide 9 is displaced to its inactive position under the urging force of coil spring 15 when the depression of reproducing push - button 3 is released . as soon as this is done , trigger lever 67 rotates clockwise , as viewed in fig9 because engaging portion 67a of trigger lever 67 is engaged within recess 9b of slide 9 and rotates with the leftward movement of slide 9 . therefore , hook segment 67d of lever 67 is disengaged from second stop pin 35c of gear 35 and then flat surface 67b of trigger lever 67 again contacts first stop pin 35b of gear 35 to preclude gear 35 from further rotation as shown in fig8 . next , the operation for changing the tape recorder over from the reproducing mode to the stop mode will be described . this operation is accomplished by the depression of stop push - button 2 while the recorder is in the reproducing mode , shown in fig8 . that is , slide 8 is displaced to the right , as viewed in fig7 against the urging force of coil spring 14 when stop push - button 2 is depressed . with this movement tab 8a of slide 8 pushes switching plate 20 to rotate plate 20 clockwise , as viewed in fig7 about pin 19 against the urging force of torsion spring 22 to contact and push the actuator of micro - switch 23 . this momentarily energizes plunger - solenoid 64 pulling its rod 65 to rotate locking plate 61 counter - clockwise , as viewed in fig7 about shaft 62 against the urging force of coil spring 63 thereby releasing the lock of operating lever 51 . with this , reproducing slide 57 is displaced downwardly and the tape recorder is changed over to the stop mode from the reproducing mode . motor 24 also rotates responsive to the depression of stop bush - button 2 , but stop push - button 2 does not have a corresponding pinion and gear and , hence , the rotation of motor 24 is idle in this operation . the above described operation for changing the tape recorder over from the stop mode to the reproducing mode is the same operation as the changing over from stop mode to rewind mode , stop mode to fast forward mode and stop mode to pause mode , therefore , the detailed description of these operations will be omitted . further , the above described operation for changing the tape recorder over from reproducing mode to stop mode is the same as the operation for changing the recorder over from rewind mode to stop mode and fast forward mode to stop mode , therefore , a detailed description of these operations will also be omitted . next , the operation for changing the tape recorder over from stop mode to record mode will be described with reference to fig1 . the recording mode is established by the depression of recording push - button 5 while the recorder is in the stop mode shown in fig4 . that is , slide 11 is displaced to the right as viewed in fig1 when recording push - button 5 is depressed . hence , as described above micro - switch 23 is pushed by switching plate 20 and motor 24 rotates to drive pinion 32 . in like manner to the operations previously described trigger lever 69 rotates counter - clockwise , as viewed in fig1 about shaft 55 responsive to the displacement of slide 11 . with the displacement of trigger lever 69 , sub - trigger lever 71 mounted on trigger lever 69 also displaces and flat engaging portion 69b of sub - trigger lever 71 is separated from contact with first stop in 37b of gear 37 . hence , gear 37 rotates , initially due to the urging force of leaf spring 48 on cam surface 43 , and then under the urging of pinion 32 driven by motor 24 . therefore , operating lever 53 is rotated by cam surface 43 on the planar surface of gear 37 and recording slide 59 is displaced upwardly , as viewed in fig1 . thus , the tape recorder is changed over to the recording mode . in this operation , sub - trigger lever 71 does not rotate relative to trigger lever 69 . accordingly , the operation is the same as that for changing over from stop mode to reproducing mode . next , the operation to prepare the recorder for timed recording will be described . the timed recording operation is one where the tape recorder is changed over to the recording mode automatically in accordance with a trigger signal from a timer ( not shown ) at some predetermined pre - set time , for example responsive to a clock like an alarm clock which can be pre - set to initiate recording automatically at any time set . with such an operation signals from a radio receiver or other signal sources operatively connected to the tape recorder are recorded on the magnetic tape while the operator is absent . the operation to prepare the recorder for timed recording is accomplished by the depression of recording push - button 5 when electric power is not supplied to the tape recorder . that is , slide 11 is displaced to the right , as viewd in fig1 , when recording push - button 5 is depressed . with this movement , trigger lever 69 rotates counter - clockwise , as viewed in fig1 , about shaft 55 and flat engaging portion 69b of sub - trigger lever 71 is separated from first stop pin 37b of gear 37 . accordingly , gear 37 rotates counter - clockwise , as viewed in fig1 , due to the urging force of leaf spring 48 on cam surface 43 and gear 37 is placed in engagement with pinion 32 , as shown in fig1 , since toothless portion 37a of gear 37 has been displaced in the counter - clockwise direction . however , because no electric power is being supplied , pinion 32 associated with motor 24 is not rotating even though micro - switch 23 has been depressed responsive to the displacement of slide 11 . therefore , gear 37 stops rotating as soon as gear 37 engages pinion 32 . in this condition , first stop pin 37b on gear 37 is in contact with the angled surface portion 80 of sub - trigger lever 71 and pushes lever 71 . since coil spring 73 is relatively strong , coil spring 78 is not expanded . that is , trigger lever 69 is pushed by pin 37b through sub - trigger lever 71 and , hence , trigger lever 69 is prevented from rotating to the restoring or clockwise direction , as viewed in fig1 , about shaft 55 . therefore , slide 11 is prevented from being displaced to its inactive left position , as seen in fig1 , since slide 11 is engaged with trigger lever 69 because of the engagement of end 69a within recess 11b . thus slide 11 is maintained in an intermediate position between its inactive position and its active position and slide 11 through switching plate 20 continues to push micro - switch 23 . in addition , recording pushbutton 5 is also maintained in an intermediate position and , hence , the operator can easily confirm the establishment of the timed recording operation by observing the record pushbutton 5 . when the operation to initiate timed recording has been completed and the recorder is supplied with electric power , for example by a pre - set signal from a timer mechanism ( not shown ), the tape recorder is directly changed over to the recording mode because pinion 32 in engagement with gear 37 is driven by motor 24 which is activated when electric power is supplied . in automatically changing over to record from the preparation for timed recording , the timer ( not shown ) generates a signal to turn on the power switch of the tape recorder and electric power is supplied to the tape recorder . since microswitch 23 is maintained in its closed state , motor 24 begins to rotate as soon as electric power is supplied to the tape recorder and pinion 32 driven by motor 24 is also driven . the rotation of pinion 32 is transmitted to gear 37 and gear 37 rotates as shown in fig1 . with rotation of gear 37 , lever 53 rotates to displace recording slide 59 upwardly and lever 53 is locked by locking plate 61 , in the same manner as described in the operation from stop mode to the recording mode . when gear 37 begins to rotate , first stop pin 37b of gear 37 displaces and is separated from its engagement with angled surface 80 on sub - trigger lever 71 . this frees trigger lever 69 allowing slide 11 to displace to the left , as shown in fig1 , under the urging force of coil spring 17 and allowing trigger lever 69 to rotate clockwise about shaft 55 . after one revolution of gear 37 first stop pin 37b on gear 37 moves into contact with flat surface 69b on sub - trigger lever 71 and gear 37 is precluded from further rotation . next , the operation to release the preparation for timed recording shown in fig1 will be described . this operation is performed by the operator , for example when he comes back to the recorder before the preset time for automatically initiating recording has occurred . this releasing operation is performed mechanically without supplying electric power to the tape recorder . this releasing operation is accomplished merely by depressing stop push - button 2 while the recorder is set for preparation for timed recording , as shown in fig1 . by depressing stop push - button 2 , slide 8 is displaced to the right , as viewed in fig1 . with this movement , pin 83 depending from slide 8 engages and pushes end 81a of transmitting lever 81 to rotate lever 81 clockwise , as viewed in fig1 , about pin 82 . with this rotation end 81b of lever 81 engages and pushes pin 84 depending from slide 11 to displace slide 11 to its inactive position or to the left , as viewed in fig1 . with the movement of slide 11 to its inactive position , trigger lever 69 rotates clockwise , as viewed in fig1 , about shaft 55 since end 69a of trigger lever 69 is engaged within recess 11b of slide 11 . as a result sub - trigger lever 71 rotates , relative to trigger lever 69 , counterclockwise , as viewed in fig1 , about pin 72 against the urging force of coil spring 73 . the sub - trigger lever rotates because angled surface 80 of sub - trigger lever 71 is in contact with first stop pin 37b on gear 37 . it is to be noted that when the recorder is in the preparation mode for timed recording , as shown in fig1 , angled surface 80 of sub - trigger lever 71 is positioned to apply a force on first stop pin 37b of gear 37 in the direction indicated by the arrow f 1 which is in a direction approximately to the center of gear 37 . thus sub - trigger lever 71 does not generate a torque on gear 37 tending to rotate the gear . further , gear 37 begins to rotate smoothly when electric power is supplied to the motor 24 because force f 1 is directed to the center of gear 37 . on the other hand , when the preparation for timed recording is released , as described above , angled surface 80 of sub - trigger lever 71 is in the position shown in fig1 with respect to first stop pin 37b of gear 37 and pushes gear 37 with force in the direction indicated by the arrow f 2 . the force imparted along the direction indicated at f 2 generates a torque on gear 37 tending to rotate gear 37 clockwise , as viewed in fig1 , and , hence , gear 37 rotates clockwise a slight degree until first stop pin 37b on gear 37 is displaced from contact with angled surface 80 on sub - trigger lever 71 and moves into contacts with flat engaging surface 69b as shown in fig1 . this is accomplished as sub - trigger lever 71 rotates clockwise relative to trigger lever 69 about pin 72 under the urging force of coil spring 73 . with this movement , first stop pin 37b on gear 37 engages flat surface 69b on subtrigger lever 71 , as shown in fig1 , and the preparation for timed recording is released . further , trigger lever 69 rotates clockwise , as viewed in fig1 , and slide 11 displaces to the left to its inactive position under the urging force of coil spring 17 . next , a second embodiment of this invention will be described with reference to fig1 and 18 . in the first embodiment described above , sub - trigger 71 is arranged on trigger lever 69 to establish the releasing operation from the mode of preparation for timed recording . alternatively , in this second embodiment , flat surface 69b and angled surface 80 are formed integral with trigger lever 69 corresponding to the recording push - button 5 . as seen in fig1 , flat engaging surface 69b contacts first stop pin 37b on gear 37 to prevent gear 37 from rotating when recording push - button 5 or its associated slide 11 are in their inactive positions . angled surface 80 of trigger lever 69 contacts and pushes first stop pin 37b on gear 37 to rotate gear 37 clockwise about shaft 39 and to release the recorder from the prepared state for timed recording in the same manner described above . with this arrangement , the structure is somewhat simplified and the number of parts is reduced . although illustrative embodiments of this invention have been described in detail herein with reference to the accompanying drawings , it is to be understood that the invention is not limited to these precise embodiments , and that various changes and modifications may be made therein by those skilled in the art without departing from the scope or spirit of the invention as defined in the appended claims . for example , this invention may be applied to other kinds of recording and / or reproducing apparatus , for example , video tape recorders . moreover , the mode selecting assembly may be driven by a motor which also drives a capstan , although in the preferred embodiment the mode selecting assembly is driven by a separate motor . in addition , operating levers 50 , 51 , 52 , 53 and 54 and trigger levers 66 , 67 , 68 , 69 and 70 may be supported by a singular shaft in the above described preferred embodiment . also , locking plate 61 may be directly pushed by slide 8 associated with stop push - button 2 . alternatively , locking plate 61 may be rotated by a pinion and a gear provided with a toothless portion and a cam which are arranged to correspond with stop push - button 2 and slide 8 .	6
the present invention relates to a method for stimulating an induced insect resistance of rice , comprising steps of : applying a p - fluorophenoxyacetic acid aqueous solution having an effective concentration to the rice ; and , after absorbing by the rice , stimulating the insect resistance of the rice , thereby increasing a resistance of the rice against rice planthoppers . a structure of p - fluorophenoxyacetic acid provided by the present invention is : according to the present invention , the p - fluorophenoxyacetic acid aqueous solution having a bioactivity is applicable to roots , stems , and leaf blades of plants . during application , it is feasible to apply the p - fluorophenoxyacetic acid aqueous solution onto surfaces of the rice through methods such as spraying , until leaf blades of the rice become partly wet or totally wet , or the aqueous solution drops from the leaf blades . alternatively , it is feasible to add the p - fluorophenoxyacetic acid into a nutrient solution required for growth of the rice or a water supply system ; no matter a prepared agent is applied at any time of day or night , a good insect resistance is always generated , and the agent is preferably applied in an active growth phase of the plants . the induced insect resistance can be stimulated no matter rice plants are infested or non - infested by the rice planthoppers and last until the rice is harvested . it is noted that the agent should be applied 2 hours before raining or snowing , so as not to affect an effect of the agent . after applying for a period of time , if the induced insect resistance is found to be weakened ( for example the number of insect pests increases ), it is feasible to apply the agent again for increasing the resistance . in order to stimulate the induced insect resistance in the plants , an effective number of bioactive components are required , and the number of the bioactive components varies in a large range and relies on various factors , such as a type and a growth phase of the plants , a planting density of the plants , and a weather condition . generally , for per mu of rice field , 0 . 2 - 20 g of bioactive components are enough to stimulate the induced insect resistance of the rice . after optimizing , for per mu of rice field , 0 . 1 - 10 g of bioactive components are enough to stimulate the induced insect resistance . the induced insect resistance of the plants , stimulated by the agent having the bioactivity provided by the present invention , is effective to the rice planthoppers in the rice field , comprising brown planthopper , white - backed planthopper and small brown planthopper . application methods of the compound provided by the present invention are further described in detail with following preferred embodiments , for better understanding the present invention . it is noted that the preferred embodiments are exemplary only and not intended to be limiting . first preferred embodiment : decrease of survival rate of rice planthopper nymphs through root absorption treatment of rice with p - fluorophenoxyacetic acid according to the first preferred embodiment of the present invention , the applied p - fluorophenoxyacetic acids have concentrations of 1 mg / l and 10 mg / l . the rice is cultivated through the nutrient solution , and planted by each individual rice plant ; the p - fluorophenoxyacetic acid is added into the nutrient solution until a final concentration is 1 mg / l or 10 mg / l ; and the nutrient solution without adding the p - fluorophenoxyacetic acid is adopted as a control group . after treating with the p - fluorophenoxyacetic acid for 12 hours , a special glass cover ( with a diameter of 4 cm , a height of 8 cm , and 48 holes having a diameter of 0 . 8 mm uniformly provided on a wall ) is placed on a stem of each individual rice plant , and 15 newly - hatched nymphs of the brown planthopper or the white - backed planthopper are introduced into each glass cover , wherein a top part of each glass cover is sealed by a circular sponge . the experiment is conducted in a phytotron with a temperature of 28 ± 2 ° c ., a humidity of 70 - 80 % and 14 hours of illumination , survival numbers of the nymphs of the brown planthopper or the white - backed planthopper on each plant are recorded daily , and the experiment is repeated for 10 times . it can be seen from fig1 that : from the 2 nd day after treating with the p - fluorophenoxyacetic acid , survival rates of the nymphs of the brown planthopper and the white - backed planthopper are decreased obviously . for the rice which is treated with the p - fluorophenoxyacetic acid having the concentration of 1 mg / l , a survival rate of the brown planthopper is 35 . 1 % on the 8 th day , which is obviously lower than a survival rate of the brown planthopper of the control group of 90 . 3 %; and for the rice which is treated with the p - fluorophenoxyacetic acid having the concentration of 10 mg / l , a survival rate of the brown planthopper is merely 1 . 5 % on the 8 th day . meanwhile , for the rice which is treated with the p - fluorophenoxyacetic acid having the concentration of 1 mg / l , a survival rate of the white - backed planthopper is 41 . 3 % on the 8 th day , which is obviously lower than a survival rate of the white - backed planthopper of the control group of 90 . 5 %; and , for the rice which is treated with the p - fluorophenoxyacetic acid having the concentration of 10 mg / l , a survival rate of the brown planthopper is merely 3 . 1 % on the 8 th day . above results show that : a root absorption treatment with the p - fluorophenoxyacetic acid obviously increases a direct resistance of the rice against the nymphs of the rice planthoppers . second preferred embodiment : increase of resistance of rice against nymphs of rice planthoppers through spray treatment with p - fluorophenoxyacetic acid according to the second preferred embodiment of the present invention , the applied p - fluorophenoxyacetic acids have concentrations of 20 mg / l and 100 mg / l . the rice is cultivated through the nutrient solution , and planted by each individual rice plant ; the p - fluorophenoxyacetic acid is prepared with water to have a certain concentration ( 20 mg / l or 100 mg / l ), and thereafter stems and leaves of the rice are treated with spraying through a small sprayer ; and tap water is adopted as a control group . after drops on the stems and leaves of the rice are totally dry , a special glass cover ( with a diameter of 4 cm , a height of 8 cm , and 48 holes having a diameter of 0 . 8 mm uniformly provided on a wall ) is placed on a stem of each individual rice plant , and 15 newly - hatched nymphs of the brown planthopper or the white - backed planthopper are introduced into each glass cover , wherein a top part of each glass cover is sealed by a circular sponge . the experiment is conducted in a phytotron with a temperature of 28 ± 2 ° c ., a humidity of 70 - 80 % and 14 hours of illumination , survival numbers of the nymphs of the brown planthopper and the white - backed planthopper on each plant are recorded daily , and the experiment is repeated for 10 times . it can be seen from fig2 that : from the 2 nd day after treating with the p - fluorophenoxyacetic acid , survival rates of the nymphs of the brown planthopper and the white - backed planthopper are decreased obviously . for the rice which is treated with the p - fluorophenoxyacetic acid having the concentration of 20 mg / l , a survival rate of the brown planthopper is 60 . 3 % on the 8 th day , which is obviously lower than a survival rate of the brown planthopper of the control group of 86 . 5 %; and for the rice which is treated with the p - fluorophenoxyacetic acid having the concentration of 100 mg / l , a survival rate of the brown planthopper is merely 19 . 2 % on the 8 th day . meanwhile , for the rice which is treated with the p - fluorophenoxyacetic acid having the concentration of 20 mg / l , a survival rate of the white - backed planthopper is 66 . 1 % on the 8 th day , which is obviously lower than a survival rate of the white - backed planthopper of the control group of 81 . 4 %; and , for the rice which is treated with the p - fluorophenoxyacetic acid having the concentration of 100 mg / l , a survival rate of the brown planthopper is merely 23 . 2 % on the 8 th day . above results show that : a direct resistance of the rice against the nymphs of the rice planthoppers is obviously increased through a spray treatment with the p - fluorophenoxyacetic acid . third preferred embodiment : no effect of p - fluorophenoxyacetic acid on survival of rice planthoppers in order to exclude possible influences of the p - fluorophenoxyacetic acid itself on a survival rate of nymphs of the rice planthoppers , the third preferred embodiment of the present invention measures stomach toxicity and contact toxicity of the p - fluorophenoxyacetic acids having different concentrations on the nymphs of the rice planthoppers . in the experiment for measuring the stomach toxicity of the p - fluorophenoxyacetic acid on the nymphs of the rice planthoppers , the p - fluorophenoxyacetic acids , having concentrations of 5 mg / l , 20 mg / l and 50 mg / l , are respectively added into planthopper artificial diets , and another planthopper artificial diet not containing the p - fluorophenoxyacetic acid is adopted as control . the planthopper artificial diets containing the p - fluorophenoxyacetic acids of different concentrations are respectively wrapped by a parafilm sealing film and then placed at two ends ( 20 μl at one end ) of a glass two - way tube having a diameter of 4 cm and a height of 8 cm , and 15 newly - hatched nymphs of the white - backed planthopper are introduced into each tube ; wherein the glass two - way tube , in which the planthopper artificial diet not containing the p - fluorophenoxyacetic acid is placed , is adopted as a control group . all the glass two - way tubes are placed in a phytotron ( with a temperature of 28 ° c . and 12 hours of illumination ), the artificial diet in each tube is changed once a day , and the survival number of the nymphs of the white - backed planthopper in each tube is recoded daily . the experiment is repeated for 10 times . results thereof show that : adding the p - fluorophenoxyacetic acid with a test concentration into the artificial diet does not affect a survival rate of the nymphs of the white - backed planthopper ; for the artificial diets containing the p - fluorophenoxyacetic acids respectively with the concentrations of 0 mg / l , 5 mg / l , 20 mg / l and 50 mg / l , the survival rates of the nymphs of the white - backed planthopper on the 2 nd day are respectively 85 . 7 %, 85 . 5 %, 87 . 4 % and 81 . 3 %; and , the survival rates on the 4 th day are respectively 56 . 2 %, 58 . 6 %, 54 . 3 % and 57 . 6 %. thus , the p - fluorophenoxyacetic acid has no stomach toxicity on the planthoppers . in the experiment for measuring the contact toxicity of the p - fluorophenoxyacetic acid on the nymphs of the rice planthoppers , the p - fluorophenoxyacetic acids respectively having concentrations of 5 mg / l , 20 mg / l , and 50 mg / l are adopted , and distilled water not containing the p - fluorophenoxyacetic acid is adopted as a control group . third - instar nymphs of the white - backed planthopper , being narcotized by carbon dioxide , are spotted with the p - fluorophenoxyacetic acid having the corresponding concentration or the distilled water ( 1 μl for each planthopper ); after waking up , the planthoppers are fed on rice plants having an age of 30 days , wherein 15 planthoppers are fed on each rice plant ; and the rice is placed in a phytotron with a temperature of 28 ± 2 ° c ., a humidity of 70 - 80 % and 14 hours of illumination . the experiment is repeated for 10 times . survival numbers of the nymphs of the planthoppers are observed and recorded respectively 24 hours and 48 hours after treatment . results thereof show that : 24 hours after treating , for the control group and the p - fluorophenoxyacetic acids having the concentrations of 5 mg / l , 20 mg / l and 50 mg / l , survival rates of the nymphs of the planthoppers are respectively 93 . 3 %, 92 . 0 %, 93 . 1 %, 92 . 0 %; and 48 hours after treating , the survival rates are respectively 90 . 2 %, 92 . 0 %, 91 . 6 % and 90 . 8 %. the survival rate of each group is not significantly different , illustrating that the p - fluorophenoxyacetic acid has no contact toxicity on the planthoppers . according to the fourth preferred embodiment of the present invention , the applied p - fluorophenoxyacetic acid has a concentration of 5 mg / l . the rice is cultivated through the nutrient solution , and planted by each individual rice plant ; the p - fluorophenoxyacetic acid is added into the nutrient solution of the rice until a final concentration is 5 mg / l , and another nutrient solution without adding the p - fluorophenoxyacetic acid is adopted as a control group . the experiment is repeated for 5 times and conduced in a phytotron with a temperature of 28 ± 2 ° c ., a humidity of 70 - 80 %, and 14 hours of illumination . results thereof show that : 72 hours after treating with the p - fluorophenoxyacetic acid , contents of 4 - hydroxybenzoic acid and γ - aminobutyric acid in the rice obviously increase , wherein the content of the 4 - hydroxybenzoic acid of the experimental group is 2 . 12 times higher than the content of the 4 - hydroxybenzoic acid of the control group ; and the content of the γ - aminobutyric acid of the experimental group is 2 . 86 times higher than the content of the γ - aminobutyric acid of the control group . the 4 - hydroxybenzoic acid belongs to a phenolic acid defense compound , and the γ - aminobutyric acid belongs to a non - protein amino acid , which have direct toxicity effects on the insect pests and are able to influence a peripheral nervous system of the insects . treating the rice with the p - fluorophenoxyacetic acid is able to increase contents of the defense compounds , thereby generating a negative effect on the insect pests and increasing a resistance of the rice against the insect pests . one skilled in the art will understand that the embodiment of the present invention as shown in the drawings and described above is exemplary only and not to intended to be limiting . it will thus be seen that the objects of the present invention have been fully and effectively accomplished . its embodiments have been shown and described for the purposes of illustrating the functional and structural principles of the present invention and is subject to change without departure from such principles . therefore , this invention includes all modifications encompassed within the spirit and scope of the following claims .	0
the following detailed description , which describes only the preferred embodiment of the invention , is understood only to be an illustration of the best mode contemplated of carrying out the invention . as will be realized , the invention is capable of other and different embodiments , and its several details are capable of modifications in various obvious respects , all without departing from the invention . accordingly , the drawings and description are to be regarded as illustrative in nature , and not as restrictive . referring to fig1 and 2 of the drawings , there is shown generally at 8 a laser pump chamber incorporating an optical diffuser plate 14 that is the subject of this invention . the pump chamber comprises a solid state laser rod 10 , a specular pump chamber reflector 11 , rod holders 12 , a flashlamp 13 , an optical diffuser plate 14 , and lamp holders 15 . preferably , the pump chamber is of a gas - cooled construction as disclosed in u . s . patent application , ser . no . 08 / 034 , 993 , now u . s . pat . no . 5 , 331 , 652 to rapoport et al ., the disclosure which is hereby incorporated by reference . the reflector 11 is specular and imaging in nature and has a vacuum deposited silver coating that is protected by a silicon dioxide layer and is highly polished . preferably , the ends of the reflector 11 are open and symmetric to allow for a forced preselected gas to adequately cool the flashlamp 13 and the laser rod 10 . preferably , flashlamp 13 is made of quartz with xe gas fill . rod holders 12 are constructed to minimize the cross section of the holder in the preselected gas flow stream and to capture the optical diffuser plate 14 . in one preferred embodiment of the laser pump chamber 8 the laser rod 10 is composed of alexandrite , and the optical diffuser plate 14 is disposed between the lamp 13 and the laser rod 10 . optical diffuser plate 14 is generally coplanar and preferably extends from oppositely disposed sidewalls of reflector 11 as shown in fig2 . optical plate 14 is about 0 . 020 inches thick and has a small cross - sectional area so that it may be placed inside the specular pump chamber without significant perturbations to the cooling preselected gas flow stream . the optical diffuser plate 14 has a top surface face adjacent to the lamp 13 and a bottom surface face adjacent to the laser rod 10 . the top face may be uncoated , but perferably has an anti - reflection coating to increase the energy transmission level . the bottom face is roughly polished diffuse for low transmission loss . the most important characteristic of the bottom face diffuser is that the back scatter be low and the light transmission be high . preferably plate 14 is made from corning 7940 pyrex ® glass or alternatively , corning 7059 barium borosilicate . other materials are possible so long as plate 14 can be manufactured in thin sheets , is shock resistance as compared with a low expansion glass , and has a softening point that is higher that the expected operating temperatures at the plate . the optical diffuser plate 14 can be manufactured by determining the amount of diffuseness required to remove the &# 34 ; hot spots &# 34 ; from the laser media . in this method the transmission of the plate is maximized allowing the highest energy transfer from the flashlamp to the laser media . fig3 graphically illustrates light intensity levels as a function of angle for three types of diffusers compared with the light source , curve 20 . the most common diffusers are fabricated by grinding and polishing one surface of the plate 14 as depicted in fig3 as 9 micron and 180 grit , curves 24 and 26 respectively , which refer to the grit wheel and the polish used . these types of diffusers readily diffuse the incident light , but at the expense of light transmission as defined as the ratio of the areas under the respective curves . the 180 grit finish transmits 28 percent of the light , and the 9 micron finish transmits 42 percent of the light . the preferred type of diffuser is glass frit bonded to the polished plate , shown in curve 22 . the frit sample in curve 22 transmits 66 percent of the source light which is considerably higher than 180 grit or 9 micron , and the fwhm ( full width , half maximum ) angular spread is the smallest . the frit type diffuser is manufactured by taking a plain polished plate of the preferred material above and sifting a 400 mesh glass frit power to the surface until visible lines drawn beneath the plate are mostly obscured by the frit powder . the plate is heated in an oven by ramping the temperature above the melting point of the frit . the plate is soaked for a prescribed amount of time and then the temperature is ramped down to room temperature . preferably , the frit power is sp274 , ground to a 400 mesh , made by specialty glass of oldsmar , fla ., which has a fiber softening point of 664 ° c . and an expansion coefficient of 66 × 10 - 7 and an index of refraction of 1 . 499 . the frit is solidified by ramping the temperature up to 730 ° c . in 20 minutes , soaking the plate for 20 minutes and cooling down to room temperature in 30 minutes . alternatively , many different types of vitrifying frits can be used for this application where the final solidified frit is transparent . furthermore , losses can be reduced by matching the refractive indices of the plate and frit . optionally , for an application using an alexandrite laser , optical diffuser plate 14 material is selected so that it is operative to prevent transmission of light having wavelengths below 300 nm , thereby preventing solarization of the alexandrite . diffusers for other laser material can also be selected to prevent transmission of light having wavelengths that would otherwise cause solarization . the laser pump chamber 8 which has been disclosed herein can , of course , be modified in various ways without departing from the scope of the invention . it is also possible to create a diffuser plate through acid etching techniques , photolithography of replicated shapes and holographic patterns . each of these techniques can realize a more uniform pumping field , which reduces localized &# 34 ; hot spots &# 34 ;. this in turn reduces the probability of optical damage to the components inside and outside of the laser . the pump chamber is not required to have open ends to allow a preselected gas flow parallel to the laser rod , flashlamp , and optical diffuser plate . the pump chamber may be sealed on ends . the invention which improves pumping uniformity may be applied to flowing dye as well as pumping solid rods . the invention may also be applied to pumping with diodes instead of flashlamps . the plate can possess diffusive properties and be fabricated from material that does not add solarization prevention if the pump light is not detrimental to the gain media being pumped . it will be understood that the particular embodiments described above are only illustrative of the principles of the present invention , and that various modifications could be made by those skilled in the art without departing from the scope and spirit of the present invention , which is limited only by the claims that follow .	7
fig1 illustrates a preferred image data acquisition system 100 in accordance with the teachings of the present invention . an mr scanner 102 is used to acquire 2d image data corresponding to a patient &# 39 ; s roi along selected ones of the xy ( coronal ), xz ( sagittal ), and yz ( axial ) planes . if desired , 2d image data can also be obtained in planes of other specified obliquities . the scanner 102 acquires 2d image slices in accordance with instructions provided by a clinician via a scanner interface control computer 104 . through control computer 104 , a clinician can specify the necessary slice parameters for a given acquisition , as is readily understood in the art . the resultant image data acquired by the scanner 102 are then returned to control computer 104 for further processing thereby . a preferred system 100 suitable for use with the present invention is a 1 . 5 tesla siemens sonata magnetom system manufactured by siemens medical systems of erlangen , germany . it should be understood , however , that other image data acquisition systems can be used in the practice of the present invention . furthermore , the technique of the present invention is believed to be suitable for use with any type of coil unit . the present invention arises in the manner by which the scanner acquires image data . fig2 is a flowchart illustrating this process , which can be applied to any 2d sequence . with riot , the slice acquisition parameters for each acquired series are the same except for table position ( tp ). the field of view ( fov ) can be set at 100 %, but phase over sampling may be used so long as it is identical for all series sequences . fat saturation may also optionally be used . furthermore , the average ( nex ) can be set to one ( or can be multiple so long as each image data series has the same number of averages ). the skip between image slices is set to 100 %. it is also strongly preferred that the plane of acquisition be the same as the desired plane of the multi - planar or 3d reconstruction , as the resolution is believed to be best in the plane of acquisition . for instance , if the desired 3d representation or mpr is in the coronal plane , then the series should be acquired coronally . earlier experiments had suggested that in order to achieve adequate interleaving the plane of each series sequence had to be defined relative to the table and not the roi being scanned . for example , these earlier experiments suggested that the coronal plane should be defined off of an axial image by lines running parallel to the “ x ” axis of the axial localizer . in other words images were to be acquired in the axial , sagittal or coronal plane relative to the table itself , not the anatomy being imaged . however , later experiments have determined that the plane of acquisition can be prescribed in any obliquity . experimentation also indicates that an original slice thickness of 4 mm is optimal for reasons that will discussed below . 4 mm is the preferred original slice thickness because an original slice thickness below 4 mm would complicate the mathematical calculations without significant change in scan times . also , because the ultimate slice thickness is primarily the result of the number of series that are interleaved , a thinner original slice thickness will not have a significant effect in terms of the thickness of the resultant composite series . for example , if 4 series of 4 mm thick slices are interleaved and overlapped by 50 %, the resultant composite series will have a 2 mm slice thickness . if 4 series of 3 mm slices are interleaved and overlapped by 50 %, the resultant composite series will have a 1 . 5 mm slice thickness . nevertheless , if necessary , slice thicknesses thinner or thicker than 4 mm can be used and are also suitable for the practice of the present invention . with reference to fig2 , at step 200 , the scanner 102 acquires a first image data series starting from table position tp ( 0 ). it is worth noting that it is believed to be best to start with the tp dictated by the scanner rounded off to the nearest whole number , in which case tp ( 0 ) can be thought of as whatever the starting table position dictated by the scanner is . however , other starting table positions may optionally be used . furthermore , experimentation shows that setting the tp of the first series at true 0 or close to true 0 can result in errors . however , it is believed that this can be remedied by an automated software program as described below . fig3 ( a ) illustrates an example of the result of this step , wherein four image slices of thickness n mm are acquired starting at tp ( 0 mm ) with a 100 % skip therebetween ( i . e ., a skip of n mm ). while the example of fig3 ( a )-( d ) depict the acquisition of four slices per series , it should be understood that more or fewer slices can be acquired each sequence . a skip of 100 % is strongly preferred because a skip of less than 100 % would require that each series have a different skip in order to achieve a desired overlap . for instance , theoretically , a 50 % overlap can also be achieved by interleaving 3 series instead of 4 . in this setting , series a ( with a slice thickness of 4 mm , tp ( 0 ) and skip of 100 %) would have to be overlapped with series b ( slice thickness , 4 mm , tp ( 4 ) and skip of 100 %. this is possible and would yield a composite series with 4 mm slices and 0 skip . however , in order to achieve a 50 % skip with only 3 series , the third series would have to have a tp of ( 2 ) and a skip of 50 %. accordingly , to accommodate a skip not equal to 100 %, special software would have to be designed to accommodate interleaving of the slices . in addition , another problem arising from the use of a skip less than 100 % is the “ cross - talk ” which may result , thereby causing a degradation of signal to noise ratio . after the first series is acquired , the starting table position for the next series is then adjusted ( step 202 ). starting table position adjustments between series will be based on fractions of the original slice thickness as determined by a desired degree of overlap . the starting table position of the next series is preferably adjusted by n / k mm , wherein the value of k depends upon the desired degree of overlap . if a 50 % overlap is desired , k is preferably 2 . if a 100 % overlap is desired , k is preferably 4 . a slice thickness of 4 mm , facilitates these calculations as it will result in tp adjustments in whole numbers rather than in fractional increments . however , as noted above and below , where automated software is utilized to perform table position adjustments , this concern is attenuated . while the examples of fig3 ( a )-( d ) and 4 ( a )-( h ) depict the starting table position being incremented by n / k mm for each series , it should be readily understood that the starting table position can also be decremented by n / k mm for each series . again , experimentation with the siemens scanner shows that decrementing will not always work if the starting tp of the first series is set at true 0 or slightly greater or less than true 0 . the reason for this is that in this setting some of the series will require a starting tp of a positive value , while others will require a starting tp which is of a negative value . this will result in errors with interleaving by the control computer . again , it is possible , however , that this problem can be remedied via a dedicated software program . table position ( tp ) shifts can be adjusted in any obliquity . however , with the preferred riot technique , all tp adjustments must be made in the same direction for a given set of acquisitions ( either positive or negative ), defined by the plane of the acquisition . as stated above , experiments show that the resolution of the 3d or mpr reconstruction is optimal when the plane of the acquisition is in the desired plane of the 3d or mpr reconstruction . as stated above , the preferred embodiment can optionally be configured to acquire images in planes of any obliquity , which is believed to optimize visualization of the anatomy being scanned . this feature can preferably be achieved under user or software control by a parameter change in the chosen image acquisition protocol , which is believed to be possible with any conventional 2d sequence . upon opening the sequence , the number of slices , the slice thickness and the orientation ( i . e . obliquity ) of the slices is assigned , as with any 2d sequence , off of a localizer image obtained in the axial , sagittal or coronal plane . the trajectory of the slices is then assigned by simply rotating , from a console for the imaging system using the available input commands to the system , the reference lines ( indicating the trajectory of the slices ) to a desired obliquity by an appropriate user input ( e . g ., a left mouse click and hold ) ( see fig8 ( a )). it should be noted that the instructions provided herein are as per the preferred siemens scanner , but the methodology described therefor can be readily applied to other scanners . next , the “ position ” parameter under the exam card of the sequence is selected and the position “ mode ” selected to be “ offcenter - shift .” ( see fig8 ( b )). fig8 ( b ) shows the obliquity as a transverse image , but the line 800 defining the plane of acquisition can be dragged and changed to any orientation by appropriate user or software action ( such as left mouse clicking on line 800 and manipulating line 800 to the desired obliquity ). once line 800 is positioned as desired , subsequent series will be oriented according to the plane defined line 800 with the shifted positions applied to that prescribed oblique plane . the selection of “ offcenter - shift ” as shown in fig8 ( b ) is in contrast to the only other option under position mode , i . e . “ l - p - h ” ( which stands for left , posterior and head , corresponding to the coronal , sagittal and axial planes respectively , relative to the table ) as originally described . the “ offcenter - shift ” mode instructs the scanner to orient subsequent position shifts in the obliquity of the prescribed slices rather than in the coronal , sagittal , and axial plane relative to the table . after the first acquisition is complete ( see fig8 ( c )), subsequent acquisitions are prescribed by changing the position shift parameter only by 1 mm or 2 mm depending on the desired net overlap ( that is , 1 mm for 100 % and 2 mm for 50 % ( where slice thickness n equals 4 mm )), as shown in fig8 ( d )-( f ), which depict 2 mm increments . this will yield 4 separate series for 50 % overlap ( see fig8 ( g )) and 8 separate series for 100 % overlap . the series can then be combined and interleaved accordingly by selecting ( e . g ., by a left mouse click ) each series icon ( representing each series ) while pressing the control key , selecting “ select series ” under the “ edit ” menu ( see fig8 ( h )) and selecting “ save as ” under file ( see fig8 ( i )). the total number of images of this composite series will appear . the user should make sure that the composite series includes the correct number of images i . e . four times that of each individual series ( for a four series overlap ) and eight times that of each individual series ( for an eight series overlap ). in the example of fig3 ( a )-( d ), the composite data file will be made up of 4 * 4 slices ( i . e ., 4 series of 4 slices each , or 16 slices ). in the example of fig4 ( a )-( g ), the composite data file will be made up of 8 * x ( i . e ., 8 series of x slices each ). the composite series is then named ( see fig8 ( j )). before saving the named series , it is important to ensure that the preset sorting under the patient file is set at “ slice position ” ( see fig8 ( k ) as indicated by the white arrow ). acquiring the 2d images in the plane of the desired 3d reconstruction , is believed to optimize the resolution of the 3d images . as such , it is preferred that the user define the plane of acquisition to be the same as the plane of desired 3d reconstruction . the number of series will also depend on the desired overlap . in order to yield a 50 % overlap , four separate series should be acquired and overlapped into a composite data set ( see fig3 ( a )-( d )). the composite data set will have 4 times the number of images as each individual series , but because the images are overlapped by 50 %, the data set appears re - segmented into a smaller slice thickness also defined by n / k . starting with a 4 mm slice thickness , a 50 % overlap will result in the composite data file having an effective slice thickness of 2 mm . recent experiments suggest that the slice thickness remains at 4 mm but the distance between slices in the composite series is shortened such that the slices appear “ thinner ” to the naked eye . in order to yield a 100 % overlap , eight separate series should be acquired and overlapped ( see fig4 ( a )-( h )). starting from a 4 mm slice thickness , a 100 % overlap will result in the composite data file having an effective slice thickness of 1 mm . again , a 4 mm slice thickness facilitates these mathematical calculations , but as noted , other slice thickness values can be used . at step 204 , the scanner 102 thereafter acquires the next image data series starting from the adjusted starting table position . fig3 ( b ) illustrates the result of step 204 when a 50 % overlap is desired , with 4 image slices being acquired for series 2 ( the currently acquired series being indicated in boldface ) starting from tp ( 0 . 5 n mm ). the flow of fig2 will return to steps 202 and 204 depending upon the user &# 39 ; s desired amount of overlap ( step 206 ). with a desired 50 % overlap , the flow of fig2 will return twice more to steps 202 and 204 to yield the results shown in fig3 ( c ) and 3 ( d ). with a desired 100 % overlap , the flow of fig2 will return to steps 202 and 204 six more times to yield the results shown in fig4 ( c )-( h ). once all image data series are acquired , at step 208 , the control computer 104 preferably compiles all of the acquired slices for the plurality of series into a composite data file . this requires instructions to the control computer 104 as set forth in connection with fig8 ( g )-( k ). experiments show that in order to assure proper interleaving the new composite series must be resorted ( step 210 ). the scanner by default will be set to sort by “ instance ” which means images are sorted sequentially and anatomically . in order for riot to work , images need to be sorted by slice position . to do this manually , “ browser ” is selected under the patient file . “ local database ” is highlighted . the patient name and the composite sequence are then highlighted . “ slice position ” is selected under the sort file , as shown in fig8 ( k ). to ensure that the file remains correctly sorted , it is recommended that it be saved as described above under a new name . experimentation indicates that although conventional sorting features available on computers 104 for scanner 102 can properly interleave slices by table position , the multiple steps involved may result in error . should it be necessary , software modifications for scanner computer 104 to properly sort and interleave slices by table position are readily within the skill of a person having ordinary skill in the art following the teachings herein as explained below in connection with fig9 . once the slices within the composite data file are preferably stored by slice position / table position ( step 210 ), the computer 104 will interleave and overlap the series such that not only are the gaps of data filled , but the data is re - segmented giving the appearance of thinner slices . the slice thickness of the composite data set depends on the original slice thickness as well as # of series interleaved and is also defined as n / k . as noted above , the thickness of a composite series of four , each obtained at 4 mm slice thickness will be 2 mm ( or 50 % of the original slice thickness ). in a 100 % overlap instance , the composite series will be re - segmented into 25 % of the original 4 mm slice thickness , or 1 m ( see fig4 ( h )). therefore , the slice thickness goes from n mm to n / k mm . one hundred percent overlap is currently not believed to be possible even with multi - detector ct technology . as mentioned above , in reality , a 50 % overlap will be more than enough for most 3d reconstructions . mathematical analysis of the composite data set shows that the re - segmented thinner slices are the result of approximations . the mathematical appendix appended hereto illustrates the mathematical validity of this re - segmenting process . to assure exact segmentation , software modifications for scanner computer 104 will be necessary . this is readily within the skill of a person having ordinary skill in the art . thereafter , the composite data file can be exported to 3d graphics rendering software ( not shown ) for display of mprs and / or 3d reconstructions . an example of a suitable 3d rendering software package is the voxar site - wide 3d ™ package produced by voxar limited of edinburgh , scotland . it is believed that software modifications may be necessary with some 3d rendering programs to ensure that the integrity of the composite data file is maintained upon loading . such software modifications are believed to be well within the skill of a person having ordinary skill in the art . it is worth noting that steps 200 - 210 of fig2 can be performed with manual intervention by the clinician between each series acquisition as explained above to define the parameters for the next series acquisition . alternatively , steps 200 - 210 can be performed automatically by the scanner control computer 104 without human intervention after invocation by a clinician of the start of the process . for example , steps 200 - 210 can be implemented in a software program executed by control computer 104 after invocation of a “ macro ” function or the like by the clinician through a control computer user interface . this software program could be configured to emulate the user input described in connection with fig8 ( a )-( k ). to invoke such an automated function , the clinician may be prompted to provide starting acquisition parameters such as image data series slice thickness , skip , the desired degree of overlap , starting table position , the plane of acquisition , etc . once the staring parameters are specified , the software can automatically compute table position adjustments for subsequently acquired image series and automatically communicate control instructions to the scanner for acquiring each image series . alternatively , rather than requiring a user to provide initial acquisition parameters , a plurality of appropriately named predefined macro functions , each with its own predefined acquisition parameters , can be made available for invocation by the clinician from the control computer user interface . the software program can also be configured to automatically perform the task of sorting the image slices in the composite data set into order by slice position . fig9 depicts a flowchart for this sorting algorithm . the sorting operation preferably begins when all of the image slices for each of the acquired image series are obtained ( step 900 ). when programmed on a conventional mri scanner , the riot technique produces t output image series ( usually 3 ≦ t ≦ 5 , but this need not be the case ) each containing m images . next , the software processes the header information for these slices to identify the slice position for each image slice ( step 902 ). to produce the riot effect , the image slices in these series are preferably sorted in ascending order by their identified slice positions ( step 904 ), relabeled as a single riot image series of length t * m ( step 906 ) and stored in memory as a single image series ( step 908 ). virtually all contemporary medical image data acquisition systems format images use the digital image communications in medicine ( dicom ) standard . dicom image objects are formatted according to this well - known standard to include a header elements and image picture elements ( pixels ). for the purposes of explaining the preferred sorting software , the header consists of a set of known descriptive elements or attributes that are encoded according to the standard as a tag - value pair . by correctly interpreting and processing the dicom headers of the image slices , it is possible to adjust the image description attributes contained in each image slice to achieve the desired riot result . as explained above , the sorting algorithm of fig9 operates to read the header of each dicom image comprising the t original output series , extracts the relevant attributes by searching for the relevant dicom tags , determines the correct sorted order and then updates the relevant dicom tags so that a dicom compliant display device which might receive the resulting riot image series would display and process the images in the most advantageous manner . in order to accomplish the necessary riot sorting and series relabeling , the following dicom image attributes may be used : when any original dicom image is edited or modified the dicom standard defines a set of attributes that must be modified in order to indicate and track the changes . for these attributes that are not listed in table 1 above , a person having ordinary skill in the art can make the appropriate modifications according to known dicom conventions . a possible embodiment of the sorting software described in connection with fig9 would include a dicom storage service class provider ( scp ) module which would be addressable over a computer network by any imaging modality ( scanner ) that supports the dicom communication protocol as an appropriate storage service class user ( scu ). this dicom scp software module would receive unsorted image series from the imaging modality and temporarily store them in a directory on a local storage device . the sorting software module would be invoked using standard programming means by the scp module . the sorting module would read each dicom format image , parse the header tags , locate and extract the relevant attributes , and store them in a table in computer memory along with the name of the file used to temporarily store the image on the local storage device . once this table was sorted in ascending order of slice location , the relevant image header tags will be redefined so that image slices are numbered sequentially by slice location , and the number of image series is set to 1 . these modified image attributes are then written into the appropriate image file overwriting the previous values . once the images are thus modified a final software module , a dicom storage scu , is invoked to transfer the images to the desired destination ( normally a permanent storage device or image display workstation ) via the dicom communication protocol . in terms of time , it is believed that , with riot , each individual series can be acquired more rapidly than a single series acquired with 0 % skip by conventional techniques . this speed is the result of utilizing a 100 % skip instead of the conventional 0 - 20 % skip . the total acquisition time for 4 series ( regardless of the sequence ) is believed to be less than that of any high resolution volumetric sequence . the total acquisition time of 8 series will be similar to that of a high resolution volumetric sequence ( for most sequences ). however , experimentation indicates that the total acquisition times are dramatically reduced using an ultra fast sequence such as true - fisp . in fact , the true - fisp sequence is the preferred sequence for most reconstructions as it displays high resolution despite its fast acquisition time . fig5 ( a )-( d ) depict a 3d reconstruction derived from phantom images utilizing a true - fisp sequence for a ( 1 ) conventional non - riot sequence with 4 mm slice thickness and a 0 % skip ( fig5 ( a )), ( 2 ) two interleaved riot series , with slices having a 4 mm slice thickness and a 100 % skip ( fig5 ( b )); ( 3 ) four interleaved riot series , with slices having a 4 mm slice thickness and a 100 % skip ( fig5 ( c )); and ( 4 ) eight interleaved riot series , with slices having a 4 mm slice thickness and a 100 % skip ( fig5 ( d )). fig7 ( a ) depicts a 3d reconstruction for true - fisp riot data acquired with a 100 % overlap . fig7 ( b ) depicts a coronal mpr for true - fisp riot data acquired with a 100 % overlap . with true - fisp , the total time required to acquire 8 series through an adult knee is 3 minutes . a high resolution volumetric sequence such as 3 - d vibe ( see fig6 for a 3d - vibe sequence of a phantom ) will take approximately 15 minutes . depending on the pathology , a longer sequence , such as a t1 - weighted sequence , may be indicated for better definition . however , as stated earlier , riot may be applied to any 2d sequence technique . although riot was conceived for the purpose of improving 3 - d and multi - planar reconstructions , its impact on cross - sectional imaging is also believed to be profound . the reason for this is that because each individual series is acquired with a 100 % gap between slices , “ cross - talk ” ( which results in decreased snr with thinner slices in conventional sequences ), is no longer an issue . using conventional non - riot techniques , slice thicknesses less than 2 . 5 mm will exhibit poor snr , at times rendering images non - diagnostic . riot allows for even thinner slice reconfigurations ( i . e ., 1 mm ). in addition , some sequences will not allow slice thicknesses below a certain value due to sar limitations . with riot , thinner slices will not result in increased sar , regardless of the sequence . this is due to the fact that the thinner slices are not acquired contiguously , ( i . e . in one series ). the result is improved resolution without loss of snr ( unlike with conventional 2 - d and volumetric sequences ). as noted , with riot , 4 series , each acquired at 4 mm , slices can be reconfigured into a single series segmented at 2 mm thick slices with a 50 % overlap . likewise , 8 such series can also be reconfigured into a single series segmented into 1 mm thick slices with 100 % overlap , without sacrificing snr . the thinner slices of the composite data sets will have identical snr as the original data sets . therefore , riot allows for thinner slices with both excellent resolution and excellent snr . this will yield 3d reconstructions that surpass those of high resolution volumetric sequences ( see fig5 ( c ), ( d ), 6 , 7 ( a )). experimentation also indicates that mpr &# 39 ; s and 3d images generated from just two interleaved series , each acquired with 4 mm thick slices and 100 % gap ( which in effect yields a series of 4 mm thick slices , with 0 skip and zero overlap ), exhibit better resolution and snr than those generated using the same sequence with the same slice thickness and 0 skip ( compare fig5 ( a ) and ( b )). yet , the acquisition time for both techniques is identical . therefore , it is believed that riot will also improve the diagnostic quality of cross - sectional images , which is especially important when focusing on detailed structures . it is worth noting that although riot is believed to enhance the inherent capability of any 2d sequence in terms of resolution and snr , it is not believe that riot will overcome limitations inherent to a particular sequence ( such as chemical shift artifact ). the present invention is also believed to be suitable for use with ct scanners . ct experimentation for riot was carried out with scans performed on a siemens sensations 16 row detector ct scanner manufactured by siemens medical systems of erlangen , germany . two ct data sets of 2 × 1 mm were generated from a ct data set acquired with 1 . 5 mm collimation at 5 mm slice thickness . the starting position of the second data set was 1 mm below the first . both series were combined into a composite data set sorted by tp to yield a single data set of 1 × 1 mm with 100 % overlap . this preliminary data suggests that interleaving may be possible with ct . it is believed that the application of riot to ct will result in even higher quality imaging than is currently possible with existing multi - detector technology . in summary , riot allows for much higher quality 2d as well as mpr and 3d images with relatively little time cost . more importantly , it can be applied to most mr sequences ( all except volumetric acquisitions ). accordingly , it is believed that riot can improve mr imaging overall whether 2d or 3d image sets . finally , and most importantly , it is believed that riot will increase diagnostic accuracy , particularly when dealing with small anatomy which could particularly advantageously impact pediatric mr imaging . while the present invention has been described above in relation to its preferred embodiment , various modifications may be made thereto that still fall within the invention &# 39 ; s scope , as would be recognized by those of ordinary skill in the art . for example , in the preferred embodiment where 4 mm slices were acquired via riot to achieve a 50 % overlap , series 1 was acquired beginning at a initial table position of tp ( 0 mm ), series 2 was acquired beginning at a initial table position of tp ( 2 mm ), series 3 was acquired beginning at a initial table position of tp ( 4 mm ), and series 4 was acquired beginning at a initial table position of tp ( 6 mm ). however , the nature of initial table position adjustments need not necessarily be sequential . for example , series 2 can be acquired beginning at a initial table position of tp ( 4 mm ), series 3 can be acquired beginning at a initial table position of tp ( 6 mm ), and series 4 can be acquired beginning at a initial table position of tp ( 2 mm ). moreover , the examples given herein are described in terms of a 50 % overlap ( 4 image series ) or a 100 % overlap ( 8 image series ), but it should be noted that other overlap percentages ( e . g ., 200 %) could also be used in the practice or riot . these and other modifications to the invention will be recognizable upon review of the teachings herein . as such , the full scope of the present invention is to be defined solely by the appended claims and their legal equivalents . sampling theory is used to increase the slice resolution in imaging for the two most common methods of three - dimensional imaging — multi - slice 2d and 3d imaging . in this discussion , a methodology is outlined for using multi - slice 2d imaging to increase the spatial resolution without the corresponding decrease in measured signal . drawing on the mathematical framework in haacke et al referenced above , the 2d image projected along z is as shown in fig1 ( a ), the voxel value is the area under the curve of p ( z ) where δ is the thickness of the area to be examined under constant x and y where p ( z ) represents the distribution of the protons and it is assumed that p ( z ) is a well behaved function in the domain { 0 , δ } which we can partition ( as shown in fig1 ( b )) and then write the equation as this property can be used to overcome sar and the slice thickness issue of snr and resolution . to do this , a slice sequence is defined for a multi - slice measurement as follows ( 1 , 3 , 5 . . . ) and after the selected area of examination is completed , the region is re - scanned with a slice shift as shown below . lets define p n for the voxel value at the n th slice and a i j for the area under given by as the voxel value for a slice of thickness δ at position iδ to jδ . in fig1 , each segment is of length δ and the thickness of each slice s i will vary from 4 - 6 δ and have an offset from nδ from the initial start position . to better illustrate the slices , they are depicted in fig1 in different grayscale colors and slightly raised to show their relative positions . which can be solved if the determinant of the matrix is not equal to zero . this operation will need to be done for each voxel and the number of slices and the slice shift needs to be selected such that the linear system of equations generated can be solved for the matrix of a i j . it should be noted that solution is not unique and various combinations of slice thickness and slice positions will yield results . this analytical solution is computationally intensive and various approximate solutions can be used to solve for the matrix of a i j .	6
hals monomers and some of its derivatives may be prepared by any of the methods that are known in the art including those disclosed in patents no . jp 53015385 28 ( july 1978 ), swiss ch 610898 ( may 15 , 1979 ), swiss ch 605927 ( october 1978 ), brit . gb 1492494 ( november 1977 ) and literature : t . tsuchiya and h . sashida , heterocycles , 14 , 1925 - 8 ( 1980 ). hals namely 2 , 2 , 6 , 6 - tetramethyl piperidine and 2 , 2 , 6 , 6 - tetramethyl - 4 - piperidinol may be prepared by synthetic route disclosed by w . b . lutz , s . lazams and r . i . meltzer , j qrg chem - i 14 , 530 ( 1949 ) where as the hydroxy benzotriazoles can be prepared by any of the above mentioned methods , disclosed in the patents and literature . all these patents and literature are incorporated herein by reference . the present invention relates to a novel photo - stabilizer ; tp - hals a hals coupled to an uv absorber and their derivatives . this class of compounds is added to the polymers in order to improve their photo - stability and in turn their life span they can also be used to obtain photo - stable coatings and paints for out - door applications . hals and benzotriazoles are found to be compatible with polyolefins , polycarbonate , and a variety of diene elastomers . the novel photo - stabilizer synthesized by the process of the invention bears two different active sites in the same molecule , which are known to work in synergism . the hindered amine site acts as a radical scavenger and the bezotriazole site acts as an uv absorber , thus avoiding the addition of two different additives to the polymer . moreover , coupling these two different photo - stabilizers not only increase the active sites but also help in increasing the overall molecular weight of the stabilizer , thus decreasing the possibility of its loss due to evaporation , migration / leaching and extraction . these additives have even found applications in a variety of polymers used for food storage , consumer care products and pharmaceuticals , preserving the packaging content from the detrimental effect of high heat and harmful radiation . moreover , the literature also shows their agricultural applications . the deterioration of polymeric materials is an inevitable phenomenon and it occurs mainly due to their exposure to the uv portion of sunlight reaching the earth &# 39 ; s surface . the net result of degradation is the loss in the molecular weight and macroscopic physical properties . in order to avoid this loss different types of photo - stabilizers have been devised that protect the polymeric substrate from detrimental effect of light . the compatible and mobile light stabilizers usually prove to be the best choice to attain the desired photostability . most of these stabilizers are commercially available and are successfully employed , single and / or in combination with other stabilizers for the polymer stabilization . researchers have even attempted to study the combined effect of screeners , quenchers , ultraviolet absorbers and thermal stabilizers . ample literature on the synthesis and application of these photostabilizers is available . depending upon the type of combination , the effect of the stabilizers can be synergistic and / or antagonistic . the efficacy of the stabilizer depends on many factors viz . type of combination , proportion of additive , compatibility with the polymer and molecular weight of the stabilizer . hindered amine light stabilizer ( hals ) and benzotriazole based uv absorbers are known to work in synergism . moreover , there is hardly any literature on the synthesis of the coupled derivatives of hals and uv absorbers . the uv absorber of the invention overcomes the prior art disadvantages listed above . this invention provides a novel photo - stabilizer : tinuvin p - hindered amine light stabilizer ( tp - hals ) and its derivatives . the derivatives of conventional hals and benzotriazoles have enhanced photo - stabilization effect , and are useful as additives in a variety of polymers used for food storage , consumer care products ( viz . sunscreen / anti - aging lotions ) and pharmaceuticals , preserving the packaging content intact . the process of the present invention is described herein below with reference to the following examples which are illustrative and should not be construed to limit the scope of the present invention in any manner whatsoever . this compound was synthesized strictly under dry and inert reaction conditions . in a 100 ml capacity round bottom . flask ( rb ) 2 -( 2 ′- hydroxy - 5 ′- bromomethyl phenyl ) benzotriazole ( 3 . 0 gms , 0 . 00986m ) was taken along with imidazole ( 2 . 1 gm , 0 . 0295 m ) and an inert atmosphere applied using argon gas . 10 ml of dry pyridine was added and the reaction mixture agitated for 20 - 60 min . the reaction mixture becomes very thick and difficult to stir . to this mixture , tert - butyl dimethyl silyl chloride ( 5 . 2 g , 0 . 0345 m ) was added under inert condition and agitation of reaction mixture was continued for 10 - 14 hrs . after checking the tlc for the completion of the reaction , the pyridine from the rb was evaporated to dryness under vacuum . the contents of the rb were consequently dissolved in 15 ml dichloromethane . the insoluble mass was filtered off and the mother liquor was evaporated under vacuum to give ( a semi crystalline rust coloured compound ) 2 -( 2 ′- tert - butyl - di - metylsilyloxy - 5 ′- bromomethylphenyl ) benzotriazole . the crude product weighed 3 . 30 gms to give 80 % yield . this was purified using column chromatography employing a suitable solvent system . the yield of the pure compound was 76 % and its mp . 162 - 164 ° c . this compound was synthesized strictly under dry and inert reaction conditions . the compound 2 -( 2 ′- tert - butyl - di - metylsilyloxy - 5 ′- bromomethylphenyl ) benzotriazole ( 2 . 1 gms , 0 . 00501 m ) was taken in one 25 ml capacity rb and dissolved in 8 ml dry dimethylformamide ( dmf ) under argon atmosphere with stirring . in another two - necked rb , 1 , 2 , 2 , 6 , 6 - pentamethyl - 4 - piperidinol ( 1 . 0356 gm , 0 . 00601 m ) and sodium - hydride ( 0 . 3 gms , 0 . 01252 m ) were taken and dissolved in 6 ml dry dmf with stirring under argon atmosphere . this reaction mixture was agitated for almost 60 min and then cooled to 4 - 8 ° c . to this reaction mixture the contents of the first rb was added gradually over a period of 30 - 60 min . this reaction mixture was further agitated for 2 - 4 hrs followed by refluxing the same for a period of 2 - 4 hrs . the contents of the rb were cooled to room temperature and further agitated for 4 - 6 hrs at room temperature . the solvent in the rb was evaporated under reduced pressure and the solid mass in the rb was dissolved in 15 ml water and repeatedly extracted with dichloromethane ( 4 × 10 ml ). dichloromethane was then evaporated under vacuum at 38 ° c . over a rotavapor to give pale yellow colored crystalline product 2 -[ 2 ′- tert - butyldimetylsilyloxy - 5 ′- methyleneoxy (( 1 ″, 2 ″, 2 ″, 6 ″, 6 ″- pentamethyl - 4 ″- piperidinyl ) phenyl ) benzotriazole . the tlc showed very little amount of unreacted starting material . the crude yield was 2 . 22 gms ( 87 %). the product was purified by recrystalization technique using an appropriate organic solvent to get ( 83 %) yield of pure product . the compound 2 -[ 2 ′- tert - butyldimetylsilyloxy - 5 ′- methyieneoxy (( 1 ″, 2 ″, 2 ″, 6 ″, 6 ″- pentamethyl - 4 ″- piperidinyl ) phenyl ) benzotriazole ( 2 . 0 g , 0 . 003937 m ) was taken in an rb with a tetrabutyl ammonium fluoride [ 4 . 71 ml , 0 . 004724 m ( 1 . 0 m solution in thf )] and the reaction mixture agitated at room temperature for 1 - 3 hrs under anhydrous conditions , followed by addition of 10 ml water and extraction of the product in dcm ( 4 × 10 ml ). the solvent was dried with anhydrous magnesium sulfate after neutralization with anhydrous potassium carbonate . evaporating the solvent gave the product 2 -[ 2 ′- tert - butyldimetylsilyloxy - 5 ′- methyleneoxy (( 1 ″, 2 ″, 2 ″, 6 ″, 6 ″- pentamethyl - 4 ″- piperidinyl ) phenyl ) benzotriazole with a crude yield of 1 . 39 gms ( 90 %). 2 . the process comprises of commonly available organic reagents and employs mild reaction conditions . 4 . reaction can be , carried out via very facile route with very simple and moderate reaction conditions .	2
fig1 shows a schematic cross section through the most important parts of a sample - combustion oven 1 in an embodiment suitable for implementing the method in accordance with the invention , into which a substantially elongated cylindrical ceramic reaction vessel 2 ( the outline of which is represented in the figure by a dashed line ) can be set . this has at its lower end ( cold end of the oven ) a tubular outlet with a diameter in the range between 6 and 10 mm , which can easily be cleaned from below in order to remove salt deposits . the oven 1 comprises a first , upper heating zone 3 , in which according to this embodiment a maximal temperature of 800 ° c . can be reached , and a second , lower heating zone 4 in which the maximal temperature is 1250 ° c . the two heating zones are heated by means of heating wires 5 , 6 in the form of hollow cylinders made of a special high - temperature - resistant alloy , namely the material kanthal - fibrothal ®, which are disposed around the respective section of the reaction vessel 2 . the upper and the lower heating zones comprise ceramic - fibre insulators 7 and 8 , which differ in thickness because of the different maximal temperatures ; the foot region , i . e . the region 10 a , 10 b between the heating zones , and the region 11 a , 11 b below an aluminium cover 12 are also insulated by ceramic fibres . a device ( not shown in the figure ) for charging with the sample and supplying carrier gas is also provided , in the region above the cover 12 . the oven construction shown in fig1 and described above advantageously enables the long - term production of high temperatures , generated especially in the second , lower heating zone 4 , while the special insulation both contributes to a tolerable energy consumption and eliminates potential danger to the surroundings . an aqueous sample introduced into this combustion oven is decomposed by catalyzer - free combustion at no less than 1200 ° c ., preferably about 1250 ° c ., in such a way that the various phosphorus fractions it contains are all converted to orthophosphate and are thus made accessible for demonstration by the known and standardized demonstration methods ( in particular blue and yellow methods ), as has been confirmed by the inventor . fig2 is a sketch to show in principle the overall construction of a measurement apparatus 13 for determining the various substances contained in drainage water or water intended for use . as the main component of this apparatus 13 , the combustion oven 1 illustrated in fig1 and described above is shown ; alternatively , however , another type of combustion oven ( possibly with radiant heating ) can occupy this position . for the sake of better clarity parts not essential to the invention , such as might serve for calibration and cleaning of the measurement apparatus , have been omitted from this sketch - like representation . likewise not shown is a controlling unit ( controller ), which controls the entire sequence of events comprising the sample decomposition and measurement processes , and for this purpose is of course connected to the main blocking , transport , heating and demonstration devices in this apparatus . the implementation and operation of such a control device , on the basis of the procedural description given here and the construction of the apparatus as explained below , is within the scope of a person skilled in the art . associated with the combustion oven 1 , as a core item in the measurement apparatus 13 , on the input side there is a carrier - gas storage container 14 to provide carrier gas for the measurement processes , with attached thereto the input - valve device 15 . in addition , the oven has a heating - control unit 17 to control the electrical heating of the oven , and a sample - feeding device 18 to feed the sample into a sample - injection valve 19 of the oven . the sample - feeding device 18 comprises a sample reservoir 20 , such as can be disposed for example at the inlet of a clarification plant , an injection unit 21 , which is transportably mounted on a carrier 22 , and an associated transport controller 23 . the syringe unit 21 comprises a dosing syringe 24 and a stepping motor 25 to achieve precisely controllable actuation of the syringe and hence the dosage of a predetermined sample volume . at the outlet of the oven 1 a first cooling stage 26 is disposed , which comprises a cooling - trap unit 27 , a peltier cooler 28 and an associated temperature controller 29 with t - sensor 29 a at or in the cooling - trap unit 27 . downstream from the first cooling stage 26 is a second cooling stage 30 , which comprises a cooling block 31 with associated peltier cooler 32 and , to control the latter , a temperature - control unit 33 with t - sensor 33 a . at the first cooling stage 26 is disposed another syringe unit 34 which in analogy to the syringe unit 21 for supplying the combustion oven 1 comprises an injection syringe 35 with stepping motor 36 for its precisely controlled actuation . in addition , this syringe unit 34 is likewise mounted on a transport carrier 37 , with which is associated a transport - control unit 38 for transporting the syringe unit into a second operating position . the latter is above a flow - through cuvette 39 , into which the needle of the injection syringe 35 can be inserted , as into the cooling trap 27 . this second operating position is indicated by a dashed line , as is the initial operating position of the syringe unit 21 . attached to an input of the flow - through cuvette 39 , by way of a pump 40 , is a reagent container 41 in which a chemical needed for the photometric phosphorus detection is stored . the flow - through cuvette 39 projects into a photometer unit 42 which is designed for photometric analysis of an aqueous sample flowing through the flow - through cuvette 39 , and the outlet of which is connected to a phosphorus - evaluation stage 43 . at the outlet of the second cooling stage 30 the output conduit 44 of the combustion oven 1 divides into two branches , one leading to an no detector 45 which on its outlet side is connected to a nitrogen ( tn ) evaluation stage 46 , and the other to a co 2 detector 47 which on its outlet side is connected to a carbon ( toc ) evaluation stage 48 . the way the measurement apparatus 13 functions will already be largely evident from the above explanations of the method in accordance with the invention , but is again briefly summarized as follows . by means of the first syringe unit 21 an aqueous sample is taken out of the reservoir 20 , transported to the combustion oven 1 and injected into the oven . at the temperatures to which the interior has been set , the sample is vaporized and burned almost instantaneously , and the resulting combustion gas is transported from the oven into the output conduit 44 , along with a carrier - gas stream supplied by the carrier - gas reservoir 14 . in the condenser the combustion / carrier gas stream is cooled down to a first cooling temperature , at which a condensate is formed in the cooling trap 27 . a predetermined amount of this condensate is withdrawn by means of the second syringe unit 34 and is placed in the flow - through cuvette 39 , where it is mixed with the reagent provided by the pump 40 in order to enable a photometric detection process , and is then sent to the photometer unit 42 for phosphorus detection . in the second cooling stage 30 the combustion / carrier gas stream is cooled to a second cooling temperature near 0 ° c ., and at the output side of the cooling stage the gas is sent to the detectors 45 and 47 for the demonstration of no and co 2 . when the demonstration processes in the detectors 42 , 45 and 47 have produced results , the respective evaluation stages 43 , 46 and 48 determine the total phosphorus content ( tp ), the total nitrogen content ( tn ) and the total content of organic carbon ( toc ) of the aqueous sample that was taken from the reservoir 20 and decomposed in the combustion oven 1 . fig3 shows the structure of the cooling trap 27 in greater detail , in a cross - sectional drawing . in a block 27 a representing the basic body an input section 27 b has been constructed , by way of which the cooling trap 27 is in communication with the output of the combustion oven 1 , and through which a combustion / carrier gas stream g enters . the input section 27 b opens into a vertical bore 27 c , in the lower region of which during cooling of the gas stream a condensate k is deposited . in the upper region of the basic body 27 a an additional horizontal passage section 27 d is provided , which opens into the bore 27 c and by way of which the cooled and condensate - free combustion / carrier gas stream g ′ is finally guided to the second cooling stage 30 . a plug 27 e closes the lower end of the bore 27 c . the embodiment of the invention is not limited to the example explained above and the aspects emphasized here , but is also possible in a large number of modifications that are within the scope of a person skilled in the art . in particular the two - stage cooling arrangement described can be replaced by a simple , single - stage gas - liquid separator , and also with respect to the sample - supply arrangement employing the first syringe unit and / or to the mounting and transport of the second syringe unit simplifications are possible in the interest of cost reduction , in particular by elimination of the associated electronically controlled transport mechanism .	6
as is shown in fig1 the conventional method for removing hcn from overhead from a fcc riser column 10 is to direct the overhead hydrocarbonaceous gas stream via conduit 12 into main distillation column 14 . this gas stream contains in addition to hcn , lower boiling point hydrocarbons e . g . c 1 to c 4 , hydrogen sulfide , sulfur dioxide , and carbon disulfide . higher boiling point hydrocarbons are removed from main distillation column 14 via conduit 20 while lower boiling point components including hcn are removed from column 14 via conduit 16 . conduit 16 directs these lower boiling components including hcn into water wash 18 where the cn - ions are absorbed into the water . this water containing the cn - ions is removed from water wash 18 via conduit 24 and directed into sour water stripper 30 . unabsorbed gases are removed from water wash 18 via conduit 22 and feed into accumulator 26 where additional entrained water is separated from the gas . separated water from the accumulator is removed therefrom by conduit 28 into sour water stripper 30 where it is combined with the wash water from vessel 18 . substantially cn - free gas is removed from accumulator 26 via conduit 36 where it is utilized in the refinery operations or flared . water containing cn - ions is removed from sour water stripper 30 via conduit 32 and sent to a disposal unit to reduce the cyanide concentration to environmentally acceptable levels . in a preferred embodiment of this invention , overhead from the fcc riser column and the main distillation column are processed in the conventional manner . however , water wash 18 is replaced by reactor 34 as is depicted in fig2 . reactor 34 contains a bed for the removal of hcn . the material in the bed is comprised of catalyst which is selected from a member of the group consisting of mgo / sio 2 , sno 2 , li 2 o , and vanadia / titania . hydrocarbonaceous gas containing hcn is allowed to remain in contact with said catalyst under conditions and for a time sufficient to convert hcn to nh 3 while avoiding degradation or polymerization of olefinic hydrocarbons contained in said gas stream . the preferred operating conditions are a space velocity of about 100 to about 100 , 000 hr - 1 and the temperature is from about 150 ° to about 500 ° c . water vapor entrained in the hydrocarbonaceous gas will generally be sufficient to accomplish the required conversion of hcn to nh 3 . if additional water is required it can be added to the reactor in the form of steam to obtain the desired conversion . the conversion process is monitored to remove hcn impurities from the gaseous process stream at commercially practical temperatures and space velocities to the desired low concentrations . since the gas stream containing hcn contains other species of commercial value , e . g . c 1 to c 4 hydrocarbons , the catalyst composition and operating conditions are controlled so that these species are not degraded by the catalyst . for example , strong acid sites on the catalyst may need to be neutralized to prevent polymerization of olefinic compounds such as propenes and butenes , or the temperature of operation may need to be limited to prevent oxidation of hydrocarbons . the conversion of a gaseous stream in accordance with this invention is intended to encompass a fixed bed operation as well as the use of a moving or fluidized absorbent bed . the particular method of contacting the gaseous stream with the adsorbent is not critical for purposes of this invention . the removal of impurities other than hcn that exit from the gaseous stream may be advantageously carried out in a primary purification step using regenerable liquid adsorbents which are known in the art . thus , for example , gaseous sulfur compounds , such as h 2 s and so 2 may be suitably removed from the process stream prior to removal of hcn using a liquid solution of ethanol - amines or alkali hydroxides . similarly , a portion of the hcn in the process stream may be initially removed by the aforementioned adsorbents or in an ammonia solution prior to reducing the hcn content to the desired final concentrations in accordance with the present invention . hydrocarbonaceous gas emitted from reactor 34 via conduit 22 is monitored to maintain a desired level of hcn removal and nh 3 conversion . this converted gas stream is afterwards directed into accumulator 26 . in accumulator 26 additional entrained water containing nh 3 is separated from the gas . substantially water and hcn free gas is removed from the accumulator by conduit 36 . separated nh 3 and water from the accumulator are removed therefrom by conduit 28 into sour water stripper 30 . substantially cn - free gas from accumulator 26 is utilized in the refinery operations or flared . substantially cn - free water containing nh 3 ions is removed from sour water stripper 30 via conduit 32 and sent to a disposal unit for facilitated disposal since the cyanide concentration therein has been reduced to environmentally acceptable levels . in order to demonstrate the efficacy of this novel process , tests were run on hcn containing streams over the catalysts of this invention . ______________________________________ ppm ppm ppmcatalyst temp . (° c .) inlet hcn exit hcn exit nh . sub . 3______________________________________mgo / sio . sub . 2 400 100 0 100sno . sub . 2 500 100 2 82lio . sub . 2 o / sio . sub . 2 500 100 21 70______________________________________ obviously , many other variations and modifications of this invention as previously set forth may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of this invention as those skilled in the art readily understand . such variations and modifications are considered part of this invention and within the purview and scope of the appended claims .	2
referring first to fig1 - 4 , there is shown a portable bar code laser scanner 100 and a reader . a housing 101 contains the electronics and optics of the unit . it is a bi - part shell having left 12 and right 14 portions which are assembled together along a parting plane 16 where the portions interconnect . the housing is similar to that disclosed in u . s . pat . no . 5 , 200 , 597 , referenced above , but has in addition on its head a scanner window frame , called a boot 110 , of elastomeric material ( rubber like ) which is adapted to receive the head of bar code laser scanner . the boot 110 captures a window 250 or other optical element , against the face of the forward end of the housing . fig1 shows the housing as a bi - part case having two halves 12 and 14 assembled to define a parting line 16 . fig2 shows the scanner with the boot 110 removed , and fig3 is a sectional view of the scanner 100 taken along line 3 -- 3 of fig1 . 202 ribs or tabs secure the boot . the exterior dimensions of the head of the scanner which receives the boot ( in the nose part 247 of the head ) are slightly less than those of the rest of the head , which do not receive the boot . the boot can then be essentially flush with the exterior of the housing in the back of the nose 243 . in fact , the dimensions at the face 240 on the front end 242 of the nose 243 of the head are nearly equal those at the back 210 of the head . the face 240 of the nose 243 defines a frame containing a step or ledge 245 . the front end of the boot has a shoulder 249 ( fig5 ) along its top and bottom and left and right sides . fig4 is a sectional view of the scanner 100 with the boot mounted thereon and taken along line 4 -- 4 of fig3 . boot 110 has detents 230 which are adapted to receive tabs 202 . the step 245 provides a shoulder at the face 240 . this shoulder defines a rectangular opening in which the optical element ( e . g . the window 250 , though it could be another optical element ) is received and held in position . the resilience of the boot assures a snug fit of the element . window 250 has four sides ; its top and bottom sides , as well as its left and right sides , fit in close relation inside and upon shoulder ( also called a step or ledge ) 245 at the scanners face 240 . in other words window 250 is held in place by the rubber boot 110 , the front end opening of which is of smaller dimensions than window 250 so that the top , bottom and right and left sides define a rubber lip 270 , 249 ( shown in perspective view in fig5 ), will retain window 250 against shoulder 240 . fig4 also shows the interior structure of the head , and in particular shows how ribs 202 which are integral with housing 101 in its nose 243 catch the indentations or detents .	6
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 . fig2 and 3 are flowcharts illustrating a method of tracking a swimming path of a bacterium according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention , fig4 is a schematic diagram of an apparatus for obtaining an image of a bacterium from a solid surface , fig5 is an enlarged diagram of part “ a ” represented in fig4 , and fig6 to 9 are schematic diagrams illustrating a process of modeling the shape of a bacterium as an ellipsoid based on an image of the bacterium obtained by the apparatus shown in fig4 . referring to fig2 to 9 , a swimming path of an ellipsoidal bacterium is tracked by the method of tracking a swimming path of a bacterium . in this embodiment , rp437 bacterium is used as the ellipsoidal bacterium . the rp437 bacterium is generally formed in an ellipsoidal shape that has a 2 μm major axis and an 800 nm minor axis . the method of tracking a swimming path of a bacterium , as illustrated in fig2 , comprises : a transfection step ( s 100 ); a solid surface treatment step ( s 200 ); a swimming step ( s 300 ); an evanescent field formation step ( s 400 ); an image acquisition step ( s 500 ); and a shape and position setting step ( s 600 ). in the transfection step ( s 100 ), a fluorescent gene , for example , a known enhanced green fluorescent protein ( egfp ) gene , is transfected into the rp 437 bacterium . here , the egfp gene is excited at an energy level with a wavelength of 488 nm . the transfection is a widely known process performed using a plasmid , and thus its detailed description will be omitted here . the rp437 bacterium is transfected with the egfp genes to form rp437 - pgfpmut2 bacterium . the rp437 - pgfpmut2 bacterium is cultivated in a shaking incubator at 150 rpm for 6 hrs at 30 ° c . in the solid surface treatment step ( s 200 ), a solid surface 50 illustrated in fig4 is treated to be electrically neutral . this surface treatment is carried out by applying a surface treatment material produced by merck & amp ; co ., inc . ( extran ma02 ) onto the solid surface , i . e ., a bottom surface 51 thereof . the surface treatment cleans the bottom surface 51 of the solid and prevents electrostatic attraction between the bacterium and the bottom surface 51 of the solid . here , the solid surface 50 is a prism formed of glass . in the swimming step ( s 300 ), the rp437 - pgfpmut2 bacterium is disposed in a swimming space 53 marked by a dotted line in fig5 and swims therein . the swimming space 53 is formed between the bottom surface 51 of the solid and an imaginary surface 52 parallel to the bottom surface 51 . also , the swimming space 53 is formed by putting a cellophane tape 40 on a glass substrate 30 , cutting a middle part of the cellophane tape 40 to form a concave well 41 , and contacting the solid surface 50 onto the cellophane tape 40 . thus , as illustrated in fig5 , the swimming space 53 is formed in a space formed by an inner sidewall of the well 41 and the bottom surface 51 of the solid . also , the swimming space 53 is fully filled with a medium . the swimming space 53 may be formed to various depths . however , to observe regular movement of the rp437 - pgfpmut2 bacterium , the swimming space 53 may be formed to a depth of 10 μm or less . in the evanescent field formation step ( s 400 ), an evanescent field 54 is formed to a certain thickness from the bottom surface 51 of the solid in the swimming space 53 . the evanescent field 54 , as illustrated in fig4 , is formed by reflecting a laser beam with a wavelength of 488 nm generated by an argon - ion laser generator 10 by a pair of reflectors 20 , applying it to the solid surface 50 , and totally reflecting it from the bottom surface 51 of the solid . it is known that the evanescent field 54 is an electromagnetic field whose intensity exponentially decreases in proportion to the distance from the surface of total reflection , i . e ., the bottom surface 51 of the solid . also , the thickness ( z p ) of the evanescent field 54 may be theoretically calculated by the following & lt ; formula 1 & gt ;, as disclosed in hecht e ( 2002 ), “ optics ”, 4 th edition , addison - wesley , reading , mass ., pp 124 - 127 , and k . d . kihm , a . banerjee , c . k . choi , t . takagi , 2004 , “ near - wall hindered brownian diffusion of nanoparticles examined by three - dimensional ratiometric total internal reflection fluorescence microscopy ( 3 - d r - tirfm )”, experiments in fluids , vol . 37 , pp 811 - 824 . here , z p denotes the thickness of the evanescent field 54 , θ i denotes the angle of incidence ( rad ) of a laser beam on the solid surface 50 , n 1 denotes the refractive index of the solid surface 50 , n 2 denotes the refractive index of a medium , and λ denotes the wavelength ( nm ) of a laser beam . with a θ i of 1 . 104 rad , an n 1 of 1 . 515 which is the refractive index of the solid formed of glass , an n 2 of 1 . 3338 , and a λ of 488 nm , formula 1 yields a z p of about 170 nm . accordingly , in this embodiment , the evanescent field is formed to a thickness of about 170 nm . in the image acquisition step ( s 500 ), as illustrated in fig4 , a camera 60 is installed under the glass substrate 30 and pictures are taken of the rp437 bacterium in which the egfp gene is expressed at different moments obtaining images of the bacterium at the respective moments . here , the images of the rp437 bacterium in which the egfp gene is expressed , that is , the rp437 - pgfpmut2 bacterium , are images of a bacterium emitting light in the evanescent field . to be specific , when the entire bacterium is disposed in the evanescent field , an image of the entire bacterium may be obtained , but when only a part of the bacterium is disposed in the evanescent field , only a partial image of the bacterium can be obtained . in this embodiment , a partial image of the bacterium is obtained because the size of the bacterium is larger than the thickness of the evanescent field . also , the image of the rp437 - pgfpmut2 bacterium contains information on emission intensity . the picture of the bacterium is taken from the underside of the glass substrate and thus is a two - dimensional image on the bottom surface 51 of the solid as illustrated in fig6 . here , the bottom surface 51 of the solid is set as an x - y plane for convenience . in the image and position setting step ( s 600 ), the images of the rp437 - pgfpmut2 bacterium obtained at the respective moments are fitted to an ellipsoidal shape , thereby setting the relative position of the rp437 - pgfpmut2 bacterium with respect to the bottom surface 51 of the solid as well as the shape of the bacterium as an ellipsoid , which is the actual shape of the bacterium , unlike in the conventional art . more particularly , observing the process of fitting the bacterium to an ellipsoidal shape and setting its position relative to the bottom surface 51 of the solid with reference to fig3 , the shape and position setting step ( s 600 ) includes a central axis setting step ( s 610 ), an emission point setting step ( s 620 ), a vertical distance setting step ( s 630 ), an emission point arrangement step ( s 640 ), a fitting step ( s 650 ), a modeling step ( s 660 ), and a swimming path determination step ( s 670 ). in the central axis setting step ( s 610 ), several emission points a are first set on the images of the rp437 - pgfpmut2 bacterium obtained at the respective moments . here , the emission points a are arranged at equal intervals as illustrated in fig6 and have an emission intensity higher than a threshold . the threshold is set based on emission intensity of a noise part included in the image of the bacterium , which is set to be 30 % higher than the emission intensity of the noise part in this embodiment . after that , a central axis l of the emission point a , as illustrated in fig6 , may be set on the bottom surface 51 of the solid , i . e ., an x - y plane , by applying a known linear least square fitting method to the emission point a at the respective moments . as such , the central axis l at the respective moments corresponds to a central axis of the image of the rp437 - pgfpmut2 bacterium at the moment . in the emission point setting step ( s 620 ), several emission points b are set on respective central axes l at the respective moments . here , the emission points b are arranged at equal intervals as illustrated in fig7 and 8 , and have an emission intensity higher than a threshold . and , the threshold is set to be 30 % higher than the emission intensity of the noise part as described above . in the vertical distance setting step ( s 630 ), the emission intensity of each emission point b arranged on the central axis at the respective moments is first compared with a predetermined reference value . here , the reference value is emission intensity of the bacterium emitting at an interface between the bottom surface 51 of the solid and the evanescent field 54 . after that , the vertical distance ( δh ) between each emission point b and the bottom surface 51 of the solid is determined using the following & lt ; formula 2 & gt ;. here , formula 2 represents the relationship between energy level and displacement in the evanescent field , which is already disclosed in hecht e ( 2002 ) “ optics ”, 4 th edition , addison - wesley , reading , mass ., pp 124 - 127 , and k . d . kihm , a . banerjee , c . k . choi , t . takagi , 2004 , “ near - wall hindered brownian diffusion of nanoparticles examined by three - dimensional ratiometric total internal reflection fluorescence microscopy ( 3 - d r - tirfm )”, experiments in fluids , vol . 37 , pp 811 - 824 . here , i 1 denotes the emission intensity of each emission point b , i 2 denotes the reference value , z p denotes the thickness ( nm ) of the evanescent field , and δh denotes the vertical distance ( nm ) of each emission point b . in the emission point arrangement step ( s 640 ), by using the vertical distance δh of each emission point b set by formula 2 at the respective moments , the emission point b is arranged on a z - l plane as illustrated in fig8 . here , the z - l plane is an imaginary vertical plane perpendicular to the bottom surface 51 of the solid and including the central axis l . in the fitting step ( s 650 ), emission points b ′ arranged on the imaginary vertical plane at the respective moments are fitted to an oval shape , thereby determining an image of the bacterium on the imaginary vertical plane as an oval , as illustrated in fig9 . since the oval shape of the bacterium determined in this way may vary depending on various factors such as the sizes of major and minor axes , the sizes of at least the major and minor axes of the bacterium have to be determined before fitting it to the oval shape . for example , the rp437 bacterium is used in this embodiment , and thus the sizes of its major and minor axes are set to 2 μm and 800 nm , respectively , before fitting it to an oval shape . in the modeling step ( s 660 ), by using the oval image of the bacterium determined in the fitting step ( s 650 ), the shape of the bacterium in the swimming space 53 at the respective moments is modeled as an ellipsoid . that is , the oval bacterium determined in the fitting step ( s 650 ) may be rotated based on the major axis , thereby modeling a three - dimensional image of the bacterium in the swimming space 53 . in the swimming path determination step ( s 670 ), centers of the bacterium at the respective moments are determined from the three - dimensional shape of the bacterium modeled in the modeling step ( s 660 ). then , the centers of the bacterium at the respective moments are connected by straight line segments so that the swimming path of the bacterium in the swimming space may be obtained as illustrated in fig1 to 12 . also , positions of the bacterium at the respective moments , that is , an angle ( α ) between the major axis of the bacterium and the solid surface and / or an angle ( β ) between the minor axis of the bacterium and the solid surface , may be obtained . fig1 to 12 illustrate the swimming path of the bacterium obtained by connecting the centers of the bacterium at the respective moments by straight line segments , which are determined as described above . fig1 to 12 also illustrate the swimming path of the bacterium obtained by a conventional method with a green dotted line . moreover , the swimming path of the bacterium determined by the embodiment of the present invention is illustrated by red and blue straight lines . here , the red line denotes the path of the bacterium swimming upward , and the blue line denotes the path of the bacterium swimming downward in the swimming space illustrated in fig4 . as illustrated in fig1 to 12 , the swimming paths of the bacterium on the x - y plane tracked by the method of the embodiment and the conventional method are similar . however ; it can be noted that the swimming paths of the bacterium on the z - x plane obtained by the two methods are significantly different . that is , contrary to the conventional case , the bacterium fluctuates more intensively to move from the bottom surface of the solid . this is because the bacterium has an ellipsoidal shape . apparently , when the bacterium is modeled as ellipsoidal in shape based on its emission image to more closely approximate its actual shape , there is much less error between the center of the modeled bacterium and the center of the actually swimming bacterium than in the conventional case . meanwhile , in order to confirm that the error between the center of the modeled bacterium and the center of the actually swimming bacterium is much less than in the conventional case , an imaginary bacterium formed in an ellipsoidal shape ( major axis : 2 μm , minor axis : 800 nm ) was arranged in an imaginary evanescent field ( thickness : 250 nm ) and then randomly turned about its center . thereby , an emitting part of the imaginary bacterium arranged in the evanescent field changed according to its state of rotation , thus changing the image of the imaginary bacterium . accordingly , based on the different images of the imaginary bacterium obtained depending on the bacterium &# 39 ; s rotation state , the center of the bacterium is set by the tracking method of the embodiment of the present invention , and fig1 may be obtained by plotting the centers on the x - y plane . as such , by using the tracking method of the present embodiment , it can be confirmed that the center of the image set from the image of the imaginary bacterium corresponds closely to the center of the imaginary bacterium regardless of the rotation state of the imaginary bacterium illustrated in fig1 . meanwhile , fig1 illustrates a degree of dispersion of centers of the images of the imaginary bacterium set by the conventional tracking method with respect to the center of the imaginary bacterium . it can be confirmed that the center of the bacterium set by the conventional tracking method is quite different from the actual center . units ( pixels ) of the x and y axes set in fig1 and 14 are pixels of the image of the imaginary bacterium , wherein 1 pixel represents 160 nm , and the center of the imaginary bacterium is set to ( 0 , 0 ). as described above , by using the bacterial swimming path tracking method according to the present embodiment , the bacterium &# 39 ; s shape and the position relative to the bottom surface of a solid may be determined from an image of the bacterium including emission intensity while an ellipsoidal bacterium swims in a swimming space formed near the bottom surface of a solid . particularly , in comparison with conventional methods , the ellipsoidal bacterium is modeled as ellipsoidal in shape to more closely approximate its actual shape , thereby more accurately obtaining the shape of the bacterium and the position relative to the solid surface , and therefore more accurately tracking the swimming path of the bacterium . since the accurate tracking of the bacterium swimming path enables precise control of the movement of a bacterium , it contributes to effective application of a bacterium to industry , such as bio - filters , bio - pumps , bio - motors , and production of bio - energy . according to the present invention with the aforementioned configuration , a bacterium may be modeled as ellipsoidal in shape based on an image of the bacterium obtained while the ellipsoidal bacterium swims near a solid surface , thereby exactly tracking the swimming path of the bacterium . exemplary embodiments of the present invention have been disclosed herein and , although specific terms are employed , they are used and are to be interpreted in a generic and descriptive sense only and not for purpose of limitation . accordingly , it will be understood by those of ordinary skill in the art that various changes in form and details may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention as set forth in the following claims .	6
various aspects of the present disclosure generally address one or more of the problems related to the operation of a glider chair . more particularly , aspects of the present disclosure address problems related to the operation of a glider armchair providing backrest reclining and footrest deployment ( extension ) functions . operation of the backrest / footrest functionalities of the glider armchair , without preventing gliding motion , is further addressed . an embodiment of a gliding mechanism for a gliding recliner chair and of a gliding recliner armchair with footrest comprising the gliding mechanism , will now be described in details referring to the appended drawings . however , at least some of the teachings of the present disclosure are applicable to glider chairs without armrest and / or without footrest . the following description of a gliding recliner armchair with footrest is illustrative only and is not intended to limit the applicability of the gliding mechanism to other types of glider chairs . referring to fig7 a - 7 e , there is illustrated a gliding recliner armchair 100 comprising a seat 10 and backrest 12 assembly mounted on a pair of parallel spaced apart pantographic backrest / footrest actuators 40 a - 40 b assembled on a cross member 22 extending between and connecting first 20 a and second 20 b vertical side frames together to form a seating assembly . the actuators 40 a - 40 b enable reclining movement of the backrest synchronized with seat displacement with respect to frames 20 a - 20 b and extension of a footrest plate 41 ( see fig1 to 6 ). upper portions 21 a - 21 b of the frames 20 a - 20 b can be used as armrests . alternatively , separate padded armrest members ( not shown ) can be mounted to the upper portions 21 a - 21 b , using screws for example . of course , a glider chair using the present gliding mechanism may be provided without armrests . each of side frames 20 a - 20 b is operatively connected to a floor - standing base 50 . connection of the floor - standing base 50 to the side frames 20 a - 20 b is made through connecting links 30 a - 30 d . bolts or studs 33 a - 33 d attach the connecting links 30 a - 30 d to the side frames 20 a - 20 b and bolts or studs 34 a - 34 b attach the connecting links 30 a - 30 d to the floor standing base 50 . more specifically , the connecting links 30 b and 30 d connect a front portion of the floor - standing base 50 to front portions of the side frames 20 a - 20 b using bolts or studs 33 b , 33 d , 34 b and 34 d . likewise , the connecting links 30 a and 30 c connect a back portion of the floor - standing base 50 to back portions of the side frames 20 a - 20 b using bolts or studs 33 a , 33 c , 34 a and 34 c . the bolts or studs 33 a - 33 d and 34 a - 34 d are configured to allow pivoting of the connecting links 30 a - 30 d , in order to enable gliding movement of the seating assembly with respect to the floor - standing base 50 , as it is known in existing glider armchairs . for example a front pivoting point p 1 is formed by bolt or stud 33 b and a back pivoting point p 2 is formed by bolt or stud 34 a . front links 30 b and 30 d are transversely connected together by a rod 31 and links 30 a and 30 c are transversely connected together by a rod 32 to ensure coordinated movement . the floor - standing base 50 comprises a pivoting portion 51 ( fig9 a - 9 d ) assembled on a circular floor - engaging portion 58 for pivotal movement about a vertical axis 56 . referring more specifically to fig9 a - 9 d , the pivoting portion 51 comprises a longitudinal cross member 53 connected at each end to braces 55 a - 55 b so that the cross member 53 is parallel to a width of the pivoting portion 51 and with a width of the seating assembly . a center post , or pivot 52 , is mounted on the cross member 53 for pivotally engaging a bore 57 and bushing ( not shown ) provided at the center of the floor - engaging portion 58 at the axis 56 , which is perpendicular to the plane of a perimeter 59 of the floor - engaging portion 58 . the symmetry of the perimeter 59 allows the armchair 100 to recline and glide in any radial orientation of the seating assembly in relation to the floor - engaging portion 58 . in an alternative embodiment of the gliding recliner armchair 100 , a circular rotation of the seating assembly about the axis 56 may not be provided . in this alternative embodiment , the pivoting portion 51 is fixedly connected to the floor - engaging portion 58 . unlike known gliding armchairs , links 30 a - 30 d are mounted on the inside of the pivoting portion 51 but outside of the pantographic actuators ( between the actuators 40 a - 40 b and the pivoting portion 51 ). this special feature enables the use of a relatively wider and more comfortable footrest plate 41 extending between the side frames 20 a - 20 b without interfering with the floor - standing base 50 during gliding when the footrest actuators 40 a - 40 b are retracted . at least one stop pin 54 ( here , one is provided on each side ) is provided to define a backmost position of gliding when links 30 b and 30 d abut thereon . contact of links 30 a - 30 b with cross member 53 acting as a stop member defines the foremost allowed position of gliding . referring to fig1 a and 1 b , the armchair 100 is shown with a user in a sitting position and with the actuators 40 a - 40 b extended to provide reclined backrest 12 and deployed footrest 41 . a representative user selected for stability studies was 6 foot tall and weighed about 180 pounds . in fig1 a , the armchair is shown in a foremost position of the gliding movement and in fig1 b the armchair in shown in a rearmost position of the gliding movement . vertical phantom lines are provided : line c showing the center axis of the pivot 52 and bore 57 supporting the pivoting portion 51 , line pb being a normal projection of the backmost end of the perimeter 59 of the floor - engaging portion 58 , and line pf being a normal projection of the foremost end of the perimeter 59 . fig2 a and 2 b represent the same respective armchair positions but with a partial view to better show a path 90 followed by the center of gravity during gliding . gf indicates the instant position of the center of gravity in the position of fig1 a ( foremost ) and gb indicates the instant position of the center of gravity in the position of fig1 b ( backmost ). as can be appreciated , the present design limits displacement of the center of gravity of the present gliding recliner armchair in the most extreme conditions , i . e . reclined backrest 12 and deployed footrest 41 . a center 91 of the path 90 followed by the center of gravity is substantially normal to the vertical axis 56 of the floor - standing base 50 . by reducing the displacement of the center of gravity along the path 90 in proximity with the vertical axis 56 of the floor - standing base 50 , it is possible to provide a gliding recliner armchair with a reclinable backrest , and deployed footrest , which can be safely glided in its fully open position . fig2 a and 2 b further show that at any particular gliding position , the projection of the combined center of gravity along an axis normal to the plane of the perimeter 59 always falls within the perimeter delimited by lines pf and pb . moreover , one may observe that the projections of gf and gb in these critical positions are still away from pf or pb by a ratio of about ⅓ of a dimension l corresponding to the base perimeter ( substantially equal to the diameter of floor - engaging portion 58 ). given the symmetry of the floor - engaging portion 58 , this holds true for any angular position of the armchair about the central axis c . a ratio higher than about 20 % has been found by experience to provide sufficient stability . therefore , it can be seen that the cross member 53 supporting the upper portion of the armchair 100 on the floor - engaging portion 58 is not centered between the front and back pivoting points ( for example p 1 and p 2 on fig9 d ) of links 30 on the pivoting portion 51 but is rather strategically positioned rearward to enable a stable and safe behavior of gliding movement in reclined and footrest extended position with respect to the center of gravity . on fig9 d , a horizontal distance d 1 between the front pivoting point p 1 and the vertical axis 56 is about 1 . 85 times a horizontal distance d 2 between the vertical axis 56 and the back pivoting point p 2 . this relation between values of d 1 and d 2 is illustrative and non - limiting . some variations of a ratio of d 1 over d 2 are contemplated . for example d 1 can be greater than d 2 by a factor in a range between about 1 . 6 and 2 . in one practical and non - limiting realization , the floor - engaging portion 58 has a base perimeter l equal to 26 inches while the seat 10 has a depth of 20 inches . on fig7 a , which shows the gliding recliner armchair unloaded ( without user ) with the backrest and footrest in fully retracted position , a front edge of the seat 10 extends beyond the diameter of the floor - engaging portion 58 by about one ( 1 ) inch and a rear edge of the seat 10 lies within the diameter of the floor - engaging portion 58 by about seven ( 7 ) inches . consequently , the seat 10 is centered longitudinally about four ( 4 ) inches forward in relation to the vertical axis 56 . workable values of the ratio of d 1 over d 2 , the sizes of the floor - engaging portion 58 and of the seat 10 , and relative positions of the seat 10 and of the floor - engaging portion 58 are expected to vary according to selected dimensions of various components of the gliding mechanism and of the gliding recliner seating assembly , and according to the intended use of the gliding mechanism and of the gliding recliner seating assembly . fig3 a and 3 b show the gliding recliner armchair with only the footrest extended in respectively the most frontward and rearward positions . as depicted , at the most frontward and rearward gliding positions , the center of gravity of the armchair with the footrest extended remains within slightly less extremes and safer limits than the displacement represented in fig2 a - 2 b previously discussed . the reduced movement of the gravity center indicates that the presence of a user has minimal influence on the stability in this situation , and that geometric properties and material selection of the armchair 100 would hold safe operation for a very wide range of anthropometric characteristics . steel or any material with similar solidity characteristics is selected for adequate rigidity of the armchair structure and for proper balancing . of course , this does not apply to cushioning , to seat and backrest suspension or to cosmetic make up . fig4 a - 4 b and 5 a - 5 b show that stability is also kept within a similar safety range when the footrest 41 and backrest 12 are set in the retracted position , with or without a user sitting . actually , the most critical position a user may experience is with the footrest 41 retracted when reaching the foremost gliding position . still , in the stability studies for the 6 foot tall , 180 pounds representative user , the projection of gf in fig4 a remained inside the perimeter 59 and away from line pf by about 17 % of l , as illustrated on fig4 a . this situation is considered acceptable by experience considering that forward tilting of the armchair doesn &# 39 ; t occur without excessive forward projection of the user &# 39 ; s body and the user may easily put his feet on the floor and stand up from the sitting position . it is envisioned that any projection of gf at least 15 % away from line pf provides safe operation of the gliding recliner . therefore , the built - in safety factor is higher for the extended position and backmost gliding attitude since backward tilting theoretically presents a higher risk of injury . the difference between the resting position of the armchair 100 , with backrest 12 and footrest 41 in ( a ) a fully retracted position and ( b ) a fully extended position is shown at fig6 a and 6 b . it can be seen that the reclining actuators 40 a - 40 b do not change the relative angle between the seat 10 and the backrest 12 , but cause this seat 10 and backrest 12 assembly to slide and tilt in the backward direction . a user may perform the displacement from retracted position to reclined position , simply by urging his back against the backrest while pushing forward on the frames 20 a - 20 b and unfolding his legs . at rest , in either position , the center of gravity is very close to the center axis c of the pivot 52 and naturally slightly forward in the reclined position . one may therefore appreciate that the afore described embodiment of the gliding recliner armchair with footrest provides a safe , reliable and cost effective way of enabling gliding and backrest reclining / footrest deployment operable simultaneously in a same piece of furniture . therefore , it can be seen that the armchair according to the present disclosure overcomes the limitations , drawbacks and shortcomings of existing gliding recliners . although the present gliding mechanism has been described hereinabove by way of non - restrictive , illustrative embodiments thereof , these embodiments may be modified at will within the scope of the appended claims without departing from the spirit and nature of the present disclosure .	0
turning now to the figures wherein the illustrates are for the purpose of illustrating the preferred embodiment only , and not for the purpose of limiting the same , fig1 illustrates and inspection system a which includes an isotropic illumination subsystem b . the increased isotropic properties eliminate &# 34 ; hot spots &# 34 ; deleterious to clean image acquisition . in the inspection system , an illustrative specimen 10 in a sequence or stream thereof moves in a direction d relative to illumination subsystem b and a video acquisition means , such as camera 12 . in the preferred embodiment , the camera 12 includes a lens 14 for focusing light received therein onto a charge coupled device (&# 34 ; ccd &# 34 ;) array disposed within the camera 12 . the particular embodiment evidences a light transmissive or translusive specimen or specimen portion as forming the specimen 10 . the illumination subsystem b is disposed opposite the specimen 10 of the camera 12 . in this way , direct or transmissive lighting of the specimen is accomplished for inspection purposes . however , it will be appreciated , specular illumination is also achievable with isotropic lighting . light generated from the illumination subsystem b accordingly passes to a viewing area indicated generally at 20 . more particularly , the viewing area 20 is defined as the area conducive to specimen illumination by the subsystem b , for acquisition of an image by the camera 12 and lens 14 . a planar , pixel - based image acquired by camera 12 includes gray scale information relating to the brightness level associated with each of such pixels . this information is communicated to video data acquisition / inspection system 22 for computation , comparison , and analysis as will be appreciated by one of ordinary skill in the art . the intelligence associated with the video data acquisition / inspection system 22 directs a lighting control 24 . the lighting control is suitably that available with conventional systems and provides for control of lighting intensity , duration , and light array manipulation in lighting embodiment including such an array . particulars of the lighting array of the preferred embodiment will be detailed below . each of the specimens such as that 10 in the illustration are sequentially communicated to the viewing area 20 by a suitable means such as that illustrated by belt 26 . the belt 26 is suitably transparent or apertured to facilitate illumination therethrough . it will also be appreciated that the belt 26 may be formed so as to secure specimens such as that from a side or sides thereof so as not to obscure illumination and image acquisition . turning now to fig2 a cut - away view , in greater detail , of the isotropic illumination subsystem b is provided . illustrated in the cross - section is a division of a generally spherical diffuser 30 into a first hemisphere 32 and a second hemisphere 34 . the division is taken from a centerline illustrated at 36 . in the illustration , the sphere 30 has an exterior radius r and an internal radius r . thus , the thickness of the sphere is r - r . it will be appreciated that the exterior surface area of the sphere is therefore 4πr 2 . further , an internal surface area is 4πr 2 . in the preferred embodiment , the cavity defined by the internal wall 40 contains air , which contents provide the advantages of the subject system . however , any substance , even a solid sphere , provides improved illumination isotropism . the sphere 30 is suitably formed from any light transmissive or translucent material such as glass or plastic . an exterior surface 38 of the sphere 30 is selected to provide light scattering or dispersion as it passes from the sphere 30 to the surrounding medium . a representative light ray 1 is illustrated as propagating through an interior of sphere 30 to an inner wall or surface 40 . a portion of the light 1 incident on the inner wall 40 will be reflected at an angle of incidence to a tangent to the inner wall equal to an angle of reflection therefrom . such internally reflected light is illustrated at 1 &# 39 ;. it will be seen that a portion of the light is also passed through this sphere 30 and scattered therefrom as illustrated generally at 42 . the particulars of the light transmission and scattering will be detailed below in connection with fig3 . similarly , a portion of the light internally reflected at 1 &# 39 ; will be scattered as illustrated at 44 . fig2 also illustrates a light source 50 . light source 50 provides illumination to sphere 30 at the first hemisphere 32 . in this fashion , light thus received may be internally reflected and passed and diffused so as to illuminate a specimen by passing outwardly through the second hemisphere portion 34 of sphere 30 . it is to be appreciated that merely wrapping a light source with a diffuser does not provide the subject advantages . such light still appears directional in nature causing self - lensing properties of a medium to display internal reflection &# 34 ; shadows .&# 34 ; in the preferred embodiment , the light source 50 is comprised of an array of directed light emitting diodes 52 secured by a mounting bracket or means 54 . in the illustration , the mounting bracket 54 secures the leds 52 in a general frustoconical form . this form advantageously provides for substantial lighting and maximizes the utilization of the isotropic rendering accomplished by the sphere 30 . leds provide relative long life and ease in controllability as will be appreciated . further , utilization of a large number of leds in the array provides improved lighting homogeneity which is augmented by utilization of the disclosed spherical diffuser . while leds are advantageously employed , it will be appreciated that such lighting may be suitably accomplished by any light having sufficient intensity , such an incandescent , fluorescent , halide , arc , or the like . turning now to fig3 a cross - sectional portion of the cut - away of fig2 is described . therein , a center point c is illustrated for the sphere 30 . perpendicular to each point on a radius from the center point c to the inner wall 40 is a tangent , one of which is illustrated at t2 . an illustrated light array 1 &# 34 ; is travelling within the center of the sphere 30 . as it impacts the transition between the internal sphere portion and the inner wall 40 , it experiences a difference between relative indices of refraction therebetween . a portion will be reflected by a property of total internal reflection and propagated within the sphere as r &# 39 ;. in this case , angle of incidence θ 1 , equals angle of reflection η 2 . a portion of 1 &# 34 ; will be transmitted at a modified angle as a beam r &# 34 ;. the angle of r &# 34 ; relative to the tangent t2 is dictated by snell &# 39 ; s law . this law provides that the ratio between the sine of the angle of incident α 1 to a tangent normal or line perpendicular to the boundary between the mediums at the point of refraction , to the sine of the angle α 2 between r &# 34 ; and the normal is equal to the ratio of the refracting medium &# 39 ; s index of refraction n r to the original medium &# 39 ; s index of refraction n i . illustrated generally at 70 is a beam such as that r &# 34 ; which has been propagated into the sphere body . at the point it reaches the transition with the exterior at the wall 30 , evidenced as point p , additional refraction is experienced , coupled with diffusion from a diffusive coating or etching thereon . it is to be appreciated that such diffusive properties may suitably be additionally imparted on the inner wall 40 , or dispersed within the material forming the sphere itself . however , the advantages of the subject invention are realized when the diffusion properties on the external wall 30 are provided . with the foregoing , it will be appreciated that relatively intense beams of light are subject to separation via internal reflection , refraction , and deflection scattering . thus , the sphere provides for accomplishing generation of homogenous or isotropic light generation . further , the specimen itself is not illuminated directly from any source other than the sphere . thus , contrast enhancement and defect detection is enhanced . evidence indicates that contrast is improved from 50 % to 200 % over systems employing flat planar illumination . as an alternative embodiment to the foregoing , the light source 50 may be formed from an ultraviolet (&# 34 ; uv &# 34 ;) source , such as an uncoated fluorescent bulb or xenon strobe . the diffusion coating is suitably formed from a coating which alters the uv wavelength to a selected spectrum . such coatings are well understood and conventionally available . turning now to fig4 an embodiment wherein a hemispherical diffuser 30 &# 39 ; is implemented is disclosed . therein , a light source , suitably planar , structured array , or even point source , is directed to an interior of the hemisphere 30 &# 39 ;. the specimen is suitably disposed in the viewing area located on the curved side of the hemisphere 30 &# 39 ; indicated generally at 20 &# 39 ;. as with the above - described full sphere , the hemisphere 30 &# 39 ; is adapted for either transmissive or specular illumination of specimens with highly isotropic light . again , as with the sphere 30 , above , the isotropic light generated by the hemisphere 30 &# 39 ; is realizable by either a structured , planar light source , a narrow beam , or a point source since the dispersion realized from the spherical portion and the diffusive properties of the exterior surface thereof accomplish such . turning now to fig5 an embodiment wherein a specimen itself functions to create an isotropic light field is illustrated . therein , the specimen 10 &# 39 ; is illustrated as an incandescent light bulb . a light source 80 , which may include a concentrator in this embodiment , communicates light to a light pipe 82 . light pipe 82 is suitably comprised of a light wave guide , such as a fiber optic cable . the light pipe 82 communicates light to a basal hemisphere portion of the specimen 10 &# 39 ;. light communicated internally to the globe portion 84 of the specimen 10 &# 39 ; is rendered substantially isotropic by the spherical portion thereof , coupled with a coating on an effective surface 86 of the portion 84 . a substantially spherical portion of surface 84 is exposed to a field of view 88 of lens 14 &# 39 ; and camera 12 &# 39 ;, as was described above . with this rendering , a means for highly efficient and reliable inspection for flaws disposed within objects such as that 10 &# 39 ; is facilitated . the invention has been described with reference to the preferred embodiment . obviously , modifications and alternations will occur to others upon a reading and understanding of this specification . it is intended that all such modifications and alterations be included insofar as they come within the scope of the appended claims or the equivalents thereof .	6
fig1 shows a schematic diagram of a fuel injection system . fuel is conveyed from a fuel tank 24 via a fuel line 26 by means of a low - pressure pump 28 . the low - pressure pump 28 supplies fuel to a low - pressure zone 10 . the pressure in this low - pressure zone 10 can be controlled or regulated , as applicable , by an electronic control unit 22 . for this purpose , the low - pressure zone 10 has a pressure sensor 14 which supplies pressure data to the electronic control unit 22 . the electronic control unit 22 can influence the operation of the low - pressure pump 28 , in particular on the basis of the signals supplied by the pressure sensor 14 . furthermore , an overpressure limiting valve 30 is provided , through which fuel can flow back to the low - pressure zone of the low - pressure pump 28 . the main path for the fuel from the low - pressure pump 28 leads to a high - pressure fuel pump 16 . this high - pressure fuel pump 16 feeds the fuel into a high - pressure zone 18 , and in particular into a fuel store 20 ( the “ rail ”). the fuel store 20 is equipped with injectors or injection valves 32 , as applicable , which can introduce the fuel into the interiors of the cylinders . as the high - pressure fuel pump 16 is , in particular , arranged as a continuous - operation pump , for example as a single piston high - pressure pump , measures are generally taken to adjust the pressure in the fuel store 20 as required . this can be effected , for example , by a fuel regulation valve ( not shown ), through which any difference in the fuel conveyed by the high - pressure fuel pump 16 and the fuel introduced into the cylinders by the injection valves 32 flows back into the low - pressure zone 10 . such a fuel pressure regulation valve on the high - pressure zone 18 can be controlled by an electronic controller , the input values to which include ( among others ) a value determined by a pressure sensor ( not shown ) on the fuel store 20 . this enables the regulation of the injection pressures to be effected by the fuel pressure regulation valve , depending on its actuation by the electronic controller , allowing more or less fuel to flow back to the low - pressure zone . the electronic controller can be arranged as a separate controller , but it may also be integrated with the electronic controller 22 , for example in an engine management unit . the low - pressure zone 10 has in addition a fuel pressure damper 12 . this serves to attenuate pressure pulsations which arise in the low - pressure zone 10 , in particular due to the operation of the high - pressure fuel pump 16 . the use of such a fuel pressure damper is also appropriate for low - pressure systems because here too pressure fluctuations can arise , for example due to the fuel injection , which should preferably be damped . however , without restricting the generality , the invention is explained for a high - pressure fuel injection system . if a fault should arise , in particular a mechanical fault in the fuel pressure damper 12 , then pressure interruptions may result in the low - pressure zone 10 due to the severe pressure fluctuations . ultimately this will have a negative effect on the functioning of the internal combustion engine , for example in respect to its power and its emission values . for this reason , it is appropriate to react to any such fault in the fuel pressure damper 12 , and for this purpose the fault is first detected . to do so , the presence of the pressure sensor 14 in the low - pressure zone 10 is exploited . if inadequate pressure damping is recognized by means of the pressure sensor 14 , it is then possible to initiate measures , and in particular countermeasures , which could for example includes entering the fault into a fault memory , a reduction in the pressure level , and a limitation of the rotation speed . the recognition of excessive pressure fluctuations will be effected by reference to a high - frequency component of the signals provided by the pressure sensor 14 , which will be explained in more detail below . fig2 shows a time - trace of the fuel pressure in the low - pressure zone when the fuel pressure damper is working correctly . the pressure fluctuates with an amplitude of approx . +/− 0 . 5 bar about a mean pressure value of 5 bar . this is achieved by the fuel pressure damper 12 providing satisfactory pressure smoothing . fig3 shows a time - trace of the fuel pressure in the low - pressure zone with a faulty fuel pressure damper . here , the pressure fluctuates about its mean value with a very much greater amplitude , which leads to deep pressure troughs and high - pressure peaks , and hence to functional impairment of the fuel injection system . the pressure peaks can be truncated by the overpressure limitation valve 30 , shown in fig1 . however , this will not produce a satisfactory situation , because of the faulty fuel pressure damper 12 . the quantitative recognition of whether the pressure fluctuations exceed a permissible limiting value , hence resulting in a high probability of a fault in the fuel pressure damper 12 , is explained below . fig4 shows two diagrams to explain an analysis which could be used in the context of the invention . the upper diagram plots an imaginary trace of fuel pressure against time . the line p k represents a trace of the pressure in the low - pressure zone 10 . the line p kf represents a trace of the low - pass filtered pressure in the low - pressure zone 10 . this low - pass filtering is preferably carried out in the electronic control unit 22 , but can also be effected in other known ways . the difference δ between the two curves p k and p kf is formed . the absolute magnitudes of this difference δ are shown again in the lower diagram in fig3 . from this filtering and the formation of the differences , one obtains a trace of values which can be compared with a selected absolute pressure threshold . in this way , the high - frequency component of the fuel pressure time - trace can be invoked as a criterion for the correct functioning of the fuel pressure damper 12 . fig5 shows two characteristic frequency spectra , respectively for the correct operation of a fuel pressure damper and for its defective operation . the upper diagram plots the intensity i of the signal supplied by the fuel pressure sensor 14 against the frequency v , assuming correct functioning of the fuel pressure damper 12 . the frequency spectrum then has arbitrary frequency components at low frequencies , which are not considered further in the present context , which in general reflect low - frequency pressure fluctuations in the low - pressure zone 10 . in addition , high frequencies are superimposed on the frequency spectrum , one of these at v hd being shown by way of example . these frequency peaks can be produced by the operation of the high - pressure pump 16 at a frequency of v hd . if there is adequate fuel pressure damping , the intensity at v hd is low , and in particular lies below a predefined threshold i s . the criterion for the correct operation of the fuel pressure damper is thus that the value lies below this threshold i s . in contrast to the upper frequency spectrum in fig5 , the lower frequency spectrum is based on defective fuel pressure damping . this can be recognized from the intensity threshold i s being exceeded . the threshold values which are used in the analyses shown in fig4 and 5 can be adapted for the operating conditions in each case , with the possibility of dynamic adaptation depending on the operating conditions of the internal combustion engine . thus , for example , the operation of high - pressure injection systems at low load involves fuel being fed back from the high - pressure zone at high rates , because of which there are higher pressure fluctuations , so that in this case the threshold values can be set to be less critical . fig6 shows a flow diagram to explain a method in accordance with the invention . in step s 01 , the time - trace of the pressure in the low - pressure zone is sensed . on the basis of this pressure sensing , step s 02 generates a signal which characterizes the time - trace of the pressure in the low - pressure zone . in step s 03 , a high - frequency component of the signal generated in step s 02 is analyzed , and in particular is compared with a threshold value . if this high - frequency component lies below a prescribed threshold value , then the fuel pressure damper is working correctly , and the method returns to step s 01 . however , if the high - frequency component exceeds the threshold value , then in step s 04 an entry is made in the fault memory , recording that there is a fault in the fuel pressure damper . in step s 05 further measures can be initiated , for example for damage limitation . from either step s 04 or s 05 , as applicable , it is possible to return into the monitoring routine , whereby it also is conceivable that after a malfunction has been detected one or more times the monitoring of the fuel pressure damper in accordance with the invention is terminated . the invention can be summarized as follows . the low - pressure zone 10 of a fuel injection system is equipped with a fuel pressure damper 12 to smooth out pressure fluctuations , in particular pressure fluctuations such as are produced by the operation of a high - pressure fuel pump 16 downstream from the low - pressure zone 10 . in the low - pressure zone 10 , the pressure / time trace is sensed by a pressure sensor 14 . using high - frequency components of this pressure / time trace sensed by the pressure sensor 14 it is possible to determine whether the fuel pressure damper 12 is working correctly . the features of the invention , as disclosed in the description above , in the drawings and in the claims , may be essential either individually or in any desired combination for the realization of the invention .	5
in order to make the following description more comprehensible , it is pointed out that the trocar comprises a body ( 1 ) equipped with a tip ( 2 ). the body comprises a tube ( 1b ) underneath a bell - mouthed part ( 1a ). part ( 1b ) is axially drilled at ( 1c ) over its entire length whereas part ( 2 ) has an internal through - channel ( 2a ). hole ( 1c ) and channel ( 2a ) are in coaxial alignment . the surgical instrument that is to be used is inserted through internal channel ( 2a ) in tip ( 2 ) so that it protrudes beyond the free end of body ( 1 ). bell - mouthed part ( 1a ) has an internal recess ( 1d ) that communicates with channel ( 2a ) and hole ( 1c ). this recess accommodates a swivel valve ( 3 ) of which the axis of rotation is situated in tip ( 2 ) and which is held in the shut - off position by spring ( 4 ). in the position where channel ( 2a ) and hole ( 1c ) are shut off , valve ( 3 ) rests against its seat ( 2b ) comprising a seal ( 2c ). valve ( 3 ) is retracted under the effect of inserting the instrument ; it can also be operated externally by simply exerting finger pressure on operating handle ( 3a ) if the operator needs to extract delicate &# 34 ; objects &# 34 ; from the organism during an intervention . according to one basic characteristic of the invention , tip ( 2 ) is fitted with internal features that can be operated externally and are capable of modifying the diameter of channel ( 2a ) in order to match it to the diameter of the instrument to be inserted . as will be shown in the rest of this description , these features are shaped in order to ensure leaktightness inside the trocar after the instrument is inserted . in the embodiment shown in fig1 to 4 , the features consist of a reducing adapter in the form of a hinged arm ( 5 ) actuated by lever ( 5b ). this arm ( 5 ) has at least one hole ( 5a ) of diameter less than that of channel ( 2a ) in tip ( 2 ). the arm is hinged at ( 5c ) so that it swivels angularly when force is exerted on lever ( 5b ) in order to line up holes ( 5a ) and ( 2a ) ( fig3 and 4 ). reducing adapter ( 5 ) is accommodated transversely a housing ( 2e ) formed in the thickness of tip ( 2 ). said housing ( 2e ) is designed either to coaxially align hole ( 5a ) with channel ( 2a ) ( fig3 ) or to completely free channel ( 2a ) ( fig1 and 2 ), depending on the angular position of lever ( 5b ). the axis of rotation ( 5c ) of reducing adapter ( 5 ) is parallel to the axis of the trocar . it is clear that , depending on the angular position of reducing adapter ( 5 ), it is possible to modify the diameter of the inlet of channel ( 2a ) in order to match it to the diameter of the instrument to be used . in order to ensure leaktightness , a seal ( 7 ) is fitted in the inlet of insertion channel ( 2a ) in tip ( 2 ) upstream from hinged arm ( 5 ) and downstream from valve ( 3 ). the effect of this seal ( 7 ) is to ensure leaktightness of the instrument whose diameter corresponds to that of channel ( 2a ), i . e . in the retracted position of reducing adapter ( 5 ) ( fig1 and 2 ). in order to ensure leaktightness in the case of an instrument of smaller diameter , i . e . when arm ( 5 ) is swivelled so that it lines up its hole ( 5a ) with hole ( 2a ) ( fig3 ), said hole ( 5a ) has an internal seal ( 6 ) capable of cooperating with the body of the corresponding instrument . note that disposable tip ( 2 ) is connected to body ( 1 ) by a click - on system comprising a seal ( 2d ) that ensures complete leaktightness between the two parts of the trocar . in addition , in order to make it possible to re - inflate or deflate the peritonium , the trocar is equipped with a slide valve ( 8 ) that is opened or closed by a quarter - turn cock ( 8a ). in another embodiment , the reducing adapter consists of a spherical plug ( 9 ) having at least two through - holes ( 9a ) ( 9b ). these holes are of different diameter and are capable of being axially aligned with channel ( 2a ) under the action of angular swivelling of lever ( 10 ). advantageously , plug ( 9 ) has two through - holes arranged in two orthogonal planes . hole ( 9a ) is of smaller diameter than channel ( 2a ) whereas the diameter of hole ( 9b ) is equal to the diameter of said channel . as previously , in order to ensure leaktightness after inserting the instrument , each hole ( 9a ) ( 9b ) has an internal seal ( 11 ). it is therefore sufficient to orientate the plug by actuating lever ( 10 ) in order to coaxially align either hole ( 9a ) ( fig5 and 6 ) or hole ( 9b ) ( fig7 and 8 ) with channel ( 2a ) depending on the diameter of the desired instrument . according to another characteristic , body ( 1 ) of the trocar has external annular peripheral ribs ( 1c ) over all or part of its length . the advantages are apparent from the description with special emphasis being placed on the following points : the facility to easily disassemble the tip and body of the trocar with a view to obtaining a disposable tip , the production of a compact , ergonomic trocar that includes , in its tip , a reducing adapter and a sealing valve that can be operated externally with one hand without having to release the trocar , the facility to modify the diameter of the insertion channel in the tip depending on the diameter of the instrument to be used , the facility to extract delicate &# 34 ; objects &# 34 ; during an intervention by manually retracting the sealing valve by using an external lever ,	0
the following description is merely exemplary in nature and is not intended to limit the present disclosure , application , or uses . with reference now to fig1 , a motor vehicle powertrain is illustrated and generally designated by the reference number 10 . the motor vehicle powertrain 10 includes an engine and torque converter 12 , a multiple speed automatic transmission 14 and a conventional final drive assembly 16 . the automatic transmission 14 includes an input shaft 17 connected to the output of the engine and torque converter 12 , a planetary gear configuration 18 and an output shaft 19 connected to the final drive assembly 16 . the planetary gear configuration 18 includes a first planetary gear set 20 , a second planetary gear set 30 and a third planetary gear set 40 . the first planetary gear set 20 includes a first sun gear 22 , a first ring gear 24 and a first planet gear assembly 26 . the first planet gear assembly 26 includes a first plurality of planet gears 27 rotatably disposed on a first planet gear carrier 29 and arranged in meshing relationship with both the first sun gear 22 and the first ring gear 24 . the second planetary gear set 30 includes a second sun gear 32 , a second ring gear 34 and a second planet gear assembly 36 . the second planet gear assembly 36 includes a second plurality of planet gears 37 rotatably disposed on a second planet gear carrier 39 and arranged in meshing relationship with both the second sun gear 32 and the second ring gear 34 . the third planetary gear set 40 includes a third sun gear 42 , a third ring gear 44 and a third planet gear assembly 46 . the third planet gear assembly 46 includes a third plurality of planet gears 47 rotatably disposed on a third planet gear carrier 49 and arranged in meshing relationship with both the third sun gear 42 and the third ring gear 44 . the planetary gear configuration 18 also includes a plurality of selectable torque transmitting devices . two of the torque transmitting devices , 50 and 52 , selectively connect two rotating members and are thus properly characterized as clutches . four of the torque transmitting devices , 54 , 56 , 58 and 59 , selectively ground , i . e ., connect to a stationary , a rotating member and are thus properly characterized as brakes or reaction clutches . several of the components of the planetary gear sets 20 , 30 and 40 are permanently connected to other components . the input shaft 17 is connected to the first sun gear 22 . the output shaft 19 is connected to the third ring gear 44 . the first ring gear 24 is connected to the second sun gear 32 through an interconnecting member 69 . the first planet gear carrier 29 is connected to the second planet gear carrier 39 and the third sun gear 42 through an interconnecting member 71 . the first sun gear 22 is selectively connected to the third planet gear carrier 49 by a first clutch 50 . the second ring gear 34 is selectively connected to the third planet gear carrier 49 by a second clutch 52 . the first ring gear 24 is selectively grounded to a housing 60 of the transmission 14 by a first brake 54 . the first planet gear carrier 29 is selectively grounded to the housing 60 by a second brake 56 . the second ring gear 34 is selectively grounded to the housing by a third brake 58 . finally , the third planet gear carrier 49 is selectively grounded to the housing 60 by a fourth brake 59 . as noted above , the automatic transmission 14 is capable of providing multiple forward speed , gear and torque ratios by selective engagement , in sequence , of various combinations of the just described clutches 50 and 52 and brakes 54 , 56 , 58 and 59 . such operation is beyond the scope of this patent . further explanation , however , may be found in u . s . pat . no . 6 , 723 , 019 which is hereby incorporated by reference . turning now to fig2 , a hydraulic circuit for activating or engaging any of the clutches 50 and 52 and the brakes 54 , 56 , 58 and 59 in an automatic transmission 14 is illustrated and designated by the reference number 70 . it should be understood that while primarily intended for use in automatic transmissions , the hydraulic circuit 70 may find broad application in diverse hydraulic device control applications . the hydraulic circuit 70 includes a first solenoid control valve 72 which is supplied with pressurized hydraulic fluid or oil in a line 74 . hydraulic fluid or oil flows out of the first solenoid control valve 72 in an exhaust or return line 76 . the first solenoid control valve 72 includes a first electromagnetic coil 78 , a first axially , bi - directionally translatable plunger 82 and a first valve spool 84 which , depending upon its axial position , supplies and exhausts hydraulic fluid or oil from a first fluid line or passageway 86 communicating with a first , smaller area clutch or brake activating piston 88 of a dual area piston assembly 90 through a flow control orifice 91 . the hydraulic circuit 70 also includes a second solenoid control valve 92 which is supplied with pressurized hydraulic fluid or oil in the line 74 . hydraulic fluid or oil flows out of the second solenoid control valve 92 in the exhaust or return line 76 . the second solenoid control valve 92 includes a second electromagnetic coil 98 , a second axially , bi - directionally translatable plunger 102 and a second valve spool 104 which , depending upon its axial position , supplies and exhausts hydraulic fluid or oil from a second fluid line or passageway 106 communicating with a second , larger area clutch or brake activating piston 108 of the dual area piston assembly 90 through a flow control orifice 109 . the solenoid control valves 72 and 92 are both preferably modulating valves which are commonly referred to as variable bleed solenoids ( vbs ) which may operate on a pulse width modulated ( pwm ) signal and include a regulator valve or they may be direct acting ( vfs ) solenoid valves . alternatively , the solenoid control valves 72 and 92 may be two position ( on - off ) valves . the dual area piston assembly 90 also includes a housing 110 which receives the first and second pistons 88 and 108 and maintains them in operable alignment with a clutch assembly 52 which is representative of all of the clutches and brakes illustrated in fig1 . the configuration of the pistons 88 and 108 as well as that of the housing 110 will depend upon the configuration and location of the associated clutch or brake but they will typically be annular with the first , smaller area piston 88 having a smaller nominal diameter which is surrounded by the second , larger area piston 108 which has a larger nominal diameter . disposed between the first and the second lines or passageways 86 and 106 is an optional dual input ball check assembly 114 including a chamber 116 communicating with both the first fluid line or passageway 86 and the second fluid line or passageway 106 . disposed within the chamber 116 is a ball check 118 and communicating with the chamber 116 is a pressure sensor 120 . the ball check assembly 116 is supplied with hydraulic fluid or oil from both the first and the second fluid lines or passageways 86 and 106 and , because of movement of the ball check 118 , the pressure sensor 120 is subjected to , reads and provides data or a signal in a wire or cable 122 regarding the magnitude of the higher of the two pressures in the first and the second fluid lines or passageways 86 and 106 . the signal from the pressure sensor 120 may be supplied to operating or control devices to provide feedback regarding the higher instantaneous pressure in the fluid lines or passageways 86 and 106 or the signal may be provided to diagnostic devices which ensures proper operation of the dual area piston assembly 90 and provide fault signals , for example . as noted above , however , the dual input ball check assembly 114 is an optional component . the dual area piston assembly 90 according to the present invention has four modes of operation : a ) utilizing only the first , smaller piston 88 , b ) utilizing only the second , larger piston 108 , c ) utilizing both the first and the second pistons 88 and 108 and d ) utilizing one of the pistons 88 or 108 to engage the clutch 52 and then both of the pistons 88 and 108 to modulate the clutch 52 . the particular mode of operation chosen will be based on shift requirements . for example , a high torque shift may require that both pistons 88 and 108 are modulated together in order to achieve sufficient torque throughput to complete the shift . however , a high torque shift may also require the shortest possible delay before starting the shift . under the circumstances , mode d ) may be chosen in order to minimize delay while providing the required torque capacity . another example is a low torque shift during which the smaller area piston 88 only is provided with modulated pressure hydraulic fluid . this provides minimum shift delay , maximum resolution and the smallest sensitivity to pressure errors due to , for example , circuit restrictions , overshoot , undershoot , instability and solenoid inaccuracy . the description of the invention is merely exemplary in nature and variations that do not depart from the gist of the invention are intended to be within the scope of the invention . such variations are not to be regarded as a departure from the spirit and scope of the invention .	5
fig1 shows a first schematic embodiment of a support according to the invention . illustrated is a metal coil 1 which rests on three support points 2 , 2 ′. these three support points 2 , 2 ′ are arranged , as seen in the cross section , in the direction of the circumference of the coil 1 when a metal coil 1 is placed on the support points 2 , 2 ′. in this case , the cross section of fig1 extends perpendicularly of the axis of rotation or the coiling axis of the metal coil 1 . in particular , the support points 2 , 2 ′ can be constructed as rollers 2 , 2 ′ or bearing rollers 2 , 2 ′ or , in other words , by support rollers 2 , 2 ′. preferably , two rollers 2 are arranged at a support lever 4 which , in turn , is arranged preferably rotatably , on a support 3 . additionally , in this embodiment a roller 2 ′ is provided which contacts the circumference of the metal coil 1 and forms a third support point 2 ′, in addition to the two rollers 2 . the rollers 2 , 2 ′ are preferably constructed so as to be rotatable and / or driven , however they can also be of rigid construction . preferably , two rollers 2 form a pair of rollers which are arranged on a support lever 4 . in particular , a triangle is essentially formed by two rollers 2 together with a fulcrum of a support lever 4 or the support 3 . the illustrated device comprises a support 3 on which a support lever 4 is arranged . however , it is also possible to provide several such supports 3 with support levers 4 and rollers 2 . a metal coil 1 , which is placed on a support constructed in accordance with fig1 exerts with its weight force f g , inter alia , a force f s1 against the lower roller 1 of the support 3 and a force f s2 against the additional roller 2 ′. as a result the support 3 exerts , through the lever 4 which is rotatable about the support 3 , a torque against the upper roller 2 of the support 3 . accordingly , the upper roller 2 is pressed with a force f a against the metal coil 1 . by means of a support constructed in this manner , metal coils 1 , especially with different diameters or cross sections , can be supported even more securely . fig2 shows a schematic embodiment of another support according to the invention . as in fig1 , illustrated is a metal coil 1 which , however , rests on four support points 2 . these four support points 2 are arranged , as seen in cross section , in the direction of the circumference of the metal coil 1 when a metal coil 1 rests on the four support points 2 . the cross section of fig2 extends also perpendicularly of the axis of rotation or coiling axis of the metal coil 1 . once again , the support points 2 can be formed by rollers 2 or by bearing rollers 2 , or , expressed differently , by support rollers 2 . preferably , two rollers 2 are arranged at a support lever 4 which in turn is mounted , preferably rotatably , on a support member 3 . the rollers 2 are preferably constructed so as to be rotatable and / or driven , however , they can also be of rigid construction . preferably , two rollers 2 form a roller pair which is arranged at a support lever 4 . in particular , two rollers 2 form essentially a triangle with a fulcrum of a support lever 4 or the support member 3 . in total the illustrated support includes preferably two supports 3 on each of which a support lever 4 is arranged . the two supports 3 are arranged , as seen in the cross section of the coil 1 , preferably to the right and to the left underneath the coil 1 . a metal coil 1 which is placed on a support constructed in this manner exerts with its weight force f g , inter alia , a force against the respectively lower rollers 2 of the respective support 3 . as a result , the supports exert through the lever 4 rotatable about the support 3 a torque against the respectively upper rollers 2 of the respective support 3 . consequently , the upper rollers 2 are pressed with a force f a against the metal coil 1 . by means of such a support constructed in this manner , metal coils 1 having various diameters or cross sections can be stored even more safely . fig3 shows a similar embodiment according to the invention as in fig2 . however , compared to the device of fig2 , the support of fig3 includes an adjusting device 5 . this adjusting device has the purpose of adjusting the spacing of the supports 3 and , thus , of storing or transporting an almost complete spectrum of various metal coil cross sections . in particular , the adjusting device 5 is arranged to be adjustable horizontally , optionally underneath the support 3 . the adjusting device can be formed , for example , by a piston / cylinder unit 5 . the support according to fig1 can also be equipped with such a horizontal adjusting device 5 . fig4 , 5 , 6 show an embodiment of a sample removal station 10 for removing samples 23 of a metal coil 1 , 11 . in fig4 , a metal coil 11 is illustrated , analogous to the illustration in fig3 , on a support according to the invention with rollers 12 , adjusting device 5 , supports 13 and support levers 14 . for opening the metal coil 11 a cutting device 19 with means 18 for severing the metal coil 11 is provided . in this embodiment of fig4 , the rollers 12 are driven , so that the metal coil 11 is rotatable optionally in a clock - wise or counter clock - wise direction . moreover , the sample removal station 10 preferably has shears 21 , or dividing shears 21 , for cutting off samples 23 from an end 22 of the metal coil 11 . in order to ensure that after cutting the coil 11 , the cut end 22 of the metal coil 11 does not flap upwardly or outwardly , a contact pressure device 17 is also provided which includes , for example , two contact pressure rollers 16 which are pressed against the upper side of the metal coil 11 placed in the support or are placed against the metal coil 11 . the sample removal station 10 can then be operated , for example , as follows : the metal coil is moved either together with its support into the sample removal station 10 or the support is fixedly installed in the sample removal station 10 and the metal coil 11 is moved into the station 10 . preferably , the rollers 16 of the contact pressure device 17 are then placed against the metal coil 11 from above and the metal coil 11 is turned into a desired position by means of the movable rollers 12 . the metal coil 11 is opened by means of the severing means 18 , for example , a chisel . as can be seen in fig5 , following the cutting of the metal coil 11 , the metal coil can be uncoiled by the driven rollers 12 of the support , but also by other drive means or rollers which are not illustrated . for this purpose , for example , the separating means 20 , in this case a roller , may be helpful at the severing device 19 to facilitate feeding the metal coil end 22 , or the strip end 22 , into the shears 21 . subsequently , the shears 21 can sever a sample piece or end crop 23 . it shall be mentioned at this point that the construction of the devices 17 and 19 is known by the expert . in a subsequent step , the metal coil can be coiled up again by means of driven rollers , for example , by the rollers 12 , and bound by means of a binding device , not shown , which is known from the prior art . fig6 shows a possibility for removing the metal coil 11 from a sample removal station 10 , as it is already illustrated in fig4 and 5 . for removing the coil 11 , the devices 17 and 19 are moved or pushed to the side , so that the coil 11 can be lifted upwardly out of the sample removal station 10 . alternatively , the invention also includes the possibility of removing the metal coil 11 together with its support out of the sample removal station 10 , for example , including a pallet , downwardly or upwardly or also optionally , to one of the sides of the sample removal station . fig7 schematically shows a possible embodiment of a pallet system 30 which includes a support according to the invention , for example , according to fig2 to 6 . a metal coil 31 , resting on four support points 32 , is placed on the illustrated pallet system 30 . these points are preferably formed by rollers 32 which are optionally rotatable and / or driven . however , alternatively the support points can also be formed by rigidly arranged support elements . the construction of the support members 33 and support levers 34 preferably corresponds to that of fig2 to 5 . however , these are arranged on a pallet 35 or a carrier 35 . the system 30 of fig7 is variably usable , for example , for transportation or for storage . it is also possible to provide means for a crane transport ( not shown ) on the system 30 , particularly on the pallet 35 , or also on parts of the support , so that the pallet system 30 can be transported within a manufacturing plant by a crane or can also be loaded for shipment by truck , boat or railroad . fig8 shows an embodiment of a support according to the invention in a reeling device 40 . the illustrated reeling device 40 comprises particularly a reel mandrel 44 on which a metal coil 1 , 11 , 31 can be coiled . the means for coiling the metal coil 1 , 11 , 31 are not the focus of the invention and are constructed as known from the prior art . in fig8 , the coiled metal coil 31 is placed on the pallet system 30 according to fig7 . also possible is a support without the pallet 35 , as shown , for example , for the sample removal station 10 . according to fig8 , the metal coil 31 can be pulled off in the direction of the axis of the reel mandrel 44 . at that time , the coil 31 rests especially on the pallet system 30 . preferably , a coil carriage 50 , already known in the art , is used . generally , the support illustrated in fig1 can be used in the devices of fig4 to 8 , i . e ., in a sample removal station , in a pallet system or in a reeling device . finally , it is pointed out that the features of the individual embodiments can be combined or exchanged with each other . in addition , the expert can modify individual structural details in accordance with his normal expert knowledge and adapt them to specific requirements .	1
typically , when a higher force is to be provided by a voice coil motor ( vcm ), the current input into the vcm is increased , and , consequently , the heat generated by the vcm is increased . increasing current requirements is often impractical , and increased heat associated with the operation of a vcm may adversely affect heat - sensitive systems , e . g ., lithography equipment . by increasing the magnetic field within a vcm , i . e ., by increasing the strength or the magnitude of the magnetic field within a vcm , a higher force may be generated using the vcm , substantially without increasing the amount of heat generated by the vcm and increasing the amount of current used by the vcm . the magnetic field within a vcm may be increased by utilizing a magnet array in the vcm and , further , by varying the shape of magnets in the magnet array . in one embodiment , the magnet array is a substantially cylindrical wedge halbach array . a substantially cylindrical wedge halbach array is an array of magnets which includes at least one wedge - shaped magnet . a wedge - shaped magnet is generally a magnet which has either a substantially triangular cross - section with respect to at least one plane or a substantially trapezoidal cross - section with respect to at least one plane . when a wedge - shaped magnet has a substantially trapezoidal cross - section with respect to a plane , while two opposite sides of the cross - section are substantially parallel to each other within the plane , the other two sides are not substantially parallel to each other within the plane . a vcm which includes a substantially cylindrical wedge halbach array may have a variety of different configurations . in general , the wedge - shaped magnets are arranged to form an overall cylindrical halbach array . as shown in fig1 , an outer halbach magnet array 360 typically has an overall , hollow cylindrical shape or an overall donut shape . however , the individual magnets of magnet array 360 may be wedge - shaped donuts . similarly , an inner halbach magnet array 364 also has an overall hollow , cylindrical shape , though the individual magnets of magnet array 364 may be wedge - shaped donuts . the orientation of wedge - shaped magnets and other magnets within the substantially cylindrical wedge halbach array may be widely varied . fig2 is a diagrammatic cross - sectional representation of a radially symmetric cylindrical vcm which utilizes a substantially cylindrical wedge halbach array in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention . a vcm 370 , as shown in cross - section , includes non - magnetic hollow cylinders 374 a , 374 b which are substantially centered about a central axis 378 . alternatively , either or both hollow cylinders 374 a , 374 b may be formed from a magnetic material . magnet arrays 382 , 392 are also effectively hollow cylinders that are positioned within vcm 370 about central axis 378 such that coils 398 a , 398 b , having center lines that are substantially coincident with central axis 378 , are positioned between magnet arrays 382 , 392 . coils 398 a , 398 b are such that the turns or windings of coils 398 a , 398 b effectively define a ring or a donut shape for coils 398 a , 398 b . hollow cylinder 374 b and magnet array 392 are positioned within the inner area of the ring or the donut shape defined by coils 398 a , 398 b . as will be understood by those skilled in the art , coils 398 a , 398 b are generally substantially encased in cooling cans which are filled with coolant . however , for ease of illustration , cooling cans have not been shown . as shown , coils 398 a , 398 b are positioned between magnet arrays 382 , 392 . coils 398 a , 398 b move relative to magnet arrays 382 , 392 and , hence , within a magnetic field associated with magnet arrays 382 , 392 when current is applied . each magnet array 382 , 392 includes a plurality of magnets , i . e ., permanent magnets . by way of example , magnet array 382 includes magnets 382 a - 382 c which each have an overall donut shape but each have a substantially non - rectangular , e . g ., triangular , cross - section in at least one plane . that is , magnets 382 a - c are each substantially wedge - shaped donuts . by shaping magnets 382 a - c as wedges , or with wedge - shaped cross sections , the magnetic field associated with vcm 370 may be enhanced . magnets 392 a - c are also each substantially wedge - shaped donuts . with reference to fig3 , a second radially symmetric cylindrical vcm which utilizes a substantially cylindrical wedge halbach array will be described in accordance with another embodiment of the present invention . a vcm 300 , which is shown in cross - section , includes non - magnetic cylinders 304 a , 304 b which are substantially centered about a central axis 308 . it should be appreciated that cylinders 304 a , 304 b are each effectively a hollow cylinder with a center that is coincident with central axis 308 . magnet arrays 312 , 322 are also arranged as hollow cylinders , and are positioned within vcm 300 such that coils 318 a , 318 b , which each effectively form a hollow , cylindrical shape with center lines that are substantially coincident with central axis 308 , are positioned between magnet arrays 312 , 322 . magnet arrays 312 , 322 are also centered about central axis 308 . coils 318 a , 318 b are such that the turns or windings of coils 318 a , 318 b effectively define a ring or a donut shape for coils 318 a , 318 b . coils 318 a , 318 b are positioned between magnet arrays 312 , 322 and , hence , within a magnetic field associated with magnet arrays 312 , 322 when current is applied . each magnet array 312 , 322 includes a plurality of magnets . by way of example , magnet array 312 includes magnets 312 a - 312 e which each have an overall donut shape . magnets 312 a and 312 e , which make up the ends of magnet array 312 , are substantially block - shaped donuts . that is , magnets 312 a , 312 e have substantially rectangular , as for example square , cross - sections in at least one plane . magnets 312 b - d are each substantially wedge - shaped donuts , i . e ., magnets 312 b - d each have a substantially triangular or trapezoidal cross - section in one plane . by shaping magnets 312 b - d as wedges , or with wedge - shaped cross sections , the magnetic field associated with vcm 300 may be enhanced . as shown , magnets 322 b - d are also each substantially wedge - shaped donuts , while magnets 322 a , 322 e are substantially block - shaped donuts . while the use of wedge - shaped magnets in a halbach array within a vcm improves the efficiency of the vcm , i . e ., by increasing the strength of the magnetic field within the vcm , the efficiency of a vcm may further be increased by essentially concentrating a magnetic field near a coil of a vcm . in one embodiment , by altering the orientation of magnets associated with a wedge halbach array of a vcm such that the use of only a single coil in the vcm is possible , the efficiency of the vcm is further enhanced . by orienting the magnets in a halbach array of a vcm such that a magnet with radial magnetization is effectively in the center of the halbach array , while magnets with longitudinal magnetization are at the ends of the halbach array , a single coil may be used within the vcm . it should be appreciated that for a halbach array with a given total magnet height , the height of a single coil is generally greater than or equal to the combined height of two coils used in vcms , e . g ., vcm 300 of fig3 , with magnet arrays of the given total magnet height . the use of a single coil enables the magnetic field within a vcm to be substantially concentrated through the coil , thereby further increasing the efficiency of the vcm . fig4 is a diagrammatic cross - sectional block diagram representation of a portion of a single coil and a portion of two wedge halbach magnet arrays in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention . within a vcm , a portion of a coil 418 is positioned such that a first wedge halbach magnet array 406 is located in a space defined by an inner edge 424 of coil 418 and a second wedge halbach magnet array 416 is positioned outside an outer edge 426 of coil 418 . both magnet arrays 406 , 416 include wedge magnets , or magnets which have a cross - section that is either approximately triangular or trapezoidal . magnet array 406 includes wedge magnets 402 a , 402 b , 402 d , 402 e , whereas magnet array 416 includes wedge magnets 414 a , 414 b , 414 d , 414 e . magnets 402 c , 414 c , which are arranged at the center of magnet arrays 406 , 416 , respectively , are substantially block - shaped , or have approximately rectangular or square cross - sections . specifically , magnets 402 c , 414 c are donut - shaped blocks . the orientation of magnets 402 a - e within magnet array 406 , and the orientation of magnets 414 a - e within magnet array 416 are such that a magnetic field is centered approximately along a horizontal centerline 438 of magnet arrays 406 , 416 . magnetic field equipotential lines associated with an arrangement of magnet arrays 406 , 416 and coil 418 as shown will be described below with respect to fig6 . with reference to fig5 a and 5 b , the positioning and shapes of magnets associated with magnet array 406 will be described . fig5 a is a block diagram representation of magnet array 416 of fig4 in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention . as previously described , magnet array 416 includes magnets 414 a - e which may each , in one embodiment , be permanent magnets . magnet 414 c , which has a substantially rectangular cross - section , generally has a magnetic field direction that is substantially parallel to a y - axis 502 , while magnets 414 a , 414 e , which are each shaped as a wedge , have magnetic field directions that are parallel to a z - axis 504 . magnets 414 b , 414 d , which are each also shaped as a wedge and have a non - rectangular , e . g ., substantially trapezoidal , cross - section generally have associated magnetic field directions that are neither horizontal , e . g ., parallel to y - axis 502 , nor vertical , e . g ., parallel to z - axis 504 . as shown , magnets 414 a , 414 b , 414 d , 414 e each have a non - rectangular cross - section , e . g ., a substantially trapezoidal cross - section , at least in a plane that is defined by y - axis 502 and z - axis 504 . magnet 414 c has a rectangular cross - section in the plane that is defined by y - axis 502 and z - axis 504 . the relative sizes of each magnet 414 a - e within magnet array 416 may vary widely . it should be appreciated that the size and shape of each magnet 414 a - e may also vary . by way of example , as shown in fig5 b , a portion 414 b ′ of wedge 414 b is shaped such that in a plane defined by y - axis 502 and z - axis 504 , a cross - section of a wedge portion 414 b ′ is approximately trapezoidal , whereas a cross - section of wedge portion 414 b ′ in a plane defined by z - axis 504 and an x - axis 506 is substantially rectangular . wedge portion 414 b ′ has at least some edges , as for example edges 540 , 542 , 544 , which have some curvature as wedge portion 414 b ′ is a part of a wedge 414 b which is effectively a wedge - shaped donut . fig6 is a representation of magnetic field equipotential lines associated with a coil and wedge halbach magnet arrays , i . e ., coil 418 and wedge halbach magnet arrays 406 , 416 of fig4 , in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention . as shown , equipotential or flux lines 602 a re generally concentrated in the vicinity of coil 418 . equipotential lines may be arranged to pass substantially through a center of coil 418 , and through magnet block 402 c of magnet array 406 and through magnet block 414 c of magnet array 416 . it should be appreciated that only representative equipotential lines 602 have been shown for ease of illustration . in general , equipotential lines 602 pass through a medium which allows flux to pass from magnet array 406 to magnet array 416 , and vice versa . the medium that allows flux to pass between magnet array 406 and magnet array 416 is preferably a relatively high permeability magnetic medium , as for example magnetic steel . fig7 is a cross - sectional block diagram representation of approximately half of a vcm which uses wedge halbach arrays and a single coil in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention . a portion 700 of a vcm includes a coil 718 , which is effectively shielded by a cooling can 720 . in general , cooling can 720 may be formed from substantially any suitable material . suitable materials include , but are not limited to , plastic , sheet metal , and carbon fiber . a coolant is typically provided within cooling can 720 such that coil 718 , which has an overall hollow cylindrical shape , is surrounded by the coolant . flux is carried between “ inner ” magnets 702 a - e and “ outer ” magnets 714 a - e , e . g ., from magnets 714 a - e to magnets 702 a - e , through magnetic material 770 . magnetic material 770 may be a material such as magnetic steel or iron . typically , magnetic material 770 is arranged as plates which are substantially located on top and on the bottom of portion 700 to enable flux to “ return ” flux from magnets 714 a - e to magnets 702 a - e . coil 718 is powered by electronics 750 which often include components such as an amplifier and a current supply . in one embodiment , coil 718 is a single - phase coil . when current flows through coil 718 , coil 718 moves relative to magnets 702 a - e , 714 a - e within a magnetic field associated with magnets 702 a - e , 714 a - e . since flux is conducted through magnets 702 a - e , 714 a - e and magnetic material 770 which form a magnetic circuit , sides 760 of portion 700 may be formed from a non - magnetic material . the non - magnetic material may generally be a material such as stainless steel , aluminum , ceramic , or plastic . alternatively , sides 760 may be formed from a magnetic material . as mentioned above , portion 700 is a part of a vcm . with reference to fig8 , a more complete cross - sectional representation of a vcm will be described in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention . a radially symmetric cylindrical vcm 800 , which has a centerline 808 that is parallel to a z - axis 890 , includes portion 700 of fig7 as well as a portion 810 , which is effectively a mirror image of portion 700 . coil 718 moves within space 820 and provides a force in a direction along z - axis 890 , and is substantially positioned at a center of vcm 800 . it should be appreciated that in addition to allowing movement along z - axis 890 and providing force in a direction along z - axis 890 , vcm 800 may also permit a slight rotation about z - axis 890 , a y - axis 894 , or an x - axis 892 , as well as slight movement in directions along x - axis 892 and y - axis 894 . magnets within vcm 800 are generally configured as block - shaped or wedge - shaped donuts . by way of example , wedge - shaped magnet 702 b may generally have a donut shape as shown in fig9 a , whereas wedge - shaped magnet 702 e may generally have a donut shape as shown in fig9 b . the donut shapes are of magnets 702 b , 702 e are such that the footprints of magnets 702 b , 702 e , taken with respect to a plane defined by x - axis 892 and y - axis 894 , are substantially ring - like in shape . a vcm which utilizes a substantially cylindrical wedge halbach array is suitable for a variety of different uses . by way of example , since the heat generated by such a vcm is not significant , and such a vcm provides a significant amount of force , such a vcm is particularly suitable for use as a component within a photolithography apparatus . referring next to fig1 , a photolithography apparatus which may use a vcm with a substantially cylindrical wedge halbach array will be described in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention . a photolithography apparatus ( exposure apparatus ) 40 includes a wafer positioning stage 52 that may be driven by a planar motor or linear motors ( not shown ), as well as a wafer table 51 that is coupled to wafer positioning stage 52 by utilizing an actuator spring or other means . the planar motor which drives wafer positioning stage 52 generally uses an electromagnetic force generated by magnets and corresponding armature coils . a wafer 64 is held in place on a wafer holder or chuck 74 which is coupled to wafer table 51 . wafer positioning stage 52 is arranged to move in multiple degrees of freedom , e . g ., between one to six degrees of freedom , under the control of a control unit 60 and a system controller 62 . the movement of wafer positioning stage 52 allows wafer 64 to be positioned at a desired position and orientation relative to a projection optical system 46 . wafer table 51 may be levitated in a z - direction 10 b by any number of vcms ( not shown ), e . g ., three voice coil motors . the vcms may include substantially cylindrical wedge halbach arrays . optionally , at least one electromagnetic actuator ( not shown ) may couple and move wafer table 51 along an x - axis 10 c or a y - axis 10 a . the motor array of wafer positioning stage 52 is typically supported by a base 70 . base 70 is supported to a ground via isolators 54 . reaction forces generated by motion of wafer stage 52 may be mechanically released to a ground surface through a frame 66 . one suitable frame 66 is described in jp hei 8 - 166475 and u . s . pat . no . 5 , 528 , 118 , which are each herein incorporated by reference in their entireties . an illumination system 42 is supported by a frame 72 . frame 72 is supported to the ground via isolators 54 . illumination system 42 includes an illumination source , and is arranged to project a radiant energy , e . g ., light , through a mask pattern on a reticle 68 that is supported by and scanned using a reticle stage 44 which includes a coarse stage and a fine stage . the radiant energy is focused through projection optical system 46 , which is supported on a projection optics frame 50 and may be supported the ground through isolators 54 . suitable isolators 54 include those described in jp hei 8 - 330224 and u . s . pat . no . 5 , 874 , 820 , which are each incorporated herein by reference in their entireties . a first interferometer 56 is supported on projection optics frame 50 , and functions to detect the position of wafer table 51 . interferometer 56 outputs information on the position of wafer table 51 to system controller 62 . a second interferometer 58 is supported on projection optics frame 50 , and detects the position of reticle stage 44 which supports a reticle 68 . interferometer 58 also outputs position information to system controller 62 . it should be appreciated that there are a number of different types of photolithographic apparatuses or devices . for example , photolithography apparatus 40 , or an exposure apparatus , may be used as a scanning type photolithography system which exposes the pattern from reticle 68 onto wafer 64 with reticle 68 and wafer 64 moving substantially synchronously . in a scanning type lithographic device , reticle 68 is moved perpendicularly with respect to an optical axis of a lens assembly ( projection optical system 46 ) or illumination system 42 by reticle stage 44 . wafer 64 is moved perpendicularly to the optical axis of projection optical system 46 by a wafer stage 52 . scanning of reticle 68 and wafer 64 generally occurs while reticle 68 and wafer 64 are moving substantially synchronously . alternatively , photolithography apparatus or exposure apparatus 40 may be a step - and - repeat type photolithography system that exposes reticle 68 while reticle 68 and wafer 64 are stationary , i . e ., at a substantially constant velocity of approximately zero meters per second . in one step and repeat process , wafer 64 is in a substantially constant position relative to reticle 68 and projection optical system 46 during the exposure of an individual field . subsequently , between consecutive exposure steps , wafer 64 is consecutively moved by wafer positioning stage 52 perpendicularly to the optical axis of projection optical system 46 and reticle 68 for exposure . following this process , the images on reticle 68 may be sequentially exposed onto the fields of wafer 64 so that the next field of semiconductor wafer 64 is brought into position relative to illumination system 42 , reticle 68 , and projection optical system 46 . it should be understood that the use of photolithography apparatus or exposure apparatus 40 , as described above , is not limited to being used in a photolithography system for semiconductor manufacturing . for example , photolithography apparatus 40 may be used as a part of a liquid crystal display ( lcd ) photolithography system that exposes an lcd device pattern onto a rectangular glass plate or a photolithography system for manufacturing a thin film magnetic head . photolithography apparatus 40 may also be used as a part of an immersion lithography system . the present invention may be utilized in an immersion type exposure apparatus when suitable measures for a liquid are incorporated . by way of example , pct patent application wo 99 / 49504 , which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety , discloses an exposure apparatus in which a liquid is supplied to a space between a substrate such as a wafer and a projection lens system in an exposure process . further , the present invention may be utilized in an exposure apparatus which includes two or more substrates and / or reticle stages . in such an apparatus , the additional stage may be used in parallel or preparatory steps while the other stage may be used for exposing . exemplary multiple stage exposure apparatuses are described , for example , in japan patent application disclosure no . 10 - 163099 , as well as in japan patent application disclosure no . 10 - 214783 and its counterparts u . s . pat . no . 6 , 341 , 007 , u . s . pat . no . 6 , 400 , 441 , u . s . pat . no . 6 , 549 , 269 , and u . s . pat . no . 6 , 590 , 634 . each of these references is herein incorporated by reference in its entirety . other exemplary multiple stage exposure apparatuses are described in japan patent application disclosure no . 2000 - 505958 , as well as in u . s . pat . no . 5 , 969 , 441 and u . s . pat . no . 6 , 208 , 407 . each of these references is herein incorporated by reference in its entirety the present invention may also be utilized in an exposure apparatus that has a movable stage which retains a substrate , e . g ., a wafer , for exposure , and a stage having various sensor or measurement tools for measuring , as described in japan patent disclosure no . 11 - 135400 . as far as is permitted , the disclosure of japan patent disclosure no . 11 - 135400 is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety . in addition , the present invention may be utilized in an exposure apparatus that is operated in a vacuum environment . it should be appreciated that suitable measures may need to be incorporated to the present invention to accommodate a vacuum environment for the air , or fluid , bearing arrangements . such an exposure apparatus may be , but is not limited to being , an eb type exposure apparatus , or an euvl type exposure apparatus . the illumination source of illumination system 42 may be g - line ( 436 nanometers ( nm )), i - line ( 365 nm ), a krf excimer laser ( 248 nm ), an arf excimer laser ( 193 nm ), and an f 2 - type laser ( 157 nm ). alternatively , illumination system 42 may also use charged particle beams such as x - ray and electron beams . for instance , in the case where an electron beam is used , thermionic emission type lanthanum hexaboride ( lab 6 ) or tantalum ( ta ) may be used as an electron gun . furthermore , in the case where an electron beam is used , the structure may be such that either a mask is used or a pattern may be directly formed on a substrate without the use of a mask . with respect to projection optical system 46 , when far ultra - violet rays such as an excimer laser is used , glass materials such as quartz and fluorite that transmit far ultra - violet rays is preferably used . when either an f 2 - type laser or an x - ray is used , projection optical system 46 may be either catadioptric or refractive ( a reticle may be of a corresponding reflective type ), and when an electron beam is used , electron optics may comprise electron lenses and deflectors . as will be appreciated by those skilled in the art , the optical path for the electron beams is generally in a vacuum . in addition , with an exposure device that employs vacuum ultra - violet ( vuv ) radiation of a wavelength that is approximately 200 nm or lower , use of a catadioptric type optical system may be considered . examples of a catadioptric type of optical system include , but are not limited to , those described in japan patent application disclosure no . 8 - 171054 published in the official gazette for laid - open patent applications and its counterpart u . s . pat . no . 5 , 668 , 672 , as well as in japan patent application disclosure no . 10 - 20195 and its counterpart u . s . pat . no . 5 , 835 , 275 , which are all incorporated herein by reference in their entireties . in these examples , the reflecting optical device may be a catadioptric optical system incorporating a beam splitter and a concave mirror . japan patent application disclosure ( hei ) no . 8 - 334695 published in the official gazette for laid - open patent applications and its counterpart u . s . pat . no . 5 , 689 , 377 , as well as japan patent application disclosure no . 10 - 3039 and its counterpart u . s . pat . no . 5 , 892 , 117 , which are all incorporated herein by reference in their entireties . these examples describe a reflecting - refracting type of optical system that incorporates a concave mirror , but without a beam splitter , and may also be suitable for use with the present invention . further , in photolithography systems , when linear motors ( see u . s . pat . nos . 5 , 623 , 853 or 5 , 528 , 118 , which are each incorporated herein by reference in their entireties ) are used in a wafer stage or a reticle stage , the linear motors may be either an air levitation type that employs air bearings or a magnetic levitation type that uses lorentz forces or reactance forces . additionally , the stage may also move along a guide , or may be a guideless type stage which uses no guide . alternatively , a wafer stage or a reticle stage may be driven by a planar motor which drives a stage through the use of electromagnetic forces generated by a magnet unit that has magnets arranged in two dimensions and an armature coil unit that has coil in facing positions in two dimensions . with this type of drive system , one of the magnet unit or the armature coil unit is connected to the stage , while the other is mounted on the moving plane side of the stage . movement of the stages as described above generates reaction forces which may affect performance of an overall photolithography system . reaction forces generated by the wafer ( substrate ) stage motion may be mechanically released to the floor or ground by use of a frame member as described above , as well as in u . s . pat . no . 5 , 528 , 118 and published japanese patent application disclosure no . 8 - 166475 . additionally , reaction forces generated by the reticle ( mask ) stage motion may be mechanically released to the floor ( ground ) by use of a frame member as described in u . s . pat . no . 5 , 874 , 820 and published japanese patent application disclosure no . 8 - 330224 , which are each incorporated herein by reference in their entireties . isolaters such as isolators 54 may generally be associated with an active vibration isolation system ( avis ). an avis generally controls vibrations associated with forces 112 , i . e ., vibrational forces , which are experienced by a stage assembly or , more generally , by a photolithography machine such as photolithography apparatus 40 which includes a stage assembly . a photolithography system according to the above - described embodiments , e . g ., a photolithography apparatus which may include one or more dual force actuators , may be built by assembling various subsystems in such a manner that prescribed mechanical accuracy , electrical accuracy , and optical accuracy are maintained . in order to maintain the various accuracies , prior to and following assembly , substantially every optical system may be adjusted to achieve its optical accuracy . similarly , substantially every mechanical system and substantially every electrical system may be adjusted to achieve their respective desired mechanical and electrical accuracies . the process of assembling each subsystem into a photolithography system includes , but is not limited to , developing mechanical interfaces , electrical circuit wiring connections , and air pressure plumbing connections between each subsystem . there is also a process where each subsystem is assembled prior to assembling a photolithography system from the various subsystems . once a photolithography system is assembled using the various subsystems , an overall adjustment is generally performed to ensure that substantially every desired accuracy is maintained within the overall photolithography system . additionally , it may be desirable to manufacture an exposure system in a clean room where the temperature and humidity are controlled . further , semiconductor devices may be fabricated using systems described above , as will be discussed with reference to fig1 . the process begins at step 1301 in which the function and performance characteristics of a semiconductor device are designed or otherwise determined . next , in step 1302 , a reticle ( mask ) in which has a pattern is designed based upon the design of the semiconductor device . it should be appreciated that in a parallel step 1303 , a wafer is made from a silicon material . the mask pattern designed in step 1302 is exposed onto the wafer fabricated in step 1303 in step 1304 by a photolithography system . one process of exposing a mask pattern onto a wafer will be described below with respect to fig1 . in step 1305 , the semiconductor device is assembled . the assembly of the semiconductor device generally includes , but is not limited to , wafer dicing processes , bonding processes , and packaging processes . finally , the completed device is inspected in step 1306 . fig1 is a process flow diagram which illustrates the steps associated with wafer processing in the case of fabricating semiconductor devices in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention . in step 1311 , the surface of a wafer is oxidized . then , in step 1312 which is a chemical vapor deposition ( cvd ) step , an insulation film may be formed on the wafer surface . once the insulation film is formed , in step 1313 , electrodes are formed on the wafer by vapor deposition . then , ions may be implanted in the wafer using substantially any suitable method in step 1314 . as will be appreciated by those skilled in the art , steps 1311 - 1314 are generally considered to be preprocessing steps for wafers during wafer processing . further , it should be understood that selections made in each step , e . g ., the concentration of various chemicals to use in forming an insulation film in step 1312 , may be made based upon processing requirements . at each stage of wafer processing , when preprocessing steps have been completed , post - processing steps may be implemented . during post - processing , initially , in step 1315 , photoresist is applied to a wafer . then , in step 1316 , an exposure device may be used to transfer the circuit pattern of a reticle to a wafer . transferring the circuit pattern of the reticle of the wafer generally includes scanning a reticle scanning stage which may , in one embodiment , include a force damper to dampen vibrations . after the circuit pattern on a reticle is transferred to a wafer , the exposed wafer is developed in step 1317 . once the exposed wafer is developed , parts other than residual photoresist , e . g ., the exposed material surface , may be removed by etching . finally , in step 1319 , any unnecessary photoresist that remains after etching may be removed . as will be appreciated by those skilled in the art , multiple circuit patterns may be formed through the repetition of the preprocessing and post - processing steps . although only a few embodiments of the present invention have been described , it should be understood that the present invention may be embodied in many other specific forms without departing from the spirit or the scope of the present invention . by way of example , while the use of a single coil has been described as being suitable for use with a cylindrical wedge halbach array with wedge - shaped magnets at the ends of the array , it should be appreciated that more than a single coil may also be used with such an array . in one embodiment , two coils may be used in lieu of a single coil . while the use of a wedge halbach array of magnets has been described in terms of being used in a cylindrical vcm , it should be appreciated that an array of magnets which includes at least one wedge - shaped magnet may be used within a variety of different vcms . in one embodiment , a vcm which utilizes a coil which is substantially shaped as a square tube may utilize arrays of magnets which have an overall rectangular block shape with at least one component magnet being wedge - shaped . a vcm may include substantially only a single magnet array with at least one wedge - shaped component magnet . by way of example , an inner magnet ring of a radially symmetric cylindrical vcm may include at least one wedge - shaped component magnet , while an outer magnet ring of the vcm may be formed as a substantially uniform donut - shaped magnet , or may include only component magnets which are not wedge - shaped . alternatively , an outer magnet ring of a radially symmetric cylindrical vcm may include at least one wedge - shaped component magnet , and an inner magnet ring of the vcm may include a substantially uniform donut - shaped magnet , or may include only component magnets which are not wedge - shaped . the parameters associated with a coil that is used in a radially symmetric cylindrical vcm with a cylindrical wedge halbach array that includes wedge - shaped magnets at the ends of the array may vary widely . by way of example , both the number of turns in a coil as well as the gauge of the wire in the coil may vary . that is , the coil geometry may vary . typically , as the wire gauge increases , the number of turns in a coil increases , and the resistance associated with the coil increases . since the force generated by a vcm is proportional to the amount of current and the number of turns in a coil , to maintain the same force with lower current , the number of turns in the coil is increased . however , the voltage provided to the coil is generally increased in order to provide the same electric power , since power is proportional to both current and voltage . as the efficiency of a vcm is dependent upon the orientation of magnets within the vcm and not the number of turns in a coil or the wire gauge associated with the coil , the wire gauge may be selected such that the voltage and the current requirements of the vcm are consistent with any requirements of an amplifier or other electronics associated with the vcm . in addition to coil - related parameters , other parameters associated with a vcm in accordance with the present invention may also be widely varied . for instance , the inner and outer radii of the magnets in a cylindrical wedge halbach array may vary . the positioning of the coil within a vcm may also be varied depending upon the requirements of a particular system . for example , the radial clearance or gap between a magnet array and the coil may vary depending upon the length of a trajectory stroke , such as a stroke in an xy plane , and a maximum stage position error , among other factors . since many magnets , e . g ., ndfeb magnets , are anisotropic , it is often preferable to fabricate each radially magnetized ring magnet out of several sections . by way of example , approximately six magnet sections may be used to form a single ring magnet . generally , the number of magnets included in a wedge halbach array may vary . in other words , although each wedge halbach array described above has been described as including five or six magnets , a wedge halbach array may include fewer or more magnets without departing from the spirit or the scope of the present invention . therefore , the present examples are to be considered as illustrative and not restrictive , and the invention is not to be limited to the details given herein , but may be modified within the scope of the appended claims . this description of the invention has been presented for the purposes of illustration and description . it is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the invention to the precise form described , and many modifications and variations are possible in light of the teaching above . the embodiments were chosen and described in order to best explain the principles of the invention and its practical applications . this description will enable others skilled in the art to best utilize and practice the invention in various embodiments and with various modifications as are suited to a particular use . the scope of the invention is defined by the following claims .	7
referring now to the drawings , the mixer according to the present invention is generally designated 10 and will be seen to include an outermost cylindrical housing 12 containing a lining 42 defining an interior chamber 13 bounded by opposite end walls 11 , 11 &# 39 ;. an elongated rotor 14 with an axis and circumferentially opposite sides is disposed within the chamber 13 by means of end shafts 15 , 15 &# 39 ; extending through the respective end walls 11 , 11 &# 39 ;. suitable well known bearing and packing means ( not shown ) are utilized to provide appropriate fluid tight journals for the rotor shaft ends 15 , 15 &# 39 ; and additionally , it will be understood that suitable drive means would be provided to supply motive force , rotating the rotor 14 during operation of the mixer , which mixer may be either of the axial or radial flow type . the hub 14 &# 39 ; of the rotor will be seen to be provided with a plurality of fixed , radially projecting vanes 16 arrayed with pairs of said rotor vanes extending in opposite directions from opposite sides of the rotor shaft 14 and arranged to form a plurality of groups of such vanes , each group disposed in axial alignment , as shown most clearly in fig1 . the plurality of rotor vane groups are in turn angularly offset relative each other as evident from the end elevational view of fig3 . each rotor vane 16 comprises a unitary member including first and second substantially planar , imperforate elements 18 , 19 being mirrored imaged congruent surfaces joined at an edge or apex 21 and defining a v - shape or chevron symmetrical about apex 21 , in cross - section , such that a wedge - shaped trough or cavity 20 is formed between or within the confines of each pair of such elements 18 , 19 . as shown , the open side or trough 20 of the vanes 16 nearest each end wall 11 , 11 &# 39 ; are disposed in a direction facing that end wall but any vane may be facing either direction . although the individual vanes 16 of each group are axially equispaced , it will be observed that the vanes of arcuately adjacent groups are axially staggered relative one another . cooperating with the rotor vanes 16 are a plurality of stator or fixed vanes 30 radially extending inwardly from the inner wall 31 of the housing 12 or the liner 42 . these vanes 30 likewise each comprise a unitary member including a first 32 and second 34 elements in mirroredly image congruent form joined at an apex 35 and defining a v - shape or chevron symmetrical configuration about apex 35 in cross - section , with a trough or cavity 33 within the confines of the two divergent elements . the included angle between the two elements 32 , 34 may range between 45 - 90 degrees . the first elements 32 are preferably imperforate as shown in fig3 while the second elements 34 may be provided with a plurality of radially adjacent apertures 36 . the four groups of stator vanes 30 are likewise arcuately arranged at a 90 degree displacement from each other , or alternatively , any other suitable number of groups with equal spacing may be employed , such as three groups spaced 120 degrees apart . since the unique structure of the present vanes is particularly adaptable for use in a mixer 10 as utilized in the pulp bleaching industry , it will be appreciated that many existing mixer housings may be modified or retro - fitted with the present improvement . in this respect , it will follow that stator members 30 in accordance with this invention may easily be placed within existing housings with the stator vanes 30 suitably affixed relative the housing wall 31 or liner 42 . in the latter respect , each group of stator vanes 30 are shown in fig1 as being mounted upon a base plate 38 which in turn is suitably mounted in place , such as by the fasteners 40 . the intermediate liner 42 may or may not be included and will be understood to be constructed of suitable material intended to resist the chemical action of pulp being treated within the mixer 10 . in one manner of operation , the pulp / treatment chemical mixture is admitted to the mixer chamber through an inlet 44 laterally disposed adjacent one end wall 11 &# 39 ;. the mixture is supplied to the apparatus by any well known gravity or pressure feeding arrangement and after treatment , is forced from the housing 12 , through an uppermost outlet 46 adjacent the opposite end wall 11 so determining an upstream and downstream direction . it will be understood that the specific placement of both the inlet and outlet are not critical for the improved performance of the invention as alternate locations or angular positions are possible . a superior mixing action is accomplished as the rotating vanes 16 intermesh with the stator vanes 30 to produce a hydraulic shock action whereby the mixture is alternately compressed and uncompressed . the stator design and placement is intended to increase the differential occurring between the rotor speed and the pulp / substance mixture rotating speed in order to create higher shear forces . the alternately along the axis of the rotor forward and rearward facing upstream and downstream apexes 21 and troughs or cavities 20 of the rotor vanes 16 promote an improved compression of the mixture as the rotor vanes direct the mixture against the imperforate first elements 32 of the stator vanes 30 . all of the stator vanes will be seen to have their apices 35 disposed in the same direction , that is , facing toward the inlet 44 of the mixer 10 so that the mixer migrating toward the outlet 46 , will be successively sheared by the stator vanes 30 as portions thereof are compressed due to the acton of the rotating rotor vanes 16 being driven between axially adjacent stator vanes 30 . this same action may be accomplished by positioning all or part of the stator vanes 30 - 180 degrees from the position reflected in the drawings . as the rotor vanes 16 pass the first elements 32 of the stator vanes 30 , continued movement of the rotor vanes creates a partial vacuum or pressure reduction between the stator and rotor vanes as well as immediately inside the trough 20 of the rotor vanes . this vacuum is somewhat regulated by means of the apertures 36 in the second stator vane elements 34 so as to reduce the amount of horsepower required to operate the mixer . thus , a constant series of hydraulic shock actions are produced upon the pulp mixture as the rotor 14 operates at a substantially regular speed whereupon , a vastly improved mixing is achieved . operation of the device produces a discontinuity in the movement of the material , with an instability that is implosively self - correcting as atmospheric or feed pressure acts to restore a pressure density to the mixture . the material directed through the mixture 10 undergoes a thorough , homogeneous mixing due to a combination of factors including , the shearing action as the pulp is forced around the rotor vanes 16 and then flows about the stator vanes 30 , as well as the resultant hydraulic shock action as produced by the specifically configured vane elements . the present invention produces an improved mixing action over earlier mixers while operating with a maximum utilization of horsepower and requiring less chemical treating substance . the apparatus is adaptable to a variety of differing mixing applications by altering the relative spacing of the stator vanes 30 circumferentially about the housing inner wall 31 , and the spacing of the plurality of rotor vanes 16 , circumferentially on the rotor hub 14 &# 39 ;. additionally , the relative clearance between the intermeshing rotor and stator vane may be varied . further , the rotor vanes may be varied in configuration , such that only a portion thereof consists of the wedge - shaped trough members as described herein . the relative advantage of this is that when working with many mixtures it may be necessary to vary the mixing action and the rpm of the rotor so that the rate of mixing can be controlled to achieve the desired level of results with certain mixtures . the flow path f depicted in fig5 will be understood to represent a regular , helical path . with the pulp rotating speed similar to that of the rotor speed , having little differential , such as would occur when using a rotor as shown and without the cooperating stator vanes 30 of the present invention , which produce the unique mixing through the hydraulic shock action or alternate compression and decompression of the mixture . as mentioned before , the stator construction and disposition enhances the differential occurring between the rotor speed and the pulp / substance mixture rotating speed so as to create higher shear forces . although the inventive arrangement is illustrated as applied to a mixer having a material flow which progresses generally axially along a rotor shaft , it will be appreciated that the disclosed concept of the cooperating rotor vanes and stator members may be practiced with alternate mixer designs such as , a radial flow mixer having parallel discs provided with opposing vanes and stators . it will be apparent from the foregoing that the objects and advantages of the invention have been realized and further , as many small changes will occur to those skilled in the art , it is desired that all equivalents thereof fall under the scope of invention as defined in the appended claims .	1
the invention will hereinafter be described with reference to the drawings . fig1 shows an electronic typewriter 20 embodying the invention . the electronic typewriter 20 is being used for illustrative purposes only as the invention may be embodied in other electronic printing apparatuses such as printers and facsimile machines employing ink jet printing elements . the print cartridges may be of either a thermal cartridge or a piezo electric cartridge type . the electronic typewriter 20 of fig1 has an outer frame 30 . the input means comprises a keyboard 32 having alphanumeric , function , cursor , and control keys as are known in the art . obviously , the input means would differ for a printer or a facsimile machine . a front panel 34 contains a display 35 and a contrast control 36 is provided for controlling contrast of the display 35 . an upper panel 37 is provided to permit access to the interior of the outer frame 30 . the front panel 34 may be rotated toward the keyboard and the upper panel 37 rotated away from the keyboard to provide access to the interior of the outer frame 30 . a paper release 38 and a knob 39 for permitting rotation of main roller 91 ( fig6 ) are provided to one side of the outer frame 30 . a back panel 33 lowers to provide a paper tray for feeding the sheet of paper prior to printing and for receiving the printed sheet of paper . fig2 - 5 show the printing area of the invention . as previously noted , the invention is being described in the context of the electronic typewriter 20 of fig1 but is applicable to any printing apparatus using ink jet print technology . the printing means are mounted to a mounting frame 70 ( fig4 ) comprising a first side frame 71 , a first lateral frame 72 , a second side frame 73 , and a second lateral frame 74 . for purposes of this description , the first side frame 71 may be considered to the left when viewed in the figures and the first lateral frame 72 may be considered as closest to the observer when mounted in a printing mechanism . however , when actually mounted within a printing apparatus , the orientation may vary depending upon the structure of the printing apparatus . extending between the first and second side frames 71 , 73 are a guide shaft 98 and a guide rail 99 ( fig2 and 4 ). the guide shaft 98 and the guide rail 99 support the ink cartridge carrier 54 upon which the ink cartridge 40 is mounted . a motor 92 drives a timing belt 94 mounted to the ink cartridge carrier 54 to reciprocate the ink cartridge carrier 54 laterally along the guide shaft 98 and the guide rail 99 . a single sheet of paper is fed around feed path 102 ( fig6 ) and exits the direction shown by arrow a . at the entrance of the feed path 102 is the paper tray 33 . a cut sheet feeder ( not shown ) feeds paper to paper feed opening 102a and thence to paper feed path 102 . the paper feed opening 102a is also used to feed thicker paper products , such as postcards . thus , the feed of paper may be a single sheet at a time or from a cut sheet feeder using known feed technologies . further , the invention can be used with fan fold paper fed by a tractor feed . the paper is fed through the feed path 102 by rotation of the main roller 91 ( fig6 ) and pinch rollers 90 ( fig2 ), across the block 96 and exited between feed rollers 104 and traction rollers 105 . the feed rollers 104 are made of a resilient material and the traction rollers 105 are preferably of a metal having raised linear teeth . the raised linear teeth , triangular in cross - section , are smoothed at their apex such that the combination of the raised teeth of the traction rollers 105 and the resilient surface of the feed rollers 104 provide a positive gripping of the paper sheet . adjacent to the second side frame 73 is a head maintenance station 100 ( fig3 and 5 ). the head maintenance station 100 may comprise a wiper member and a capping station to cover the printhead . a type maintenance station is shown in u . s . pat . no . 5 , 202 , 702 . fig2 and 4 show the ink cartridge carrier 54 at the head maintenance station 100 . during printing , the ink cartridge carrier 54 reciprocates along the guide shaft 98 and guide rail 99 between a position substantially adjacent to the first side frame 71 and a position adjacent to the head maintenance station 100 . head cleaning is executed on a predetermined basis that may be established based upon the number of lines printed , a set time interval , a combination of a number of characters and lines printed , or other appropriate measures depending upon the characteristics of the ink and the ink cartridge 40 . the ink cartridge carrier 54 will be described with reference to fig6 - 11 . the ink cartridge carrier 54 is molded of a high strength resin material . an example of such a material is a polycarbonate with 10 % fiber glass . the molded ink cartridge carrier 54 comprises a first side frame section 56 , a second side frame section 57 , a center frame section 55 connecting the first and second side frame sections 56 , 57 , and a base frame section 58 . the base frame section includes a guide shaft mount 60 and a positioning bar 58a . the center frame section 55 has molded thereto guide members 59 . between guide members 59 is a notch 101 . the ink cartridge carrier 54 is mounted to guide shaft 98 using guide shaft mount 60 and guide rail 99 is received in notch 101 . to a rear portion of guide shaft mount 60 is formed a timing belt attachment bracket 61 . the timing belt 94 is attached to the timing belt attachment bracket 61 . the timing belt 94 may be either a split belt wherein each end of the timing belt 94 is attached to the timing belt attachment bracket 61 or it may be an endless belt with an attachment device , mounted on the timing belt 94 , that is attached to the timing belt attachment bracket 61 . in either case , the timing belt 94 is fixed with respect to the ink cartridge carrier 54 so that rotation of the motor 92 causes the timing belt 94 to be moved by rotation of an output shaft and pulley ( not shown ) thereby causing the ink cartridge carrier to reciprocate along the guide shaft 98 and guide rail 99 . extending from each side frame section 56 , 57 is a wing 51 . a plane passing through a surface of the wings 51 opposes a plane passing through an inner surface of the center frame section 55 and is parallel thereto . the gap between the two respective planes defines slots 65 , 66 . a first slot 65 is defined at the junction of first side frame 56 and center frame section 55 and a second slot 66 is defined at the junction of second side frame section 57 and center frame section 55 . protruding from the surface of the wing 51 extending from first side frame section 56 is entry latching pin 67 and protruding from wing 51 extending from second side frame section 57 are end latching pins 68 . although as shown in this preferred embodiment of the ink cartridge carrier , the ink cartridge carrier 54 has one entry latching pin 67 and two end latching pins 68 , other configurations of the latching pins could be used . to the ink cartridge carrier 54 is mounted a latching bracket 110 ( fig9 a , 9b ). the latching bracket 110 is formed of a high impact resin , such as those used for the ink cartridge carrier 54 . the latching bracket 110 has an opening 114 and extending inwardly , that is toward the ink cartridge carrier 54 , is a retention plate 116 having a downwardly descending l - shape , in cross section , to create a mounting notch 118 between the main bracket body and the descending leg of the retention plate 116 . protruding from an upper surface of the retention plate 116 is a spring guide 115 . the latching bracket 110 is mounted in an opening 52 formed in the center frame section 55 ( fig7 and 10 - 12 ). the retention plate 116 , when the latching bracket 110 is mounted to the center frame section 55 , is seated on an inner side of a center brace 127 of the center frame section 55 so that the center brace 127 is seated within mounting notch 118 of latching bracket 110 ( fig1 ). the portion of the latching bracket 110 defining an edge of the spring opening 114 adjacent a lip 112 ( upper edge in the figures ) is received in a groove formed in the top brace 125 of the center frame section 55 . within the opening 52 , 114 ( resulting when the latching bracket 110 is mounted to the center frame section 55 ) is a spring 117 that is seated on the spring guide 115 of the latching bracket 110 and engaged with a surface of the opening 52 , the surface opposing the spring guide 115 . to retain and guide the spring 117 , the engagement surface found in top brace 125 of center frame section 55 is formed as a spring retention notch 126 . the latching bracket also has at its upper end ( in the figures ) the lip 112 . the spring 117 , between the spring retention notch 126 in the top brace 125 of the center frame section 55 and the spring guide 115 , applies a pressure to force the latching bracket 110 downwardly ( in the figures ) so as to seat mounting notch 118 on center brace 127 of center frame section 55 . the mounting of the latching bracket 110 on the center frame section 55 is stabilized by the top brace 125 of the center frame section 55 . the portion of the latching bracket 110 above the spring opening 114 is retained within a notch in the upper portion of the top brace 125 thus slidably attaching the latching bracket 110 at a second point to the center frame section 55 . the spring 117 , as previously described , engages an upper surface of the opening 52 of the center frame section 55 by being seated within a spring retention notch 126 found in the top brace 125 to complete the mounting . mounted to an inner surface , that is a surface of center frame section 55 facing into the area defined by first and second side frame sections 56 , 57 , is a contact spring member 130 having contact springs 131 formed thereon . the contact spring member 130 and contact springs 131 are formed of a resilient substance , such as silicon rubber . they may have different resiliences or substantially the same resiliences . the contact springs 131 are formed on the contact spring member 130 in a pattern corresponding to the electrical contacts found on the contact surface 44 ( fig1 ) of the ink cartridge 40 and on the flexible cable 80 . another type of contact spring structure is disclosed in u . s . pat . no . 4 , 706 , 097 . the flexible cable 80 will be described with reference to fig2 , 12 , 13 , 14 . a mounting bracket 88 is mounted to first lateral frame 72 . the flexible cable 80 from the controller ( not shown ) has a first rigid portion 81 which provides a means for guiding the flexible cable to the cable attachment bracket 88 as well as providing means for a positive mount thereto . a second rigid section 82 guides the flexible cable 80 around the outer surface of the ink cartridge carrier 54 and through a groove 50 ( fig4 and 14 ). the groove 50 is formed in the wing 51 extending from side frame section 56 ( fig1 ). a hook 53 defines the outer side of the groove and extends approximately one - half the height of the wing 51 or the side frame section 56 . the rigid portions 81 , 82 are reinforced only where the path of the flexible cable 80 changes direction . between those points , the flexible cable 80 remains flexible . the high rigidity portions , that is where the direction changes , of the flexible cable 80 may be formed by molding with an increased amount of the resin , used to form the body of the flexible cable 80 , forming the high rigidity portions of the rigid portions 81 , 82 upon curing or by mounting reinforcing material to the flexible cable 80 , such as metal or plastic strips . the section of the flexible cable 80 between the first and second rigid portions 81 , 82 is flexible and bows during reciprocal movement of the ink cartridge carrier 54 so as to permit movement of the ink cartridge carrier 54 from one end of the print line to the other . one end of the flexible cable 80 , adjacent rigid portion 82 , permits connection of the flexible cable 80 to the ink cartridge carrier 54 . between the rigid portion 82 and an end portion 83 is a contact portion 84 containing contacts 85 . the contacts 85 coincide with the contact springs 131 and the contacts on the contact surface 44 of the ink cartridge 40 . rigid portion 82 of the flexible cable 80 has a mounting hole 69a and cable end 83 has mounting holes 69b . the mounting hole 69a enables rigid portion 82 to be mounted to entry the latching pin 67 and the mounting holes 69b on the cable end 83 are mounted to the end latching pins 68 thereby positively locating the contacts 85 of contact portion 84 between the contact springs 131 and the contacts found on the ink cartridge 40 . passage of the rigid portion 82 through groove 50 results in the hook 53 providing for a positive retention of mounting hole 69a on latching pin 67 to prevent an accidental disconnection of the cable 80 during reciprocable movement of the ink cartridge carrier 54 . to mount the flexible cable 80 to latching pins 67 , 68 , cable end 83 is passed through the slot 65 , past the contact springs 131 and exited from the slot 66 so that the latching holes 69a , 69b receive the latching pins 67 , 68 . the ink cartridge 40 for use with the invention will be described with reference to fig2 and , most particularly , 15 . the ink cartridge 40 has an engagement piece 42 on its upper surface ( as shown in the figures ). at its lower surface is a nozzle plate 48 . at a lower end of each side surface is a mounting foot 46 . a front face directly below the engagement piece 42 comprises a contact surface 44 having a plurality of contacts ( not shown in detail ) corresponding to the number of nozzles thereon . in operation , the flexible cable 80 is attached to the ink cartridge carrier 41 by inserting the cable end 83 through the slot 65 and exiting the slot 66 thereby positioning the contact portion 84 opposite the contact springs 131 so that the pattern of the contacts 85 on the contact portion 84 is matched with the contact springs 131 . the latching holes 69a , 69b are seated on the latching pins 67 , 68 to positively position the contact portion 84 of the flexible cable 80 . the ink cartridge 40 is mounted on the ink cartridge carrier 54 as shown in fig1 - 19 . the nozzle plate 48 section of the ink cartridge 40 is inserted between the positioning bar 58a of the base frame section 58 and the center frame section 55 . the upper portion of the ink cartridge 40 is then pushed toward the center frame section 55 . a chamfered surface of the engagement piece 42 engages a chamfered surface of the lip 112 of the latching bracket 110 . the lip 112 is pushed upwardly against the tension force of the spring 117 until the chamfered surface of the lip 112 passes by the chamfered surface of the engagement piece 42 wherein the tension of the spring 117 retracts the lip 112 over the engagement piece 42 thereby positively engaging and seating the ink cartridge 40 on the ink cartridge carrier 54 . further , to properly align the ink cartridge 40 laterally , the second side frame section 57 is provided with a rigid ink cartridge guide 64 and the first side frame section 56 is provided with a semi - rigid ink cartridge guide 63 . alternatively , the rigid ink cartridge guide 64 could be provided on the first frame section 56 and the semi - rigid ink cartridge guide 63 could be provided on the second frame section 57 . at this time , the contacts on the contact surface 44 are in positive contact with the contacts 85 found on the contact portion 84 of the flexible cable 80 and printing may be conducted . to release an expended ink cartridge 40 from the ink cartridge carrier 41 , the operator grasps the ends of the lip 112 , pulling the lip 112 upwardly to disengage the lip 112 from the engagement piece 42 . the lip 112 , on each side , has an angled surface such that the lip is narrower at its bottom surface ( closed to the opening 114 ) and wider at its upper surface for ease in pulling ( fig1 ). the angle formed between the top surface and the angled surface is in a range of about 40 ° to 60 ° and is preferably about 50 °. during removal , the ink cartridge 40 is rotated toward the guide shaft mount 60 and lifted from its position on the ink cartridge carrier 54 .	1
there will now be described , by way of example only , the best mode contemplated by the inventor for carrying out the present invention . in the following description , numerous specific details are set out in order to provide a complete understanding to the present invention . it will be apparent to those skilled in the art , that the present invention may be put into practice with variations of the specific . referring to fig3 , the present invention relates to a device that is operable to drill a hole through a nail 301 using a drill bit 302 in a controlled manner which device is arranged to prevent an overrun of the drill bit in use , having progressed through the nail , into the nail bed 304 lying below . this prior art device benefits from motor control but suffers from being hand - held : the device must be held in against the nail 300 whereby to determine differences in torque resistance to the drill bit as it rotates . in this known system a drill bit is fixedly attached to a drill bit holder ( chuck ) in a controlled manner in order to accurately track the progress of the drill bit 302 through the nail 300 thus preventing it overrunning into the nail bed . when the device is first placed against the nail 300 the cutter 302 will not be in contact with the nail 300 ( see fig5 ). upon activation the cutter will start to rotate and will then be advanced in an axial direction towards the nail 300 . when the cutter 302 makes contact with the nail 300 there will be a reaction force from the nail 300 in a direction corresponding to the axis of the cutter 302 and a reaction torque will act with respect to the cutter 302 . this prior teaching provides a motor control responsive to such forces . notwithstanding the above , difficulties can arise , not least through the axis of cutting changing through relative movement between the drill bit and the nail 300 . accordingly , the present invention provides a number of modifications to the design to overcome or ameliorate such problems . referring now to fig4 , numeral 400 refers generally to a drilling assembly in accordance with one aspect of the invention . the drilling assembly can be coupled to a motor for rotational drive or may be coupled to an output coupling of a flexible shaft , wherein the motor provides rotational drive at an input coupling of the flexible shaft . the assembly comprises a composite drill 403 retained for rotation within a chuck which is surrounded by a shroud 402 , which depends form an upper sleeve member associated with the motor drive unit ( not shown ), the composite drill being movable relative to the shroud . the shroud , by means of an annular sleeve 407 at a proximal portion of the shroud , engages with a corresponding mating face associated with the body 405 of the rotational tool . the composite drill 403 comprises a drill bit 302 and a shank element 304 ( which receives rotational drive about axis z from a rotational power from coupling member 411 ), associated with a control tool or device ( not shown ). for ease in handling and to assist in the coupling of the shank to the chuck , the outside diameter of the shank ( typically , φ = 3 . 175 mm , corresponding to ⅛th inch , a standard diameter for many engineering applications ) is considerably greater than the drill bit ( typically , φ = 0 . 1 − 2 mm ), although this would not be necessary for larger drill bits . at a distal portion of the shroud 406 , the shroud reduces in diameter to define an apex with an aperture through which the drill bit can pass and engage with a patient body part . for example , as shown in fig5 , the apex abuts a nail plate 300 prior to the drill bit being brought towards and through the aperture 406 at the base of the shroud . the chuck coupling member 411 has an inside diameter of 3 . 175 mm , corresponding to the outside diameter of the shank and an outside diameter of 5 . 5 mm . whilst a resilient clip is shown in the specific embodiment , the skilled man will realise that a magnetic assembly can retain ferromagnetic drill bits , as such magnetic connections are widely used many in non - percussive applications , such as multi - bit magnetic screw - driver assemblies . in detail , and referring also to fig4 a - c , the shank 304 is retained within a power transfer chuck 411 that enables an extremely simple change of drill bit . with specific reference to fig4 a , which shows a plan view of the composite drill 403 from the proximal end , although the drill bit cutter 302 is indicated in outline . the shank of the composite bit is provided with a plastics collet 408 , which has four upstanding elements 409 with inherent resiliency , being manufactured from machinable and mouldable plastics such as polypropylene . four inwardly extending features 410 are defined at the end of the upstanding elements 409 . these inwardly extending features locate within an annular depression 412 associated with the transfer chuck 411 , whereby not only to assist in the confirmation of the drill bit being fitted satisfactorily but to assist in gripping an outside surface of the power transfer chuck 411 . an insertion tool operable to protect a brittle drill bit and reduce a risk of contamination can be provided , comprising an elongate tool with an inwardly direct opening operable to couple about the shank in a loose fit , an abut against the collet , whereby the drill bit is not touched and therefore not contaminated as the drill bit is placed within the transfer chuck 411 . the shank is machined to an outside diameter of 3 . 175 mm and the inside diameter of the chuck corresponds to provide a sliding fit , to prevent axial jitter of the drill in use ; an air passage ( not shown ) is provided whereby to enable the shank to be simply inserted into the chuck . the tightness of fit is controlled by an amount of interference ; the “ allowance ”. formulas are readily available to the skilled man t to compute this allowance ( planned difference from nominal size ) that will result in various strengths of fit such as loose fit , light interference fit , and interference fit . the value of the allowance depends on which material is being used , how big the parts are , and what degree of tightness is desired . such values have already been worked out in the past for many standard applications , and they are available to engineers in the form of tables , obviating the need for re - derivation . therefore , if a loose fit is desired for a 3 . 175 mm shaft made of a particular grade of stainless steel , the engineer can look up the needed allowance in a reference book or computer program , rather than using a formula to calculate it . a flattened face together with a corresponding projection on the shank ( not shown ) could also be provided , which together with a resilient element such as a clip or similar could enable secure retention of the composite bit within the chuck . prior to use , like all medical instruments , the composite drill must be sterilised — although this system easily adapts to the disposable , single use environment , typical of modern surgeries / health care centres , the sterilisation conveniently taking place during manufacture , by sterilisation by moist heat , gamma irradiation , and other methods , whereby sterile packed products are provided at said manufacturing facility . the drill together with a plastics shroud can easily be provided as a kit of parts for single use with a particular patient , as shall be discussed below . this would be advantageous in that a single use shroud would assist with any collection of biopsy material , since the drill can be placed in a biopsy package , without being required to be cleaned , possibly with loss of material . fig4 d shows a perspective view of a collet 408 , on its own ; the four upstanding members 409 are clearly identifiable ; the division of the otherwise circumferential body allowing flexing of the upstanding members outwardly . fig4 e is a perspective view of the proximal end of the shroud and shows part of the chuck that , in use , is coupled with a type of device as shown in fig3 or be coupled to a flexible drive shaft , where a power tool arrangement is inconvenient , for example in veterinary applications . a flexible shaft can transmit rotary motion much like a solid shaft , but , it can be routed over , under , and around obstacles that would make using a solid shaft impractical . a flexible shaft assembly consists of a rotating shaft ( sometimes called a core ) with metal end fittings for attachment to mating parts . a protective outer casing is used when necessary . notwithstanding this , torque reaction delay times may arise from motor stop to tool stop due to an inherent resilience in the drive shaft , which increases with increasing length of driveshaft . fig4 f shows a composite drill 403 when in place in a power tool with the shroud removed . fig4 g shows the drill assembly in outline , clearly showing the upstanding members 409 of the collet 408 , with the inwardly directed features 410 . fig4 h shows an example of an insertion tool 490 having a handle portion at a first end and a cylindrical aperture operable to enclose the shank of a drill bit assembly ; fig4 hi shows the tool in plan view ; fig4 hii shows the tool end on showing the a cylindrical bore . fig4 i and fig4 j show how the drill assembly is inserted into the tool , whereby handling and positioning is simplified . fig4 k shows how the assembly engages the chuck of the tool once the shroud has been removed . if the tool is made of plastics , then it can assist in protection of the drill during storage and transport and be part of a single - use system . further features to assist in the loading and ejection of the drill bit from the chuck can be provided : for example , the packaging could include the holder may be provided with alignment markings , to assist loading of a drill bit and secure removal therefrom . a further feature or component of the packaging could assist in the provision of a seal for biopsy and to prevent potential cross - contamination issues , although standard stock control techniques should be maintained at all times . fig5 shows how the aperture 406 of the shroud 402 engages with , in this example , a fingernail 300 , whereby to enable a secure , non - slip placement of the device and , therefore , reliable drilling of the nail . fig6 a shows in cross - section how the annulus 406 abuts a nail plate 300 , whereby to stabilise the drilling system . the drill bit can conveniently be made from a variety of tool steels , as is known . it is preferred that the shroud has have a sharp tip ( relative to the keratin ) and can be made from metals that will not easily corrode and are suited to sterilisation such as hardened steel , stainless steel or aluminium that has been anodised to increase hardness . the shroud either as a whole or just about the tip can be made from a transparent or translucent material , whereby illumination from a light source within the shroud is possible or generally , to assist in viewing of the nail to be drilled . the form of the shroud should allow good visibility to a work piece and access to all areas ( access to the nail root is critical in the treatment of onychomycosis ). the annular aperture tip can include a pressure - sensitive sensor , whereby to enable control of a power source to the tool upon engagement of the annular aperture tip with a surface . the annulus tip member could be fitted to a plastics shroud or an aluminium shroud , although , it will be realised a multitude of materials can be employed , it being realised that the components need to be autoclavable or otherwise sterilised . conveniently , the single use assembly prevents cross - infection and is sterilised sterilised during manufacture . fig6 b - 6 d show three different types of annulus in cross - section , which have sharp edges to enable an annulus to assist in engagement with a nail , to prevent slippage of one with respect to the other . the chuck is arranged so that it grips the collar 408 associated with the drill bit 302 by means of an interference fit . this provides a specific advantage in that , in the event the device that drills into the nail is knocked and the drill bit is forced off - axis with respect to a nail element , then the drill bit , in the event that it locks onto the nail rather than rotating with respect to the nail can slip within the chuck momentarily prior to the torque sensor preventing the motor from further rotation . fig6 f relates to a different form of shroud where alternatively or additionally a sharp substrate engaging tip is replaced with a rubber - like element that grips the surface . the rubber - like compound can be selected — though not necessarily restricted to materials made form or comprised of suitable materials include , but may not be restricted to the following : a silicone rubber , a nitrile compound such as a hydrogenated nitrile compound , ethylene - propylene compounds , fluorocarbons , fluorosilicones , styrene - butadiene compounds , chloroprene compounds etc ., the material being chosen because of its high - grip properties with respect to nail and nail - like substrates . fig6 g shows a first alternative where the sharp substrate engaging tip is supplemented with a rubber - like compound . it will be appreciated that a rubber - like grip will not affect the surface of the nail in the same fashion as a sharp tip ; it will be less painful in application of axially directed forces as the tool is used . the grip must be such that the torque reaction of the tool is taken into account and the nail is not damaged upon start - up of the tool . specifically , with reference to fig6 f , the shroud has a tip that comprises a rubber foot , which prevents slippage in normal use . fig6 g shows a second further variation , where a tip has half rubber grip element 608 and half surface engaging tip 406 . fig6 h shows the overall view from underneath , with the tip 406 defining a sharp edge on an inside of the tip . in contrast , fig6 i shows a further shroud wherein the tip is half polymeric rubber foot and half a serrated tip 407 : this time the serrated tip lies on the outside of the tip member ; fig6 j shows how this appears form the underside . by having two types of surface grip / engagement means , the tool is quite adaptable to various conditions of tool . sometimes the fungal nail will damage the substrate surface such that the entry of the surface of the nail substrate will actually be ineffective to a torque transfer upon start - up of the motor and so the use of a rubber part will assist in a satisfactory placement and maintenance in position of the tool which can therefore be most satisfactorily be held and retained by hand , enabling control by the clinician . fig6 k shows a still further variation , wherein the shroud 610 has a tip which lies in a plane that is not perpendicular to the axis of the drill 612 . this enables a drill to penetrate the nail or other material at an angle other than normal to a surface thereof , whereby to avoid damaging the cuticle , for example in the case of a human nail . a further significant advantage provided by this system is that new drill bits , of typically 1 mm in diameter , can be replaced simply by removing the shroud — conveniently located with a rubber o - ring about a part of the body of the tool — inserting the shank into a cylindrical aperture defined within a cylindrical chuck , a resilient collet engaging with an outside surface of the chuck — although other methods of fastening can be easily envisaged . the skilled man will readily appreciate the convenience : there is no possibility of any complication — substantial or otherwise — encountered when chuck key or hand - grip fastening procedures need to be deployed . instead , a simple push on fit is provided by the collet of the shank gripping the chuck . a chuck is a specialized type of clamp used to hold an object , usually an object with radial symmetry , especially a cylindrical object , and are used most commonly used to hold a rotating tool ( such as the drill bit in a power tool ). many chucks have jaws , which can be arranged in a radially symmetrical pattern ( like the points of a star ) to hold a tool or work - piece , although this does not prevent axial run - out , which is not normally an issue in , say household diy drilling projects , but will obviously have a significant effect when drilling nail , bone etc . since the tolerance corresponds in magnitude to the run - out in such chucks . often the jaws will be tightened or loosened with the help of a chuck key — a wrench - like tool , typically with a circumferential gear arrangement for engagement with a corresponding radial tightening ring about the chuck . keyless chucks are also available , their tightening and loosening being performed by hand force alone . additionally , by having a simple unitary design , the chuck can be manufactured from materials that are sterilisation compatible or deliberately non - compatible in order to prevent reuse . conveniently , single use components are provided with tools that assist in placement within a chuck , for example , in the provision of an alignment mechanism in association with the shroud . such replaceable tools can comprise part of a treatment package whereby drill bits are provided together with receptacles to not only ensure safety in the provision of the tools but also to enable safe disposal , including the option of providing soiled drill bits and shank for biopsy examination . conveniently , the shroud can be placed in a package for biopsy examination , in the event that the shroud enables collection of the swarf arising from drilling through a nail or other substrate . by having a shank of the drill bits of specific lengths , then control of penetration though particularly deep nail can be assisted and / or the extent of penetration is limited . the diameter of the aperture defined by the annulus is also variable , commensurate with the size of drill bit as shall be discussed below . fig6 e shows a still further embodiment wherein the annulus 407 comprises a jagged edge . this design ensures engagement with nail plate , surface gripping features , stability features , forms a seal between a nail plate and the annulus tip , with advantages that can be realised in biopsy capture and drug delivery . returning to fig4 e , a perspective view of a distal end of a shroud is shown , which provides a volume 415 which can accommodate a number of features including , but not limited to , a vacuum system to assist in removal and possible storage of swarf form any associated drilling operations ; storage for application of medicaments ; placement of light sources etc . fig7 shows the relative sizes of a drill bit 302 within the nozzle of the shroud 406 , where an annular space is defined , which space can be used for biopsy collection , drug delivery , etc ., although if the tolerance was tighter , the annulus could also act as a drill guide : the annular gap 702 can be critical for a particular function , given that if a drug is being delivered in reverse rotational mode i . e . acts as screw - feed for drug , which if supplied as a cream may have a viscosity which if delivered by any other means would not necessarily be present in the desired area by virtue of the presence of air - gaps . the use of free - flowing liquid medicaments means that medicament loss is great and therefore the overall treatment can be ineffective . the gap between the outside of the drill and the inside of the tube can be critical . obviously , interfaces between relatively rotating parts are best provided with o - rings to prevent accumulation of unwanted debris , medicament or other products , or to provide a sealing feature , to ensure prevention of leakage of material ; including but not restricted to biopsy material ( to prevent cross - infection ). fig8 shows a still further variation , wherein the shroud 801 is provided with an aperture , which aperture can provide means for the delivery of drug and removal of debris by suction , or airflow towards nail . the present invention can overcome present problems encountered in the delivery of a drip - fed medicament as discussed above , by using the drill bit in reverse rotation , together with use of the as a feed for a medicament . a light source may be arranged within or about the shroud , to assist in illuminating the drilling area . in accordance with a further aspect of the invention , there is provided a work - piece jig 901 which cooperates with the annular tip of the shroud 406 to ensure accurate placement of the drill bits using the rotary tool of the invention , under manual control with respect to a nail 300 . referring to fig9 a , a section through the jig 901 shows guide channels 902 for use in enabling drill bits to accurately be placed with respect to the nail . fig9 b shows the jig at 90 ° to jig 901 with respect to the view shown in fig9 a , together with the tip of the shroud 406 engaging with the top surface of the jig . not shown , but an apertured button top , can be arranged so that the tip can couple with the jig , to enable repeatable drilling , with the jig also being provided with conduits 904 and 905 for the introduction of air whereby to clear swarf , for example , or for the introduction of a medicament , with the conduit 905 for the removal of biopsy - swarf . channels 904 and 905 are optional and can be placed independently of one another . the jig can be placed upon the nail surface ; the use of glues across the whole of a nail surface is not recommended , but by the placement of locating dots 908 upon a nail surface , attached by a suitable glue , such as a cyanoacrylate glue , then the jig can be located with respect to the nail . with reference to fig9 c — the locating dots , retained by glue in confined areas at four points on the nail surface ensure that the jig is securely located , with the underside of the jig having corresponding locating means associated complementary to the locating dots . after the jig has been successfully been employed to enable the rotary to drill into the nail under the hand - held ( manual ) control of an operator , collect biopsy material and deliver medicament as appropriate , then a false nail 907 , also with complementary locating dots 910 can be placed upon the nail , to protect and seal the area — to the level required for the particular condition of the nail . other forms of false nail can be employed , with channels for the provision of medicament over time . it will be appreciated that different jigs and false nails having different widths and arcs of curvature will be required to accommodate the differing nature of human beings . it can be envisioned , without departing from the invention , that many variations are possible . fig1 shows a further embodiment 422 wherein a fan assembly 1011 is present , placed a short axial distance from collar 408 comprises four blades 1012 , arranged to provide a relative vacuum at the nozzle 406 upon rotation indicated by reference numeral 1013 . arrow 1006 indicates the direction the air and debris flow from the nozzle ; air indicated at 1016 exits the motor unit through aperture 1015 defined in the wall of the casing 405 . the addition of a fan or fan blades to the rotating component generates an airflow whereby debris is removed from the drilling site . the fan may be included or separate to the clip used to retain the drill bit within the drive shaft . conveniently , a tube is fastened to the aperture 1015 by way of a coupling member or otherwise whereby the air plus nail debris can be guided away . ideally , there is also provided a trap or other containment system , whereby the debris can be removed from the airflow and collected for biopsy use . the tube can lead to a collection trap . fig1 a shows a simple trap whereby debris is deposited either by virtue of changing air velocity and the bernoulli effect or upon the air flow hitting a baffle member . preferably , and in accordance with the system shown in fig1 b , a filter system is provided whereby the debris is collected on the inside face of the filter or drops down into a containment area . the trap is ideally easily removable to enable simple collection of the debris . by having the fan removed with the drill bit , single use of the fan ensures that cross contamination is reduced . conveniently , an inner duct ( not shown ) is provided whereby the duct , tube and fan are removed together with the shroud 402 ; after use all are removed from the drill tool . the rotary tool can also be provided with a window or is either transparent or translucent , whereby the hard animal tissue substrate to be drilled can be viewed through the shroud . conveniently , the shroud is provided with a light source , whereby to illuminate the hard animal tissue substrate to be drilled . preferably , the light source is a broad spectrum light source that can also provide germicidal ultra - violet ( uv ) light , whereby to provide irradiation treatment , in addition to the provision of a medicament . it will be appreciated that the effectiveness of germicidal ultra - violet light in such an environment depends on a number of certain factors : the length of time a micro - organism is exposed to ultra - violet light , the presence of particles that can protect the micro - organisms from ultra - violet light , and a micro - organism &# 39 ; s ability to withstand ultra - violet light during its exposure . further , the effectiveness of this form of sterilization can be dependent upon line - of - sight exposure of the micro - organisms to the ultra - violet light ; dirt from a debris - removal airflow upon a lamp can reduce effective light output , whilst poor lamp cooling under the airflow can also detrimentally affect ultra - violet light output . accordingly , the light source can conveniently be placed such that impingement of the lamp with any airflow does not occur , for example by use of a shield for the lamp together with a parabolic reflector . it should also be recognised that in use , such bulbs require annual replacement and scheduled cleaning to ensure effectiveness . conveniently , the window of the shroud or the transparent / translucent material of the shroud is not transparent to the ultra - violet light . as is known , per wo2013098555 in the name of the inventor of present invention , the drill system employs torque sensitive sensors whereby drilling is stopped after drilling through the nail has completed , prior to penetration into the nail bed . the system uses a drilling procedure that allows the motor to be started once the shroud has been securely located and a pressure switch has been activated . the forces can be measured using various sensors , for example . whilst the present invention has been described solely with reference to matters of onychomycosis in the nails of human beings , the ambit of overall uses is not so limited . the present invention can be used , for example , in the collection of biopsy matter , drug delivery , subungual haematoma , animal claws , skulls e . g . hydrocephalus .	0
a preferred embodiment of a lower back insulation undergarment , which is the subject of this invention , is illustrated in fig1 - 8 . an undergarment in the form of underwear briefs 5 or boxers 6 is provided having either an oval pocket 3 or an elliptical pocket 4 affixed to the back side of the undergarment for receiving an oval insulation pad 1 or an elliptical insulation pad 2 , respectively . in accordance , the underwear briefs 5 or boxers 6 may be made of a blend of cotton , polyester , and / or lycra , but is not restricted to these . the inherent elasticity of this material facilitates maintaining of the undergarment in a stationary position so that the pockets and the insulation pads inserted therein , remain in the desired position . in addition to this , the briefs 5 or boxers 6 also includes elastic waist bands to further secure the desired position of the insulation pads . these elastic waist bands may be made of a blend of cotton , polyester , and / or lycra , but is not restricted to these . the elastic waist band 7 around the top of the undergarment helps keep the insulation pads snug against the wearer &# 39 ; s back . this may have a width of approximately 0 . 75 inches to 1 . 5 inches , although not limited to these . there are also elastic waist bands 8 located at the lower end of the briefs 5 or boxers 6 terminating in proximity with the upper thighs of the wearer . these may have a width of approximately 0 . 2 inches to 1 inches , however not restricted to these . this additional lower support maintains the preferred position of the undergarment and its parts therein . the briefs 5 or boxers 6 and the parts therein may come in different sizes to accommodate the wearer &# 39 ; s body size . the pockets affixed to the underwear briefs 5 or boxers 6 come in two different shapes . the first is an oval pocket 3 to secure an oval insulation pad 1 . upon pulling these undershorts completely onto his body , the wearer feels the effects of the insulation pad 1 most in his lower back region . this oval pocket 3 has been designed to assure the oval insulation pad 1 therein is secured indefinitely . the double stitching 9 of the pocket supports the inserted pad , and so does the extra elastic band 10 located at the top of the oval pocket 3 . this elastic band 10 stretches to allow insertion of the oval insulation pad 1 therein and then contracts , serving as a barrier to removal of the pad and to hold it in the proper position despite movements of the wearer . thus , this leads to a minimal wobble of the pad over the lower back , increasing effect and comfort . this oval pocket 3 , in accordance with the undershorts itself , may come in different sizes to accommodate the wearer &# 39 ; s body , further minimizing wobbleness . the pocket size for a small size is approximately 9 inches long and 4 inches high ; for a medium size , it is approximately 11 inches long 5 inches high , and for a large size , the oval pocket 3 size is approximately 13 inches long and 6 inches high . the oval pockets 3 have dimensions slightly larger than the inserted insulation pads to maximize security and comfort . the material for the pocket is similar to that of the undershorts having elasticity while still comfortable . the position of the oval pocket 3 in the underwear briefs 5 or boxers 6 is especially significant . the pocket must be positioned so that the upon insertion of the insulation pad , the entire lower back of the wearer is covered . as it can be noticed from the drawings , the position of the oval pocket is over the lower end of the lower back , and with the oval insulation pad 1 therein , the wearer &# 39 ; s complete lower back is covered . furthermore , the height at which various individuals wear undershorts varies , thus demanding a more flexible size of both the oval pocket 3 and the pad 1 therein . an extra inch on each side and on the bottom of the pocket and the subsequent larger insulation pad , permits the wearer to wear his undershorts as he normally would increasing comfort while his entire lower back is still receiving the insulation it needs . in place of the oval pocket 3 , an elliptical pocket 4 might be on the upper back part of the underwear briefs 5 or boxers 6 . the elliptical pocket 4 is designed to contain an elliptical insulation pad 2 securely and comfortably . the elliptical insulation pad 2 ( described in more detail later ) not only insulates the lower back region as the oval insulation pad 1 does , but it also insulates the outer sides of the lower back region . although not restricted to this , the pocket designed to hold the elliptical insulation pad 2 , like the oval pocket 3 , is also made of a blend of cotton , polyester , and / or lycra , it also contains the double stitch 9 around the edges and the extra elastic band 10 to further assure that the elliptical insulation pad 2 does not move even if the wearer does . furthermore , in accordance with the size of the undershort , this elliptical pocket comes in different sizes to make it as comfortable and effective as possible for the wearer . the pocket size for a small underwear is approximately 13 inches long and 4 inches high ; for a medium size , it is approximately 15 inches long and 5 inches high , and for a large size , approximately 17 inches long and 6 inches high . furthermore , these dimensions are slightly larger on each side because , as explained above , the height at which various individuals wear undershorts varies . thus , regardless of how low or how high a person wears his undershorts , he will still find the insulation in the lower back and sides that he requires . the elliptical pocket 4 itself covers the lower end of the lower back and the lower end of the sides . upon insertion of the elliptical insulation pad 2 , the upper ends are also covered , thus insulating the entire lower back area including the sides . the insulation pads may also come in two different shapes : for the oval pocket 3 , an oval insulation pad 1 , and for the elliptical pocket 4 , an elliptical insulation pad 2 . these insulation pads consist of a insulator and a cover cloth and are identical in every respect except for their shape and size . their overall structures are similar . for reasons of extra comfort and effect , the pads may also be curved so they conform to the shape of the wearer &# 39 ; s lower back . the sizes of the insulation pads varies with the size of the pockets . for a small oval pocket 3 , the oval insulation pad 1 is approximately 8 inches long and 6 inches high . for a medium , it is approximately 10 inches long and 7 inches high , and for a large , approximately 12 inches long and 8 inches high . for a small elliptical pocket 4 , the elliptical insulation pad may be approximately 12 inches long and 6 inches high ; for a medium it may be 14 inches long and 7 inches high ; and for a large it may be 16 inches long and 8 inches high . the oval insulation pad 1 covers primarily only the lower back region of the wearer . by doing so , it insulates that region , minimizing heat loss . according to medical research , this alleviates lower back pains by soothing the muscles and tendons in the lower back . it is also a preventive measure because it help keeps the wearer &# 39 ; s lower back straight throughout the day . the elliptical insulation pad 2 is specifically designed to encompass the entirety of the wearer &# 39 ; s lower back and sides . if an individual suffers in both these regions , an elliptical insulation pad 2 would be ideal . this minimizes heat loss and soothes the lower back as well as sides ; it also keeps the wearer &# 39 ; s lower back relatively straight as he walks , sits , or bends over . in addition to an underwear briefs 5 and boxers 6 , the pockets and the insulation pads therein may be put in an undershirt 11 . the undershirt may be a v - neck , round neck , or sleeveless . for the purpose of this invention , it would not make a difference which undershirt is used . since the undershirt 11 has a tendency to move if the wearer does , an additional elastic band 12 was added to the bottom of the undershirt 11 . this gives additional support and restricts movement of the undershirt 11 , while at the same time , allows the wearer to move about freely . also , similar to the undershorts , a pocket is sewn to the lower back end of the undershirt 11 so that upon insertion of the insulation pad , the lower back is covered . an oval pocket 3 and an oval insulation pad 1 may be used to cover primarily the lower back , and an elliptical pocket 4 and an elliptical insulation pad 2 may be used to cover the lower back as well as the sides . for further information on the pockets and insulation pads , read above . the positioning of the pocket in an undershirt 11 is very significant . the pocket must be positioned so that it itself covers the lower end of the lower back . this may be difficult , since various individuals wear undershirts at different heights . thus , the pocket and insulation pad therein must be made larger and more encompassing as they would normally be . as this undershirt 11 comes in different sizes to accommodate the wearer &# 39 ; s upper body size the size of the pocket and insulation pad also have to be adjusted . in a small undershirt , the oval pocket 3 size is approximately 10 inches long and 5 inches high , and the elliptical pocket 4 size is approximately 14 inches long and 5 inches high . for a medium undershirt , the oval pocket 3 size is approximately 12 inches long and 6 inches high , and for the elliptical pocket 4 approximately 16 inches long and 6 inches high . for a large undershirt , the oval pocket 3 is approximately 14 inches long and 7 inches high , while for the elliptical pocket 4 it is approximately 18 inches long and 7 inches high . the sizes of the insulation pads also alter a little . as each side of the pockets extended one extra inch , so will the insulation pads . hence , for a small oval pocket 3 , the oval insulation pad 1 is approximately 9 inches long and 7 inches high . for a medium , it would be approximately 11 inches long and 8 inches high , and for a large , approximately 13 inches long and 9 inches high . for a small elliptical pocket 4 , the elliptical insulation pad is approximately 13 inches long and 7 inches high ; for a medium it is 15 inches long and 8 inches high ; and for a large it would be 17 inches long and 9 inches high . in the subsequent charts , i use these three materials for comparison ( although the insulation pad may extend to other materials also ): polystyrene foam , cotton , and silk . each material has a different insulation , comfort , and obtrusiveness , and all of these factors will take play in determining which material is the best for an insulation pad . to determine the overall effectiveness of these materials , the following equations may be used to achieve quantitative results : where ` q ` is the heat loss from the body in ` btu / hr `, ` u ` is the overall heat transfer coefficient of the interface in ` btu /( degree f * sq . ft * hr ) and ` a ` is the heat transfer area of the specimen being observed in ` sq ft .`. ` t body ` is the temperature of the human body , ` t air ` is the temperature of the atmosphere , and ` t surface ` is the temperature of the outer surface of the insulation pad ( fig9 ), ` k ` is the thermal conductivity constant for the insulation material used in ` btu / hr * sq ft . * degree f / ft `, and ` l ` is the thickness of the insulation pad . in the following pages , using these equations and the distinct characteristics of each material , a comparison is made among these materials : cotton , polystyrene foam , and silk . note : ( for simplicity , all calculations will involve the small oval insulation pad ( 8 in × 6 in ) for which the area is equal to : 0 . 28 ft 2 , and the thickness of the materials will remain at 1 in ): for natural convection heat loss from the body , it is assumed that back of a person behaves as a vertical plate . the overall heat transfer coefficient for such a loss is given in btu /( degree f * sq . ft * hr ). to determine the natural convection heat loss from the body , we can use this equation : for which ` u ` for the body is equal to : 0 . 29 [( t body - t air )/ l ] 1 / 4 example : in cold weather : u = 0 . 29 [( 98 . 4 ° f .- 0 ° f . )/ 0 . 5 ft ] 1 / 4 = 1 . 086 btu /( degree f * sq . ft * hr ) ______________________________________ u in btu / q ( heat loss from body ) conditions (° f . * sq . ft * hr ) in btu / hr______________________________________cold weather ( 0 f .) 1 . 086 29 . 89cool weather ( 45 f .) . 9323 13 . 94hot weather ( 90 f .) . 5871 1 . 381______________________________________ to calculate the heat loss of body to the insulation pad , we use this equation : example for cotton in cold weather : q =[ 0 . 0335 * 0 . 28 ( 98 . 4 - t surface )/ 0 . 083 = 1 . 086 0 . 28 ( t surface - 0 ) now , we use this equation to determine the heat insulated : q =[ k a ( t body - t surface )]/ l ______________________________________ qk in ( heat loss from body ) btu / hr sq ft . * t . sub . surface in ° f . in btu / hrmaterial ° f ./ ft cold cool hot cold cool hot______________________________________cotton . 0335 26 . 6 61 . 1 93 . 4 8 . 08 4 . 20 0 . 562silk . 030 24 . 5 59 . 9 93 . 2 7 . 45 3 . 88 0 . 526poly - . 0020 2 . 13 46 . 3 90 . 3 0 . 647 0 . 350 0 . 0555styrenefoam______________________________________ in the graph labeled &# 34 ; heat loss from body as a function of ambient temperature &# 34 ; ( fig1 ), it is observed that without any insulation the heat loss from the body is low for a very high temperature , but increases dramatically as the air temperature decreases ( large slope ). at 0 ° f ., the heat loss is near 30 btu / hr . with an insulation pad made of cotton , the heat loss from the body is also low for a very high ambient temperature ; however , as the ambient temperature decreases , the heat loss from the body is much less than it is without any insulation ( smaller slope ). silk is observed to have approximately the same insulation effects as cotton . however , polystyrene foam , is observed to have the most effective insulation . the slope of this line is close to zero ; with polystyrene foam , the heat loss from the body is almost the same at 0 ° f . as it is at 90 ° f . using a small oval insulation pad 1 , the area of the body that is being covered is 0 . 28 ft 2 . plus , we assume that the body being insulated is approximately 0 . 5 inches deep . thus the volume of the body that is being insulated is 0 . 0117 ft 3 . to achieve the mass , we multiply the volume by the density of the body , which is assumed to be a little higher than that of water ( 62 lb / ft 3 ) at 70 lb / ft 3 . thus , the mass of body being insulated is approximately 0 . 817 lbs . also , we assume the specific heat of the body is the same as that of water , which is 1 . 0 btu /( lbs ° f .). to determine the temperature of the body after heat loss , we can use this equation : q = m c ( t initial - t final ), where ` q ` is heat loss from body in ` btu / hr `, ` m ` is the mass of the body being insulated in ` lbs `, ` c ` is the specific heat of the body in ` btu /( lbs ° f . )`, and ` t initial ` is the original temperature of the body in `° f .`, and ` t final ` is the temperature after heat loss in `° f .`. ______________________________________q = m * c ( t . sub . initial - t . sub . final ) 8 . 8 = . 817 1 . 0 * ( 98 . 4 - t . sub . final ) t . sub . final = 88 . 51 temperature after heat loss in ° f . material cold cool hot______________________________________none 61 . 8 81 . 3 96 . 7cotton 88 . 51 93 . 3 97 . 7silk 89 . 3 93 . 7 97 . 8polystyrene foam 97 . 6 98 . 0 98 . 3______________________________________ in the graph labeled &# 34 ; temperature of lower back after heat loss as a function of ambient temperature &# 34 ; ( fig1 ), it is observed that without any insulation the temperature of the lower back after heat loss is high for a very high ambient temperature , but it decreases rapidly as the air temperature decreases ( large slope ). at 0 ° f ., the temperature of the back after heat loss is near 62 ° f . with an insulation pad made of cotton , the temperature of the back after heat loss is also high for a very high ambient temperature ; however , as the ambient temperature decreases , the final temperature of the body is much greater than it is without any insulation ( smaller slope ). silk is observed to have approximately the effects as cotton . however , polystyrene foam , is observed to have the most effective insulation . the slope of this line is close to zero , with polystyrene foam , the temperature of the lower back after heat loss is almost the same at 0 ° f . as it is at 90 ° f .	0
referring to fig1 , a receiver system 10 may include a mixer 26 that frequency translates an incoming signal ( called “ x ( t )”) to produce a frequency translated signal ( called “ z ( t )”) by multiplying the x ( t ) signal with a local oscillator signal ( called “ y ( t )”). as an example , the x ( t ) signal may be a modulated signal that is provided by an amplifier 24 , in response to a signal ( an am or fm signal , for example ) that is received from an antenna 22 . due to the frequency translation by the mixer 26 , the receiver system 10 may further process the z ( t ) signal to remove unwanted spectral energy , such as processing that includes passing the z ( t ) signal through a lowpass filter ( lpf ) 28 to recover for purposes of producing an audio signal that may be played over a speaker 30 . a particular challenge may arise if the y ( t ) local oscillator signal is a square wave , which has spectral energy that is located at fundamental and harmonic frequencies . more particularly , referring to fig2 in conjunction with fig1 , the y ( t ) signal may be a square wave signal that has a fundamental frequency ( called “ f lo ”) and harmonic frequencies , which introduce undesirable spectral energy in the z ( t ) signal . to illustrate this problem , fig3 depicts the spectral content of the x ( t ) signal , where the x ( t ) signal is assumed to be of the following form : where “ ω rf ” represents a radian radio frequency ( rf ) ( 2π · f rf ). the spectral content of the x ( t ) signal for this example is depicted in fig3 . as shown , the spectral content includes components 52 and 50 that are located at positive and negative rf frequencies , respectively . referring also to fig4 , for this example , the y ( t ) signal , being a square wave signal , has spectral components 60 that are located not only at the fundamental frequency , ω lo , but are also located at odd harmonic frequencies ω lo . similarly , the y ( t ) signal has spectral components 64 , which are located at the negative ω lo fundamental frequency and odd harmonics thereof . as a result of the harmonics that are present in the y ( t ) signal , the resultant z ( t ) signal has undesired spectral components 84 and 88 , which are depicted in fig5 . more specifically , the multiplication of the y ( t ) and x ( t ) signals by the mixer 26 produces desired spectral energy 80 , due to the fundamental frequency component of the y ( t ) signal and also produces the unwanted spectral components 84 and 88 due to the harmonics of the y ( t ) signal . the spectral components 84 and 88 may be relatively difficult to remove from the z ( t ) signal . to overcome the problems that are set forth above for a square wave or other non - pure sinusoid local oscillator signal , fig6 depicts a harmonic rejection mixer 100 in accordance with embodiments of the invention . the mixer 100 includes n mixers 104 ( mixers 104 0 , 104 1 . . . 104 n − 1 , being depicted as examples in fig6 ), each of which multiplies a scaled version of the x ( t ) signal with a square wave local oscillator signal . more specifically , each of the mixers 104 , in accordance with embodiments of the invention described herein , multiplies a scaled version of the x ( t ) input signal with a square wave oscillator signal that has a different phase . referring also to fig7 , 8 and 9 , the square wave oscillator signals include a square signal ( y ( t )) ( fig7 ) that has a phase of zero and other square wave signals ( such as exemplary square wave signals called “ y ⁡ ( t - t 0 n ) ” “ y ⁡ ( t - n - 1 n ⁢ t 0 ) ” ( fig9 )). more particularly , the mixer 104 0 receives the local oscillator signal y ( t ), which has a phase of zero , and each of the other mixers 104 1 . . . 104 n − 1 receives a phase shifted version of the y ( t ) signal . the output signals that are produced by the mixers 104 are combined by an adder 105 to produce the z ( t ) signal . each of the mixers 104 receives a different scaled version of the x ( t ) signal . in this regard , the mixer 100 includes scaling units , or amplifiers 103 , each of which is associated with a different one of the mixers 104 . each amplifier 103 scales the x ( t ) signal by a different factor , or degree , to produce the resultant scaled signal that is provided to the associated mixer 104 . more specifically , the amplifier 103 for the mixer 104 0 multiples the x ( t ) by a coefficient called “ a 0 ,” to produce a signal that is provided to the mixers 104 0 , the amplifier 103 multiplies the x ( t ) signal by a coefficient called “ a 1 ” to produce a signal that is provided to the mixer 104 1 , etc . as described further below , the coefficients a 0 , a 1 . . . a n − 1 are selected to cancel harmonics in the z ( t ) signal . the fourier transform of the z ( t ) signal may be described as follows : where “ y ( jω )” represents the fourier transform of the square wave signal y ( t ), and “ α ( ω )” represents a scaling factor in the frequency domain , which varies with frequency , as described below : by choosing a k ( wherein “ k ” is 0 to n − 1 ) to be equal to a sinusoid that is function of the square wave phase , nulls are created in the spectral frequency of the z ( t ) signal due to the α ( ω ) scaling factor becoming zero at certain frequencies . more specifically , in accordance with some embodiments of the invention , the a k coefficients are selected based on the following periodic function of the square wave phase : the choice of n ( the number of mixers 104 ) determines the harmonics that are cancelled by the mixer 100 ( i . e ., the frequency at which nulls occur ). if n is an odd , problems may arise when the duty cycle of the y ( t ) square wave signal is not exactly 50 percent . therefore , in accordance with some embodiments of the invention , n is chosen to be even . with this selection , a the number of harmonics increases with n . in this regard , fig1 depicts a table 200 , which illustrates a relationship between n ( in column 202 ) and the harmonics rejected ( in column 204 ). as shown , for n equal to four , all even harmonics of the z ( t ) signals are rejected , for n equal to six , all even and the third harmonics are rejected . for n equal to eight , all even , third and fifth harmonics are rejected . lastly , as depicted in table 200 , for n equal to ten , all even , third , fifth and seventh harmonics are rejected . as a more specific example , fig1 depicts a mixer 150 in accordance with embodiments of the invention . in particular , the mixer 150 implements paths that scale and frequency translate the x ( t ) signal , similar to the paths that are depicted in the mixer 100 of fig6 . each of the paths include a current scaling transistor 180 ( an n - channel metal oxide - semiconductor field - effect - transistor ( nmosfet ), for example ) and a square wave switching pair 170 . the switching pair 170 connects the drain of the transistor 180 to either a positive output node 190 or a negative output node 192 , depending on the plurality of the received square wave local oscillator signal . because all of the switching pairs 174 are connected to the output terminals 190 and 192 , the currents that are provided to the nodes 190 and 192 from the switching pairs 170 are summed to provide the collective z ( t ) output signal . as shown in fig1 , resistors 194 and 196 may be coupled between the nodes 190 and 192 , respectively , and ground . in accordance with some embodiments of the invention , the scaling for each path is provided by the current scaling transistor 180 . in this regard , the transistors 180 have aspect ratios that are scaled with respect to each other to establish the different a k values . as shown by way of specific example in fig1 , the a k values may be different values obtained from the sinusoidal function ( see eq . 4 ) for the particular square wave phase . the mixers that are described herein may be used in a variety of applications , including applications in which orthogonal signals are processed . in this regard , in accordance with some embodiments of the invention , the techniques and systems that are described herein may be applied to a mixer 250 , which is depicted in fig1 . the mixer 250 frequency translates the incoming x ( t ) signal to produce two orthogonal signals : an in - phase signal ( called “ i ( t )”) and a quadrature signal ( called “ q ( t )”). the mixer 250 includes an in - phase mixer 254 that has a similar design to the mixers 100 and 150 described above . in this regard , the mixer 254 receives a set of phase - shifted square wave signals and provides the i ( t ) in - phase signal . the mixer 250 also includes a mixer 256 that provides the q ( t ) quadrature signal and receives the same set of phase - shifted square wave signals as the mixer 254 . unlike the mixer 254 , the mixer 256 has a k coefficients that are derived from a cosine function of the square wave phase ( instead of a sine function ), as set forth below : referring to fig1 , as an example of a possible application of the mixers described herein , the mixers 100 and 250 may be used in a wireless system 300 . in this regard , the wireless system 300 may include , for example , an fm receive path 310 that includes the mixer 250 and may also include an am receive path 320 that includes the mixer 100 . in this regard , the fm 310 and am 320 receive paths that may be part of a semiconductor package 350 that provides either an fm signal or an am signal to an amplifier 330 that drives a speaker 370 . thus , a switch 324 may , in an fm receive mode of the package 350 couple the input terminal of the amplifier 330 to the output terminal of the fm receive path 310 ; and in an am receive mode of the package 350 , the switch 328 may alternatively connect the output terminal of the am receive path 320 to the input terminal of the amplifier 330 . among its features , the wireless system 300 may include antennae 360 and 364 that are coupled to the fm 310 and am 320 receive paths , respectively . in some embodiments of the invention , the semiconductor package 350 may also include an fm transmitter , which may be enabled or disabled , depending on the particular application in which the package 350 is used . in other embodiments of the invention , the fm 310 and am 320 receive paths may be formed on the same die , may be formed on separate dies , and may be parts of separate semiconductor packages . thus , many variations are possible and are within the scope of the appended claims . while the present invention has been described with respect to a limited number of embodiments , those skilled in the art , having the benefit of this disclosure , will appreciate numerous modifications and variations therefrom . it is intended that the appended claims cover all such modifications and variations as fall within the true spirit and scope of this present invention .	7
in fig1 a side view ( with phantom lines showing parts obscured from view ) of a preferred embodiment of a bending instrument according to the invention is shown with its jaws in their open position , showing a set of two substantially identical bending jaws attached to a pliers . fig3 is a plan view of the part of the device shown in fig1 which is to be connected as shown in fig1 to the two basic pliers handles , showing an exploded view of one bending jaw separated from one pliers jaw and a matching bending jaw attached to the other pliers jaw . in fig4 a , a sheet of metal is shown located between a set of two matching bending jaws which are in their open position , each of the two substantially identical matching bending jaws connected to a different pliers jaw and held in place by the friction produced by the spring - actuated pressure of a ball , prior to the event of the bending of the metal sheet . in fig4 b , the items shown in fig4 a are shown in the closed position of the two substantially identical matching bending jaws , during the event of the bending of the metal sheet , in which the metal sheet assumes simultaneously a shape having two substantially identical angles separated by an offset length , the bent shape being achieved by one stroke of the bending pliers according to the invention . fig5 is a top view of a part of the device shown in fig2 . fig6 is a side view of the lower pliers jaw as shown in fig3 ( but without the bending jaw attached and with the pliers jaw rotated through 90 °). fig7 a and 7b are side views of an embodiment of two bending jaws of the invention ( as are shown in fig3 and 4 , but having two different offset lengths .) fig8 a and 8b show the correspondingly sized bends which are formed by two bending jaws as in fig7 a and two bending jaws as in fig7 b , respectively . fig9 is a side view of a block of metal showing how from that one block of metal one of eleven different bending jaws according to the invention can be cut , each with an offset separated by two bending angles ( which in a preferred embodiment are substantially identical angles and are right angles ). referring to the drawing , in fig1 a side view of an embodiment of the bending instrument 10 of the invention is shown . that embodiment comprises , in one aspect , pliers 12 comprising a basic handle portion 14 ( with a second pliers handle 22 and a first pliers handle 26 ) and a first pliers jaw 16 and a second pliers jaw 18 . the first pliers jaw 16 is pivotally connected at first pin 20 to second pliers handle 22 and is slidably connected at second pin 24 to first pliers handle 26 . likewise , second pliers jaw 18 is pivotally connected at third pin 28 to first pliers handle 26 and is also simultaneously slidably connected at fourth pin 30 to second pliers handle 22 . first pliers handle 26 and second pliers handle 22 are pivotally connected together at rivets 32 and 33 . spring 34 serves to force first pliers handle 26 and second pliers handle 22 apart and to force first pliers jaw 16 and second pliers jaw 18 together in the rest position of spring 34 when it is in its uncompressed state . second pin 24 can slide within slot 36 of first pliers jaw 16 , and fourth pin 30 can slide within slot 38 of second pliers jaw 18 . also shown in fig1 are first bending jaw 40 and second bending jaw 42 , which in this preferred embodiment are a matching pair of substantially identical bending jaws positioned and held in place on first pliers jaw 16 and second pliers jaw 18 , respectively , by means of screw 44 and screw 46 which are used to secure springs 45 and 47 and balls 49 and 51 in jaws 16 and 18 , respectively . the balls 49 and 51 are used to bear against the holes 76 and 78 in jaws 40 and 42 to keep jaws 40 and 42 in place on the pliers jaws 16 and 18 , respectively . see also fig4 a and 4b , described below . also shown in fig1 in phantom lines is first elongated pin 48 and second elongated pin 50 , which serve to stabilize jaws 16 and 18 to assure parallel movement of the jaws 16 and 18 . fig2 is a top view of the embodiment of the device of the invention shown in fig1 with corresponding parts labeled correspondingly . in fig3 first bending jaw 40 is shown in an exploded view separated from first pliers jaw 16 , whereas second bending jaw 42 is shown in its position attached to second pliers jaw 18 ( attached by means of pin 46 , shown in fig1 but not in fig3 ). first bending jaw 40 and second bending jaw 42 both have the same first angle 52 and the same second angle 54 , which are substantially equal . additionally , both first bending jaw 40 and second bending jaw 42 have the same offset length l 56 , which is the distance between the vertex 58 of first angle 52 and the vertex 60 of second angle 54 . first bending jaw 40 has a slot ( or groove or keyway ) 62 located within its planar face 64 , the planar face 64 being spaced apart from the offset length l 56 ( which is angled with respect to planar face 64 ); and second bending jaw 42 has a slot ( or groove or keyway ) 66 located within its planar face 68 , the planar face 68 being spaced apart from the plane in which offset 56 in second bending jaw 42 is located . slot 62 in first bending jaw 40 is shaped slightly larger than but is substantially identical to the mating shape 70 of first pliers jaw 16 ; and , likewise , slot 66 in second bending jaw 42 is shaped substantially identical to the shape of mating shape 72 in second pliers jaw 18 . in a preferred embodiment , first mating shape 70 and second mating shape 72 are t - shaped and are an integral part of first pliers jaw 16 and second pliers jaw 18 , respectively . in fig4 a , unbent metal sheet 74 is shown positioned between first bending jaw 40 and second bending jaw 42 when those two bending jaw are in their open position . first bending jaw 40 is connected to first pliers jaw 16 by means of first jaw screw 44 , which bears against a compression spring 45 which bears against a ball 49 which bears against the hole 76 with sufficient friction to prevent disassociation of the jaw 40 from the pliers jaw 16 . in fig4 b , the same items shown in fig4 a are shown , but with the mating first bending jaw 40 and second bending jaw 42 being shown in the closed position such that the metal sheet is bent at two places simultaneously with the same bent angle . fig5 is a view from above of the first pliers jaw 16 shown in fig1 and 3 , without having attached thereto first bending jaw 40 . fig5 is also a top view of a part of the device shown in fig2 . fig6 is a side view taken along the line 6 -- 6 in fig3 of second pliers jaw 18 , which also is shown in fig1 and taken along the line 6 -- 6 in fig1 . corresponding parts are labeled correspondingly . grooves 61 and 63 are required to prevent the jaws from hitting rivets 32 and 33 , respectively . fig7 a and 7b are side views of first bending jaw 40 ( and also of second bending jaw 42 ) but having offset lengths l 56 of two different lengths . fig8 a and 8b are cross - sectional views of metal plate 74 ( viewed in cross - section ) showing how it would be bent when two substantially identical bending jaws as shown in fig7 a are used according to the invention and when two substantially identical bending jaws as shown in fig7 b are used , respectively , showing two differently sized offsets 56 ( as are shown in fig7 a and 7b , respectively ). fig8 a and 8b show in cross - section two metal sheets which were each bent by using together two substantially identical bending jaws as shown in fig7 a and 7b , respectively . fig9 is a side view depicting how a single block of metal with eleven different offsets are cut from that same piece of metal so as to form eleven different bending jaws , each having two substantially identical bending angles which are separated by an offset length which is different for each of the eleven different bending jaws . the preferred t - shaped slot ( or groove or keyway 62 , 66 ) is also shown in the bending jaw 40 , 42 . the offset distance 56 in the bending jaws of the invention can be chosen as desired . however , for use in bending plates of metal for use on facial fractures , preferably the offset distance will be chosen for an individual bending jaw from within the range from 2 to 11 millimeters . most preferably , sets of the bending jaws will be formed in sets of 10 , with offset increments of 1 millimeter and will be 2 , 3 . . . . 11 millimeters . preferably first bending jaw 40 and second bending jaw 42 will be attached to first pliers jaw 16 and second pliers jaw 18 , respectively as described above . however , any other suitable means of attachment can be used . preferably , first angle 52 and second angle 54 will be both right angles ( i . e ., 90 °). however , if desired , the angles can be other than 90 ° and can be unequal angles . the spring of pliers 10 keeps the jaws in an open position when the spring is not compressed . preferably the slot ( or groove or keyway ) 62 in first bending jaw 40 and the slot 66 in second bending jaw 42 are t - shaped so that the bending jaw can be slid onto the corresponding pliers jaw . by use of the pins 20 , 24 , 28 , and 30 , the jaws of the pliers in a preferred embodiment move in a parallel manner ( that is , the jaw faces remain parallel to each other when the handles 22 , 26 are squeezed ). suitable pliers which are commercially available for use with the first bending jaw 40 and second bending jaw 42 of the invention are available from aesculap . the advantages of the bending instrument of the invention include the following . the device saves time in bending metal plates . smaller inventories of bending jaws and of bent plates are required because the bent plates can be produced as needed . the bending jaws can serve as gauges when templates are used to establish the offset distance which is required , and then the plates can be bent with the appropriate pair of bending jaws .	1
as generally described above and illustrated in fig1 the process of this invention is applied to individual bricks as well as to constructions of brick work and brick walls and , in any event , there is no preliminary preparation of the surface that is required and the process may be begun satisfactorily with the heating step resulting in oxidation without ignition of the paint . in carrying out this step , i prefer the use of propane and , using a torch of conventional design and applying the flame directly to the paint on the brick until it is blistered and turns black . then , just before the burned paint begins to turn white , the torch is removed and the heating process is discontinued . preferably , at that point and before the paint has had an opportunity to cool , i remove the paint loosened by the heating by scraping the brick . this can be done to advantage through use of a manually applied scraper of conventional type . as a special note of caution , at this optional , preliminary stage of the process , care should be exercised to discontinue the application of the flame to the brick so as to avoid cracking or scorching it and this result will be obtained if the timing of the removal of the flame is in strict conformance with the instructions set out just above . as the principal step of the process and the one in which novelty centers , a high - pressure water blast is directed as a high - velocity stream against the painted surface to remove the paint adhering following the scraping operation . as shown in fig5 a 1200 to 1500 pounds per square inch ( psi ) pressure water source is used to generate the stream 9 through nozzle 10 positioned in proximity to brick 11 to be cleaned and will serve to remove the paint loosened but not taken away by the scraping operation . then , at that point or initially when the water pressure is first applied , a second spray 12 of abrasive particulate material delivered at nozzle pressure of 60 to 90 psi is directed toward the brick but at an angle to the water stream of from 30 ° to 90 °. nozzle 13 delivering the particulate material may be placed close to the water stream or it may be removed some distance therefrom , depending upon the nature of the paint film or coating to be removed and also upon the hardness of the brick surface being cleaned . the concentration , and consequently the cutting effect , of the suspension of particulate material in the high - pressure water spray will be determined by the relative volumes of the sprays , that is , the relative sizes of the streams . the concentration of the suspension will also depend upon the relative positions of the particulate spray nozzle to the water spray , the nearer that nozzle is to the spray the greater the cutting action at the brick surface spray impact area . it is my preference in carrying out this phase of the process that the two nozzles be manipulated by one operator who can readily follow the process visually and make necessary adjustments in the relative positions of the spray sources to accomplish the paint removal efficiently and rapidly without removing too much of the bisque from any part of the brick and thereby destroying the beneficial and protective effect which that component of the brick has upon the overall integrity of the brick and the masonry incorporating it . i have found that optimum results will be obtained in this pressure grit washing process when water spray nozzle 10 is within a foot or so of the brick surface to be cleaned and particulate spray nozzle 13 is six ( 6 . increment .) inches to one foot away from water spray 9 and at a point intermediate between nozzle 10 and brick 11 . as also indicated in fig5 the positions of the nozzles and their relative positions to the brick surface being pressure grit washed may vary somewhat with various brick materials and coatings , but , generally , the variations in this respect will be of the order of one - half foot to less . also , the angle at which particulate spray 12 is directed into water stream 9 is largely a matter of operator convenience and choice as there is not a substantial difference in the cutting action or paint removing action so long as the particle spray is directed at an angle to the water spray from 30 ° to 90 °. an angle of approximately 45 ° is an example of an angle that can be used for all around good performance of the invention . changes in the surface of brick in the course of the present invention process are illustrated in fig2 and 4 where at the outset brick 15 bears two coats 16 and 17 of paint on its top surface . bisque layer 18 is shown as being continuous and fully surrounding and enveloping the pulp or interior body portion 19 of the brick . then after flame heating and hot paint scraping the condition shown in fig3 exists , most of paint layer 16 being removed and paint layer 17 being completely stripped away in a few places . finally , when the pressure grit washing operation applied to the brick at the stage of fig3 is completed , all of paint layers 16 and 17 have been removed and bisque layer to which the paint had been applied is left intact but thinned to a minor degree and lightly etched or surface roughened overall . in using this process in the course of cleaning buildings very recently in the albany , new york area , i have employed a twelve ( 12 &# 34 ;) inch gun made specially for use with a pressure washer delivering a 1200 psi water spray thru either a 15 degree or a zero degree nozzle 10 . this enabled me to get close to the brick surfaces to be cleaned to each case for the full height and width of the brick walls of the building and , using that water spray as a buffer for fine grit delivered at 90 psi from a 1 / 8 inch nozzle 13 held in my other hand , i was able to apply the grit over the brick surfaces moving it back and forth as required to effect complete removal of the paint without more than lightly etching the bisque of the bricks beyond the last traces of the paint . as shown in fig5 nozzle 13 was fitted with a spring - loaded cut - off valve 13a which i used to interrupt the grit spray at intervals to clean the mask and for other purposes . the fine material of the abrasive spray was no . 1 grade silicon carbide which is commercially available under that designation through marketing outlets of carborundum company . on completion of the process , brick had the pinkish - orange pastel coloring characteristic of the hudson river commercial brick which was mass produced building material used extensively in the albany region during the late 1800 &# 39 ; s and early 1900 &# 39 ; s . the ultimate cleaning result of this effort consequently was of pleasing appearance and it was accomplished without destructive effect upon the bricks of the wall structure and without substantially diminishing the life of the masonry construction . it will be understood that the novel process of this invention may be applied to the cleaning as well as the removing of paint films and coatings from bricks and brick work in general . thus , grime and dirt on unpainted brick surfaces may be removed to the depth necessary in superficial portions of the brick without destroying or breaking the continuity of the brick bisque layer protecting the internal structure and the structural integrity of the brick and the masonry structures consisting of it . it will be understood in this connection that the preliminary steps of burning and scraping described above and illustrated in the drawings will not be necessary or perhaps desirable in the event that the brick to be cleaned does not bear paint coatings , or in the event that the paint is readily removable by pressure grit washing alone . having thus described this invention fully in compliance with the statutory requirements , i declare that what i am entitled to protect by patent grant is defined in what is claimed .	1
referring now to fig1 and 2 of the drawings , there is shown the pallet of the present invention designated generally as 10 . the upper pallet piece 11 forms the bed deck or product or platform area of the pallet 10 . the entire upper piece 11 is of molded plastic preferably of high density polyethylene or other material . the upper piece 11 is of one - piece construction comprising the pervious main bed or deck slab 12 of cellular honeycomb - like construction for light weight strength . the openings 13 also allow material spillage of product or materials to pass through the bed and not accumulate on the bed . although the openings 13 are shown in the drawing to be generally rectangular or square , they may be of any suitable shape , octagonal or hexagonal , for example . hollow locking upper member support posts 14 are provided in appropriate positions to provide needed support strength . posts 14 , as shown in fig1 and 2 , are provided at the corners of the upper piece 11 midway along each side and in the middle of the bed . the top surface 15 of each slab 14 is a solid surface except for a pair of openings 16 arranged to facilitate separation of the pallet pieces as will be explained later . the peripheral sides 17 of the pallet bed slab 12 are solid or unbroken surfaces as are the downwardly extending outer surfaces 18 of the support posts 14 . a standard size for the pallet may be about 40 × 48 inches . the bed 12 of the pallet may be from about 11 / 4 to 11 / 2 inches thick depending on the strength of the plastic used for it . the upper member support posts 14 extend from about 31 / 2 to about 33 / 4 inches below the bottom of the bed 12 . the bottom or lower piece 19 is of molded high strength plastic and may be in the form of a framework having four side rail members 20 and two cross - rail brace members 21 . a special grade polypropylene plastic of a tensile modulus of between 600 , 000 and 800 , 000 psi has been found to be a suitable material from which to make the lower piece 19 . bottom piece 19 is of essentially the same width and length as upper piece 11 . the side and cross - rail members 20 and 21 may be of a ribbed construction as indicated at 22 in fig3 showing cross - sections of rails 21 . a plurality of support platforms or pad areas 23 are provided on lower piece 19 at its corners , in the middle and at the mid - points on each side rail 20 . each of the pads 23 are arranged for mating engagement with a support post 14 . as best shown in fig3 pad areas 23 have a base surface 24 coplanar with the upper surfaces of rails 20 and 21 . upstanding from the top of each pad are guide members 25 and connecting cross - guide members 26 . guide members 25 and cross - guide members 26 are positioned and sized to properly position support posts 14 when the upper and lower pieces 11 and 19 of the pallet 10 are mated . the outer vertical surfaces of guide 25 and 26 fit against the vertical inner walls within the hollow support posts 14 . also , upstanding from the base surface 24 of each support post pad 23 are two latching fingers 27 . fingers 27 are located opposite each other outward from cross - guide 26 and between guides 25 . fingers 27 are of appropriate size to provide required strength but thin enough to allow flexing in and out as will be explained subsequently . support posts 14 are provided with a pair of groove - like recesses 28 located on opposing walls of the parts . provided within each recess is an appropriately placed projecting ridge or ledge 29 for locking attachment by fingers 27 to hold upper and lower pieces 11 and 19 together when brought into mating contact to form the finished pallet . when the upper and lower pieces 11 and 19 are urged together for mating assembly , fingers 27 slide along grooves 28 until the upper beveled edge 30 of projecting shoulder 32 of finger 27 contacts the lower beveled edge 31 of ledge 29 flexing fingers 27 out to slide past the ledges 29 . as the upper and lower pieces 11 and 19 come together , the lower edge 33 of shoulder 32 passes the upper edge 34 of ledge 29 allowing fingers 27 to snap back into their normal positions latching the two pieces of the pallet together . should either of the two pallet pieces ( usually the upper piece 11 ) become damages or broken , it can be replaced by separating the two pieces and replacing the damaged piece with a new piece and attaching it to the undamaged piece , thus saving the cost of a totally new pallet . the two pallet pieces may be separated by insertion of a blade - shaped tool into the opening 16 of the upper piece to bear against beveled surfaces 30 of fingers 27 to flex the upper portions of fingers 27 outward and release the latch . by using the stronger ( even though possibly more expensive ) material for the lower piece 19 , the loaded pallets of the present invention can be used to store goods in rack structures rather than in shelving . rack structures , as referred to herein are framework structures wherein the loaded pallets are supported by rail - like members running under each of the pallet side rails . because the lower pieces of the pallets of the present invention are strong enough to bear the fill weight of the loaded pallet , there is no need for the loaded pallets to be supported on shelves when stored . thus , there has been described a new light - weight product handling pallet comprising latched together upper and lower pieces of different plastic materials . the pallet is strong enough to sustain its loaded weight only by its side rails . many changes and variations still within the scope and spirit of this disclosure will occur to those others from the above description , thus this invention is to be limited only a set forth in the following claims .	1
referring to the accompanying drawings wherein the same reference numerals refer to the same or similar elements , fig1 shows diagrammatically in top view apparatus related to the sawing , transfer and unloading processes of sawn timber bundles . a log t is comminuted , separate into numerous smaller pieces , in a sawing machine 10 and the bundle of sawn timber thus - produced is transferred onwards out of the machine with a remover conveyor 11 to a lateral transfer station n 1 . the sawing machine 10 is a machine applying the so - called profilation technique , in which the combined use of saw webs and milling cutters is applied , advantageously in that when profiling the outer part of a log , the milling cutters produce wood chips , useful as raw material for wood pulp . fig2 a , 2b , 2c and 2d present different steps showing the transfer and unloading system of sawn timber bundles n 0 n 2 , n 3 and a construction applicable for implementing the method in accordance with the present invention . fig2 a shows an end view of a situation in which a bundle of sawn timber n 1 has just arrived from the sawing machine 10 on the remover conveyor 11 leading from the outlet of the sawing machine 10 . a preceding bundle n 2 has been transferred to a first unloading station a . the transfer of bundles n 1 , n 2 , n 3 is carried out by a lateral transfer conveyor 12 which in the illustrated embodiment is disposed above the remover conveyor 11 and provided with two or more parallel transport belts , preferably chains 12a . the chains 12a travel in a path guided by idler sheaves 13a and 13b and a glide guide 16 . pushers 14 are fastened at regular intervals to each chain 12a . the length or projecting dimension of the pushers 14 is greater than the height of the largest bundles n , i . e ., the gripping means have a gripping range smaller than the thickness of the thinnest timber piece of the bundles . the pushers 14 are hinged to the transport chains 12a with shaft journals 15 so that the pushers 14 are rigid in the pushing direction t but so pivoted that they allow the passing of the timber pieces discharging from behind ( pushers 14 &# 39 ; and piece l 1 in fig2 d ). the conveyor 12 operates stopping intermittently when the bundles n 1 , n 2 arrive at an unloading station a , b . an unloading conveyor or carrier 20 of bundles n is arranged below the transfer conveyor 12 . to the transport belts of the unloading carrier 20 , which are most advantageously chains 20a , gripping means 22 are mounted at regular intervals , their range not exceeding the thickness of the thinnest board l 0 of the bundles in the unloading station a , b . the chains 20a of the unloading conveyor 20 are arranged about idler sheaves 21a and 21b most advantageously so that the trailing idler sheave 13b of the transfer conveyor 12 is substantially in the same vertical position as the preceding idler sheave 21a of the unloading conveyor 12 and so that the unloading conveyor 20 is in its transport direction at an angle α ( fig2 a ) at the upper diagonal . the gripping means 22 pull the lowermost piece l from the bundles n 1 , n 2 in the unloading stations a , b to be transported further in the regular spaces of conveyor 20 . the range of the gripping means 22 can be adjusted to be between the positions 17a - 17b and 18a - 18b of the support means 17 , 18 as described below . the inclination angle α of the conveyor 20 is required to be large enough so that the bundles n 1 , n 2 remain secured , supported by means of gravity to the pusher means 14 , when a bundle n 1 , n 2 is unloaded from below with the gripping means 22 . in the transport plane of the unloading conveyor 20 , two consecutive unloading stations a and b have been provided , in association with which are located support means 17 , 18 driven by actuation cylinders 19 or equivalent actuation means . when a bundle n 2 is transferred , as in fig2 a , into unloading station a , the support means 17 is in upper position 17a . when a bundle is moved to the other unloading station b ( bundle n 3 ), both support means 17 and 18 are in upper positions 17a and 18a ( fig2 b ). the support means 18 is in lower position 18b when bundle n 3 is being unloaded in the other unloading station b ( fig2 c ). the support means 17 and 18 are in lower positions 17b and 18b when bundle n 3 is being unloaded in the first unloading station a ( fig2 d ). in the adjacency of the upper end of the unloading conveyor 20 , there are arranged transporting chains 23 provided with gripping means 24 , into the regular spaces whereof the gripping means 22 of the unloading conveyor 20 move pieces of sawn timber l 2 , l 3 and l 4 unloaded from bundles n 2 and n 3 in the unloading stations a and b . fig2 a presents schematically a control unit 30 , to control by means of control signals a 1 , a 2 and a 3 emitted therefrom the operations of the transfer conveyor 12 , the unloading conveyor 21 and the horizontal conveyor 23 , 24 phased appropriately relative to each other . in addition , by means of control signals b 1 and b 2 generated in the control unit 30 , the actuation cylinders 19 of the support means 17 , 18 are controlled . if needed , control signals c are directed into the control unit 30 from different sensors 31 to inform the control system of the operation steps of different means and the arrival of , e . g ., a timber bundle n 1 from the sawing machine 10 for unloading . it should be emphasized that the control system 30 , 31 is highly schematical and it can be implemented in a number of different ways and with different apparatus known as such to a person skilled in the art . there are two or more unloading stations a , b for bundles n , their additional function being to serve as a transitional storage to balance stoppages caused for other reasons by brief interruptions in sawing while processing further the timber . the transitional storage can be complemented by slowing down temporarily the speed of the unloading conveyor 20 . the method of the invention can be provided with one unloading station a only if the extended process is of the kind that no transitional storage is needed . the unloading speed of the transfer conveyor 12 is selected so as to be enabled in each case to unload the quantity of bundles sent from the sawing machine 10 . fig2 a - 2d present only one advantageous apparatus embodiment for performing the method of the invention . the method of the invention can be implemented even if the means used in the method deviated greatly from those introduced above . for instance , the transfer conveyor 12 can be disposed also below the bundles n with the pushers 14 arranged upwards . the transfer conveyor 12 may also be comprised of stepwise movable individual pairs of conveyors . according to the present invention , bundles n 1 , n 2 may be sent from the sawing with timber blocks l arranged in parallel , whereby , prior to transverse transfer of bundle n , or in adjacency therewith , bundle n is turned , using a prior art device or method , from beneath into a position to be unloaded as taught by the invention . the examples provided above are not meant to be exclusive . many other variations of the present invention would be obvious to those skilled in the art , and are contemplated to be within the scope of the appended claims .	1
attention is first directed to fig1 and 2 , which show a food press 10 for making a food patty in accordance with the present invention . as can be seen , the food press 10 includes two primary components , namely a mould 12 and a carrying component 14 . preferably , the mould 12 and carrying component 14 are formed of stainless steel . in this embodiment , the mould 12 is in the form of a relatively heavy disc having substantially flat , circular top and bottom walls 16 and 18 , bridged by a smooth peripheral sidewall 20 . the mould 12 has a diameter of about 12 cm and a thickness of about 1 . 5 cm . the diameter of the mould corresponds generally to the ultimate diameter of the food patty to be formed . a central hole 22 is provided through the mould 12 . the carrying component 14 includes a substantially flat , thin circular panel 24 having a diameter slightly smaller than the diameter of the mould 12 . in this manner , the bottom edge of the mould 12 remains accessible when the mould 12 overlies the panel 24 . the panel 24 is generally rigid and defines a lower surface 24 b to contact food product that is to be pressed into patties . the carrying component 14 further includes an upright handle 26 , which is centrally affixed to the flat panel 24 by a weld . the handle 26 is elongate and is in the form of a solid cylinder . a loop 28 is welded to the upper end of the handle 26 to allow the food press 10 to be hung from a hook for easy storage . the handle 26 is sized and shaped such that it is adapted to pass easily through the hole 22 in the mould 12 . this allows the mould 12 to be placed on the flat panel 24 and act as a weight when the press 10 is manipulated to form a patty yet be easily moved along the handle 26 away from the flat panel 24 after a patty has been formed . attention is now directed to fig3 to 7 for an explanation of the operation of the food press 10 . during use , a ball 30 of food product such as ground meat or other food product is placed on a flat surface . typically enough food product is utilized to provide slightly more than the desired amount of food product that is to form the final patty , thus ensuring that there will be excess food product . at this stage with the mould 12 overlying the flat panel 24 , the food press 10 is positioned to place the flat panel 24 over the ball 30 of food product , and sufficient pressure is applied to the ball 30 by pushing down on the mould 12 thereby to flatten the ball into a patty 32 having the desired thickness as shown in fig3 and 4 . the weight of the mould 12 facilitates this action . since the ball 30 of food product typically utilizes more food product than is necessary to form the patty of desired thickness , excess food product 34 is ejected from beneath the flat panel 24 and extends beyond the peripheral sidewall 20 of the mould 12 . the excess food product 34 is easily removed or stripped away from the patty 32 by running a finger 36 along the peripheral sidewall 20 as shown in fig5 . with the patty 32 formed and the excess food product 34 removed , the mould 12 is lifted upwardly along the handle 26 and away from the flat panel 24 while maintaining the flat panel on the patty 32 as shown in fig6 . once the mould 12 has been separated from the flat panel 24 , the flat panel 24 is removed from the patty 32 by lifting the carrying component 14 away from the patty using the handle 26 as shown in fig7 . since the weight of the mould 12 is removed from the patty 32 before the flat panel 24 is separated from the patty , the flat panel 24 does not stick to the patty allowing the carrying component 14 to be easily removed from the patty . utilizing the present food press 10 in the above described manner produces a patty which is smooth , fully formed and ready for cooking or freezing . the patty forming process is easily reproduced allowing uniform patties to be formed one at the time . when it becomes necessary to clean the food press 10 , the mould 12 and carrying component 14 are separated in order to provide ready access to all portions of the food press that contact food . turning now to fig8 a and 9 b , an alternative embodiment of a food press in accordance with the present invention is shown and is generally identified by reference numeral 110 . in this embodiment like reference numerals will be used to indicate like components with a “ 100 ” added for clarity . the food press 110 is very similar to that of the previous embodiment and includes a mould 112 and a carrying component 114 both of which are formed of stainless steel . the carrying component 114 includes a flat panel 124 and an upright handle 126 centrally affixed to the flat panel 124 by a mould . the upright handle 126 in this embodiment is in the form of a hollow cylinder . the handle 126 passes through an opening 122 in the mould 112 and is sized to permit the mould 112 to move along the handle 126 . an elongate loop 128 is affixed to the open distal end of the handle 126 by a weld and acts as a retainer to inhibit the mould 112 from being removed from the handle . the food press 110 is used in the same manner as that of the previous embodiment . the mould 112 however , cannot be removed from the handle due to the loop 128 . the mould 112 can however be lifted from the panel 124 toward the loop 128 after a patty has been formed to facilitate separation between the panel 124 and the patty . although the mould has been shown as a disc , it will be appreciated that the mould can take other shapes such as a square , hexagon etc . if desired . also , if desired , the opening in the mould can extend to the peripheral sidewall allowing the mould to be separated from the carrying component by moving the mould laterally away from the handle . in this case , when excess food product is being removed from a formed patty , the mould can be rotated to provide a smooth , finger running peripheral surface . while preferred embodiments of the present invention have been illustrated in the accompanying drawings and described hereinabove , it will be evident to those skilled in the art that variations and modifications may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of this invention as defined by the appended claims .	0
please refer to fig1 . fig1 is a diagram of a programming system 100 according to an embodiment of the present invention . the programming system 100 is used to perform code programming for a plurality of controller chips 160 , 170 . as shown in fig1 , the programming system 100 comprises a main printed circuit board ( pcb ) 110 , having a micro - controller unit ( mcu ) 130 , and a plurality of sub - pcbs 140 and 150 mounted on the main pcb 110 . in this embodiment the two sub - pcbs are pcbs that have at least a controller mounted on them and are installed into the display device . sub - pcbs 140 and 150 comprise controller chips 160 and 170 respectively , which are integrated circuits ( ics ) in this embodiment . the sub - pcbs 140 and 150 have interfaces 180 and 190 respectively that are connected to the controller chips 160 and 170 . please note that in this diagram , only one display controller chip is illustrated as being mounted on each sub - pcb ; however , this number is not a limitation of the present invention , and more than one display controller chip can be mounted on a single sub - pcb . the mcu 130 is utilized for controlling validation and program operations , and storing program codes into the controller chips 160 , 170 . the main pcb 110 further comprises an interface 120 for receiving program code data and data request instructions . in addition , the main pcb 110 is further capable of programming at least one external display controller chip ( not shown ) through the interface 120 . in an embodiment , the interface 120 can be implemented by a vga or a dvi interface . these implementations are not limitations of the present invention . in this embodiment , the combination of the mcu 130 , main pcb 110 and interfaces 120 , 180 , 190 serve as a programming apparatus . the sub - pcbs 140 , 150 having controller chips 160 and 170 mounted thereon act as programmable devices that are to be installed into display devices after the code programming is completed . in other words , once the controller chips 160 , 170 have been programmed , the entire sub - pcbs 140 , 150 can be removed from the main pcb 110 and placed in the display device , so the connecting pins of the controller chips 160 , 170 are prevented from being damaged . similarly , when the controller chips 160 , 170 require re - programming , the sub - pcbs 140 , 150 can be removed and placed back on the main pcb 110 for code programming , so there is no need for the chip to be removed individually and no damage will be applied to connecting pins of the chip . in short , the use of the sub - pcbs 140 , 150 prevents pin damage due to constant wear and tear . please refer to fig2 . fig2 is a block diagram of the display controller chip 160 shown in fig1 according to an embodiment of the present invention . only the display controller chip 160 is detailed in fig2 for brevity . the display controller chip 160 comprises an mcu 210 for executing normal operation of the display controller chip 160 . when data request instructions are received through an interface 230 ( in this embodiment the interface is realized by a dvi / vga interface ), an auxiliary controller 220 disables the mcu 210 during the code programming process . for example , the auxiliary controller 220 disables the mcu 210 , and program codes , such as firmware data , are received from the dvi / vga interface 230 and then sent to the write control circuit 260 . the present invention improves over the related art , however , by first sending requested data to a write buffer 270 , and then sending it to the flash memory 280 . this utilization of the write buffer 270 enables both the mcu 210 and the flash memory 280 to operate at maximum speed , as the write buffer 270 has a faster operating speed than the flash memory 280 , so data ( program codes ) can be written to the display controller chip 160 faster than if no write buffer were present . the evaluation circuit 240 is used to evaluate the data stored into the flash memory 280 to check validity of the programmed data . the read control circuit 250 controls the data reading of the flash memory 280 . when the display controller chip 160 is a display controller , the display controller chip 160 further comprises an image processing unit ( not shown in fig2 ), such as a scaler , or a de - interlacing module . please refer to fig3 . fig3 is a flowchart of a code programming process of the display controller chip 160 shown in fig2 . the steps are as follows : step 300 : receive an instruction through the dvi / vga interface 230 . step 302 : disable the normal operation of the internal mcu 210 . step 304 : assign a write address , and receive related data through the dvi / vga interface 230 . in one embodiment , the write control circuit 260 assigns a write address for programming the flash memory 280 and receives data ( program codes ) from the dvi / vga interface 230 . in another embodiment , the program codes to be programmed into the flash memory 280 are provided by the external programming apparatus and transmitted to the display controller chip 160 through the interfaces 180 and 230 . step 306 : buffer the received data in the write buffer 270 . step 308 : send data to the flash memory 280 once the write buffer 270 has reached capacity . step 310 : has all data requested been sent to the flash memory 280 ? if yes , go to step 312 ; otherwise , go to step 304 . step 312 : enable the normal operation of the internal mcu 210 . in a preferred embodiment , the utilization of the write buffer 270 enables the write process to continue without waiting for a write to go to the flash memory 280 . in other words , the implementation of the write buffer 270 offers a sequential data writing scheme to improve the code programming performance . moreover , it should be noted that the aforementioned data buffering scheme is only meant to be an example , and other data buffering schemes could be implemented in other embodiments of the present invention . the invention further provides an evaluation process , integrated in the code programming process , for determining whether data written to the display controller chip is correct . please refer to fig4 . fig4 is a flowchart of a code programming process of the controller 160 shown in fig2 according to the present invention . the steps are as follows : step 400 : receive an instruction through the dvi / vga interface 230 . step 402 : disable the normal operation of the internal mcu 210 . step 404 : write data to the flash memory 280 . step 406 : auto - read data back from the flash memory 280 once all data has been written to the flash memory 280 . step 407 : perform a crc check on each byte of data . step 408 : is an internal value stored in the mcu 130 equal to a value obtained by the crc operation ? if yes , go to step 410 ; otherwise , go to step 412 . step 410 : evaluation is successful . go to step 414 . step 414 : enable the normal operation of the internal mcu 210 . for code programming , the mcu 130 on the main pcb 110 will disable the operation of the mcu 210 in the display controller chip 160 through the auxiliary controller 220 via issuing an instruction to the dvi / vga interface 230 ( steps 400 and 402 ). then , the write control circuit 260 inside the display controller chip 160 writes received data ( program codes ) to the flash memory 280 ( step 404 ). in this embodiment , the method assigns a predetermined amount of data to be evaluated , by assigning a start and end address in the flash memory 280 . for example , the start address and the end address in the flash memory 280 define a data length corresponding to the whole program codes needed to be programmed into the flash memory 280 . therefore , once it is determined all data ( all program codes ) have been written to the flash memory 280 , the programmed data will be automatically read back to the evaluation circuit 240 , where a crc check will be performed on each byte of programmed data ( step 407 ). through evaluating the programmed data , the evaluation circuit 240 computes a crc value . then , the evaluation circuit 240 compares the computed crc value with a value stored in the mcu 130 mounted on the main pcb 110 ; if the computed crc value is determined to be correct , the mcu 130 will re - activate the mcu 210 of the display controller chip 160 by instructing the auxiliary controller 220 ( steps 408 , 410 and 414 ). if the computed crc value is not correct , however , the display controller chip 160 will be programmed again or deemed to be a bad chip . in a preferred embodiment , step 404 adopts the aforementioned data writing scheme shown in fig3 to optimize code programming efficiency . that is , the write buffer 270 is utilized to buffer the received data ( program codes ) when the write control circuit 260 writes the received data ( program codes ) into the flash memory 280 . however , the evaluation process of the present invention is not limited to be combined with the data writing scheme shown in fig3 . for other embodiments not using the data writing scheme shown in fig3 , the same objective of obtaining faster data evaluation speed is still achieved by performing the crc check only after all data to be evaluated has been written to the non - volatile memory . the mounting of the controller chips on sub - pcbs prevents damage occurring to the connecting pins through removal and wear . the write buffer in the controller chips allows write information to be buffered before being passed to the non - volatile memory ( e . g . flash memory ), therefore enabling both the mcu and the non - volatile memory to operate at maximum speed for code programming . the evaluation process allows faster evaluation of data by performing the crc check only after all data to be evaluated has been written to the non - volatile memory . those skilled in the art will readily observe that numerous modifications and alterations of the device and method may be made while retaining the teachings of the invention . accordingly , the above disclosure should be construed as limited only by the metes and bounds of the appended claims .	6
fig1 shows imager 10 having an imager matrix 11 comprised of a columns of pixels ( 324 in this preferred embodiment ) and b rows of pixels ( 340 in this preferred embodiment ). the image array drive lines 12 provide the drive line signals φ1 , φ2 and φ3 ( see fig5 ) to the imager matrix 11 and to transfer gate 14 . transfer gate 14 has a ccd position attached to each column of the imager matrix and is connected to the ccd output register 18 to selectively transmit an entire row of pixels , in parallel , from imager matrix 11 into output register 18 . input diode 25 ( used for testing purposes ) is serially connected to additional position 24 of register section 15 , terminating in additional position 23 . corner output group 42 is serially connected to additional position 23 and to additional position 22 of register section 16 , which terminates in additional position 21 . corner output amplifier group 41 is serially connected to additional position 21 and to additional position 20 of register section 17 which terminates in additional position 19 . corner output amplifier group 40 is serially connected to extra position 19 and terminates in charge drain diode 45 . the corner output amplifier 40 - 42 groups and register sections 15 - 17 make up output register 18 . corner output amplifier group 40 includes outputs 31 - 33 ; corner output amplifier group 41 includes outputs 34 - 46 ; corner output amplifier group 42 includes outputs 37 - 39 . fig2 is a cross section of the three - phase ccd structure of this preferred embodiment wherein three overlapping levels of polysilicon electrodes are employed . polysilicon electrode 61 to which phase φ1 is applied is contained within silicon dioxide envelope 68 . phase φ2 is applied to electrode 53 , also surrounded by silicon dioxide envelope 68 . phase φ3 is applied to electrode 56 , which is partially surrounded by envelope 68 . fig2 is intended to represent two sides of the ccd imager , and not all of the center , identical portions . thus , electrode 54 to which phase φ2 is applied is partially shown at the left center of the drawing with electrode 57 to which phase φ3 is applied as shown at the right center of the drawing . electrodes 63 and 64 each have phase φ1 applied thereto and are totally surrounded by envelope 68 . electrode 55 has phase φ2 applied and is surrounded by envelope 68 . electrode 58 has phase φ3 applied and is partially surrounded by envelope 68 . this preferred embodiment utilizes buried layer 62 of an n type material to cause electrons to be forced away from the surface and toward the main body 61 of p type material . the p + regions 63 and 64 are channel stop areas . the n + region 45 is the charge drain diode cathode . walls 51 and 52 define the active area 11 . fig3 is a plan view of corner output amplifier group 41 . corner output amplifier group 41 is representative of corner output amplifier groups 40 and 42 . electrodes 81 - 107 are positioned in a curved path to form a corner so that electrode 81 is at right angles to electrode 107 . as shown in fig2 the lowest level electrode is that to which phase φ1 is applied . in this fig3 terminals 109 and 113 receive phase φ1 . terminal 109 is connected to electrodes 83 , 86 , and 92 . terminal 113 is connected to electrodes 98 , 104 and 107 . electrodes 89 , 95 an 101 are formed at the same level and are output control gates . the next level of electrodes is that receiving phase φ2 . in fig3 terminals 110 and 115 receive phase φ2 . terminal 110 is connected to electrodes 81 , 84 and 90 . terminal 115 is connected to electrodes 96 , 102 and 105 . electrodes 87 , 93 and 99 are also formed at the phase φ2 level and are input control gates for the floating gate amplifiers . the highest level phase electrode is that for receiving phase φ3 . in fig3 phase φ3 is applied to terminals 111 and 116 . terminal 111 is connected to electrodes 82 , 85 and 91 . terminal 116 is connected to electrodes 97 , 103 and 106 . also formed at the phase φ3 level are floating gates 88 , 94 , and 100 , for the floating gate amplifiers . the floating gate formed by electrode 94 is the gate for mos output transistor 114 , having drain 129 , and source 35 which serves as its output . mos transistor 124 has drain 125 , gate 126 and source 127 , source 127 being connected through connector 128 to the floating gate 94 . transistor 124 supplies a potential to floating gate 94 . electrode 93 forms input control gate g1 for amplifier transistor 114 and electrode 95 forms the output control gate g2 for the output amplifier transistor 114 . transistors 114 and 124 , together with input control gate g1 and output control gate g2 form a floating gate amplifier for providing an output representative of the charge at the particular electrode at source output 35 . the combination of transistors 130 and 132 , and 133 and 134 , together with their respective input gates formed by electrodes 87 and 99 , respectively , and their output gates formed by electrodes 89 and 101 , respectively , represent two more floating gate amplifiers with outputs at sources 36 and 34 , respectively . details of this floating gate amplifier are set out in copending patent application ser . no . 021 , 058 , filed mar . 16 , 1979 , entitled &# 34 ; remote coupled floating gate amplifier for charge coupled devices &# 34 ; and assigned to the assignee of this invention . in this preferred embodiment , n = 3 and therefore there are three floating point amplifiers in one corner output amplifier group . this corner output amplifier group 41 is identical to corner output amplifier groups 40 and 42 . fig4 illustrates , in block form , the timing circuitry that may be used in this invention . a crystal oscillator 151 , having a frequency of approximately 6 mhz provides an input to divider 153 . an appropriate output from divider 153 at approximately 2 mhz is sent to three phase generator 152 which provides three phases φ1 &# 39 ;, φ2 &# 39 ; and φ3 &# 39 ; for the three phase input to ccd output register 18 . the output of divider 153 is sent to divider 155 where the frequency is further divided to provide phases φ1 , φ2 and φ3 . phases φ1 , φ2 , and φ3 are applied to the imager matrix 11 and to transfer gate 14 . the gate output from divider 155 is used to enable the output of transfer gate 14 . phases φ1 &# 39 ;, φ2 &# 39 ; and φ3 &# 39 ; at b ( 340 )× the frequency of the three phase input to imager matrix 11 are applied to ccd output register 18 . the output of divider 155 is counted at counter 156 whose output is sent to comparator 157 having a second input 158 with a count of b ( 340 ) as the second input . if there is a comparison , then all the rows from imager matrix 11 must have been transferred to output register 18 . oscillator inhibit 159 is activated turning off the oscillator 151 . in this preferred embodiment , the oscillator is held off for a period of approximately 600 milliseconds , and then is kept running for a period of approximately 200 miliseconds to enable the transfer of the pixel information entirely out of the imager matrix . fig5 shows the phases φ1 , φ2 and φ3 in idealized form . while the oscillator 151 is held off , φ1 illustrating waveform 161 , remains high , with φ2 as waveform 162 and φ3 as waveform 163 remaining low . also remaining low is the gate output waveform 164 which is activated just prior to the phase φ1 going low . when phase φ1 goes low , phase φ2 goes high and when phase φ2 goes low , phase φ3 goes high . the gate pulse 164 precedes the three phase pulse φ1 , permitting the transfer of information held in transfer gate 14 to move into ccd register 18 . the waveforms shown in fig5 are representative of a long series of repetitious forms , as shown , up until time t . after time t , when oscillator 151 is inhibited , waveform 161 ( φ1 ) again goes high as shown and waveforms 162 , 163 and 164 all go low . fig6 illustrates circuitry for an output application of the invention . outputs 31 - 39 ( fig2 ) are connected to one end respectively of resistors r2 - r9 , whose other ends are tied together to the input of amplifier 166 . the input of amplifier 166 is also tied through resistor r1 to ground . output 35 from floating gate amplifier transistor 114 , representing the center pixel of a block , is connected to the input of amplifier 167 . the outputs of amplifiers 166 and 167 are connected respectively to the positive and negative inputs of differential amplifier 168 . output 169 from amplifier 168 represents the difference in amplitude between the outputs of amplifiers 167 and 166 . referring to fig1 the image of an object is impressed upon the imager matrix 11 . in this particular embodiment , with a matrix of 324 × 340 pixels , approximately 600 milliseconds is required for the imaging process . this time is approximate and relates to the particular imager of this invention . an imager with a smaller matrix takes substantially less time . upon the conclusion of the imaging process , gate 14 is enabled by the gate pulse 164 of fig5 . also , the φ1 , φ2 and φ3 phase pulses 161 , 162 and 163 , respectively , are activated to shift out the first row of ccd pixels into section 15 of output register 18 , and also the three right most pixels into corner output amplifier group 42 , with outputs 37 , 38 and 39 of the respective floating point amplifiers corresponding to those first three bits . then at an approximate 2 mhz rate , section 15 contents are shifted into section 16 and into corner output amplifier group 41 . this cycle is repeated with gate 14 again being enabled and the contents of the second row of ccd &# 39 ; s from imager matrix 11 are transmitted in parallel into section 15 and corner output amplifier group 42 . again , output ccd register 18 shifts with the contents of section 16 shifting into section 17 and corner output amplifier group 40 . likewise , the contents of section 15 shifts into section 16 and corner output amplifier group 41 . section 15 is filled again along with corner output amplifier group 42 . at that moment , the first three pixels of the first row from imager 11 are represented at outputs 31 , 32 and 33 of group 40 . the first three pixels of the second row are represented at the outputs 34 , 35 and 36 of group 41 . the first three pixels of the third row are represented at outputs 37 , 38 and 39 of group 42 . these outputs are simultaneously available and represent a block of 9 pixels . the first block is that formed of three pixels by three pixels in the lower right corner of imager matrix 11 . as the shifting continues , the charge representing the first pixel of the first row of imager matrix 11 is discharged into charge drain 45 . at this point , the pixels at the second , third and fourth positions of the first three rows are read out . this process continues and is an effective movement of the block from the right most lower corner to the left most lower corner as the shifting is continued until the last three pixels of the first three columns are effectively read out . the next two shifts may be ignored and the next block to be read out is formed of the first three pixels of the second , third and fourth rows . the process continues until the entire contents of imager matrix 11 has been shifted out . as indicated earlier , the simultaneous outputs may be used in various , desired ways . for example , fig6 illustrates the use of a weighting scheme that enables attaching a weight to the center pixel of the block and assigning a different weight to all of the other eight pixels in the block . in this preferred embodiment , the resistors r2 - r9 are equal and are of 8 k ohms in value . resistor r1 equals 1 k ohms . the gain of amplifier 166 is twice that of amplifier 167 . then if all the pixel charges in the block are equal , the voltage appearing at the input to amplifier 166 will be one half that appearing at the input to amplifier 167 . that is , the net parallel resistance of resistors r2 - r9 is 1 k ohm , the same as resistor r1 , thus dividing in half , the input voltage ( approximately 0 . 1 volts ). the voltage present at the input to amplifier 167 is amplified and presented to the negative terminal of differential amplifier 168 . the voltage present at the input to amplifier 166 is amplified ( twice that of amplifier 167 ) and presented as a positive input to differential amplifier 168 . under those circumstances , the output at 169 is zero , because the inputs cancel . this is an indication of no difference in light intensity from that block . if the outputs at point 169 are not zero , then a change in color or light intensity is indicated . this information is sent to the memory of a digital computer for further analysis . this invention simply provides the simultaneous outputs and an indication of change or no change in light intensity from a given block . this preferred embodiment indicates the use of an imager matrix 340 × 324 pixels . the preferred embodiment also indicates a three phase , buried type of structure . it is obvious to those skilled in the art to use available schemes , such as two phase instead of the three phase arrangement and also to use other than buried layer type structures . further , a ccd gate and ouput register structure is not required for operation of this invention . the scope of the invention is all inclusive of these changes that are obvious to those skilled in the art .	7
the invention pertains to wall covering systems which are made , for instance , by a vinyl coating onto a fabric or a paper . the vinyl is then printed and embossed . the wall coverings are attached to the walls or ceilings of rooms inside residential or commercial buildings . the room temperature normally changes during the day and overnight . during the day , heat caused by solar radiation penetrates through the windows into the room leading to an increase in the room temperature . the heat rises to the ceiling and increases mainly the temperature at the upper parts of the walls and at the ceiling . the temperature rise in the upper part of the room leads to an increase of the temperature gradient between the floor and the ceiling . overnight the heat is released through the windows resulting in a decrease in the room temperature and the temperatures at the ceiling , the walls and the floor . the temperature gradient between the floor and the ceiling is also reduced during the heat release overnight . test results received for the development of the room temperature and the temperature development on different locations of a model room ( floor , walls and ceiling ) during a 24 hour - period are shown in fig1 . a comfortable room temperature ranges between 21 ° c . and 24 ° c . furthermore , in order to avoid uncomfortable drafts in the room , the vertical temperature gradient between floor and ceiling should not exceed 3 k / m . a vertical temperature gradient of 1 k / m would be most preferable . based on these data the floor temperature should be in the range between 20 ° c . and 23 ° c . at the ceiling the temperature should remain between 23 ° c . and 26 ° c . during the day . in order to keep the room temperature in the comfort range , especially on hot summer days , the phase change material should mainly be used to absorb excess heat the wall and the ceiling are subjected to . considering the comfort temperature ranges determined for walls and ceiling the applied phase change material should absorb heat if temperature on the surface of the walls exceed 25 ° c . and the ceiling temperature rises above 26 ° c . based on model calculations , the phase change material applied to walls should absorb latent heat in a temperature range between 25 ° c . and 32 ° c . a phase change material used in a wall covering assembly attached to the ceiling should absorb latent heat in a temperature range between 26 ° c . and 35 ° c . the phase change material selected for both applications should be able to release all the stored latent heat overnight with the reverse heat flux through the windows into the environment . only in case the stored heat can be released completely overnight , the phase change material can fulfil its heat absorption function during the day . a appropriate temperature range for the release of the latent heat stored in the walls and in the ceiling ranges from 20 ° c . up to 30 ° c . in order to cover the selected temperature ranges for the latent heat absorption , paraffin waxes described in table 1 can be used for the wall covering assembly . salt hydrates summarized in table 2 are also suitable for such an application . the wall covering materials are very thin and flexible . in order to keep these characteristics of the wall covering materials the amount of phase change material which can be applied to such a system is limited . the limitations in the phase change material quantity demand that technical grade paraffin waxes and salt hydrates with latent heat storage capacities of at least 180 j / g are used in wall covering systems . in order to obtain a sufficient latent heat storage capacity in the wall covering material the use of microencapsulated phase change material should be avoided . the micro - encapsulation procedure of the phase change material reduces the latent heat storage capacity by about 40 %. in order to maximize the latent heat storage capacity of the wall covering assembly , pure phase change material has been applied directly to an acrylic coating compound . the acrylic coating compound is liquid at room temperature . in order to obtain an even distribution of the crystalline alkyl hydrocarbons or the salt hydrates throughout the acrylic coating compound the phase change material also have to be liquid for mixing them into the acrylic substrate . because the crystalline alkyl hydrocarbons and the salt hydrates which melt in the selected application temperature range are solid at the processing room temperature , they need to be melted first . then , the selected phase change material is completely melted it is carefully mixed into the acrylic coating compound . the acrylic coating compound with incorporated phase change material ( 2 ) is then applied to the uncoated side of a paper or fabric commonly used in the conventional wall covering system as a first additional layer . in addition to the phase change material the acrylic coating compound may also contain flame - retarding additives which are mixed therein together with the phase change material . in the next step , a second layer of a liquid ceramic compound ( 3 ) is coated on top of the layer comprising the acrylic coating compound with phase change material in order to enhance the wall covering &# 39 ; s fire - resistance and avoid the dissolution of the pcm while in a liquid stage . the rear ceramic layer is abrasion resistant and possesses a plain surface . a sectional view of the invented wall covering assembly is shown in fig2 . preferably , phase change material has been applied to the acrylic coating compound in a quantity of about 50 wt . %. the total phase change material quantity of 130 g / m 2 in the acrylic coating compound leads to a latent heat storage capacity of approximately 25 kj / m 2 to 35 kj / m 2 . by applying the same quantity of microencapsulated phase change material a latent heat storage capacity of only 16 kj / m 2 could be obtained which is not sufficient for a room application . at least a latent heat capacity of 25 kj / m 2 is necessary to obtain long - lasting thermal effects in room applications . technical data of wall covering materials with and without phase change material are summarized in table 3 . the test data indicate that the thin wall covering material possesses only a low thermal resistance which ensures a sufficient heat transfer into the layer which contains the phase change material and away from it . the application of 130 g / m 2 pure phase change material incorporated into the wall covering in an acrylic coating compound increases the weight of the wall covering material by about 70 %. the application of the first additional first layer ( acrylic coating compound with incorporated phase change material ) doubles the thickness of wall covering material . however , the increase in thermal resistance totals only 40 %. the addition of the second layer made of a ceramic compound adds about 120 g / m 2 in weight to the wall covering assembly . this ceramic layer possesses only a thickness of 0 . 2 mm . despite its relative thinness , the ceramic compound layer possesses a comparatively high thermal resistance which reduces the heat flux into the walls and the ceiling substantially . the thermal resistance of the final wall covering configuration with phase change material is about twice the thermal resistance of the wall covering material without phase change material . after adding the two coating layers to a existing wall covering material the invented wall covering assembly is still a flat structure which can be applied to a wall in the manner of wallpaper . the wall covering assembly is thin and flexible which makes it possible to transport and store the material in form of rolls . by keeping the original fabric or paper with the vinyl coating on the front face of the assembly the decorative design function of the wall covering is maintained . the wall covering material with phase change material has been tested in a model room . some test results are shown in fig3 and fig4 . the test results indicate that the temperature increase on the walls and the ceiling , for instance , during a hot summer day could be delayed and , therefore , reduced by the heat absorption of the phase change material incorporated in the wall covering assembly . on the other side , the phase change material has been recharged overnight by releasing the stored heat . the thermal effect provided by the phase change material contained in the wall covering assembly has been proven to be durable in more than 1000 thermo - cycles . the phase change material application in wall covering materials will lead to a better thermal comfort inside buildings and to substantial energy savings .	8
referring to fig4 there is illustrated an overall arrangement of a time interleaved a / d converter according to one embodiment of the invention . in fig4 the portions of the time interleaved a / d converter corresponding to those in the conventional time interleaved a / d converter of fig1 are indicated by identical reference numerals . the time interleaved a / d converter of the present invention includes a plurality of a / d subconverters 10 - 1 to 10 - m which are arranged in one - dimensional array of a single column . these a / d subconverters sequentially sample the analog input signal v in applied thereto through an input terminal 202 in response to the sampling enable signals from the timing controller unit 201 . for the convenience of description , m a / d converters are employed ( where m is an even number ). the timing controller unit 201 of the timing controller 401 functions to sequentially provide sampling enable signals on its output terminals 1 to m in response to a clock signal φ . the time multiplexing circuit 204 selectively transfers digital outputs from the a / d subconverters 10 - 1 through 10 - m in response to the control signal from the timing controller unit 201 . the timing controller 401 includes a plurality of leads 1 - 1 through 1 - m which electrically connect the output terminals 1 through m of the timing controller unit 201 and the control inputs of the a / d subconverters such that any two subconverters to be successively activated in the sampling operation are positioned at locations spaced substantially the equal distance within the maximum distance of 2p ( two pitches of a subconverter ) apart throughout the a / d subconverters . more specifically , the timing controller unit 201 has the output terminal 1 connected to the a / d subconverter 10 - 1 by a lead 1 - 1 , and the output terminal 2 to the a / d subconverter 10 - 3 by a lead 1 - 2 . in this manner , output terminals 1 through m / 2 of the unit 201 are connected to the alternate a / d subconverters from the top to the bottom in the converter column by the leads 1 to 1 -( m / 2 ). the interconnection arrangement is to be of a folding arrangement at the output ( m / 2 )+ 1 which is connected to the a / d subconverter 10 - m . that is , the outputs ( m / 2 )+ 1 through m are connected to the alternate a / d subconverters in the direction from the bottom to the top of the converter column . in this way , the odd - numbered a / d subconverters in the column are coupled by the leads 1 - 1 to 1 -( m / 2 ) sequentially to the output terminals 1 through m / 2 of the unit 201 in a downward direction , and even - numbered a / d subconverters in the column are then coupled by the leads 1 -( m / 2 + 1 ) to 1 - m sequentially to the output terminals ( m / 2 )+ 1 through m in an upward direction . with the above described interconnecting arrangement , alternate a / d subconverters are succeedingly selected to be activated in a sampling operation . it is noted that the distance between the a / d subconverter 10 -( m - 1 ) and the a / d subconverter 10 - m to be activated next , and the distance between the a / d subconverter 10 - 2 and the a / d subconverter 10 - 1 are each half as large as those among remaining subconverters . if the pitch of one subconverter is represented by p , the subconverters spaced 2p apart are successively activated except at the folding point in the interconnection arrangement . the timing multiplexing circuit 204 operates to sequentially select and send n - bit digital signals supplied to its input terminals 50 - 1 through 50 - m out to the output terminal 203 . the timing for the sampling enable signals generated by the timing control unit 201 as well as the switching timing of the time multiplexing circuit 204 are assumed to be identical to those shown in fig2 . in operation , the timing controller unit 201 provides sampling enable signals sequentially on the output terminals 1 through m at a cycle of ts , as in the case of the conventional a / d converter of fig1 and 2 . these sampling enable signals are fed to the control inputs of the a / d subconverters 10 - 1 through 10 - m . in the sampling operation , the odd - numbered subconverters in the converter column are first activated into sampling and conversion operation sequentially downward . each activated a / d subconverter provides n bit digital data to the time multiplexing circuit 204 . after the lower most odd - numbered subconverter 10 -( m - 1 ) in the column has been activated , a sequential activation reverses its direction and drives the even - numbered a / d subconverters into sampling and conversion operation one after another in an upward succession through the converter column . the sequentially activated a / d subconverters provide analog - to - digital converted signals to their corresponding input terminals 50 - 1 through 50 - m of the timing multiplexing circuit 204 , which functions to selectively couple its input terminals to the output terminal 203 in a downward sequence . hence , the output terminal 203 of the time multiplexing circuit 204 is supplied with the analog - to - digital converted signals in each sampling cycle by the odd - numbered subconverters 10 - 1 , 10 - 3 , . . . 10 -( m - 1 ) in this order , and then by the even - numbered subconverters 10 - m , 10 -( m - 2 ), . . . 10 - 2 in this order . at the end of one complete sampling cycle , that is , when all of the m a / d subconverters have been activated , the activation of the a / d subconverters shifts from the subconverter 10 - 2 to the subconverter 10 - 1 which are physically positioned adjacent each other . thus , in sharp contrast to the aforementioned conventional arrangement of the a / d converter , the time interleaved a / d converter of the present invention exhibits little difference in the conversion characteristics between the two subconverters to be successively activated at the termination of one complete sampling cycle and at the start of the next sampling cycle . this leads to less different digital outputs obtained at the converter output in that region . fig5 shows the digital outputs of the a / d converter of this invention produced at each sampling times s1 to s m + 2 . the conversion characteristic curves 30 - 1 through 30 - m are for the a / d subconverters 10 - 1 through 10 - m , respectively . it is noted that even in an improved converter design where the a / d subconverters are monolithically arranged in an array on a semiconductor chip ( i . e . the chip 500 in fig4 ), the subconverters exhibit slightly varying conversion performances , however , the conversion characteristics vary in one direction . the greater the physical distance between adjacent subconverters , the greater the difference in the conversion characteristics between them as discussed previously . however , the difference in the conversion characteristics is substantially equalized throughout the subconverters using the sequential activation of the invention where the subconverters in physical proximity are successively selected to be activated all the time as shown in fig4 . as shown in fig5 an a / d converted digital signal to be applied to the output terminal 203 moves on alternate conversion characteristics curves from the curve 30 - 1 toward the curve 30 - m and then returning to the curve 30 - 1 as the sampling time advances . then , the digital output signals at the sampling times s1 to s m + 2 are connected to provide a synthesized conversion curve 307 of the a / d converter as shown by the bold line in fig5 . as can be seen from the overall synthesized conversion characteristics curve 307 , there is only a small variation of the analog - to - digital converted outputs between successive sampling times , thereby eliminating any large change or shift in the overall synthesized conversion characteristics to reduce an error in the differential linearity . in the preceding preferred embodiment , the a / d converter includes an even number of the a / d subconverters . however , when it is intended to incorporate an odd number of the a / d subconverters , they may be activated in a sequence as shown in fig6 . in a sampling and conversion cycle of fig6 the odd - numbered subconverters are sequentially selected downward during the former half cycle of one sampling cycle , followed by the upward activation of the even - numbered subconverters during the latter half cycle of the sampling cycle . the a / d converter repeats that activation sequence in operation . the a / d subconverters have been described as being arranged in one - dimensional column in the previous embodiments . in another embodiment of the invention , the a / d converter may include a plurality of a / d subconverters arranged in a two - dimensional array of rows and columns . the subconverter array is sequentially activated in a similar manner as in the preceding embodiments , thereby to achieve similar improved conversion characteristics . fig7 shows a 6 - row and 5 - column array of a / d subconverters . the numerical references 1 through 30 are entered in the rectangular forms representing the subconverters to indicate the sequence in which the subconverters are activated . in operation , the a / d subconverters in the first column are initially activated in downward sequence , and the a / d subconverters in the sixth row are then activated left to right . thereafter , the sequential activation continues on the rest of the subconverters in the first to fifth rows in the second to fifth columns in a serpentine fashion from the subconverter in the fifth row of the fifth column to the subconverter in the first row of the second column as represented by a series of numerical references . as will be readily understood from the illustrated configuration of the subconverter array , the a / d subconverter to be initially activated in one sampling cycle is disposed as close as possible to the one to be activated at the end of the sam sampling cycle . alternatively , the subconverter array may be sequentially activated in a manner as shown in fig8 where similar numerical references 1 through 30 are entered to indicate the order of the subconverters to be activated . in operation , the first column is initially selected and the subconverters in this column are sequentially activated in an alternate fashion identical to that explained with reference to fig4 or fig6 . the third column is then selected for activation , and all subconverters in the third column are sequentially activated as in the first column . next , the fifth column is selected for sequential activation of the subconverters therein also as in the first column , followed by the selection of the fourth column and then the second column for the activation of the subconverters therein in a similar sequence . as will be understood from the foregoing description , the present invention provides an improved a / d converter in which the a / d subconverter array is sequentially activated into sampling and conversion operation so that any two subconverters to be successively activated are disposed within the maximum distance of 2p , where p represents a pitch of a subconverter in the row or column direction . the arrangement of the a / d subconverters and the sequential activation thereof effectively reduces the difference in the overall synthesized conversion characteristics of the a / d converter . as a result , there is found only small variation in the overall synthesized conversion characteristic curve , improving greatly the differential linearity of the converter performance . in the illustrated embodiments of the invention , the a / d subconverters have been described as being monolithically formed on a semiconductor chip . however , this invention is not limited thereto and is also applicable to the a / d converter in which subconverters are arranged in an array of a column or of rows and columns on a print circuit board because a thermal gradient also exists even in such a case . also in the illustrated embodiments , interconnections between the timing controller unit and the a / d subconverters through the connection leads for carrying the sampling enable signals from the controller to the subconverters are modified in order to carry out the activation on the a / d subconverters in a desired sequence . instead , the same sequential activation of the a / d subconverters may be realized through the control of the outputs of the timing controller unit without modification of the interconnections between the controller unit and the subconverters . as discussed previously , in the novel arrangement of the a / d converter of the present invention , a plurality of the a / d subconverters are activated into the sampling and conversion operation in such sequence that an a / d subconverter activated at one sampling time is positioned in physical proximity to the one activated at the immediately preceding sampling time . this sequential activation of the a / d subconverters with a small physical separation results in relatively uniform a / d conversion characteristics throughout all the subconverters . this contributes to keeping any large shift from appearing in the overall synthesized conversion of the a / d converter , and to providing almost flawless differential linearity of the converter characteristics . although the present invention has been described and illustrated in detail , it is clearly understood that the same is by way of illustration and example only and is not to be taken by way of limitation , the spirit and scope of the present invention being limited only by the terms of the appended claims .	7
referring to fig1 and 2 , the door breach training system of the present invention is identified generally by the reference numeral 10 . system 10 includes a door 12 and an associated door frame 14 . to simulate the locks within the training system , embodiments of the present invention include door sockets 16 , frame sockets 18 , and shear pins 20 . door sockets 16 are inserted into door 12 , while frame socket 18 is inserted into the door frame 14 . the number of door sockets 16 and corresponding frame sockets 18 utilized for any given exercise can be user - varied to represent the number of locks , or the over - all breach resistance to be simulated in any given exercise . referring in combination to fig1 , 2 and 3 , to complete a set - up for an exercise , door 12 is placed in its conventional “ closed ” position relative to door frame 14 , and the appropriate pin ( s ) 20 for representing the desired condition ( such as wood door and metal frame , etc ) are inserted to engage the bores 22 and 24 , respectively , of both door sockets 16 and frame sockets 18 . upon forced entry of a trainee , the resistance force of pin ( s ) 20 simulates that encountered in field forced entry . once door 12 has been breached or entered , pin ( s ) 20 are simply removed and the system 10 can be reset for the next trainee . by collecting data from numerous physical breaching tests on doors and frames of different construction , an engineered pin has been developed which when utilized in the designed system replicates the same forces and impact resistance found in field conditions as encountered by public safety personnel . the engineered pins not only involve the shape and form of the pin but also the material properties of construction . this results in various pin types being used to simulate various conditions . when utilized with a fortified door and frame , the overall system is engineered to fail in a controlled , repeatable and measurable manner with the pins being the only consumable for training . referring to fig3 , 4 and 5 , the preferred pins 20 for use in embodiments of the present invention are made of unfilled polycarbonate with a known shear strength of 4675 psi , and are configured as shown . the core hole 26 of each pin 20 will vary , depending on the type of pin 20 to be constructed . for example , a “ wood frame type ” pin 20 will , when made of the above polycarbonate , material , and according to the depicted geometry , have a core hole diameter of 0 . 303 inches ( for a resulting 0 . 121 sq . inch material for this type pin 20 ), a “ metal frame type ” pin 20 will have a 0 . 217 diameter ( for a resulting 0 . 217 sq . inch material for this type pin 20 ), and a reinforced type pin 20 will have no core hole at all . by the use of test data from physical testing of various combinations of door and frame construction , pin 20 constitutes a preferred , calculated geometry ( shown in fig5 ) and material property , which results in a failure replicating that of the test data . this allows pins of identical overall dimension , but varying internal geometry ( bore size of sockets 22 and 24 ) and material property to be utilized in the same sockets while simulating totally different breaching scenarios or conditions . clearly variations of the depicted geometry , dimensions and / or materials will still fall within the scope of the present invention , but those shown are now believed to be optimal , based on present tests and analysis . tests by the present inventor reveal that the average wood frame door with a single bolt ( deadbolt or doorknob type ) required approximately 480 lbs . pressure for door breach , while a metal frame door of the same configuration required an average 645 lbs . of pressure . the addition of more locks or bolts varies the pressure . if using the presently engineered pins as previously described , the following are examples of appropriate configurations for training exercises : wood frame door with doorknob bolt and additional deadbolt — use 2 “ wood type ” pins 20 for breaching force requirement of 960 lbs ; metal frame door with doorknob bolt and additional two deadbolts — use 3 “ metal type ” pins 20 for breaching force requirement of 1935 lbs ; and reinforced door — use 3 “ reinforced type ” pins 20 for breaching force requirement of 2640 lbs . note that all holes are tapered 4 ° from the opening at the open end of pin 20 . clearly , variations in pin configuration and material constituency can vary the pin requirements for the above examples , but an analogous concept would fall within the scope of the present invention . although the invention has been described with reference to specific embodiments , this description is not meant to be construed in a limited sense . various modifications of the disclosed embodiments , as well as alternative embodiments of the inventions will become apparent to persons skilled in the art upon the reference to the description of the invention . it is , therefore , contemplated that the appended claims will cover such modifications that fall within the scope of the invention .	6
fig1 shows a transponder arrangement 10 comprising an interrogator 12 and a responder or transponder 14 . the interrogator 12 preferably comprises a control circuit 16 which controls the actions of the interrogator circuitry . the control circuit 16 causes the modulator 48 to generate either the powering frequency f 1 or a second frequency f 2 . in the illustrated embodiment the second frequency f 2 is used to represent one state of the write data while the powering frequency f 1 is used during data transmission to represent the other state of the write data . this fsk keying is accomplished by control circuit 16 controlling modulator 48 to open and close a switch 50 thereby changing the resonant frequency of the resonant circuit 28 . the modulator 48 further changes the division factor of the programmable divider 25 to divide the reference carrier by a selectable ration ( n 1 , n 2 ) to one of two selectable frequencies ( f 1 , f 2 ). when the switch 50 is open , the resonant circuit 28 oscillates at frequency f 1 . when the switch 50 is closed and the capacitor 52 is connected in parallel , the resonant circuit 28 resonates [ at frequency f 2 . the interrogator 12 might be a standalone unit , or alternatively , might be connected by a host connection 18 to a host computer . the control circuit 16 is preferably connected to a memory 20 that is operable to maintain , among other things , a list of instructions for the control circuit 16 to execute , information regarding various transponders 14 and groups of transponders for addressing . the memory 20 is also operable to receive information written to it by control circuit 16 . this information may be gained from inquiries of the transponder 14 and may include data and addresses returned by the transponder 14 . yet another component preferably operating under the control of the control circuit 16 is a display 22 that may visually express to a user the results of an interrogation or communicate status information . referring now to fig2 a graph is shown of the relative transponder operating voltage v cl on the vertical scale and time on the horizontal scale . the vertical scale is in volts , with the preferred operating voltage v cl = 5v . no units are provided for the horizontal scale as the figure is intended solely to provide information regarding the general operational characteristics of the communication between the transponder 14 and interrogator 12 . as shown on the graph of fig2 the preferred communications protocol has four phases . the first phase is the powering phase or phase &# 34 ; a &# 34 ; and lasts from time t 0 to t 1 . the second phase is the downlink phase or phase &# 34 ; b &# 34 ; and lasts from time t 1 to t 2 . the third phase is the memory write phase or phase &# 34 ; c &# 34 ; and lasts from time t 2 to t 3 . the fourth phase is the uplink phase or phase &# 34 ; d &# 34 ; and lasts from time t 3 to t 4 . the number of phases and the actions undergone during them is to illustrate one embodiment contemplated by the inventor . various modifications and combinations of the phases , also other embodiments of the invention , will be apparent to persons skilled in the art upon reference to the description . it is therefore intended that the appended claims encompass any such modifications or embodiments . fig3 is a frequency spectrum illustrating the power spectrums for the highly tuned and detuned configurations of the transponder ( graphs a and b , respectively ). now that the phases and frequency spectrums have been named and listed and an overview of the main components of the transponder system has been described , the remaining components and their uses during each phase will be described . again referring to fig1 now together with fig2 and fig3 the remaining components , timing , and frequency spectrum of the preferred embodiment will be described . during the &# 34 ; a &# 34 ; phase , within the interrogator 12 a carrier wave generator 24 operates to provide a reference frequency to a programmable divider 25 . a buffer or amplifier 26 receives a divided carrier having a first or second frequency , f 1 or f 2 , from the programmable divider 25 and passes the signal to an interrogator tuned circuit 28 . tuned circuit 28 is preferably tuned to f 1 although it is well known that a harmonic of the resonant frequency f 1 or another frequency could be used if design needs dictated . in this embodiment , the modulator 48 further acts to select the resonant frequency of the tuned circuit 28 to coincide with the corresponding frequency selected by the modulator 48 using the programmable divider 25 . the mechanism that modulator 48 uses to select the resonant frequency of tuned circuit 28 is a switch 50 that is open or closed depending on the output of modulator 48 . the tuned circuit 28 preferably comprises the parallel combination of a coil 30 and a capacitor 32 . the switch 50 when closed forms a parallel connection of another capacitor 52 across tuned circuit 28 thus lowering the resonant frequency of resonant circuit 28 to f 2 . a series resonant circuit could also be used as tuned circuit 28 if the amp 26 is to drive a low impedance tuned circuit ( e . g ., a series resonant circuit ). the oscillation of this tuned circuit 28 transmits rf energy that is received by the transponder 14 . a transponder resonant circuit 34 that also is tuned ideally to f 1 receives this energy . the transponder resonant circuit 34 preferably comprises the parallel combination of a coil 36 and a capacitor 38 . a transponder control circuit 40 is connected to this resonant circuit 34 at a reference connection 42 and at a signal connection 44 . the control circuit 40 receives its energy from the resonant circuit 34 , rectifies the received signals , and stores the energy on a storage capacitor 46 . the mechanisms for rectifying signals and storing energy are well known to one of ordinary skill in the art . examples of circuitry for performing these functions can be found in u . s . pat . no . 5 , 053 , 774 , incorporated by reference in this application . during the &# 34 ; b &# 34 ; phase the control circuit 16 sends data to a modulator 48 . an fsk modulator 48 under direction of control circuit 16 operates to control programmable frequency divider 25 to pass either a first frequency , f 1 , or a second frequency , f 2 , on to buffer / amplifier 26 . the frequencies f 1 and f 2 are selected submultiples of the reference frequency . the carrier wave generator 24 is preferably a crystal oscillator . as an example , one polarity of the write data might be the reference carrier divided by ratio n 1 ( f 1 ), while the other polarity of the write data might be represented by another frequency that is the reference carrier divided by ratio n 2 ( f 2 ). the modulator 48 controls a switch 50 that can connect a capacitor 52 in parallel with tuned circuit 28 . connecting the capacitor 52 in parallel with this tuned circuit 28 forms a new tuned circuit 29 with a new , lower resonant frequency f 2 . by opening and closing switch 50 in synchronism with the control of programmable divider 25 the resonant circuit 28 or new resonant circuit 29 remains optimally tuned to the transmitted frequencies f 1 and f 2 . by choosing f 1 to represent one logic level and f 2 to represent another it is possible to transmit information from the interrogator 12 to the transponder 14 . data is received in the transponder 14 by the transponder &# 39 ; s resonant circuit 34 . a downlink signal is passed on to demodulator 66 that in turn transmits a received data stream to the control circuit 40 . the received write data is typically fsk demodulated by the demodulator 66 . techniques and circuits for fsk demodulation are well known in the art . an illustrative fsk demodulation circuit 66 is shown in fig4 . in this circuit , a filter 67 is provided to receive the downlink signal on signal line 44 . this filter 67 may be either a lowpass or a highpass filter which acts as a slope detector where the fsk signal is converted to an ask signal . the slope detector operates by having each of the fsk frequencies ( f 1 , f 2 ) lie on the filter roll - off so the amplitude of the output will be different depending on the input fsk frequency . the signal on line 69 corresponding to the output of the filter is shown in fig5 . fig5 shows a frequency plot of the rolloff of filter 67 with the position of f 1 and f 2 shown on the frequency ( horizontal ) scale . as can be seen from fig5 a different amplitude corresponds on the vertical scale with each of the different fsk frequencies . an am demodulator 68 receives this amplitude modulated signal and provides a data signal or write signal to the control circuit 40 . in order for the transponder resonant circuit 34 to be properly tuned to the fsk modulated signal from the interrogator 12 , the control circuit 40 closes a switch 54 that connects a capacitor 56 and a resistor 58 in parallel with the resonant circuit 34 to form a new resonant circuit 60 . the effect of this is to lower the frequency of the resonant circuit to f 3 from f 1 , where f 3 is the central frequency between the two fsk carriers f 1 and f 2 . in order for the new resonant circuit 60 that is the parallel combination of the capacitors 34 , 56 and coil 36 to have a sufficient bandwidth to take in both fsk carriers f 1 and f 2 , the resonant circuit 60 is damped by the resistor 58 . the effect of these changes is shown in fig3 . graph a shows the frequency response of the resonant circuits 28 , 34 . because these resonant circuits 28 , 34 have a high q , the graph has a very narrow base and a high peak . graph b shows the effect on resonant circuit 34 in closing switch 54 to form new resonant circuit 60 . graph b is centered at f 3 between f 1 and f 2 and has a broad base which does have a significant frequency response at both f 1 and f 2 . because the resonant circuits 28 , 60 are no longer tightly coupled during phase &# 34 ; b &# 34 ; the energy transmission from the interrogator 12 to the transponder 14 is reduced . thus , the storage capacitor 46 must supply energy to the transponder circuitry for the transponder 14 to remain operational . as shown in fig2 the storage capacitor 46 voltage v cl drops during this phase as it supplies this energy to the transponder circuitry . as an option at the end of this phase a short handshake can be added to verify data reception without bit errors . referring to fig1 upon receipt and demodulation of the downlink signal the control circuit 40 during phase &# 34 ; c &# 34 ; writes to memory 62 . in some embodiments phase &# 34 ; c &# 34 ; may be optional . however , even if memory 62 is not written to during this phase , this phase may be used to restore energy to the storage capacitor 46 . in the instance where phase &# 34 ; c &# 34 ; is used to restore the storage capacitor 46 , the interrogator 12 again opens switch 50 such that the tuned circuit 28 again resonates at f 1 . the transponder opens switch 54 such that the resonant circuit 34 again resonates with a high q at f 1 and maximum transmission of power from the interrogator to the responder can resume . since the storage capacitor 46 is presumably not fully discharged the time required to charge is greatly reduced . the time required is on the order of 15 - 20 % of the original powering time . again referring to fig1 during phase &# 34 ; d &# 34 ; interrogator tuned circuit 28 is damped to enable downlink fsk reception . phase &# 34 ; d &# 34 ; also is an optional phase , since a transponder response or unlink might not be necessary in all instances . in the event that reception of a transponder response or uplink is desired , the interrogator tuned circuit 28 might be damped by the control circuit 16 by disabling the carrier wave generator 24 and by shunting a switch / resistor series combination across the resonant circuit . this damping of the carrier wave generator 24 is described in the &# 39 ; 774 patent by schuermann et al . once the oscillation of resonant circuit 28 is damped , the interrogator 12 is free to receive signals from the transponder 14 . within the transponder 14 , the resonant circuit 34 continues to oscillate until the energy stored therein is dissipated . the transponder 14 can now respond to the interrogator 12 by using a switch 70 to connect another capacitor 72 across the resonant circuit 34 . now in the transponder &# 39 ; s 14 response to the interrogator 12 read data is represented upon the uplink signal by a first frequency that might be the resonant frequency of resonant circuit 34 and by a second frequency that might be the resonant frequency of capacitor 72 in parallel with resonant circuit 34 . thus , the first frequency might represent the transmission from the transponder to the interrogator of a digital zero and the second frequency might represent the transmission of a digital one . this uplink is then demodulated by the interrogator demodulator 64 and supplied to control circuit 16 that may store the data in memory 20 , transmit the data to a host via the connection 18 , or display status information or data to an operator on a display 22 . the sole table , below , provides an overview of the embodiments and the drawings : table______________________________________drawing generic preferred orelement term specific term alternate terms______________________________________10 transponder arrangement12 interrogator interrogator reader14 transponder transponder responder , tag16 control interrogator circuit control circuit18 connection host computer connection20 memory interrogator sram , dram , memory eeprom22 display lcd , crt , led display , vf display24 carrier wave carrier wave oscillator , crystal generator generator oscillator26 buffer buffer / amplifier28 resonant interrogator f . sub . 1 antenna circuit resonant circuit30 coil32 capacitor34 resonant transponder f . sub . 1 antenna circuit resonant circuit36 coil38 capacitor40 control transponder microprocessor , circuit control circuit microcontroller42 reference reference reference voltage line voltage connection44 signal line signal line reference signal connection46 energy storage capacitor rechargeable storage battery device48 modulator fsk modulator50 switch52 resonant interrogator f . sub . 2 circuit resonant circuit54 switch56 capacitor58 damping resistor element60 resonant transponder f . sub . 3 circuit resonsant circuit62 memory transponder eeprom , sram , memory rom64 demodulator interrogator demodulator66 demodulator fsk pll fsk demodulator demodulator67 slope filter lowpass filter , detector highpass filter68 demodulator transponder am demodulator demodulator ( w / high or lowpass filter ) 69 signal line slope detector output70 switch transponder modulator switch72 capacitor transponder modulator capacitor______________________________________ a few preferred embodiments have been described in detail hereinabove . it is to be understood that the scope of the invention also comprehends embodiments different from those described , yet within the scope of the claims . for example , &# 34 ; microcomputer &# 34 ; is used in some contexts to mean that microcomputer requires a memory and &# 34 ; microprocessor &# 34 ; does not . the usage herein is that these terms can also be synonymous and refer to equivalent things . the phrase &# 34 ; processing circuitry &# 34 ; or &# 34 ; control circuitry &# 34 ; comprehends asics ( application specific integrated circuits ), pal ( programmable array logic ), plas ( programmable logic arrays ), decoders , memories , non - software based processors , or other circuitry , or digital computers including microprocessors and microcomputers of any architecture , or combinations thereof . memory devices include sram ( static random access memory ), dram ( dynamic random access memory ), pseudo - static ram , latches , eeprom ( electrically - erasable programmable read - only memory ), eprom ( erasable programmable read - only memory ), registers , or any other memory device known in the art . words of inclusion are to be interpreted as nonexhaustive in considering the scope of the invention . implementation is contemplated in discrete components or fully integrated circuits in silicon , gallium arsenide , or other electronic materials families , as well as in optical - based or other technology - based forms and embodiments . it should be understood that various embodiments of the invention can employ or be embodied in hardware , software or microcoded firmware . while this invention has been described with reference to illustrative embodiments , this description is not intended to be construed in a limiting sense . various modifications and combinations of the illustrative embodiments , as well as other embodiments of the invention , will be apparent to persons skilled in the art upon reference to the description . it is therefore intended that the appended claims encompass any such modifications or embodiments .	6
according to some embodiments , an amoled display panel includes an electrode overlapped with a glass frit layer and that is connected to a heat conduction component , such that heat from the electrode is conducted away to avoid excessive heat on the electrode . detailed description is made below of certain implementation modes of the amoled display panel and the amoled display device according to various embodiments of the invention . reference is made to the drawings , in which the sizes and shapes of various features are not reflected on a real scale , but which aims to illustrate certain aspects of the invention . fig1 a is a plan view of a local structure of the amoled display panel according to an embodiment of the present invention . the amoled display panel shown includes a first substrate 1 and a second substrate 2 ( not shown in fig1 a ), a glass frit layer 3 bonding the first substrate 1 and the second substrate 2 along the edge of the encapsulation area of the amoled display panel . the second substrate 2 includes electrodes 4 and 4 ′— overlapped with the glass frit layer 3 , and the electrode 4 and 4 ′ are connected to a heat conduction component 5 . fig1 b is a cross - sectional schematic diagram of the embodiment shown in figure in fig1 a taken along a - a ′. the location of the heat conduction component 5 and the connection to the electrode 4 and 4 ′ are not limited to the embodiment shown in fig1 b . the heat conduction component 5 may be any heat conduction component which has the function of heat conduction and does not cause a short circuit after being connected to the electrode 4 and 4 ′. in some embodiments , the heat conduction component is placed on the amoled display panel in order to simplify the manufacturing process without damaging the layered structure of the amoled display panel . in the embodiment shown , the electrode 4 overlapped with the glass frit layer 3 is connected to a heat conduction component 5 , which conducts heat from the electrode 4 to avoid excessive heat on the electrode 4 . in addition , the original heat conduction component in the amoled display panel can be used without adding another heat conduction component . in another embodiment of the present invention , the heat conduction component 5 may be a u - shaped metal pad 51 located under the glass frit layer 3 . in some embodiments , the heat conduction component 5 may also be a metal layer which has substantially no electrical function for the electronic circuit , e . g . a metal component in a panel code printing area . specifically , the u - shaped metal pad 51 in the shown embodiment may be connected to the electrode 4 by a first via hole 52 . in the display panel , circuit metal wiring may be set at one side of the substrate . in the shown embodiment of the invention , the electrode 4 is located on a first side ( the side of a - a ′ in fig1 a ) of the second substrate 2 . the first side ( the side of a - a ′ in fig1 a ) comprises a relatively large amount of circuit metal wiring , and the u - shaped metal pad 51 is located along the other three sides of the second substrate . the other three sides comprise a relatively small amount of circuit metal wiring . fig2 a is a cross - sectional schematic diagram of the u - shaped metal pad 51 connected to the electrode 4 by the first via hole 52 in the a - a ′ portion of fig1 a . it can be seen from fig2 a that , in this embodiment of the invention , the u - shaped metal pad 51 is located along the other three sides which are different from the side having the access terminal of the electrode 4 . as shown , there is no overlapping part between the u - shaped metal pad 51 and the electrode 4 on that side . as shown , the first via hole 52 is inclined . at least because the process of making the first via hole is relatively complex , in some embodiments , the u - shaped metal pad 51 or / and the electrode 4 extend to form extending parts respectively . an example in which both the u - shaped metal pad 51 and the electrode 4 are extended is shown in fig2 b . as shown , the extending parts form overlapping part 53 . in some embodiments , the first via hole 52 is in the overlapping part 53 , so that the u - shaped metal pad 51 is connected to the electrode 4 in the overlapping part 53 by the first via hole , as shown in fig2 b . in the shown embodiment of the invention , the u - shaped metal pad 51 is located along the other three sides which are different from the side having the access terminal of the electrode 4 . this avoids a possible short circuit caused by the u - shaped metal pad 51 touching other circuit metal wirings . the u - shaped metal pad 51 is connected to the electrode 4 in the shown embodiment of the invention such that the electrode 4 is connected to the two ends of the u - shaped metal pad 51 respectively to achieve better heat dissipating function . in addition , the u - shaped metal pad 51 and the electrode 4 respectively have extending parts overlapped with each other in the shown embodiment of the invention , and the first via hole is set in the overlapping part at least to further simplify the manufacturing process . another embodiment of the present invention includes an amoled display panel , which , in addition to structures discussed above , includes a thin film transistor ( tft ) located in the display area of the amoled display panel , as shown in fig3 a , which is a cross - sectional schematic diagram of the display area of an amoled display panel according to an the embodiment of the invention . in fig3 a , a buffer layer 6 , an active layer 7 , a gate insulating layer 8 , a gate 9 , a medium isolating layer 10 , source / drain 11 and an insulating layer 12 are sequentially formed on the second substrate 2 . the medium isolating layer 10 is used for isolating the gate 9 from the source / drain 11 , the gate insulating layer 8 isolates the gate 9 from the active layer 7 . to simplify the manufacturing process and achieve good operability in the etching process , the medium isolating layer 10 located between the u - shaped metal pad 51 and the electrode 4 , at the side frame of the display panel may be not etched off , that is , the medium isolating layer 10 may be included between the u - shaped metal pad 51 and the electrode 4 in some embodiments of the invention . the medium isolating layer between the u - shaped metal pad 51 and the electrode 4 may be somewhat different based upon a different tft structure , and this discussion is not to be considered as being limitative . further , the u - shaped metal pad 51 in some embodiments of the invention may be made of the same material as the source / drain 11 of the thin film transistor tft in the amoled display panel . for example , the material may include ti / al / ti . the electrode 4 may be made of the same material as the gate 9 of the thin film transistor tft , and the material may include mo . in order to simplify the manufacturing process , the u - shaped metal pad 51 and the source / drain 11 may be formed simultaneously by an etching process . additionally or alternatively , the electrode 4 and the gate 9 may be formed simultaneously by an etching process . fig3 b , a cross - sectional schematic diagram taken along b - b ′ of the amoled display panel of fig1 a . as shown , the u - shaped metal pad 51 is located on the same layer as the source / drain , and the electrode 4 is located on the same layer as the gate 9 . accordingly , the respective pairs of layers may be formed simultaneously . the location of the heat conduction component connected to the electrode 4 has an influence on the heat conduction time . that is , the closer the conduction component is to the electrode 4 , the quicker that he will be conducted away . in order to conduct the heat from the overlapping part of the glass frit layer 3 and the electrode 4 as quickly as possible , the overlapping part of the electrode 4 and the glass frit layer 3 may be extended to obtain an extending part of the electrode 4 , the end of the u - shaped metal pad 51 is then extended to obtain an extending part of the u - shaped metal pad 51 , the two extending parts form an overlapping area in which the electrode 4 is connected to the u - shaped metal pad 51 by the first via hole such as that shown in fig2 b . the amoled display panel according to this embodiment of the invention , includes no additional heat conduction component because the electrode is connected to the u - shaped metal pad by the via hole . in some embodiments , a different connection is used , for example , based upon a different tft structure of the display panel . in some embodiments , heat from the electrode is effectively conducted out without changing the original layered structure of the display panel , thus preventing the glass frit layer from being seared due to excessive heat gathered from the electrode during the vt test . during the vt test , the voltage input is pvdd and pvee , and the current flowing through the amoled display panel are calculated using the formulas as follow : i oled = m * [ ½ * μ * cox * w / l ( v pvdd − v data − v th ) 2 ]; ( when there is no threshold voltage compensation circuit ) and i oled = m [ ½ * μ * cox * w / l *( vpvdd − v data ) 2 ]; ( when there is a threshold voltage compensation circuit ). i oled represents current flowing through the amoled display panel , m represents the number of pixels , μ represents transistor mobility , cox represents memory capacitance , w / l represents transistor channel width / length ratio , v pvdd represents the input voltage of the pvdd , v data represents the voltage of a data wire , and v th represents the starting threshold voltage of a transistor . it can be seen from the formulas above that i oled is mainly under the influence of v pvdd . v pvdd is , therefore , increased to increase i oled during the vt test . that is , when the voltage input to the pvdd is increased , the current flowing through the access terminal of the pvdd is also increased . however , at the access terminal of the pvdd the wiring may be quite thin , and the resistance of the pvdd may be correspondingly quite large . accordingly , there may be much heat generated at the access terminal of pvdd due to the large current and the large resistance . it is quite clear from the above analysis that , much heat will likewise be generated on excess terminal of pvee . the glass frit layer for encapsulating the first substrate and the second substrate is located above the pvdd and the pvee . thus , a frit material may be seared , for example , when the current flowing through the pvdd or the pvee is great than 0 . 4 a . accordingly , the pvdd electrode and the pvee electrode are used as examples for description in the discussion herein . fig4 a is a plan schematic diagram of a display panel according to an embodiment . as shown in fig4 a , the access terminal of pvdd 13 and the access terminal of the pvee 14 are overlapped with the glass frit layer 3 . if a high enough voltage is used , enough heat will be generated on pvdd 13 and pvee 14 that the glass frit layer 3 , overlapped with pvdd 13 and pvee 14 , may be seared . in some embodiments , pvdd 13 or pvee 14 are connected to the heat conduction component according to one or more of the embodiments discussed herein . in some embodiments , pvdd 13 or the pvee 14 are connected to a u - shaped metal pad according to one or more of the embodiments discussed herein . it can be seen from fig4 a that the access terminal of pvdd and the access terminal of pvee are overlapped with the glass frit layer to form overlapping parts 15 . such a configuration may cause the glass frit layer to be seared . therefore , preferably in some embodiments of the invention , the access terminal of the pvdd and the access terminal of the pvee overlapped with the glass frit layer are extended and the end of the u - shaped metal pad is also extended . thus , the two extending parts are overlapped to form an overlapping area in which one of the access terminals is connected to the u - shaped metal pad by a second via hole ( not shown in the drawing ). the heat conduction component connected to pvdd 13 or pvee 14 may also be another metal layer which has no electrical function for the circuit , e . g . a two - dimensional code square area may be used . in the description the u - shaped metal pad is discussed as an example , and is not to be regarded as being limitative . in some embodiments , pvdd 13 and pvee 14 each have two access terminals . in such embodiments , the two access terminals of each electrode may be extended respectively for connecting to the u - shaped metal pad , or just one of the two access terminals could be extended . in some embodiments , the access terminals of pvdd or pvee form extending parts , which are overlapped with the extending part at the end of the u - shaped metal pad to form an overlapping area in which the access terminals are connected to the u - shaped metal pad by the via hole , as shown in fig4 b . in fig4 b , the extending part 1011 of the first access terminal 101 of pvee is connected to the extending part 501 at the first end of the u - shaped metal pad 51 , and the extending part 1012 of the second access terminal 102 of pvee is connected to the extending part 502 at the second end of the u - shaped metal pad 51 , so that heat at the overlapping part of pvee and the glass frit layer is conducted out more quickly . further , a short circuit would be caused by simultaneous connection of pvdd and pvee to the u - shaped metal pad , so in this embodiment of the invention , just pvdd or pvee is connected to the u - shaped metal pad by the second via hole . in some embodiments of the invention , the end of pvdd or the end of pvee is connected to the u - shaped metal pad . on one hand , it guarantees a flexible connection mode , and on the other hand , it realizes quick heat dissipation on pvdd and pvee to further prevent the glass frit layer overlapped with pvdd and pvee from being seared . some embodiments of the present invention provide an amoled display device , which comprises an embodiment of an amoled display panel having one or more aspects described herein . a connection similar to the connection of the electrode to the heat conduction component may be used to connect pvdd or pvee to the u - shaped metal pad . alternatively , another connection may be used . various modifications and variations of the present invention can be made by those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention . thus , provided that these modifications and variations of the present invention fall within the scope of the claims of the invention and equivalent technologies thereof , the invention is intended to encompass the modifications and variations .	7
given the video terminal illustrated in fig1 a picture tube having a picture area 1 is disposed in a housing of which only a frame 2 surrounding the picture area 1 is shown in the illustrated front view . the housing is positioned on a pedestal 3 which can be designed such that the housing is adjustable in height by means of a twist grip 4 . furthermore , the housing can be secured on the pedestal 3 so as to be rotatable and / or inclinable . an opening can be provided in the frame 2 in the upper left or right corner , a light - sensitive element 5 being situated behind the opening which enables an adaptation of the brightness of the representation on the picture area 1 to the respective ambient brightness . the side view of the video terminal shown in fig2 shows a basic housing 6 which encompasses the back part of the picture tube and , for example , is designed in cup - like or cuboid fashion and which is slipped from behind over the back part of the picture tube and base plates with electric components contained in the housing . the frame 2 embracing the picture area 1 of the picture tube is designed in bipartite fashion in the illustrative embodiment shown and is composed of a front frame part and of a frame part disposed between the front frame part and the basic housing 6 . the basic housing 6 is disposed on the pedestal 3 . situated at the backside of the pedestal 3 is a cover 7 which forms a cable channel for a power cable and for connecting cables between the video terminal and a control unit and / or a keyboard . the frame 2 can be directly connected to the basic housing 6 at a front rim thereof and , for example , can be screwed or snapped thereto . however , it proves expedient to provide support mounts in the basic housing 6 at the base plates . depending upon the use , frames 2 of different sizes and having the corresponding picture tubes can then be inserted into these support mounts . the diagonals of the picture areas 1 of the picture screens amount , for example , to between twelve inches and seventeen inches , and the picture tubes can also be designed for a black / white presentation or for a multi - color presentation . the basic housing 6 remains the same in all events and various frames 2 which are matched to the respective picture tubes are merely inserted into the basic housing 6 . it is also possible to incorporate the same frame 2 horizontally or vertically , so that , for example , a din a4 upright size can be provided at the picture area 1 . in order to permit this type of incorporation , the support mounts are preferably designed to be axially symmetric , so that the differing incorporation of the frame 2 is possible in a simple fashion either at the manufacturer or at the customer . the plan view of the video terminal illustrated in fig3 again shows the basic housing 6 which likewise preferably comprises an axially symmetric cross - section at the opening toward the frame 2 . this cross - section is preferably quadratic and it is also possible to design this cross - section in circular fashion . given the illustration in fig1 through 3 , the picture tube and the frame 2 are horizontally built in . as a consequence of the rectangular design of the picture area 1 , this results in the fact that the frame 2 , as shown in fig2 is designed approximately flush or in alignment with the basic housing 6 at the upper side and at the bottom side . as may be seen in fig3 however , the frame with respect to the side walls of the basic housing 6 is designed in wedge - like or conical fashion in order to adapt the frame 2 to the basic housing with respect to shape . in case small picture tubes are employed and the picture area 1 is not larger than the cross - section of the basic housing 6 , the frame 2 can also be designed of one piece and , in this case , the picture area 1 does not project out of the basic housing 6 or only projects slightly therefrom . given the illustration in fig4 the frame 2 and the picture tube having the picture area 1 are incorporated vertically into the basic housing 6 , so that an upright representation at the picture area 1 is possible . in case the same frame 2 as in the video terminal shown in fig1 through 3 is employed , the integration of the frame 2 occurs such that the opening for the light - sensitive element 5 is again situated in an upper corner so that the ambient brightness can be optimally measured . the side view of the video terminal shown in fig5 shows that the same basic housing 6 , the same pedestal 3 and , under given conditions , the same frame 2 are employed . corresponding to the plan view shown in fig3 given the horizontally integrated frame 2 , the frame 2 now projects somewhat beyond the basic housing 6 at the upper side and at the underside thereof when the frame 2 is vertically built in . given the plan view of the video terminal illustrated in fig6 it may be seen in contrast to the plan view shown in fig3 that the frame 2 now does not laterally project beyond the basic housing 6 or projects only slightly therebeyond , as is likewise the case at the upper side and at the underside of the basic housing 6 given the horizontal incorporation shown in fig2 . given the section through the video terminal corresponding to fig1 through 3 shown in fig7 base plates 8 are positioned at interior walls in the basic housing 6 . these base plates 8 can , on the one hand , contain electrical components and , on the other hand , can be designed as support mounts for electronic modules 9 . in addition , the support mounts 10 for fastening the various possible frames and for the horizontal or vertical incorporation of the frame 2 are provided at the bottom plates 8 in the proximity of the opening of the basic housing 6 . when the video terminal is assembled , the picture tube 11 can be secured , for example , to the base plates 8 before the frame is fastened in the basic housing 6 . particularly given a bipartite design of the frame 2 , however , it proves particularly expedient to first secure the picture tube 11 in the back frame part 2 &# 39 ; by fastenings 12 and to then secure the picture tube in common with the back frame part 2 &# 39 ; in the basic housing 6 at the base plates 8 by the support mounts 10 . the front frame part 2 &# 34 ; can be secured to the back frame part 2 &# 39 ; by means of a fastening 13 either subsequently or before the back frame part 2 &# 39 ; is fastened to the picture tube 11 . the enlarged excerpt from fig7 which is shown in fig8 shows the fastening 12 by means of which the picture tube 11 is secured to the back frame part 2 &# 39 ;. this fastening is expediently formed by screws positioned at the circumference of the picture tube 11 , the picture tube 11 being screwed to inwardly directed parts of the back frame part 2 &# 39 ; by these screws . fig8 also shows the fastening 13 by which the front frame part 2 &# 34 ; is connected to the back frame part 2 &# 39 ;. this connection is designed , for example , as a positive connection , particularly as a snap - closure , whereby a part of the front frame part 2 &# 34 ; designed in hook - like fashion engages into a corresponding opening at a rib of the back frame part 2 &# 39 ; the fastening of the back frame part 2 &# 39 ; to the base plates 8 by means of the support mount 10 is , for example , likewise designed as a positive connection and , in particular , as a snap - closure . for this purpose , the back frame part 2 &# 39 ; comprises a hook - like projection which engages into a corresponding opening of the base plate 8 . it would be conceivable to directly connect the back frame part 2 &# 39 ; to the basic housing 6 by employment of the support mount 10 . however , the connection to the base plate 8 has the advantage that it has greater stability since the base plates 8 consist of a metallic material , whereas the basic housing 6 , just like the frame 2 , consists of a plastic . there is thus the advantage that the basic housing 6 can be removed in a very simple fashion for maintenance purposes and the components and assemblies secured to the base plate 8 are then easily accessible . the fastening by the support mount 10 is designed as a releasable fastening in order to be able to incorporate different frames 2 with picture tubes 11 in a simple manner at the manufacturing plant , at the customer , or in order to incorporate the existing frame 2 with the picture tube 11 pivoted by 90 ° . in case a frame 2 prepared at the manufacturer and a corresponding picture tube 11 are incorporated , this has the advantage that these are already both mechanically as well as electronically adjusted , and thus integration can occur in a simple fashion . under given conditions , corresponding assemblies 9 can also be interchanged in a very simple fashion . instead of the pedestal 3 , the housing can also be erected in some other fashion . for example , it can be mounted on a control unit which contains additional memory units such as , for example , disk drives , or it is also possible to secure the housing to a support mount which is designed as a boom and may be secured to a work table . although various minor changes and modifications might be proposed by those skilled in the art , it will be understood that i wish to include within the claims of the patent warranted hereon all such changes and modifications as reasonably come within my contribution to the art .	7
the present invention will be directed in particular to elements forming part of , or in cooperation more directly with the apparatus in accordance with the present invention . it is to be understood that elements not specifically shown or described may take various forms well known to those skilled in the art . referring now to fig1 an electrophotographic printer includes all components necessary to accomplish the task of printing an image on paper . a printer is comprised of various sub - assemblies which perform specific functions . an imaging module in the printer consists of components to enable printing of a single color image . multiple modules may be assembled to enable the printing of multiple color images . fig1 shows details of a typical printing module 31 , which may be assembled with other imaging modules to enable the printing of multiple colors . primary charging subsystem 210 uniformly electrostatically charges photoreceptor 206 of photoreceptive member 111 , shown in the form of an imaging cylinder . charging subsystem 210 may include a grid 213 having a selected voltage , or may be in the form of a roller with conductive properties . additional necessary components provided for control may be assembled around the various process elements of the respective printing modules . meter 211 measures the uniform electrostatic charge provided by charging subsystem 210 and meter 212 measures the post - exposure surface potential within a patch area of a latent image formed from time to time in a non - image area on photoreceptive member 206 . image writer 220 is used to expose photoreceptor 206 and may be a light emitting diode ( led ) array or other similar mechanisms or a laser . toning unit 225 includes elements 226 and 227 and is used to develop the latent image created by image writer 220 on photoreceptive member 206 . cleaning unit 230 , shown in fig2 , removes residual or waste toner from photoreceptive member 206 after transfer of the image to a secondary receiver 216 . other meters and components may be included . within the printing module 31 , periodic replacement of critical components is necessary to ensure proper function . it may be desirable to cluster multiple components to enable simultaneous replacement . referring to fig2 , one such cluster , referred to as a replacement cartridge 200 , consists of a photoreceptive member 206 , cleaning unit 230 , and charger 210 . these components are assembled into a cartridge and held in place with a plastic housing 233 . referring now to fig3 , two embodiments are shown for printing modules 31 with an interface to toner supply cartridge 240 . the toner supply cartridge may be located either above , below , or in a remote location from the printing module 31 . the toner supply cartridge 240 , sometimes referred to as a toner bottle , is divided into two sections . the supply section 241 and the waste section 242 which contains waster toner 243 . the supply section 241 contains toner 248 suitable for use . waste section 242 is a receptacle for electrophotographic toner waste from the same module which supplies the toner . toner supply cartridge 240 has supply connection to toning unit 225 within printing module 31 via toner supply duct 236 . waste ducts 235 transport residual waste toner from the electrophotographic process scavenged by cleaning unit 230 within replacement cartridge 200 to the toner supply cartridge 240 . these waste ducts 235 may contain mechanisms for pumping toner , either in the form of an auger or lift mechanism , if necessary , depending upon the location of the toner supply cartridge 240 . if necessary , waste collection duct 235 and waste section 242 may also receive depleted toner byproduct from the toning process produced in toning unit 225 . typically the ratio of toner waste to toner supply for electrophotographic print modules is very small , therefore the volumes of sections dedicated for supply should be large when compared to waste section . the supply sections 241 and waste section 242 within the toner supply cartridge 240 may be separated by a fixed wall 244 thereby providing for a fixed volume of space , or a moveable wall or the separation may be a membrane 246 . the use of a moveable wall or membrane allows maximum volume for toner supply . as toner is consumed , the moveable wall or membrane increase waste section 242 volume , allowing space for toner waste . in the case of a membrane , the unfilled space occupied is the volume of the membrane material . as toner is augured into the waste section 242 , the chamber volume increases by expanding the membrane . similarly , a moveable wall could be used . in this case the wall could be dovetailed or hinged within the toner supply bottle 240 . the initial waste section 242 volume is very small . as waste toner is transported into waste section 242 , the wall moves , expanding the volume to occupy the required space . an advantage of a moveable wall or membrane is that in the event of a malfunction , where non - typical volumes of waste are produced within the module , the toner supply cartridge 240 adapts to the higher waste volume without causing additional malfunction . further if the waste section 242 volume is located above the toner section , the weight of the waste toner aids expansion of the waste section 242 and aids feeding of the fresh toner supply from toner supply section 241 . because the waste collected is from the module where the toner is consumed , the waste section can not become overfilled . an additional advantage of a combined waste collection and toner supply bottle with membrane is that no waste bottle full sensing is required , which reduce the complexity of the machine and reduces manufacturing cost . the invention has been described in detail with particular reference to certain preferred embodiments thereof , but it will be understood that variations and modifications can be effected within the scope of the invention .	6
the present inventions now will be described more fully hereinafter with reference to the accompanying drawings , in which some examples of the embodiments of the inventions are shown . indeed , these inventions may be embodied in many different forms and should not be construed as limited to the embodiments set forth herein ; rather , these embodiments are provided by way of example so that this disclosure will satisfy applicable legal requirements . like numbers refer to like elements throughout . 103 — atsc terrestrial broadcast tv rf analog signal to if analog signal converter 106 — analog to digital signal converter ( 106 is optional if the adc is built - in the tuner ) this invention uses the us terrestrial tv atsc standard — however other terrestrial tv standards ( dvb - t , isdb - t , dmbt , etc .) can also be applied . fig1 is an example of the wi - fi atsc tv antenna ( 100 ). any terrestrial tv will have a common tv antenna ( 101 ) to receive the radio waveforms . traditionally , the tv antenna is directly plugged in to the tv thru a tv rf signal cable ( 102 ). in this invention , the tv rf signal from the antenna is first connected to the atsc terrestrial broadcast tv rf analog signal to if analog signal converter ( 103 ), which traditionally is inside the tv . this invention has separated the tuner from the tv console , and put the tuner on the antenna side . the output of the atsc terrestrial broadcast tv rf analog signal to if analog signal converter ( 103 ) is in analog format ( 104 ). so , the analog if atsc tv signal ( 104 ) will be transformed to digital format by the adc ( 106 ). the atsc terrestrial broadcast tv rf analog signal to if analog signal converter ( 103 ) needs an if agc ( automatic gain control ) signal ( 107 ) to control the converter &# 39 ; s signal dynamic range . the digital if tv signal ( 105 ) is a sampled waveform . the minimum sampling frequency ( nyquist sampling rate ) is two times the atsc tv signal baseband symbol rate which is 10 . 76 msps ( mega symbols per second ). any sampling frequency above the minimum sampling frequency can be used . in this example , the sampling frequency is 25 mhz and the adc is 12 - bit , therefore the digital if tv signal ( 105 ) data rate is 300 mbps ( mega bits per second ). since the bandwidth of the atsc tv signal is 6 mhz , there is redundant information in the sampled digital if tv signal ( 105 ). the waveform data compression unit ( 108 ) is applied to the sampled digital if tv signal ( 105 ) in order to remove the redundancy and reduce the data rate of the signal . the waveform data compression algorithm in 108 can be either the adpcm ( adaptive differential pulse - code modulation ) algorithm or the dpcm ( differential pulse - code modulation ) algorithm . for this example , the adpcm algorithm is used . the output of the waveform data compression unit ( 108 ) is a compressed digital if tv signal ( 109 ) with the data rate of 100 mbps . the compressed digital if tv signal ( 109 ) is fed in to the tv to wi - fi adapter ( 110 ). the tv to wi - fi adapter ( 110 ) generates a wi - fi interface digital signal ( 111 ). this signal directly feeds in to the high speed wi - fi rf signal generator ( 112 ). the output is the wi - fi rf signal ( 113 ). the tv to wi - fi adapter ( 110 ) also generates an agc signal ( 107 ) for the atsc terrestrial broadcast tv rf analog signal to if analog signal converter ( 103 ). fig2 is an example of a tv signal to wi - fi signal adapter ( 110 ) the digital if atsc tv signal ( 201 , also 109 fig1 ) goes in to the optional low pass filter ( 202 ) to remove the adjacent channel interference . this filtered digital if tv signal ( 203 ) goes to the signal strength estimator ( 204 ) which generates an if agc signal ( 205 , also 107 fig1 ). the filtered signal ( 203 ) also goes in to a high speed wi - fi interface signal adapter ( 206 ) to generate a wi - fi input signal ( 207 , also 111 fig1 ) to the high speed wi - fi device .	7
examples of the tolan derivatives provided by the present invention are as follows : the compound of the formula ( i ) of the present invention may be prepared for example through the following route : ## str5 ## a trans - 4 - alkylcyclohexylbenzene is first reacted with 3 , 4 - difluorophenylacetyl chloride of the formula ( ii ) and anhydrous aluminum chloride in carbon disulfide to obtain a ketone derivative of the formula ( iii ), followed by reacting this compound of the formula ( iii ) with a reducing agent such as lithium aluminum hydride in anhydrous ether or anhydrous tetrahydrofuran to obtain a compound of the formula ( iv ) and successively subjecting this alcohol derivative to dehydration reaction in an inert organic solvent , in the presence of a catalyst mentioned later , under the atmospheric pressure and at a reflux temperature to obtain an ethylene derivative of the formula ( v ). as the inert organic solvent , benzene , toluene , chloroform , carbon tetrachloride , methylene chloride , etc . are suitable . as the catalyst , lewis acids such as aluminum chloride , tin tetrachloride , titanium tetrachloride , etc ., mineral acids such as sulfuric acid , hydrochloric acid , phosphoric acid , etc ., toluenesulfonic acid , etc . may be used . bromine is then added to the above compound of the formula ( v ) in a solvent such as methylene chloride , ethylene chloride , carbon tetrachloride , etc . to obtain a compound of the formula ( vi ), followed by reacting the compound with a base such as potassium t - butoxide , and successively carrying out a series of purification operations such as extraction , washing , recrystallization , etc . to prepare the objective compound of the formula ( i ). ( ii ) its viscosity is very low for a compound having a three - ring structure ; and ( iii ) its clearing point is high and its nematic temperature region is broad . among the compounds of the present invention , those which r in the formula ( i ) represents ethyl group , propyl group , butyl group or pentyl group are preferred . for example , 4 -( trans - 4 - propylcyclohexyl )- 3 &# 39 ;, 4 &# 39 ;- difluorotolan shown in examples 1 and 4 , mentioned later , is a liquid crystal compound having a δn as large as about 0 . 23 , a viscosity as low as 32 cp in terms of a viscosity extrapolation value of 20 ° c ., a broad nematic temperature range and a good stability and also it is a liquid crystal material having various well balanced specific features . representative examples of preferred liquid crystal compounds used as a component of the liquid crystal composition of the present invention in admixture with the compound of the formula ( i ) are 4 - substituted - benzoic acid 4 &# 39 ;- substituted - phenyl esters , 4 - substituted - cyclohexanecarboxylic acid 4 &# 39 ;- substituted - phenyl esters , 4 - substituted - cyclohexanecarboxylic acid 4 &# 34 ;- substituted - biphenylyl esters , 4 -( 4 - substituted - cyclohexanecarbonyloxy ) benzoic acid 4 &# 39 ;- substituted - phenyl esters , 4 -( 4 - substituted - cyclohexyl ) benzoic acid 4 &# 39 ;- substituted - cyclohexyl esters , 4 , 4 &# 39 ;- substituted - biphenyls , 4 , 4 &# 39 ;- substitutedphenylcyclohexanes , 4 , 4 &# 39 ;- disubstituted bicyclohexanes , 4 , 4 &# 34 ;- substituted - terphenyl , 4 , 4 &# 34 ;- substituted - biphenylylcyclohexanes , 2 -( 4 &# 39 ;- substituted - phenyl )- 5 - substituted - pyrimidines , etc . in order to prevent occurrence of an interference fringe on the surface of liquid display cells which damages the cell appearance , it is necessary to adjust the product of the optical anisotropy ( δn ) of liquid crystal materials placed in a cell of a particular cell thickness ( d μm ) to a specified value . in the case of display cells used in , since the value of δn × d is set to any one of 0 . 5 , 1 . 0 , 1 . 6 and 2 . 2 , use of a liquid crystal material having a large δn value makes it possible to reduce the d value . reduction in the d value makes it possible to reduce the response time . thus , a liquid crystal material having a large δn value is important for preparing a liquid crystal cell having a high response rate without any interference infringe . in order to reduce the response time , a low viscosity is also necessary . the compound of the formula ( i ) of the present invention is a novel nematic liquid crystal compound having a large δn , a high n - i transition point and also a low viscosity ; hence when the compound of the formula ( i ) of the present invention is mixed with various mother liquid crystals , it is possible to prepare a practical liquid crystal material having a low viscosity , a large δn and a high n - i transition point . namely , as shown in examples provided later , the tolan derivative compound of the formula ( i ) is effective for minimizing increasing of the viscosity , for raising the n - i point of mother liquid crystals up to a practically sufficient value , and for further raising δn value . the present invention will be described in more detail by way of examples , but it should not be construed to be limited thereto . the symbols c - n point , s - n point and n - i point referred to in the examples mean crystalline - nematic phase transition point , smectic - nematic phase transition point and nematic - isotropic liquid phase transition point , respetively . anhydrous aluminum chloride ( 16 . 0 g , 0 . 12 mol ) was added to carbon disulfide ( 100 ml ), followed by adding 3 , 4 - difluorophenylacetyl acid chloride ( 15 . 3 g , 0 . 1 mol ) under cooling ( 0 ° to 5 ° c . ), successively adding trans - 4 - propylcyclohexylbenzene ( 21 g , 0 . 1 mol ), then agitating the reaction mixture at about 20 ° c . for 10 hours , distilling off carbon disulfide , adding the residue to a dilute hydrochloric acid aqueous solution , agitating the mixture for one hour to decompose an aluminum chloride complex , extracting deposited raw crystals with toluene ( 50 ml ), washing the toluene extract with water , drying the water - washed toluene solution , distilling off toluene from the solution and recrystallizing the residual solids from ethyl acetate to obtain the following compound ( 23 . 6 g ): ## str6 ## this compound ( 23 . 6 g ) was dissolved in anhydrous tetrahydrofuran ( 200 ml ), followed by dropwise addition of the solution to a mixed solution of lithium aluminum hydride ( 1 . 3 g ) with anhydrous tetrahydrofuran ( 50 ml ), further agitating the mixture at 0 ° c . for 2 hours , adding to the reaction mixture , 20 % sulfuric acid ( 50 ml ) to dissolve inorganic substances , extracting a separated oily substance with toluene ( 100 m ), washing the separated toluene solution with 10 % nahco 3 aqueous solution , further washing it with water until the washing water became neutral , drying the toluene solution over anhydrous sodium sulfate , adding p - toluenesulfonic acid ( 1 . 0 g ), refluxing the mixture on heating , removing the resulting formed water to the outside of the system , allowing the resulting toluene solution to cool down to room temperature , washing it with water until the washing water became neutral , drying it over anhydrous sodium sulfate and recrystallizing from ethyl acetate to obtain the following compound ( 16 . 0 g ): ## str7 ## this compound had phase transition temperatures of c - n point : 96 . 3 ° c . and n - i point : 177 . 7 ° c . this compound ( 16 g ) was dissolved in methylene chloride ( 150 ml ), followed by dropwise addition of bromine ( 7 . 3 g , 0 . 045 mol ) to the solution , reacting the mixture with stirring for one hour , distilling off methylene chloride from the reaction mixture and recrystallizing the remaining solids from benzene ( 50 ml ) to obtain the following objective compound ( 15 . 0 g ). ## str8 ## this compound was then dissolved in anhydrous tetrahydrofuran ( 200 ml ) at room temperature , followed by adding potassium t - butoxide ( 13 . 4 g , 0 . 12 mol ), agitating the mixture at 40 ° c . for 2 hours , adding water ( 400 ml ) to the reaction mixture , extracting the separated organic layer with toluene ( 100 ml ), water - washing , drying , distilling off toluene and recrystallizing the remaining solids from ethyl acetate ( 20 ml ) to obtain the following objective compound ( 9 . 8 g ): ## str9 ## this compound had phase transition temperatures of c - n point : 87 . 5 ° c . and n - i point : 151 . 2 ° c . the following compounds were prepared in the same manner as in example 1 : 4 -( trans - 4 - pentylcyclohexyl )- 3 &# 39 ;, 4 &# 39 ;- difluorotolan c - n point : 72 . 5 ° c ., s - n point : 45 . 0 ° c ., ( monotropic ) n - i point : 155 . 4 ° c . has a n - i point of 52 . 1 ° c ., a viscosity of 22 . 4 cp at 20 ° c . and an optical anisotropy δn of 0 . 119 . a liquid crystal composition obtained by adding a compound of the present invention , 4 -( trans - 4 - propylcyclohexyl )- 3 &# 39 ;, 4 &# 39 ;- difluorotolan shown in example 1 ( 15 parts by weight ) to the above liquid crystal composition ( 85 parts by weight ) had a n - i point raised to 61 . 2 ° c ., a viscosity slightly increased to 23 . 2 cp and an optical anisotropy δn increased to 0 . 138 . a liquid crystal composition obtained by adding a compound of the present invention , 4 -( trans - 4 - ethylcyclohexyl )- 3 &# 39 ;, 4 &# 39 ;- difluorotolan , shown in example 2 , ( 15 parts by weight ) to the above liquid crystal composition a used in example 3 ( 85 parts by weight ) had a n - i point of 57 . 9 ° c ., a viscosity of 23 . 4 cp at 20 ° c . and an optical anisotropy , δn , of 0 . 131 . a liquid crystal composition obtained by adding 4 -( trans - 4 - pentylcyclohexyl )- 3 &# 39 ;, 4 &# 39 ;- difluorotolan , shown in example 2 , ( 15 parts by weight ) to the above liquid crystal composition a , used in example 3 , ( 85 parts by weight ) had a n - i point of 62 . 3 ° c ., a viscosity of 23 . 6 cp at 20 ° c . and an optical anisotropy δn of 0 . 136 . in order to compare the specific features of the tolan derivatives expressed above by the formulas ( 1 ) and ( 2 ) with those of the tolan derivatives of the present invention , the following tests were carried out : four kinds of compounds to be compared , each in 15 parts by weight , were respectively mixed with the liquid crystal composition a used in example 3 ( 85 parts by weight ) to prepare four compositions . each of these 4 compositions and the composition a were filled in a tn cell of 10 μm thick and the operating threshold voltages ( vth ) of the resulting cells were measured . further , these compositions were stored in a refrigerator at - 30 ° c . for 10 days and the presence or absence of crystal deposition was observed . the results of the comparative tests are shown in table 1 . in the column of low temperature compatibility , a symbol o indicates no deposition of crystals and a symbol x indicates deposition of crystals . further , the extrapolation values of dielectric anisotropy value ( δε ) and the extrapolation values of viscosity ( η 20 ) of the compounds to be compared are shown in the table 1 . table 1__________________________________________________________________________no of vth low temperature extrapolation extraporationcomposition compounds to be compared ( v ) compatibility value of δε value of η . sub . 20__________________________________________________________________________ ( cp ) ## str10 ## 1 . 81 o 6 . 8 26 . 52 ## str11 ## 1 . 92 x 5 . 6 28 . 23 ## str12 ## 1 . 50 o 9 . 4 27 . 74 ## str13 ## 1 . 52 o 8 . 5 30 . 4a -- 1 . 58 o 10 . 7 22 . 4__________________________________________________________________________	2
in accordance with an embodiment of the invention , a semiconductor memory ic , such as a synchronous dynamic random access memory ( dram ) and its varieties ( e . g ., ddr 2 and ddr 3 ), includes a logic block coupled to an external reset pin which enables a user to reset the memory ic without the need to power down the ic . fig1 and 2 are timing diagrams showing reset timing sequences during power up and during normal operation , respectively . in these figures , multiple cycles of the external clock , reset , clock enable cke , and command cmd signals are shown . in fig1 and 2 , the external reset signal is required to remain active for a minimum duration of time ( period a ). further , the cke signal is required to be inactive ( i . e ., remain in low state ) at least for a predetermined period b before and a predetermined period c after the external reset signal is raised high . while the external reset signal becomes inactive at the end of period a , the internal reset period does not end until cke signal becomes active ( i . e ., is raised high ) signaling the time when the memory ic is ready to receive commands . the time period from when the reset signal is activated until the time cke signal goes high is indicated in fig1 and 2 as the “ internal reset interval .” during the internal reset interval , many of the circuit blocks in the memory device ( e . g ., output drivers dq / dqs , self refresh , on - die termination , dll ) are disabled and thus there are minimum memory activities . fig3 shows a block diagram for an implementation of the timing diagrams in fig1 and 2 , in accordance with an embodiment of the invention . a low voltage complementary metal oxide semiconductor ( lvcmos ) buffer 302 outputs a rst signal in response to the externally provided reset signal . a clock enable buffer 304 outputs an internal clock enable signal cke int in response to externally provided clock enable signal cke . an mrs , emrs logic block 308 outputs a mode register programming signal mrsp in response to externally provided signals ( not shown ) required to issue a mode register programming signal ( in one embodiment , the external signals may include all or a subset of cs , ras , cas , we , and band addresses ba ). a reset logic block 306 receives the rst signal as well as the internal clock enable signal cke int and the mode register programming signal mrsp , and in response generates a reset_en signal . the internal reset_en signal is used to disable specific circuit blocks including the output dq / dqs drivers , on - die termination ( odt ), self - refresh , dll and a state machine , to thereby minimize power consumption during the reset mode . fig4 shows one circuit implementation of the lvcmos buffer of fig3 . the buffer includes a cmos implementation of a 2 - input nand gate which receives the external reset signal and the power supply vdd at its two inputs . the output of the nand gate is inverted via an inverter 410 . the output of the inverter provides the rst signal . use of the nand gate with an input coupled to vdd helps reduce standby leakage . while the buffer in fig4 is intended to detect cmos input levels , the buffer can be modified by one skilled in this art to detect other input levels . fig5 shows the internal circuitry of the reset logic block 306 in fig3 in accordance with an embodiment of the invention . two - input nand gate 502 receives the rst signal and the output signal generated by another two - input nand gate 504 , and in response generates output signal reset_en . nand gate 504 receives the cke signal via a delay circuit 506 and receives latch signal cken from latch circuit 508 . delay chain 506 is made up of an odd number of inverters ( e . g ., five as shown in the fig5 embodiment ), and is thus an inverting delay chain . a latch circuit 506 ( e . g ., comprising two cross - coupled inverters ) is coupled between an input of nand gate 504 and a biasing circuit . the biasing circuit serves to bias latch circuit 508 to the appropriate states during and after the internal reset interval . the biasing circuit includes a pull - down circuit which in turn includes a two - input nor gate 510 and a pull - down transistor 512 . the two - input nor gate 510 receives rst and cke int signals at its respective input terminals , and the output terminal of nor gate 510 is coupled to the gate of pull - down transistor 512 . pull - down transistor 512 is coupled between latch circuit 508 and ground potential . the biasing circuit further includes a pull - up circuit which in turn includes an inverter 514 and a pull - up transistor 516 . inverter 514 receives the mrs p signal at its input , and the output of inverter 514 is coupled to the gate of pull - up transistor 516 . pull - up transistor 516 and pull - down transistor 512 are serially coupled between vdd and ground . the node intermediate transistors 512 and 516 are connected to latch 508 . as shown , pull - down transistor 512 is an nmos transistor and pull - up transistor 516 is a pmos transistor , but they are not limited as such . fig6 is a timing diagram which will be used to describe the operation of the circuit in fig5 . the timing of the reset and cke signals in fig6 correspond to those in fig1 and 2 . a pulse signal ( mrsp ) generated by the mrs , emrs logic block ( fig3 ) initiates the mode register programming operation known in sdram devices . the waveform shown for cken signal reflects the timing at the input of nand gate 504 . upon power - up or when reset is activated during normal operation , the reset , cke , and mrs p signals occur in the sequence shown in fig6 . when the external reset signal is asserted low ( i . e ., becomes active ) at time t 1 by for example a user , the internal reset_en signal is driven high ( i . e ., becomes active ) via nand gate 502 thus initiating the internal reset interval during which a predetermined number of circuit blocks in the memory are powered down . the internal reset interval ends when both inputs of nand gate 502 are at a high level . thus , with the reset signal raised high at time t 2 ( i . e ., reset signal becomes inactive ), the internal reset interval remains active until a predetermined time delay after cke goes high ( i . e ., becomes active ) at time t 3 . that is , with the reset signal in the inactive state , when cke signal becomes active at time t 3 , output 518 of delay circuit 506 goes low after a time period corresponding to the propagation delay through inverter chain 506 . output of nand gate 504 transitions high in response to the low transition at node 518 , thus causing reset_en signal to transition low terminating the internal reset interval . delay chain 506 , in effect , extends the internal reset interval . during the b time period when the cke signal is inactive and the reset signal is active ( i . e ., are both low ), nor gate 510 turns on pull - down transistor 512 , thus causing latch 508 to either maintain a high at the node marked as cken or pull node cken high if it was previously in the low state . this ensures that during time period c when both cke and reset signals are in inactive state , the reset_en signal is maintained in the active state . at time t 4 when the mrs p pulse is generated to initiate the mode register programming , the high going edge of the mrs p pulse causes pull - up transistor 516 to turn on thus causing the cken node to transition low . latch circuit 508 maintains the cken node low until both reset and cke signals become low again . during the time cken node is low , nand gate 504 prevents the cke signal transitions from impacting the state of reset_en signal . thus , the mrs p pulse after the external cke signal becomes active ensures that during the time the external reset signal is high , transitions in external cke signal do not impact the state of the internal reset_en signal . thus , in accordance with an embodiment of the invention , a simple reset circuit implemented in a sdram enables the sdram to be reset via an external reset pin without the need to power down the sdram . the reset circuit uses only 3 input signals to implement the reset function . this feature advantageously enables resetting a pc or laptop computers when certain malfunctions occur without the need to power down the pc . while the above provides a detailed description of various embodiments of the invention , many alternatives , modifications , and equivalents are possible . for this and other reasons , therefore , the above description should not be taken as limiting the scope of the invention as defined by the claims .	6
[ 0050 ] fig1 schematically illustrates a pendant , in accordance with the present invention . the pendant is comprised of a chain 101 , a case 102 containing electrical circuit and a display 103 , such as lcd , receiving signals from the electrical circuit and continuously viewing animations or images produced according to said signals . the case also holds a regular battery , or a rechargeable battery , for activating the electrical circuit . the pendant incorporates communication means , for downloading data to produce animations or images to be presented on the display . the pendant may also incorporate user interfaces such as buttons to control the pendant &# 39 ; s operation . [ 0051 ] fig2 and fig3 are cross - sectional views of the pendant , describing the main electrical elements inside the pendant . [ 0052 ] fig2 schematically illustrates a cross - sectional view of the top of the pendant . pendant case 201 incorporates a battery 202 , for operating the electrical circuit . electronic components 203 and 204 are assembled on pcb 205 , and metal contacts 206 are used for electrically contacting the battery to the electrical circuit . [ 0053 ] fig3 schematically illustrates a cross - sectional view of the bottom of the pendant . pendant case 301 incorporates lcd , comprising of the lcd glass 302 , lcd backlight 303 , and contacts 304 for passing signals from pcb 307 to the lcd glass . bubble 306 covers the lcd glass to protect it from damage . pcb 307 lies under the lcd , and is a continuation of pcb 305 shown in fig2 . it integrates electronic components 308 and 309 . [ 0054 ] fig4 schematically illustrates buttons and slides , optionally located in the sides of the pendant &# 39 ; s case 401 , for controlling its operation . slide 402 has three modes : “ off ”, “ on ” and “ light ”. when “ off ” mode is selected , the pendant is inactive . when “ on ” mode is selected , the pendant is operating . when “ light ” mode is selected , the pendant is operating , and its display backlight is also operating . button 403 is the “ select ” button . it is used to select an image or an animation from a set of animations stored in the pendant memory . button 404 , the “ set ” button , is used for setting a selected animation to be displayed . it should be noticed that the user interface could vary from the one described in fig4 and could be operated in other methods . [ 0057 ] fig5 is a view of the bottom of the pendant case 501 . connection 502 is for charging the rechargeable battery inside the case . elements 503 and 504 are two sets of metal contacts , for communicating up to two separate devices , as will be explained in details later . [ 0058 ] fig6 is a schematic block diagram including the main modules comprising a “ sophisticated ” version of the pendant of fig1 and its interfaces to images and animations sources . microprocessor 601 is responsible for managing the whole process and for controlling the rest of the modules . it is connected via interface 609 to external devices , such as a personal computer 602 or a cellular phone 603 , where the interface carries data and control signals between the pendant and the external devices . it may be noticed that the interface can be based on a cable , infrared , blue tooth , wifi or other types of connection methods . microprocessor 601 stores animations received via interface 609 in flash memory 604 . the animations are in a compressed format , requiring a limited amount of memory for storing each of them , typically several tens of kbytes . the compression may be in various formats , such as gif , jpeg and others . several types of animations , such as abstract animations , may also be represented as several sets of commands , each set for one image . when a command is executed it may direct the processor to create geometrical shapes in defined colors , move a shape created in the previous image to a new position inside the current image , or hold the presentation of the current image for a defined period of time . flash memory 604 also holds the pendant application , executed by the microprocessor to achieve the full functionality of the pendant . when a specific animation is selected for display , microprocessor 601 de - compresses the compressed animation , and stores the de - compressed images in ram 605 . if a set of animations is selected for continuous display , the de - compressed images are stored one after the other in ram 605 . if the animation is in a “ set of commands ” format , the microprocessor produces the set of images comprising the animation , and stores them in ram 605 . during the mode of periodical display of animations , the images are retrieved from ram 605 by the microprocessor , and are sent to lcd controller 606 . the fact that the animation is decompressed only once at the beginning of its periodical display , saves battery power and enables a longer time of usage for each battery charge . lcd controller 606 produces signals according to the images data sent by microprocessor 601 , causing lcd 607 to view the required image . user control signals received via interface 608 may direct the processor to change its mode of operation , for instance start viewing stored animations one after the other , or start viewing the current animation in a periodical manner . [ 0067 ] fig7 is a schematic block diagram including the main modules comprising a “ simple ” version of the pendant of fig1 . personal computer 701 and cellular phone 702 may send uncompressed images to electronic ornament 703 . the images are received through data interface 704 of the electronic ornament . another type of data received by the electronic ornament may be timing data , defining the order and display time period of the images . data transfer & amp ; timing control module 705 has two functionalities : store the received images at memory 706 , according to their predefined order ; and retrieve the images from memory 706 for sending them to lcd controller 707 , according to the timing data . lcd controller 707 produces signals according to the images data sent by data transfer & amp ; timing control module 705 , causing lcd 708 to view the required images . it should be noticed that data transfer & amp ; timing control module 705 can be a microprocessor with limited functionality , or any kind of logic component such as asic or fpga . [ 0071 ] fig8 schematically illustrates a method for connecting the pendant of fig1 to a cellular phone , via a dedicated interface . in order to receive data from cellular phone 802 , pendant 801 has a set of metal contacts 803 , capable of receiving data and transferring it to microprocessor 601 of fig6 . pendant 801 also incorporates connector 804 , for charging its rechargeable battery from an external power source . connector 805 is responsible for bi - directional communication between pendant 801 and cellular phone 802 , and for charging both pendant 801 and cellular phone 802 . connector 805 incorporates for the communication purpose two sets of contacts , set 806 coupled to contacts 803 of the pendant and set 807 coupled to contacts 808 of cellular phone 802 . contacts 806 and 807 are also coupled inside connector 805 , directly or via converter 809 and are used to convert , if required , the signals received from the cellular phone to the type of signals used by the pendant , and vice versa . connector 803 is coupled to electricity source via transformer 810 and connector 811 . the power is directed to connector 812 , coupled to connector 804 of pendant 801 , and to connector 813 coupled to connector 814 of cellular phone 802 . [ 0075 ] fig9 schematically illustrates another method for connecting the pendant of fig1 to a cellular phone , via a dedicated interface . pendant 902 receives data from cellular phone 901 via cable 903 . the same connector may be also used to charge pendant 902 by coupling it to the charging circuitry of cellular phone 901 . connectors 904 and 905 are dedicated connectors , part of their pins used to pass data , and the rest for charging the pendant . [ 0077 ] fig1 is a schematic flow diagram illustrating the data flow in a system comprising a content server , a cellular phone and an electronic ornament . in such system , content server 1001 stores a database of categorized compressed images and animations . cellular phone 1002 may contact content server 1001 via the cellular network , and retrieve a set of images and / or animations , their attributes or their minimized versions . after retrieving the images or the animations , cellular phone 1001 decompresses them , and may also perform image - processing actions according to the user &# 39 ; s selection , to create a new animation . the set of uncompressed images is then sent to electronic ornament 1003 via any type of communication means such cable , ir or blue tooth . [ 0079 ] fig1 is a schematic flow diagram illustrating the data flow in a system comprising a content server , a personal computer and an electronic ornament . the system described at fig1 is similar to the system described at fig1 , where personal computer 1102 takes the role of cellular phone 1002 of fig1 . personal computer 1102 may communicate with content server 1101 via the internet or any other network . the communication of personal computer 1102 with electronic ornament 1103 may be done via any of the communication means mentioned regarding fig1 . [ 0081 ] fig1 is a schematic flow diagram illustrating in more details the data flow at the system described at fig1 . content server 1201 holds a database 1202 of compressed images and animations . as mentioned above , it may also store attributes of these images and animations , and minimized versions of them . following the interaction of the cellular phone owner with the application at content server 1201 , cellular phone 1203 receives a set of images and / or animations . first they are decompressed at de - compressor 1204 . afterwards , the images may be sent to memory 1206 and then to electronic ornament 1207 . the user may also perform image - processing algorithms to produce a new animation from the original set of images and / or animations . the images composing the new animation are also sent to memory 1206 , and then via one of the communication means described above , to electronic ornament 1207 . uncompressed images received at electronic ornament 1207 are stored at memory 1208 , and sent to the lcd controller to produce viewable images . [ 0085 ] fig1 - 19 are a set of schematic flow diagrams illustrating possible data flows in the system described at fig1 . these flow diagrams describe the actions of the owner of a cellular phone and an electronic ornament , and how they influence the applications residing at the cellular phone and the content server . [ 0086 ] fig1 is a schematic flow diagram illustrating the data flow of producing an animation based on images downloaded from a content server to a cellular phone . the user first activates the “ electronic jewelry ” application (“ the application ”) residing at the cellular phone . then he chooses the “ category ” item at an options list viewed to him by the application ( block 1301 ). the application contacts the content server and asks for an updated list of animations and images categories ( block 1302 ). the content server transmits as an answer the list of categories names ( block 1303 ). the user chooses a category from the list , specifying that he is interested in images ( block 1304 ), and the application asks the content server for a list of the images contained in the chosen category ( block 1305 ). the content server transmits a set of minimized relevant images ( block 1306 ). the user then selects a subset of the viewed images ( block 1307 ); the application asks the content server for the full images of the selected subset ( block 1308 ). the content server returns the required set of images ( block 1309 ). the user then selects in the application an effect from a list of possible effects . this effect defines the way the chosen images will be replaced one by the other . such effects may be fade , dissolve , swivel and so on ( block 1310 ). the user may also define the period of time each image will appear until replaced by the next image . the application activates the image - processing module to create an animation with the required effect ( block 1311 ). the “ electronic jewelry ” application at the cellular phone also manages the sequencing and timing of the set of images stored in the memory of the electronic ornament . the user can view the current sequence (“ timing list ”) of the stored animations and their timing , and choose when to schedule the new animation within that sequence ( block 1312 ). the user may also define how many times the animation will be repeated , and define an idle time between two consequent animations , for power saving purpose . the application updates the timing list of the electronic ornament ( block 1313 ), and sends the set of produced images and the updated timing list to the electronic ornament ( block 1314 ). [ 0091 ] fig1 is a schematic flow diagram illustrating the data flow of producing an animation based on a phrase written by the user , and a symbol embedded in it . an example for it may be the phrase “ i love ny ”, where the word “ love ” is expressed by a symbol ( image or animation ) of a heart . the user first activates the “ electronic jewelry ” application at the cellular phone . then he chooses the “ animated symbols ” item at an options list viewed to him ( block 1401 ). the application contacts the content server and asks for a list of animated symbols ( block 1402 ). the content server transmits as an answer a set of minimized relevant symbols ( block 1403 ). the user chooses a subset of the viewed symbols ( block 1404 ); the application asks the content server for the full images or animations of the selected subset ( block 1405 ). the content server returns the required set of compressed images or symbols ( block 1406 ), and they are saved in the memory of the cellular phone ( block 1407 ). later on , the user activates again the “ electronic jewelry ” application at the cellular phone . then he chooses the “ text effects ” item at an options list viewed to him ( block 1408 ). the application views to him a list of possible effects , such as “ wave ” etc . ( block 1409 ); the user chooses a desired effect , writes a phrase and embed a symbol from the set of symbols stored earlier in the memory of the cellular phone ( block 1410 ). the application activates the image - processing module to create an animation with the chosen effect ( block 1411 ). the user updates the timing list of the electronic ornament ( block 1412 ). the application saves this update ( block 1413 ), and sends the set of produced images and the updated timing list to the electronic ornament ( block 1414 ). [ 0095 ] fig1 is a schematic flow diagram illustrating the data flow of producing an animation by the content server , based on images stored in the database of the content server , according to the definitions of the user . the initial steps are much alike the steps described for fig1 . the user first activates the “ electronic jewelry ” application at the cellular phone . then he chooses the “ category ” item at an options list viewed to him ( block 1501 ). the application contacts the content server and asks for an updated list of animations and images categories ( block 1502 ). the content server transmits as an answer the list of categories names ( block 1503 ). the user chooses a category from the list ( block 1504 ), and the application asks the content server for a list of the items contained in the chosen category ( block 1505 ). the content server transmits a set of minimized relevant images ( block 1506 ), and the user then selects a subset of the viewed images ( block 1507 ). the user then selects in the application an effect from a list of possible effects ( block 1508 ). unlike in the flow diagram of fig1 , the image processing is taking place in the content server . the application sends to the content server the subset of selected images and the chosen effect . an image - processing module within the content server creates a compressed animation due to the chosen images and effect ( block 1510 ), and transmits it to the cellular phone ( block 1511 ). the application decompresses the compressed animation ( block 1512 ). the user updates the timing list of the electronic ornament ( block 1513 ). the application saves this update ( block 1514 ), and sends the set of produced images and the updated timing list to the electronic ornament ( block 1515 ). [ 0100 ] fig1 is a schematic flow diagram illustrating the data flow of producing an animation , based on photos that were taken by the owner of a cellular phone having an integrated camera . in this case , the content server is not part of the process . the user activates the “ electronic jewelry ” application at the cellular phone and chooses the “ photos ” item at an options list viewed to him ( block 1601 ). the application views to the user a set of minimized photos that were saved before by the user in the memory of the cellular phone ( block 1602 ). the user chooses an ordered list of photos ( block 1603 ), and the required transition effect ( block 1604 ). the application activates the image - processing module to create an uncompressed animation with the required effect ( block 1605 ). the user updates the timing list of the electronic ornament ( block 1606 ). the application saves this update ( block 1607 ), and sends the set of produced images and the updated timing list to the electronic ornament ( block 1608 ). [ 0102 ] fig1 is a schematic flow diagram illustrating the data flow of producing an animation based on a set of animations downloaded to a cellular phone from a content server . the user first activates the “ electronic jewelry ” application at the cellular phone . then he chooses the “ category ” item at an options list viewed to him ( block 1701 ). the application contacts the content server and asks for an updated list of animations and images categories ( block 1702 ). the content server transmits as an answer the list of categories names ( block 1703 ). the user chooses a category from the list ( block 1704 ), and the application asks the content server for a list of animations contained in the chosen category ( block 1705 ). the content server transmits a set of minimized relevant animations ( block 1706 ). the user then selects a subset of the viewed animations ( block 1707 ); the application asks the content server for the full animations of the selected subset ( block 1708 ). the content server returns the required set of images ( block 1709 ). the application decompresses the received set of animations to one sequence of images ( block 1710 - 1711 ). the user updates the timing list of the electronic ornament ( block 1712 ). the application saves this update ( block 1713 ), and sends the set of produced images and the updated timing list to the electronic ornament ( block 1714 ). [ 0106 ] fig1 is a schematic flow diagram illustrating the data flow of receiving an animation from another owner of a cellular phone , and transmitting it to the electronic ornament . the cellular phone updates the application that it received a new animation sent by another cellular phone ( block 1801 ). the application views the animation to the user ( block 1802 ), to decide if he wishes to download the animation to the electronic ornament . if the user decides to load the animation ( block 1803 ), the application decompresses the received animation ( block 1804 ), and creates a set of images ( block 1805 ) to be downloaded by the electronic ornament . the user updates the timing list of the electronic ornament ( block 1806 ). the application saves this update ( block 1807 ), and sends the set of produced images and the updated timing list to the electronic ornament ( block 1808 ). [ 0108 ] fig1 is a schematic flow diagram illustrating the data flow of a process where a user is being recommended what animation to download to the electronic ornament for a specific occasion . the user activates the “ electronic jewelry ” application at the cellular phone , and chooses the “ consultant ” item at an options list viewed to him ( block 1901 ). the application interacts with the user , guiding him to supply details such as the type of the occasion , what the user plans to wear in that occasion and so on ( block 1902 ). after the user answers these questions ( block 1903 ), the application sends to the content server a list of attributes reflecting the answers of the user ( block 1904 ). the database at the content server also holds a set of attributes logically connected to each of the images and animations stored in it . when the application request is received , its attributes are matched to the attributes stored at the database of the content server ; a set of minimized animations is prepared for the set of animations which their attributes match the attributes of the request and this set is sent back to the application ( block 1905 ). the user then selects a subset of the viewed images ( block 1906 ); the application asks the content server for the full images of the selected subset ( block 1907 ). the content server returns the required set of images ( block 1908 ). the application decompresses the received set of minimized animations to a sequence of images ( block 1909 - 1910 ). the user updates the timing list of the electronic ornament ( block 1911 ). the application updates the timing list of the electronic ornament ( block 1912 ), and sends the set of produced images and the updated timing list to the electronic ornament ( block 1913 ). [ 0114 ] fig2 is a schematic flow diagram illustrating the data flow of downloading an animation to a “ sophisticated ” pendant using a cellular phone . it focuses on operations made by the processor of the cellular phone and by microprocessor 601 of the pendant . as described in block 2001 , the user initializes the process by choosing the item “ electronic jewelry ” application from the set of applications available to him in his cellular phone . it is assumed that this application is loaded into the cellular phone memory over the air , or pre - loaded by the cellular service provider . the cellular phone views a menu of possible actions , regarding the chosen “ electronic jewelry ” application . the user selects “ download animations ” from the menu ( block 2002 ). the processor of the cellular phone , via the equipment of the cellular service provider , establishes a connection to a dedicated server , holding a large set of animations . the animations may be viewed in the cellular phone display by categories , by icons and so on ( block 2003 ). this technique of connecting cellular phones to the internet and other networks is well known and in use for several time . the user then browses the animations viewed on the display of the cellular phone , and selects the one he wants to download ( block 2004 ). the processor of the cellular phone receives the user request , and downloads the selected animation to the cellular phone memory ( block 2005 ). other mechanisms of the cellular service provider , such as a billing mechanism may be involved , crediting the user for the download action . when the user wishes to download the animation stored in the cellular phone memory to the pendant , he should first connect the cellular phone to the pendant via the dedicated connector 805 of fig8 ( block 2006 ). then the user chooses in the “ pendant animations “ menu the item “ load to pendant ” ( block 2007 ). when receiving the user &# 39 ; s request , the cellular phone processor connects the pendant microprocessor 601 via connector 805 , and asks if there is enough space in flash memory 604 of the pendant for the requested animation ( block 2008 ). microprocessor 601 of the pendant checks if there is enough memory in flash memory 604 ; if there is not enough memory , a negative answer is returned to the cellular phone processor ( block 2009 ). the cellular phone processor views on the display of the cellular phone a message saying so ( block 2010 ), and the user will have to free some memory by removing an older animation . if there is enough free memory , microprocessor 601 increments by one the “ total animations ” register which keeps an updated total amount of animations . microprocessor 601 also activates a process defining an address in flash memory 604 where the animation can be stored ( block 2011 ). preferably , the process keeps a contiguous memory space for each animation , to avoid memory segmentation issues . the start address of the animation in flash memory 604 is saved by microprocessor 601 in “ start addresses ” table ( block 2012 ). “ start addresses ” table is sequential , and the start address of an animation can be retrieved from it by the animation index . then , a positive answer is returned to the cellular phone processor , and the cellular phone processor sends the stored animation to the pendant microprocessor 601 via connector 705 ( block 2013 ). the animation is stored at the defined address ( block 2014 ). [ 0125 ] fig2 schematically illustrates a method for connecting the pendant of fig1 to a personal computer 2105 , via a dedicated cradle 801 . cradle 2101 has two slots — one slot for holding pendant 2102 , and the second slot for holding either memory card 2103 or memory card 2104 . cradle 2101 may also include some electronic circuit , used to convert signals transferred between pendant 2102 and personal computer 2105 . connector 2106 is a standard connector used in personal computers , such as usb connector . transformer 2107 supplies power to the cradle for charging pendant 2102 , and for operating the cradle electrical circuit , if exists . when pendant 2102 is inserted into the matching slot of the cradle , its microprocessor 601 is capable of contacting both the personal computer 2105 and an inserted memory card , via contact sets 303 and 304 located at the bottom of pendant 2102 . memory card 2103 holds a unique code number , and is used to allow a pre - defined number of actions of downloading animations to pendant 2102 . pendant 2102 is capable of retrieving this code number from memory card 2103 via the cradle circuit and sending it to personal computer 2105 . personal computer 2105 is connected via the internet to a dedicated server , storing images and animations data and managing download operations . said server , decides according to the received unique code number if the download of the animation should be allowed or denied . memory card 2104 holds a set of animations . when inserted into the matching slot of the cradle , microprocessor 601 can contact it via the circuit of the cradle , and move the stored animation to flash memory 604 of the pendant . microprocessor 601 can distinguish between the two types of memory card by a specific contact in the set of contacts located on the cards , which is electrically set to “ 0 ” in one type of the cards , and to “ 1 ” in the other type . reading this value directs microprocessor 601 how to react . [ 0132 ] fig2 is a schematic flow diagram illustrating the data flow of downloading an animation to the pendant using a personal computer . this flow diagram is much alike the previous one illustrated at fig2 . a preliminary action for this flow diagram is the installation of a “ electronic jewelry ” application in the personal computer . this application is capable of contacting via a network an “ animations server ”, holding the animations as files , animation cards code numbers , a billing system and other related data . the application can view to the user animations stored in the “ animations server ” memory , so the user will be able to specify the animations he would like to download . the “ electronic jewelry ” application is also capable of contacting a pendant microprocessor 601 via connector 2106 of the cradle 2101 . as mentioned before , the connection is bidirectional and is used for data transfer and for control as well . the “ electronic jewelry ” application may also include an animation editor , where the user is able to create animations of his own , for downloading them to the pendant . as described in block 2201 , the user initializes the process by activating the “ electronic jewelry ” application previously installed in the personal computer . the application establishes a network connection to the “ animations server ”, and views its home page on the display of the personal computer ( block 2202 ). the user then browses the animations viewed on the display of the personal computer , and selects the one he wants to download ( block 2203 ). when receiving the user &# 39 ; s request , the “ electronic jewelry ” application connects pendant microprocessor 601 via connector 2106 , and asks for a code number of an animation download card 2103 ( block 2204 ). microprocessor 601 of the pendant reads via the circuit of cradle 801 the code number of an inserted animation download card , and sends it back to the “ electronic jewelry ” application ( block 2205 ). the “ electronic jewelry ” application on the personal computer sends the code number to the “ animations server ”. the last one checks how many downloads are still available for this code number . if there are any , the “ animations server ” sends a download confirmation to the “ electronic jewelry ” application , and decrements by one the number of remaining downloads for this code number ; if no downloads remained , or the code number is invalid , it returns a negative answer ( block 2206 ). the “ electronic jewelry ” application checks the answer ( block 2207 ): if it was negative , a proper message is viewed to the user on the personal computer display ( block 2208 ); if the answer was positive , the “ electronic jewelry ” application asks microprocessor 601 to check if there is enough free memory space for storing the new animation ( block 2209 ). microprocessor 601 checks if there is enough memory in flash memory 604 ( block 2210 ); if there is not enough memory , a negative answer is returned to the “ electronic jewelry ” application . the application views on the display of the personal computer a message saying so ( block 2211 ), and the user will have to free some memory by removing an older animation . if there is enough free memory , microprocessor 601 increments by one the “ total animations ” register which keeps an updated total amount of animations . microprocessor 601 also activates a process defining an address in flash memory 604 where the animation can be stored ( block 2212 ). preferably , the process keeps a contiguous memory space for each animation , to avoid memory segmentation issues . the start address of the animation in flash memory 604 is saved by microprocessor 601 in “ start addresses ” table ( block 2213 ). a stored animation start address can be retrieved from the “ start addresses ” table by its index . then , a positive answer is returned to the “ electronic jewelry ” application . the application downloads the required animation from the “ animations server ”, and sends it to pendant microprocessor 601 ( block 2214 ). the animation may be optionally saved on the local disk of the personal computer , for backup purposes . the animation is received by microprocessor 601 and stored at the defined address of flash memory 604 ( block 2215 ). [ 0146 ] fig2 is a schematic flow diagram illustrating the data flow of downloading an animation to the pendant from a memory card holding animations . the user first inserts the pendant into its matching slot in cradle 2101 ( block 2301 ). then the user inserts animations memory card 2104 to its matching slot in cradle 2101 ( block 2302 ). pendant microprocessor 601 periodically detects the existence of animations memory card 2104 in its matching slot ( block 2303 ). when the card is detected , pendant microprocessor 601 views a message on the pendant &# 39 ; s display 607 : “ download started ” ( block 2304 ), and downloads the whole content of the animations memory card to the flash memory of the pendant 604 . an interactive process may be in use at this stage asking the user if he agrees to remove old animations to free space for new ones , if required ( block 2305 ). at the end of the process , pendant microprocessor 601 views a message on the pendant &# 39 ; s display 607 : “ download completed ” ( block 2306 ). [ 0150 ] fig2 is a schematic flow diagram illustrating the data flow of selecting an animation to view from a set of animations stored in pendant flash memory 604 . slide 202 of fig2 is moved from “ off ” mode to “ on ” mode , to activate the pendant circuit ( block 2401 ). pendant microprocessor 601 initializes register “ animations counter ” to zero ( block 2402 ). register “ animations counter ” is then incremented by one ; if it exceeds the current value of “ total animations ” register , it is set to 1 ( block 2403 ). microprocessor 601 gets from the addresses table the start address related to the current value stored at “ animations counter ” register ( block 2404 ). then microprocessor 601 reads the animation starting at this start address in flash memory 604 , and uses the proper algorithm to de - compress it . a special header may identify the type of the compression with a unique identifier for each type ( block 2405 ). microprocessor 601 sends the de - compressed animation to be stored in ram 605 ( block 2406 ). from now on , microprocessor 601 periodically sends the animation stored at ram 605 to lcd controller 606 , to be displayed on lcd 607 ( block 2407 ). as described above , after power startup the pendant will start viewing periodically the first animation stored in flash memory 604 . when the pendant &# 39 ; s owner wishes to select an animation from the set of stored animations , he should press the select button repeatedly , until he sees the animation he wants on the lcd ( blocks 2408 - 2410 ). each press on the button increments “ animations counter ” register by one ( block 2403 ), and is followed by the activation of the whole process described in blocks 2403 to 2407 . it should be noticed that the user may control the sequence of viewed animations , the delay between two animations and other viewing parameters by the pendant &# 39 ; s buttons and slides , or by other types of user interfaces such as “ touch screen ” type lcd . [ 0155 ] fig2 includes three figures : 25 a , 25 b and 25 c , schematically illustrating a pendant , which can be attached to a cellular phone and become an integral part of it . in order to eliminate the need for special connector between the pendant and a cellular phone , as described in fig8 and fig9 a dedicated cellular phone can be formed , capable of holding the pendant in a holder , where the holder is an integral part of the cellular phone . whenever the user wishes to wear the pendant , he should detach the pendant from the cellular phone . whenever pendant 2505 is attached to cellular phone 2503 , images and animations can be transmitted directly to the pendant when received by the cellular phone from the cellular network , to be stored in the pendant &# 39 ; s flash memory . the process of downloading images or animations is much alike the process described in fig2 , without the need to use the connector , and without the need to temporarily store the downloaded data in the cellular memory . when the pendant is attached to the cellular phone , it can be also used as an integral part of the cellular phone for viewing information such as the details of a calling person , or time and date to the user . in this mode , the processor of the cellular phone transmits the relevant data to the processor of the pendant , for viewing it on the lcd . [ 0159 ] fig2 a is an illustration of a cellular phone 2501 , having two folders connected by a hinge . the upper folder incorporates display 2502 . [ 0160 ] fig2 b is a front view of the cellular phone 2503 when closed . holder 2504 is an integral part of the cellular phone . in its bottom it has a set of connectors , used for passing control signals and data signals between the processor of the cellular phone and the processor of pendant 2505 . the connectors inside the holder are also used to charge the pendant &# 39 ; s rechargeable battery 202 , as described in fig2 while the cellular phone is charged . necklace 2506 is connected to pendant 2505 , also when attached to the cellular phone . [ 0161 ] fig2 c is a side view of the cellular phone 2507 when closed . holder 2508 holds pendant 2509 , and the pendant becomes an integral part of the cellular phone . while the invention has been described with respect to a limited number of embodiments , 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 herein . rather the scope of the present invention includes both combinations and sub - combinations of the various features described herein , as well as variations and modifications which would occur to persons skilled in the art upon reading the specification and which are not in the prior art .	7
referring now to the drawings in detail , and particularly to fig1 there is shown a safety gate assembly 10 for mezzanines 12 or other elevated platforms to provide a solid barrier which satisfies safety regulations , and which barrier is always in place , blocking an opening for an entryway on a mezzanine floor . the gate assembly 10 provides a pair of parallel spaced apart generally inverted &# 34 ; u &# 34 ; shaped siderail assemblies 14 which are mounted to the floor of the mezzanine . each siderail assembly 14 includes a pair of parallel spaced apart legs 16 and 18 on opposite ends , connected by an upper horizontal bar 20 , an intermediate horizontal bar 22 and a lowermost horizontal bar 24 connectively arranged between those spaced apart legs 16 and 18 . a pivot stanchion 26 is disposed , critically , very near one end of the uppermost horizontal bar on each of the upright siderail assemblies 14 so as to have an open space &# 34 ; o &# 34 ; alongside the siderails 14 , when that particular &# 34 ; short &# 34 ; support proximal gate is in the &# 34 ; up &# 34 ; orientation . that is , there are no siderail assemblies to hinder access to the area within the gate assembly area 10 , from a location inwardly of the pivot axis of the gates themselves , shown as an open space &# 34 ; o &# 34 ; in fig1 . those upright stanchions 26 on the spaced apart siderail assemblies 14 , are in alignment with one another . each of those stanchions 26 has an bore 28 which is co - axial with the bore 28 of its corresponding stantion 26 . a swingable frame gate assembly 30 is disposed between the two spaced apart stanchions 26 on the upright siderail assemblies 14 at the edge of a mezzanine floor 12 . the swinging gate assembly 30 comprises an upper and a lower parallel rail 32 and 34 , each connected at their mid - point by a tranverse bar 36 . the transverse bar 36 connecting the mid - points of each parallel rail 32 and 34 , has a pivot axis 38 extending from a lowermost side location thereon , as shown in fig2 and engage the stanchions 26 so as to permit pivotability of the gate assembly 30 therebetween . each end of the side frame rails 32 and 34 has a gate 40 and 42 disposed thereat . each gate 40 and 42 is arranged at an obtuse angle &# 34 ; a &# 34 ; of about 135 degrees with respect to the longitudinal axis of each of the parallel side rails 32 and 34 . note that the lower side rail 34 has an extension rail 48 angularly disposed between each end of the rail 34 and its respective gate 40 and 42 . when one gate 40 or 42 at one end of the side rail assemblies 14 is in the vertical ( down ) orientation , the other gate 42 or 40 , at the other end of the pair of side rail frame assemblies 14 is disposed in the horizontal ( up ) orientation . the &# 34 ; distal &# 34 ; gate 40 is defined as being adjacent the edge 15 of the mezzanine floor 12 , and the &# 34 ; proximalmost &# 34 ; gate 42 is the one furthest from the edge 15 . each gate 40 and 42 has an uppermost transverse bar 50 , a middle transverse bar 52 , and a lowermost bar 54 . in operation , the gate 40 and 42 at each end of the parallel side rail assemblies 14 act as in a &# 34 ; see saw &# 34 ; manner , one end going up as the other end goes down . the end gate going down in the vertical orientation thus blocks and acts as a barrier between the supporting side frame assembly . when that end is lifted the other end goes from a horizontal disposition into a vertical disposition blocking the other end of the side rail frame assembly acting as a barrier thereto . the location of the stanchions 26 at the &# 34 ; proximal &# 34 ; end of each of the side rail assemblies 14 , which is the furthest away from the edge 15 of the mezzanine floor 12 , as best seen in fig1 and 3 , permits easy access to the area &# 34 ; o &# 34 ; proximal to the pivot support on the side rail assemblies 14 . thus at no time is the space between the siderail support assembly open so as to permit a passage through a sidewall on a mezzanine floor , whether the distal gate 40 is down or the proximal gate 42 down . it is to be noted that while the area between the support siderails is opened for full side and proximal access to the area between the siderails 14 from the proximal side thereof , the proximalmost gate is above the floor area so as to permit entrance into the area between the two opposed siderails 14 . when the proximalmost gate 42 is brought downwardly , the &# 34 ; distal &# 34 ; gate 40 , closest to the floor edge 15 , is lifted upwardly so as to swing fully out of the way of anyone reaching any cargo within that gate area . fig1 shows the proximalmost gate 42 , partially in phantom , in its lower down position , indicating the lack of siderail blockage proximal of the pivot axis location , when the proximal gate 42 is up . a further embodiment is shown in fig3 wherein a planar door panel 60 is shown attached to the distal gate 40 , in a particularly useful function when the gate assembly 10 is at the side of a building wall 62 . the door panel 60 thereby automatically closes when the outer or &# 34 ; distal &# 34 ; gate is down , thus protecting the inside of the building from harsh weather . when the distal gate 40 is up and open , the door panel has moved from a vertical orientation to a horizontal orientation corresponding to the orientation of the distal gate , so as to function as a roof , keeping harsh weather off of the &# 34 ; protected &# 34 ; area between the siderail assemblies 14 . if the door panel 60 has a lowermost edge 64 which is lower than the lowermost edge 66 of the distal gate 40 , such as shown as 64 &# 39 ;, the door panel 60 could also function as an articulable roof over at least part of the loading area outside of and adjacent to the building . thus what has been disclosed is a novel safety gate arrangement which permits access to a defined &# 34 ; protectable &# 34 ; area , yet prevents undesired access to that area when personnel should not be there . the gate assembly also provides a door - like shelter when a panel is arranged to the distalmost gate in its down orientation and a roof - like shelter when that gate is in its up horizontal orientation .	4
the first embodiment of the invention is shown fig2 . it comprises a tilted - waveguide angled - facet semiconductor optical amplifier chip 38 that has been attached to a sub - mount pedestal 20 . the sub - mount pedestal is attached to the header base 10 and electrically connected to contact pin 12 . a photodiode 70 mounted on the front surface of the header base 18 detects the optical signal 42 emitted from the back facet 39 of the semiconductor laser . electrical connection 13 to the semiconductor laser chip 38 and connection 11 to the photodiode are provided via bond wires 50 and 51 , respectively . the semiconductor optical amplifier waveguide 34 is tilted to intersect the front facet 37 and back facet 39 of the semiconductor device at an oblique angle so that the front optical beam 40 and back optical beam 42 are emitted at an angle θ 1 with respect to the facet surface normal 45 . the semiconductor laser chip 38 is attached to the sub - mount pedestal 20 with front facet 37 parallel to the beveled front face of the sub - mount pedestal 22 . surface 22 has been beveled at an angle θ 1 with respect to the front surface of the header base 18 so that both front and back semiconductor laser optical beams 40 and 42 propagate parallel to the sub - assembly optical axis 15 . the beveled surface 22 provides clearance so that the path of the light beam 40 is not blocked or diffracted . the output light beam from the sub - assembly emerges through a transparent window 64 that has been anti - reflection coated with films 61 and 63 to reduce optical loss and back - reflection . the transparent window structure 64 can be optical glass or a polarization plate ( half - wave , quarter - wave ) or other polarizing element . the window is attached to a cap structure 60 with a wedge 65 inserted so that the window is oriented at an angle θ 2 with respect to the front surface of the header base 18 . the angle θ 2 is chosen to minimize the optical power reflected back to the semiconductor device . the cap 60 is welded to the header base 10 in a hermetic scaling process . the second embodiment of the invention is shown fig3 . it comprises a curved - waveguide angled - facet semiconductor laser chip 35 that has been attached to a sub - mount pedestal 20 . the sub - mount pedestal is attached to the header base 10 and electrically connected to contact pin 12 . a photodiode 71 mounted on the front surface of the header base 18 detects the optical signal 42 emitted from the back facet 39 of the semiconductor laser . electrical connection 13 to the semiconductor laser chip and connection 11 to the photodiode are provided via bond wires ; 50 and 51 , respectively . the semiconductor optical waveguide 36 is curved with a constant radius of curvature r given by r = l / sin ( φ ) where l is the length of the curved region and φ is the desired facet angle . other sinusoidal or exponential curving functions can be used to define the functional form of the curved region . arbitrary lengths at the end of the device can be straight or tilted corresponding to an infinite radius of curvature . the curved optical waveguide intersects the back facet 39 at normal incidence ( perpendicular ) but intersects the front facet 37 at an oblique angle so that the front optical beam 40 is emitted at an angle θ 1 with respect to the facet surface normal 45 . the back optical beam 42 is emitted parallel to 45 . the semiconductor laser chip is attached to the sub - mount pedestal with front facet 37 parallel to the beveled front face of the sub - mount pedestal 22 . surface 22 has been beveled at an angle θ 1 with respect to the front surface of the header base 18 so that the front semiconductor laser optical beam 40 propagates parallel to the sub - assembly optical axis 15 . the beveled surface 22 provides clearance so that the path of the light beam 40 is not blocked or diffracted . the photodiode 71 is mounted on surface 18 to detect the emitted back facet optical beam 42 . this beam is incident on the photodiode at an oblique angle enabling the photodiode to be mounted flush against 18 without requiring any additional steps to reduce back - reflections . the output light beam from the sub - assembly 40 emerges through a transparent window 64 that has been anti - reflection coated with films 61 and 63 to reduce optical loss and back - reflection . the transparent window structure 64 can be optical glass or a polarization plate ( half - wave , quarter - wave ) or other polarizing element . the window is attached to a cap structure 60 with a wedge 65 inserted so that the window is oriented at an angle θ 2 with respect to the front surface of the header base 18 . the angle θ 2 is chosen to minimize the optical power reflected back to the semiconductor device 35 . the cap 60 is welded to the header base 10 in a hermetic sealing process . the third embodiment of the invention is shown fig4 . it consists of a curved - waveguide angled - facet semiconductor laser chip 35 that has been attached to a sub - mount pedestal 20 . the sub - mount pedestal is attached to the header base 10 and electrically connected to contact pin 12 . a photodiode 71 mounted on the front surface of the header base 18 detects the optical signal 42 emitted from the back facet 39 of the semiconductor laser 35 . electrical connections to the semiconductor laser chip 13 and photodiode 11 are provided via bond wires 50 and 51 , respectively . the semiconductor optical waveguide 36 is curved with a constant radius of curvature r given by r = l / sin ( φ ) where l is the length of the curved region and φ is the desired facet angle . other sinusoidal or exponential curving functions can be used to define the functional form of the curved region . arbitrary lengths at the end of the device can be straight or tilted corresponding to an infinite radius of curvature . the curved optical waveguide intersects the back facet 39 at normal incidence ( perpendicular ) but intersects the front facet 37 at an oblique angle so that the front optical beam 40 is emitted at an angle θ 1 with respect to the facet surface normal 45 . the back optical beam 42 is emitted parallel to 45 . the semiconductor laser chip is attached to the sub - mount pedestal with front facet 37 parallel to edge 22 . edge 22 is oriented at an angle θ 1 with respect to the front surface of the header base 18 so that the front semiconductor laser optical beam 40 propagates parallel to the sub - assembly optical axis 15 . edge 22 is formed by a mechanical or chemical machining process that creates a recessed plane area 25 providing clearance so that the path of the light beam 40 is not blocked or diffracted . an optical element 80 is attached to the front surface 21 of the sub - mount pedestal 20 with attaching mechanisms 81 and 82 . the optical element 80 can be a refractive , diffractive , or holographic lens placed in close proximity to the angled facet to manipulate the beam shape and / or quality . the photodiode 71 is mounted on surface 18 to detect the emitted back facet optical beam 42 . this beam is incident on the photodiode at an oblique angle enabling the photodiode to be mounted flush against 18 without requiring any additional steps to reduce back - reflections . the output light beam from the sub - assembly 40 emerges through a transparent window 64 that has been anti - reflection coated with films 61 and 63 to reduce optical loss and back - reflection . the transparent window structure 64 can be optical glass or a polarization plate ( half - wave , quarter - wave ) or other polarizing element . the window is attached to a cap structure 60 with a wedge 65 inserted so that the window is oriented at an angle θ 2 with respect to the front surface of the header base 18 . the angle θ 2 is chosen to minimize the optical power reflected back to the semiconductor device . the cap 60 is welded to the header base 10 in a hermetic sealing process . the fourth embodiment of the invention is shown fig5 . it comprises a curved - waveguide angled - facet semiconductor laser chip 35 that has been attached to sub - mount 90 . the sub - mount 90 is attached to the sub - mount pedestal 20 . the sub - mount pedestal is attached to the header base 10 and electrically connected to contact pin 12 . a photodiode 71 mounted on the front surface of the header base 18 detects the optical signal 42 emitted from the back facet 39 of the semiconductor laser . electrical connections to the semiconductor laser chip 13 and photodiode 11 are provided via bond wires 50 and 51 , respectively . the semiconductor optical waveguide 36 is curved with a constant radius of curvature r given by r = l / sin ( φ ) where l is the length of the curved region and φ is the desired facet angle . other sinusoidal or exponential curving functions can be used to define the functional form of the curved region . arbitrary lengths at the end of the device can be straight or tilted corresponding to an infinite radius of curvature . the curved optical waveguide intersects the back facet 39 at normal incidence ( perpendicular ) but intersects the front facet 37 at an oblique angle so that the front optical beam 40 is emitted at an angle θ 1 with respect to the facet surface normal 45 . the back optical beam 42 is emitted parallel to 45 . the semiconductor laser chip is attached to the sub - mount 90 with front facet 37 parallel to the front edge 22 of the sub - mount 90 . the sub - mount 90 is comprised of a material having desirable thermal and mechanical properties , such as aluminum nitride ( aln ), diamond , or other material . this sub - mount can be either of the same material as the sub - mount pedestal 21 ) or of a different material . the sub - mount 90 is attached to the sub - mount pedestal 20 with the front edge 22 oriented at an angle θ 1 with respect to the front surface of the header base 18 so that the front semiconductor laser optical beam 40 propagates parallel to the sub - assembly optical axis 15 . the thickness of the sub - mount 90 is chosen to insure adequate clearance so that the path of the light beam 40 is not blocked or diffracted . an optical element 80 is attached to the front surface 21 of the sub - mount pedestal 20 with attaching mechanisms 81 and 82 . the optical element 80 can be a refractive , diffractive , or holographic lens placed in close proximity to the angled facet to manipulate the beam shape and / or quality . the photodiode 71 is mounted on surface 18 to detect the emitted back facet optical beam 42 . this beam is incident on the photodiode at an oblique angle enabling the photodiode to be mounted flush against 18 without requiring any additional steps to reduce back - reflections . the output light beam from the sub - assembly 40 emerges through a transparent window 64 that has been anti - reflection coated wish films 61 and 63 to reduce optical loss and back - reflection . the transparent window structure 64 can be optical glass or a polarization plate ( half - wave , quarter - wave ) or other polarizing element . the window is attached to a cap structure 60 with a wedge 65 inserted so that the window is oriented at an angle θ 2 with respect to the front surface of the header base 18 . the angle θ 2 is chosen to minimize the optical power reflected back to the semiconductor device . the cap 60 is welded to the header base 10 in a hermetic scaling process . while the foregoing description refers to a conventional to - can semiconductor package , other kinds of semiconductor packages may also be used . while particular embodiments of the invention have been described , it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications may be made in the embodiments without departing from the spirit of the present invention . such modifications are all within the scope of this invention .	7
throughout the following detailed description , the same reference numerals refer to the same elements in all figures . a dentifrice dispensing electrical toothbrush of the present invention has a replaceable dual - channel brush head and a handle having a dual - channel connector . the dual - channel brush head has a channel for housing a drive shaft for the oscillation of the first rotary bristle unit and a separate channel for the flow of dentifrice material to the top of the second bristle unit . the dual - channel brush head is detachably mounted on the dual - channel connector , which contains a drive shaft driven by a motor and a flow channel in communication with the pumping chamber for dispensing the dentifrice material to the second bristle unit from a cartridge inserted in the handle serving as reservoir for the dentifrice material . referring to fig1 a , a dentifrice - dispensing electrical toothbrush 2 has handle 4 with dual - channel connector and replaceable brush head 20 . the latter is shown separately in fig3 b and also partially shown in an enlarged view in fig1 b . first bristle unit 8 is mounted on post 86 and second bristle unit 9 has spout opening 114 . the first bristle unit 8 is driven by cam linkage 242 attached to the top end of first drive shaft 216 in the replaceable brush head 20 , which is detachably engaged with second drive shaft 236 driven by motor 212 powered by the battery in the handle 4 . dentifrice cartridge 124 having follower 126 is also housed within handle 4 . dentifrice material ( not shown ) is pumped from pump chamber 94 , through first flow channel 102 and spout opening 114 , to bristle unit 9 . a pumping force is supplied to chamber 94 by depression of elastic compressible button 96 that closes the one - way valve 122 . as the elastic compressive button 96 is released to restore to its original free position the follower 126 in the cartridge moves forward under a vacuum force to compact the dentifrice material . the structure and function of the dentifrice dispensing electrical toothbrush of the present invention are described in details as follows . further shown in fig1 a and fig1 b , a plurality of bristles 76 are attached to the top surface of base 84 of first bristle unit 8 . drive notch 90 is appended to side wall 88 of bristle base 84 . the underside of bristle base 84 has split bushing walls 85 which are shaped to mate with post 86 of platform 72 . drive notches 90 of first bristle unit 8 accommodates drive rod 34 such that when drive rod 34 is positioned in drive notch 90 , the oscillating motion of drive rod 34 causes first bristle unit to freely oscillate on post 86 . the mechanism for the oscillation motion will be described in later sections . the mounting of a rotary bristle unit on a stationary post for free rotation and its one - way engagement for preventing detachment of the rotary bristle unit from the post has been described in prior art . a preferred embodiment as disclosed in u . s . pat . no . 6 , 735 , 803 by kuo is briefly described below . the one - way engagement of bristle base 84 of bristle unit 8 on post 86 is enabled by the mounting of two half - circle - shaped split bushing walls 85 on the underside of bristle base 84 on two half - circle - shaped split shaft walls 91 of post 86 . gaps ( not shown ) between split walls 85 allow wall deflections apart from each other while gaps 97 of post 86 allow for deflections of adjacent split walls 91 toward each other . all the split walls are of cantilever configuration for flexibility for the mounting of bristle unit 8 on post 86 . for preventing disengagement , post 86 has retention rim 100 and the flexible bushing has annular groove 101 at corresponding mating positions . the diameter of retention rim 100 of post 86 is smaller than the diameter of annular groove 101 engaged therein but is larger than the inner diameter of bushing walls 85 . also , the nominal inside diameter of bushing walls 85 is slightly larger than corresponding outer diameter of post 86 for establishing a clearance between the post and the bushing for the free rotation of bristle unit 8 . this configuration prevents the bristle unit dislodged from the post . during brushing , the brushing pressure pushes bristle unit 8 against the post 86 , therefore , the rotary bristle unit cannot detach from the post under the brushing condition . for the oscillation of the rotary bristle unit 8 , as shown in fig1 a , fig1 b and fig2 , a u - shaped pivotal cam linkage 242 having stud shaft 230 and l - shaped cylindrical rod 34 is engaged with the offset cylindrical rod 234 of the cap 226 which is attached to the end of first drive shaft 216 . the cam linkage 242 is pivotal against stud shaft 230 which is rotationally supported by the platform 72 . the cylindrical rod 34 is engaged with the notch 88 such that the pivoting motion of the cam linkage 242 imparts the oscillation of the cylindrical rod 34 and bristle unit 8 when the cam linkage is driven by the offset cylindrical rod of cap 226 , which is mounted on the top end of first drive shaft 216 . the first drive shaft 216 is engaged with second drive shaft 236 which is driven by motor 212 . the bottom end of first drive shaft 216 has a non - circular prong - adapter 62 inserted onto the drive - socket receptacle end 64 of second drive shaft 236 . in one embodiment both prong - adapter 62 and receptacle - end 64 have square - shaped cross - section . when the motor is energized , the engagement of drive shafts 236 and 216 imparts the oscillating motion of the first bristle unit 8 . the communication and engagement of the first drive shaft 216 with second drive shaft 236 is enabled by the mounting of the replaceable dual - channel brush head on the dual - channel connector 151 of the handle 4 . fig3 a and fig3 b show views of detached replaceable brush head 20 and exposed connector 151 . the replaceable dual - channel brush head 20 consists of platform 72 having post 86 and a spout opening 114 , dual - channel neck 19 having first drive shaft 216 in first drive channel 104 and first flow channel 102 which extends to spout opening 114 . the top end of dual - channel neck 19 is connected to platform 84 and the bottom end is for detachably mounting on dual - channel connector 151 of handle 4 . connector 151 has second drive shaft 236 in second drive channel 202 for coupling with first drive shaft 216 , and second flow channel 204 for detachably connecting to first flow channel 102 of brush head 20 . for preventing leaking of dentifrice material , the inner attachment walls 153 of first flow channel 102 and the inner attachment wall 155 of first drive shaft channel 104 at the bottom of the brush head 20 are in intimate sliding contact with the outer wall 159 of the connector 151 when the brush head 20 is fully mounted on the connector 151 . the precision of the mounting ensures the insertion of the prong - adapter 62 onto the mating receptacle end 64 of second drive shaft 236 . referring to fig1 a , for dispensing dentifrice material , the flow path from the cartridge 124 , which as a reservoir stores dentifrice material , through the pump chamber 94 and the flow channel 102 to the spout opening 114 and to the top of bristles in the second bristle unit 9 is full of dentifrice material ( not shown ). a detailed description of the pump mechanism using an elastic compressible button is given in u . s . pat . no . 6 , 434 , 773 . here a brief description is given below . when the elastic compressible button 96 is depressed , the dentifrice material is forced to move from pump chamber 94 , through flow channel 102 and spout opening 114 , to the top of the second bristle unit 9 . the vacuum created in chamber 94 when the pumping force is released and elastic compressible button 96 being restored to its original free position , causes dentifrice material to flow from cartridge 124 through one - way check valve 122 and into chamber 94 to replace the quantity of dentifrice material removed from the chamber by the application of the pumping force . the flow of dentifrice material from cartridge 124 causes corresponding advancement of follower 126 at the base of the cartridge . when all of the dentifrice material is depleted from cartridge 124 , the cartridge is removed from the handle and replaced by a full cartridge . cartridge 124 is fastened by threads at the base of the one - way check valve 122 . another embodiment of the present invention is a dentifrice - dispensing electrical toothbrush using an electrical means to dispense the dentifrice material from the handle to the top of bristles . as shown in fig4 a and fig4 b , dentifrice - dispensing electrical toothbrush 402 has handle 404 , connector 406 and replaceable dual - channel brush head 20 . the structures and functions of the dual - channel brush head , the connector and the coupling of the brush - head drive shaft to the motor drive shaft are the same as shown in fig1 a and described previously . however , the delivery of dentifrice material is achieved by using an electrical - mechanical means that has been disclosed in details in u . s . pat . no . 6 , 735 , 803 by kuo . here the electrical - mechanical means is briefly described as follows . the electrical - mechanical means consists of rotary solenoid 456 , cam 454 , and plunger 452 for contacting on resilient compressible button 496 as shown in fig4 a , which shows these components at the non - dispensing home positions . upon activating rotary solenoid 456 by pushing on electrical button switch 460 positioned on the external surface 468 of handle 404 , cam 454 on the shaft of the rotary solenoid 456 rotates 180 degree from the non - dispensing home position to move plunger 452 forward to depress on compressible button 496 to the fully compressed dispensing position , which is shown in fig4 b . the compression of the resilient compressible button provides the pumping force to dispense the dentifrice material . fig4 b shows cam 454 , plunger 452 and resilient compressible button 496 at the dispensing positions . then upon the release of button switch 460 , through a control circuitry ( not shown ) rotary solenoid 456 is energized to cause cam 454 to return to the home position . on the way to the home position the compressible button restores to its original shape together with the movement of the dentifrice material from the cartridge to replenish the pump chamber . although the use of a rotary solenoid is preferred , the actuation of the plunger for compressing on the elastic button can be achieved by linear solenoid or a clutch connected to motor 412 . additionally , the spout opening 114 in the dual - channel brush head 20 needs to be plugged for preventing drying of the dentifrice material . sealing of spout opening 114 of the dentifrice dispensing electrical toothbrush is similar to that described in u . s . pat . no . 6 , 434 , 773 by kuo . fig5 shows sealing plug 132 being inserted into spout opening 114 . the positioning of the plug for sealing is facilitated by guides ( not shown ) on cover 130 when the cover is at its fully closed and locked position on the shoulder of the handle . the invention has been described in detail with reference to preferred embodiments thereof . however , it is understood that variations and modifications can be effected within the spirit and scope of the invention .	0
reference will now be made in detail to certain embodiments of the invention , examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings . while the invention will be described in reference to these embodiments , it will be understood that they are not intended to limit the invention . to the contrary , the invention is intended to cover alternatives , modifications , and equivalents that are included within the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the claims . in the following disclosure , specific details are given to provide a thorough understanding of the invention . however , it will be apparent to one skilled in the art that the present invention may be practiced without these specific details . referring to the drawings wherein like reference characters designate like or corresponding parts throughout the several views , and referring particularly to fig1 - 6 , it is seen that the present invention includes various embodiments of a container for trash or recyclables having a built - in compaction device . without limiting the invention , fig1 shows an exemplary container 100 . the container 100 includes a body 101 having an open interior compartment 101 a , a lid 102 , and a pedal mechanism 103 for lifting the lid 102 . fig2 provides a perspective view of the container 100 with the lid 102 opened to reveal the compaction plate 104 . without limiting the invention , the container may have a rectangular or rounded rectangular cross - sectional shape as shown in the figures . in other embodiments , the container may have a different shape that allows for the use of a compaction device that is hingedly attached to the container ( e . g ., a shape that narrows from the point of hinged attachment of the compaction device , such as a shape that tapers away from the hinged joint [ e . g ., a triangular shape , hemi - ellipsoid , etc .] to allow a complementarily shaped compaction device to swing down into the body of the container ). in some embodiments , and without limitation , the container shape may taper or partially taper along the vertical dimension from the opening of the container to the base of the container , such that the opening is wider than all or a portion of the compartment so that compacted , dense trash may be more easily removed from the container . both the lid and the compaction plate may be attached to the container by hinge joints that are placed and articulated such that the lid and compaction plate may be raised smoothly from the container when they are connected to each other . for example , and without limitation , the lid 102 and the compaction plate 104 may be hingedly attached to the container 100 by coaxial hinge joints 106 . the compaction plate 104 may optionally include vents 120 therein to allow air to pass through the compaction plate 104 as it is used to compress trash or recyclables in the compartment of the container . the compaction plate 104 may be detachably connected to the lid by an attachment mechanism , which includes a locking bolt 105 a ( e . g ., a pin with a tang thereoin , a wing bolt , etc . ), a locking bolt receiver 105 b ( e . g ., a complementary receiver ). to attach the compaction plate 104 to the lid 102 during regular use , the locking bolt 105 a may be inserted into the receiver 105 b . for example , and without limitation , the locking bolt may have a tang thereon that is aligned with a complementary slot in the receiver , and when inserted into the receiver , the locking bolt may be turned ( e . g ., 90 °) to allow the tang to catch in the receiver and hold the compaction plate to the lid . in other implementations , and without limitation , the locking bolt may have male threading and the receiver may be a port having matching female threading into which the bolt maybe screwed . the container 100 may also include a handle 110 for manipulating the position of the compaction plate when it is detached from the lid 102 . in some implementations and without limitation , the bolt 105 a may be rotatably attached to the handle and the compaction plate directly . in other implementations , and without limitation , the bolt may be rotatably attached to the handle with no direct connection to the compaction plate 104 ( see fig3 ). in still further implementations , and without limitation , the bolt may be rotatably attached to the lid 102 and a threaded receiver may be formed in the handle 110 or the upper surface of the compaction plate 104 ( see fig4 a and 4 b ). other implementations may use other types of connection devices . without limiting the invention , fig5 a - 5 b show an implementation in which the attachment mechanism is a spring latch that can be disengaged by pushing a button . the attachment mechanism includes a latch bolt 105 a having a notch therein and a bolt receiver 105 b that may include a spring loaded latch or awl that catches the notch on the latch bolt 105 a when the latch bolt 105 a is inserted into the receiver 105 b . the spring loaded latch or awl may be disengaged from the latch bolt 105 a when the release button 105 c is depressed . in another implementation , and without limitation , the attachment mechanism may be a magnetic clasp that includes a magnet and a magnetic receiver . for example , and without limitation , fig6 shows an implementation in which a magnet 105 d is positioned on the compaction plate 104 and a magnetic receiver 105 b ( e . g ., a plate of magnetic material ) is positioned on the underside of the lid 102 . the magnetic attraction between the magnet 104 a and the magnetic receiver 105 b may hold the compaction plate 104 and the lid 102 together until the user applies force to separate them . in such implementations , the handle 110 may be placed along the perimeter of the compaction plate 104 on an opposite side of the compaction plate from the hinge joint 106 , such that the user can grasp the handle 110 and pry the compaction plate 104 away from the lid 102 . other embodiments may use different attachment mechanisms . the examples provided herein are only for illustrative purposes and the present invention is not limited to those specific examples . the present invention provides a container that includes a built - in , manual compaction device that is easy to deploy and use . it is to be understood that here are several variations in the thermally insulative container that provide additional benefits , as disclosed above . it should also be understood that the foregoing descriptions of specific embodiments of the present invention have been presented for purposes of illustration and description . they are not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the invention to the precise forms disclosed , and obviously many modifications and variations are possible in light of the above teaching . the embodiments were chosen and described in order to best explain the principles of the invention and its practical application , to thereby enable others skilled in the art to best utilize the invention and various embodiments with various modifications as are suited to the particular use contemplated . it is intended that the scope of the invention be defined by the claims appended hereto and their equivalents .	1
fig1 schematically shows an arrangement for calibration of an optoelectronic sensor 3 , in which the change in the response characteristic of sensor 3 is ascertained . the arrangement comprises a light source 1 , optoelectronic sensor 3 , and an evaluation unit 4 . the light emitted by light source 1 is detected by sensor 3 . the latter converts the light into electrical signals which are conveyed to evaluation unit 4 and evaluated therein according to the present invention . at least one first response characteristic of sensor 3 is stored in a memory 5 . in order to ascertain the response characteristic of sensor 3 , a light quantity incident upon it is varied . this is done by way of optical or electronic calibration means 2 . in the exemplary embodiment according to fig1 , optical calibration means 2 are introduced into the beam path between light source 1 and sensor 3 . various embodiments of these calibration means 2 can be used , e . g . absorption filters , scattering filters , gray wedges , or stops . in the case of absorption and scattering filters , either the number thereof introduced into the beam path is increased , filters of identical or different absorption or scattering capability being used . or only one filter is used in each case , and it is replaced by filters of differing absorption or scattering capability in order to vary the light quantity in controlled fashion . alternatively , this variation can also be effected using a gray wedge , which can be extended stepwise or quasi - continuously into the beam path . the absorption filters , scattering filters , and gray wedge either are manually operated or remotely controlled using corresponding apparatuses , or are introduced automatically into the beam path by means of a control device 6 . the absorption or scattering values of the filters or the gray wedge at certain positions in the beam path are known . the same is correspondingly true of stops having known openings of different sizes , which are likewise introduced manually or automatically into the beam path as light quantity calibration means 2 . stops having a variable opening , which are operated manually or automatically , are of course also usable . the light quantity incident upon sensor 3 is varied in controlled fashion by means of variously adjusted openings . stops having a variable aperture of this kind are sufficiently known from camera or microscope optical systems . a further possibility , not explicitly depicted in the figures , for embodying calibration means 2 is to vary the light quantity incident onto the sensor by way of an electronic exposure time . with an illumination intensity that is constant over time , different exposure times cause correspondingly different light quantities to arrive at sensor 3 . the exposure times can be varied by means of an exposure control system . the exposure control system , for example , controls a mechanical shutter that is opened in accordance with the exposure times , or an electronic shutter . an electronic shutter is , for example , an lcd display that , by electrical activation , allows light to pass or becomes opaque . alternatively , with appropriate activation the electronic readout of sensor 3 can also serve as an electronic shutter , the exposure times being set by way of differing lengths of time between start and stop signals to sensor 3 . while sensor 3 is being read out , the electrical charges generated by the received light in sensor 3 are not taken into consideration . in principle , the light emission of light source 1 can also be varied directly , in which case calibration means 2 vary electrical variables such as power level , voltage , or current for the operation of light source 1 . depending on the type of light source 1 , however , the correlation between these electrical variables and the emitted light quantity is not known satisfactorily or with sufficient accuracy , and the necessary accuracy is not attainable with some types of light source , for example in vapor - pressure lamps ( mercury / xenon ). using calibration means 2 as described , a first response characteristic of sensor 3 is acquired before the latter is used for image acquisition or measurement purposes with ultraviolet light . the electrical signals of sensor 3 are acquired as a function of the incident light quantity , and stored in a memory 5 . any memory type is usable as memory 5 . commercially available electronic , magnetic , or optical memories are used , an embodiment as a lookup table with short readout times being simple and advantageous . after sensor 3 has been exposed to uv light for a certain time as a result of image acquisitions or measurements , or has received a certain uv dose , a further response characteristic of sensor 3 is acquired . this is compared to the first response characteristic in order to ascertain changes and correct those changes . as a result , the modified electrical signals of sensor 3 for identical incident light quantities are corrected , and the sensor properties modified by the uv radiation are thus compensated for . after further uv measurements or uv service with sensor 3 , further response characteristics of sensor 3 are acquired and are again compared to the first response characteristic , and the changes are correspondingly corrected . stable , reproducible light measurements that correspond to the first measurements using sensor 3 are thereby obtained . useful examples of the application of such stable light measurements for image acquisition , image evaluation , and measurement are presented below in detail . the response characteristic of sensor 3 is of course acquired in particular at those light wavelengths , or in those wavelength regions , that are used for the image acquisitions or measurements . those wavelengths lie , depending on the application , in the uv region , the visible , or the infrared region . fig2 presents an example of the response characteristic of sensor 3 . the electrical signal of sensor 3 is plotted against the light quantity received by sensor 3 , in arbitrary units . at low light quantities that are not yet detectable , the dark current of sensor 3 , which is already supplying an electrical signal , is predominant . above a certain light quantity , sensor 3 supplies electrical signals that are proportional to the incident light quantity . at very large light quantities , sensor 3 is at saturation and cannot detect any additional light . curve a is the response characteristic of a sensor 3 not yet illuminated with uv light . curves b and c reproduce the response characteristic of sensor 3 after 18 hours and after 65 hours of illumination with uv light . it is evident that with increasing uv illumination , the sensitivity of sensor 3 has decreased in accordance with curves b and c . the sensor is supplying a lower electrical signal than that corresponding to the associated light quantity . the changes are compensated for by acquiring the response characteristic of sensor 3 and referring back to the first response characteristic . a conclusion as to an exact value of the light quantity actually received is thereby possible . further uv exposure of sensor 3 results correspondingly in further curves in addition to curves a , b , and c shown in fig2 . they move increasingly far away from first curve a as uv exposure increases . although the response characteristic is in principle identical for each sensor 3 , it is quantitatively different for each individual sensor 3 . for accurate measurement results , each sensor 3 must therefore be individually calibrated at time intervals , according to the invention . the changes in the response characteristic as a result of the radiation dose are not known a priori for the individual sensor 3 : they are neither specified by the manufacturer nor theoretically predictable . ccd chips are most often used as sensors 3 . they can also be photodiodes . other semiconductor sensors , or other sensor types that convert light into electrical signals , exhibit similar response characteristics . the calibration according to the present invention of sensor 3 is accomplished from time to time . the point in time is preferably determined depending on the input of uv light onto sensor 3 , i . e . on a dose - dependent basis ; this can be monitored , for example , by way of the total exposure time to uv light . calibration is , of course , also possible at fixed time intervals without regard to exposure times . fig3 shows a sample application for high - accuracy measurements using sensor 3 . a microscope 7 acquires images of a substrate 8 that is located on microscope stage 9 . for that purpose , substrate 8 is illuminated by a light source 1 a , 1 b of microscope 7 . that illumination can occur , as is usual in microscopes , as incident light and , for transparent substrates , also as transmitted light . filters or stops are correspondingly arranged as calibration means 2 a and 2 b in the beam path after light sources 1 a and 1 b , preferably in the positions shown in fig3 . when microscope 7 is operated with transmitted light , it is of course also possible to place various filters or stops on microscope stage 9 and to displace them correspondingly so as to bring the filters or stops successively into the beam path . substrate 8 has features that are imaged and measured using microscope 7 and sensor 3 . sensor 3 is , as a rule , part of a commercially available camera . substrate 8 is , for example , a mask comprising a glass substrate having applied features made of chromium . such masks are used in photolithography for semiconductor production , and their features are imaged onto wafers . the features on the mask or on the wafer represent electrical circuits for the chip that is to be produced . during the production process the features are repeatedly inspected for defects and their spacings and widths are measured . the images of the features are normally acquired using visible light . in order to obtain additional information or if the resolution of microscope 7 is insufficient for very small features using visible light , uv light is used . improved contrast and higher resolution are achieved with uv light . uv light in the wavelength region between , in particular , 150 nm and 420 nm is used for this purpose . light source 1 a , 1 b and the optical system of microscope 7 are designed accordingly . back - illuminated ccd cameras , full - frame transfer cameras , or interline transfer cameras , which can receive both visible light and uv light , are common as sensors 3 . the features acquired using uv light are prepared by image processing and can thereby be examined for defects or for any undesired particles that may be present . feature widths and spacings between the features are also measured by image processing . if uv light is also used , in addition to visible light , for the examinations , the invention allows precise and reproducible measurements to be made . as already described above , this involves using , for calibrations that take place occasionally , calibration means 2 a , 2 b that are brought into and / or controlled in the beam path of microscope 7 . calibration means 2 a , 2 b are preferably actuated and controlled in fully automatic fashion using control device 6 , so that the corresponding response characteristics of sensor 3 are automatically acquired and can be evaluated in evaluation unit 4 ( fig3 ). the results allow correction of the spacings and widths of substrate features measured by means of image processing . the correction is demonstrated in fig4 using the example of a feature width . at a point in time , a feature is imaged using microscope 7 . in fig4 , the relative intensity is plotted against the position of the imaged feature . the width of the feature is measured ; it is equal to 650 nm ( curve 1 ). at a later point in time , after images have been acquired with sensor 3 for several hours using uv light , the same feature is once again imaged and measured . the result is a measured feature width of 630 nm ( curve 2 ). because of the changes in sensor properties resulting from the uv light , sensor 3 is supplying modified signals that lead to the different measured result for the feature width . the modified signals are taken into account appropriately by way of the correction according to the present invention of the response characteristic of sensor 3 , and the original measured feature width of 650 is obtained . in the case of the example shown in fig4 , the feature width is acquired and measured using uv light at a wavelength of 248 nm . the correction according to the present invention of the response characteristic of sensor 3 is also useful for other measurement tasks in which accurate quantitative evaluations of acquired light are important . using a spectrophotometer as measurement device 10 on microscope 7 , optical parameters such as the refractive index or layer thicknesses of layers on substrate 8 can be determined . these parameters are determined from spectra of the light reflected from the layers . these spectra are referred to previously measured spectra of the blank substrate 8 . since the spectra are often also acquired in the uv region , the measurement accuracy and reproducibility of the optical parameters can be improved by considering , in accordance with the present invention , the properties of the sensor of measurement device 10 . instead of the spectrophotometer , other optical measurement arrangements , for example a spectroellipsometer , can be equipped with the methods and apparatus according to the present invention either as measurement device 10 on microscope 7 , or also as self - sufficient devices independent of microscope 7 . the examples shown are therefore not exhaustive .	6
the part represented in the drawing of an occupant protection device of a passenger motor vehicle , essentially comprises a front - passenger - side airbag module 2 , which comprises a folded - together airbag ( not visible ), enclosed by an airbag container 4 , and a gas generator ( likewise not visible ). the module contained in a generator housing 6 , and is arranged behind an instrument panel 8 which has an exit opening 10 for the airbag that is normally closed by a cover 12 . in order to minimize the time delay before inflation of the airbag , the cover 12 in front of the exit opening 10 is removed before the airbag is activated . to make this possible , the cover 12 is not forced open by the inflating airbag , as in the case of most known systems , but is removed by a means 14 which is independent of the airbag . the cover removal means 14 is activated by a separate sensor system 16 , which operates independently of a sensor system 18 provided for the activation of the airbag gas generator . the cover removal means 14 and the airbag gas generator are activated via a controller 20 , which is connected to the sensor systems 16 , 18 on the one hand and to the cover removal means 14 and an igniting device 22 of the gas generator on the other hand . in the case of the embodiment represented in fig1 the cover means 14 comprises a spring - biased pressed - together helical compression spring 24 , which is arranged behind the cover 12 and forces the cover 12 in the direction of the interior of the motor vehicle . for securing the rigid cover 12 , formed from a plastic material , the edge thereof on its lower side engages behind an adjacent edge 26 of the exit opening 10 to form there a pivot bearing about which the cover 12 is pivoted during opening . on the rest of its periphery , the edge of the covering 12 bears against the edge of the exit opening 10 on the side facing the interior of the motor vehicle . the cover 12 is held in its position , against the force exerted by the helical compression spring 24 , on its upper side by an actuation element 28 of a magnetic switch 30 , which serves as a locking mechanism . the helical compression spring 24 has one end press fit into a recessed annular groove 32 on the inner side of the cover 12 and its other end supported loosely against a fixed - in - place abutment 34 arranged behind the instrument panel 8 , so that the spring 24 and the cover 12 pivot downward upon activation of the magnetic switch 30 and a resultant drawing in of the actuation element 28 to clear the exit opening 10 . arranged between the lower edge of the cover 12 and the adjacent edge 26 of the exit opening 10 is a strap 36 , which prevents the cover 12 from being detached completely from the instrument panel 8 and coming into the vicinity of a front passenger . while the sensor system 18 for activating the airbag gas generator comprises a conventional accelerator sensor ( not shown ), which is arranged in the region of the center tunnel of the motor vehicle and responds when the braking acceleration of the motor vehicle during impact with a fixed or moving obstacle exceeds a predetermined value , the sensor system 16 cover removal means 14 comprises , in the case of the embodiment of fig1 and 2 , a sensor 40 , arranged in the region of the front bumper 38 of the vehicle . the sensor 40 responds when there is deformation of the bumper 38 and causes the controller 20 to excite a magnetic coil of the magnetic switch 30 and draw in the actuation element 28 . the sensor 40 , shown in fig2 comprises two elongate parallel electrical contact strips 44 , 46 , which are separated by a small distance of , for example , 0 . 1 to 2 mm by barriers 48 attached at the edges of the strips 44 , 46 . the two contact strips 44 , 46 , with the barriers 48 , are foamed - in in the vertical front wall 42 of the bumper 38 in the longitudinal direction of the wall , extending over virtually the entire length of the bumper . in the event of impact , the two contact strips 44 , 46 touch at one or more points , thereby closing a circuit which is arranged between the controller 20 and the contact strips 44 , 46 and is interrupted by the gap between the contact strips 44 , 46 . thereupon , the controller 20 activates the magnetic switch 30 , which has the consequence of opening the cover 12 . this means that the cover 12 is opened not only in the event of serious accidents but also even in the event of accidents where there is slight impact and the like . however , the cover 12 can be refitted quickly and easily , in that its lower edge is hooked behind the neighboring edge 26 of the exit opening 10 and the cover 12 is pressed into the closed position , shown in fig1 while pressing together the helical compression spring 24 . in another embodiment represented in fig3 the cover 12 is designed as a roller screen 50 which normally closes the exit opening 10 &# 39 ;. when the controller 20 receives a predetermined signal from the associated sensor system 16 , the screen 50 is opened by an electric motor with a reversible direction of rotation . the roller screen 50 comprises a plurality of parallel plastic slats 52 , which are connected to one another in an articulated manner and are pulled upward and clear the exit opening 10 when the electric motor is activated . the opposite extreme ends of the slats 52 are thereby drawn by two arcuate lateral guide rails 54 in the direction of two drive wheels 56 , which are arranged at the ends of the guide rails 54 and are connected to the output shaft of the electric motor . fastened to the uppermost slat 52 are two pulling strips 57 , which are wound around the drive wheels 56 . fastened to the lowermost slat 52 are two tensioning strips 58 , which run behind the side edge of the exit opening 10 when the latter is open , so that they do not hinder the exiting of the airbag . the tensioning strips 58 are respectively led over a deflection roller 60 and fastened to one end of a tension spring 62 . the other end of the spring 62 is hooked onto a fixed - in - place abutment 64 behind the instrument panel 8 . the two tension springs 62 are tensioned when the roller screen 50 is opened and pull the roller screen 50 back into the closed position when the direction of rotation of the electric motor is reversed . such a reversal in the direction of rotation takes place , for example , if after the elapse of a predetermined period of time following the activation of the electric motor no ignition of the airbag gas generator takes place . for this purpose , the controller 20 may include , for example , a timing circuit . instead of with the aid of an electric motor , the roller screen 50 may alternatively also be opened by means of a hydraulic or pneumatic cylinder , the cylinder rod of which pulls the roller screen 50 away from in front of the exit opening 10 when it extends or retracts and pushes it in front of the exit opening 10 again when it retracts or extends . since the opening of the roller screen 50 requires a little more time , the associated sensor system 16 has a contactlessly operating proximity sensor ( not shown ), which measures in a proximity zone of about 20 m in front of the vehicle the distance between the vehicle and an obstacle in the path of movement of the motor vehicle and at the same time determines the relative speed of the motor vehicle . proximity sensors for measuring the distance and the relative speed with the aid of the doppler known and described , for example , in german reference dt 29 49 183 or u . s . pat . no . 3 , 684 , 309 . the controller 20 in this case comprises a microprocessor with memory , in which there are stored minimum distances prescribed for each relative speed and if the distance becomes less have the consequence of activating the electric motor and consequently opening the roller screen 50 . since the proximity sensor of the sensor system 16 responds significantly before the acceleration sensor of the sensor system 18 serving for the activation of the airbag gas generator , the exit opening 10 has already been completely opened when the controller 20 receives from the sensor system 18 a signal which leads to the activation of the gas generator . the airbag can therefore be inflated without any time delay and leave very quickly through the exit opening 10 , cleared by the roller screen 50 , into the interior of the motor vehicle . if no activation of the gas generator of the airbag occurs , because a collision is either avoided or takes place only at a low speed which is below the limit value required for the activation of the airbag , the roller screen 50 is automatically closed again by the controller after the elapse of a preset period of time . in fig1 to simplify the representation , both sensor systems 16 , 18 and the controller 20 are shown behind the instrument panel 8 , but in practice they are fitted at the most suitable locations , as described above .	1
with reference to the above figures , the machine for forming sealing gaskets in crown caps comprises as dosage carousel 1 which rotates , by means of appropriate rotation means , such as for example motor means , advantageously actuated with continuous motion , about a vertical axis a . the carousel 1 bears a plurality of dosage units 2 distributed angularly and concentrically about the axis a . every dosage unit 2 can draw a dose of plastic material in the pasty state , for example supplied by an extruder , and place it inside a crown cap which is supported and rotated by the carousel 1 . in fig1 the reference numeral 3 indicates a cap and the numeral 4 indicates a dose of plastic material placed in the cap . each dosage unit supplies the dose 4 to a related cap in a known manner and is actuated vertically by an axial stationary cam ( not illustrated ) which extends concentrically about the axis a . the carousel 1 comprises a shaft 5 which protrudes upward from a stationary sleeve 6 in which it is rotatably supported . the sleeve 6 rises from the base of the machine , which is not illustrated . a cylindrical head 7 is rigidly rotationally associated with the upper part of the shaft 5 , and a horizontal disk 8 is centered and fixed therein . said disk 8 is star - shaped due to the presence , along its edge , of a series of semicircular recesses 9 which are angularly equidistant and are open outward . the recesses 9 are vertically aligned with respective dosage units 2 and have an edge machined complementarily to the outer contour of the caps . in particular , a seat 10 is defined in the edge and acts as support for the dentellated protruding lip which surrounds the caps . slots 11 are defined in the disk 8 and extend radially in the median plane of each recess 9 . the slots 11 are open at the upper face of the disk 8 and are connected to through openings 12 defined in the lower face of the disk 8 . a block 13 is fixed below the disk 8 at each slot 11 and has a notch 14 at the openings 12 . respective l - shaped levers 16 are articulated in a rocker - like manner in the notches 14 of the various blocks 13 by means of pivots 15 ; said levers have an arm 17 which extends downward and a radial arm 18 which continues upward , through the opening 12 , is perpendicular to the arm 17 and engages the slot 11 . the end of the arm 18 protrudes radially from the slot 11 and has a beak - shaped end 19 which is bent obliquely downward and extends so as to reach the seat 10 . a roller 20 is mounted at the lower end of each arm 17 and , by means of a traction spring 21 , is kept in tangential engagement on the profile of a radial cam 22 . one end of the springs 21 is coupled to the arms 17 and the opposite end is connected to a collar 23 which is rigidly associated with the shaft 5 . the cam 22 is centered and fixed at the top of the sleeve 6 and is thus stationary . a horizontal bracket 24 is fixed to the sleeve 6 below the cam 22 , and an element 26 is mounted thereon by means of spacers 25 and is locked by means of screws 27 ; the element 26 defines an upper horizontal surface which is arranged directly below the disk 8 . a channel 28 , open upward and external with respect to the disk 8 , is defined in the element 26 . the channel 28 constitutes an accommodation for a permanent magnet 29 the function whereof is to exert an attractive force on the caps which pass proximate thereto , so as to cause their extraction from their respective semicircular recesses and their insertion in respective recesses 30 of a transfer star 31 which transfers the caps 3 into a punching carousel 32 , where the dose 4 of pasty plastic material is pressed so as to form a layer which covers the bottom of the caps . the star 31 is constituted by a vertical shaft 33 which can rotate , by means of appropriate rotation means , about the axis b and is rotatably supported , by means of bearings 35 , in a sleeve 34 , which is also fixed to the base of the machine and therefore fixed relative to sleeve 6 ; a ring 37 is fixed at the enlarged top 36 of the sleeve 34 , and a radial cam 38 is centered on said ring 37 , is fixed by screws 39 and is co - planar to the cam 22 . the bearing 35 is locked against a shoulder of the shaft 33 by a tubular spacer 40 on which a bush 41 rests ; said bush 41 is provided with an external annular flange 42 . the bush 41 is rigidly associated with the shaft 33 by a key 43 and is locked axially by a disk 44 which is pressed against it by a screw 45 which is screwed to the head of the shaft 33 . a disk 46 is arranged on the flange 42 and is secured by screws 47 . the disk 46 is similar to the disk 8 and therefore has radial slots 48 defined in the median plane of the recesses 30 and engaged by the radial arms 49 of rockers 50 which , together with the other arms 51 , extend through openings 52 below the disk 46 . the rockers 50 are articulated by means of dowels 53 in blocks 54 which are fixed below the disk 46 . the ends of the radial arms 49 define beaks 55 which can retain the caps so that their dentellated protruding lip engages the seats 56 defined along the upper edge of the recesses 30 . the rockers 50 have rollers 57 which are kept in contact with the rim of the cam 38 by traction springs 58 which are connected between the arm 51 and the bush 41 . presetting the rotation of the carousel 1 in the clockwise direction c of fig2 the star 31 rotates in the counterclockwise direction d . the rotation rate of the carousel 1 and of the star 31 are chosen so that the tangential speeds of the disks 8 and 46 are identical . the carousel 1 and the star 31 are furthermore set in step so that the recesses 9 and 30 are arranged opposite at the point of tangency . as soon as the caps 3 are inserted in the recesses 9 by a suitable feeding device , the actuation imparted by the cam 22 causes the oscillation of the rocker 16 in the direction in which the beak 19 , by lowering , in cooperation with the disk 8 , clamps the dentellated edge of the cap 3 in the seat 10 . due to the semicircular configuration of the edges of the recesses 9 , the caps retained by the beaks 19 assume a perfectly horizontal arrangement . when the caps reach the angular position α ( alpha ) ahead of the point of tangency β ( beta ) between the carousel 1 and the star 31 , the rockers 16 are actuated in the direction of opening the beaks 19 , so that the caps , due to a centrifugal effect and to the attraction exerted by the magnets 28 , leave the recesses 9 and pass into the opposite recesses 30 , the beaks 55 whereof are in a raised position . when the caps are in the tangency position , the rockers 50 of the star 31 are actuated by the cam 38 and roller 57 engagement and , by means of the beaks 55 which are thereby lowered , retain the caps at a point which is diametrically opposite to the retention point of the beaks 19 . the caps then reach the punching carousel 32 , to which they are delivered after the lifting of the beaks 55 again actuated by the cam 38 and roller 57 engagement . during this transit , the caps pass above an appropriate inductor to facilitate the adhesion of the gasket on the internal surface . the substantial advantage of the device according to the invention is to be seen in the fact that the caps , contrary to what occurs in conventional cap manufacturing machines , do not slide in their supporting seats , so that the disadvantages mentioned above do not occur . the effects due to the size tolerances of the caps or to deformations thereof , which in conventional machines makes the passage of the caps from one carousel to the other critical , are furthermore minimized . the device according to the invention is not limited to application in a machine for manufacturing crown caps , but can be applied generally also in machines in which it is necessary to achieve the transfer of objects avoiding traction along a plane .	8
fig1 shows a color picture tube 10 having a glass envelope 11 comprising a rectangular faceplate panel 12 and a tubular neck 14 connected by a funnel 15 . the funnel 15 has an internal conductive coating ( not shown ) that extends from an anode button 16 toward the panel 12 and to the neck 14 . the panel 12 comprises a substantially cylindrical viewing faceplate 18 and a peripheral flange or sidewall 20 , which is sealed to the funnel 15 by a glass frit 17 . a three - color phosphor screen 22 is carried by the inner surface of the faceplate 18 . the screen 22 is a line screen with the phosphor lines arranged in triads , each triad including a phosphor line of each of three colors . a color selection tension mask 24 is removably mounted in predetermined spaced relation to the screen 22 . an electron gun 26 , shown schematically by dashed lines in fig1 is centrally mounted within the neck 14 to generate and direct three inline electron beams , a center beam and two side or outer beams , along convergent paths through the mask 24 to the screen 22 . the tube 10 is designed to be used with an external magnetic deflection yoke , such as the yoke 30 shown in the neighborhood of the funnel - to - neck junction . when activated , the yoke 30 subjects the three beams to magnetic fields which cause the beams to scan horizontally and vertically in a rectangular raster over the screen 22 . the tension mask 24 , as shown in fig2 and 3 , is attached to a peripheral frame 28 that includes two long sides 32 and 34 , and two short sides 36 and 38 . the two long sides 32 and 34 of the frame parallel a central major axis , x , of the tube ; and the two short sides 36 and 38 parallel a central minor axis , y , of the tube . the tension mask 24 includes an apertured portion that contains a plurality of metal strands 39 having a multiplicity of elongated slits 41 therebetween that parallel the minor axis of the mask . each slit 41 extends between the two long sides 32 and 34 of the mask 24 . as shown in greater detail in fig3 each of the two long sides 32 of the frame 28 includes a rigid section 40 and a compliant member 42 cantilevered from the rigid section . the rigid sections 40 are hollow tubes , and the compliant members 42 are metal plates . the compliant members 42 substantially parallel each other and may vary in height from the center of each section longitudinally to the ends of the sections , to permit the best tension compliance over the mask . each of the short sides 36 and 38 ( not shown ) has an l - shaped cross - section upper portion 44 parallel to and separated from a flat bar - shaped lower portion 46 . each compliant member 42 has a distal edge 48 to which the strands 39 of the tension mask 24 are attached . the distal edge 48 of at least one of the compliant members 42 has two sections 50 and 52 separated by a gap 54 therebetween . the two sections 50 and 52 include an inner section 50 and an outer section 52 . the mask 24 is glued to the inner section 50 and is welded to the outer section 52 . fig4 through 7 illustrate the steps taken to attach the mask 24 to compliant members 42 of the frame 28 . first , the mask 24 is stretched between the two compliant members 42 , as shown in fig4 . next , forces f 1 are applied to the compliant members 42 to move them slightly together , and glue 56 is applied to seal the mask strands 39 to the inner sections 50 of the compliant members 42 , as shown in fig5 . after the glue 56 has dried , the forces f 1 are changed to reduced forces f 2 , other forces f 3 are applied to the outsides of the outer sections 52 , and the mask strands 39 are attached to the outer sections 52 by welds 58 , as shown in fig6 . the sum of the forces f 2 and f 3 should be such that the joint produced by glue 56 is not substantially moved , while a light tension in the mask is maintained . the generated spring force between the inner and outer sections 50 and 52 should be similar to the desired final mask tension . once the mask is welded , a border 60 of the mask 24 is trimmed , and the forces f 2 and f 3 are released from the frame , as shown in fig7 . utilization of this two - attachment process ensures that the positions of the strands are maintained by the glue when the welds are made . to achieve the proper tension forces in the mask 24 along the entire length of the compliant members 42 requires either that the forces f 3 on the outer sections 52 of the cantilevered compliant members 42 be varied along the mask , or that the spring constant of the outer sections 52 be varied along the compliant members 42 . this latter technique of varying the spring constant can be achieved in many different ways . for example , the thickness of the outer section 52 can be varied either by machining , by moving the position of the gap 54 , or by varying the depth of the gap 54 . utilization of a tube design that allows for two step attachment of a tension mask , permits attachment of individual strands of a tension mask , while preventing misalignment of the strands relative to a mask frame . this advantage is achieved because the first step of gluing the strands 39 to the inner sections 50 holds the strands in place until they can be welded to the outer sections 52 . in one preferred embodiment , the rigid sections 40 of the long side members 32 and 34 are hollow square tubes of 4130 steel having a wall thickness of 0 . 175 cm . the thickness of the compliant members is determined by considering mask thickness , the flexibility of the total mask - frame assembly and the desired warp misregistration limits . in a further preferred embodiment , the compliant members 42 are plates of 4130 stainless steel that are 0 . 157 cm thick . the two l - shaped upper portions 44 are preferably of crs - 1018 steel having a thickness of 0 . 318 cm . the two bar - shaped lower portions 46 are preferably of 300 series stainless steel having a thickness of about 3 cm , which has a different coefficient of thermal expansion than does the crs - 1018 steel of the upper portions 44 . when the frame 28 is heated , the lower portions 46 expand more than do the upper portions 44 . although the rigid sections 40 have been shown as hollow square tubes , other preferred configurations , such as those having l - shaped , c - shaped or triangular - shaped cross - sections , are also possible for these sections . furthermore , although the short sides 36 and 38 of the frame 28 have been shown as having l - shaped cross - sections , other preferred configurations may be used , such as c - shaped , triangular shaped or box - shaped .	7
the manner in which the present invention operates may be more easily understood with reference to fig1 which is a block diagram of a permutation processor 20 according to the present invention . in general , processor 20 operates on the contents of a source register 15 having a number of packed data items . in the example shown in fig1 there are 4 items packed into each register . the items in source register 15 are shown at 11 - 14 . permutation processor 20 accepts an order word 26 which specifies the manner in which the data items in source register 15 are to be re - arranged to generate the data items in the target register 25 . in the preferred embodiment of the present invention , permutation processor 20 accepts an instruction specifying the target register , order word , and source register . permutation processor 20 supports both permutations with repetitions and permutations without repetitions . in a permutation without repetition , the data items in the source register are re - ordered in the target register ; however , no item is duplicated or eliminated . the rearrangement shown in fig1 is an example of a permutation without repetitions . in a permutation with repetitions , any data item may be duplicated or eliminated . suppose source register 15 contains the data elements “ abcd ”. a permutation without repetition of source register 15 would be “ bcad ”. an exemplary permutation with repetition would be “ cbbd ”. permutations with repetitions are specific instances of “ combinations ”. in a combination , the number of repetitions of each element is all that is important . that is , the ordering of each element is not important . for example , “ aabb ” and “ abab ” are the same combination , but different permutations with repetitions . the term permutation as used herein denotes both permutations , with and without repetitions , and combinations unless the context indicates otherwise . in one embodiment of the present invention , the order word is a list of the items in the target register in the order that the items are to appear in the target register . the number of bits in the order word depends on the maximum number of data items that can be packed into each register . in the example shown in fig1 the source and target registers have 4 data items each . to specify a data item that is one of four possible data items requires two bits . hence , in this example , the order word requires 8 bits which are organized as four two - bit sub - words . the items in the source register are labeled from 0 to n - 1 . the order word for the permutation shown in fig1 is shown at 26 . similarly , a combination rearrangement in which “ abcd ”→“ cbbd ” would be represented by an order word of ( 10 01 01 11 ). in this embodiment of the present invention , permutation processor 20 is implemented by utilizing a modification of a shifter that is present in the integer data path of almost all general - purpose computers . in the preferred embodiment of the present invention , the shifter is built from a plurality of stages of multiplexers . in a conventional shifter , each stage of multiplexers has the same control bits . the preferred embodiment of the present invention requires only that independent controls be established for each multiplexer in at least one of these stages . however , before describing the preferred embodiment of the present invention which utilizes the above - described modification of a conventional shifter , a somewhat simpler embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to fig2 which is a block diagram of an implementation of a permutation processor according to the present invention . this embodiment of the present invention is implemented with the aid of a single layer of multiplexers 45 . in this embodiment of the present invention , each sub - word in source register 55 is connected to each possible sub - word in target register 65 by a corresponding multiplexer . the source register sub - words are shown at 51 - 54 , and the target registers are shown at 61 - 64 . in this embodiment of the present invention , the multiplexers are associated with the target register sub - words , the multiplexers associated with target sub - words 61 - 64 being shown at 41 - 44 , respectively . each multiplexer is controlled by a different sub - word of an order register 75 which holds the order word described above . each multiplexer moves a sub - word . hence , if the sub - words are 8 - bits in length , each multiplexer is an 8 - bit wide multiplexer . while the embodiment shown in fig2 is relatively simple , its implementation on a conventional general purpose computer requires that additional hardware be added to the processing unit of the general purpose computer . as noted above , the preferred embodiment of the present invention achieves further advantages over the embodiment shown in fig2 by sharing the multiplexers that are already present in a conventional shifter , thereby eliminating the need to add additional multiplexers to the conventional computer design . to simplify the following discussion , a particular word size will be utilized ; however , it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that other word sizes may be implemented using the teachings of this example . consider a computer that utilizes 64 - bit words . a conventional shifter in such a computer can be implemented in 3 stages of 4 : 1 multiplexers as shown in fig3 at 100 . the first stage shifts the input by a multiple of 16 bits , i . e ., 0 , 16 , 32 or 48 bits . the second stage 185 shifts the input to that stage by multiples of 4 bits , i . e ., 0 , 4 , 8 , or 12 bits . the final stage 186 shifts the input by 0 to 3 bits in one bit increments . if the shifter is implemented as a 0 to 64 bit shift , the final stage shifts the input right by up to 4 bits . however , for simplicity , the following discussion will assume a 0 to 63 bit shift range . the first stage of shifter 100 is exactly the same as the simple embodiment of the present invention shown in fig2 for the case in which 16 - bit subwords are to be used in the permutation provided the conventional control lines are altered such that the multiplexer controls can be set to values that are determined by the contents of an order register . such an arrangement is shown in fig3 the first stage multiplexers 141 - 144 are controlled by the contents of order register 175 . when used as a permutation generator , the control lines of second and third stage multiplexers are set to zero . when used as a shifter , the order register is set to provide the same input to each of the first stage multiplexers , and the control lines of the second and third stages of multiplexers , shown at 185 and 186 , are set in the conventional manner . in the above discussion , it was assumed that the source register 155 and target register 165 were to divided into no smaller than 16 - bit subwords for the purpose of performing permutations . if smaller sub - words are needed and the full set of permutations are to be generated , then the preferred embodiment of the present invention utilizes a different embodiment of the shifter in which the shifter is re - designed such that the first stage of multiplexers can provide the permutations . for example , if 8 - bit subwords are to be used , then the 64 - bit shifter described above can be implemented as two stages of 8 : 1 multiplexers . the first stage would then be capable of generating the full set of permutations . if less than the full set of permutations is to be generated , then a design in which the second stage and / or third stage multiplexers are also utilized may be possible depending on the subset of permutations desired . in this design , the control lines of the multiplexers of the second , and / or , third stages are set such that , for at least one permutation in the set of allowable permutations , at least one of the multiplexers in these stages receives a different control signal than the other multiplexers in that stage . there are a number of permutations that are particularly useful in implementing mathematical computations that are often carried out as part of computer programs . these are summarized in table i , below . for the purposes of illustration , it is assumed that the source register is divided into 8 subwords denoted by “ abcdefgh ”. the shuffle and mix permutations treat the input register as two 4 - subword registers . the output register is assembled by alternately taking one sub - word from the first register and one from the second register . the alternate permutation moves every other subword to the output register and then moves the remaining subwords . the broadcast permutations repeat the same subword in all positions of the output register . while the above table lists only two of the possible broadcast permutations , it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that broadcast permutations may be implemented based on any subword in the input register . finally , the exchange permutation reverses the order of each pair of subwords . it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that other specialized permutations may be advantageously incorporated in the present invention . for example , conditional exchange permutations in which subwords are conditionally re - ordered depending on the value of a bit corresponding to each pair of subwords in the portion of the instruction that specifies the permutation may be implemented . this implementation allows any of 16 specific different permutations of 8 subwords to be specified with only 4 bits . the 16 permutations in question and the corresponding 4 bits are shown in table ii while the above described embodiments of the present invention utilize an order word that is contained in the instruction , embodiments in which the order word is indirectly specified are also possible . such embodiments are useful in cases in which the number of subwords is sufficiently large to preclude including the corresponding order word in an instruction because the length of order word would exceed the allowable length of an instruction . in such embodiments , the order word may reside in one or more registers whose identity is specified in the instruction . the order word can also reside in memory at an address specified in the instruction . finally , the order word can reside at a predetermined location . in this case , the instruction implicitly specifies the location of the order word . in embodiments in which the full set of permutations is not implemented , the implemented permutations may be numbered . the instruction , or register pointed to by the instruction , would then contain the number of the permutation . an appropriate mapping table would then be used to convert the permutation number into the equivalent order word . while the above described embodiments have been described in terms of an order word that is stored in a register , embodiments in which the order word does not actually reside in a register are also possible . in such embodiments , the bits of the order word are generated on the appropriate control lines of the multiplexers directly . for example , in the embodiments in which a subset of permutations is implemented , the mapping circuitry that translates the permutation number need only generate the corresponding logic signals for application to the multiplexers used to implement the permutation . in these embodiments , the “ order word ” exists only as a set of logic levels on the appropriate signal lines . while the above description has emphasized permutations in which at least one of the subwords in the output register is different from the corresponding subword in the input register , it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that the present invention also supports the identity permutation in which the input and output registers are identical . various modifications to the present invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art from the foregoing description and accompanying drawings . accordingly , the present invention is to be limited solely by the scope of the following claims .	6
i have found that problems of current overshoot and undershoot in the output of transistor current cells , which are switched by the phase opposite signals , are due to charging or discharging of the parasitic capacitances of the output transistor coupling its gate to its drain . these overshoots and undershoots cause excessive ringing on the current summing line , which limits the high speed performance of the dac . the cmos current switch 10 of fig1 provides an output current advantageously having reduced overshoots and undershoots . the current switch 10 includes a gate switching circuit 20 and a current cell circuit 30 . the current switch 10 is constructed to receive a binary input signal on input signal line 6 in the form of a logic 1 or a logic 0 , the values of which relate to digital voltage levels , for example , generally about 5 v and 0 v , respectively . in response to the applied logic input signal on line 6 , the current switch generates an output current signal 46 in which the current takes one of two values according to the logic value of the input signal on line 6 . the gate switching circuit 20 includes an input connection to the binary input signal line 6 , an inverter 22 and four transmission gate transistors , of which two are p - channel mos transistors 14 and 18 and two are n - channel mos transistors 12 and 16 . the transmission gate transistors are so - named in reference to their usage in switching the transmission of different voltage supplies to switches within the current cell circuit 30 . two constant voltage lines , 8 and 9 , are included in the gate switching circuit 20 . the voltages applied to lines 8 and 9 are substantially constant with the potential of the voltage 9 ( for example , 3 . 5 v ) having a greater magnitude than the potential of the voltage 8 ( 0 v ). the potential of the voltage 9 is less than the logic 1 voltage level of the binary input signal on line 6 ( for example , 5 v ). as is depicted in fig1 the binary input signal line 6 is applied to the gate of the n - channel mos transistor 12 and to the gate of the p - channel mos transistor 14 . the voltage 8 is applied to the drain terminal of the n - channel mos transistor 12 and the voltage 9 is applied to the source terminal of the p - channel mos transistor 14 . the source terminal of n - channel mos transistor 12 and the drain terminal of p - channel mos transistor 14 are coupled and applied to the gate of a p - channel mos transistor 26 within the current cell 30 in a manner to be described hereinafter so that the transistor 26 becomes conductive when the binary input signal on line 6 takes a logic level 1 and the transistor 26 becomes non - conductive when the signal takes a logic level 0 . the signal applied to the gate of transistor 26 may be termed a gating signal 34 , that reflects the same logic value as the binary input signal on line 6 . the logic value of the binary input signal on line 6 is inverted by the inverter 22 and then applied to the gate of the n - channel mos transistor 16 and to the gate of the p - channel mos transistor 18 . the voltage 8 is applied to the drain terminal of the n - channel mos transistor 16 and the voltage 9 is applied to the source terminal of the p - channel mos transistor 18 . the source terminal of n - channel mos transistor 16 and the drain terminal of the p - channel mos transistor 18 are coupled and applied to a p - channel mos transistor 28 within the current cell 30 , as will be related in the later discussion of that circuit . the transistor 28 becomes non - conductive when the binary input signal on line 6 takes a logic level 1 and the transistor 28 becomes conductive when the signal takes a logic level 0 . the signal applied to the gate of transistor 28 may be called an inverted gating signal 36 , having a complementary relationship to the binary input signal on line 6 . conventional current switch circuits employ transistors in the manner in which transistors 26 and 28 are employed . however , conventional current switch circuits drive the gates of such transistors with logic level signals of 0 v and 5 v . the substantial change in gate voltage from 0 v to 5 v logic level signals in conventional current switch circuits causes the output current to undershoot as the current changes from no conducted current to a constant current . fig2 graphically depicts the undershoot at point 51 of the solid - line electrical signal waveform 50 , in which the output current changes in time as the binary input signal is changed . the graph of fig2 is generated by the simulation of a conventional three - transistor ( p - channel mosfet ) current cell driven with full - scale phase - opposed gating signals , as it responds to a change from a zero level digital input signal to a full - scale signal . in the same manner , as is shown in fig3 a substantial change in gate voltage from 5 v to 0 v logic level signals in a conventional current switch circuit causes the output current to overshoot as the current changes from a constant current to no current ; see point 55 on line 54 . the phenomena of overshoot and undershoot are believed to result from parasitic capacitance of the mosfet devices in the three - transistor current cell . the parasitic capacitances of concern are a gate - channel capacitance c gc and a gate - drain capacitance c gd . as the gate of a p - channel mosfet is driven high , to a voltage greater than the mosfet threshold voltage , current begins to flow through the channel of the mosfet . unfortunately , the capacitive components c gc and c gd must charge , thereby causing an undershoot . similarly , as the gate is driven low , current flow begins to decrease . unfortunately , the capacitive components c gc and c gd must discharge , thereby causing an overshoot . the amplitude of the deviation in current caused by the overshoot and undershoot phenomena is related to the amplitude of the voltage driving the mosfet gate , so that lower amplitude driving signals result in output current signals with smaller amplitude overshoots and undershoots . by minimizing the amplitude of these current deviations , the current switch 10 of fig1 performs faster digital to analog signal conversion . the current switch 10 protects the gates of the p - channel mos current source transistors 26 and 28 from high logic level signals by interposing the transmission gate transistors 14 , 12 , 18 and 16 between the logic level binary input signal line 6 and gate terminals of the current source transistor 26 and 28 . although the signals applied to the gate terminals of the transmission gate transistors 14 , 12 , 18 and 16 vary within a full logic swing ( 0 v to 5 v ), these gates have a high impedance so that the gate terminals of the current source transistors 26 and 28 are protected from the full logic level signals . the voltage levels applied to the gate terminals of transistors 26 and 28 are thus limited to the range between the voltages 8 and 9 . voltages 8 and 9 are selected to provide a reduced voltage change applied to the gates of current source transistors 26 and 28 . the improvement in the undershoot and overshoot phenomena of the present invention , as is illustrated by a broken - line electrical signal waveform 52 of fig2 and a broken - line electrical signal waveform 56 of fig3 is partially a result of limiting the voltage applied to the gates of the steering transistors 26 and 28 . the current cell 30 also includes p - channel mos transistors 24 and 32 and operates as follows . a current - generating potential , such as that provided by the cmos circuit supply voltage line v dd 4o , is applied to the source terminal of the p - channel mos transistor 24 to source the current supplied by the circuit 30 . a constant predetermined current - setting bias voltage 42 is applied to the gate terminal of transistor 24 to set the level of the current flowing through the current cell 30 to a constant value . various suitable bias voltage generating circuits are well known in the art . the drain terminal of the transistor 24 is connected to the source terminals of the two p - channel mos transistors 26 and 28 , supplying a substantially constant current to node 44 . the gate terminal of the transistor 26 is coupled to the gating signal line 34 and the gate terminal of the transistor 28 is connected to the inverted gating signal line 36 so that the logic value of the signal applied to the gate of the transistor 26 is always opposite the logic value of the signal applied to the gate of the transistor 28 . the drain terminal of the p - channel mos transistor 28 is coupled to a reference potential within the cmos circuit , such as a ground potential . the drain terminal of the p - channel mos transistor 26 is coupled to both the source and the drain terminals of the p - channel mos transistor 32 , which are shorted to provide a suitable capacitive device . the gate terminal of the transistor 32 is connected to the inverted gating signal line 36 so that the phase of the signal applied to the gate of the transistor 32 is opposite that applied to the gate of transistors 26 . the p - channel mos transistor 32 is employed to compensate for the parasitic capacitances c gc and c gd of the p - channel mos transistor 26 . the transistor 32 is added to the circuit as a &# 34 ; dummy &# 34 ; device in series with the output transistor 26 . the source and drain terminals of transistor 32 are connected in a short - circuit and the signal applied to the gate of transistor 32 is in opposite phase with respect to the signal applied to the gate of transistor 26 . therefore , the charging and discharging of the parasitic capacitance of transistor 26 is compensated by the discharging and charging of the parasitic capacitance of the transistor 32 , so that the undershoots and overshoots are reduced and the switching speed of the current switch 10 is increased . the current switch 10 thus responds quickly to the logic level applied to the binary input signal line 6 . when a voltage of approximately 5 v ( logic 1 ) is applied to the input 6 of the gate switching circuit 20 , 5 volts is applied to the gate of the n - channel mos transistor 12 and to the gate of the p - channel mos transistor 14 , thereby causing the n - channel mos transistor 12 to become conductive and the p - channel mos transistor 14 to become non - conductive which , in turn , drives the p - channel mos transistor 26 to a conductive state so that the current from the transistor 24 flows through the transistor 26 to the output 46 . at the same time , the logic value on binary input 6 is inverted by the inverter 22 and a voltage of approximately 0 v is applied to the gate of the n - channel mos transistor 16 and to the gate of the p - channel mos transistor 18 , thereby causing the n - channel mos transistor 16 to become non - conductive and the p - channel mos transistor 18 to become conductive which , in turn , place the p - channel mos transistors 28 and 32 in a non - conductive state . alternatively , when the binary input signal on line 6 is logic level 0 , a voltage of approximately 0 v is applied to the gate of the n - channel mos transistor 12 and to the gate of the p - channel mos transistor 14 , thereby causing the n - channel mos transistor 12 to become non - conductive and the p - channel mos transistor 14 to become conductive which , in turn , set the p - channel mos transistor 26 in a non - conductive state , resulting in an output current 46 of zero . at the same time , a voltage of approximately 5 v ( logic 1 ) is applied to the gate of the n - channel mos transistor 16 and to the gate of the p - channel mos transistor 18 , thereby causing the n - channel mos transistor 16 to become conductive and the p - channel mos transistor 18 to become non - conductive which , in turn , drives the p - channel mos transistors 28 and 32 to a conductive state so that the current through the transistor 24 flows from the transistor 28 to the reference potential . although the invention has been described with reference to a particular embodiment , it is to be understood that the disclosed embodiment is merely illustrative of the application of the principles of the invention . numerous modifications may be made therein and other arrangements may be devised without departing from the true scope and spirit of the invention .	7
the present invention is concerned with a novel compound ( hereinafter referred to as xanthofulvin ) of the formula i , ## str4 ## or a salt thereof . xanthofulvin also occurs in a tautomeric form of the formula ## str5 ## the term xanthofulvin as used herein refers to both the enol form and the diketo tautomer . the present invention is also concerned with the use of xanthofulvin to treat or prevent fungal infections in mammals , humans and non - humans , for use as therapeutically active substances , a process for producing xanthofulvin , a microorganism capable of producing xanthofulvin , and chitin synthase 2 inhibiting compositions . chitin is a linear homopolymer of n - acetylglucosamine . it is commonly found in fungal cells and widely distributed in almost all fungal genera . chitin is a minor but an essential cell wall component for fungi and does not exist in mammalian cells . therefore it has been regarded as one of the most attractive targets for antifungals , though very few inhibitors have so far been found . polyoxins and nikkomycins are well known as chitin synthase inhibitors hut have not yet found clinical use . however , these compounds still draw much attention since the inhibitory activity against chitin synthase is specific and potent . recently three chitin synthases of saccaromyces cerevisiae were identified ( chitin synthase 1 , 2 and 3 ) where chitin synthase 2 ( chs 2 ) proved to be most critical among the three ( n . h . valdivieso , p . c . mol , j . a . shaw , e . cabib and a . duran . j . cell biol . 114 , 101 - 109 ( 1991 ); j . w . shaw , p . c . mol , b . bowers , s . j . silverman , m . h . valdivieso , a . duran and e . cabib . j . cell biol ., 114 , 111 - 123 ( 1991 )). polyoxin d and nikkomycin x were found to inhibit chitin synthase 1 ( chs 1 ) rather than chs 2 ( e . cabib . antimicrob . agents chemother ., 35 , 170 - 173 ( 1991 )) in accordance with the present invention it has been found that some specific microorganisms produce xanthofulvin having high chs 2 inhibiting activity . the physico - chemical properties of xanthofulvin obtained as described in the example given hereinbelow are as follows : ______________________________________appearance : yellow crystalsmelting point : 249 ˜ 251 ° c . ( dec .) molecular formula c . sub . 28 h . sub . 18 o . sub . 14 * hrfab - ms ( m / z ) ( m + h ). sup .+ : calcd . : 579 . 0775found : 579 . 0786uv λ . sub . max nm ( ε ): in meoh 239 ( 33 , 600 ), 317 ( 20 , 400 ), 400 ( 17 , 800 ) in meoh / 1n hcl ( 100 : 1 ) 240 ( 30 , 900 ), 313 ( 25 , 000 ), 365 ( 17 , 900 ) in meoh / 1n naoh ( 100 : 1 ) 233 ( 35 , 400 ), 383 ( 31 , 000 ) ir ν . sub . max ( kbr ) cm - 1 : 3430 , 1700 , 1600 , 1480 , 1360 , 1280solubility : soluble in dmso , meoh slightly soluble in h . sub . 2 o insoluble in n - hexane . sup . 1 h nmr ( 400 mhz , 2 . 37 ( 3h , s ), 2 . 72 ( 3h , s ), cd . sub . 3 od / cdcl . sub . 3 / dmso - d . sub . 6 4 . 67 ( 2h , br s ), 6 . 43 ( 1h , s ),( 2 : 1 : 1 ) used tms as an 6 . 97 ( 1h , s ), 8 . 03 ( 1h , s ) internal standard ) δ :. sup . 13 c nmr ( 100 mhz , 16 . 8 , 32 . 4 , 66 . 6 , 102 . 9 , 103 . 5 , cd . sub . 3 od / cdcl . sub . 3 / dmso - d . sub . 6 104 . 9 , 110 . 3 , 110 . 8 , 119 . 2 , 120 . 2 ,( 2 : 1 : 1 ) used tms as an 121 . 1 , 126 . 6 , 130 . 0 , 132 . 6 , 139 . 1 , internal standard ) δ : 139 . 3 , 141 . 6 , 151 . 0 , 152 . 4 , 154 . 1 , 154 . 7 , 156 . 5 , 168 . 6 , 168 . 8 , 171 . 1 , 173 . 6 , 184 . 4 , 202 . 5______________________________________ * hrfab - ms : high resolution fast atom bombardment mass spectrometry according to the process provided by the present invention , xanthofulvin is produced by cultivating a microorganism belonging to the genus eupenicillium capable of producing xanthofulvin under aerobic conditions in an aqueous culture medium and isolating xanthofulvin from the culture . the microorganism used in the foregoing process can be any strain ( including variants ) belonging to the genus eupenicillium capable of producing xanthofulvin . especially preferred strains are eupenicillium sp . nr7125 as well as variants thereof . eupenicillium sp . nr7125 was directly isolated from a fruiting body of marasmius sp . collected in hachijo - jima island , tokyo , japan , and identified as a strain belonging to the genus eupenicillium . the strain denoted as eupenicillium sp . nr7125 has been deposited with the fermentation research institute , agency of industrial science and technology , japan , under the budapest treaty on sep . 30 , 1991 as follows : eupenicillium sp . nr7125 ( ferm - bp no . 3588 ). the cultural characteristics and the morphological characteristics of eupenicillium sp . nr7125 ( ferm - bp no . 3588 ) are as follows : on czapek - yeast extract agar ( cya ), colonies grew rapidly attaining a diameter of 42 - 45 mm in 7 days at 25 ° c ., showing floccose in appearance and furrowed in a radiate pattern . mycelium is white . the conidiogenesis and ascocarp formation were not prominent so that it could not affect the color of the colonies . exudates or soluble pigments were not produced . reverse was in pale yellow ( cream yellow , munsell , 2 . 5y9 / 4 ). on malt extract agar ( mea ), colonies grew rapidly to reach 37 - 40 mm in diameter after 7 days , showing floccose appearance . mycelium was white . conidiogenesis was prominent particularly in the central area of the colonies , showing soft blue green ( munsell , 2 . 5bg7 / 4 ). abundant ascocarps were formed on the surface of the agar . exudates or soluble pigments were absent . reverse was pale yellow ( cream , munsell , 5y9 / 2 ). on 25 % glycerol - nitrate agar ( g25n ), colonies grew slowly showing compact and velutinous , and reached 16 - 17 . 5 mm in diameter in 7 days at 25 ° c . conidial production was not prominent . mycelium was white . reverse was cream yellow . pigment in agar was absent . on cya at 37 ° c ., colonies grew rapidly attaining a diameter of 29 - 33 mm . conidiophores were born from surface hyphae or aerial hyphae , smooth and thin walled , typically long and slender of 100 - 250 μm in length . they usually terminated in a verticil of 3 - 5 phialides ( monoverticillate ), but sometimes with one or two , rarely three metulae ( biverticillate ). metulae were mostly long and divergent , 10 - 20 × 2 - 3 μm . phialides were ampulliform , 8 - 12 × 2 - 3 . 5 μm , and abruptly tapered to the apical conidium bearing part . conidia were most often subglobose , 2 . 9 - 3 . 6 × 2 . 7 - 3 . 3 μm with finely roughened to verrucose walls , and born in short chain . ascocarps were pseudoparenchymatous cleistothecia , 100 - 250 μm in diam ., becoming white to cream , texture sclerotioid but soft , maturing in 3 weeks . asci were born singly , ellipsoidal , 8 . 4 - 11 . 7 × 6 . 8 - 7 . 2 μm . ascospores were hyaline , subspheroidal to broadly ellipsoidal , 2 . 9 - 3 . 5 × 2 . 6 - 3 . 1 μm , with walls echinulate but without flange . ascocarps were sclerotioid and surrounded by pseudoparenchymatous walls . penicillium - anamorph was readily observed on cya and mea . these characteristics clearly indicated that this strain , nr7125 ( ferm - bp no . 3588 ) was included in the genus eupenicillium ludwig . therefore , this strain was identified as eupenicillium sp . nr7125 . the cultivation in accordance with the process provided by the present invention can be carried out in a culture medium which contains customary nutrients usable by the microorganism being cultivated . as carbon sources there can be mentioned , for example , glucose , sucrose , starch , glycerol , molasses , dextrin and mixtures thereof . nitrogen sources are , for example , soybean meal , cottonseed meal , meat extract , peptone , dried yeast , yeast extract , cornsteep liquor , ammonium sulphate , sodium nitrate and mixtures thereof . moreover , there may be added to the culture medium other organic or inorganic substances for promoting the growth of the microorganism and for increasing the production of xanthofulvin , examples of such substances being inorganic salts such as , for example , calcium carbonate , sodium chloride , phosphates and the like . the cultivation is carried out under aerobic conditions in an aqueous medium , preferably by submerged fermentation . the cultivation is suitably carried out at a temperature of 20 °- 35 ° c ., the optimal temperature being 27 ° c . the cultivation is preferably carried out at a ph of 3 to 9 . the cultivation time depends on the conditions under which the cultivation is carried out . in general , it is sufficient to carry out the cultivation for 50 ˜ 200 hours . the isolation of xanthofulvin from the fermentation broth can be carried out according to methods known per se . for example , the mycelium can be separated from the fermentation broth by centrifugation or filtration and xanthofulvin can be extracted from the filtrate with a water - immiscible organic solvent such as alkanol e . g . n - butanol and esters e . g . ethyl acetate , butyl acetate etc . on the other hand , xanthofulvin contained in the separated mycelium can be obtained , for example , by extracting the mycelium with a solvent such as aqueous acetone or aqueous methanol , removing the solvent and further extracting the residue with a water - immiscible organic solvent . the thus - obtained solvent phase is dried with a dehydrating agent such as sodium sulphate etc . and then concentrated under reduced pressure . the resulting crude xanthofulvin can be purified by means of extraction methods , partition methods , precipitation methods , column - chromatographical methods ( using silica gel , aluminium oxide etc . as adsorbants ) or by means of molecular sieve methods . xanthofulvin is isolated as a free acid , but this can be , if required , converted into pharmaceutically acceptable salts such as sodium salt , potassium salt and calcium salt by conventional methods . inhibitory activity of xanthofulvin against chs 1 and chs 2 from saccharomyces cerevisiae was measured respectively . the overproducer employed for chs 1 was saccharomyces cerevisiae ( ura3 ) harbouring plasmid ( chsl , ura3 ). the cells were permeabilized with 0 . 5 % digitonin for 15 min at 30 ° c ., followed by treatment with trypsin at the final concentration of 100 μg / ml for 15 min at 30 ° c . after addition of trypsin inhibitor from soybean , 50 μl of 2 . 5 × 10 7 cells / ml was incubated for 1 hr at 30 ° c . with 40 μl of assay solution containing 50 mm mes ph 6 . 5 , 5 mm mg ( oac ) 2 , 32 mm n - acetylglucosamine and 0 . 1 mm [ 14 c ]- udp - n - acetylglucosamine , and 10 μl of sample solution . reaction was terminated with addition of tca and cells are collected on the filter and washed with 70 % aqueous ethanol containing 0 . 3m acetic acid . radioactivity of cells is counted with a liquid scientillation counter . amount of chitin formed was determined on the basis of radioactivity incorporated into the cells ( s . j . silverman , a . sburlati , m . j . slater and e . cabib . proc . natl . acad . sci . usa , 85 , 4735 - 4739 ( 1988 )). inhibitory activity of xanthofulvin against chs 1 was shown in table 1 . overproducer for chs 2 was a saccharomyces cerevisiae strain of disrupted chs 1 gene ( chs1 :: ura3 , leu2 ) with plasmid ( chs2 , leu2 ). assay method was the same as the one for chs 1 described above except for assay solution . assay solution for chs 2 contained 30 mm tris ( ph 7 . 5 ), 2 . 5 mm co ( oac ) 2 , 32 mm n - acetylglucosamine and 0 . 1 mm [ 14 c ]- udp - n - acetylglucosamine ( see : silverman et al . supra ). inhibitory activity of xanthofulvin was shown in table 1 . table 1______________________________________ ic . sub . 50 ( μm ) chs 1 chs 2______________________________________xanthofulvin & gt ; 200 2 . 2polyoxin d 0 . 26 10 . 3______________________________________ as shown in the above table 1 , xanthofulvin has high chs 2 inhibiting activity . thus , xanthofulvin can be used as an antifungal agent , e . g . for the treatment of or prevention of infections with candida sp . ( candidoses ). the novel xanthofulvin and salts thereof provided by the present invention can find use as medicaments , for example in the form of unit dose pharmaceutical preparations which contain them or their salts in admixture with an organic or inorganic inert carrier material suitable for enteral application , such as for example water , gelatine , gum arabic , lactose , starch , magnesium stearate , talc , vegetable oils , polyalkylene glycols etc . the unit dose pharmaceutical preparations can be present in solid form , e . g . as tablets , coated tablets , dragees or capsules , hard gelatine or soft gelatine , or in liquid form , e . g . as solutions , syrups , or suspensions . a dose unit may contain 10 to 200 mg of active ingredient . the daily dosage for an adult can be in the range from 10 to 400 mg and may be varied according to individual requirements which can be determined by those of ordinary skill in the art . the spore suspension from well grown slant of eupenicillium sp . nr7125 ( ferm - bp no . 3588 ) was inoculated into a 500 - ml erlenmeyer flask containing 100 ml of the medium consisting of glucose 2 %, glycerol 3 %, polypeptone ( nippon seiyaku ) 0 . 5 %, yeast extract ( nippon seiyaku ) 0 . 2 %, nacl 0 . 3 % and cac03 1 %. the flask was shaken at 220 rpm for 3 days at 27 ° c . two ml of the resultant culture was each transferred to fifty 500 - ml flasks containing the same medium above . the fermentation was conducted on a rotary shaker at 220 rpm at 27 ° c . after 5 day cultivation , the culture broth was subjected to the isolation procedure described below . the culture broth ( 5 liters ) was separated into filtrate and mycelium by centrifugation . the culture filtrate ( 3 . 2 liters ) was extracted with 2 liters of n - butanol at ph 9 . 0 , and the organic layer was discarded . the aqueous layer ( 3 . 1 liters ) was then extracted with 5 liters of n - butanol at ph 2 . 0 , and the organic layer was concentrated under reduced pressure . the concentrate ( 24 . 1 g ) was dissolved in 1 liter of methanol and partitioned with 2 liters of n - hexane . the methanol layer was then concentrated to dryness under reduced pressure , and the residue ( 24 g ) was triturated with 50 ml of methanol . after removal of the precipitates by filtration , the filtrate was subjected to a column chromatography on 10 . 5 liters of sephadex lh - 20 ( pharmacia ) using methanol as an eluent . the active fractions were combined and concentrated under reduced pressure to give a yellowish powder which was crystallized from methanol to give 32 mg of xanthofulvin as yellow crystals . the following example illustrates a pharmaceutical preparation containing xanthofulvin provided by the present invention : tablets each containing the following ingredients were manufactured in the conventional manner per se : ______________________________________xanthofulvin 100 mgstarch 26 mgcarboxymethylcellulose calcium 15 mgcrystalline cellulose 20 mgmagnesium stearate 4 mg 165 mg______________________________________	8
fig1 shows the feedback loop for the horn assembly . a variable speed shaded - pole type motor 10 is provided with a pulley 12 which is coupled by a belt 14 to a rotor 16 of the horn assembly 18 . the speed of rotation of the rotor 16 determines the pulsato rate for the horn assembly 18 . the shaft speed of a motor 10 is sensed by a suitable tachometer 20 . the tachometer 20 can be any one of several types . in the preferred embodiment , the tachometer is an optical sensor which provides a pulse output on line 22 for each tooth of the motor wheel or nineteen pulses per revolution . each pulse on line 22 is applied to a pulse shaper circuit 24 which comprises a resistor 26 , a transistor 28 , a voltage source connected through resistor 30 to the output of transistor 28 , a capacitor 32 and two diodes 34 and 36 . the pulse output of pulse shaper circuit 24 is applied to the filter circuit 38 . the filter circuit comprises resistors 40 and 42 and capacitor 44 . the pulse output of the filter circuit 38 has a pulse width , and if the speed of the motor is much less than that desired , the pulse output from filter 38 is narrow while if the speed of the motor is slightly less than that desired , the pulse output from filter 38 is wider and if the speed of the motor is greater than that desired , the pulse output from filter 38 is still wider . the pulse output of filter circuit 38 is applied to the positive input of pulse width modulator 46 . the operator has control of two switches 48 and 50 , for slow or fast operation , respectively , of the horn assembly . each switch is connected to a voltage divider circuit 52 which provides a different level signal at the output line 54 depending upon which input switch 48 or 50 is closed . the output line 54 from voltage divider 52 is connected as the negative input to pulse width modulator 46 . if the voltage level signal on line 54 is low , switch 48 closed for slow operation , the width of the pulse output of pulse width modulator 46 is greater than if the voltage level signal on line 54 is high , switch 50 closed for fast operation . the width of the output pulse on line 56 from pulse width modulator 46 is determined by the motor speed and the operator &# 39 ; s selection of slow or fast operation . the pulse output on line 56 is applied to integrator circuit 58 which comprises resistor 60 and capacitor 62 . the output of integrator 58 is a dc level signal on line 64 . the dc voltage output signal of integrator 58 is proportional to the pulse width of the signal on line 56 . accordingly , if the pulse width of the signal on line 56 is wide , the dc voltage output signal on line 64 is higher than if the pulse width of the signal on line 56 is narrow . the dc level output on line 64 is applied to the negative input of pulse width modulator 66 . the ac line voltage is full wave rectified in rectifier 68 and applied through coupling capacitor 70 to the input of clipper circuit 72 . the clipper circuit 72 comprises the resistor 74 and diodes 76 and 78 and limits the peak to peak swing of the rectified signal to 15 volts about a 7 . 5 volts axis . the clipped output signal is applied to the filter and phase shifter circuit 80 which comprises resistors 82 , 84 and capacitors 86 and 88 . the signal output of the filter and phase shift circuit 80 is applied as the positive input to the second pulse width modulator 66 . if the dc output voltage on line 64 from integrator circuit 58 is high , then the pulse output of the second pulse width modulator 66 is narrow and the triac circuit 92 is gated on for a short period of time . if the dc output voltage on line 64 from integrator circuit 58 is low , then the pulse output of the second pulse width modulator 66 is wide and the triac circuit 92 is gated on for a long period of time . the output of the second pulse width modulator 66 is applied on line 90 to a triac circuit 92 . the triac circuit also receives the ac signal and provides an output signal on line 94 to the motor . the amount of power provided to the motor on line 94 determines the speed of the motor . if the pulse from the second pulse width modulator 66 is wide , the triac circuit 92 is gated or triggered early in the ac cycle and power is applied from the point of triggering through the zero crossing point of the ac cycle . if the pulse from the second pulse width modulator 66 is narrow , the triac circuit 92 is gated or triggered later in the ac cycle and accordingly less power is applied on line 94 to the motor . fig2 shows the feedback loop for the drum assembly . a variable speed shaded - pole motor 100 is provided with a pulley 102 which is coupled by a belt 104 to a rotor 106 of the drum assembly 108 . the shaft speed of the motor 100 is sensed by a suitable tachometer 110 . the tachometer provides a number of pulses per revolution of the motor wheel on the output line 112 . each pulse on line 112 is applied to the input of a pulse shaper circuit 14 . the pulse shaper circuit 114 comprises an input resistor 116 , transistor 118 , a voltage source applied via resistor 120 to the output of transistor 118 , resistor 128 , capacitor 130 and diodes 132 and 134 . the output of transistor 118 is also applied via capacitor 122 , resistor 124 and transistor 126 to a turning detector circuit 136 . the turning detector 136 comprises a diode 138 , resistor 140 and capacitor 142 and provides a signal on output line 144 when the motor is turning . the output of the pulse shaper circuit 114 is applied to the input of a filter circuit 146 . the filter circuit 146 comprises resistors 148 and 150 and capacitor 152 and provides a pulse output on line 154 which has a width proportional to the motor speed with the slower the motor the wider the pulse width . the pulse signal on line 154 is applied to the positive input of pulse width modulator 156 . the operator can close switch 158a or 158b and apply through the voltage divider circuit 159 , a dc reference voltage on line 160 to the negative input of pulse width modulator 156 to indicate the desired speed of rotation of the drum . the pulse output signal of modulator 156 is proportional to the speed of the motor 100 . the output of pulse width modulator 156 is applied to the integrator 160 . the integrator comprises resistor 162 and capacitor 164 and provides a dc level output signal on line 166 . the dc level output signal on line 166 is applied as the negative input to pulse width modulator 168 . the full wave rectified ac signal which has been clipped , filtered and phase shifted and applied as the positive input to the second pulse width modulator of fig1 is also applied as the positive input to pulse width modulator 168 . the output pulse signal from the second pulse width modulator 168 is applied via diode 170 and resistor 172 to the input of triac circuit 174 . the width of the pulse determines the time delay of the triggering of the triac and accordingly the power applied to the motor . when the motor 100 is running at the desired speed and being supplied power then the output from pulse width modulator 168 charges capacitor 178 through diode 176 . the output of inverter 184 is low causing gate 186 to be nonconducting . if the motor 100 is turned off by opening both switches 158a and 158b or if the motor 100 is running at the fast speed and the operator selects the slow speed by opening switch 158b and closing switch 158a , the speed of the motor 100 must stabilize before additional power is necessary and accordingly there is no output from pulse width modulator 168 . under these circumstances the output from inverter 184 is high . the schmidt trigger 186 receives the high signal from inverter 184 and the half - wave rectified ac signal from half - wave rectifier 188 . the output of schmidt trigger 186 is a pulse for every positive cycle of the ac waveform . the output signal from schmidt trigger 186 is provided as an input to a second schmidt trigger 188 . the output signal on line 144 from the turning detector 136 is applied as the second input to the second schmidt trigger 188 . if the drum is rotating , the output on line 144 together with the signal output from schmidt trigger 186 cause the second schmidt trigger 188 to be conducting . when the second schmidt trigger 188 is conducting the output signal is a pulse on line 190 for every positive cycle of the ac waveform while the motor 100 is turning . the pulse on line 190 is applied to triac circuit 174 which causes a breaking signal to be applied to the motor 100 forcing the drum to stop rotating . accordingly , when the operator switches from fast to slow operation or from fast to stop operation or from slow to stop operation a breaking signal is applied to the motor 100 to prevent the drum from coasting and producing an undesirable drowning sound .	8
the inventors of the present invention have focused attention on the fact that some image recognition functions are suitable for a captured image while others are not suitable for it , depending on the captured image . the inventors have minutely examined what kinds of image recognizing processes are suitable for what kinds of captured images . in addition , the inventors have minutely examined indices for selecting image recognition functions to be applied to captured images . as a result of the examination , the inventors have found that using a visual field ratio of a target size in the captured image to the field - angle size of the captured image as an index for selecting an image recognizing function makes it possible to perform an image recognizing process suitable for a captured image . an aspect of the present invention includes ; estimating the ratio of a target size in a captured image to the field - angle size of the captured image ; selecting at least one candidate of an image recognition application based on the estimated ratio ; and executing an image recognition application selected from among the candidate applications . a method of detecting a ratio of a target size in a captured image to the field - angle size of the captured image is not limited especially . however , the following embodiment describes a method using the visual field ratio of a camera as the ratio . this is based on focusing attention on the general phenomenon of decreasing a ratio of a target size in a captured image to the field - angle size of the captured image with an increase in the visual field angle of a camera , and decreasing the ratio of the size of the target in the captured image to the field - angle size of the captured image with an increase in a distance from the camera to an object for imaging , as illustrated in fig1 . the following embodiment explains an exemplary case where a target for recognition is a person . however , the target may not be a person and may be , for example , a vehicle or other objects . the embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings . fig2 a and 2b illustrate the configuration of the present embodiment described in association with the visual field ratio of the camera and captured images p 1 to p 5 . fig2 a illustrates the relationship between captured images p 1 to p 5 and the visual field ratio of the camera . fig2 b is a block diagram illustrating the configuration according to the present embodiment . as is apparent from fig2 a , the target size ( the size of the person appearing in the example of fig2 a ) in the captured image to the image size of the captured image increases with an increase in the visual field ratio . fig3 illustrates the relationship among the visual field angle of the camera , a distance from the camera to the object ( target ) for imaging , and the visual field ratio . as is apparent from the drawing , the visual field ratio for an equal visual field angle increases with a decrease in a distance from the camera . as illustrated in fig2 b , captured image recognition system 10 of the present embodiment includes camera section 20 , process selecting section 30 , image recognition processing section 40 , user terminal 50 , and zoom control section 60 . image recognition processing section 40 is provided in a server apparatus . alternatively , image recognition processing section 40 may be provided in camera section 20 . process selecting section 30 is provided in the server apparatus . alternatively , process selecting section 30 may be provided in camera section 20 or user terminal 50 . image recognition processing section 40 holds multiple application programs ( hereinafter also referred to as application simply ) for implementing multiple image recognition functions , and executes an image recognition application selected by a user from among the multiple image recognition applications . in the present embodiment , image recognition processing section 40 stores applications performing congestion detection , person detection , movement recognition , facial recognition , visual - line estimation , movement - line detection , cloth search , sex / age estimation , and facial - expression estimation as the image recognition applications , and executes the respective applications in congestion detecting section 41 , person detecting section 42 , movement - recognition section 43 , facial - recognition section 44 , visual - line estimation section 45 , movement - line detecting section 46 , cloth search section 47 , sex / age estimation section 48 , and facial - expression estimation section 49 . each application includes a set visual field ratio suitable for the operation of the application . the set visual field ratio is beforehand determined based on , for example , experiments or the property of application . alternatively , a suitable visual field ratio varies depending on the resolution of the camera and may therefore be changed appropriately depending on resolution information on the camera . for example , since the face of the person can be electronically expanded if the resolution is high even in the case of a low visual field ratio as illustrated in p 2 of fig2 a , the proper range of facial - recognition section 44 may be extended in the direction in which the visual field ratio decreases . process selecting section 30 selects a candidate of an image recognition application which is properly executable for the current captured image from among multiple image recognition applications which are executable in image recognition processing section 40 , and presents these candidate applications to the user . process selecting section 30 receives captured image s 1 from camera section 20 at visual - field - ratio estimation section 31 . visual - field - ratio estimation section 31 estimates the visual field ratio of camera section 20 using captured image s 1 . in present embodiment , visual - field - ratio estimation section 31 performs a person detecting process and a face detecting process , and estimates the visual field ratio based on the detected person size and face size . for example , the visual field ratio can be estimated based on the person size and face size relative to field - angle size of captured image s 1 . specifically , the visual field ratio may be estimated to be smaller for a lower ratio of the person size or face size to the field - angle size . however , how a visual field ratio is estimated is not restricted to this method . for example , a person detecting process and a face detecting process may be performed to estimate a visual field ratio based on the degree of success or failure of each detecting process . for example , a visual field ratio α may be estimated to be small for a higher success rate of the person detection and to be large for a higher success rate of the face detection . moreover , person detecting processes using multiple templates having different sizes may be performed to estimate a visual field ratio based on the degrees of success or failure of the detecting processes using the respective sizes . for example , by using three templates having respective large , medium , and small sizes , a visual field ratio may be estimated to be larger for a higher success rate of the person detection with the large template and to be smaller for a higher success rate of the person detection with the small template . for example , visual - field - ratio estimation section 31 may also estimate a visual field ratio based on a parameter from camera section 20 . specifically , the visual field ratio can be found from information on the visual field angle of the camera and information on a positional relationship ( distance ) between the camera and the target , by using the relationship illustrated in fig1 . estimated visual field ratio α is sent to candidate application selection section 32 . application selection section 32 selects a candidate of an image recognition application based on visual field ratio α . a candidate of an image recognition application is defined as an image recognition application which is properly executable for the current captured image among multiple image recognition applications which are executable in image recognition processing section 40 . fig2 b illustrates which image recognition application is suitable for which visual field ratio . the exemplary case of the drawing illustrates that image recognition application processes suitable for visual field ratio α1 are congestion detection , person detection , movement recognition , and movement - line detection . therefore , candidate application selection section 32 selects , for visual field ratio α1 , congestion detection , person detection , movement recognition , and movement - line detection as the candidates of image recognition applications . in the above description , the zoom magnification of the camera is fixed . however , when the zoom magnification is variable , the visual field ratio also varies as the visual field angle of the camera is changed . fig2 b illustrates visual field ratio α1 indicated by a straight line . however , when the zoom magnification of the camera is variable , α1 may be indicated by a straight line having a width in the right and left direction , the width corresponding to the zoom range . the information on the candidate application selected by candidate application selection section 32 of process selecting section 30 is sent to display section 51 of user terminal 50 as proper process recommendation information s 2 . thereby , the candidates of the image recognition applications which are properly executable in image recognition processing section 40 are displayed for the current captured image on display section 51 , and the user can select , from among the candidates , an image recognition application which the user intends to execute . in addition to selecting candidate applications , candidate application selection section 32 may display the rankings of the selected candidate applications . that is , as illustrated in fig2 b , each image recognition application includes an effective visual field ratio in a visual field region which allows an intended application to be executed , and a proper visual field ratio in a visual field region which allows the application to be executed more properly in the effective visual field ratio . the proper visual field ratio is included in the range of a part of the effective visual field ratio . candidate application selection section 32 may judge whether the selected candidate application is a merely executable application or a properly executable application , and cause display section 51 to display the result . for example , a merely executable application may be displayed in a “ utilizable application list ,” and an application which can be more properly performed may be displayed in a “ proper application list .” in practice , the user selects an image recognition application that he or she wishes to execute , while browsing image recognition applications displayed on display section 51 , and inputs the selection result through input section 52 . the information on the selected image recognition application is sent out to image recognition processing section 40 . image recognition processing section 40 then executes the image recognition application selected by the user . the information on the image recognition application selected by the user is also sent to zoom control section 60 . zoom control section 60 controls the zooming ( focal length ) so that the visual field ratio of camera section 20 can be optimal for the selected image recognition application . for example , when congestion detection is selected by the user as an image recognition application under visual field ratio α1 as illustrated in fig2 b , a visual field ratio smaller than α1 is more preferred for congestion detection . therefore , zoom control section 60 controls the zooming so that the visual field ratio ( visual field angle ) can be smaller than its current value . next , operations of captured - image recognition system 10 will be described with reference to fig4 . first , initial setting for camera section 20 is performed at step st 11 . at step st 12 , camera section 20 captures an image . at step st 13 , visual - field - ratio estimation section 31 estimates visual field ratio α . in step st 14 , the estimated visual field ratio α is stored . estimated visual field ratio α may be stored , for example , in a memory provided in visual - field - ratio estimation section 31 . meanwhile , captured - image recognition system 10 starts an image recognition selection process at step st 21 . first , candidate application selection section 32 acquires a list of image recognition applications from image recognition processing section 40 at step st 22 . the list of image recognition applications is a list of the image recognition applications executable in image recognition processing section 40 . in the example of fig2 b , the image recognition application list includes congestion detection , person detection , movement recognition , facial recognition , visual - line estimation , movement - line detection , cloth search , the sex / age estimation , and facial - expression estimation . at step st 23 , candidate application selection section 32 selects at least one or more image recognition applications suitable for current visual field ratio α from the image recognition application list , and causes display section 51 to display the selected image recognition applications as a “ candidate application .” in the example of fig2 b , since an image is captured with visual field ratio α1 , display section 51 displays that congestion detection , person detection , movement recognition , and movement - line detection are executable . at step st 24 , an image recognition application is selected by the user using input section 52 . at step st 25 , in order for image recognition processing section 40 to execute an image recognition application selected by the user , an image recognition application program is acquired from the outside of the system through a network , or a module is changed to the selected image recognition application program when the programs are held beforehand . at step st 26 , zoom control section 60 controls the zoom of camera section 20 so as to set a visual field ratio optimal for the image recognition application selected by the user . at step st 27 , camera section 20 captures an image . at step st 28 , image recognition processing section 40 performs an image recognition process with the image recognition application selected by the user . in this embodiment , it is preferable to cause display section 51 to display availability of an equipment resource in addition to candidate applications because the user can use the information as an index for selecting an image recognition application . fig5 a and 5b illustrate an example display of availability of equipment resources . fig5 a illustrates availability of equipment resources when one image recognition application is selected ( for example , when person detection is selected ). fig5 b illustrates availability of equipment resources when two image recognition applications are selected ( for example , when person detection and movement - line detection are selected ). the user can view availability of equipment resources to thereby find the remaining quantity of an equipment resource . this can be used as an index for selecting an image recognition application . fig6 illustrates a procedure for performing the display of availability of an equipment resource . in fig6 , the same processes as those in fig4 are assigned the same reference signs as those in fig4 . the procedure in fig6 is configured by adding steps st 30 , st 31 , and st 32 to the procedure in fig4 . at step st 30 , the availability of equipment resources is displayed as illustrated in fig5 . step st 31 judges a resource required to execute the image recognition application selected at step st 24 . this judgment may be made by , for example , candidate application selection section 32 sending a query to image recognition processing section 40 ( for example , a server ). in step st 32 , whether or not selection of application is completed is judged . if the selection is not completed ( step st 32 ; no ), the process returns to step st 30 . in step st 30 , the availability of an equipment resource obtained by adding the required resource judged at step st 31 is displayed in addition to the resource processed at previous step st 30 . that is , if the contents displayed at previous step st 31 are something like fig5 a , the contents displayed in step st 31 will be something like fig5 b . next , a favorable network configuration of captured - image recognition system 10 will be described with reference to fig7 and fig8 . here , elements corresponding to those in fig2 b are assigned the same reference signs in fig7 and fig8 . the network configuration in fig7 is an example configuration in which a network camera downloads and uses an image recognition application program through a network . the network configuration in fig7 includes server 100 , network camera ( nw camera ) 200 connected to server 100 in a network , and user terminal 50 . user terminal 50 may be provided in network camera 200 , may be provided in server 100 , or may be provided independently of network camera 200 and server 100 . however , user terminal 50 need be linked with network camera 200 in order to be provided independently . server 100 includes candidate application selection section 32 , application database ( application db ) 101 storing image recognition application programs , proper process recommendation query section 102 , receiving section 103 , and transmitting section 104 . network camera 200 includes camera section 20 , visual - field - ratio estimation section 31 , image recognition processing section 40 , transmitting section 201 , receiving section 202 , and download application accumulation section ( dl application accumulation section ) 203 . after camera section 20 obtains captured image s 1 , visual - field - ratio estimation section 31 a estimates and then transmits visual field ratio α to server 100 through transmitting section 201 . server 100 receives visual field ratio α through receiving section 103 . candidate application selection section 32 selects candidates of image recognition applications based on visual field ratio α and sends the selected candidates of image recognition applications to proper process recommendation query section 102 . processing recommendation query section 102 causes display section 51 of user terminal 50 to display the selected candidates of image recognition applications . moreover , proper process recommendation query section 102 receives information on an image recognition application selected by the user , from input section 52 of user terminal 50 and transmits the image recognition application program selected by the user to network camera 200 through transmitting section 104 . network camera 200 receives the image recognition application program by receiving section 202 and accumulates the received program in download application accumulation section 203 . image recognition processing section 40 performs an image recognition process using the image recognition application program downloaded in download application accumulation section 203 . in the example network configuration of fig8 , the network camera captures an image , and the server performs almost all of the other processes . in the configuration of fig8 , network camera 400 transmits captured image s 1 obtained by camera section 20 to server 300 through transmitting section 401 . server 300 receives captured image s 1 at receiving section 303 , and inputs the received image to visual - field - ratio estimation section 31 and image recognition processing section 40 . visual - field - ratio estimation section 31 estimates visual field ratio α , and candidate application selection section 32 selects candidates of image recognition applications suitable for visual field ratio α . processing recommendation query section 302 causes display section 51 of user terminal 50 to display the selected candidates of image recognition applications . moreover , proper process recommendation query section 302 receives information on an image recognition application selected by the user , from input section 52 of user terminal 50 , and sends this information to image recognition processing section 40 . image recognition processing section 40 reads the image recognition application program selected by the user from application database ( application db ) 301 , and performs an image recognition process on captured image s 1 using this image recognition application program . example applications ( business models ) implementable by applying the configuration of the present invention will be described . when multiple image recognition application programs are sold as packaging software , users have to single - handedly select an image recognition application program considered to be suitable for , for example ; how a camera is mounted , from multiple image recognition application programs , and has to perform performance evaluation of image recognition . if a user selects a wrong image recognition application program at this time , the performance of the image recognition cannot be evaluated in the optimal combination of the mounted camera and the prepared image recognition application program . in contrast to this , by using the configuration of the present embodiment , the users of a camera just need to purchase packaging software including multiple image recognition application programs , and an image recognition application program suitable for the camera is selected by visual - field - ratio estimation section 31 and candidate application selection section 32 without the need for users to select the image recognition application program suitable for the camera . consequently , the performance evaluation using the image recognition application program suitable for the current camera state can be performed . as a result , for example , a user planning the purchase of a camera and an image recognition application program can consider the performance evaluation suitable for the camera state as the index of the purchase . fig9 a and 9b illustrate examples in which the processes of the present embodiment are applied to packaging software including image recognition applications for congestion - degree detection , movement - line detection , and the sex / age estimation . fig9 a illustrates a case where a surveillance camera is mounted at a position near a monitored region ( imaged region ). at this time , based on a visual field ratio , image recognition applications for movement - line detection and the sex / age estimation are selected and executed . fig9 b illustrates a case where a surveillance camera is mounted at a position distant from a monitored region ( imaged region ). at this time , based on a visual field ratio , image recognition applications for congestion - degree detection and movement - line detection are selected and executed . as described above , the present embodiment includes visual - field - ratio estimation section 31 , candidate application selection section 32 configured to select candidates of image recognition applications based on an estimated visual field ratio , and image recognition processing section 40 configured to execute an image recognition application selected by a user from the candidate applications . thereby , the image recognition application suitable for the current captured image can be presented to a user and causes the user to execute a proper image recognition application . accordingly , the performance of the image recognition function can be sufficiently elicited . in addition , process selecting section 30 in the above - described embodiment can be constituted by a computer such as a personal computer including a memory and cpu . the function of each component constituting process selecting section 30 can be implemented by the cpu reading and executing a computer program stored on the memory . the disclosure of japanese patent application no . 2011 - 006832 , filed on jan . 17 , 2011 , including the specification , drawings and abstract , is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety . the present invention is suitable for a case where an image recognition process is applied to an image captured by a camera such as a surveillance camera and an in - vehicle camera .	7
referring generally to the drawings and , in particular , to fig1 and 2 thereof , a tubeless pneumatic tire is indicated generally at 10 as consisting of an expandable or inflatable tire carcass 11 having the usual bead portions , as at 11a , for airtight engagement , when the tire carcass 11 is inflated as in the aforementioned fig2 against the rim of a wheel ( not shown ), and , in a novel combination therewith , the unique reversible , replaceable tire tread belt , indicated at 12 , taught by the present invention . when it is desired to install or replace the inventive tire tread belt 12 , its tire carcass 11 is deflated , as illustrated in fig1 and the said tire tread belt , which is of an elastic configuration , though largely non - expandable due to its use of the reinforcement and retainer plys , indicated generally at 13 and 13a , is placed in a proper position directly over the carcass 11 , as is clearly illustrated . of course , where a replacement tread belt is desired , the old tread belt is first removed and then replaced by a new one . thereafter , as is the conventional practice , the tire carcass 11 is inflated to thereby expand radially outwardly for a firm , non - slipping contacting engagement against the inside surface of the tread belt 12 , as is clearly depicted in fig2 . a representative example of the replaceable tread tire exhibiting the foregoing action may be seen in the previously - referred to u . s . pat . no . 3 , 578 , 052 , issued to a . v . petersons on may 11 , 1971 . in accordance with the unique teachings of the present invention , the above - referred to tire tread belt 12 is improved over more conventional replaceable tread tires in current vogue , which most generally have only one side of the tread belt used as a wearing surface , by molding different tread patterns on both the inside and outside surfaces of the tire tread belt 12 . in this regard , although the broad concept of using two tread surfaces on a replaceable tread belt is disclosed in fig5 of the already mentioned u . s . pat . no . 1 , 897 , 974 , issued to g . wolf on feb . 14 , 1933 , it is again to be emphasized that the present invention constitutes a still further improvement over the conventional replaceable tread belt by not only incorporating more than one tread surface but , in addition thereto and as indicated hereinabove , incorporating two different tread patterns , as is exemplified and represented by the reference numerals at 14 and 15 in fig1 and 2 respectively for the outside and inside surfaces thereof . with the use of two different tread patterns , as at 14 and 15 , on the inventive tread belt 12 being molded to the outside and inside surfaces thereof as noted hereinbefore , as for example by means of a segmented mold to impart the different tread patterns during curing , conventional tire tread compounds , fabric tread reinforcements , breakers and / or retainer plys can be used . naturally , with the use of the unique double and differently treaded , tread belt 12 of the present invention , not only does the present arrangement generally have the inherent advantage of offering increased tread life , as in the case of the tread belt taught in the aforementioned u . s . pat . no . 1 , 897 , 974 , but , in addition , by reversing the present tread belt 12 from the outer to the inner surface thereof or vice versa to bring one or the other of the different tread patterns , as exemplified at 14 or 15 ( fig1 and 2 ) into ground contact , the particular tread surface that is most or best suited to the particular ground surface and / or prevailing weather conditions may be thereby quickly utilized . with specific reference to fig3 - 6 , inclusive , the quickness with which a tire change can be accomplished in a matter of minutes to bring the present invention into operation may be initiated by , of course , deflating and thus contracting the expandable tire carcass , as at 11 in fig1 and thereafter removing and reversing the reversible , replaceable tire tread belt 12 , as seen in the first step of fig3 with the reversing or turning inside out thereof being further schematically depicted by the arrows at a and b . next , the now - reversed thread belt 12 , seen in perspective and cross - section in fig4 and 4a , is positioned directly over the shoulder ridges 16 and 17 of the tire carcass 11 , as is indicated in fig5 . finally , the tire carcass 11 is reinflated to contact and grip the inside surface of the tread 12 , as is clearly disclosed in fig6 . a portion of a wheel on which the inventive tire may be mounted is shown schematically at 18 in both fig5 and 6 with the tire bead portions held firmly against the wheel rim 18a . it is noted that the present reversible , replaceable tire belt 12 of the present invention can be mounted on any expandable type pneumatic tire carcass regardless of the ply orientation or specific cross - section . thus , a new and improved all purpose , all - weather , replaceable tread belt - pneumatic carcass tire has been developed by the present invention whereby there is ensured the dual advantages of the simple and quick replacement of a worn - out or damaged tread and the relatively easy reversal of the tread belt to one or the other of its different tread patterns for placing on the ground the tread best suited for the particular ground surface or the prevailing weather conditions . with the use of the inventive tread belt , the need for carrying spare tire bands on - board for specifically providing for their use on both rough and paved fields , for example , in the case of aircraft , is eliminated or , at least , substantially reduced , as is the requirement for providing for separate tires both for conventional and bad weather use , such as in snow or rain . this , then , substantially reduces the procurement and thus cost of new tires , retreads or new bands , and the storage space and transportation and maintenance costs that are normally associated with conventional tires would likewise be greatly reduced by the use of the inventive tread belt .	1
in terms of the network environment in which the invention operates , pbxs , acds , modem banks and other devices are frequently connected to their serving central telephone offices ( or switches ) 150 and 160 by means of a digital carrier system 30 . typically these are t1 systems , though very large installations may use t3 systems . if an originating device 130 such as a telephone , or modem , is served by a serving central office 20 which is an analog office such as a 1ess office , then the analog line side circuits are connected to the digital carrier system 40 where they are digitized and combined into a single outgoing data stream . if calls to such destinations originate in an office other than their ( analog ) serving office , they nearly always are digitized and sent over carrier systems to the trunk side of the analog office . ( the transmission path is discussed in terms of a left to right direction in fig2 but it will be understood that transmission in the opposite direction is also contemplated ). as noted , this causes each originating signal 80 to be quantized twice , once at first digitizer 40 ( which may be embedded in a conventional d channel bank , 180 and once at second digitizer 60 ( which may be embedded in conventional d channel bank , 110 ). that , in gereral , doubles the quantizing noise , as understood be persons skilled in the art . the doubled quantizing noise lowers perceptible voice quality slightly , but ordinary telephone users are not likely to notice or be concerned . however , double quantization noise often reduces signal quality enough so that high speed modems are forced to revert to a lower speed . by way of broader motivation , these problems occur not only in places where modem banks are connected to line side t1 channel banks , but also in cases where a nonintegrated slc ( subscriber loop carrier ) systems are used to carry modem traffic . voice quality aleo deteriorates , but as noted a 3 db loss isn &# 39 ; t practically significant . pbxs connected via t1 lines to an analog office have the same problem . mu - law pulse code modulation ( pcm ) uses a floating point number with a sign bit , a 3 bit exponent and a 4 bit fraction to represent signal levels . thus , high level signals are quantized more coarsely than low level signals . ( one can alternatively think of this as linearly quantizing the logarithmically companded signal .) this property of mu - law pcm ( and a law as well ) means that the signal to noise ratio is approximately constant as a function of signal level , and that the higher level signals contribute nearly all the quantizing noise . ( see transmission performance of μ ˜ 255 quantization in a local digital office , g . k . mcness , bell technical system journal , dec . 1980 vol . 59 , no . 10 , pp . 1943 - 1964 , incorporated by reference ). data signals tend to be of a much higher level than voice signals . they typically have levels on the order of - 16 dbm . for high level signals a conventional d4 channel bank produces a signal to noise ratio of approximately 39 db , as known in the art . if the reconstructed analog signal ( converted to analog by intermediate d / a converter 50 ( one side of a d channel bank ) and switched by following switch 150 ) is resampled with a clock that is randomly phased with respect to the clock with which the signal was originally sampled , the same quantizing noise can be expected to be produced , again . this results in a signal to noise ratio that is 3 db worse than the original , that is , 36 db . a typical analog line produces a constant average noise level . the average value in one published empirical survey was - 7 dbrnc =- 97 dbmc . ( c is for c message weighting that multiplies the signal by a frequency dependent weighting function that is 0 db at 1 , 000 hertz and falls to about - 10 db near the edges of the voice band ). given an original signal with signal to noise ratio of 39 db and a signal level of - 10 dbm , adding in a noise level of - 97 dbmc changes the overall signal to noise ratio by less than 0 . 01 db . this analysis only counts metallic noise . cross talk must also be considered , but as known in the art , it is normally much smaller than the metallic noise and can be ignored to a first , but good , approximation . ( see for example telecommunications transmission engineering , volume 3 , networks and services , second edition , copyright at & amp ; t , 1977 , page 59 , incorporated by reference .) further , this ignores the cross talk that occurs in the quantizing filter . this cross talk is at a much higher level than that in the typical loop , as understood by persons skilled in the art . thus the signal to noise ratio is more than 2 . 99 db worse for a second , randomly phased quantization than it is for using a typical analog loop after converting back to analog . for modems that are pushing the envelope of the capacity of a voice grade channel to accurately deliver data , this much signal to noise penalty will likely result in a speed backoff ( for instance , to 26 . 4 kbs for a 28 . 8 kbs modem ). note that if the clocks of both quantizers ( 40 and 60 ) are synchronized in frequency , then if they are accidentally in phase , or nearly in phase ( with respect to the analog signal they see ), the noise penalty for the second quantization is substantially less than 3 db . thus a small number of the lines are likely to suffer only a small noise penalty . ( this ignores signals near the edge of the band where the reconstruction filter &# 39 ; s phase non - linearity causes the second quantizing to produce extra noise .) in the practice of the invention , it is to be noted that all of the t carrier used for switch telephony is essentially master clocked , since all frequencies are derived from rubidium atomic clocks that are phase - locked to gps ( global positioning system ) receivers . these primary standards maintain long term ( 24 hour ) frequency to better than 1 part in 10 13 . thus it can be assumed that all t carriers run at essentially the same frequency , and differ only in their receiver phase . ( this is necessary , for instance , to make the commercial 4ess switching system work .) it is also to be noted that the reconstruction filter used for a t1 line provides essentially a proper interpolator of the sample points . ( this isn &# 39 ; t precisely true near the edges of the passband since the filter doesn &# 39 ; t maintain linear - phase close to the edges of the band , introducing a time distortion . since most of the energy is away from the edges , this issue may be practically ignored ). one could always work with a filtered sample that is linear phase . that is , a filter can be added that has unity gain and that , when combined with the original reconstruction filter , produces equal delay for all frequencies in the passband . also , if may be noted that pcm ( mu - law ) has precisely defined digital levels ( in terms of a reference voltage ). first the case where there is no robbed bit signaling , is considered . robbed bit signaling is considered later . note that a small range of voltages need to be considered , as well as times wren the sequence of sample times is calculated . this is because if a sample is at ( or very near ) an extremum ( a local minimum or maximum ) then the exact signal level of pcm code may not be reached . the following discussion assumes the gain of the reconstruction filter and the wire that follows it are exactly one . if not doing the obvious scaling fixes , the problem provided the gain is flat over the band of interest . ( for d3 and d4 channel banks the gain is flat within 0 . 16 and 0 . 12 db , respectively . see for instance , d4 channel bank family : the channel bank , c . r . crue , w . b . gaunt , jr ., j . h . green , j . e . landry and d . a . spires , bell system technical journal , nov ., 1982 , pp 2611 - 2664 ; and d4 channel bank family : thin - film dual active filters for pulse code modulation systems , r . l . adams , j . s . fiecher , o . g . peterson , and i . g . post , bell system technical journal , nov . 1982 2815 - 38 ( each incorporated by reference )). see fig3 . what follows is an explanation of a first illustrative embodiment of the system and method of the invention that for the linear phase , unity gain case , reconstructs a very good approximation of the original sampling points and levels . thus almost no quantizing noise beyond the irreducible minimum provided by the original quantization is introduced . ( here again a left to right transmission path is illustratively discussed , but the reverse direction is also contemplated ). first , a high frequency ( for instance 1000 × 8 , 000 hz ) clock 70 located in channel bank 140 of the invention is phase - locked to the network 8000 hz clock . the originating analog signal coming from d / a 50 is switched by switch 150 , then sampled at the higher rate with an accurate first a / d converter 60 ( at least 14 bits ), contained in channel bank 140 . all the sample points sampled in this fashion are stored in a circular buffer , which may be formed in memory 100 , which may be high speed static ram or other electronic or other memory . the sample points at which the signal is approximately equal to a mu - law quantization level ( a 0 , a 1 , a 2 . . . ) are then searched for . that is , the samples for which this is the case are copied from original storage in memory 100 to another place in that memory , or to separate ram . the selection is done only for fairly high quantization levels . these selected discrete timre points are then searched for a sequence whose sample times are approximately integer multiples of 125 microseconds apart . a smoothed sample of these times ( interpolating where no samples were taken due to small signal levels ) generates a sample clock that approximates the original clock with which the originating analog signal 80 was sampled . in practice the 8 , 000 , 000 hz clock is preferably divided down to an 8 , 000 hz clock , such that a rising edge of the 8 , 000 hz clock is coincident with the sample times . actually , establishing the timing points is slightly more complicated than this . some points not at the original properly phased sample times will also have values that look like exact quantized levels . what is needed , and what the first illustrative embodiment performs , is a search using embedded processor 90 for a series of points that are at proper quantized levels ( to the accuracy of the a / d converter 60 ) and are approximately multiples of 125 microseconds apart . ( the approximation of times should be quite good if only relatively high levels are looked at where the quantizing is coarse .) for certain signals ( a pure sine wave at an exact submultiple of the sampling rate , 2 khz for an example ) there may not be a unique solution of 125 ns spaced samples that are at a quantizing level . this is acceptable , since any solution will not add to quantizing noise . for actual signals used in practice , a unique sampling solution is virtually certain . in summary , in the first illustrative embodiment processor 90 searches through a sample pool for a series of points that have values approximately equal to a quantizer output value a 0 , a 1 , a 2 . . . and are multiples of 125 microseconds apart ( probably between 124 and 126 microseconds in practice ; see transmission performance of μ ˜ 255 quantization in a local digital office , g . k . mcness , bell technical system journal , dec . 1930 vol . 59 , no . 10 , pp . 1943 - 1964 ). if such a series of points are found and it is sufficiently long , it can be reasonably inferred that the invention has locked onto the correct sample points . in other words , the statistical likelihood that a series of data points , for example 128 or 256 points , would be aligned both at properly phased 125 microsecond intervals and at proper mu - law quantizing levels , and not represent valid sample points , is insignificant . if it is found that after trying at most a few other points at multiples of 125 microseconds that they are not at exact quantized values , then processor 90 begins a search for the next match of quantized values . then the search for later matches is started again , until lock - on is achieved . the sample point search is actually carried out using samples stored in memory 100 such as ram , rather than by looking at entirely new samples . the sample point search is just for a correct phase . one could build implementations as parallel as desired to do these searches , provided that access to memory 100 is fast enough . an 8k × 14 bit memory is enough for a millisecond of samples . this is currently easily built as fast static ram on a custom chip . ( or quite slow static ram if only one state machine wants to read it .) as noted , the memory 100 in this case is organized as a circular buffer . points in the 125 microsecond sample sequence that are at multiples that do not match with the high levels being checked must have levels that are smaller , in absolute value , than the checking range . otherwise the resulting time sequence is not valid . alternatively to sampling and recording all possible sample points sampled at high speed to form a complete candidate pool , in the implementation of the invention a filtering process could be applied . in this implementation , sample value and time - stamp ( absolute but not necessarily equal intervals of time ) information is stored as a pair , only for samples whose amplitudes are at or near proper quantizing levels . then , all sample values at all times need not be checked , but only the abbreviated sequence need be examined , for samples with proper quantizing levels , with allowance for near - range checking . the system and method of the invention needs to continue to check samples to make sure there isn &# 39 ; t a false frame , and to perform slight phase adjustments to compensate for any temperature dependent reconstruction filter delays . since gain errors ( amplitude , not phase ) leave the average ( smoothed ) position of clock 70 unchanged even though they change the position of the original sample points , it is possible , by measuring high level signals at the smoothed sample points , to compensate for the gain errors provided that the error is small enough to fall within a quantizing interval . since the quantizing interval is quite large for high level signals gain errors of up to about 1 . 6 % may be compensated for . ( the errors noted are the &# 34 ; unknown &# 34 ; gain errors . any filter or line gain ( loss ) that are known ahead of time can be compensated for initially .) in the first illustrative embodiment the invention was assumed to sample at 8 , 000 , 000 samples per second and could , in principle , be made to do parallel searches for correctly quantized levels approximately 125 microseconds apart . it would also be possible to employ a simpler implementation that uses , for example , a 1 , 000 , 000 hz clock and sample only at 8 , 000 hz intervals . in this second illustrative embodiment , the invention starts at a point where a sampled level is at mu - law level , and checks a sequence of samples at 125 microsecond intervals . this embodiment in general operates similarly to the first illustrative embodiment above , except that it is serial . processor 90 in the second illustrative embodiment actually does the serial search described in the previous embodiment serially in time , rather than looking through memory 100 containing stored samples as in the fist illustrative embodiment . note that in the foregoing it is assumed that there are high level samples . this will always be the case for modems , where the second quantizing noise presents a substantial problem . for voice one cannot count on high level signals , but quantizing noise is less of a problem both because for low level signals second quantization doesn &# 39 ; t offer as big a penalty as for high level signals , and because human hearing is more tolerant of a slight decrease in signal to noise ratio than modems . another set of practical considerations for implementation of the invention relate to differences among the channel banks 110 that do the first onversion to analog ( point a , d / a 50 ). one preferably should understand how closely controlled the reference voltages ( and thus quantizing levels ) of those banks are , for greatest accuracy . another tolerance consideration concerns the non - linear phase of the reconstruction filters of the channel banks 110 , near the edges of the voice hand . the filters of various generations of channel banks have different circuit designs . more modern generations of commercially available lucent technologies channel banks use laser trimmed resistors , and have small unit to unit variation within a family . a practical adjustment for such variances is to compensate the delay variation ( as a function of frequency ) for the d4 channel bank only . since there is much more energy in the linear phase part of the band , the difference in compensation among bank families should not matter much unless they have opposite signs . empirical evidence of this is that a small percentage of doubly quantized modem signals ( presumably with close clock phases on both quantizers ) work at maximum speed without any delay equalization . if in the implementation of the invention newly adapted channel banks are built , linear phase d / a converters can be incorporated from the start . there is also the practical consideration of how fast the invention needs to synchronize relative to the training time of the originating source 130 , such as modems , in question . with the first illustrative embodiment of the invention the quantizing points t 0 , t 1 , . . . should be found in just a few tens of milliseconds . this is much shorter than any likely modem training time , and therefore presumably acceptable . in the second illustrative embodiment , the synchronization time could be a substantial fraction of a second . this is a disadvantage in that it is less acceptable , but empirical data can determine the maximum acceptable time , and parameters adjusted accordingly . it may also be possible to digitally delay the signal , and thus stretch the time during which this embodiment of the invention can be locking on the signal . delay is removed during actual operation . it should also be noted that in order to make the invention perform optimally , unless special routing is done , all of the channel banks in the analog offices affected need to be replaced . that is , not only the channel banks connected directly to the modem pools need to be replaced , but also the channel banks to other central offices since the double quantization occurs in both transmission directions . in the implementation of the invention , either all channel banks can be adapted to the inventive scheme , or only a specially selected subset . the latter case offers a less costly , though slightly more complex , alternative to replacing all of the channel banks in the implementation of the invention . calls placed to particular numbers that are double quantized can be routed through special trunks that terminate at the analog office in the type of channel bank this application describes . the simplest way to do this is to be sure that these numbers are in their own exchange ( nnx ), since routing decisions are standardly based on exchange . the possibility that signals that are not double quantized will go through a channel bank that eliminates the double quantizing error isn &# 39 ; t a problem , except that the channel bank won &# 39 ; t be able to synchronize to a set of previous quantizing times . it should be to recognized this lack of synchronization in a reasonable time furnishes proof that there was no previous quantization , and in this embodiment processor 90 consequently just chooses an arbitrary clock phase to quantize the signal . an example would be if a telephone 130 happens to be directly connected to switch 150 . if the invention is implemented in an environment using a digitized channel using robbed bit signaling ( see telecommunications engineering , vol . 2 p . 532 , incorporated by reference ) then that signaling contributes extra quantizing noise ( see transmission performance of μ ≅ 255 quantization in a local digital office , g . k . mcness , bell technical system journal , dec . 1980 vol . 59 , no . 10 , pp . 1943 - 1964 ) of about 1 . 8 db . it is possible , if analog levels are known , to determine the time of the robbed bit signals . if each frame is buffered so that the robbed bit signaling sample time of all the inputs are alicned and put in the robbed bit sampling time of the output frame , then no additional noise is introduced associate with robbed bit signaling , which would be the case if the alignment were not made . ( separate bits in general would be robbed if the alignment were not made ). the approach in this regard is similar to finding the regular sample times , except that the levels for robbed bit time are as if the bits were 1 / 2 and are thus half way between ordinary sample levels . the robbed bit frames are expected to be 750 msec ( 6 × 125 apart ). in this environment , the invention looks for signals either at standard or robbed bit values , and finds a sequence of regular value multiples at 125 msec apart , except that these occur 5 times in a row with the values at the sixth sample at robbed bit levels . the digital samples are then buffered and robbed bit times found , and then when assembling t1 frames these are aligned with the robbed bit times in the frames . attention is now directed to the non - robbed bit signaling case , and implementation of the system and method of the invention to avoid double quantizing errors in a custom integrated electronic circuit . ( the robbed bit case can be analogously implemented , and description of that implementation is omitted ) . as illustrated in fig4 ( a ), the circuit is divided into two parts , the first of which is a standard read - only memory 190 ( rom ) that is 16 k ( 2 14 ) long , and 2 bits wide . using the 14 bit output of a / d converter 60 as address lines , values of the 16 k locations in the rom 190 are used to indicate whether a sample value is at ( or sufficiently near ) a permissible quantizing level , and whether the sample value is above a predetermined threshold . that is , each value for the d / a is used as an address ( index ) into the rom 190 at which address is stored a value that indicates whether the current value is in close proximity to a permissible quantizing level , and whether it is in a predetermined high or low margin ( above or below that level ). the second circuit is a specialized random access memory 200 that stores sample values coming out of the rom 190 . that is , memory 200 stores the two bit encoded values . in addition , the ram 200 contains or has associated with it logic circuitry 230 ( fig4 ( b )) that indicates that an entire row of 210 values are within a proper range ( using and logic ), and that at least some selected number of them are above the predetermined threshold . ( fig4 ( b ) illustrates the case of accepting a sirgle value , using or logic ). the approach is to arrange the rows of the ram 200 so that consecutive elements of the row represent samples that are 125 microseconds apart . thus if rows are long enough for statistically sufficient verification , a row all of whose values are at ( or near to ) a permissible quantizing level ( a 0 , a 1 , etc .) will indicate which clock phase is the proper one for second digitization ( resampling ). the consecutive locations of ram 200 are written ( mod size ) using a counter 220 whose least significant bits ( 8 for a 256 multiplier , 10 for a 1 k multiplier ) indicate a clock phase of the 256 ( or 1 k )× 8 , 000 hz clock . note that in order to use standard memory docoding hardware , the sample frequency used must be a power of 2 ( i . e ., 2 n ) the 8 , 000 hz sample rate in this embodiment . 256 , 512 or 1024 times the 8 , 000 hz rate are reasonable values to chose . if more than a single row 210 of ram 200 qualifies as valid , the choice of the middle row can be used to break &# 34 ; ties &# 34 ;, though these are unlikely unless the range of acceptable quantized values is chosen to be large . fig4 ( b ) illustrates the case of accepting a single high value ( minimum ) as being acceptable and generating a &# 34 ; valid row &# 34 ; output . the logic circuitry 230 could be made to require a plurality of high values . however , many of the threshold totals that could be selected to trigger a &# 34 ; valid row &# 34 ; output would require an appreciable amount of combinatorial circuitry registering a running total of high bits . consequently , implementing a threshold of two or more high values would preferably be done with sequential logic . that logic could for instance include an up - down counter coupled to a comparator to compare the count of that counter to a preset value associated with each row 210 of memory 200 , encoding a logical validity indicator as values are entered into the row . in such an implementation , a reset mechanism must be provided to reset the counter , as understood by persons skilled in the art . on the first pass through memory after reset , the values in the memory are treated as effectively low . alternatively , to implement a plurality &# 34 ; high &# 34 ; trigger an analog circuit configured to determine the approximate number of high values encountered above the selected threshold could be used . illustratively , a voltage divider and comparator arrangement using parallel resistors which are each connected to a pass transistor could be used . that circuit would provide a short to ground when the pass transistor is activated by a high value , with a pull - up resistor connected to a positive voltage ( rail , so that the resulting cumulative voltage indicates the approximate number of high values , which is compared to a voltage representing the threshold . the row 210 of memory 200 which is valid is preferably connected to an encoder 230 to keep the number of output pins smaller . that is , to select one of 256 rows one needs only eight output pins , rather than 256 , using such an encoder . the foregoing description of the invention is illustrative , and variations in construction and implementation will occur to persons skilled in the art . the scope of the invention is intended to be limited only by the following claims .	7
the apparatus represented in fig1 a has a thread guide 1 , which is fastened to a cord 2 , which runs via rollers 3a , 3b , which laterally bound the traversing interval over which the position of the thread guide 1 can vary . a motor 4 drives via a driving wheel 5 a drive apparatus 6 , which for better understanding of its function is shown swung into the plane of the figure in relation to its actual position with respect to the driving wheel 5 . according to the invention , the drive apparatus 6 has a displaceable drive part 7 , to which the ends of the cord 2 are fastened and which is provided with a slot 8 , aligned perpendicularly to the direction of movement of the said drive part . rigidly connected to the driving wheel 5 by a shaft 9 is an arm 10 , which bears a gear wheel 11 , which is in engagement with a gear rim 12 . the diameter of the gear wheel 11 is half the diameter of the gear rim 12 . it bears in the region of its periphery a transfer roller 13 , which protrudes in the axial direction and engages in the slot 8 of the drive part 7 . normally , gear rim 12 is kept in a fixed position during the winding operation ; however , the gear rim 12 is rotatable about its axis , which coincides with the center line of the shaft 9 , by means of a motor ( not shown ) or by hand rotation . the gear rim is connected to a pulley 12a by means of a belt 12b . the motor rotates or drives the pulley 12a , which by means of the belt 12b causes rotation of the gear rim 12 . likewise shown as swung into the plane of the figure for better understanding is a compensating apparatus 14 , having an approximately heart - shaped compensating disc 15 , the centre point of which is rigidly connected via the shaft 9 to the driving wheel 5 and the arm 10 and the diameter of which through the centre point is angle - independent in the sense that the diameter of the disc 15 remains the same regardless of the position of the disc 15 , thereby ensuring a constant contact between the disc 15 and the rollers 17a and 17b . a carriage 16 contacts the compensating disc 15 by means of contact rollers 17a , 17b at mutually diametrically opposite points of the periphery of the said disc . it is mounted displaceably along the line adjoining said contact points and bears at each end a pair of rollers , referred to hereinafter as displaceable rollers 18a , 18b , 18c , 18d . to the left of the traversing interval , after the roller 3a , the cord 2 runs via a deflecting roller 19a , then via the first displaceable roller 18a , a fixed , i . e . not fastened to the carriage 16 but connected to the housing , roller 20a , on via the second displaceable roller 18c and via further deflecting rollers to the drive part 7 . to the right of the traversing interval , the relative arrangements are analogous . the fixed rollers 20a , 20b are not fastened directly to the housing but in each case to a pivotally suspended lever 21a , 21b , which on one side of the pivot point bears the roller , whereas on the other side there acts a spring 22 , which is stretched between the two levers 21a , 21b . the levers are also connected by a rod 23 , which is pivotally anchored to the lever 21a on the side of the pivot point which bears the roller 20a and in the case of the lever 21b on the side which is opposite the roller 20b , to be precise at the same distance from the pivot point as on the lever 21a . the arm 10 is set in a smoothly rotating movement by the motor 4 , via the driving wheel 5 and the shaft 9 . the gear wheel 12 normally stays at rest during operation . owing to the rotation of the arm 10 , the gear wheel 11 in engagement with the gear rim 12 also rotates , to be precise -- as known from kinematics -- in such a way that the transfer roller 13 fastened at its periphery executes a harmonic oscillation , sweeping over a diameter of the gear rim 12 , the component of this oscillation which is parallel to the direction of movement of the drive part 7 being transferred by the engagement of the transfer roller 13 in the slot 8 to the drive part 7 and consequently to the cord 2 . the angular position of the diameter swept over by the transfer roller 13 can be varied by also turning the gear rim 12 during the winding operation . the rotation of the gear rim 12 as described above is slow compared to the rotation of the arm and should not exceed 90 degrees as explained above . the gear rim 12 can be mounted , for example , on a wheel which is rotatable about an axis coinciding with the center line of the shaft 9 . in the position represented in fig1 a , the diameter swept over lies parallel to the direction of movement of the drive part 7 , which corresponds to a maximum amplitude of the harmonic oscillation transferred to the same . if said diameter includes a certain angle with said direction of movement , the amplitude of the oscillation of the drive part 7 corresponds to the maximum amplitude multiplied by the cosine of this angle . if the angle reaches 90 °, the amplitude accordingly drops to zero , the movement of the transfer roller 13 runs parallel to the slot 8 and normal to the direction of movement of the drive part 7 . basically , changing the position of the gear rim 12 by rotation causes a rotation of the gear wheel 11 in the same direction . as the gear wheel rotates , the transfer roller 13 changes position as previously described ; accordingly , when the gear rim 12 is rotated , the position of the transfer roller 13 changes as well . normally , the motion of the transfer roller 13 is a superposition of the motions of the center of the gear wheel 11 and the gear wheel &# 39 ; s 11 rotation . in rotating the gear rim 12 a given angle , the phase relationship between the gear wheel 11 and the transfer roller 13 is changed thereby leading to a rotation of the line along which the transfer roller 13 rotates by the same angle . fig2 shows one half - cycle of thread guide motion , that is , its motion from the middle of the deflection interval to one of the reversal points and back . at a certain mean amplitude , the movement of the thread guide 1 would proceed as represented in the dashed curve in fig2 if it were induced exclusively by the harmonic oscillation of the drive part 7 . however , such a harmonic oscillation of the thread guide 1 is not desired , rather it is to execute a movement corresponding to the solid line in fig2 i . e . an oscillation movement which comes as close as possible to being represented by a triangular curve which hereinafter will be referred to as a triangular , oscillation , at constant speed between two reversal points with instantaneous reversal of direction at the same . this approximation to a triangular oscillation is achieved by means of the compensating apparatus 14 . the compensating disc 15 is rigidly connected via the shaft 9 to the driving wheel 5 and rotates synchronously with the latter and the arm 10 . as a result , the carriage 16 is set in an oscillating movement which is synchronous with the harmonic movement of the drive part 7 and which -- in the phase represented in fig . la -- due to the corresponding movement of the displaceable rollers 18a , 18c and 18b , 18d , effects a lengthening of the path of the cord 2 between the roller 3a and the drive part 7 or a corresponding shortening between the roller 3b and the same . if the compensating disc 15 is turned through 180 °, lengthening and shortening of the path of the cord 2 are interchanged . due to the block - and - tackle - like constructions , in which the cord 2 is in each case directed between two displaceable rollers 18a , 18c and 18b , 18d via a fixed roller 20a and 20b , respectively , this shortening or lengthening is increased to four times the deflection of the carriage 16 . of course , higher factors can be achieved by higher numbers of displaceable and fixed rollers . as far as the movement of the thread guide 1 is concerned , the harmonic movement effected by the oscillation of the drive part 7 is superimposed by the complementary movement caused by the compensating apparatus 14 , which movement is represented by dot - dashed lines in fig2 . they add together to give the desired oscillation , coming very close to the triangular curve . due to the sprung suspension of the fixed rollers 20a20b , temporary elastic and fatigue extensions of the cord 2 are taken up and the latter is kept taut at all times . in this arrangement , the rod 23 prevents the rollers moving asymmetrically with respect to one another and falsifying the thread guide movement . in the case of the apparatus described , the oscillating movement of the thread guide 1 is derived exclusively from smooth rotational movements . thus , if at all , the rotating parts are subject to slight accelerations exerted on them by the actions of oscillating parts . they can be made to be of any mass and do not limit the speed at which the apparatus can be operated , in particular if the mass distribution of the compensating disc 15 is chosen such that the axis of rotation coincides with a principal axis . the drive part 7 executes a harmonic oscillation and is therefore likewise not subjected to any very high mechanical loads . apart from the thread guide 1 and parts of the cord 2 , where they are in principle unavoidable , only the carriage 16 , with the rollers fastened on it , is subjected to high accelerations . however , even these are greatly reduced , since the deflection of the carriage 16 can be kept small thanks to the block - and - tackle - like construction , by means of which the movement of the carriage 16 is transferred to the cord 2 . of course it is not necessary for the fundamental oscillation executed by the drive part 7 and transferred to the cord 2 to be an exactly harmonic oscillation . rather , what is decisive is that no extreme accelerations occur -- even at the reversal points . harmonic oscillations have the advantage , however , that they can be derived from rotational movements by particularly simple means . a further example of this is described below in conjunction with fig1 b . the compensating disc 15 is connected here via the shaft 9 not only to the driving wheel 5 but also to a disc - shaped bearing part 24 , which bears an electric motor 25 , which can be supplied with current via a sliding contact 26 . the electric motor 25 serves to drive a spindle 27 , by means of which the transfer roller 13 , which is fastened on a carriage 28 displaceable along a radius of the bearing part 24 , can be displaced . otherwise , the apparatus corresponds to that described in conjunction with fig1 a . by means of the electric motor 25 , the amplitude of the harmonic oscillation executed by the drive part 7 can be adjusted even during the winding operation . in contrast to the design according to fig1 a , in this case no phase shifts occur between the harmonic oscillation and the complementary movement caused by the compensating apparatus 14 . in the case of both designs described , the amplitude with which the carriage 16 is oscillated is invariable . therefore , an exact addition of the harmonic oscillation and the complementary oscillation components induced by the compensating apparatus to form a triangular oscillation is possible only at a certain amplitude of the harmonic oscillation . if the chosen amplitude deviates from this , deviations from the ideal form of oscillation also occur .	1
the present invention provides a new dissolution testing apparatus and methods for testing that incorporate disintegration , solids transfer , dissolution , changing ph / composition of fluids , absorption , and clearance . the present invention provides excellent level a ivivc and is predictive across different dosage forms of the same drug . in addition , no mathematical model is required . also , the present invention provides an improved filtration system including a filter support that prevents the filter membrane from deforming or distorting ( from the increased pressure ) into the molded shape of the ridges on the base of the cell . according to the invention , the addition of the filter support prevents the distortion of the filter membrane and allows for the continuous , unrestricted flow of the media through the cells and throughout the apparatus . referring now to the drawings , fig1 illustrates one embodiment of the dissolution apparatus of the present invention . a reservoir 21 , a pump 1 , and a filtration cell 2 are connected such that the liquid contents ( media ) of the reservoir 21 is transferred into the filtration cell 2 via the pump 1 . the filtration cell 2 is equipped with a tight fitting lid 24 , a filtration membrane 3 , a stirrer 4 , an inlet 28 , an outlet 47 positioned to allow removal of filtered liquid , a sample holder 38 , and a dip - tube and tee assembly 7 . the outlet 47 is connected to a flow - thru uv cell 5 and pump 6 , such that the filtrate is pumped through the uv cell 5 and returned to the inlet 28 of the filtration cell 2 . one branch of the dip - tube and tee assembly 7 comprises a dip - tube to allow removal of liquid and small particle sized solids from the filtration cell 2 . the second branch of the dip tube and tee assembly is connected to the outlet of a pump 9 . the third branch of the dip - tube and tee assembly 7 is connected to the inlet 29 of a second filtration cell 10 . a reservoir 22 is connected to the pump 9 such that the liquid media from the reservoir 22 is fed into the second branch of the dip - tube and tee assembly 7 . the filtration cell 10 is equipped with a tight fitting lid 25 , a ph sensor 13 , a stirrer 11 , a filtration membrane 12 , two inlets 29 and 30 , and an outlet positioned to allow removal of filtered liquid . a reservoir 23 is connected to a pump 15 and to one of the inlets 30 of the filtration cell 10 , such that liquid from the reservoir 23 is transferred into the filtration cell 10 . the outlet 47 is connected to a flow - thru uv cell 16 . the outlet of the uv cell 16 is connected to the inlet 31 of the cell 17 . the ph sensor 13 is electrically connected to a ph controller 14 . the power supply to pump 15 is connected to the output relay of the ph controller 14 such that the pump 15 is turned on when the ph , as measured by the ph sensor 13 , is below a target value , and is turned off when the ph is above a target value . the cell 17 is equipped with a tight fitting lid 26 , a stirrer 18 , a dip - tube 19 , and an outlet 33 . the outlet is connected to the inlet of a flow - thru uv cell 20 . the outlet from the uv cell 20 is directed to waste or any suitable reservoir 34 . in this embodiment , the filtration cell 2 and immediately associated equipment represents the gastric chamber ; the filtration cell 10 and immediately associated equipment represents the intestinal chamber ; the cell 17 and immediately associated equipment represents the circulatory chamber . each of the flow - thru uv cells 5 , 16 , and 20 is placed in a suitable uv spectrophotometer capable of measuring the absorbance of the cell contents at the desired wavelength . fig2 schematically illustrates one embodiment of the mixing device herein called a dip - tube and tee assembly . the dip - tube and tee assembly 7 comprises a y - shaped connector 35 , a length of tubing 36 , and a sealant 37 . the tubing 36 is inserted into one of the branches of the connector 35 together with a sealant to prevent leakage of liquid media and to hold the tubing in place during operation . the length of the tubing is adjusted so that the lower end is below the surface of the liquid when the equipment is operating . this arrangement allows the transfer of small particles between the gastric ( first chamber ) and intestinal chambers ( second chamber ) without clogging the tubing . large particles are not transferred by this arrangement because they are too large to enter the dip tube or because the flow velocity of the medium in the dip tube is insufficient to carry the large particles up the dip tube . when control of the temperature is required any or all of the three cells can be immersed in a suitable heating bath or a recirculating hot air oven . in one embodiment , reservoir 21 is filled with simulated gastric fluid , reservoir 22 is filled with simulated intestinal fluid , and reservoir 23 is filled with 0 . 8m aqueous sodium hydroxide solution . to start a test , the pumps are operated to fill each of the chambers to the desired volumes , and then run for sufficient time to establish that the flow rate from each pump is as desired , the temperature is as desired and the ph of cell 10 is maintained within the target range . the uv cells are checked to make sure that they contain no air bubbles . in one embodiment , the sample in the sample holder 38 is lowered into the filtration cell 2 , down to a fixed distance within the cell 2 . note , the sample is introduced into the cell 2 without stopping / starting the pumps . exposure to the fluid in the gastric chamber causes the sample to be partially or completely disintegrated , or dispersed or dissolved . the dissolved portion exits the gastric chamber via the tube 36 together with small particles of undissolved drug and / or excipient . dissolved drug and / or dissolved excipient also exits the gastric chamber through the outlet 47 . the filter membrane 45 prevents undissolved particles from exiting through the outlet 47 . the liquid that exits though outlet 47 passes through the uv cell 5 , where it &# 39 ; s uv absorbance at any desired wavelength is continuously monitored . the liquid is continuously returned to the gastric chamber via the inlet 28 . the material exiting via the tube 36 enters the tee 35 where it mixes with simulated intestinal fluid from the pump 9 . this mixture then enters the simulated intestinal chamber via the inlet 29 . referring now to fig3 , there is shown a top - plan view of the base 44 of the cell 2 of the present invention . as shown , the base 44 has ridges 48 to promote the free flow of the media that is received from the reservoir 21 , and pumped out through the outlet 47 . in other words , the ridges 48 provide voids or spaces , in which the media can gather or collect and then exit through the outlet 47 . restricting or reducing the voids or spaces will diminish the media flow , and perhaps cause complete blockage . note , although the ridges 48 are shown in a circular pattern , any desired pattern that promotes media / solvent flow is acceptable . fig4 illustrates a side - sectional view of the base 44 of the cell 2 of the present invention . as illustrated , the filter membrane 45 is provided over the base of the cell 44 , in particular , over ridges 48 . the filter membrane 45 is firmly held in place by a retainer ring , preferably , an o - ring . the media flows through the filter membrane 45 , into the ridges 48 and then exits toward the outlet 47 . advantageously , the filter support 46 is provided between the ridges 48 and the filter membrane 45 , preventing the filter 45 from deforming or distorting ( from the increased pressure ) into the molded shape of the ridges 48 . in other words , as the pressure increases within the system , there is a tendency for the filter 45 to be pulled into the base of the cell 44 . in particular , there is a tendency for the filter 45 to “ fill - in ” the ridges 48 of the base of the cell 44 , impeding or restricting the flow of the media within the ridges 48 . however , according to the invention , the addition of the rigid filter support 46 prevents the distortion of the filter membrane 45 and allows for the continuous , unrestricted flow of the media through the cell 2 and throughout the apparatus . the filter support 46 may be any material that is at least less flexible than the filter membrane 45 . preferably , the support 46 is a metal mesh screen . in the intestinal chamber , the incoming mixture is mixed with the contents of the chamber together with sodium hydroxide solution entering from pump 15 . because the sodium hydroxide flow is controlled by the ph of the contents of the cell 10 the result is that the acid present in the gastric fluid portion of the incoming mixture is neutralized . in the intestinal chamber the undissolved portion of the incoming mixture has further opportunity to dissolve . dissolved drug and / or dissolved excipient exits the intestinal chamber through the outlet 47 . the filter membrane 45 prevents any undissolved drug and / or undissolved excipient from exiting the chamber . the liquid that exits though outlet 47 passes through the uv cell 16 , where it &# 39 ; s uv absorbance at any desired wavelength is continuously monitored . the liquid exiting the uv cell 16 then enters the circulatory chamber via the inlet 31 . note , the intestinal chamber ( cell 10 ) is also provided with the filter support 46 of the present invention . referring back to fig3 , there is also shown a top - plan view of the base 44 of the cell 10 of the present invention . as shown , the base 44 has ridges 48 to promote the free flow of the media that is received from the reservoir 22 , and pumped out through the outlet 47 . in other words , the ridges 48 provide voids or spaces , in which the media can gather or collect and then exit through the outlet 47 . restricting or reducing the voids or spaces will diminish the media flow , and perhaps cause complete blockage . note , although the ridges 48 are shown in a circular pattern , any desired pattern that promotes media / solvent flow is acceptable . also , referring back to fig4 , there is shown a side - sectional view of the base 44 of the cell 10 of the present invention . as illustrated , the filter membrane 45 is provided over the base of the cell 44 , in particular , over ridges 48 . the filter membrane 45 is firmly held in place by a retainer ring , preferably , an o - ring . the media flows through the filter membrane 45 , into the ridges 48 and then exits toward the outlet 47 . advantageously , the filter support 46 is provided between the ridges 48 and the filter membrane 45 , preventing the filter 45 from deforming or distorting ( from the increased pressure ) into the molded shape of the ridges 48 . in other words , as the pressure increases within the system , there is a tendency for the filter 45 to be pulled into the base of the cell 44 . in particular , there is a tendency for the filter 45 to “ fill - in ” the ridges 48 of the base of the cell 44 , impeding or restricting the flow of the media within the ridges 48 . however , according to the invention , the addition of the rigid filter support 46 prevents the distortion of the filter membrane 45 and allows for the continuous , unrestricted flow of the media through the cell 10 and throughout the apparatus . the filter support 46 may be any material that is at least less flexible than the filter membrane 45 . preferably , the support 46 is a metal mesh screen . note , although invention has been described with a filtration system ( including a filter support 46 ) in both the gastric chamber ( cell 2 ) and the intestinal chamber ( cell 10 ), typically , a filtration system is solely provided in the intestinal chamber to prevent any solids from entering the circulatory system ( cell 17 ). in the circulatory chamber , the incoming medium is mixed with the medium already present in the chamber . the resulting mixture continuously exits the chamber via the dip - tube 19 and outlet 33 . the liquid that exits though outlet 33 passes through the uv cell 20 , where the uv absorbance at any desired wavelength is continuously monitored . the data collected from the spectrophotometer can be used to calculate the instantaneous concentration of the active substance . the data can be used to characterize the release rate and the total amount of active substance released . measuring the concentration of active substance in the effluent collected in the collection reservoir 34 permits the calculation of the total amount of active substance released . while the embodiment of the invention described above uses constant composition of release fluids , the compositions can be changed with time to simulate changing conditions within the body . test method variables are , for example , composition of release media , residence time in each of the three chambers , amount of the sample being tested , and temperature . by adjusting these variables it is possible to obtain a release rate profile that matches the plasma concentration profile observed in vivo . when practiced in the pharmaceutical industry , the preferred temperature is 37 ° c ., and the preferred composition of the release media are simulated gastric and simulated intestinal fluids . also , other additives , such as enzymes , bile acids , and surfactants , can be included , as desired . in addition , although the usfda recommends that dissolution conditions be physiologically relevant , the present invention can be adapted for conditions that are not physiologically relevant . such conditions may be desirable when considerations such as speed of operation , unusual solubility , or non conventional dosage forms are taken into account . for example , applicant has determined in some cases that by proportionally reducing residence times , the time scale of the test can be considerably shortened without loss of useful information . in addition , the invention can be used to test many different types of formulations . these can include , but are not restricted to , tablets , powders , pills , syrups , fast - melt tablets , hard capsules and soft capsules . the medium analysis device includes , but is not limited to , any detector known in the art that generates physical and / or chemical data of a pharmaceutical or active test agent , e . g ., the use of a uv spectrophotometer as the method of analysis . in a preferred embodiment , the detector is capable of acquiring data characteristic of a particular agent by any method , including , ultraviolet radiation , infrared radiation , nuclear magnetic resonance , ramen spectroscopy , electrochemical , biosensors , refractometry , optical activity , and combinations thereof . also , any in - line detector known in the art that is applicable to the active substance and release medium can be used . preferably , the medium dissolution analysis device is a detector that has a sensor communicatively attached thereto . in the preferred embodiment , there is at least one medium dissolution analysis device per dissolution chamber . for example , for each sample to be analyzed there is a corresponding medium dissolution analysis device capable of continuously generating physical and / or chemical data characteristic of the agent to be analyzed . the medium analysis device preferably includes a detector operatively associated with the dissolution medium for at least the time period required for the dosage form to release the maximum releasable quantity of therapeutically active agent and a data processor for continually processing the generated data for at least the time period required for the dosage form to release the maximum releasable quantity of therapeutically active agent to obtain a dissolution profile of the dosage form . the data processor may be any device capable of continuously processing the data generated by the detector . in a preferred embodiment , the data processor is a computer . the data generated by the detector is preferably stored and / or analyzed by the computer . in a particularly preferred embodiment , the data collector is a computer that has data processing software . the data is preferably continuously processed by the software as it is received from the detector . in the preferred embodiment of the present invention , the detector measures the concentration of the therapeutically active agent in the media surrounding the dosage form such as in simulated gastric or intestinal fluid . by measuring the concentration of the agent in the surrounding media , the amount of agent released from the dosage form can be calculated . the invention can also be used by removing samples from the chambers directly or from the effluent discharge of the chambers instead of , or in addition to in - line analysis . in such an embodiment the analytical methods can be any method known in the art , including but not limited to , gas chromatography , liquid chromatography , high performance liquid chromatography ( bplc ), colorimetry , uv spectroscopy , ir spectroscopy , raman spectroscopy , near ir spectroscopy , bio - sensors , electrochemical methods , mass spectroscopy , and nuclear magnetic spectroscopy . in the most preferred embodiment the medium analysis is performed in - line using uv spectroscopy . in the present invention , any combination of the medium analysis devices can be used as appropriate for the data required . in another embodiment the absorption of active substance in the stomach can be simulated by not returning to the gastric chamber , all or part of the medium exiting the gastric chamber via the second outlet . the flow rate of the medium can be adjusted so that the removal rate corresponds to the in vivo gastric absorption . the filtration cells 2 and 10 can be of any design that provides the requirements of agitation , desired volume , filtration speed , filtration efficiency , and compatibility with the active substance and the release media . the preferred filtration cells are continuous and stirred , filtration cells ( e . g ., amicon stirred ultrafiltration cell models 8003 , 8010 , 8050 , 8200 , and 8400 available from millipore corporation ). the third cell 17 can be of any design that provides the requirements of agitation , desired volume , and compatibility with the active substance and the release media . the pumps useful in the practice of the present invention can be any pump capable of attaining the desired flow rate and maintaining the flow rate constant throughout the test . these include but are not limited to , general purpose positive displacement pumps , peristaltic pumps , diaphragm pumps , hplc quality positive displacement pumps , syringe pumps and centrifugal pumps . preferred pumps useful in the invention are peristaltic pumps , diaphragm pumps , and hplc quality positive displacement pumps . most preferred are peristaltic pumps and hplc quality positive displacement pumps . heating devices useful in the practice of the present invention can be any of those known in the art that give sufficiently uniform and accurate temperature control . the preferred heating device will be able to control the temperature to within +/− 2 ° c . of the desired temperature . the more preferred heating device will be able to control the temperature to within +/− 1 ° c . of the desired temperature . the most preferred heating device will be able to control the temperature in conformity with the most current recommendations in the us pharmacopeia and like sources . the tubing used in the dip - tube and tee assembly can be any tubing compatible with the release medium and the test sample . the length of the tubing is adjusted such that the lower end is below the surface of the liquid in the filtration cell 2 . the cross - sectional diameter of the tubing is selected so that small particles are carried up the tubing by the flow of the release medium and so that particles do not clog the tubing . in practice , the inventors have determined that tubing with an internal diameter of 0 . 5 to 3 . 0 mm fulfills these requirements for flow rates to the cell 2 in the range 0 . 5 to 2 . 5 m / min . for other flow rates other internal diameters may be needed . the medium analysis sensor and controller used with the intestinal chamber can be any combination of sensor and controller that measures and permits control of physical characteristics such as , but not limited to , ph , osmolarity , conductivity , and concentration of specific ions . the preferred medium analysis sensor and controller are any ph sensor and ph controller available in the art that permit the control of the ph in the intestinal chamber to within the target range . the most preferred medium analysis sensor and controller are any ph sensors and ph controllers available in the art that has an accuracy of +/− 0 . 02 ph units . in the preferred embodiment the ph in the second cell 10 is controlled to the same value as that of the simulated intestinal fluid . also , the ph in the the cell can be any value achievable by addition of either an acid or a base through the delivery system defined by the reservoir 23 , the pump 15 , and the inlet 30 , and is not limited to the ph of the fluid in the reservoir 22 . the solution used to adjust the ph of the second cell 10 can be acidic or basic . the preferred concentration of acid or base in the solution is one that requires a flow rate of the solution to be not more than 10 % of the total flow of the other release media . the most preferred concentration of acid or base in the solution is one that requires a flow rate of the solution to be not more than 2 % of the total flow of the other release media . the number of cells used in the equipment can be varied depending on the information required . three cells , as described in one embodiment above , is the preferred number when correlation with blood plasma concentration data is required . when drug absorption rate data is required it is only necessary to operate the combination of gastric and intestinal chambers . a further possibility is to add a buccal dissolution cell before the gastric chamber such that the effluent from the buccal dissolution chamber enters an inlet in the gastric chamber . note , the sample holder would be present on the buccal dissolution chamber , not the gastric chamber . the addition can be used for either drug absorption or blood plasma concentration data . in addition , filter membranes useful in the practice of this invention can be any of the commercially available filter membranes that are compatible with the release media . preferred filter membranes have a nominal particle size cut - off of not more than 10 microns . the more preferred filters have a nominal particle size cut - off of 0 . 25 - 5 microns . the most preferred filter membranes have a nominal particle size cut - off of 1 - 3 microns . residence times in each of the chambers useful in the practice of this invention can be any value required to give a level a ivivc . the preferred residence times are those that have physiological relevance . the applicants have determined by experimentation that the following ranges of residence times are useful : gastric chamber , 5 - 60 minutes ; intestinal chamber , 1 - 90 minutes ; circulatory chamber , greater than 30 minutes . in addition , various other mechanical , electrical and electronic equipment may be incorporated into the present invention . for example , the equipment includes , but is not limited to , pressure relief valves , check valves , pressure relief piping , pressure control systems , surge suppressors , surge tanks , de - aerators , electronic flow control systems , proportional control systems , pressure gauges , heat exchanges ( to preheat media ) and flow gauges . accordingly , the present invention provides a new dissolution testing apparatus and methods for testing that incorporate disintegration , solids transfer , dissolution , changing ph / composition of fluids , absorption , and clearance . the present invention provides excellent level a ivivc and appears to be predictive across different dosage forms of the same drug . in addition , no mathematical model is required . also , the present invention provides a filter support that prevents the distortion of the filter membrane and allows for the continuous , unrestricted flow of the media through the cells and throughout the apparatus , resulting in a more reliable and accurate ivivc .	6
hereinafter , embodiments of the present invention will be explained in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings . fig1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of base station apparatus 100 according to embodiment 1 of the present invention . in this figure , signature table storage section 101 stores a table storing signature ids in a one - to - one correspondence with signature sequences . as shown in fig2 , suppose signatures classified by signature ids 1 to k ( region ( a )) are signatures allocated by a network side to a ue and k + 1 to n ( region ( b )) are signatures the ue allocates to itself . signature sequence allocation control section 102 acquires an identifier ( ue id ) of a ue , which becomes a paging target from a higher layer ( not shown ), and also reads a signature id from signature table storage section 101 and allocates the read signature id to the ue which becomes the paging target . paging information processing section 103 is provided with paging information generating section 104 , coding section 105 and modulation section 106 . paging information generating section 104 includes the signature id outputted from signature sequence allocation control section 102 , ra slot information ( slot number to which ra channel is allocated ) and paging control information ( ue id and other information reported through paging ) inputted from a higher layer ( not shown ), and generates a paging channel ( downlink control channel ) as shown in fig3 . the paging channel generated is outputted to coding section 105 . coding section 105 encodes the paging channel outputted from paging information generating section 104 and modulation section 106 modulates the encoded paging channel under a modulation scheme such as bpsk and qpsk . the modulated paging channel is outputted to multiplexing section 110 . dl data transmission processing section 107 is provided with coding section 108 and modulation section 109 and performs transmission processing on the dl transmission data . coding section 108 encodes the dl transmission data and modulation section 109 modulates the encoded dl transmission data under a modulation scheme such as bpsk and qpsk and outputs the modulated dl transmission data to multiplexing section 110 . multiplexing section 110 performs time multiplexing , frequency multiplexing , space multiplexing or code multiplexing on the paging channel outputted from modulation section 106 and dl transmission data outputted from modulation section 109 and outputs the multiplexed signal to transmission rf section 111 . transmission rf section 111 applies predetermined radio transmission processing such as d / a conversion , filtering and up - conversion to the multiplexed signal outputted from multiplexing section 110 and transmits the signal subjected to the radio transmission processing from antenna 112 . reception rf section 113 applies predetermined radio reception processing such as down - conversion and a / d conversion to the signal received via antenna 112 and outputs the signal subjected to the radio reception processing to demultiplexing section 114 . demultiplexing section 114 separates the signal outputted from reception rf section 113 into an ra slot and a ul data slot and outputs the separated ra slot to signature sequence detection section 115 and the ul data slot to demodulation section 117 of ul data reception processing section 116 respectively . signature sequence detection section 115 performs preamble waveform detection processing such as correlation processing using the signatures stored in signature table storage section 101 on the ra slot outputted from demultiplexing section 114 and detects whether or not the signature sequence has been transmitted the detection result ( ra burst detection information ) is outputted to a higher layer ( not shown ). ul data reception processing section 116 is provided with demodulation section 117 and decoding section 118 and performs reception processing on the ul data . demodulation section 117 corrects distortion of the channel response of the ul data outputted from demultiplexing section 114 , makes a signal point decision by a hard decision or soft decision depending on the modulation scheme and decoding section 118 performs error correcting processing about the result of the signal point decision by demodulation section 117 and outputs the ul received data . fig4 is a block diagram showing a configuration of terminal station apparatus 150 according to embodiment 1 of the present invention . in this figure , reception rf section 152 receives a signal transmitted from the bs shown in fig1 via antenna 151 and applies predetermined radio reception processing such as down - conversion and a / d conversion to the received signal and outputs the signal subjected to the radio reception processing to demultiplexing section 153 . demultiplexing section 153 separates the paging channel and dl data included in the signal outputted from reception rf section 152 and outputs the separated dl data to demodulation section 155 of dl data reception processing section 154 and the paging channel to demodulation section 158 of paging information reception processing section 157 . dl data reception processing section 154 is provided with demodulation section 155 and decoding section 156 , and performs reception processing on the dl data . demodulation section 155 corrects distortion of the channel response on the dl data outputted from demultiplexing section 153 , makes a signal point decision by a hard decision or soft decision depending on the modulation scheme , and decoding section 156 performs error correcting processing on the signal point decision result from demodulation section 155 and outputs the dl received data . paging information reception processing section 157 is provided with demodulation section 158 , decoding section 159 and paging information processing section 160 , and performs reception processing on the paging channel . demodulation section 158 corrects distortion of the channel response of the paging channel outputted from demultiplexing section 153 , makes a signal point decision by a hard decision or soft decision depending on the modulation scheme , and decoding section 159 performs error correcting processing on the signal point decision result of the paging channel by demodulation section 158 and outputs paging information . the paging information subjected to the error correcting processing is outputted to paging information processing section 160 . paging information processing section 160 decides whether or not the paging information has been acquired from decoding section 159 and outputs , when the paging information has been acquired , the acquired paging information to ra burst transmission control section 161 . on the other hand , when the paging information has not been acquired , paging information processing section 160 reports the fact to ra burst transmission control section 161 . ra burst transmission control section 161 decides whether or not the paging information outputted from paging information processing section 160 is directed to terminal station apparatus 150 . when the paging information is directed to terminal station apparatus 150 , ra burst transmission control section 161 outputs the signature id and ra slot information included in the paging information outputted from paging information processing section 160 to ra burst generating section 163 . on the other hand , when the paging information is not directed to terminal station apparatus 150 ( directed to another station ), ra burst transmission control section 161 reports , if ra burst transmission priority information inputted from a higher layer ( not shown ) satisfies the condition which will be described later , that fact to ra burst generating section 163 . here , the “ ra burst transmission priority information ” refers to information whose communication service has a high degree of emergency or priority such as emergency communication , a service with a stringent delay requirement ( e . g ., voip , video streaming , gaming ), retransmission rach ( which has higher priority as the number of retransmissions increases ) and high service fee . details of ra burst transmission control section 161 will be described later , signature table storage section 162 stores a signature table held by signature table storage section 101 of bs 100 shown in fig1 , that is , a table storing signature ids in a one - to - one correspondence with signature sequences . as shown in fig2 as in the case of the signature table held by signature table storage section 101 , suppose signatures classified by signature ids 1 to k ( region ( a )) are signatures allocated by the network side to ue 150 and k + 1 to n ( region ( b )) are signatures allocated by ue 150 . ra burst generating section 163 reads the signature sequence corresponding to the signature id outputted from ra burst transmission control section 161 from signature table storage section 162 , generates an ra burst by including the read signature sequence and outputs the generated ra burst to multiplexing section 167 . ul data transmission processing section 164 is provided with coding section 165 and modulation section 166 , and performs transmission processing on ul transmission data . coding section 165 encodes the ul transmission data and modulation section 166 modulates the encoded ul transmission data under a modulation scheme such as bpsk and qpsk and outputs the modulated ul transmission data to multiplexing section 167 . multiplexing section 167 multiplexes the ra burst outputted from ra burst generating section 163 and the ul transmission data outputted from modulation section 166 , and outputs the multiplexed signal to transmission rf section 168 . transmission rf section 168 applies predetermined radio transmission processing such as d / a conversion , filtering and up - conversion to the multiplexed signal outputted from multiplexing section 167 and transmits the signal subjected to the radio transmission processing from antenna 151 . next , operations of ra burst transmission control section 161 of the terminal station apparatus shown in fig4 will be explained using fig5 . in fig5 , in step ( hereinafter , abbreviated as “ st ”) 201 , ra burst transmission control section 161 acquires the paging information from paging information processing section 160 . in st 202 , ra burst transmission control section 161 decides whether or not a ue id included in the acquired paging information indicates terminal station apparatus 150 , moves to st 203 when the ue id indicates terminal station apparatus 150 or moves to st 204 when the ue id does not indicate terminal station apparatus 150 . in st 203 , in order to perform ra burst transmission using the signature id ( one of region ( a ) shown in fig2 ) included in the acquired paging information and in an ra slot specified using also the acquired paging information , the signature id and ra slot information are outputted to ra burst generating section 163 . in st 204 , the ue refers to a condition under which the ue can allocate a signature to itself based on ra burst transmission priority information ( or reason for transmission of rach ) inputted from a higher layer and the number of signatures allocated by the network side to other ues and decides whether or not it is possible to transmit the ra burst . the number of signatures allocated by the network side to the other ues is the same as the number of ue ids included in the paging information and can thereby be acquired from this number of ue ids . when ra burst transmission is permitted , the process moves to st 205 and when ra burst transmission is not permitted , the process returns to st 202 and performs processing on the next ra slot . in st 205 , the ue side determines the signature id from among the signatures ( region ( b ) shown in fig2 ) allocated by the ue to itself according to a predetermined selection rule . here , for example , a method of randomly determining one signature from among available signatures is generally used as the predetermined selection rule . the signature id and ra slot information determined in st 205 are outputted to ra burst generating section 163 . in st 204 , when demodulation of the paging information fails in st 201 or the demodulation itself is not performed and the presence / absence of the paging information is unknown , the network side assumes that all signatures allocatable to the ues have been allocated , determines whether or not it is possible to transmit the ra burst , and can thereby perform control so as to prevent congestion of ra burst transmission to the ra slot . furthermore , in st 205 , since the signature ids reported to the other ues in st 201 can be acquired , the ue may allocate a signature allocated to none of the other ues by the network side to itself . in this way , the number of signatures allocatable by the ue to itself increases and the collision rate of rach can thereby be reduced . here , the condition under which the ue can allocate a signature to itself will be explained using fig6 . here , a case where four signatures are multiplexed with one ra slot will be shown as an example . as shown in fig6 , when the number of signatures allocated by the network side to ues is 0 , there is no restriction on conditions and all ues can allocate signatures to themselves . on the other hand , when the number of signatures allocated by the network side to ues is 1 and 2 , only ues with a service of high priority such as retransmission ra or emergency communication ( emergency call ) can allocate signatures to themselves . furthermore , when the number of signatures allocated by the network side to ues is 3 and 4 , only ues corresponding to emergency communication ( emergency call ) can allocate signatures to themselves . in this way , by reducing the expected value ( statistic mean value ) of the number of ras using signatures allocated by ues to themselves as the number of signatures allocated by the network side to the ues increases and by increasing the expected value of the number of ras using signatures allocated by the ues to themselves as the number of signatures allocated by the network side to the ues decreases , it is possible to maximize the number of rach transmissions while satisfying required conditions of detection characteristics of all rach preambles in one ra slot . ra burst transmission control section 161 of ue 150 shown in fig4 decides whether or not it is possible to allocate a signature to itself based on the conditions shown in fig6 . next , the random access procedure between bs 100 shown in fig1 and ue 150 shown in fig4 will be explained using fig7 . here , suppose ue 150 is not carrying out transmission / reception of data for a certain period of time ( idle state ) first . in fig7 , in st 301 , bs 100 acquires user data directed to ue 150 from a higher layer . since a connection with ue 150 has not been established yet , bs 100 temporarily holds the acquired user data . in st 302 , one signature is selected from region ( a ) ( see fig2 ) of the signature table held by signature table storage section 101 of bs 100 and the selected signature is allocated to ue 150 . in st 303 , the paging information including the ue id of ue 150 , id of the signature allocated to ue 150 and ra slot information is reported to ue 150 using a downlink control channel ( e . g ., paging channel ). in st 304 , ue 150 having received the paging information acquires the ue id , allocated signature id and ra slot included in the paging information . when the acquired ue id indicates ue 150 , the signature corresponding to the acquired signature id is read from the same signature table as that of bs 100 and ra burst transmission is carried out using the acquired ra slot in st 305 . in st 306 , when bs 100 having received the ra burst detects a preamble corresponding to the signature id included in the paging information out of the received ra burst in st 303 , bs 100 carries out transmission / reception of information necessary to perform user data transmission to / from ue 150 such as reporting ack in response to the ra burst , uplink transmission start timing control information ( time alignment information ) and temporary ue id ( equivalent to c - rnti in wcdma ) used for a band allocation report or the like . in st 307 , band allocation and transmission / reception of user data are carried out between bs 100 and ue 150 . in this way , according to embodiment 1 , when the ue sets a condition under which the ue can allocate a signature to itself according to the number of signatures allocated by the network side to the other ue , the ue can select a signature not allocated on the network side according to a selection rule ( e . g ., random selection ), and can thereby reduce the collision rate of rach . furthermore , when the ue sets the condition under which a signature can be allocated to itself within a range in which power of mutual interference between signatures satisfies allowable interference power , it is possible to suppress increases in mutual interference power between signatures and thereby improve the rach detection characteristics . in the present embodiment , a method of explicitly transmitting a signature id as control information as shown in fig3 may be used as the method of reporting a signature id , and when a plurality of pieces of paging information simultaneously generated are reported collectively , the sequence of ue ids and sequence of signature ids may be set beforehand as shown in fig8 and it is thereby possible to prevent an increase of control information for reporting signature ids . furthermore , the same applies to a case where ra slots for paging are reported with paging information . configurations of a base station apparatus and a terminal station apparatus according to embodiment 2 of the present invention are the same as those of embodiment 1 shown in fig1 and fig4 and only part of the functions are different , and therefore only different functions will be explained using fig1 and fig4 and overlapping explanations will be omitted . fig9 shows conditions under which a ue according to embodiment 2 of the present invention can allocate a signature to itself . taking into consideration the fact that the number of signatures allocated by the network side to the ue decreases for each retransmission , as shown in fig9 , the network side alleviates the conditions under which the ue can allocate a signature to itself in order of an ra slot ( initial ra slot ) including the signature allocated by the network side to the ue , next ra slot and next but one ra slot . to be more specific , suppose the condition is the same as that of embodiment 1 shown in fig6 in the initial ra slot . furthermore , in the next ra slot , when the number of signatures allocated by the network side to the ue is 0 to 2 , there is no restriction on conditions and all ues can allocate signatures to themselves . furthermore , in the next ra slot , when the number of signatures allocated by the network to the ue is 3 and 4 , only ues with a service of high priority such as retransmission ra or emergency communication ( emergency call ) can allocate signatures to themselves . furthermore , in the next but one ra slot , when the number of signatures allocated by the network side to the ue corresponds to all 0 to 4 , there is no restriction on conditions and all ues can allocate signatures to themselves . here , the ue controls the expected value of the number of ras using the signature allocated to the ue itself based on a reception success rate ( retransmission rate ) per number of signatures allocated by the network side to the ue and the expected value of the number of retransmission ras in the next ra slot obtained from the number of retransmissions of ra burst . fig1 shows transition in the number of transmission ra bursts included in ra slot # 1 ( initial ra slot ) and following ra slot # 2 ( next ra slot ) and # 3 ( next but one ra slot ) for which the network side has allocated signature to the ue . in this figure , suppose the number of signatures allocated by the network side to the ue is 4 in ra slot # 1 and the number of signatures allocated by the ue to itself is 1 . in this case , suppose three of the ras using signatures allocated by the network side to the ue have succeeded in reception and one has failed in reception . next , in ra slot # 2 , suppose the ra having failed in reception in ra slot # 1 is retransmitted and the ue assumes the remaining four ras as signatures to be allocated to itself . furthermore , in ra slot # 3 , suppose the ue assumes all five ras that can be transmitted in this ra slot as signatures to be allocated to itself . in this way , in consideration of the fact that the number of retransmissions of ra bursts to which signatures are allocated decreases in an ra slot that follows an ra slot including a signature allocated by the network side to the ue , embodiment 2 alleviates the conditions under which the ue can allocate a signature to itself , and thereby allows even a ue which does not correspond to the conditions in the following ra slots to allocate a signature to itself and improve the utilization efficiency of the ra slots . configurations of a base station apparatus and a terminal station apparatus according to embodiment 3 of the present invention are the same as the configurations of embodiment 1 shown in fig1 and fig4 , and only part of the functions are different , and therefore only different functions will be explained with reference to fig1 and fig4 and overlapping explanations will be omitted . fig1 shows conditions under which a ue according to embodiment 3 of the present invention can allocate a signature to itself . the conditions of embodiment 1 shown in fig6 are shown on the left side of fig1 for comparison . here , the network side allocates signatures to a ue in order starting with a signature sequence with high orthogonality ( with small inter - code interference ). such allocations provide a relationship between the number of signature allocations and inter - code interference as shown in fig1 . that is , the amount of inter - code interference increases exponentially as the number of signature allocations increases . therefore , as shown in fig1 , since the amount of mutual interference between simultaneously transmitted sequences increases exponentially as the number of signatures allocated by the network side to the ue , conditions are set so as to reduce expected values of the number of ras using signatures allocated by the ue to itself , fig1 shows a relationship between the number of signatures allocated by the network side to ues and interference power . as shown in this figure , when the number of signatures allocated by the network side to the ue is small , since the interference power between these allocated signatures is small , the number of signatures allocated by the ue to itself can be increased . on the other hand , when the number of signatures allocated by the network side to the ue is large , since the interference power between these allocated signals large , average interference power decreases unless the number of signatures allocated by the network side to the ue is always a maximum value , the number of signatures that can be allocated to the ue can be increased . in this way , according to embodiment 3 , the network side allocates signatures to the ue starting with a signature sequence with small inter - code interference , and the ue can thereby give greater interference margin to ras using signatures allocated by the ue to itself , and therefore the number of ras that can be transmitted / received per ra slot can be increased . cases have been explained in the above - described embodiments assuming that the network side reports signatures allocated to ues to the ues using paging channels , but the present invention is not limited to this and the network side may also report signatures using , for example , a downlink control channel including scheduling information or a downlink common channel including an l2 / l3 control message . the above - described embodiments have explained the case where the present invention is configured by hardware as an example , but the present invention can also be implemented by software . furthermore , each functional block used for the explanations of the above - described embodiments is typically implemented as an lsi which is an integrated circuit . these may be integrated into a single chip individually or may be integrated into a single chip so as to include some or all functional blocks . here , the term lsi is used , but the term may also be “ ic ,” “ system lsi ,” “ super lsi ” or “ ultra lsi ” depending on the difference in the degree of integration . furthermore , the technique of implementing an integrated circuit is not limited to an lsi but can also be implemented with a dedicated circuit or a general - purpose processor . it is also possible to use an fpga ( field programmable gate array ) which can be programmed or a reconfigurable processor whose connections or settings of circuit cells inside the lsi are reconfigurable after lsi manufacturing . moreover , if a technology of realizing an integrated circuit which is substitutable for an lsi appears with the progress in semiconductor technologies and other derived technologies , it is of course possible to integrate functional blocks using the technology . the adaptation of biotechnology or the like can be considered as a possibility . the disclosure of japanese patent application no . 2006 - 261197 , filed on sep . 26 , 2006 , including the specification , drawings and abstract is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety . the radio transmitting apparatus and radio transmission method according to the present invention cannot only reduce the rach collision rate but also improve the rach detection characteristics , and can be applied to a mobile communication system and so on .	7
the present invention is embodied in a tag attaching machine shown in perspective view in fig1 and identified generally by the number 20 . the tag attaching machine 20 includes a main frame member or base 22 on which is mounted a motor 24 which is coupled through a solenoid actuated clutch mechanism 26 to a main drive gear 28 which in turn is coupled to the tag attaching mechanism at a tag attaching station identified generally with the numeral 30 . the main frame member 22 also supports a pneumatic compressor 32 which provides a source of air , under slight pressure , for actuating various pneumatically controlled mechanisms as will be discussed in more detail hereinbelow . the tag attaching machine 20 also includes a transport mechanism , indicated generally at 34 for moving individual tags from a tag supply 36 to the tag attaching station 30 . the tag transport mechanism 34 , the clutch and gear assembly 26 , 28 , and the mechanism at the tag attaching station 30 are all sequenced and controlled by a solid state microprocessor circuit indicated generally at 38 . for control of the tag attaching machine , several externally accessible switches are provided . disposed on a convenient control panel 40 above the transport assembly 34 is an on / off switch 42 controlling the supply of power to the overall machine . next to the on / off switch 42 is a pushbutton switch 44 which , as will be further described hereinbelow , causes the feed of a single tag from the tag supply 36 to the tag attaching station 30 without initiating a tag attaching operation at the tag attaching station . a further two - position switch 46 is disposed next to pushbutton switch 44 and controls the programming of microprocessor 38 between a manual mode and an automatic mode . in the manual mode , the tag attaching machine 20 may be caused to feed a single tag and attach the same to a garment or article upon depression of a main operator control switch 48 . the actuation of switch 48 by the operator causes only a single operation to be performed when switch 46 is in the manual position . when the switch 46 is moved to its automatic position , the machine will repetitively and periodically continue to sequence through successive tag attaching operations thereby permitting the operator to automatically attach tags to garments or articles without having to separately actuate command switch 48 for each sequence . referring to fig2 and 4 , the tag feed mechanism 34 includes a main mounting member 50 attached to the main frame 22 . journaled for rotation about an upstanding pin 52 on member 50 is a transport actuating lever 70 . as can be appreciated from fig4 transport lever 70 is journaled at an intermediate point for rotation in both clockwise and counter clockwise directions about the axis of pin 52 . a first end 72 of arm 70 is pivotally attached to a piston 90 by an intermediate connecting element 74 . piston 90 is disposed within a conforming cylinder 80 which is connected by pneumatic lines to a solenoid operated pneumatic valve 82 via an extending outlet 84 and a retracting outlet 86 connected respectively at opposite ends of the cylinder 80 as shown . as will become clear below , the solenoid operated valve 82 , when at rest , supplies compressed air from compressor 32 through retracting outlet 86 to the end of cylinder 80 so as to cause the piston 90 to retract to the position shown in fig2 and 4 . the opposite end 76 of lever arm 70 is bifurcated to receive an upright post 78 carried upon a tuning fork - like tag push member 92 . the tag pusher member 92 has two tines 94 each provided at their distal ends with an offset shoulder 96 having a slightly downwardly inclined bottom surface 98 . pusher member 92 is disposed atop plate 50 between a pair of spaced , elongated channel guides 31 . the top surface of the channel guide members 31 is coplaner with the top surface of the tines 94 of pusher member 92 as can best be seen in the sectional view of fig7 . these members thus form a generally flat transport plate or surface so as to enable tags to be fed from the tag supply stack 36 to the tag attaching station 30 whenever the pusher member 92 is rectilinearly shifted from the left to the right as visualized in fig4 under the driving force of the counter clockwise rotating lever arm 70 . turning to fig2 and 3 , a generally u - shaped frame member 33 is secured to the top of support plate 50 . rotatably disposed across frame 33 is a threaded rod 35 having a crank handle 37 attached at one end . an adjustable support block 39 is attached to a threaded nut 41 carried on the opposite end of rod 35 , as illustrated . the upper edge of block 39 is adapted to be received within a shallow groove or channel 43 in the lower surface of the cross portion of frame 33 so as to preclude the block 39 from rotation as crank handle 37 is turned . in this manner , turning of the crank handle causes linear transposition of the block 39 as can be appreciated from a comparison of fig2 and 3 . carried upon block 39 is a sensor , such as a microswitch 120 having an actuating roller 45 . the microswitch 120 is mounted on block 39 such that the roller 45 is in the path of rotary movement of lever arm 70 . as will be described in more detail herein below , the microswitch is actuated each time the lever arm 70 moves in a counter clockwise direction , as visualized in fig4 . thus , as the lever arm rotates from the rest position shown in fig2 through 4 to a tag feed position as shown in phantom lines in fig4 the microswitch will be actuated . mounted on the cross member of frame 33 is an upright pin or arm 47 . similarly , a pair of spaced upright arms 49 and 51 are attached to moveable block 39 . pin 47 , which is fixed with respect to frame 33 , cooperates with arms 49 and 51 to form a tag width gauge . as can be appreciated from fig2 and 3 , the tag width gauge may be easily used by merely positioning a single tag such that a prepunched hole therein is placed over pin 47 . with the tag thus in position , crank 37 is rotated to move arm 49 until it just engages the edge of the tag as shown in fig3 . since the movement of arm 49 on block 39 by turning crank 37 also causes a like movement of microswitch 120 , it can be appreciated that the end point of travel of lever 70 , which is determined by the microswitch 120 , will be adjusted each time as the tag width is measured . by coordinating the tag width gauge measurement with the positioning of the microswitch 120 on block 39 and with the distance between the tag supply stack 37 and the tag attaching station 30 , the tag pusher member 92 can be caused to move precisely the amount required to shift a tag from the stacked array to the tag attaching station by merely taking a representative tag and placing it in the width measurement gauge and adjusting crank 37 . since the tag width may vary over a considerable extent , it may be necessary in certain instances to remove tag push member 92 and replace the same with one having shorter tines 94 . when the substitute push member is thus installed , the second gauge arm 51 carried by moveable block 39 may be used in conjunction with fixed arm 47 to measure tag width and set the microswitch 120 accordingly . it can be appreciated from the above that the tag attaching machine according to the present invention is quickly and precisely adaptable to use with tags of widely varying widths . moreover , the adjustment is extremely simple and merely requires that the operator place the tag between the appropriate gauge members 47 and 49 or 47 and 51 and then merely rotate the crank 37 to conform to the tag dimension . this action automatically transpositions the microswitch 120 so as to establish the end point of travel of lever arm 70 whereupon the push member 92 will move the tag the precise distance necessary to bring the same into perfect alignment at the tag attaching station 30 . the apparatus according to the present invention further includes a tag thickness gauge . refering again to fig2 and 3 , the tag supply stack 36 is adapted to be placed against a retaining member 53 which is mounted such that its lower edge is spaced from the upper surface of the support plate formed by guides 31 and tines 94 of push member 92 so as to permit a tag of maximum intended thickness to pass therebetween . at the top of retaining member 53 , a perpendicular leg 55 extends toward the tag attaching station such that the retaining member 53 and attached leg 55 have a generally l - shaped section . a shutter 57 is mounted against the retaining member 53 by suitable means such as a screw 59 which extends through a slot in member 53 . a perpendicularly disposed leg 61 extends from the top edge of shutter 57 such that the shutter also has a generally l - shaped section . the dimensions of shutter 57 are such that the spacing between leg members 55 and 61 is precisely the same as the opening at the bottom of the shutter above the tag supporting plate formed by tines 94 and support members 31 . by placing a selected tag between members 55 and 61 , and , after loosening screw 59 , adjusting the shutter 57 accordingly , the shutter opening will be quickly and precisely set to permit only one tag to be withdrawn from the tag supply 36 and shifted to the tag attaching station 30 . on the opposite side of the tag supply stack 36 from retaining member 53 is a second retaining member 63 . this member may be moved to the left and to the right so as to accommodate tags of different widths and maintain the same in a neat stack . a weight 65 is attached , preferably with some degree of freedom to the bottom end of a rod 67 which is loosely held in an elongated slot 69 in a holding member 71 . a handle 73 is attached to the top of rod 67 so that the rod and weight may be picked up and moved and then replaced atop a stack of tags 36 to maintain the same in proper alignment . the tag supply 36 is also provided with a tag retention member 75 in the form of a generally flat strip of material having its top end bent over to form a finger grip portion 77 and having an ear 79 attached to wall member 63 by any suitable means such as screw 81 . member 75 may be positioned to accommodate tags of varying depths and effectively prevents the tag supply from inadvertent dislodgment . a metal tube 83 has an opening 85 shaped to form a nozzle . the tube 83 is held in position by an appropriate block 87 and is adapted to be connected to compressor 32 so as to feed a stream of air against the needle 132 . the stream of air eminating from nozzle 85 clears the severed loose ends of the thread after each tag attaching sequence and blows the remaining tag end to the right , as visualized in fig2 and 3 , so as to place the thread end in the proper position for pick up during the next tag attaching sequence . referring to fig8 and 10 , fig8 shows the positioning of the various elements at or near the tag attaching station 30 just prior to the first tag attaching operation . at this time , a single tag has been moved from the tag supply stack 36 to the tag attaching station 30 and is sitting between the upper surface of the support plate and a guard plate 89 . an article to which a tag is to be attached is positioned over the presser block 128 , as shown . the operator then commences the tag attaching sequence by engaging switch 48 ( fig1 ). this begins the entire sequence and initially causes the needle 132 to move down . the needle will continue to travel down through the hole in the tag and through article until it reaches the lowest position of travel . at this point , a pick up mechanism 91 is operated to grasp the end of the thread at the lower end of the needle under the article . at this same time , the presser foot 116 will have pressed the article against presser block 128 to hold it securely in place . as the needle 132 begins to move back in the upward direction , the pick up mechanism will also move the end of the thread up above the guard plate 89 as shown in fig9 . depending upon the duration of the down position of the presser foot 116 , the length of the loop thus formed , as depicted in fig9 will vary . as will be described more fully herein below , the presser foot down duration is controlled by the microprocessor 38 , and a timing network included therein may be adjusted to select any desired loop diameter . at the conclusion of the tag attaching sequence , the article is pulled from the tag attaching station whereupon the knotting mechanism ( not shown ) completes its function and the next article may be then moved into position . referring now to fig1 the operation of the present invention through the control of microprocessor circuitry 38 will be explained in detail . the microprocessor circuitry 38 is connected to a source of power designated generally as power supply 100 . the power derived from supply 100 is utilized by the microprocessor to selectively operate the other elements of the invention . control of the microprocessor circuitry 38 is achieved through a plurality of switches connected to its inputs . as discussed above , a control panel 40 includes a two - position switch 42 which turns the microprocessor on and off , a push button switch 44 to cause movement of the transport mechanism without actual attachment of the tag , and a two - position switch 46 to operate the microprocessor in either mutual or automatic modes . in the manual mode , a first operation of switch 46 followed by operation of a command switch 48 causes movement and attachment of a single tag , whereas in automatic mode successive operations of the tag attaching mechanism result from a single operation of the command switch 48 . the motor 24 receives power from the microprocessor via line 102 . the gear 28 is engaged to be driven by the motor 24 upon operation of a clutch 26 contolled by the microprocessor via line 104 . a limit switch 29 detects the position of gear 28 and directs this information to the microprocessor via line 106 . the transport mechanism 34 operated via cylinder 80 is controlled through a solenoid valve 82 connected to the microprocessor via line 108 , to the cylinder 80 by outlets 84 and 86 to control respectively extending and retracting piston 90 , and to a pneumatic compressor 32 . power to the pneumatic compressor 32 is controlled by the microprocessor via line 112 . a microswitch 120 which detects the position of the tag feeder arm 70 transmits this information to the microprocessor on line 114 . the microprocessor also controls a presser foot 116 by means of a solenoid valve 118 connected to line 121 , to extending outlet 122 and retracting outlet 124 of air cylinder 126 , and to the pneumatic compressor 32 . in operation , the presser foot 116 is extended to retain the material against presser block 128 directly below the attaching station 30 during movement of the attaching mechanism 130 including needle 132 and thread 134 . to perform a single tag attaching operation , switch 42 is first moved to its &# 34 ; on &# 34 ; position , thereby causing power to be applied to the motor 24 and the pneumatic compressor 32 . switch 46 is placed in &# 34 ; manual &# 34 ; position and switch 44 is operated once . in response , microprocessor circuitry 38 institutes movement of the transport mechanism 34 by operating the solenoid valve 82 via line 108 thereby directing air from the pneumatic compressor 32 into extending outlet 84 which causes a tag to be moved from the stack of tags 36 towards the tag attaching station 30 . when the selected tag has been completely moved into place in the tag attaching station 30 , microswitch 120 is engaged by the tag feeder arm 70 and transmits this information to the microprocessor on line 114 . upon receipt of this signal the microprocessor disables solenoid valve 82 which causes air from the compressor 32 to be directed to retracting outlet 86 so that the piston 90 retracts into the cylinder 80 and the transport mechanism 34 moves back to its initial position . by operating switch 44 once , the resulting movement of tag mechanism 34 causes a selected tag to be moved to the tag attaching station 30 . at this time , the alignment of the tag can be verified and any needed changes in the tag gauges can be made . if attachment of the selected tag to the garment is desired , operation is continued by placing a garment on presser block 128 and pressing the command switch 48 one time . in response , the microprocessor simultaneously institutes movement of the presser foot 116 and the attaching mechanism 130 . a signal on line 120 causes the solenoid valve 118 to direct air from the compressor 32 to the extending outlet 122 of the presser foot cylinder 126 , thereby driving the presser foot 116 against the presser block 128 to hold the garment in place . after a predetermined albeit adjustable time , solenoid valve 118 is switched off thereby directing air into retracting outlet 124 so the presser foot 116 lifts off of presser block 128 . meanwhile , the attaching mechanism 130 is activated by controlling the clutch 26 so that cam gear 28 engages the motor 24 . the needle 132 and thread 134 of the attaching mechanism pass through the selected tag and garment in the manner described hereinabove . as the attaching mechanism draws the thread around the presser foot 116 a loop is formed and subsequently tied by further operation of the attaching mechanism . thus , the length of the resulting loop is dependent upon the distance between the actuating mechanism 130 and the presser foot at the moment the thread is tied . therefore , the length of time the presser foot 116 is extended is directly related to the length of the resulting loop : if the presser foot is retracted early , the distance is small when the thread is tied whereas keeping the presser foot down causes a greater distance and hence a longer loop at the moment of tying . the length of time the presser foot is extended is controlled by an adjustable delay circuit 136 located in the microprocessor . continued movement of the attaching mechanism 130 via the gear 28 and the motor 24 results in completed attachment of the selected tag by means of needle 122 containing thread 124 . at the time when the selected tag has been properly attached , position - indicating means 138 located on gear 28 , such as a notch 138 , causes operation of the limit switch 29 . this information is received by the microprocessor on line 106 which , in response thereto , directs operation of the clutch 26 so as to disengage the gear 28 from the motor 24 . there is , however , sufficient momentum left in gear 28 to cause continued movement of the position - indicating notch 138 of the gear past the limit switch 29 so that the limit switch 29 is no longer engaged . at this point , the tag attaching procudure has completed one full cycle and the garment with tag can be removed thereby simultaneously cutting the tied thread free . the signal generated by engagement of the limit switch 29 is used for a second function by the microprocessor , however , to prepare for another tag - attaching operation . in addition to disengaging the clutch 26 , the microprocessor in response to operation of the limit switch causes the transport mechanism 34 to deposit another tag in the attaching station 30 per the steps set forth herein above . the last step of each attaching cycle , therefore , is to deposit another tag in the attaching station so as to be ready for a second operation of the command switch 48 . an adjustable delay circuitry 140 is included in the microprocessor connected to line 108 leading to the transport mechanism solenoid valve 82 to vary the interval between completion of tag attachment by attaching means 130 and the delivery of another tag in the manner described immediately above . this allows an operator sufficient time to remove the previous garment and tag from the attaching station 30 and presser block 128 so as to avoid jamming the device by delivering a new tag before removal is completed . the interval is adjustable to provide for varying degrees of skill among operators of the machine . successive operations of the command switch 48 while switch 46 is in &# 34 ; manual &# 34 ; setting causes the foregoing sequences to be repeated each time in response thereto . if the switch 46 is moved to &# 34 ; automatic &# 34 ; position and the command switch 48 is then operated , the foregoing events occur as described above with the additional step that operation of the limit switch 29 by gear 28 also causes the microprocessor to initiate another cycle of the attaching means , presser foot and transport mechanism upon completion of the prior cycle . in this manner , successive attachments of the tags occur automatically in response to a single operation of the command switch 48 , until switch 46 is moved back to &# 34 ; manual &# 34 ; position thereby completing the current cycle and then stopping . an adjustable delay circuit 142 included in the microprocessor may be used to control the interval of time between successive cycles of tag attaching when operating in the automatic mode . it may be appreciated that many different devices may be used to implement the circuitry and control mechanisms described hereinabove . for example , the clutch 26 engaging gear 28 may be a magnetic - type clutch , a pneumatic or hydraulic clutch , or a fully electronic braking system . similarly , the devices used to operate the transport mechanism 34 and the presser foot 116 may comprise pneumatic devices as discussed above or , alternately , bi - directional electric motors , hydraulic devices or any other suitable mechanisms . the microprocessor circuitry 38 may be designed in a variety of ways so as to accomplish the particular operating functions discussed hereinabove . a preferred embodiment of the microprocessor is illustrated in fig1 , wherein the reference characters correspond to those used in fig1 . the preferred embodiment comprises a known dc power supply 200 connected through the on / off switch 42 to the power source 100 to develop an internal voltage and ground . a reset pulse icl is developed by circuitry 202 connected to the power supply 200 . the pulse icl is characterized by the generation of a slowly increasing voltage waveform upon turning switch 42 on and is used to effect automatic reset and initialization of the other microprocessor circuitry . the command switch is connected to the input of a nand gate 204 having an output connected to an input of and gate 206 . the output of and gate 206 is connected to a negative pulse shaping circuit 208 and to the set input of a latch 210 comprising nand gates . the output of the shaping circuit 208 is also connected to the monostable multivibrator 136 adjustable via resistor 210 . the pulse produced by the multivibrator 136 is connected to a driving circuit 212 for a relay 214 controlling the presser foot solenoid valve 118 . the output of the latch 210 is connected to another driving circuit 216 for a relay 218 controlling the cam gear clutch 26 . the input of the shaping circuit is connected to the limit switch 29 of the cam gear 28 . one reset input of the latch 210 is connected to master reset icl , and a second to the input of the monostable multivibrator 140 adjustable via resistor 222 . the output of multivibrator 140 is connected to a positive waveform pulse shaping circuit 224 , having an output connected to a set input of latch 226 . the latch 226 is connected to a driving circuit 228 for control of the feeder mechanism solenoid valve 82 through triac 230 . the microswitch 120 is connected to a negative pulse shaping circuit 232 which has an output connected to the reset inputs of latch 226 and latch 234 . another reset input of latch 234 is connected to master reset icl , a set input to shaping circuit 208 , and the inverted output of the latch 234 to an input of nand gate 204 and nand gate 236 . this latter gate has another input connected to switch 44 and its output connected to the latch 226 . the output of shaping circuit 224 is also connected to a monostable multivibrator 142 adjustable via resistor 238 . the output of the multivibrator is connected to a negative pulse shaping circuit 240 , having an output connected to the reset input of a latch 242 and an inverted output connected to a nand gate 244 . the switch 46 is connected to the set input of latch 242 , the output of the latch is connected to the other input of nand gate 244 , having its output connected to the input of and gate 206 . the operation of the circuit of fig1 will now be described to illustrate the sequence of operations occuring during attachment of a tag . as discussed above , the first step is operating switch 44 which causes latch 226 to be set and the feeder arm solenold valve 82 to be operated via driving circuit 228 and triac 230 . the feeder mechanism advances a selected tag towards the attaching station until it is in place and microswitch 120 is engaged , resulting in resetting latch 226 and turning off solenoid valve 82 thereby causing the feeder mechanism to return . a tag is now properly in place in the attaching station . the next step is to operate command switch 48 which simultaneously turns on the presser foot solenoid valve 118 via shaping circuit 208 , multivibrator 136 , driving circuit 212 and relay 214 , and turning on the cam gear clutch 29 via latch 210 , driving circuit 216 and relay 218 . thus , the presser foot engages the garment and the attaching mechanism begins operation meanwhile , latch 234 has been set , thereby temporarily blocking via gate 204 any further operation from pressing command switch 48 . the duration of operation of the presser foot solenoid valve 118 is controlled by multivibrator 136 . as discussed above , this has a direct effect upon the length of thread loop attaching the selected tag to the garment . when the multivibrator 136 times out , the presser foot is released . since the cam gear solenoid 26 is still being operated , the attaching mechanism completes its cycle of operation thereby attaching the tag . when the cycle is completed and limit switch 29 is momentarily engaged , the feeder mechanism solenoid valve 82 is again operated via the chain comprising the shaping circuit 220 , multivibrator 140 , shaping circuit 224 , driving circuit 228 and relay 230 . the feeder mechanism operates until a tag is deposited in the attaching station , microswitch 120 is engaged and the feeder mechanism is returned as described hereinabove . the latch 234 is also reset by engagement of the microswitch 120 so the system is prepared for another attaching cycle . in the above - described sequence , the multivibrator 140 is adjusted to delay the interval between completion of the attaching mechanism and a new operation of the feeder mechanism . if manual operation has been selected , the above sequence constitutes a finished cycle since gate 206 is blocked until another pulse is received from the command switch . if automatic operation is selected by engaging switch 46 and setting latch 242 , however , the pulse causing operation of the feeder mechanism as a result of triggering of the limit switch 29 also causes multivibrator 142 to produce a pulse which is used to repeat the entire attaching cycle via shaping circuit 240 , gates 244 and 206 . the multivibrator 142 is adjustable to control the interval between successive attaching cycles . thus , successive operations of the command switch 48 are not needed to initiate an attaching cycle when the automatic mode has been selected . disengaging switch 46 causes gate 206 to be blocked again , thereby switching to manual operation and halting the operation sequence at the conclusion of the last attaching cycle . it may be appreciated from the foregoing that many other circuit designs can be incorporated in the microprocessor to produce the desired functions and the disclosed embodiment is intended to be illustrative of just one possible design . for example , the circuitry can be replaced or altered to include transistors or operational amplifiers . alternately , the microprocessor may be incorporated in a single integrated circuit of an appropriate design to produce the desired operation . inasmuch as the present invention is subject to many variations , modifications and changes in detail , it is intended that all matter contained in the foregoing description or shown in the accompanying drawings shall be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense .	3
fig2 and 3 show a computer system 150 according to the present invention , including : wan and / or lan 151 ; server computer 152 ; processing hardware set 154 ; posix controller kernel 155 ; guest operating system ( gos ) i 161 ; gos ii 162 ; gos iii 163 ; terminal i 170 ; terminal ii 180 ; terminal iii 190 . the controller kernel includes true video transmission module 156 ; hypervisor software 401 ; native form communication software 402 ; virtual video card module 411 ; idle loop 420 ; true video frame buffer sub - module 406 ; and digital - to - analog converter 407 . terminal i includes : user input device set 171 ; and a / v output device 172 . terminal ii includes : user input device set 181 ; and a / v output device 182 . terminal iii includes : user input device set 191 ; and a / v output device 192 . in operation , the three goss 161 , 162 , 163 of the server computer run in a “ containerized ” ( that is , at least substantially independent of each other ) manner on and under the control of the controller kernel , which controls communications between the controller kernel and the respective goss . these containerized goss are respectively allocated to the remote terminals 170 , 180 , 190 . in this embodiment the remote terminals are in the form of dumb terminals ( see definitions section ), but , alternatively , they could be thin client terminals or even full - blown personal computer workstations . for the purposes of the present invention , the important part to focus upon is the form in which the terminals get their respective video signals , which are displayed upon their respective standard monitor type display devices 172 , 182 , 192 . more specifically , they get true video signals , which correspond to a computer type display of the type that a user sees when working directly at a personal computer . now , in system 150 , these true video displays come from the server computer which is located at a nearby remote location ( lan embodiments ) or a faraway remote location ( wan embodiments ). in this embodiment , the network 151 is a wired network , but it could alternatively be a wireless network , or even a wireless broadcast of video signals on different channels corresponding to the respective true video signals , similar to a conventional , old fashioned television broadcast . the operation of the controller kernel , shown in detail in fig3 , will now be discussed . the controller kernel effects communications between the processing hardware set and the goss in ( at least ) two ways : ( i ) through hypervisor software 401 ; and ( ii ) through native form communication software . the operation of the native form communication software is discussed in some detail in the controller kernel background documents , but summarize this portion of the communication , native form ( see definitions section ) instructions are passed back and forth between the operating system and the containerized goss in a controlled fashion by the native form communication software , which preferably : ( i ) is written in linux ( even if the goss are windows ); and ( ii ) utilizes an idle loop and interrupt signals so that multiple goss can share a single set of processing hardware using native form instructions , but without conflicts . in controller kernel 155 , however , some gos / processing hardware set communications are handled ( in whole or in part ) by hypervisor software 401 . for example , video related instructions are handled by virtual video card module 410 which virtualizes and emulates a audio card hardware , but at the software level . as a further example , audio related instructions are handled by virtual audio card module 411 which virtualizes and emulates audio card hardware , but at the software level . these virtualized interfaces of the hypervisor software tend to be less efficient than the native form transfer of instructions through the native form communication software , but , for various reasons , there are some instruction transfers that are preferably performed in this virtualized manner . within hypervisor software 401 , frame buffers having audio and / or video data are generated . it is these frame buffers which are taken by ( or copied to ) true video frame buffer sub - module 406 of the true video transmission module portion of the controller kernel . the true video frame buffer sub - module uses these frame buffers to make a true video signal ( in digital form ) corresponding to the video signal that a computer user using the gos and its associated applications would see . this true video signal ( in digital form ) is then sent to digital - to - analog converter 407 and converted to a corresponding true video signal in analog form . the true video signal in analog form is sent out to the processing hardware set and thence to wan / lan 151 ( generally with the help of a network module , that may include hardware and / or software , not separately shown ). in some controller kernel embodiments of the present invention ( not all embodiments of the present invention necessarily have controller kernels ), the true video signal may be sent directly from the computer to the a / v output device . it is noted that the true video signal is not encapsulated in a network protocol , or otherwise put into any form that would require processing so that it could be displayed on a standard monitor type display device . fig4 shows another computer system 200 according to the present invention , including : server computer 202 ; multi - channel wireless transmitter 203 ; processing hardware set 204 ; posix controller kernel 205 ; true video transmission module 206 ; gos i 210 ; gos ii 211 ; gos iii 212 ; terminal i 220 ; terminal ii 230 ; and terminal iii 240 . terminal i includes user input device set 221 ; and a / v output device 222 . terminal ii includes user input device set 231 ; and a / v output device 232 . terminal iii includes user input device set 241 ; and a / v output device 242 . the operation of the multiple containerized goss , the dumb terminals and the generation of the three true video signals to be respectively sent to the three dumb terminals work substantially the same way as explained above in connection with system 150 . however , in system 200 , the three true video signals are broadcast on three different channels of wireless transmission , in the manner of a television broadcast . instead of being sent to a network , the true video signals are sent from true video transmission module 206 to wireless transmitter 203 ( which may be built integrally into the body of the server computer , or may be a separate component ). wireless transmitter may be constructed as , for example , wireless transmitter videocomm tc5800 ( made by videocomm technologies of oakville , ontario , canada ). preferably , each true video signal is sent on a separate channel , but other ways of multiplexing multiple true video signals may be possible . the true video signals of system 200 are preferably analog , but digital true video signals may also be and / or become susceptible of wireless broadcast . the preferred bandwidth related allocations ( assuming current equipment types and current performance standards ) are believed to be : ( i ) 6 mbps ; and ( ii ) 20 mhz per channel ( that is , per user ). these preferred allocations may change over time as equipment and expected performance standards improve . the true video signal channels are respectively broadcast to wireless receivers 223 , 233 , 243 , respectively of terminals i , ii and iii and displayed on a / v output devices 222 , 232 and 242 . once again , these a / v output devices are standard monitor type display devices ( see definitions section ) and therefore do not require processing power for processing the video signal before display becomes possible . fig5 shows computer system 300 , which is not necessarily a preferred embodiment , but included primarily to demonstrate some of the possible scope that the present invention may have . system 300 includes server computer 302 ; processing hardware set 304 ; standard os 305 ; application programming interface ( api ) 307 ; true video transmission application 306 ; wireless transmitter 303 ; client personal computer 320 ; processing hardware set 321 ; a / v output device 322 ; wireless receiver 323 ; standard os 325 ; and true video reception application . in system 300 , it is true video transmission application 306 that generates a true video signal and directs it to be broadcast out from the server computer by its wireless transmitter . because the true video transmission application sits atop an api and a standard operating system ( for example , a linux operating system or a window operating system ) in the server computer , it will generally be less efficient at creating the true video signal . the wireless true video signal is received by wireless receiver of the client computer and then sent to the true video reception application of the client computer , which also runs on top of an operating system before being sent to a / v output device 322 . again , the operating system involvement at the receiving end of the video signal may tend to decrease efficiency of the generation of the display on a / v output device 322 , but there may be reasons to set up a system that works this way . it is also noted that the presence of processing hardware set 321 in the client computer will tend to increase the cost of the client computer ( relative to the cost of a dumb terminal however , there may be reasons for doing this . for example , the operating system of the server computer may run as a mere window in the substantially independent operating system of the client computer , thus giving the client the power of two simultaneous and independent operating systems to work with , while still allowing for the efficiency of remotely - generated , true video signals on the client side in connection with its server computer window . any and all published documents mentioned herein shall be considered to be incorporated by reference , in their respective entireties , herein to the fullest extent of the patent law . the following definitions are provided for claim construction purposes : present invention : means at least some embodiments of the present invention ; references to various feature ( s ) of the “ present invention ” throughout this document do not mean that all claimed embodiments or methods include the referenced feature ( s ). embodiment : a machine , manufacture , system , method , process and / or composition that may ( not must ) meet the embodiment of a present , past or future patent claim based on this patent document ; for example , an “ embodiment ” might not be covered by any claims filed with this patent document , but described as an “ embodiment ” to show the scope of the invention and indicate that it might ( or might not ) covered in a later arising claim ( for example , an amended claim , a continuation application claim , a divisional application claim , a reissue application claim , a re - examination proceeding claim , an interference count ); also , an embodiment that is indeed covered by claims filed with this patent document might cease to be covered by claim amendments made during prosecution . first , second , third , etc . (“ ordinals ”): unless otherwise noted , ordinals only serve to distinguish or identify ( e . g ., various members of a group ); the mere use of ordinals shall not be taken to necessarily imply order ( for example , time order , space order ). electrically connected : means either directly electrically connected , or indirectly electrically connected , such that intervening elements are present ; in an indirect electrical connection , the intervening elements may include inductors and / or transformers . data communication : any sort of data communication scheme now known or to be developed in the future , including wireless communication , wired communication and communication routes that have wireless and wired portions ; data communication is not necessarily limited to : ( i ) direct data communication ; ( ii ) indirect data communication ; and / or ( iii ) data communication where the format , packetization status , medium , encryption status and / or protocol remains constant over the entire course of the data communication . receive / provide / send / input / output : unless otherwise explicitly specified , these words should not be taken to imply : ( i ) any particular degree of directness with respect to the relationship between their objects and subjects ; and / or ( ii ) absence of intermediate components , actions and / or things interposed between their objects and subjects . module / sub - module : any set of hardware , firmware and / or software that operatively works to do some kind of function , without regard to whether the module is : ( i ) in a single local proximity ; ( ii ) distributed over a wide area ; ( ii ) in a single proximity within a larger piece of software code ; ( iii ) located within a single piece of software code ; ( iv ) located in a single storage device , memory or medium ; ( v ) mechanically connected ; ( vi ) electrically connected ; and / or ( vii ) connected in data communication . true video : video signal in any form suitable for display on a conventional display without the need for any substantial computational type processing . standard monitor type display device : a display device that directly displays a true video signal and does not have the processing capability to convert a non - true - video format video signal into a true video format video signal ; may be a conventional monitor for use a personal desktop computer , or it may be built integrally into a laptop , notebook , tablet , netbook or other geometry . terminals : sometimes called workstations , these have sufficient user input and output devices so that a user can work at the terminal as if the user is working at a computer , regardless of how much computer processing capability exists within the terminal itself ; terminals include , but are not limited to , dumb terminals and thin clients . dumb terminals : a terminal with substantially no computer processing capability ; however , it is noted that a terminal including a standard lcd monitor and a standard modern computer keyboard would be considered as a dumb terminal even if either or both of these devices turned out to have some processing power to perform their respective functions as a display device and a user input device . thin client : a terminal with some computer processing power , but much less than a typical personal computer ; for example , a thin client might have a processor for the purposes of , and only sufficient to , de - encapsulating and encapsulating data received from a network in a network protocol and data transmitted to the network in network protocol . controller kernel : includes , but is not necessarily limited to posix kernels that include an idle loop for routing native form instructions in a controlled manner native form : a form of instructions that can be operatively received by and / or is output from processing hardware directly and without any sort of translation or modification to form by software running on the hardware ; generally speaking , different processing hardware types are characterized by different native forms . to the extent that the definitions provided above are consistent with ordinary , plain , and accustomed meanings ( as generally shown by documents such as dictionaries and / or technical lexicons ), the above definitions shall be considered supplemental in nature . to the extent that the definitions provided above are inconsistent with ordinary , plain , and accustomed meanings ( as generally shown by documents such as dictionaries and / or technical lexicons ), the above definitions shall control . unless otherwise explicitly provided in the claim language , steps in method steps or process claims need only be performed in the same time order as the order the steps are recited in the claim only to the extent that impossibility or extreme feasibility problems dictate that the recited step order be used . this broad interpretation with respect to step order is to be used regardless of whether the alternative time ordering ( s ) of the claimed steps is particularly mentioned or discussed in this document — in other words , any step order discussed in the above specification shall be considered as required by a method claim only if the step order is explicitly set forth in the words of the method claim itself . also , if some time ordering is explicitly set forth in a method claim , the time ordering claim language shall not be taken as an implicit limitation on whether claimed steps are immediately consecutive in time , or as an implicit limitation against intervening steps .	7
adult female baboons were studied for at least one menstrual cycle for patterns of urinary estrogens , plasma , progestin , and in some cases urinary lh . only those animals displaying normal patterns of these hormones were immunized . the criteria for normality and the procedures for housing animals are well known and will not be described . human luteinizing hormone ( hlh )-- partially purified preparation from human pituitaries with a biological potency of 2 . 5 units per mg . ( nih - lh - si ). human follicle stimulating hormone ( hfsh )-- a partially purified preparation from humand pituitaries with a biological potency of 86 units per mg . ( nih - fsh - si ). human chorionic gonadotropin ( hcg )-- a highly purified preparation from human pregnancy urine with biological potency of 13 , 200 iu / mg . ( 2nd irp - hcg ). monkey luteinizing hormone ( mlh )-- a crude preparation from rhesus monkey pituitaries with a biological potency of 0 . 75 units per mg . ( nih - lh - si ). baboon luteinizing hormone ( blh )-- partially purified baboon pituitary preparation with a biological potency of 1 . 1 units per mg . ( nih - lh - s1 ). all preparations , excepting the olh , were prepared in the inventor &# 39 ; s laboratory . lh and hcg biological activity was determined by the ovarian ascorbic acid depletion test and the fsh preparation assayed by the ovarian augmentation assay . hormones were altered as antigens by coupling with a hapten in varying ratios of hapten to hormone as described by cinader et al ., supra . for convenience , the cinader process is discussed herein although phillips , supra , may provide a more stable bond under certain circumstances . in this procedure , the protein hormone serves as a carrier and the hapten is coupled to it by diazo bonds . although a variety of hapten groups were coupled to different hormones , the same basic procedure was used for any combination . fifteen to thirty - five haptenic groups per hormone molecule were found most useful for preparing immuizing antigens . the basic reaction consisted of diazotizing the hapten ( sulfanilic acid ) by adding it to a solution of 0 . 11 n hcl and then slowly adding this solution dropwise to a 1 percent solution of nano 2 with constant stirring at 4 ° c . diazotization was considered complete with free hno 2 was detected in the reaction mixture . although the above reaction was accomplished at 4 ° c ., optimum temperatures for the reaction normally are about 0 °- 6 ° c ., although 4 ° c . is preferred . the hapten - protein coupling was performed by dissolving the protein hormone in an alkaline buffer , ph 8 . 0 . the diazotized hapten was added slowly to the hormone solution with continuous stirring at 4 ° c . the ph of the reaction was constantly monitored and kept near 8 . 0 . after all the hapten was added , the ph was finally adjusted to 8 . 0 , stirred for 1 - 2 hours and allowed to stand at 4 ° overnight . the mixture was thoroughly dialyzed for 6 - 8 days against distilled water to remove unreacted hapten . although the number of diazo groups per hormone molecule could be regulated by the number of moles of hapten and hormone reacted , a parallel control experiment with s 35 labelled sulfanilic acid to evaluate the precise composition of the haptenprotein samples was performed with each diazotization . the same hormone preparation to be used for immunization was used in the control experiment . after the reaction was completed , an aliquot was taken from the reaction mixture and the remainder thoroughly dialyzed . equal volumes of the dialyzed and undialyzed solutions were counted by liquid scintillation . by comparing the counts of the dialyzed and undialyzed samples , the moles of hapten coupled to each mole of hormone was calculated since the unreacted hapten was removed by dialysis . for this calculation , a molecular weight of 30 , 000 was assumed for all gonadotropin preparations . following dialysis , hapten - hormones were lyophilized and stored at 4 ° c . diazo - hcg ( 35 groups / molecule ) and hlh ( 26 groups / molecule ) were bioassayed by the ovarian ascorbic acid depletion method and found to retain 62 and 85 percent respectively of the activity of the unaltered hormones from which they were derived . none of the other hormones were assayed for biological activity . female baboons received their initial immunization on days 3 - 5 of the menstrual cycle and the second and third injections one week apart . the fourth injection was given 2 - 3 weeks after the third . a few animals received a fifth injection at 70 - 80 days after the first injections . all antigens were administered subcutaneously in a suspension of mannide manoleate or peanut oil . doses of antigens for each injection varied between 3 and 5 mg . injection sites were inspected daily for 5 days after each immunization for local reactions . daily 24 - hour urine specimens and frequent serum samples were collected during at least one menstrual cycle prior to immunizations and following immunizations until the effects of treatment were assessed . urinary lh , urinary estrogens and plasma progestins were measured . antibodies were detected in post - immunization serum samples by reacting 0 . 2 ml . of a 1 : 1000 dilution of serum in phosphate - buffered saline ( ph 7 . 4 ) 0 . 5 percent normal baboon serum with 250 pg of 1 131 labelled hormone . sera were reacted with both the unaltered immunizing hormone and unaltered baboon lh for antibody detection . a purified baboon lh preparation ( 1 . 9 × nih - lh - s1 ) was used as a tracer antigen . antigen - antibody complexes were precipitated with ovine anti - baboon gamma globulin after a 24 - hr . incubation at 4 ° c . antibody levels were expressed as pg of labelled hormone bound . significant antibody levels were considered to be those that would bind 5 . 0 pg or more of the 1 131 labelled antigen . antisera were fractionated by gel filtration of sephadex g - 200 according to the procedure of fahey and terry ( at p . 36 , experimental immunology , f . a . davis co ., philadelphia , pa ., 1967 , incorporated by reference to the extent necessary to understand the invention ) to determine the proportion of igm and igg antibodies in the baboon sera . since the igg fraction in this procedure contained a portion of iga and igd antibodies , only igm and total titers were determined . the igm fraction from the column was reacted with 1 131 hormones and the binding capacity determined . the volumes of the fractionated sera were adjusted so that antibody levels would be comparable to those of whole serum . no significant reactions were observed at the site of injection following any immunization . on 4 occasions , a slight induration ( 2 - 3 cm in diameter ) was seen when mannide manoleate was used as a vehicle but the redness and swelling disappeared within 4 - 5 days . antibodies were detected against the immunizing antigen within 3 - 5 weeks in all animals . the extent , duration and cross reactivity of these antibodies is recorded . generally speaking , higher levels were observed to heterologous gonadotropin immunization than to homologous ones . the cross - reactivity of induced antibodies with baboon lh was studied on each animal . cross - reactivity of antisera at peak levels was recorded . although relatively high antibody activity against human lh and hcg were seen , relatively little reaction with baboon lh occurred . an intermediate cross - reaction was noted with anti - ovine lh and a high degree of cross - reactivity was seen with anti - monkey lh . diazo - human fsh was weakly antigenic in the baboon . the duration of antibody production was generally longer with the human and sheep gonadotropin immunization than with those of monkey or baboon origin . peak antibody levels usually occurred at the time when the antibodies had shifted to principally the igg type . early antibodies had a larger proportion of igm type and were generally more cross - reactive with baboon lh . the change in the proportion of the total antibody population that was igm was recorded from the time antibodies were first detected . significant cross - reactivity to baboon lh was observed in anti - human gonadotropins when igm was abundant but dropped sharply as the antisera shifted to nearly all igg . this drop in cross - reactivity did not occur with monkey and baboon immunizations . again , the ovine lh immunizations produced an intermediate change in reactivity with the shift from igm to igg . the effects of immunization upon the event of the menstrual cycle were determined by observing changes in sex skin turgescence and levels of pituitary and / or ovarian hormones . based on these parameters , the delay or retardation of ovulation from the expected time , as judged by the control cycle , was calculated . one animal immunized with hcg had no interruption in ovulation and another immunized with hfsh was delayed for only one cycle . two animals injected with hlh and two injected with hcg had ovulation delays equivalent to two menstrual cycles . a third animal immunized with hlh was delayed a calculated 86 days . ovine lh immunizations produced an 88 day delay in ovulation . immunizations with diazo - monkey or baboon lh resulted in longer disruption of the menstrual cycle . calculated delays in ovulation for the two animals receiving monkey lh was 146 and 122 days whereas the animals receiving altered baboon lh were retarded from ovulation 224 and 210 days . effects on specific hormone patterns following immunization with hlh in one animal were recorded . the interval between menses was considered to represent a &# 34 ; cycle &# 34 ;. urinary estrogens and plasma progestin patterns indicated that no ovulation occurred during the cycle of immunization which was 85 days in duration . urinary estrogens were elevated during treatment but did not reflect a typical pattern . plasma progestins were not elevated until about day 19 of the final post - treatment cycle . patterns of both estrogens and progestins were within normal limits during the second post - treatment cycle . antibody levels were elevated from about day 35 of the treatment cycle until 289 days from the first detection of antibodies . an lh assay was not available when this animal was studied and no data on plasma or urinary levels of this hormone was obtained . hormonal patterns following an immunization with diazobaboon lh were recorded . in this animal , antibody levels were lower and persisted , in general , for a shorter period than did immunizations with human gonadotropins . during the treatment cycle , levels of urinary estrogens and plasma progestins followed a normal pattern but were quantitatively lower than normal . urinary lh patterns fluctuated markedly due to the injections of diazo - lh during this period . no conclusive evidence of ovulation was obtained for the treatment cycle . the first post - treatment cycle lasted 246 days . during this cycle urinary lh and estrogens were elevated on days 35 - 41 but there was no subsequent elevation in plasma progestins that would indicate ovulation had occurred . following day 42 of this cycle , there was no significant elevation in any of the three hormone levels until day 231 when significant elevations of urinary estrogens and lh occurred . these rises were followed 3 days later by an elevation in plasma progestins indicating the presence of a functioning corpus luteum . a second post - treatment menstrual cycle was of normal duration and the endocrine patterns were normal . antibodies to unaltered baboon lh attained maximum levels by about day 70 of the post - treatment cycle and remained relatively constant until day 190 when a steady decline was observed . by day 215 of this cycle , antibody levels were barely detectable . approximately 16 days after this time , a peak of lh commensurate with a normal midcycle elevation was observed . from this point the animal appeared to have the normal function of the pituitaryovarian axis . hormonal patterns in animals with other heterologous gonadotropin immunizations were similar to animal receiving hlh and other animals receiving monkey or baboon lh were similar in response to animal receiving baboon lh . these results in baboons indicated that the modification of a reproductive hormone , by the procedures outlined , did render it antigenic and the antibodies thus formed did neutralize natural endogenous hormones if the natural hormone was obtained from the species receiving the immunizations with modified hormone . hcg is a hormone naturally present only in pregnant women with the exception that an entity at least analogous thereto has been found to be present in humans in conjunction with neoplasms . hcg is also commercially available . human lh is immunologically and biologically identical to hcg , even though there are chemical differences . since they are biologically identical and hcg is readily available from commercial sources it was presumed that the effectiveness of this immunological procedure could be evaluated by injecting modified hcg into non - pregnant women and monitoring the blood levels of lh . antibodies formed will neutralize both the lh and the modified hcg . reference in the above regard is made to the publications identified earlier herein . women have a pattern of lh levels ; the level is substantially constant until the middle period between menstrual cycles , immediately prior to ovulation ; at that point the lh level rises greatly and helps induce the ovulation . monitoring the lh level and the antibody level will show that the procedure used did or did not cause the production of antibodies capable of neutralizing the endogenous reproductive hormone , namely lh . a women aged 27 years was selected for study . hormone was obtained , purified and modified . the modified human hormone ( hcg ) was injected into the subject . it is well known that antibodies to hcg react identically to lh as well as hcg . the effect of the immunization was evaluated , principally by monitoring blood levels of lh . finally the results were evaluated . clinical grade hcg derived from pregnancy urine was obtained from the vitamerican corp . little falls , n . j . this material has an immunological potency of 2600 iu / mg . contaminants were detected in this preparation . purification consisted of chromatography and elution . fractions were dialyzed and lyophylized . the most potent fraction contained approximately 7600 iu / mg ., however , it was heterogenous on polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis . the fraction was further purified by gel filtration . the elution profile revealed two major protein peaks . the most potent hcg was found in the first peak and had an immunological potency of 13 , 670 iu per mg . this fraction was subjected to polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis . further purification by gel filtration showed no evidence of heterogeneity of the hcg at this stage . consequently , materials for study were processed according to the above procedure . the contamination of this purified hcg was tested with i 131 used for identification and a sample was reacted with antisera against several proteins offering potential contamination . those proteins were follicle stimulating hormone , human growth hormone , whole human serum , human albumin , transferin , alpha one globulin , alpha two globulin and orosomucoid . no detectable binding of the purified hcg was observed with any antisera at a dulution of 1 : 50 of each . these negative results , calculated against potential binding of the respective proteins , indicated that contamination with any was less than 0 . 005 percent . hormone was altered by coupling with a hapten ( sulfanilazo ). this method couples the hapten molecules to the protein via the amino group of the aliphatic or aromatic portion of the hapten . the number of hapten molecules coupled to each hcg molecule ( ha - hcg ) can be regulated and for this study , forty haptenic groups per hcg molecule were used for preparing the immunizing antigen . the subject was multiparous and had terminated her reproductive capabilities by prior elective bilateral salpingectomy . she was in good health and had regular cyclic menstruation . she underwent complete history , physical examination and laboratory evaluation including blood count , urinalysis , latex fixation and papanicolau smear . she had no history of allergy . to demonstrate normal functioning of the pituitaryovarian axis prior to immunization , blood samples were obtained every other day from the first day of menses for 10 days , then daily for 10 days and finally , every other day until the next menses . serum determinations of fsh , lh , estrone , estradiol and progesterone were performed . these studies indicated an ovulatory pattern . ten mg . of the ha - hcg antigen were dissolved in 1 . 0 ml . of saline and emulsified with an equal volume of oil . prior to injection , scratch tests to antigen and vehicle were performed . immunizations were begun in the luteal phase of the treatment cycle to prevent superovulation from the administered hcg . four injections at two week intervals were given to the subject . the first two of these were administered in oil subcutaneously ( 1 . 0 ml . in each upper arm ); the final two injections were given in saline only via the intradermal route . following each injection , blood pressure readings were taken and the subject observed for allergic reactions . blood samples were collected at weekly intervals beginning two weeks after the initial injection to test for the presence of humoral and cellular antibodies . following completion of the immunization schedule , blood samples were collected in the same manner as in the control cycle to assess effects of immunization on hormonal patterns of the menstrual cycle . since antibodies to hcg react identically to lh as with hcg , lh was monitored as an index of effectiveness of the procedure . a third cycle was similarly studied six months after initial immunization . upon completion of the study , physical and pelvic examinations and laboratory evaluations were repeated . serum samples from the control and post - treatment cycles were assayed for fsh , lh , estrone , estradiol and progesterone . the subject was tested for delayed hypertensivity before immunization and at two week intervals until the injection schedule was completed by an in vitro lymphocyte transformation test . temporal relationships of serum pituitary and gonadal hormones in the control cycles of the subject were recorded . antibody titers to hcg were detected in the subject after two injections . menses occurred at regular intervals during the immunizations . following the initial injection in mannide manoleate , some itching and swelling at the injection site occurred . subsequent intradermal injections in saline produced no reactions and it was concluded that the local reactions were induced by the mannide manoleate . lymphocyte transformation tests on plasma samples were negative . in the post - treatment cycle , baseline follicular and luteal phase lh levels were not noticeably changed in the subject . very small midcycle elevations in lh levels were observed as compared to the normal large increases . fsh patterns in the post - treatment cycle were normal . this indicated that the antibodies were neutralizing the action of endogenous lh . the subject showed an ovulatory progesterone pattern but attained relatively high antibody titers to lh and hcg after only two injections of ha - hcg . the subject was studied during another cycle approximately six months from the first immunization . significant antibody titers were found . lh patterns indicated a small midcycle elevation . fsh patterns were essentially normal . thus , the specificity of anti - hcg antibodies to lh was shown but not to fsh . another woman aged 29 years was selected for further study . hormone was obtained , purified , and modified as in example ii . this modified hormone was injected into this subject in the same way as in example ii . the subject was monitored and tested as in example ii . the results were similar to the results found in example ii except that ( 1 ) the levels of estrone and estradiol were substantially normal , ( 2 ) the subject acquired significant antibody titers late in the post - immunization cycle , and ( 3 ) in the cycle studied after six months this subject showed no significant midcycle elevation in lh patterns . anther woman aged 29 years was selected for further study . hormone was obtained and purified and modified as in example ii . this modified hormone was injected into this subject in the same way as in example ii . the subject was monitored and tested as in example ii . the results were similar to the results found in example ii except that ( 1 ) baseline follicular and luteal phase lh levels were noticeably depressed in the post - treatment cycle , ( 2 ) no midcycle elevations were observed in lh , ( 3 ) estrone levels were elevated during the follicular phase of the post - immunization cycle , and ( 4 ) during the six - months study there was no significant midcycle elevation in lh patterns . another woman aged 35 years was selected for further study . hormone was obtained , purified , and modified as in example ii . this modified hormone was injected into this subject in the same way as in example ii . the subject was monitored and tested as in example ii . the results were similar to the results found in example ii except that ( 1 ) baseline follicular and luteal phase lh levels were noticeably depressed in the post - treatment cycle , ( 2 ) a very small midcycle elevation of lh were observed , ( 3 ) levels of fsh patterns in the post - treatment cycle were depressed , and ( 4 ) levels of both estrone and estradiol were reduced , during the follicular phase of the post - immunization . another woman aged 28 years was selected for further study . hormone was obtained , purified , and modified as in example ii . this modified hormone was injected into this subject in the same way as in example ii . the subject was monitored and tested as in example ii . the results were similar to results found in example ii except that ( 1 ) baseline follicular and luteal phase lh levels were depressed in the post - treatment cycle , ( 2 ) no peaks were observed in midcycle levels of lh , ( 3 ) estrone levels appeared elevated in the follicular phase of the post immunization cycle , and ( 4 ) lh patterns indicated no significant midcycle elevation in the six - month post - immunization cycle . another woman aged 28 was selected for further study . hormone was obtained , purified , and modified as in example ii . this modified hormone was injected into this subject in the same way as in example ii . the subject was monitored and tested as in example ii . the results were similar to results found in example ii except that ( 1 ) antibody titers to hcg were not detected until after three injections , ( 2 ) baseline follicular and luteal phase lh levels were depressed in the post - treatment cycle , ( 3 ) no peaks nor midcycle elevation in the lh were observed , ( 4 ) estrone levels were elevated during the follicular phase , and ( 5 ) no significant antibody titers were found in the six - month cycle . all the above examples show the practicality of injecting modified hormones for the purpose of neutralizing an endogenous reproductive hormone and thereby offering a procedure for the prevention of conception or the disruption of gestation . data obtained in earlier experiments and discussed in examples i - vii showed that a modified natural reproductive hormone , when injected into an animal of species from which it was derived , would produce antibodies that would neutralize the action of the unmodified endogenous natural hormone in the body of the animal . hormones used in examples i - vii were fsh , lh and hcg . new experiments were performed , baed on this knowledge , to identify another reproductive hormone ( placental lactogen ) that could be used in a similar fashion . a purified preparation of placental lactogen was prepared from placentae of baboons since it was intended to use modified placental lactogen to immunize baboons . placentae were extracted and purified on column chromatograph according to previously published procedures . the purity was tested by polyacrylamide gel , electrophoresis and by radioimmunoassay . the material obtained showed a high degree of purity on electrophoresis and radioimmunoassay showed no contamination with other placental hormones . the baboon placental lactogen ( bpl ) was altered by coupling with the diazonium salt of sulfanilic acid as outlined for other hormones in example i . the number of diazo molecules per bpl molecule in this instance was 15 . immunization procedures were also similar to those described in example i for other hormones . within 4 - 6 weeks after the first injection of diazo - bpl , antibody levels to natural unmodified bpl in vitro were detected in 6 female baboons . levels rose to a plateau within 8 - 10 weeks and remained there for several months . hormonal measurements indicated that there were no efects on the normal events of the menstrual cycle due to the immunizations . since bpl is normally secreted only in pregnancy , this was not a surprising observation . all six females were mated with a male of proven fertility three times ( once each in three different cycles during the fertile period ). pregnancy diagnosis by hormonal measurement was performed after each mating . from the 18 matings , there were 13 conceptions as judged by pregnancy tests . the animals that were pregnant had menstrual bleeding 7 - 12 days later than was expected for their normal menstrual cycles . subsequent hormonal measurements confirmed that these 13 pregnancies were terminated by abortions approximately one week after the time of expected menses . these findings suggest that the antibodies formed in the animal &# 39 ; s body after immunization had no effect on the nonpregnant menstrual cycle but when pregnancy was established , they neutralized the baboon placental lactogen in the baboon placenta and the result was abortion very early after conception . when in examples i - viii above structures ( i ), ( ii ), and ( iii ) are modified by use of diazosulfanilic acid , dinitrophenol , or s - aceto mercaptosuccinic anhydride or structures ( ii ), and ( iii ) are modified by addition of polytyrosine or polyalanine , according to known methods , the results obtained should be similar to those in said examples . similarly , when fsh , somatomedian , growth hormone or angiotension ii are modified by use of diazosulfanilic acid or trinitrophenol , the results obtainable upon administration of the purified modified polypeptide into a male or female human or animal would indicate the stimulation of antibodies which neutralize all or some of the modified polypeptide as well as corresponding endogenous polypeptide . the subjects used in the studies reported in the example are female baboons . all baboons were adults of reproductive age . a description of subjects and the conditions of experimentation have been described in example i . the animals have been studied using highly purified beta subunits of hcg using a preparation with a biological activity of less than 1 . 0 iu / mg . animals were immunized with 14 - 26 moles / mole of polypeptide of diazosulfanilic acid coupled subunits in mannide manoleate . antibody levels were assessed by determining the binding of serum dilutions with i 125 labelled antigens . crossreactivity of antisera was measured by direct binding of labelled antigens and by displacement radioimmunoassays . antifertility effects in actively immunized animals were tested by mating females with males of proven fertility . effects in pregnant baboons passively immunized with either sheep or baboon anti - β - hcg were determined by monitoring serum levels of gonadotropins and sex steroid hormones before and after immunizations . eight female baboons were immunized with the modified beta subunit of hcg . significant antibody levels were attained in all animals . baboon immunizations with the modified beta subunit of hcg resulted in high antibody levels reacting to hcg , human lh and baboon cg but not to baboon lh . all animals remained ovulatory , however , no pregnancies resulted from numerous matings with males of proven fertility . passive immunization of non - immunized pregnant baboons with sheep anti - β - hcg serum produced abortions within 36 - 44 hours . hemocyanin from keyhole limpet ( klh ) solution ( 7 mg / ml ) in 0 . 05 m sodium phosphate buffer in 0 . 2 m nacl , ph 7 . 5 , is prepared . insoluble particles are removed by centrifugation . to one ml of this solution , tolylene diisocyanate ( t . d . i . c .) reagent is added ( 20 μl ) diluted to 1 / 30 with dioxane , the amount being essentially the equivalent of the moles of lysyl residues in the klh molecules . after 40 minutes at 0 ° c ., the t . d . i . c . activated klh solution is combined with 0 . 5 mg of synthetic β - hcg peptide having the following structure : which is first dissolved in 25 μl of 0 . 05 m sodium phosphate buffer in 0 . 2 m nacl , ph 7 . 5 . the mixture is incubated at 37 ° c . for four hours . the resulting product is purified by gel filtration . one g . of ficoll 70 is dissolved in 1 ml each of normal saline and 2 m ethylene diamine ( adjusted to ph 10 with hydrochloric acid ) solution . the solution is kept at room temperature in a water bath and stirred with a magnetic stirrer . cyanoger bromide , 4 g , dissolved in 8 ml of dioxane , is added to the picoll 70 solution . the acidity of the mixture is maintained at ph 10 - 10 . 5 for 8 minutes by adding drops of 2 n sodium hydroxide solution . an additional 2 ml of 2 m ethylene diamine , ph 10 , solution is added , and stirring at room temperature is continued for 30 more minutes . the product is purified by passing it through a bio - gel p - 60 column . two mg of the compound of structure ( ii ) containing picogram amount of i 125 labeled adduct and klh ( 1 . 6 mg ) is dissolved in 1 ml . of 1 . 0 m glycine methyl ester in 5 m guanidine hydrochloride . ethyl dimethylamino propylcarbodiimide ( e . d . c .) 19 . 1 mg is added to this solution . the acidity is adjusted to and maintained at ph 4 . 75 with 1 n hcl at room temperature for 5 hours . the klh - peptide conjugate is purified by passing it through a bio - gel p - 60 2 . 2 × 28 cm column equilibrated with 0 . 2 m nacl . solid bifunctional imidoester dihydrochloride ( 3 mole ) is added in 2 mg portions at 5 - minute intervals to a constantly stirred solution of 1 mole of polypeptide of structure ( ii ) ( 1 - 20 mg / ml ) in 0 . 1 m sodium phosphate , ph 10 . 5 , at room temperature . sodium hydroxide 0 . 1 n is added to maintain the acidity at ph 10 . 5 . one hour after the addition of the diimidoester has been completed , a polymerized product according to this invention is obtained . to a 20 mg / ml solution of homologous serum albumin in 0 . 1 m borate buffer , ph 8 . 5 , 1000 % mole excess of 25 % aqueous solution of glutaric dialdehyde is added at room temperature . the excess dialdehyde is removed by gel filtration in water using bio - gel p - 2 . the material collected at the void volume is lyophilized , and the dried product is redissolved in 0 . 1 m borate buffer , ph 8 . 5 ( 20 mg / ml ), mixed with the required amount of polypeptide of the following structure : structure ( xvi ) ( 20 mg / ml ) in the same buffer at room temperature . twenty minutes later , sodium borohydride in 250 percent molar excess of polypeptide xvi is added . the reaction is terminated after one hour . the conjugated product is purified by gel filtration on bio - gel p - 60 column , dialyzed free of salt and lyophilized . ficoll 70 l g , nahco 3 500 mg , cyanuric chloride 3 g , h 2 o 20 ml , and dimethylformamide 80 ml ., are stirred at temperature below 16 ° c . for 2 hours . the product is dialyzed against distilled water until cl - free , then lyophilized . a polypeptide of structure ( xv ) ( 2 mg ) containing minute quantity of i 125 - labeled analogue is incubated with 1 mg of this product in 0 . 25 ml of 0 . 2 m sodium borate buffer , ph 9 . 5 , for one hour at 20 ° c ., and the product is recovered from a bio - gel p - 60 2 . 2 × 28 cm column . when the above procedure is carried out and dextran t 70 is used in place of ficoll 70 , the corresponding modified polypeptide , useful according to this disclosure , is obtained . ficoll 70 l g , naio 4 1 . 2 g , and kcl 0 . 42 g are dissolved in 1 . 5 ml of 1 m sodium acetate buffer , ph 4 . 5 , and incubated at 37 ° c . for 1 hour . two mg (= 588 μmoles ) of polypeptide of structure ( xv ) above mixed with a minute quantity of i 125 - labeled analogue is incubated with 2 mg of the product obtained above in 0 . 3 ml of 0 . 2 m borate buffer , ph 9 . 5 at 55 ° c . for 1 hour . the reaction mixture is then chilled in an ice water bath and nabh 4 1 mg is then added into this solution . the reduction reaction is terminated by passing the product through a bio - gel p - 60 2 . 2 × 28 cm column equilibrated and eluted with 0 . 2 m nacl . numerous rabbits are immunized with a variety of synthetic peptides conjugated to different modifying groups . following two or three immunizations at 3 - 5 week intervals , sera from animals are assessed by determining their ability to bind in vitro to radiolabeled hcg . the specificity of this binding is studied by reacting the same sera against similarly labeled other protein hormones , particularly , pituitary lh . sera are further assessed by determining their ability to inhibit the biological action of exogenously administered hcg in bioassay animals . thus , the increase in uterine weight of the immature female rat in resonse to a prescribed dose of hcg is noted . the dose of hcg is administered subcutaneously in saline in five injections over a three day period and the animal is sacrificed for removal of the uterus on the fourth day . the weight of the uterus increases in dose reponse fashion to the hormone injections . when assessing the effects of antisera in this response , varying quantities of test serum are administered intraperitoneally separately from the subcutaneous injection of hormone during the assay . this procedure permits the antiserum to be absorbed rapidly into the rat &# 39 ; s bloodstream and will permit interaction of it with hormone when the latter likewise enters this fluid . if the antiserum is capable of reacting with the hormone in a manner preventing stimulation of the uterus , the antiserum is considered to be effective for biological inhibition of hormone action . the frequency of animals showing a positive response to immunological binding and neutralization of biological activity is presented in iodosobenzoic acid dissolved in a slight excess of 1 n potassium hydroxide in 10 % molar excess is added to the peptide of structure ( ii ) in phosphate buffer with normal saline at ph of 7 . 0 . after thirty minutes at room temerature , the product polypeptide dimer is purified by gel filtration . to an ice water bath cooled and vigorously stirred 0 . 23 ml . of bovine gamma globulin ( 10 mg / ml ) in 0 . 05 m phosphate buffer with normal saline ( pbs ) ph 7 . 5 , 50 μl of 1 / 10 t . d . i . c . in dioxane is added . after 40 minutes , in excess t . d . i . c . is removed by centrifugation ( 0 ° c ., 10 minutes , 10 , 000 g ) and the precipitate is washed twice with 0 . 1 ml . of pbs . the combined supernatents are added to 7 . 7 mg . of the peptide of structure ( ii ) dissolved in 0 . 8 ml . of pbs , ph 7 . 5 . the mixture is stirred at room temperature for 10 minutes , then incubated at 37 ° c . for 4 hours . the conjugate product is purified by dialysis . bsa ( 10 mg / ml ) in pbs solution ( 0 . 25 ml .) is treated with 50 μl of 1 / 10 t . d . i . c . dioxane solution and conjugated to 7 . 5 mg . of synthetic β - hcg peptide of structure ( iii ) in 0 . 8 ml . of pbs ( ph 7 . 5 ) as in example xix to obtain the product . to an ice water bath cooled and vigorously stirred 0 . 6 ml . of β - hcg peptide of structure ( iii ) ( 10 mg / ml ) in phosphate buffered saline , ph 7 . 5 , is added 30 μl of 1 / 10 t . d . i . c . after 40 minutes , the excess t . d . i . c . is removed by centrifugation ( 10 , 000 g , 0 ° c ., 10 minutes ) and the precipitate is washed twice with 0 . 1 ml . pbs . the combined supernatents are added to 3 mg . of poly ( d , l - lys - als ) dissolved in 0 . 3 ml . of pbs . the mixture is incubated at 37 ° c . for 4 hours . the product is then dialyzed and lyophilized . the results set out in table i provide further evidence of the broad applicability of this invention as indicated previously in this specification . using standard methods of testing in rabbits , both immunological binding response and neutralization of biological activity were established for the medified polypeptides indicated with the result as set out in table i . antigen was prepared by reacting a diisocyanate ( t . d . i . c .-- see above ) coupling reagent with carrier ( tetanus toxoid ), extracting excess reagent and incubating activated carrier with peptide structure ( ii ). baboons were immunized with the antigen and the results of mating 4 animals three times are shown in fig1 . the figure shows that from 12 exposures ( matings ) one pregnancy resulted even though relatively low levels of immunity from the antigen were achieved . non - immunized baboons of the same colony had a fertility rate of approximately 85 %. referring to fig2 baboons were immunized initially with a beta subunit of hcg modified by diazotization in a manner similar to that described in conjunction with example ii . following this initial administration , the baboons were injected 21 and 42 days later with structure ( ii ) above having been modified by the same diazotization process . fig2 shows plots representing the levels of antibodies generated in consequence of these administrations . such quantities of antibodies are expressed as micrograms of isotopically - labeled hcg that will bind each milliliter of serum from the baboons at specified days after the initial injection . the levels shown were maintained for a period of over one year . table 1__________________________________________________________________________frequency of positive antibody responses to various hcgpeptide - conjugates number of rabbits immunological neutralization ofpeptide carrier immunized binding responses biological activity__________________________________________________________________________35 amino acid111 - 145 bovine gamma globulin 10 10 6morgan et al keyhole limpetpeptide ii hemocyanin 10 5 * 31 amino acid115 - 145 poly - d - l - alanine 10 9 5morgan et al bovine serum albumin 12 12 6peptide iii44 amino acid105 - 148 keyhole limpet hemocyanin 10 8 * peptide xvnatural109 - 145 keyhole limpetkeutman hemocyanin 10 10 * peptide xii__________________________________________________________________________ * additional time needed for assessment referring to table 2 , the results of breeding the two baboons represented in fig2 is revealed in tabular form . the table presents the results of mating these animals ten times over a period of approximately one year . these data suggest that the animals ovulated in every cycle , however , no pregnancy was observed , as indicated by the animal having a menstrual period at or before the expected time therefor . while the results tabulated demonstrate the efficacy of the entire procedure , it was observed for the particular structure utilized in the primary immunization , i . e . structure ( i ), antibody cross reactivity with lh was observed . such cross reactivity may be avoided by the utilization of the fragment conjugation procedures set forth in detail hereinabove . the specificity of antibody response to a cg fragmentmacromolecular carrier is represented by the instant experiment . a 35 amino acid sequence [ structure ( ii ), herein &# 34 ; synthetic peptide &# 34 ;] of the hcg beta subunit was conjugated with bovine gamma - globulin and administered to a baboon . varying doses of each of these three hormones were tested for their ability to compete with i 125 - labeled synthetic peptide [ structure ( ii )] bound to the antiserum . the results are set forth in fig3 . note from the figure that human lh was ineffective for displacement of tracer antigen at doses up to 2 . 5 iu ( international units ). since hcg displaced antigen at a dose of 20 miu , the cross - reactivity with hlh in this assay system was less than 0 . 8 %. baboon cg also displaced i 125 - labeled antigen in this assay and , based on biological potency of the two hormones , was about 20 % as effective as hcg . the following experiments were carried out to determine whether the carbohydrate chains contained in the c - terminal 37 residues of β - hcg influence the immunogenicity of that peptide . table 2______________________________________breeding of immunized baboons [ diazo - β - hcg presensitized ] booster : diazo - β - hcg -( 111 - 145 ) 1 2pre - mate pre - matetiter ovul . preg . titer ovul . preg . ______________________________________mating no . 15 . 00 + - 4 . 20 + - mating no . 24 . 25 + - 4 . 10 + - mating no . 34 . 22 + - 4 . 00 + - mating no . 44 . 17 + - 3 . 89 + - mating no . 53 . 80 + - 3 . 76 + - mating no . 66 . 65 + - 5 . 00 + - mating no . 75 . 90 + - 4 . 75 + - mating no . 85 . 10 + - 4 . 20 + - mating no . 95 . 00 + - 4 . 25 + - mating no . 104 . 66 + - 4 . 00 + - ______________________________________ a peptide representing amino acid residues 109 - 145 of β - hcg was isolated from a chymotryptic digest of reduced and carboxymethylated β - hcg by procedures reported by keutmann , h . t . ; williams , r . m ., j . biol . chem . 252 , 5393 - 5397 ( 1977 ). this peptide is identified in table 3 as p - 1 . the purity of the peptide was confirmed by amino acid and terminal end group analyses . a portion of the isolated peptide was treated with anhydrous hydrofluoric acid ( hf ) to remove carbohydrate moieties and repurified by column chromatography according to methods described by sakakibara s . et al , bull . chem . soc . japan , 40 , 2164 - 2167 ( 1967 ). this portion of the isolated peptide is identified in table 3 as p - 2 . complete removal of the sugar chains were confirmed by carbohydrate analysis ; see nelson , norton , j . biol . chem . 153 , 375 - 380 ( 1944 ). a third peptide with the amino acid sequence 109 - 145 of β - hcg was prepared synthetically using the solid state synthesis procedure of tregear , g . w . et al ., biochem . 16 , 2817 ( 1977 ). this third peptide is identified in table 3 as p - 3 . highly purified hcg was used in all immunological experiments where reference was made to intact hcg . conjugates of the three peptides were prepared to keyhole - limpet hemocyanin ( klh ) using tolulene diisocyanate . a peptide - carrier ratio of 4 - 6 peptides per 100 , 000 daltons of carrier was obtained for different conjugates prepared according to amino acid analyses . rabbits were immunized with conjugates by three multiple site intramuscular injections of 1 . 0 mg . of conjugate in 0 . 5 ml . of saline emulsified with an equal volume of freund &# 39 ; s complete adjuvant . injections were given at 3 weeks intervals and weekly blood samples were collected from 3 - 20 weeks of immunization . antisera to all conjugates were monitored for antibody levels by reacting dilutions of sera with i 125 labeled hcg ( chloramine t method ) at 4 ° c . for 5 days and precipitating immune complexes with sheep anti - rabbit gamma globulin serum . antibody levels were determined by assessing dilution curves in which a linear correlation between dilution and binding of labelled antigen at equilibrium occurred . at least 3 points in each curve were used in calculating levels . these levels were expressed as μg . hcg bound per ml . of undiluted serum calculated by multiplying mass of labelled antigen bound by serum dilution . a radioimmunoassay system employing i 125 hcg and antisera raised to peptide conjugates was used to determine the relative ability of hcg and peptides to compete with labeled hcg . peak antibody levels from each rabbit were evaluated in these studies . antigens and antisera contained in phosphate - buffered saline ( ph 7 . 4 ) bsa ( 1 %) were added to test tubes and incubated at 4 ° for 5 days . separation of free and bound tracer hcg was accomplished by the addition of sheep anti - rabbit gamma globulin serum and further incubated for 48 hours followed by centrifugation . assessment of parallelism of dose response curves was accomplished using methods described by rodbard , d . in : odell , w . d . and daughaday , w . h ., eds ., &# 34 ; competitive protein binding assays ,&# 34 ; j . b . lippincott , phila . pa . ( 1971 ). the ability of unlabelled hcg and peptides to compete with i 125 hcg for antibody binding sites was expressed as moles of unlabeled antigen , per mole of unlabeled hcg , required to reduce the binding of labeled hcg by 50 %. for this purpose molecular weights for hcg , p - 1 , p - 2 , and p - 3 of 38 , 000 , 7 , 000 , 3 , 990 , and 3 , 990 respectively were used . the molecular weight of the p - 1 peptide was an estimate since the contribution of the 4 carbohydrate chains to its size was not determined . four radioimmunoassays were performed with each of the 11 antisera studied and the results presented as the mean of the four values . parallel dose response curves of hcg and peptides were observed in all radioimmunoassays . in the assay system employed , 200 - 400 moles of unlabeled hcg was required per mole of labeled hcg at 50 % binding of the latter to antisera . there was no detectable difference among antisera to the 3 peptide conjugates in the ability of intact hcg to compete with labeled hormone for antibody binding sites . data obtained from comparing the ability of hcg and peptides to compete with i 125 hcg for binding to anti - peptide sera revealed some qualitative differences in the antisera ( table 2 ). much larger quantities of p - 2 peptide and p - 3 peptide were required to reduce i 125 hcg binding than was required by p - 1 peptide when sera against the p - 1 peptide was tested . while similar quantities of p - 2 and p - 3 peptides were required to inhibit one mole of labeled hcg binding , these were 2 - 10 times the amounts required by the p - 1 peptide . differences in the quantities of peptides required to compete with an equivalent mass of labeled hcg were less using antisera raised to carbohydrate - free natural peptide ( p - 2 ). more p - 1 peptide was needed for an equal reduction in binding than the other 2 peptides . no significant difference could be detected in the quantities of p - 2 or p - 3 peptides required among the 3 antisera tested . approximately 1 . 5 - 2 . 0 times as much p - 1 peptide was required to compete equally with i 125 hcg for antibodies raised to the p - 3 peptide but p - 2 peptide reacted nearly as well as did the synthetic peptide . despite low levels of antibodies obtained in this study , the carbohydrate - containing peptide was not more immunogenic than those without this moiety when conjugates to both were prepared in the same manner table 3______________________________________mean quantities of hcg and 109 - 145 c - terminal β - hcgpeptides required to compete with i . sup . 125 hcg at 50 % binding of labelled hormoneunlabelled antigens hcg p - 1 p - 2 p - 3antisera mol / mol mol / mol mol / mol mol / molrabbit hcg i . sup . 125 hcg i . sup . 125 hcg i . sup . 125 hcg i . sup . 125no . ( x ± se ) ( x ± se ) ( x ± se ) ( x ± se ) ______________________________________anti p - 1 78 284 ( 12 . 6 ) 430 ( 11 . 8 ) 4565 ( 200 . 8 ) 3628 ( 154 . 1 ) 79 350 ( 13 . 5 ) 404 ( 18 . 5 ) 855 ( 33 . 4 ) 881 ( 42 . 2 ) 171 403 ( 17 . 7 ) 343 ( 9 . 9 ) 899 ( 35 . 1 ) 759 ( 37 . 1 ) 173 377 ( 16 . 5 ) 320 ( 13 . 9 ) 1448 ( 72 . 4 ) 1536 ( 73 . 7 ) anti p - 2 93 247 ( 11 . 8 ) 385 ( 18 . 2 ) 264 ( 12 . 5 ) 268 ( 12 . 73 ) 94 294 ( 14 . 1 ) 431 ( 15 . 5 ) 362 ( 15 . 2 ) 329 ( 13 . 8 ) 252 201 ( 9 . 6 ) 296 ( 12 . 4 ) 216 ( 7 . 7 ) 205 ( 9 . 0 ) anti p - 3405 496 ( 23 . 6 ) 998 ( 47 . 4 ) 628 ( 27 . 6 ) 309 ( 13 . 6 ) 411 489 ( 20 . 5 ) 1200 ( 50 . 4 ) 678 ( 29 . 7 ) 413 ( 16 . 1 ) 416 364 ( 13 . 1 ) 581 ( 20 . 9 ) 400 ( 14 . 4 ) 271 ( 12 . 8 ) 417 340 ( 14 . 9 ) 474 ( 18 . 4 ) 176 ( 6 . 8 ) 105 ( 4 . 6 ) ______________________________________ from these studies , it can be concluded that although antibodies to carbohydrate free peptides are qualitatively different than those to the natural peptide , antisera generated to the synthetic peptide reacted with hcg as well as antisera to natural peptides and equivalent to natural and synthetic peptides elicited similar anti - hcg levels in rabbits . in this example , a polypeptide fragment structure having an -- sh group is activated utilizing the following reagent : ## str9 ## a solution of the reagent ( 1 . 2 eq . per -- sh group in the polypeptide ) in a suitable water miscible organic solvent , such as dioxane , is added to a solution of the polypeptide fragment structure , e . g . structure ( xii ) ( which has had its amino groups blocked ) in aqueous buffer at ph 6 . 5 . after 2 hours , the solvent is removed at a temperature of less than 30 ° c . under vacuum , and to the residue are added water and ethyl ether ( 1 : 1 ). the aqueous layer is separated and its ph adjusted to approximately 8 . 5 by the addition of sodium hydroxide solution and this alkaline mixture is added rapidly to an aqueous solution of the carrier , e . g . the above described influenza subunit , maintained at ph 8 . 5 by a suitable buffer . after a further 4 hours , the conjugate is isolated , by gel filtration . with the following reagent : ## str10 ## a solution or suspension of a carrier containing no sulfhydryl groups such as flagellin in a suitable aqueous buffer at a ph 6 . 5 is treated with the required ( 1 . 2 eq /- nh 2 desired to be reacted ) amount of a solution of the reagent in dimethylformamide . after 1 hour , the modified carrier is isolated by column chromatography and added to buffer at ph 6 - 7 . this is then treated with a solution of the selected fragment ( containing sulfhydryl groups ) in the same buffer and the reaction is allowed to proceed for 12 hours before the conjugate is isolated by column chromatography . modification of non - sulfhydryl containing peptide fragments [ e . g . structure ( ii )] or a carrier such as flagellin to a sulfhydryl containing one via &# 34 ; thiolactonization &# 34 ; is carried out as follows : the peptide is dissolved in a 1 m aqueous solution of imidazole containing 0 . 5 % of ethylenediamine tetraacetic acid at a ph of 9 . 3 under an atmosphere of nitrogen and a 100 fold excess of n - acetylhomocysteine thiolactone is added in three portions at eight hour intervals . after a total of 30 hours , the ph is adjusted to 3 - 4 with acetic acid and the modified peptide is isolated by gel chromatography and elution with 0 . 5 m acetic acid . the carrier protein is reacted with the n - hydroxysuccinimide ester of a halo -( either chloro , bromo or iodo ) acetic acid in the general procedure described in the first part of example xxviii thus yielding a modified carrier containing the required number of halomethyl alkylating groups as desired . to a solution of the sulfhydryl containing peptide [ e . g . structure ( xii )] in a phosphate buffer at ph 6 . 5 - 7 . 0 under nitrogen at room temperature is added an aqueous solution or suspension of the modified carrier prepared above . the mixture is stirred for 12 hours . it is then washed with ethyl acetate and the conjugate contained in the aqueous phase is purified by dialysis , gel chromatography and lyophilization . should neither the carrier nor polypeptide fragment contain a sulfhydryl group , one may be introduced into either of them by the standard procedures such as &# 34 ; thiolactonization &# 34 ; described above under example xxix .	0
referring first to fig1 and 3 , there is shown a prior art cathode cup 21 . a filament 22 is contained within a recess . the recess includes a t - shaped lower channel 23 , which is best seen in fig3 and a wider upper channel 24 , also seen in fig3 . set in the lower channel 23 are two tab pieces 25 . during manufacture , two insulators 26 having metal bushings 27 thereon are placed in holes bored in the cup . after the insulators are inserted , the metal flanges 27 are spot welded to the cup . normally , each end of the filament is crimped into a niobium tube 28 . the filament 22 and the niobium tubes 28 are set into the cup as a unit by passing the tubes through metal - lined openings in the center of the insulators 26 . after the tubes 28 are positioned , they are spot welded to the metal linings and , thus , the filament 22 is physically secured in place . leads 29 , to supply power to the filament , are later spot welded to the ends of the tubes . it will be appreciated that even though the tab pieces 25 have not been in position during the process of setting the filament , the proper position of the filament is so far down in lower channel 23 that it is difficult to properly and accurately set the filament , particularly if economics dictate that the job be done quickly . after the filament is set , the tab pieces 25 are put in place and spot welded . this too can be a difficult procedure , inasmuch as the parts involved are quite small and the positioning requirements are precise . finally , a cap 31 is attached to the cathode cup 21 . the cap is attached in a conventional manner which is not illustrated in order to preserve clarity of the drawing . also , the support for the cathode cup is normally brazed thereto . that detail has also been omitted from fig1 - 3 in order to preserve clarity . as shown particularly in fig2 a rough edge 32 can be present on the protective cap 31 . due to the extremely high voltages , often in excess of 100 kv , used in x - ray tubes , the sharp edge 32 can cause internal arcing . in order to prevent this , a guard ring 33 is slipped over the assembly so that it covers the edge 32 of the protective cap 31 . referring now to fig4 and 6 , there is shown a lower channel piece 41 . the lower channel piece 41 includes a base 42 on which is mounted a channel element 43 which defines a lower channel comparable to the t - shaped lower channel 23 shown in fig3 . the base portion 42 and the channel element 43 are shown as being machined from a single piece of metal . that is considered the preferred embodiment , however , there is no need that they be from a single piece of metal . the channel element 43 could be brazed or otherwise attached to a separate base portion 42 . the base portion 42 is also machined from the same piece of metal as is a support portion 44 which facilitates mounting the finished cathode cup in the x - ray tube . however , it should be understood that it is not required that the support portion 44 be machined from the same block of metal as the base portion 42 or the channel element 43 . in the preferred embodiment shown where the elements 42 , 43 and 44 are all machined from a single piece of metal , high - purity nickel is the preferred material . insulators 26 are installed in openings 45 which extend through the base portion 42 into the channel element 43 . for purposes of clarity , the insulators 26 and filament 22 are omitted from fig5 and thus the openings 45 are best seen there . the installation of the insulators is like the installation in the conventional cathode cup shown in fig1 and 2 . the filament 26 is set in the insulators just as the filament was set in the insulators in the conventional cup shown in fig1 and 3 . as is shown most clearly in fig4 the base portion 42 includes two locating holes 46 which receive locating pins , which help position the two pieces of the cathode cup with respect to each other , as will be described below . at the bottom of each hole 46 is a smaller hole which extends through the base portion 42 . the purpose of the smaller hole is to vent the hole 46 so that when the cathode cup is later assembled any air present in the hole 46 will be withdrawn during the tube evacuation process . the evacuation hole is made smaller than the hole 46 to create a shoulder on the bottom of the hole 46 to properly retain the locating pin which is to be installed . other locating means could be used . for example , two screw holes 47 are included in the base portion 42 . screws passing through these holes will be used to secure the second part of the two - piece structure . the screws themselves could provide a locating function . in addition , the side walls 48 and end walls 49 of the lower channel element could serve as locating walls . referring next to fig7 and 9 , there is shown an upper channel piece 51 . fig7 is a plan view of the outer side of the upper channel piece 51 and fig8 is a plan view of the lower surface which will ultimately be placed adjacent the base portion 42 of the lower channel piece . shown most clearly in fig8 are locating holes 52 that face the locating holes 46 when the assembly is completed . thus , locating pins spanning from the holes 46 to the holes 52 assure proper positioning of the upper channel piece 51 with respect to the lower channel piece 41 , and specifically , with respect to the lower channel element 43 . shown most clearly in fig8 and 9 are two threaded screw holes 53 which receive screws which pass through the holes 47 to secure the two elements together . as mentioned previously , the screw holes and the screws can serve the same locating function as the locating pins do , as could the outer faces of the locating element 43 in conjunction with the innerfaces of the central opening in the upper channel piece . however , it is felt that the most precise positioning occurs using the holes 46 and 52 in conjunction with locating pins . then , screws passing through the holes 47 into the holes 52 can be used solely for physical attachment . the upper channel 54 , which corresponds to the channel 24 , is shown most clearly in fig9 . during the manufacture of the upper channel piece 51 , two holes are bored from the lower side under what will be the ends of the central opening 55 which receives lower channel element 43 . the purpose of these holes is to ensure that there is no interference between the upper channel piece 51 and the insulators 26 and the filament 22 when the upper piece is installed . the holes also permit the ends of the filament to be placed slightly under the upper channel piece 51 so that the ends of the opening 55 can function as beam - focusing surfaces 56 . these beam - focusing surfaces eliminate the need for tab pieces 25 in certain x - ray tube configurations . the upper channel piece 51 is preferably made of a refractory metal , such as a molydenum alloy . refractory metals are preferred because in the event of an inadvertent arc in the x - ray tube the refractory metal will be less susceptible to damage than would a similar piece made of other , softer metal . it will be noted that both edges 57 and 58 around the upper and lower peripheries , respectively , and the edges 59 along the upper channel are softened , or slightly rounded . this softening further helps reduce the likelihood of inadvertent arcing in the x - ray tube . referring now to fig1 and 11 there is shown a cathode cup 61 in accordance with the present invention . the lower channel piece 41 has secured to it the upper channel piece 51 by screws passing through the holes 47 into the holes 53 ( for clarity , the screws and holes are not shown ). the precise fixed relationship of the filament ( not shown in order to preserve clarity ) and the lower channel piece with respect to the upper channel piece is established by the locating pins 62 , shown in phantom in fig1 and 11 . the pins , of course , are in holes 46 and 52 . however , as explained above , other locating methods , such as the screws or the surfaces of the channel pieces could be used . naturally , if the surfaces 48 and 49 and the inner surface of the opening 55 were to be used for locating , the relationship of those surfaces to each other would be closer than is illustrated in fig1 . to review , assembly of the cathode cup 61 proceeds by installing and spot welding the insulators 26 and then setting the filament as in the conventional manner . however , the task of setting the filament is substantially easier than with a conventional cathode cup , because the upper channel piece 51 is not in place during the filament installation step . also , as noted above , the upper channel piece itself is less likely to be scratched and nicked and , thus , have sharp , arc - causing defects because it is not present during the early manufacturing stages . finally , a protective covering cap 63 , which is similar to the cap 31 , is installed . the exact attachment means for the cap is conventional and has been omitted for purposes of clarity . the cap 63 covers the connections between the power wires 64 and the filament . it will be noted that if the cap 63 does have a sharp edge corresponding to the sharp edge 32 of the cap 31 , it is still not likely to cause arcing . that is because the diameter of the upper channel piece is chosen to be large enough that it effectively covers the edge of the cap 63 by projecting past the cap as shown in fig1 . therefore , no guard ring is necessary . the finished cathode cup 61 can be installed in an x - ray tube in the conventional manner using the support portion 44 . while this invention has been described with reference to particular embodiments and examples , other modifications and variations will occur to those skilled in the art in view of the above teachings . accordingly , it should be understood that within the scope of the appended claims the invention may be practiced otherwise than is specifically described .	7
it is to be understood that the figures and descriptions of the present invention have been simplified to illustrate elements that are relevant for a clear understanding of the present invention , while eliminating , for purposes of clarity , many other elements found in typical sonar or optical sensor based systems , such as in towed optical sonar systems . however , because such elements are well known in the art , and because they do not facilitate a better understanding of the present invention , a discussion of such elements is not provided herein . the disclosure herein is directed to all such variations and modifications known to those skilled in the art . in the following detailed description , reference is made to the accompanying drawings that show , by way of illustration , specific embodiments in which the invention may be practiced . it is to be understood that the various embodiments of the invention , although different , are not necessarily mutually exclusive . furthermore , a particular feature , structure , or characteristic described herein in connection with one embodiment may be implemented within other embodiments without departing from the scope of the invention . in addition , it is to be understood that the location or arrangement of individual elements within each disclosed embodiment may be modified without departing from the scope of the invention . the following detailed description is , therefore , not to be taken in a limiting sense , and the scope of the present invention is defined only by the appended claims , appropriately interpreted , along with the full range of equivalents to which the claims are entitled . in the drawings , like numerals refer to the same or similar functionality throughout several views . in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the present invention , fig1 shows a system 100 including a towing platform 110 , by way of example only , a submarine or surface ship configured for towing an all fiber towed array (“ afta ”) 130 . afta 130 may be coupled to towing platform 110 by a fiber - optic tow cable 120 . in one embodiment of the present invention , system 100 allows for containment of all electronics and discrete mechanical devices within towing platform 110 . accordingly , afta 130 may consist of substantially only a bundle of optical fibers disposed within in a housing or cable jacket , as shown and described herein in further detail . fiber - optic tow cable 120 may be adapted to transmit optical signals from towing platform 110 to afta 130 and return optical signals from afta 130 to towing platform 110 . afta 130 may comprise an extension of tow cable 120 . in other words , tow cable 120 may contain the same number of optical fibers as afta 130 and each optical fiber of afta 130 may be an extension of a corresponding optical fiber of tow cable 120 . as such , the fiber - optic tow cable 120 may be a conventional fiber - optic tow cable , containing a bundle of optical fibers sheathed in a protective housing . the optical fiber bundle of fiber - optic tow cable 120 may comprise conventional optical fibers , such as single - mode optical fibers or multi - mode optical fibers , for example . the housing of fiber - optic tow cable 120 may be a conventional housing for fiber - optic bundles sufficient to facilitate towing of afta 130 by platform 110 . in an exemplary embodiment , the afta 130 is integrally formed at an end of tow cable 120 . therefore , no coupling structure is needed to attach afta 130 to tow cable 120 . in an alternative embodiment , fiber - optic tow cable 120 may be communicatively coupled to afta 130 at a coupling region ( or coupler ) 140 . in such an embodiment , ends of each fiber of optical fiber bundle 134 ( described in reference to fig2 below ) may be optically coupled to the optical fiber of fiber - optic tow cable 120 by a focusing lens such that light pulses are focused for transmission . in this way , the number of optical fibers comprising the tow cable 120 may be the same or different than the number of fibers comprising the afta 130 . for clarity , reference may be made to the focusing lens of fig4 of u . s . published application no . 2004 / 0247223 , the subject matter thereof incorporated herein by reference in its entirety . coupler 140 may contain no discrete mechanical devices for controlling or operating the optical sensors of afta 130 . a second end of fiber - optic tow cable 120 may be communicatively coupled to tow platform 110 at a coupling area 150 . coupling area 150 may provide for each optical fiber of fiber - optic tow cable 120 to optically couple to a corresponding optical fiber provided by tow platform 110 . tow platform 110 may contain all electronics and discrete mechanical devices to control , transmit , receive , and process optical transmissions . fig2 shows a more detailed view of the optical fiber sensors constituting afta 130 of fig1 . as shown , afta 130 provides an optical towed array sensor , free of electronics or discrete mechanical devices . afta 130 consists of an array of n optical fibers 134 1 , 134 2 , . . . , 134 n ( referred to collectively as optical fibers 134 ) sheathed within a housing 132 , where each fiber may be identified as 134 i where i = 1 , . . . , n . each of the n optical fibers 134 i may have a length for i = 1 , . . . , n . each of the optical fibers 134 i may be of a different length l i and be operative as an independent acoustic sensor . the difference in length ( l i − l ( i + 1 ) ) between various optical fibers ( 134 i and 134 ( i + 1 ) ) may be uniform or may vary according to the specific needs and limitations of an afta 130 . each of the optical fibers 134 i may be a conventional optical fiber , such as single - mode or multi - mode optical fiber for example . each optical fiber 134 i may have a reflective end 136 operative to reflect optical signals transmitted the length of fiber 134 i . each fiber may operate as a sensor of extended length l i ( i . e ., each optical fiber 134 i receives acoustic signals effectively along its entire length l i ). specifically , each optical fiber 134 i may be operative to receive light or light pulses of an optical signal at an input thereof , and to sense acoustic pressure that causes change in a characteristic of the light pulses transmitted therethrough indicative of the sensed pressure . in an exemplary embodiment , the characteristic change may be a change in phase of the optical signal associated with a given optical fiber 134 i . alternatively , the sensed parameter may be intensity , amplitude , frequency or other optical characteristics of the light signal . in one embodiment of the present invention , the acoustic signals of interest may be obtained by subtracting one fiber output from another , as described in more detail in relation to fig4 below . the resulting difference represents the acoustic signal along the non - overlapping portions of those optical fibers being differenced ( see fig3 ). accordingly , such an embodiment may reduce or minimize the microphonic effects along the long length of fibers in the array . specifically , along similar fiber paths , amplitude and phase variations in each optical fiber will be similar such that the unwanted returns can be cancelled out to leave only the signal of interest . fig3 shows an exemplary embodiment of unbundled optical fibers 134 of afta 130 . as shown , the difference in optical fiber lengths ( l i − l ( i + 1 ) ) of consecutive optical fibers ( 134 i and 134 ( i + 1 ) ) defines an array of virtual elements 138 1 , 138 2 , . . . , 138 ( n − 1 ) , which is shown in fig3 as a shaded region of each optical fiber 134 i . each virtual element 138 ; may operate as an extended hydrophone of length l i − l ( i + 1 ) , thereby reducing flow noise along the long length of the fibers in the array . as set forth above , return signals generated by these virtual elements 138 are derived from subtracting the outputs of consecutive optical fibers 134 . fig4 shows the calculation of signal and noise data received by a virtual element 138 i . as set forth above , each optical fiber 134 i operates as a sensor and receives signal and noise along its entire length l i . the signal and noise may be introduced from many sources , such as flow noise , signal , thermal noise , and mechanical vibrations , by way of example only . the signal s i and noise n i for a virtual element 138 i may be calculated by subtracting the signal and noise measured over the entire length l ( i + 1 ) of the consecutive optical fiber 134 ( i + 1 ) from the signal and noise measured over the entire length l i of optical fiber 134 i . fig5 shows an exemplary signal processing system 200 for determining the signal and noise of interest . optical source 10 may be a conventional optical source adapted to produce n phase and frequency coherent optical signals to be transmitted to optical transceiver 20 . optical source 10 may be , by way of non - limiting example , a narrow - band laser . optical transceiver 20 may be a conventional optical transceiver adapted to receive n optical signals from optical source 10 and transmit n optical signals to fiber - optic tow cable 120 . fiber - optic tow cable 120 is adapted to transmit the n optical signals to afta 130 , receive back n optical signals from afta 130 , and transmit those n optical signals received from afta 130 to optical transceiver 20 . optical transceiver 20 may then receive the n optical signals from fiber - optic tow cable 120 and output n received analog signals to pre - amp 30 . pre - amp 30 may be a conventional pre - amp adapted to receive n analog signals from optical transceiver 20 , amplify the received analog signals , and transmit n amplified analog signals to band pass filter 40 . band pass filter 40 may be a conventional band - pass filter adapted to receive n amplified analog signals from pre - amp 30 , filter out amplified received analog signals outside of the band of interest , and transmit band pass filtered received analog signals to analog / digital converter 60 . analog / digital converter 60 may be a conventional analog / digital converter adapted to receive n analog band pass filtered signals from band pass filter 40 and provide n digital signals to demodulator / finite impulse response ( fir ) filter 70 . demodulator / fir filter 70 may be a conventional fir filter operative to filter the received n digital signals and transmit them to successive channel difference device 80 . the demodulator / fir 70 filter will demodulate and filter the signals from the analog / digital converter 60 to i / q baseband signals . in alternative embodiments of the present invention the fir filter of the demodulator / fir filter 70 may be replaced with an infinite impulse response ( iir ) filter which would provide the same functionality as the fir filter . successive channel difference device 80 may be implemented as a conventional processing device adapted to receive n baseband digital i / q signals , perform differential digital signal processing ( ddsp ) on the n signals , and output to beamformer 90 n − 1 difference channels . for each of the channels ch 1 . . . ch ( n − 1 ) , the ddsp will compute the difference channel by computing the difference of successive channels ( ch i − ch ( i + 1 ) ). successive channel difference device 80 effectively produces channels containing the data received by virtual elements 138 1 . . . 138 ( n − 1 ) and provides these n − 1 channels to beamformer 90 . in this way , unwanted noise and signals which are common to the fibers will be significantly reduced , yielding a useful signal at each virtual element . each virtual element will be of some physical extent , which will allow it to serve as an extended sensor . extended sensors are desirable because they reduce flow noise as the towed array is towed through the water . beamformer 90 may be a conventional beamformer adapted to receive n − 1 channels of baseband digital i / o signals and provide beamformed signal data to post - beamforming processing device 92 . post - beamforming processing device 92 may be a conventional post - beamforming device adapted to receive beamformed signal data from beamformer 90 , perform conventional post - beamforming processing such as filtering data , weighting data , performing a fast fourier transform ( fft ), detecting magnitude , and integrating , and output data to data processing device 94 . data processing device 94 may be a conventional data processing device adapted to perform conventional post - processing of data , such as target tracking operations , and adapted to output processed data to display processing device 96 . display processing device 96 may be a conventional display processing device adapted to receive processed data and convert processed data into a format suitable for transmission to a display device 98 . display device 98 may be a conventional display device adapted to receive display data from display processor 120 and display it so that it may be observed by an operator . notably , all components / devices 10 to 98 of fig5 operative to provide an optical signal to afta 130 , receive an optical signal from afta 130 and process the received signal reside on or within towing platform 110 . by not requiring any discrete mechanical or electrical devices on either fiber - optic tow cable 120 or afta 130 , afta 130 may achieve a simple optical fiber - only design , thereby increasing reliability and minimizing cost . additionally , all components / devices 10 to 98 of fig5 other than successive channel difference device 80 may comprise conventional processing and post - processing devices operative to provide a source for a towed optical fiber array and receive and process signals received from a towed optical fiber array . for purposes of brevity , details of these conventional components / devices are omitted . alternative configurations of the virtual sensor arrangement may be implemented , for example , to modify the frequency of operation . fig6 shows an alternative configuration of the virtual sensors of an embodiment of the present invention . by differencing every other channel ( l 1 − l ( i + 2 ) ) as shown in fig6 , as distinct from differencing every consecutive channel as shown in fig3 , the resulting virtual elements are twice as long and thereby may be more sensitive to lower frequency operation . accordingly , afta 130 of the present invention may vary the virtual sensor length depending on the desired frequency of operation by altering only the control and processing of the components / devices shown in fig5 , thereby adding to the flexibility of the system . the ability to form virtual hydrophones with varying sizes will add functionality to the sonar towed array system , however , it may require further processing to reduce unwanted signals and noise components , such as adaptive noise cancellation operations . these additional operations may be necessary if subtraction of the adjacent fibers is insufficient to cancel noise . some degree of cancellation may also be required in the optical domain prior to a to d ( analog to digital ) conversion . for example , if unwanted signal and noise levels are larger than the dynamic range capacity of the processing components , some degree of optical cancellation may be desired to reduce the dynamic range requirements on the electronic circuitry . while the foregoing describes exemplary embodiments and implementations , 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 .	6
according to the present invention , phosphate ester and metal ( or metallic ) cross - linker is used to impart fragile gel like suspension properties or fragile progressive gel structure to oil or invert emulsion based drilling fluids that mimics the progressive gel behavior of water based drilling fluids . preferably , the phosphate ester and metal crosslinker comprise , or are comprised in , a drilling fluid additive , although alternatively the drilling fluid can be originally formulated comprising the phosphate ester and metal cross - linker . the metal cross - linker should be present in sufficient quantity to at least partially cross - link the phosphate ester when at a neutral or acidic ph . a “ gel ” may be defined a number of ways . one definition indicates that a “ gel ” is a generally colloidal suspension or a mixture of microscopic water particles ( and any hydrophilic additives ) approximately uniformly dispersed through the oil ( and any hydrophobic additives ), such that the fluid or gel has a generally homogeneous gelatinous consistency . another definition states that a “ gel ” is a colloid in a more solid form than a “ sol ” and defines a “ sol ” as a fluid colloidal system , especially one in which the continuous phase is a liquid . still another definition provides that a “ gel ” is a colloid in which the disperse phase has combined with the continuous phase to produce a viscous jelly - like product . generally , a gel has a structure that is continually building . if the yield stress of a fluid increases over time , the fluid has gelled . “ yield stress ” is the stress required to be exerted to initiate deformation . “ progressive gel structure ” as used herein generally refers to a gel having a structure that is continually building . a “ fragile gel ” as used herein is a “ gel ” that is easily disrupted or thinned , and that liquefies or becomes less gel - like and more liquid - like under stress , such as caused by moving the fluid , but which quickly returns to a gel or gel - like state when the movement or other stress is alleviated or removed , such as when circulation of the fluid is stopped , as for example when drilling is stopped . “ fragile gels ” are so “ fragile ” that it is believed that they may be disrupted by a mere pressure wave or a compression wave during drilling . they break instantaneously when disturbed , reversing from a gel back into a liquid form with minimum pressure , force and time . “ fragile progressive gel structure ” as used herein generally refers to a gel that is a fragile gel or has at least some characteristics of a fragile gel and that particularly has a structure that is continually building . also according to the present invention , phosphate ester and metal ( or metallic ) cross - linker is used to reversibly enhance the viscosity of oil or invert emulsion based drilling fluids in order to suspend barite or other weighting agents during transport of the fluid to avoid barite settling . upon arrival at the destination or in any case prior to use , the fluid viscosity can easily be returned back to its original viscosity by raising the ph of the fluid above neutral . the amount of phosphate ester and metal crosslinker used in a drilling fluid will depend on oil type , oil volume and desired viscosity of the drilling fluid . generally , however , more phosphate ester and metal cross - linker is used for gelling or enhancing viscosity of the fluid for transport than is used for imparting fragile progressive gel structure to the drilling fluid . that is , when the composition of the invention is intended for “ gelling ” or enhancing the viscosity or suspension characteristics of the fluid for transport , the drilling fluid preferably comprises about 0 . 1 to about 5 . 0 percent by weight of the phosphate ester and metal cross - linker , with about 0 . 3 to about 2 . 5 percent by weight of the phosphate ester and metal cross - linker being most preferred . when the composition of the invention is used for imparting fragile progressive gel structure to a drilling fluid , preferably the drilling fluid comprises about 0 . 05 to about 1 . 0 percent by weight of the phosphate ester and metal cross - liker , with about 0 . 1 to about 0 . 75 percent by weight phosphate ester and metal cross - linker being most preferred . organo - clays ( also called “ organophilic clays ”) are not necessary to obtain suspension of drill cuttings or other solids and preferably are not used , particularly if the purpose of using the invention is to impart a fragile progressive gel structure to the drilling fluid . the presence of organo - clays is not believed to be a hindrance if the purpose of using the invention is to enhance viscosity of the drilling fluid for transport . the drilling fluid must have a neutral or acid ph for the composition of the invention to achieve the advantages of the invention . that is , the phosphate ester and metal cross - linker require a neutral or acidic ph environment to impart fragile progressive gel structure or to enhance the suspension ability of the drilling fluid for weighting agents . further , addition of a base , such as for example lime , preferably with heating up to at least about 120 ° f ., can readily reverse the effect of the composition of the invention , returning the drilling fluid to its original viscosity and structure as it had before the composition of the invention was added to it . for use in the present invention , the phosphate ester has the following structure : where r is an alkyl or an aryl group and most preferably is an alkyl group having less than about 5 carbons and r ′ is an alkyl or an aryl group and most preferably is an alkyl group having about 6 to about 30 carbons . the crosslinking metal is selected from ni ( ii ), fe ( ii ), fe ( iii ), zn ( ii ), al ( iii ), or co ( iii ). the effectiveness of the invention is demonstrated by the experiments discussed below . saralene muds containing gel chemistry were designed as indicated in table 1 and were then formulated up to the step calling for addition of baroid ® weighting agent . the muds were then dynamically aged for 16 hours at 150 ° f . example additives comprising compositions of the invention , my - t - oil ™ v products mo - 85 and mo - 86 , available from halliburton energy services , inc . in houston , tex ., were added to the mud samples and stirred on a multimixer for 10 minutes . full rheology analysis was then done . initial rheology data for these muds , as set forth in table 2 , indicated that the muds yielded progressive gels . studying the progressive gels in greater depth with a brookfield rheometer indicated that the progressive gels were fragile . that is , the progressive gels showed a “ snap - back ” effect , as demonstrated in the brookfield data depicted in fig1 . all trademarked products in table 1 are available from halliburton energy services , inc . in houston , tex ., including : geltone ® ii viscosifier ( organophilic clay ); ez mul nt ™ emulsifier or emulsion stabilizer ; invermul nt ™ emulsifier ; adapta ® filtration control agent ( copolymer particularly suited for providing hpht filtration control in non - aqueous fluid systems ); x - vis ™ suspension agent ; baroid ® weighting agent ( ground barium sulfate ). the ability of the compositions of the invention to control drilling fluid viscosity and provide for a temporary viscosity increase without adding a material that detrimentally alters the fluid performance is also demonstrated by laboratory experiments . standard drilling fluid formulations were designed as indicated in table 3 . the formulations were undertaken by adding the listed additives in the order presented in table 3 up to cacl 2 . the formulations were then aged at 150 ° f . for 16 hours . afterwards , example additives comprising compositions of the invention mo - 85 and mo - 86 were added to the formulation samples and stirred for 10 minutes on a hamilton - beach multimixer . rheological measurements were taken and analyzed as indicated in table 4 . to each sample , 1 ppb of lime was added to confirm breakdown of gel and subsequent return of the base fluid rheological properties . rheological measurements for these samples is provided in table 5 . the baseline or “ control ” samples were numbered “ 1 ” in tables 3 , 4 , and 5 . all trademarked products in table 3 are available from halliburton energy services , inc . in houston , tex ., including : accolade ® drilling fluid ; le supermul ™ emulsifier ; adapta ® filtration control agent ( copolymer particularly suited for providing hpht filtration control in non - aqueous fluid systems ); rhemod l ™ suspension agent / viscosifier ( modified fatty acid ); and baroid ® weighting agent ( ground barium sulfate ). the formulations set forth in table 3 were prepared again , as set forth in table 6 , then statically aged at room temperature and rheological data taken , set forth in table 7 , and then further statically aged at an elevated temperature ( 150 ° f . ), as indicated in table 8 . the initial static aging results ( tables 4 , 7 , and 8 ) indicated that increased amount of composition of the invention increased rheology accordingly . however , initial top oil studies ( table 7 ) indicated that increased amount of composition of the invention improved the amount of top oil present . this indication is further supported by the data from samples static aged at elevated temperatures ; the 0 . 5 wt % ( 0 . 42 ppb ) sample had the lowest top oil / whole mud ratio . additionally , the data indicated that addition of lime and heat was sufficient to “ break back ” these gels to a typical drilling fluid character as shown in table 5 . further tests were conducted to indicate the effect of constant listing motion , such as a fluid might encounter in ship transport , on drilling fluids containing compositions of the invention . fluids were tested in a device that mimicked “ boat - rocking ” motions , and these tests were conducted at room temperature and at an elevated temperature ( 120 ° f .) as might be encountered by the fluids in transport in summer . data from these tests is shown in tables 9 , 10 , and 11 . the natant / whole ratio is an indication of the amount of barite that has settled out from the fluid . a higher ratio means more barite has settled out . the natant / 10 ml ratio is an indication of distribution of weighted material within the drilling fluid portion ( stratification of weight ). a high ratio indicates a lot of weighted material has settled within the fluid , but has not completely settled out of the fluid . a good gellant material is one that reduces both of these ratios ( as the gellant has then effectively prevented settling within the fluid , which consequently prevents the settling out of weighted material ). the data above indicates that the gel system of the invention successfully reduced the amount of settling ( samples 9 - 11 ) compared with the standard drilling fluid ( sample 8 ). in particular , increased gellant loading improved the anti - settling effects to the point where very little oiling - out was measured ( oil / mud ratio ), and significantly reduced settled solids ( low natant / whole ratio ). this result was even seen with raised temperature rocking , an environment most likely to cause disruption to the supporting gel structures . the foregoing description of the invention is intended to be a description of preferred embodiments . various changes in the details of the described fluids and methods of use can be made without departing from the intended scope of this invention as defined by the appended claims .	8
in the following detailed description , reference is made to the accompanying drawing , which form a part hereof . the illustrative embodiments described in the detailed description , drawing , and claims are not meant to be limiting . other embodiments may be utilized , and other changes may be made , without departing from the spirit or scope of the subject matter presented here . in an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure , unlike a power transmission frequency f 0 , a frequency of a few to hundreds of times greater than f 0 is used as a communication frequency . for example , when a power transmission frequency used in the current technology is smaller than 10 mhz , the communication frequency may be tens of ghz . thus , a power transmission distance may be a few centimeters to tens of centimeters , which mostly belongs to a near field . however , for a frequency used for communication which works in a far field , an antenna using a radiation phenomenon , not a resonance phenomenon , is applied . the reason why there is a wide difference between the power transmission frequency and the communication frequency is because when large capacity data is transmitted at a high speed , it is better to use a high frequency , including interference between the identical frequencies . in particular , the use of a millimeter - wave band can be quite advantageous because of a small attenuation at a relative short distance . meanwhile , in the related art , a resonator and a radiator are separately used for power transmission ( i . e ., energy transmission ) and data transmission , but in an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure , a resonator and radiator member is implemented as a single component which plays the roles of both the resonator and the radiator . such can be implemented in an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure because a communication frequency is raised to be a multiple of a power transmission frequency for a transmission . namely , in general , a resonator and a radiator largely use a basic resonant state , and here , a similar resonant or radiative phenomenon occurs at a multiple of the frequency in which the basic resonant takes place . thus , according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention , when a frequency , which is multiplied a few or tens of times as the power transmission frequency , is used for communication , a resonator and a radiator can be integrally configured , reducing the size of a system . accordingly , in an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure , since wireless energy transmission is made at a low frequency while communication is made at a high frequency concurrently , the distance between a transmitter and receiver is a short distance ( i . e ., a near field ) in terms of power transmission and is a long distance ( i . e ., a far field ) in terms of communication . fig1 is a view showing the configuration of an apparatus for wirelessly transmitting and receiving energy and data according to a first exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure . with reference to fig1 , a transmission apparatus 102 may be configured to include a signal generator 200 , a power amplifier 202 , a first matching circuit 204 , a resonator 206 , a communication module 208 , a local oscillator 210 , a mixer 212 , a signal amplifier 214 , a second matching circuit 216 , and a radiator 218 . in fig1 , f 0 refers to a frequency for power transmission and f 1 refers to frequency used for communication . as for an energy transmission process , energy having frequency f 0 is generated by signal generator 200 and transmitted to resonator 206 through power amplifier 202 and first matching circuit 204 . the energy transmitted to resonator 206 is transferred to a reception side resonator 300 by using a resonance phenomenon so as to be used as power for a load or a communication module of a reception apparatus 104 . as for a data transmission process , a data signal generated by communication module 208 is mixed with a carrier frequency signal provided from local oscillator 210 through frequency mixer 212 , and amplified through signal amplifier 214 . and then , the amplified signal is transmitted to radiator 218 through second matching circuit 216 . radiator 218 follows an operational principle of a general antenna , and is received by a reception side radiator 308 ( e . g ., an antenna ). reception apparatus 104 may be configured to include a resonator 300 , a first matching circuit 302 , a rectifier 304 , a load 306 , a radiator 308 , a second matching circuit 310 , an amplifier 312 , a mixer 314 , a local oscillator 316 , a communication module 318 , and the like . as for an energy reception process of reception apparatus 104 , energy of frequency f 0 is transferred to resonator 300 of reception apparatus 104 through a resonance phenomenon with resonator 206 of transmission apparatus 102 , and the transferred energy passes through reception side first matching circuit 302 and is rectified into a dc current by rectifier 304 . the rectified current is used as power for load 306 or communication module 318 which can be replaced with a charger or a battery . as for a data reception process of reception apparatus 104 , a signal , i . e ., ( f 1 ) m , which has been modulated by using data signal f 1 frequency of frequency f 1 transmitted through radiator 218 or an antenna of transmission apparatus 102 , is received through radiator 308 or an antenna of reception apparatus 104 , and then transferred to signal amplifier 312 through second matching circuit 310 . signal amplifier 312 amplifies the reception signal . local oscillator 316 generates a carrier frequency signal by using frequency f 0 provided from resonator 300 or first matching circuit 302 , and transfers the generated carrier frequency signal to frequency mixer 314 . frequency mixer 314 mixes an output signal from signal amplifier 312 and an output from local oscillator 316 to restore an original data signal . the restored data signal is provided to communication module 318 . meanwhile , the data signal can be transmitted in a reverse direction . namely , the data signal transmitted from communication module 318 of reception apparatus 104 is transmitted to transmission apparatus 102 through mixer 314 , amplifier 312 , second matching circuit 310 , and radiator 308 , and upon receiving the data transmitted from reception apparatus , transmission apparatus 102 restores the data signal . fig2 is a view showing the configuration of an apparatus for wirelessly transmitting and receiving energy data according to a second exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure . in the second exemplary embodiment of fig2 , likewise as in the first exemplary embodiment of fig1 , frequency for power transmission is generated by a signal generator 400 , the same signal source . however , the frequency generated by signal generator 400 is output as an integer multiple frequency through a frequency multiplier 410 . energy and a data signal transmitted from a transmission apparatus 106 are received through a resonator 500 and a radiator 508 of a reception apparatus 108 . the energy is transferred to a first matching circuit 502 , and the data signal is transferred to a second matching circuit 510 . matching circuits 502 and 510 are previously designed to be matched to different frequencies . in detail , transmission apparatus 106 according to the second exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure may be configured to include a signal generator 400 , a power amplifier 402 , a first matching circuit 404 , a resonator 406 , a communication module 408 , frequency multiplier 410 , a mixer 412 , a signal amplifier 414 , a second matching circuit 416 , a radiator 418 , and the like . in fig2 , f 0 is frequency for power transmission , nf 0 is a frequency obtained by multiplying the frequency for power transmission by an integer multiple , and ( nfd ) m refers to frequency used for communication as a modulation signal . as for an energy transmission process , energy having frequency f 0 is generated by signal generator 400 and transmitted to resonator 406 through power amplifier 402 and first matching circuit 404 . the energy transmitted to resonator 406 is transferred to reception side resonator 500 by using a resonance phenomenon so as to be used as power for a load 506 and a communication module 518 of reception apparatus 108 . as for a data transmission process , frequency multiplier 410 multiplies a signal of frequency f 0 , generated by signal generator 400 , by an integer ( n ) multiple . mixer 412 mixes a data signal generated by communication module 408 and the frequency - multiplied signal to modulate the data signal . the modulated signal is amplified by signal amplifier 414 and transmitted to radiator 418 through second matching circuit 416 . radiator 418 follows an operational principle of a general antenna , and the data signal transmitted through radiator 406 is received by reception side radiator 508 . meanwhile , reception apparatus 108 may be configured to include resonator 500 , first matching circuit 502 , a rectifier 504 , load 506 , radiator 508 , second matching circuit 510 , a signal amplifier 512 , a mixer 514 , a frequency multiplier 516 , and communication module 518 . first , as for an energy reception process of reception apparatus 108 , energy of frequency f 0 is transferred to resonator 500 of reception apparatus 108 through a resonance phenomenon with resonator 406 of transmission apparatus 106 , and the transferred energy passes through first matching circuit 501 and is rectified into a dc current by rectifier 504 . the rectified current is used as power for load 506 or communication module 518 . as for a data reception process of reception apparatus 108 , a data signal of a frequency nf 0 transmitted through radiator 418 of transmission apparatus 106 is received by radiator 508 of reception apparatus 108 and transferred to signal amplifier 512 through second matching circuit 510 . signal amplifier 512 amplifies the received data signal . mixer 514 mixes a carrier frequency signal provided from frequency multiplier 516 and the data signal output from signal amplifier 512 to restore the original data signal . the restored data signal is provided to communication module 518 . here , a reference frequency of frequency multiplier 516 is input from resonator 500 or first matching circuit 502 . meanwhile , the data signal can be transmitted in a reverse direction . namely , a data signal transmitted from communication module 518 of reception apparatus 108 is modulated into the data signal of frequency nf 0 in mixer 514 and transmitted to transmission apparatus 106 through signal amplifier 512 , second matching circuit 510 , and radiator 508 . transmission apparatus 106 receives the data signal transmitted from reception apparatus 108 and restores the data signal . fig3 is a view showing the configuration of an apparatus for wirelessly transmitting and receiving energy data according to a third exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure . in the third exemplary embodiment of fig3 , similar to the second exemplary embodiment of fig2 , the frequency for power transmission is generated by a signal generator 600 , the same signal source . the frequency generated by signal generator 600 is output as an integer multiple frequency through a frequency multiplier 610 . energy and a data signal transmitted from a transmission apparatus 110 are transferred to a resonator and radiator 700 of a reception apparatus 112 . here , the energy is transferred through a first matching circuit 702 , and the data signal is transferred through a second matching circuit 710 . the matching circuits 702 and 710 are previously designed to be matched to different frequencies . in detail , transmission apparatus 110 according to the third exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure may be configured to include signal generator 600 , a power amplifier 602 , a first matching circuit 604 , a resonator and radiator 606 , a communication module 608 , frequency multiplier 610 , a mixer 612 , a signal amplifier 614 , a second matching circuit 616 , and the like . in fig3 , id is a frequency for power transmission , and nf 0 is frequency obtained by multiplying the frequency for power transmission by an integer multiple , which is used for communication . first , as for an energy transmission process , energy having frequency id is generated by signal generator 600 and transmitted to resonator and radiator 606 through power amplifier 602 and first matching circuit 604 . the energy transmitted to resonator and radiator 606 is transferred to reception side resonator and radiator 700 by using a resonance phenomenon so as to be used as power for a load 706 and a communication module 718 of reception apparatus 112 . as for a data transmission process , frequency multiplier 610 multiplies a signal of frequency f 0 , generated by signal generator 600 , by an integer ( n ) multiple . mixer 612 modulates a data signal generated by communication module 608 by using the frequency - multiplied signal . the modulated signal is amplified by signal amplifier 614 and transmitted through second matching circuit 616 to the identical resonator and radiator 606 which was used for the energy transmission . resonator and radiator 606 follows an operational principle of a general antenna , and the data signal transmitted through the antenna of resonator and radiator 606 is received through an antenna of reception side resonator and radiator 700 . meanwhile , reception apparatus 112 may be configured to include resonator and radiator 700 , first matching circuit 702 , a rectifier 704 , load 706 , second matching circuit 710 , a signal amplifier 712 , a mixer 714 , a frequency multiplier 716 , a communication module 718 , and the like . first , as for an energy reception process of reception apparatus 112 , resonator and radiator 700 of reception apparatus 112 receives energy from frequency f 0 through a resonance phenomenon with resonator and radiator 606 of transmission apparatus 110 . the transferred energy passes through first matching circuit 702 and is rectified into a dc current by rectifier 704 . the rectified current is used as power for load 706 or communication module 718 . next , as for a data reception process of reception apparatus 112 , a data signal of a frequency nf 0 transmitted through resonator and radiator 606 ( i . e ., an antenna ) of transmission apparatus 110 is received by resonator and radiator 700 ( i . e ., an antenna ) of reception apparatus 112 and transferred to signal amplifier 712 through second matching circuit 710 . signal amplifier 712 amplifies the received signal , and the amplified signal is mixed with a carrier frequency signal provided from frequency multiplier 716 through frequency mixer 714 so as to be restored into the original data signal . the restored data signal is provided to communication module 718 . here , a reference frequency of frequency multiplier 716 is input from resonator 700 or first matching circuit 702 . meanwhile , the data signal can be transmitted in a reverse direction . namely , the data signal transmitted from communication module 718 of reception apparatus 112 is modulated into the data signal of frequency nf 0 through mixer 714 and frequency multiplier 716 of reception apparatus 112 and transmitted to transmission apparatus 110 through signal amplifier 712 , second matching circuit 710 , and resonator and radiator 700 . transmission apparatus 110 receives the data signal transmitted from reception apparatus 112 and restores the data signal . in this manner , in the exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure , the system designing and performance can be improved by utilizing the power transmission frequency as a reference frequency of the communication frequency , and an energy transmission and data transmission can be implemented by using a single resonator and radiator by using the fact that a resonant and radiative phenomenon occurs by a multiple of a fundamental frequency . to this end , as described above , the frequency signal used for energy transmission is multiplied by an integer multiple by using the frequency multiplier and re - used for data transmission , whereby effective energy transmission and data transmission can be simultaneously implemented . from the foregoing , it will be appreciated that various embodiments of the present disclosure have been described herein for purposes of illustration , and that various modifications may be made without departing from the scope and spirit of the present disclosure . accordingly , the various embodiments disclosed herein are not intended to be limiting , with the true scope and spirit being indicated by the following claims .	7
a speech coding and decoding apparatus according to the present invention will be explained with reference to the accompanying drawings . fig1 is a block diagram of a first embodiment of a speech coding and decoding apparatus according to the present invention . the same elements as those shown in fig7 are provided with the same reference numerals and explanation thereof will be omitted . this embodiment is characterized by the following newly added elements : phase amplitude characteristic analysis means 28 for analyzing a phase amplitude characteristic , phase amplitude characteristic coding means 29 for coding a phase amplitude characteristic , phase amplitude characteristic adding filters 80 , 32 for adding a phase amplitude characteristic , and phase amplitude characteristic decoding means 31 for decoding phase amplitude characteristic . in the coding portion 1 , the phase amplitude characteristic analysis means 28 generates a linear prediction residual signal by using the input speech 5 and the linear prediction parameter which is input from the linear prediction parameter coding means 8 , obtains the short - term phase amplitude characteristic of the linear prediction residual signal as a filter coefficient by using , for example , a conventional method of obtaining the short - term phase amplitude characteristic of a linear prediction residual signal of speech , and outputs the filter coefficient to the phase amplitude characteristic coding means 29 . the phase amplitude characteristic coding means 29 quantizes the filter coefficient and outputs the corresponding code to the multiplexing means 3 , and the quantized filter coefficient to the phase amplitude characteristic adding filter 30 . the phase amplitude characteristic adding filter 30 adds the phase amplitude characteristic by using the quantized filter coefficient to the excitation signal which is obtained by multiplying the adaptive vector which is output from the adaptive codebook 10 by the excitation gain β and multiplying the random vector which is output from the random codebook 11 by the excitation gain γ , and adding the products , and outputs the thus - obtained excitation signal to the synthesis filter 9 . the synthesis filter 9 generates synthesized speech by using the quantized linear prediction parameter which is input from the linear prediction parameter coding means 8 and the excitation signal with the phase amplitude characteristic added thereto . the optimum code searching means 12 evaluates the perceptual weighted distortion of a residual signal between the synthesized speech and the input speech 5 , obtains the adaptive code l , the random code i and the excitation gains β and γ which minimize the distortion , and outputs the adaptive code l and the random code i to the multiplexing means 3 and the excitation gains β and γ to the excitation gain coding means 13 . the excitation gain coding means 13 quantizes the excitation gains β and γ and outputs those codes to the multiplexing means 3 . on the basis of these results , the multiplexing means 3 supplies the code which corresponds to the quantized linear prediction parameter , the code which corresponds to the quantized filter coefficient of the phase amplitude characteristic adding filter 30 , and the codes which correspond to the adaptive code l , the random code i and the excitation gains β and γ to a transmission path . the above - described operation is characteristic of the coding portion 1 of a speech coding and decoding apparatus of this embodiment . the operation of the decoding portion 2 will now be explained . the separating means 4 which receives the outputs from the multiplexing means 3 separates the outputs and transmits the supplied adaptive code l to the adaptive codebook 14 , the random code i to the random codebook 15 , the codes of the excitation gains β and γ to the excitation gain decoding means 18 , the code of the filter coefficient of the phase amplitude characteristic adding filter 30 to the phase amplitude characteristic decoding means 31 , and the code of the linear prediction parameter to the linear prediction parameter decoding means 17 . the phase amplitude characteristic decoding means 31 decodes the filter coefficient which corresponds to the code of the filter coefficient of the phase amplitude characteristic adding filters 30 and outputs the decoded filter coefficient to the phase amplitude characteristic adding filter 32 . the phase amplitude characteristic adding filter 32 adds the phase amplitude characteristic obtained using decoded quantized filter coefficient to the excitation signal which is obtained by multiplying the adaptive vector which is output from the adaptive codebook 14 by the excitation gain β output from the excitation gain decoding means 18 and multiplying the random vector which is output from the random codebook 15 by the excitation gain γ output from the excitation gain decoding means 18 , and adding the products , and outputs the thus - obtained excitation signal to the synthesis filter 18 . the synthesis filter 18 generates synthesized speech by using the linear prediction parameter which is input from the linear prediction parameter decoding means 17 and the excitation signal with the phase amplitude characteristic added thereto , and outputs the synthesized speech . the above - described operation is characteristic of the decoding portion 2 of a speech coding and decoding apparatus of this embodiment . according to this embodiment , it is possible to enhance the reproducibility of an excitation signal and to improve the quality of synthesized speech by coding the short - term phase amplitude characteristic of a linear prediction residual signal and addling it to the excitation signal . another embodiment of a speech coding and decoding apparatus according to the present invention will be explained with reference to the accompanying drawings . fig2 is a block diagram of a second embodiment of a speech coding and decoding apparatus according to the present invention . the same elements as those shown in fig1 are provided with the same reference numerals and explanation thereof will be omitted . in this embodiment , the following elements are newly added to the first embodiment : pitch extracting means 33 for extracting a pitch period , pitch coding means for coding an extracted pitch period , pulse random codebooks 35 , 37 , and pitch decoding means 38 . the operation of this embodiment will now be explained with priority given to the newly added elements . in the coding portion 1 , the pitch extracting means 33 extracts the pitch period of the input speech 5 by a known method and outputs the extracted pitch period to the pitch coding means 34 . the pitch coding means 34 quantizes the pitch period and outputs the corresponding code to the multiplexing means 3 and the quantized pitch period to the pulse random codebook 35 . the pulse random codebook 35 generates a plurality of excitation vectors consisting of a pulse train of the quantized pitch period in which , for example , the positions of the head pulses are different , and stores them as at least a part of the random vectors in the codebook 35 . fig3 shows an example of the excitation vector consisting of a pulse train of the pitch period , and fig4 shows an example of the excitation vectors stored in the pulse random codebook 35 . and the pulse random codebook 35 outputs the random vector which corresponds to the random code i input from the optimum code searching means 12 . the phase amplitude characteristic adding filter 30 adds the phase amplitude characteristic obtained using the quantized filter coefficient input from the phase amplitude characteristic coding means 29 to the excitation signal which is obtained by multiplying the adaptive vector which is output from the adaptive codebook 10 by the excitation gain β and multiplying the random vector which is output from the pulse random codebook 35 by the excitation gain γ , and adding the products , and outputs the thus - obtained excitation signal to the synthesis filter 9 . the synthesis filter 9 generates synthesized speech by using the quantized linear prediction parameter which is input from the linear prediction parameter coding means 8 and the excitation signal with the phase amplitude characteristic added thereto . the optimum code searching means 12 evaluates the perceptual weighted distortion of a residual signal between the synthesized speech and the input speech 5 , obtains the adaptive code l , the random code i and the excitation gains β and γ which minimize the distortion , and outputs the adaptive code l and the random code i to the multiplexing means 3 and the excitation gains β and γ to the excitation gain coding means 13 . the excitation gain coding means 13 quantizes the excitation gains β and γ and outputs those codes to the multiplexing means 3 . on the basis of these results , the multiplexing means 3 supplies the code which corresponds to the quantized linear prediction parameter , the code which corresponds to the quantized filter coefficient of the phase amplitude characteristic adding filter 30 and the codes which correspond to the adaptive code l , the quantized pitch period , the random code i and the excitation gains β and γ to a transmission path . the schematic structure of the coding portion 1 of the second embodiment of the speech coding and decoding apparatus has been described above . the operation of the decoding portion 2 will now be explained . the separating means 4 which receives the outputs from the multiplexing means 3 separates the outputs and transmits the supplied adaptive code l to the adaptive codebook 14 , the code of the pitch period to the pitch decoding means 36 , the random code i to the random codebook 37 , the codes of the excitation gains β and γ to the excitation gain decoding means 16 , the code of the filter coefficient of the phase amplitude characteristic adding filter 30 to the phase amplitude characteristic decoding means 31 , and the code of the linear prediction parameter to the linear prediction parameter decoding means 17 . the pitch decoding means 36 decodes the pitch period which corresponds to the code of the pitch period and outputs the decoded pitch period to the pulse random codebook 37 . the pulse random codebook 37 stores the excitation vector consisting of a pulse train of the decoded pitch period in the codebook 37 in the same way as the random codebook the pulse random codebook 37 outputs the random vector which corresponds to the random code i . the phase amplitude characteristic adding filter 32 adds the phase amplitude characteristic by using the filter coefficient input from the phase amplitude characteristic decoding means 31 to the excitation signal which is obtained by multiplying the adaptive vector which is output from the adaptive codebook 14 by the excitation gain β and multiplying the random vector which is output from the pulse random codebook 37 by the excitation gain γ , and adding the products , and outputs the thus - obtained excitation signal to the synthesis filter 18 . the synthesis filter 18 outputs an output speech 8 by using the linear prediction parameter which is input from the linear prediction parameter decoding means 17 and the excitation signal with the phase amplitude characteristic added thereto . as has been described above , according to the second embodiment , a pulse train of a pitch period is used for a random vector , and a phase amplitude characteristic is added to the random vector . in this manner , it is possible to generate an appropriate excitation signal from only a random vector . consequently , even if an adaptive vector does not work , it is possible to produce an excitation signal with good reproducibility and to improve the quality of synthesized speech . in this embodiment , the pulse train may be obtained from an adaptive code . in this case , the pitch extracting means 33 , the pitch coding means 34 and the pitch decoding means in fig2 are eliminated , and the pulse interval of the pulse train which is used as a random vector is obtained from the adaptive code . at this time , since it is not necessary to transmit the information of the pitch period with respect to the pulse interval , it is possible to reduce the amount of information transmitted . in addition , since the reproducibility of an excitation signal is good even if the adaptive vector does not work , it is possible to improve the quality of synthesized speech . an embodiment of a phase amplitude characteristic extracting apparatus for extracting the short - term phase amplitude characteristic of a signal according to the present invention will be explained with reference to the accompanying drawings . fig5 is a block diagram of the structure of an apparatus for obtaining a phase amplitude characteristic . this apparatus is used to obtain the short - term phase amplitude characteristic of a linear prediction residual signal . the following elements are newly added to the conventional apparatus shown in fig9 : a phase amplitude characteristic codebook 108 , a phase amplitude characteristic removing filter 109 for removing the characteristic of a phase amplitude , pulse approximate means 110 for approximating or representing a residual signal by some pulses , a phase amplitude characteristic adding filter 111 for adding the characteristic of a phase amplitude , a synthesis filter 112 for synthesizing a speech form a linear prediction parameter and an excitation signal , and optimum phase amplitude characteristic searching means 113 for searching an optimum phase amplitude characteristic . the operation of the apparatus will be explained with priority given to the characteristic structure thereof . the linear prediction parameter analysis means 103 analyzes input speech 101 so as to extract the linear prediction parameter and outputs the extracted linear prediction parameter to the linear predictive inverse filter 104 and the synthesis filter 112 . the linear predictive inverse filter 104 generates a linear prediction residual signal from the input speech 101 by using the linear prediction parameter , and outputs the linear prediction residual signal to the phase amplitude characteristic removing filter 109 . a plurality of phase amplitude characteristics are stored in the phase amplitude characteristic codebook as , for example , filter coefficients , and the phase amplitude characteristic codebook outputs the filter coefficient of the phase amplitude characteristic which corresponds to the code input from the optimum phase amplitude characteristic searching means 113 to the phase amplitude characteristic removing filter 109 and the phase amplitude characteristic adding filter 111 . the phase amplitude characteristic removing filter 109 generates a residual signal by removing the phase amplitude characteristic from the linear prediction parameter signal by using the filter coefficient , and outputs the residual signal to the pulse approximate means 110 . the pulse approximate means 110 generates a pulse signal representation residual signal by reducing the residual signal to zero except for n samples having the largest amplitude , for example , and outputs the pulse signal representation residual signal to the phase amplitude characteristic adding filter 111 . fig6 shows an example of representation . fig6 shows the process of generating a residual signal from a linear prediction residual signal by removing the phase amplitude characteristic , and then reducing the residual signal to a pulse so as to generate a pulse signal representation residual signal . the phase amplitude characteristic adding filter 111 then adds the phase amplitude characteristic to the pulse signal representation residual signal by using the filter coefficient so as to produce an excitation signal and outputs the excitation signal to the synthesis filter 112 . the synthesis filter 112 generates synthesized speech by using the linear prediction parameter and the excitation signal . the optimum phase amplitude characteristic searching means 113 evaluates the perceptual weighted distortion of the residual signal between the synthesized speech and the input speech 101 , selects the filter coefficient corresponding to the phase amplitude characteristic which minimizes the distortion from the phase amplitude characteristic codebook 108 , and outputs the selected filter coefficient as the phase amplitude characteristic 102 . according to this embodiment , a codebook which stores a plurality of short - term phase amplitude characteristic of a signal is provided , a trial signal is generated by using each phase amplitude characteristic in the codebook and the phase amplitude characteristic which minimizes the distortion between an input signal and the trial signal is selected from the codebook . in this manner , it is possible to extract the phase amplitude characteristic without an error and without the need for pitch extraction or pitch position extraction when the short - term phase amplitude characteristic of a linear prediction residual signal of speech is obtained . while there has been described what are at present considered to be preferred embodiments of the invention , it will be understood that various modifications may be made thereto , and it is intended that the appended claims cover all such modifications as fall within the true spirit and scope of the invention .	6
turning now to the drawings , there is shown a horizontally hinged , sectional , upwardly retractable door which excepting for the details set forth below is of a construction familiar for a variety of vertically liftable doors , such as garage and warehouse doors , doors for the rear ends of trucks , airplane hangar doors and similar . insofar as the present invention is concerned , the door may have any number of sections , the sections may be hinged together in any manner and for that matter the hinging may be on vertical axes as well as on the illustrated horizontal axes . thus , the present illustration of a typical door to which the invention is applied is for illustrative purposes only and not limiting . referring to fig1 there are shown sections 1 and 2 of a horizontally sectioned door . a hinge 3 connects said sections 1 and 2 in a conventional manner and a roller 4 is mounted in any desired manner at the bottom of the door for guiding in a side channel 6 for the usual purposes . the channel 6 is mounted conventionally by means of straps 7 to a rearward angle 8 which is then mounted to the basic building 9 is any desired manner . a jam seal 10 is provided to the angle 8 for contact with the outer surface of the door 1 to prevent passage of air therebetween . turning now to the details of construction of a door section and with specific reference for illustrative purposes to section 1 , there is provided an inner panel 11 and an outer panel 12 . these panels are mirror images of each other which further diminishes both the initial cost thereof and the cost of inventorying . referring to the panel 11 , same is of rolled construction and hence the lateral or stile edges 11a and 12a ( fig2 ) thereof are free from flanges or other bent - over portions . instead , such stile edge is closed by a sealing strip 13 which is positioned and held in place as set forth more fully hereinafter . the panel 11 is provided with a series of indentations 14 ( fig3 ) for strengthening purposes and both its upper and lower edges are provided with flanges 16 and 17 , respectively . flange 16 has a first portion 18 which is bent at substantial right angles to the upper edge of the panel 11 . a second portion 19 extends perpendicularly upward from the first portion 18 . a third portion 21 is perpendicular to the second portion 19 and parallel with the first portion 18 . a re - entrantly bent portion 22 is perpendicular to the third portion 21 and extends parallel to the main body of the panel 11 in an inward direction with respect to said section 1 . a fifth flange 23 extends along the inner edge of the fourth portion 22 , is perpendicular thereto and extends back toward the main body of the panel 11 . the lower flange 17 is generally similar to the upper flange 16 excepting that its second portion 27 extends inwardly of the door instead of outwardly as does portion 19 of the upper flange 16 . thus , the lower flange 17 has a first portion 26 extending perpendicularly to the main face of the panel 11 , a second portion 27 extending upwardly and perpendicular to the first portion 26 , a third portion 28 continuing inwardly and perpendicular to the second portion 27 , a fourth portion 29 extending parallel with the main face of the panel 11 and centrally thereof and a final edge flange 30 perpendicular to the fourth portion 29 . the outer panel 12 is provided with an upper flange 31 and a lower flange 32 which have the same sectional construction in mirror image as the above - described flanges 16 and 17 and hence need no further description . sealing strips 33 and 34 are provided for positioning between the panels 11 and 12 as shown in fig3 and 4 . this provides the final seal between said inner and outer panels to insure that when foam is injected thereinto under pressure it will not escape therefrom but will instead fill all portions of the interior cavity of the door fully and completely . the sealing strip 33 has an outer portion 36 generally overlying and shaped to conform to the upper part of the door section 1 for protective purposes . depending from said portion 36 is a flange , or body portion , 37 which extends between the fourth portion 22 of the flange 16 and its counterpart 22a of flange 31 . a seal flange 38 is attached to the lower end of the flange 37 and extends under and is in contact with the edge flange 23 and its counterpart 23a in flange 31 . the dimensioning of the parts is such that said flange 38 lies snugly against the contacting flanges 22 and 23a for reasons appearing more fully hereinafter . the sealing strip 34 has a similar outer section 41 lying snugly against the third portion 28 of flange 17 and its counterpart 28a in flange 32 . in this embodiment , the portion 41 also carries sealing strips 42 and 43 for the purpose of sealing the section 1 against the next lower component . in this case , such next lower component is the bottom strip 44 shaped and dimensioned to fit into the recess 46 . in the case of an upper section such as section 2 , the strips thereon corresponding to the strips 42 and 43 will bear against the portion 18 of flange 16 and the corresponding section 18a of flange 31 in order to seal tightly any space existing between sections 1 and 2 . portion 41 has a flange 47 upstanding therefrom which carries at its upper end a sealing flange 48 which extends beyond and lies snugly against the flange 30 and its counterpart 30a on the flange 32 . corner stile sections 51 and 52 are provided as shown . the corner stile section 51 has a flange 53 lying against the inner surface of the inner panel 11 and a flange 54 overlying the end of such panel . preferably the respective ends of the flange 54 are shaped appropriately as at 56 and 57 for conforming to the profile of the flanges 16 and 17 . the corner stile member 52 has a flange 53a overlying the surface of the outer panel 12 and an end flange 54a for overlying the end of said outer panel 12 . the respective ends of the flange 54a are shaped at 58 and 59 respectively to conform to the profiles of the flanges 31 and 32 . it will be noted in fig2 that the flanges 54 and 54a are dimensioned so that they do not quite meet and hence a heat insulative space 55 is provided between their opposing edges . the vertical edge of the door opposite the illustrated edge is a mirror image thereof and hence separate illustration or description is unnecessary . in assembling the parts above described , the inner and outer panels 11 and 12 are positioned relative to each other as shown in the drawings and the sealing members 33 and 34 slid endwise into place as shown . the end seal 13 is then positioned and the corner members 51 and 52 are placed and fixed by any convenient means such as bolts . in the illustrated embodiment , the heat transmittal by through bolts is avoided by using bolts as shown which extend into the interior of the door and are held in place by the foam . the foam is then injected , as desired , through an opening which is subsequently closed by suitable means . for example , the foam may be injected through an opening in the seal 13 which opening is then covered by the flanges 54 and / or 54a . the solidified foam will seize and firmly hold the bolt inner ends as well as the flanges 38 and 48 of the seals 33 and 34 and the adjacent portions of the inner and outer panels 11 and 12 . the seals 33 and 34 prevent the escape of foam from the space between the inner and outer panels 11 and 12 and will make it possible for metallic panels to be spaced from each other . similarly the end seals , as the seal 13 , can contain the foam being injected between the panels 11 and 12 . it will be observed that when said foaming material is inserted into the cavity within the door under pressure , that there will be a differential pressure created adjacent both of said sealing means , which differential pressure will assist in holding said sealing means firmly in place during the foaming operation . particularly , and referring to the sealing means 33 , there will be developed on said sealing means an outwardly directed pressure extending along the entire inwardly facing area of that part of sealing flange 38 thereof lying against the flanges 23 and 23a while at the same time pressure on the upper side of the flanges 23 and 23a will urge same downwardly against the sealing flange 38 . thus , the foam pressure within said cavity will tend to press said sealing flange 38 and said flanges 23 and 23a snugly together over a much wider surface than that by which said foam will endeavor to penetrate between member 38 and said flanges . this effectively seals said parts and prevents escape of foam from within said cavity . the same relationship exists with respect to the sealing member 34 and the flanges 30 and 30a . thus , while it is desirable for said sealing members to fit snugly against the respective flanges 23 and 30 and the counterparts 23a and 30a on panel 12 and they should upon assembly be at least in contact with each other , pressure therebetween is not relied upon for effecting such seal and the seal is instead assured as above described . thus , there is provided a door structure which is made sufficiently of metal to provide a strong and rigid construction together with good impact and abrasion resistance at its inner and outer surfaces while at the same time providing for complete interruption of metallic connection between the inner and outer portions of the door so as to minimize the passage of heat therethrough . further , said door is arranged for appropriate sectioning , and pivoting between sections , and yet providing adequately for sealing between the sections , sealing between the bottom section and the floor and sealing of the entire door as by the seal 11 between the inner surface thereof and the building with which said door is used . thus , there is provided a high level of resistance to passage of heat through or around said door and yet the door while strong and damage resistant remains of relatively simple and economic construction . although a particular preferred embodiment of the invention has been disclosed in detail for illustrative purposes , it will be recognized that variations or modifications of the disclosed apparatus , including the rearrangement of parts , lie within the scope of the present invention .	4
fig1 is a view showing an outline structure of an example of an image forming apparatus of the present invention . fig2 and fig3 are circuit diagrams for determining charging conditions of a transfer charger according to measured information of the resistance of a transfer sheet . fig4 is a timing chart of the control according to the present invention by a control apparatus . fig5 is a graph showing the relationship between conditions of an electrode roller and an amplifier output . in fig1 numeral 1 is an image forming body rotating in the arrowed direction . numeral 2 is a cleaning unit for removing residual toners on the surface of the image forming body . numeral 3 is a charger for charging the surface of the cleaned image forming body . numeral 4 is an image exposure light projected onto the uniformly charged surface of the image forming body from a laser beam scanner or a document scanning exposure apparatus . numeral 5 is a developing unit for developing the latent image formed by the image exposure 4 into a toner image . numeral 6 is a sheet feed roller for feeding the uppermost transfer sheet p from a stack of transfer sheets p . numeral 7 are pinch conveyance rollers for sending the transfer sheet p fed by the sheet feed roller 6 . numeral 8 is a register roller . pinch conveyance rollers 7 comprise conductive electrode rollers 7a and 7b for feeding a current in the direction of the thickness of the transfer sheet p as shown in fig2 and 3 . the pinch conveyance rollers 7 temporarily stop when the leading edge of the transfer sheet p comes into contact with the register roller 8 , and the transfer sheet p is curved between the pinch conveyance rollers 7 and the register roller 8 . after that , the pinch conveyance rollers 7 , together with the register roller 8 , send the transfer sheet p to a transfer area at which a transfer charger 9 is opposite to the image forming body 1 so that the transfer sheet p is synchronized with the toner image . numeral 10 is a separation charger for separating the transfer sheet p , which has passed through the transfer area and onto which the toner image has been transferred , from the surface of the image forming body 1 . numeral 11 is a conveyer for conveying the separated transfer sheet p to a fixing unit 12 . the transfer sheet p , onto which the toner image has been fixed by the fixing unit 12 , is delivered outside the apparatus . one electrode roller 7a of the pinch conveyance rollers 7 shown in fig2 is structured by the first and second electrode rollers 7a1 and 7a2 , both having conductive metal surface layers , which are connected with an insulated connecting shaft 7c . the other electrode roller 7b has a conductive elastic surface layer made of conductive rubber , etc ., wherein the surface layer has enough length to pinch the transfer sheet between the electrode roller 7b and the first and second electrode rollers 7a1 and 7a2 , and to convey the transfer sheet . one electrode roller 7a of the pinch conveyance rollers 7 shown in fig3 has a metallic surface layer , and the other electrode roller 7b has the conductive elastic surface layer made of conductive rubber , etc . the transfer sheet is pinched between the electrode rollers 7a and 7b , and conveyed . while the leading edge of the transfer sheet p is stopped by the register roller 8 , and the transfer sheet is conveyed so that the transfer sheet p is curved between the pinch conveyance rollers 7 and the register roller 8 and temporarily stopped , a control unit cont for controlling the overall image forming apparatus turns on a power switch sw of the resistance measuring circuit for a short predetermined period of time . at this time , the pinch conveyance rollers 7 feed a current in the direction of the thickness of the pinched transfer sheet p . this current signal is converted into a voltage signal by the resistance r , and inputted into the control unit cont through the amplifier amp . according to the input signal , the control unit cont drives the transfer charger 9 and the separation charger 10 through driving circuits d1 and d2 of the transfer charger 9 and the separation charger 10 on the charging conditions in which the maximum transfer efficiency and the separation reliability can be obtained with respect to the resistance of the transfer sheet . thereby , even when the resistance of the transfer sheet changes , the toner image can be transferred onto the transfer sheet p with stable and high transfer efficiency , and the transfer sheet p , onto which the toner image has been transferred , can be stably separated from the image forming body 1 . in the pinch conveyance rollers 7 shown in fig2 current is fed twice in alternating directions ( 7a1 → 7b → 7a2 ), and in the pinch conveyance rollers 7 shown in fig3 the current is fed only once ( 7a → 7b ). since an electric voltage is applied in the direction of the thickness of the transfer sheet , the resistance can be measured with a relatively low voltage . further , before the transfer sheet p is pinched and conveyed by the pinch conveyance rollers 7 , the control unit cont may feed a current between electrode rollers 7a and 7b , and may drive the transfer charger 9 and the separation charger 10 according to a signal of the difference between the signal due to the above - described current and the signal obtained when the transfer signal is pinched between the electrode rollers 7a and 7b as shown in fig4 . due to this operation , the variations of the measured value due to deterioration with time of the pinch conveyance rollers 7 or the amplifier amp are removed , and the resistance of the transfer sheet can be obtained more accurately , resulting in more stable enhancement of the transfer efficiency and the separation efficiency . incidentally , in this embodiment , the measurement for the resistance is conducted when the conveyance rollers stop . the timing chart shown in fig4 shows the above - described control by the control unit cont and the output from the amplifier amp to the control unit cont . a period of t1 shown in fig5 showing the relationship between conditions of the pinch conveyance roller and the amplifier output while the power switch is on , shows that the transfer sheet p is not pinched between pinch conveyance rollers 7 of the electrode rollers and the rollers 7 stop . accordingly , the output v1 during the period shows the above - described reference value . t2 and t4 respectively show conditions that the pinch conveyance rollers 7 convey the transfer sheet p . accordingly , outputs v2 and v4 during the periods correspond to the resistance of the transfer sheet obtained by the transfer sheet resistance measuring method disclosed in japanese patent publication open to public inspection 34834 / 1979 . t3 shows conditions that the pinch conveyance rollers 7 pinch the transfer sheet and stop . accordingly , output v3 during the period shows the measured value of the resistance of the transfer sheet p . further , \| v1 - v3 \| shows a correction value of the resistance of the transfer sheet p in which the influence due to deterioration with time of the pinch conveyance rollers 7 or the amplifier amp is removed . the image forming apparatus of the present invention is not limited to the above - described examples , but a light emitting amount of a pre - transfer discharging lamp may also be determined according to the resistance of the transfer sheet p when the pre - transfer discharging lamp is provided between the developing unit 5 and the transfer charger 9 . further , when a transfer sheet guide provided between the sheet feed roller 6 and transfer charger 9 is grounded through a resistor , the resistor may also be switched according to the resistance of the transfer sheet . in the image forming apparatus of the present invention , the resistance of the transfer sheet can be stably measured with high accuracy , and charging conditions of the transfer charger and the separation charger are determined according to the measured information . accordingly , higher transfer efficiency and higher separation reliability can be stably obtained , and only one resistance measuring apparatus for the transfer sheet is enough even when a plurality of sheet feeding means are provided in the apparatus .	6
referring to fig1 , an embodiment is illustrated in overview . copper pair loops 19 connect a number of sets of customer premises equipment 10 a , 10 b . . . 10 i . . . 10 n to a smaller number of dslams 20 a . . . 20 i . . . 20 l . each dslam is typically located within a local exchange ( also known as a central office in the us ) each of which can house one or more dslams . each dslam 20 separates normal voice traffic and data traffic and sends the voice traffic to the public switched telephone network ( pstn ) 70 . the data traffic is passed on through a core access network section 30 ( which will typically be an atm network section as is assumed in this embodiment ) to a broadband remote access server ( bras ) 40 at which several ip traffic flows from ( and to ) multiple service providers ( sp &# 39 ; s ) 62 , 64 , 66 are aggregated ( and disaggregated ) via an ip network 50 ( which can itself be provided on top of an atm network ). note that although only a single bras is shown , in practice a large access network will include a large number of bras &# 39 ; s . within each set of customer premises equipment 10 , there is typically an adsl splitter filter 18 , a telephone 12 , an adsl modem 16 and a computer 14 . in another embodiment , the dslam &# 39 ; s can be replaced with mini - dslam &# 39 ; s located in cabinets in an fttc architecture , with optical backhaul connections between the mini - dslam &# 39 ; s and an access node such as an msan located in the local exchange . in such a case , both voice traffic and data traffic can be sent via the same backhaul connection and then voice traffic can be separated onto the pstn by the access node at the exchange . alternatively , in a full ip voice network , the voice and data can all be carried together as data throughout the network , etc . in addition to the above mentioned items , in an embodiment , there is also a management device 100 which communicates between the dslams 20 and the bras ( or bras &# 39 ; s ) 40 . in an embodiment , the management device communicates with individual bras &# 39 ; s via one or more further interface devices 39 each of which communicates directly with one or more bras &# 39 ; s in order to set user profiles , etc . a detailed understanding of the operation of the management device , the interface device ( s ) and the bras ( s ) is not required in order to understand the embodiments . however , for completeness an overview of their operation is set out below . for a more detailed discussion , the reader is referred to co - pending european patent application no . 05254769 . 2 the contents of which are incorporated herein by reference . thus , in overview , the management device 100 obtains information from each dslam 20 about the rate at which each digital subscriber line ( dsl ) connects to the dslam ( as is discussed in greater detail below , in an embodiment this is done by each dslam generating and transmitting to the management device 100 a message indicating the new line rate each time a line connects up at a speed which differs from the speed at which the line last connected up — or synchronized as this process is commonly termed ). in an embodiment , the management device then processes this information to assess a consistent connection speed achieved by each such dsl . if it determines that this consistent rate has increased as a result of recent higher rate connections , it instructs the bras to allow higher through flows of traffic for that dsl . on the other hand , if it detects that a particular connection speed is below the stored consistent value , it reduces the consistent value to the current connection rate and immediately informs the bras of the new consistent value rate so that the bras does not allow more traffic to flow to the dsl than the dsl is currently able to cope with . the exact algorithm used by the management device to calculate the consistent rate is not described . however , it should be noted that the intention of the algorithm is to arrange that the user will receive data at the highest rate which his / her dsl is consistently able to obtain without requiring the bras to be reconfigured every time the dsl is connected . at the same time the algorithm seeks to ensure that if the dsl connects at a rate which is below that at which the bras is currently configured to allow data through , then the bras is quickly reconfigured to avoid overloading the dslam . the reason for wanting to avoid having to contact the bras each time a dsl connects to the dslam is because with current systems it is not generally possible to reconfigure the bras without a significant delay ( e . g . of a few minutes ). furthermore , there is a limit to the rate at which a bras can process reconfiguration requests . these restrictions are sometimes referred to by saying that the bras needs to be provisioned , and drawing a distinction between systems which are switched ( e . g . atm switched virtual circuits ) and systems which are provisioned . current systems allow for quite quick provisioning ( often a matter of minutes rather than days or weeks ) but there is still a significant difference between such quick provisioning and realtime switching . fig2 shows an alternative embodiment to that of fig1 which is very similar and common reference numerals have been used to describe common elements . the main difference is simply that in fig2 , instead of the dslams communicating notification messages directly to the management device 100 , an element manager device 25 ( which connects to a plurality of dslams ) acts as an interface between the dslams and the management device . note that in a large access network , there can be many dslams and several element managers , each of which can connect to a sub - set of the dslams . furthermore , additional levels of hierarchy can be imposed where a number of element managers communicate with an element manager which then interfaces to the management device , etc . the embodiment of fig2 can be operated in at least two slightly different ways in order to generate and transmit notifications to the management device 100 . firstly , each dslam can perform monitoring and determine whenever a condition or set of conditions has arisen which requires a notification to be passed to the management device 100 in which case the dslam can generate the notification and send it to the element manager 25 ( using , for example the well known snmp protocol as illustrated in fig2 ) whereupon the element manager 25 then simply forwards on the notification message to the management device ( e . g . using a remote procedure call ( a well known java based protocol ) as illustrated in fig2 ). alternatively , each dslam can simply forward on a notification to the element manager each time a dsl synchronizes ( again for example using snmp ) and the element manager can process this information to determine if a notifiable event has occurred ( e . g . such as the synchronization line rate for a particular line having changed ). then if the element manager determines that such an event has occurred , it can generate and transmit ( again using , for example an rpc ) a suitable notification message to the management device 100 . in this latter method of operation , a group of dslams and their corresponding element manager form an access sub - system within the meaning of the term as used in the appended claims . however , there are two distinct types of notifiable events : time critical events and non - time critical events . if a line is repeatedly re - synching ( even at the same rate ) this constitutes a time critical notifiable event in its own right and the dslam can send this notification up the chain towards the management device . also , if the line resynchs at a lower rate than that at which it was previously synchronized ( or at least at a rate which is below a minimum rate associated with the rate at which the bras for that line is configured , if this rate is known to the dslam ), this also constitutes a time - critical notifiable event which should be sent immediately up stream towards the management device . on the other hand if the line resynchs at the same or a higher speed than that at which it was previously synchronized ( or at least equal to or above the minimum rate supported by the current configuration of the bras ), this represents a non - time critical notifiable event . this amount of data required to describe this event is small and so the dslam can either send it immediately and let a higher up device decide if it needs to forward on the info or not , and if so when , or the dslam can make such decisions itself . finally , there is a third category of notification , which concerns non - time critical events which require a large amount of data to describe ( e . g . the bit - loading per sub - carrier and the measured snr and / or snm on each sub - carrier ). for this type of notification the dslam should wait for a predetermined period to ensure that the connection is reasonably stable before attempting to send this data . this is discussed in greater detail below with reference to fig4 . referring now to fig3 , this shows a dslam of fig1 ( or fig2 ) in slightly more detail . each incoming dsl line terminated by the dslam enters the dslam at one of a plurality of input ports in an interface module 209 , which connects these to a plurality of modems , in this case a plurality of adsl terminating units — central office side ( atu - c &# 39 ; s ) 210 a - n . the atu - c &# 39 ; s are connected to an atm switch for forwarding on the data ( in the form of atm cells in an embodiment ) to an atm switch 230 which switches the resulting cells onto the atm section 30 of the access network . within the dslam , there is a control unit 220 which includes a processor unit 222 and a data store 224 . the control unit 220 performs various control functions including ensuring that each time a connection is made over a particular dsl that it complies with a stored profile for that line . as is well known within the field of xdsl , each line is set up according to a dsl profile which specifies various parameters necessary for establishing an xdsl connection . in an embodiment , the control unit 220 additionally performs the function of monitoring each dsl , determining if a time critical notifiable event has occurred and , if so , generating a notification message to send to the management device 100 ( or to an element manager or other intermediate device in alternative embodiments including such devices ) immediately , and / or waiting for a predetermined stability period ( of 2 minutes in an embodiment ) and then sending any non - time critical notifications . the steps carried out in performing this additional function are described below with reference to the flow diagram of fig4 . thus , upon initiation of the method illustrated in fig4 when a dsl line connected to the dslam is provisioned for monitoring by this new function ( e . g . because the end user has opted to move his broadband connection service to a new rate adapted service ), whenever it synchronizes ( or resynchronizes ) ( step 10 ), line data such as the line rate achieved , bit loading data , snr and / or snm data per sub - carrier etc . is stored ( step s 20 ). the control unit then determines ( at step s 30 ) if a time critical notifiable event ( such as the line resynchronizing at a lower rate than it was previously synchronized at ) has occurred . if so the method proceeds to step s 40 where a corresponding ( time critical ) notification is prepared and sent as a simple network message protocol ( snmp ) trap message which it transmits directly ( or indirectly in alternative embodiments ) to the management device 100 and then the method proceeds to step s 50 . if at step s 30 it is determined that there is no time critical notifiable event to notify , then the method simply bypasses step s 40 and proceeds directly to step s 50 . at step s 50 the control unit determines if the stability wait period ( which in an embodiment is set to equal 2 minutes ) for that line has elapsed ; if it has not then the method proceeds to step s 60 where it determines if a resynchronization is required , if so the method returns to step s 10 otherwise it returns to step s 50 . if at step s 50 it is determined that the stability period has elapsed , then the method proceeds to step s 70 . the effect of steps s 50 and s 60 together is that the control unit waits until the stability period has elapsed without a resynchronization being required before proceeding to step s 70 , but if a resynchronization is required before the period is elapsed , the method returns to step s 10 without making it to step s 70 ( on that occasion ). at step s 70 the control unit generates a non - time critical notification message in the form of an snmp trap which it again transmits directly ( or indirectly in alternative embodiments ) to the management device 100 . the method then proceeds to step s 80 to await a new request or requirement to resynchronize the line . in an embodiment , the above described functionality is performed in parallel in respect of each line which is terminated by the dslam . it will be understood by a person skilled in the art that a number of different methods can be used to transmit the messages between the dslams , element managers and the management device 100 . in the embodiment of fig1 an snmp message is sent directly from the dslams to the management device 100 . however many other possibilities exist . for example , in the embodiment of fig2 an snmp message can be sent from the dslams to the element manager which can then forward on the message using a corba interface or by means of a java based remote procedure call . many other possibilities will occur to a person skilled in the art of data networking . as mentioned above , time critical events which should be reported before awaiting elapsment of the wait period can include simply the fact of a resynchronization having occurred . this can be useful for identifying lines which are frequently going down , perhaps because the provisioning is incorrect and needs to be changed ( e . g . to force the line to connect at a lower rate rather than at the maximum achievable rate ). alternatively , the dslam or an element manager or other interface type device can monitor whether a particular line has had to resynchronize more than a certain given number of times within a certain given period such as , for example , more than 10 times within an hour and send a time - critical notification to ( or towards ) the management device whenever this condition is detected as occurring rather than each time a line resynchronizes ( unless the line resynchronizes at a lower rate than previously , or at a rate lower than a specified minimum rate ( equal to or corresponding to the rate at which the bras has been provisioned for that respective line , in an embodiment ).	7
in the figures , unless specified otherwise , identical reference symbols designate identical sections and zones with the same meaning . fig1 shows a semiconductor component according to the invention , designed as a mos transistor , in a lateral sectional illustration , fig2 showing a section through the semiconductor component according to fig1 along the sectional plane a — a ′ in the case of a first embodiment , and fig3 showing the semiconductor component according to fig1 in a plan view of the sectional plane a — a ′ in the case of a second embodiment . the exemplary embodiments illustrated in fig2 and 3 do not differ in their side view , which is shown for both exemplary embodiments in fig1 . the mos transistor according to the invention has a semiconductor body 20 with a weakly p - doped substrate 22 and , situated above the latter , an n - doped first layer 24 . a p - doped channel zone 50 is introduced in a well - like manner in the first layer 24 , proceeding from a first surface 201 , a heavily n - doped first terminal zone 40 being formed in a well - like manner in said channel zone . in this case , the first terminal zone 40 forms the source zone of the mos transistor . in the n - doped first layer 24 , a heavily n - doped second terminal zone 60 is introduced spaced apart from the channel zone 50 in the lateral direction of the semiconductor body 20 , which terminal zone is likewise formed in a well - like manner proceeding from the first surface 201 in the exemplary embodiment according to fig1 . the second terminal zone 60 forms the drain zone of the mos transistor . the drain zone 60 is contact - connected by means of a drain electrode 62 which is arranged on the first surface 201 and forms a drain terminal of the mos transistor . in a corresponding manner , the source zone 40 is contact - connected by means of a source electrode 52 which short - circuits the source zone 40 and the channel zone 50 and which forms the source terminal s of the mos transistor . for driving the mos transistor , provision is made of a gate electrode 70 above the channel zone 50 , which is insulated from the semiconductor body 20 by means of an insulation layer 72 and which forms a gate terminal of the mos transistor . fig1 shows , in cross section , two source zones 40 and channel zones 50 , in each case in the lateral direction of the semiconductor body 20 on the left and right beside the drain zone 60 . these source zones 40 are connected to one another and , as is illustrated in fig2 may be designed as elongate strips in the semiconductor body 20 between which a likewise elongate drain zone 60 is formed . the elongate source zones and the elongate drain zone can extend as far as edges or edge regions of the semiconductor body . the channel zone 50 and the source zone 40 can also enclose the drain zone 60 annularly as is illustrated in fig3 . fig1 illustrates a cross section both through the semiconductor component according to the invention according to fig2 and through the semiconductor component according to the invention according to fig3 . p - doped compensation zones 30 are formed in the n - doped layer 24 and , in the exemplary embodiment according to fig1 extend in a pillar - shaped manner in the vertical direction of the semiconductor body 20 . the cross section of these pillar shaped compensation zones 30 is circular in the exemplary embodiments according to fig2 and 3 , but this cross section can assume virtually any other geometric shapes and be , for example , rectangular , square or octagonal . in the exemplary embodiment according to fig1 the pillar - shaped compensation zones 30 start at the level of the first surface 201 and extend in the vertical direction as far as a second n - conducting layer 26 formed between the compensation zones 30 and the substrate 22 . in this case , this second n - conducting layer 26 is preferably doped more weakly than the first n - conducting layer 24 . furthermore , a p - doped layer 32 is formed below the first surface 201 of the semiconductor body 20 , which layer preferably reaches as far as the channel zone 50 and connects the compensation zones 30 to one another . the p - doped layer 32 preferably does not reach as far as the second terminal zone 60 . equally , a compensation zone 30 a formed below the drain zone 60 does not reach as far as the drain zone 60 . the region of the first layer 24 in which the compensation zones 30 are formed forms the drift path of the mos transistor . the mos transistor or its drift path is bounded in the lateral direction of the semiconductor body by a p - doped boundary zone 80 which , in the exemplary embodiment according to fig1 extends in the vertical direction of the semiconductor body proceeding from the channel zone 50 as far as the substrate 22 . in this case , like the source zone 40 in fig2 the boundary zone 80 can run below the source zone in an elongate manner as far as the edges of the semiconductor body 20 or , in accordance with the source zone 40 in fig3 it can annularly surround the drift path . the boundary zone 80 , which is preferably doped more highly than the p - doped substrate 22 , forms a pn junction with the first layer 24 and prevents n - type charge carriers from passing through the boundary zone 80 into n - doped zones 124 of adjacent components , or adjacent semiconductor circuits , which are represented by way of example in fig1 by two cmos transistors t 1 , t 2 and a terminal for supply potential + u . such a drive circuit might be , for example , a drive circuit for the mos transistor according to the invention illustrated on the right in fig1 which drive circuit is realized with the mos transistor in the same semiconductor body . typical doping concentrations of the individual zones of the semiconductor component according to fig1 are specified below by way of example : this mos transistor has a low on resistance and a high breakdown voltage , the second n - conducting layer 26 preventing charge carriers from passing from the drift zone of the mos transistor into the substrate 22 , as is explained below . if , in the mos transistor according to the invention , a positive voltage is applied between the gate terminal g and the source terminal s , then a conductive channel forms in the channel zone 50 below the gate electrode 72 . if a positive voltage is applied between the drain electrode d and the source electrode s , a charge carrier current flows in the lateral direction of the semiconductor body 20 through the drift path between the source zone 40 and the drain zone 60 . the drain - source voltage is represented as voltage + u d in fig1 it being assumed that the source electrode is at a reference - ground potential of the circuit , in particular ground . the on resistance r on of the mos transistor is lower , the higher the doping of the first layer 24 with n - type charge carriers . if the mos transistor is in the off state , that is to say there is no drive potential at its gate electrode , then when a drain - source voltage is applied , a space charge zone propagates proceeding from the source zone 40 or the channel zone 50 in the drift path in the direction of the drain zone 60 . this space charge zone advances in the direction of the drain zone 60 as the drain - source voltage increases . if the space charge zone reaches a compensation zone 30 , then the compensation zone 30 assumes the potential of the space charge zone upon reaching the compensation zone 30 . free p - type charge carriers ( holes ) of this compensation zone 30 and free n - type charge carriers ( electrons ) from the regions of the drift path which surround the respective compensation zone mutually compensate one another . the number of free charge carriers thereby decreases in the drift path as the reverse voltage increases , or as the space charge zone extends further . the compensation of the free charge carriers means that the mos transistor has a high reverse voltage . in semiconductor bodies in which a plurality of semiconductor components are realized , the substrate 22 is usually at reference - ground potential . in the exemplary embodiment according to fig1 the substrate 22 can be contact - connected by means of an electrically conductive layer 90 , for example a metalization layer applied on the substrate . the voltage between the drain terminal 60 and the substrate 22 then corresponds to the drain - source voltage of the mos transistor . as the drain potential + u d increases , a space charge zone propagates upward proceeding from the substrate 22 , as a result of which the second n - conducting layer is depleted , that is to say the free n - type charge carriers of the second layer 26 and holes in the surrounding substrate 22 or the upwardly adjoining compensation zones 30 mutually compensate one another . the second layer 26 , which is preferably doped in such a way that it can be completely depleted , thus forms a potential barrier for free charge carriers of the drift path and prevents said free charge carriers from passing into the substrate 22 , where they could propagate unimpeded and interfere with the functioning of other semiconductor components integrated in the semiconductor body 20 . the dopings of the compensation zones 30 , of the drift path 24 and of the second layer 26 are preferably co - ordinated with one another in such a way that the number of p - type charge carriers approximately corresponds to the number of n - type charge carriers , so that at the maximum possible reverse voltage , when the space charge zone reaches the drain zone 60 proceeding from the source zone 40 , the compensation zones 30 , the drift path 24 and the second layer 26 are completely depleted , that is to say no free charge carriers are present . the breakdown voltage then corresponds to the breakdown voltage of an undoped drift path 24 . the mos transistor according to the invention , with the source zone 40 , the channel zone 50 surrounding the source zone , the drain zone 60 , the drift path 24 with the compensation zones 30 , the boundary zone 80 , an n - conducting layer 26 between the compensation zones 30 and with the substrate 22 , can be integrated together with further semiconductor components in a semiconductor body . consequently , a mos transistor as power switch with a low on resistance and a high reverse voltage can be integrated together with its drive circuit in a semiconductor body or a chip in a space - saving manner . fig4 shows a further exemplary embodiment of a semiconductor component according to the invention in cross section . whereas in the exemplary embodiment according to fig1 the p - conducting boundary zone 80 extends as far as the substrate 22 proceeding from the channel zone 50 in the vertical direction of the semiconductor body 20 , in the exemplary embodiment according to fig4 the boundary zone 80 is arranged such that it is spaced apart from the channel zone 50 in the lateral direction and extends from the first surface 201 in the vertical direction of the semiconductor body 20 as far as the substrate 22 . pillar - like compensation zones 30 b , 30 c , 30 d are formed in the n - conducting layer 24 between the channel zone 50 and the boundary zone 80 , said compensation zones extending in the vertical direction of the semiconductor body 20 from the first surface 201 as far as the second n - conducting layer 26 . unlike the compensation zones 30 between the channel zone 50 and the drain zone 60 , the compensation zones 30 b , 30 c , 30 d between the channel zone 50 and the boundary zone 80 are not connected to one another by a p - conducting layer 32 . consequently , the compensation zones 30 b , 30 c , 30 d between the channel zone 50 and the boundary zone 80 are designed in a “ floating ” manner in the second layer 24 , that is to say they are not at a defined potential and assume the potential of a space charge zone which extends as far as the compensation zones 30 when the semiconductor component is in the off state . discharging of the compensation zones 30 b , 30 c , 30 d when the mos transistor is switched on again can be effected by thermal charge carriers . the compensation zones 30 b , 30 c , 30 d between the channel zone 50 and the boundary zone 80 increase the breakdown voltage between the mos transistor , which is formed within a well , formed by the boundary zone 80 and the n - conducting second layer 26 , and adjacent semiconductor components , which are not illustrated in fig4 for reasons of clarity . the sectional illustration according to fig4 furthermore shows field plates 90 , 91 , 92 , 93 , 94 , which are arranged on the first surface 201 in a manner insulated from the semiconductor body 20 by an insulation layer 74 . these field plates influence , in a known manner , the field line profile within and outside the semiconductor body and prevent a voltage breakdown in the edge regions of the mos transistor or edges thereof . in this case , a first field plate 90 running obliquely upward is connected to the boundary zone 80 , a second and third field plate 91 , 92 are connected to the source terminal s and a fourth and fifth field plate 93 , 94 are connected to the drain terminal d . fig5 shows a further exemplary embodiment of a semiconductor component according to the invention , designed as a mos transistor , in a lateral sectional illustration . the semiconductor component according to this exemplary embodiment has a plurality of source zones 40 a , 40 b , 40 c and respective channel zones 50 a , 50 b , 50 c surrounding the latter , the source zones 40 a , 40 b , 40 c and the channel zones 50 a , 50 b , 50 c being connected to a common source electrode 52 , s . the source zones 40 a , 40 b , 40 c are , in particular , of annular design , fig5 showing a section through the center of these annular source zones . in the component according to fig5 gate electrodes 70 a , 70 b , 70 c , 70 d are arranged on the semiconductor body in a manner insulated by insulation layers 72 a , 72 b , 72 c , 72 d and are connected to a common gate electrode g . the gate electrodes 70 a , 70 b , 70 c , 70 d illustrated in fig5 may be , in particular , constituent parts of a single gate electrode of grid - like design , in which case the source zones 40 a , 40 b , 40 c , 40 d with the channel zones 50 a , 50 b , 50 c are arranged below cutouts of the grid and , in the cutouts of the grids , the source zones are contact - connected by means of the source electrode 52 . compensation zones 30 are formed in the first n - conducting layer 24 arranged above the substrate 22 , some of these compensation zones adjoining the channel zones 50 a , 50 b , 50 c and extending in a pillar - like manner in the vertical direction of the semiconductor body 20 . other compensation zones 30 e are formed between the channel zones 50 a , 50 c and the boundary zones 80 , the boundary zones extending from the first surface 201 of the semiconductor body 20 as far as the substrate 22 . in the exemplary embodiment according to fig5 the drain zone 60 extends proceeding from the first surface 201 in the vertical direction as far as the n - doped second layer 26 formed between the substrate 22 and the first n - conducting layer 24 . the drain zone 60 additionally extends in the lateral direction of the semiconductor body in the region of the second layer 26 below the first terminal zones 40 a , 40 b , 40 c . whereas in the exemplary embodiments according to fig1 to 4 the charge carrier transport runs between the source zones and the drain zones essentially in the lateral direction of the semiconductor body 20 , the charge carriers in the exemplary embodiment according to fig5 propagate , with the gate electrode g being driven , in the vertical direction of the semiconductor body between the source zones 40 a , 40 b , 40 c and the laterally running section of the drain zone 60 . in the exemplary embodiment according to fig5 the volume of the drift path can be better utilized as a result of the larger area of the drain zone 60 , at which charge carriers can be taken up from the drift path , and the larger channel area resulting from the provision of a plurality of source zones 40 a , 40 b , 40 c and channel zones 50 a , 50 b , 50 c . in other words , the mos transistor according to fig5 has a higher current - carrying capacity than the mos transistors according to fig1 to 4 . in the exemplary embodiment according to fig5 the second layer 26 and the laterally running section of the drain zone 60 form a potential barrier for charge carriers from the drift path into the substrate 22 . the drain zone 60 has a first section 100 extending vertically to the second layer 26 and a second section 102 extending laterally at the level of the second layer 26 . fig6 shows a further exemplary embodiment of a semiconductor component according to the invention , which differs from that illustrated in fig5 by virtue of the fact that the compensation zones 30 in the first n - conducting layer 24 are of spherical design and are arranged spaced apart from the channel zones 50 a , 50 b , 50 c , 50 d . in the exemplary embodiment according to fig7 the n - conducting layer 24 is weakly n - doped , second n - conducting compensation zones 25 being formed beside the p - conducting compensation zones 30 , the respectively adjacent compensation zones 30 , 25 mutually depleting one another when a space charge zone propagates in the first layer 24 , in order thus to bring about a high breakdown voltage of the semiconductor component . in the exemplary embodiment according to fig7 some of the p - conducting compensation zones 30 are connected to the channel zones 50 a , 50 b , 50 c and are thus at source potential . fig8 shows a further exemplary embodiment of a semiconductor component according to the invention , in which the drain zone 60 is of u - shaped design in cross section and encloses the first terminal zones 40 a , 40 b , 40 c and the channel zones 50 a , 50 b , 50 c and some of the compensation zones 30 . the drain zone 60 is preferably in the form of a well and encloses the first terminal zones 40 a , 40 b , 40 c and the channel zones 50 a , 50 b , 50 c and some of the compensation zones 30 on all sides in the lateral direction of the semiconductor body 20 .	7
turning now to the drawings , an animal watering device 10 is illustrated . the device 10 broadly includes a water tank 12 , a tank support assembly 14 , a water fill assembly 16 , a drain valve assembly 18 , and a control assembly 20 . the tank 10 is designed to provide low - maintenance watering of farm animals , especially cattle , and particularly in the cafo context . to this end , the device 10 provides automatic water filling as animals consume water from the tank 12 , as well as periodic , complete water drainage so as to minimize contaminant buildup . in more detail , the tank 12 is in the form of an elongated , open - top vessel having a bottom wall 22 , a pair of upstanding , oblique sidewalls 24 and 26 , and end walls 28 and 30 . the bottom wall 22 is equipped with a water inlet fill opening 32 covered by a deflector 34 . additionally , the bottom wall 22 has a drain opening 36 with a spacer 38 affixed to the underside of the bottom wall in registry with opening 36 . the end wall 28 has an upper overflow opening 40 , and an elongated , centrally located , exterior tank guide rail 42 . as best seen in fig5 - 7 , the tank walls 24 - 30 cooperatively present an outwardly extending , continuous lateral lip 44 . the tank support assembly 14 includes a box - like frame assembly 45 including a lower , rectangular , ground - engaging frame 46 , upstanding corner posts 48 , and three top stringers 50 of inverted l - shaped configuration supported by the posts 48 and extending around the periphery of the frame assembly 45 except for the end section adjacent end wall 30 . oblique cross braces 52 and 54 extend between the superposed side rails of the ground frame 46 and side stringers 50 as shown . the like manner , cross braces 55 extend between the end posts 48 . the ground frame 46 also has a pair of medial , spaced apart crosspieces 56 which support a pair of central , upright , tank stops 58 surmounted by a top rail 59 , and a lift spring mount 60 . an upright valve support post 57 of inverted t - shape is attached between a cross piece 56 and the adjacent cross rail of ground frame 46 ( fig4 ). as best seen in fig2 and 46 , the ground frame 46 further supports an upstanding , obliquely oriented , generally u - shaped guide channel 62 which receives tank guide rail 42 . a tank pivot shaft 64 extends between the posts 48 opposite channel 62 . the shaft 64 engages the underside of lip 44 across tank end wall 30 , and a transverse shaft hold - down lug 66 serves to secure the shaft 64 in position . accordingly , the tank 12 is pivotal about the longitudinal axis of shaft 64 . the opposite end of tank 12 is supported by means of an elongated lift arm 68 pivotally supported and extending between the tank stops 58 . the outboard end of lift arm 68 is equipped with a tank - engaging pad 70 . a coil lift spring 72 extends between spring mount 60 and the underside of lift arm 68 , and serves to bias tank 12 upwardly . in normal practice , the frame assembly 45 is covered by side and end panel walls 74 and 76 , and the upper periphery of the frame 45 is likewise covered by a rectangular , u - shaped in cross section top cover 78 ( see fig1 and 3 ). an access hatch 80 is affixed to end wall 76 adjacent channel 62 , in order to allow access to the working components within the frame assembly . the water fill assembly 16 includes a solenoid - operated water inlet valve 82 mounted on valve support post 57 . the valve 82 has an inlet nipple 84 adapted for coupling to a source of pressurized water ( not shown ), as well as an outlet nipple 86 . an elongated water inlet pipe 88 extends between nipple 86 and tank inlet opening 32 for delivery of water to tank 12 . the valve 82 has an electrically actuated on - off solenoid operator 90 controlled by assembly 20 as will be described . in other forms , use can be made of other known inlet valves such as mechanical valves , instead of solenoid valves . the drain valve assembly 16 includes a motor - operated gate valve 96 which is secured to the underside of spacer 38 . the valve 96 is itself conventional , and has a reciprocal gate 98 moveable via a gear drive ( not shown ) between a closed position preventing the flow of water through drain opening 36 , and an open position permitting such drain flow . a suitable commercially available drain valve is commercialized by phasefour industries under the designation dm20 - rp drain master valve . a cylindrical , upstanding tubular drain collector 100 is mounted beneath the outlet of valve 96 and presents a lowermost drain opening 102 . the valve 96 is selectively actuatable under the control of assembly 20 as will be described . the control assembly 20 is schematically illustrated in fig8 and includes a digital controller in the form of a programmable logic control ( plc ) 104 powered by source 106 and operably coupled with the solenoid 90 of water inlet valve 82 , and gate valve 96 . the assembly 20 further includes a tank position sensor switch 108 having a toggle arm 109 . an elongated , depending , slotted actuating arm 110 is attached to the exterior of tank side wall 24 . the slot of arm 110 receives toggle arm 109 as shown . the purpose of this arrangement is to sense the up or down position of tank 12 so that plc 104 can operate inlet valve 82 as necessary to fill tank 12 . in addition , up or down actuation of toggle arm 109 provides count information to counter 104 a associated with plc 104 , so that the number of tank movements and water fills is counted in lieu of the sensor 108 and actuating arm 110 , the position of tank 12 may be sensed by a proximity sensor , a position transducer , or an optical sensor such as a laser . alternately , a pair of limit switches could be provided at the limits of tank movement . in all instances , the goal is to determine the number of up or down tank movements and / or water fill cycles for the tank 12 , and to count these movements and / or cycles . it will be appreciated that the watering devices of the invention are often used in harsh and highly corrosive environments . accordingly , it is possible to construct the tank and frame assemblies from a variety of materials , e . g ., steel , stainless steel , concrete , synthetic resin , or rubber - like materials . the operation of watering device 10 will next be described , assuming that the tank 12 is filled with water as shown in fig5 and is therefore in its lowermost position owing to the weight of water within the tank , and the tank position sensor 108 , toggle arm 109 and actuating arm 110 are oriented to count when the tank reaches its uppermost level depicted in fig6 . preferably , the tank holds about 20 gallons of water when fill , and the water level is approximately 2 - 3 inches from the top of the tank . at the lowermost water level the water at a minimum preferably covers the inlet 32 to prevent freezing in cold weather conditions ; in such a case the quantity of water at the lowest level is 2 - 3 gallons . as animals consume water from the initially full tank 12 , the weight of the water within the tank decreases , causing spring 72 to incrementally , pivotally move the tank 12 upwardly about the axis of pivot shaft 64 until the fig6 position is reached . preferably , the tank 12 pivots through an arc of about 2 . 5 - 3 , which corresponds to approximately 1 . 65 inches of vertical travel of the tank on the side thereof opposite shaft 64 . at this point the actuating arm 110 shifts toggle arm 109 , and such action is communicated to plc 104 and counter 104 a . the plc 104 then operates to open water valve 82 via solenoid 90 so that water flows through the valve and pipe 88 to fill opening 32 of tank 12 . water is thus added to the tank 12 until the tank is again full , such action gradually pivoting the tank 12 downwardly against the bias spring 72 because of the increasing weight of water therein . it will be appreciated that the up and down movement of tank 12 is guided by means of the interfit between tank guide rail 42 and guide channel 62 . this down - up cycling of tank 12 , corresponding to water depletion and subsequent water addition thereto , continues for a predetermined number of cycles , typically around 10 cycles . when the predetermined number of cycles is recorded in counter 104 a , the plc 104 operates gate valve 96 in order to completely drain the tank 12 . during this sequence while the drain valve is open , the inlet valve 82 is again actuated to fill the tank 12 , thereby flushing debris and contaminants from the tank . thereupon , the drain valve is closed to refill the tank 12 , and the counter 104 a is reset to zero so that the process repeats itself . in preferred practice , tank drainage occurs when the water level therein is at the lowest level illustrated in fig6 . this serves to minimize the amount of fresh water used during tank drainage . it will of course be appreciated that the device 10 could be operated in the reverse fashion , i . e ., the sensor 108 could be set to toggle when the tank 12 reaches its lowermost or water full position . one operational advantage of the present invention is that the tank 12 is easily removable from the supporting assembly 14 , in order to allow easy access to all of the components beneath the tank . this facilitates repair and replacement of these components . a prototype device in accordance with the invention was tested against a conventional float - type watering device by placing each device in an individual cattle feedlot pen containing approximately 30 animals . over a 28 day period , the average water usage for the conventional device was about 280 gallons / day , whereas the prototype used approximately 360 gallons / day . the estimated amount of water drained per day for cleaning purposes was about 25 gallon for the conventional device ( 1 drain / day ), and about 15 gallons for the prototype ( 3 drains / day ). accordingly , the increased water usage with the prototype was attributed to increased water consumption by the cattle , owing to access clean water at all times . bacteria counts were performed during a five day period of the test , and demonstrated that coliform bacteria counts were 2884 cfu / ml of water for the conventional device , and only 13 cfu / ml of water for the prototype . generic e . coli counts were 127 cfu / ml of water for the conventional device , and 0 cfu / ml of water for the prototype . it is believed that these bacterial count results stem from the fact that in the conventional float - type device the water level always filled back to the same level in the tank . however , in the present invention , the water levels change within a range as water is consumed , so the build up of contaminants or scum attached to the tank walls is significantly reduced .	0
u . s . patent application ser . no . 09 / 761 , 333 filed jan . 18 , 2001 assigned to the same assignee as this invention and entitled cardiac electrode catheter and method of manufacturing same now______ , incorporated herein by reference describes an endocardial lead having multiple electrodes that can be deployed in a heart chamber or coronary vasculature . the electrodes are electrically isolated so that they can function independently . different embodiments of this cardiac lead can be placed into the great cardiac vein , in the right atrium , and the right ventricle . in the right atrium or ventricle , the cardiac lead can be deployed so that electrodes positioned throughout the heart chamber , including the septal wall and the right ventricular outflow tract . in the great cardiac vein , multiple electrodes can be deployed along a significant length of the vasculature . the adapter of this invention allows the terminals of a proximal end of a multi - electrode cardiac lead to be connected to the connectors of any currently marketed pacemaker or other pulse generator conforming to the is - 1 standard . refer now to fig1 a for an overview of the cardiac pacing system of this invention , consisting of a lead 5 a , a pacemaker 20 with a header or is - 1 connector 15 and an adapter 10 . in fig1 a the distal end of the endocardial multi - electrode cardiac lead 5 a is implanted within the heart 25 as described above . the proximal end of the multi - electrode cardiac lead 5 a is coupled to the adapter 10 . the adapter 10 has circuitry that selects which electrodes of the lead 5 a are connected electrically to the pacemaker 20 . in fig1 b , the distal end of epicardial multi - electrode cardiac lead 5 b is placed on the exterior surface of the heart 25 . the proximal end of the epicardial multi - electrode cardiac lead 56 is coupled to adapter 10 as described above in fig1 a . further , as described in fig1 a , the adapter 10 has circuitry to select which of the electrodes of the multi - electrode cardiac lead 5 a are connected to pacemaker 20 . as shown in both fig1 a and 1 b , adapter 10 is connected to the is - 1 type connector 15 of the cardiac pacing pulse generator 20 through a multi - conducting wire 12 . the general structure of the adapter 10 of this invention is shown in fig2 . the adapter 10 includes an is - 1 compatible connector 30 that connects to the pacing pulse generator 20 . the adapter 10 also has a lead 5 ( numeral 5 is used to refer collectively to leads 5 a and 5 b ) through the terminals 45 of the multi - electrode cardiac leads . the multiplexer 35 contains a connection matrix ( discussed in detail below ) that makes the required connections between the is - 1 connector 30 and the lead connector 40 . the adapter 10 can be customized for each patient or for each pacemaker using an external programming device . for example , if it is determined that multi - site pacing from electrodes 2 , 9 , and 16 is needed within lead 5 ( shown in fig1 a ), the appropriate connections will be made by the multiplexer 35 . refer now to fig3 a the multiplexer 35 includes a bank of links 50 . the bank consists of link 51 a , . . . , 51 n each of which is connected between one lead terminal of the multi - lead connector 40 such as 41 and one of the contacts of the is - 1 connector 30 such as 42 . the links of bank 50 can be breakable or fusible links . [ 0054 ] fig3 b illustrates a typical breakable link 51 for the bank 50 . the link 51 is formed as a metal conductor 55 deposited on a substrate . alternatively , the link 51 could be formed without a substrate . the metal conductor 55 has a thinned region 52 . the external programmer is attached to the ends 54 and 56 of the metal conductor 55 through connections 30 and 40 . a current is forced through the metal conductor 55 until the current density in the thinned region 52 of the metal conductor 55 is sufficient to melt it and the link 51 is opened . this is a phenomenon well known in the art and not discussed further . if the links 50 of fig3 a are a breakable type , an external programmer is used to break all the links of bank 50 that are not required leaving only the required link closed . [ 0056 ] fig3 c illustrates a typical fusible link 51 ′. the link 51 ′ is formed of two metal conductors separated by a dielectric material 64 . the dielectric material may be air , a polymeric insulator , silicon dioxide , or other known insulator . metal conductors 62 are placed in close proximity to the separating dielectric material 64 and the ends of the two metal conductors 60 a and 60 b . the programmer is attached to the metal conductors 60 a and 60 b through connectors 30 , 40 . the programmer ( not shown ) applies a sufficiently high voltage between the metal conductors such that the separating dielectric material breaks down and a conducting plasma is formed . the heat of the plasma melts the metal conductors 62 and they fuse to form a bridge ( not shown ) to the metal conductors 60 a and 60 b . the metal conductors 62 generally are formed of a metal having a low melting point to allow the formation of the bridge at a relatively low temperature . the lower temperature should be much less than the melting point of the metal conductors 60 a and 60 b thus allowing fusing of the link with no degradation of the metal conductors 60 a and 60 b . again , this process is well known and will not be described in more detail . for this embodiment , only the required links are fused . the external programmer 65 , as shown in fig4 has a power source 67 that provides the programming voltage ( vprog ) and the programming current ( iprog ). when a link 51 a , . . . , 51 n of fig3 a is to be broken or fused , the external programmer 65 is connected to one terminal of the lead connector 40 and to one contact of the is - 1 connector 30 . if the link 51 of fig3 a is to be opened , the programming current iprog is set to the level that allows the thinned region 52 of fig3 b to melt . alternately , if the link 51 ′ of fig3 b is to be fused , the voltage vprog is set such that the separating dielectric 64 of fig3 c breaks down causing a plasma which melts the metal conductors 62 of fig3 c to bridge the metal conductors 60 a and 60 b as described . the programmer 65 steps through each of the links of bank 50 and opens or closes them as required . importantly , once a link is opened or closed , it remains in that state and the process cannot be reversed . refer now to fig5 for discussion of a second embodiment of the adapter of this invention . in the second embodiment , the multiplexer is formed of a bank 65 of electronic switches . each switch 66 a , . . . , 66 n of bank 65 has a first switch terminal a connected to one of the contacts of the is - 1 connector 30 and a second switch terminal b connected to one lead terminal 45 of the lead connector 40 . further , each switch 66 a - n has a control terminal c connected to the control circuit 70 . the control circuit 70 provides a control signal to selectively open or close switches 66 a - n as required . a program input circuit 80 is connected to the control circuit 70 the program input circuit 80 and receives an encoded programming signal . the program - input circuit 80 decodes the encoded programming signal to define the control signal to the respective switches . the program - input circuit 80 senses the control signal to the control circuit 70 . the control circuit 70 then routes the control signal to the control terminal c of the desired switches 66 a , . . . , 66 n . in a preferred implementation of the second embodiment of the adapter of this invention , the program input 80 is connected to a radio frequency ( rf ) receiver 85 . the rf receiver 85 is connected to a receiving antenna 90 . the receiving antenna 90 receives a radio transmission from the transmitting antenna 95 . the transmitting antenna 95 is connected to the rf transmitter 100 , which is connected to the program controller 105 . upon selection of the desired group of electrodes of the multi - electrodes cardiac lead , the program controller 105 creates the encoded program signal . the program controller 105 transfers the encoded program signal to the rf transmitter , where it modulates the rf transmission . the rf transmission modulated with the encoded program signal is transferred to the transmitting antenna 95 for transmission to the receiving antenna and then to the rf receiver 85 . the rf receiver 85 then demodulates the rf transmission to extract the encoded program signal . the encoded program signal is then transferred to the program input circuit 85 . the methods and techniques for programming cardiac pacing systems is well known in the art and are not discussed further . a power source 75 is connected to provide voltage to the control circuit 70 , the multiplexer 35 , the program input circuit 80 and the rf receiver 85 . the power source could be a battery included within the adapter . in an alternate implementation of the second embodiment of the adapter of this invention , the power source 75 has a power conversion unit connected through the is - 1 connector 30 to the pulse generator 20 . the power conversion circuit captures a portion of the energy present in the stimulation signal provided by the pulse generator 20 and converts the energy to a voltage to power the circuit incorporated in the adapter 10 . the power conversion circuit shown in fig6 has a capacitor c 1 , which is charged during the active period of the pulse . the capacitor c 1 is connected to act as a voltage source to power the multiplexer circuit 35 . a diode d 1 is connected between the capacitor c 1 and the contact of the is - 1 connector 30 to prevent the charge present on the capacitor c 1 from being transferred back to the contacts of the is - 1 connector 20 when the pulse is not active . the power conversion circuit 75 , additionally , has a rechargeable battery vb 1 which acts as a voltage source if the pacing signal does not provide sufficient energy to keep the capacitor c 1 charged adequately to power the multiplexer circuit 35 . the diode d 2 is connected between the capacitor c 1 and the battery vb 1 to prevent the charge present on the capacitor c 1 from trying to charge the battery vb 1 . capacitor c 1 can be connected through appropriate diodes to a plurality stimulation wire from pulse generator 20 . as described above , multi - focal pacing or optimal site pacing can be achieved by having one electrode or group of electrodes of the multi - electrode cardiac lead designated for transmission of the stimulation signal and another electrodes or group electrodes of the multi - electrode cardiac lead to provide sense points for sensing the heart activity . this requires that different sets of electrodes of the multi - electrode cardiac lead be connected through the adapter to the stimulation pulse generator during the period that the stimulation signal is active than when stimulation signal is inactive and the pacemaker is sensing the heart activity . [ 0067 ] fig7 illustrates a third embodiment of the adapter of this invention where a pacing set of electrodes is coupled to the pulse generator during the time the pacing signal is active and a sensing set of electrodes is coupled to the pulse generator during the time that the pacing signal is inactive . the adapter 100 of this embodiment has two multiplexers , a pacing multiplexer 110 and a sensing multiplexer 125 . the pacing multiplexer 110 and the sensing multiplexer 125 are formed of electronic switches 111 a - n and 126 a - n , respectively . each switch 111 a - n and 126 a - n has a first switch terminal a connected to one of the contacts of the is - 1 connector 30 and a second switch terminal b connected to one of the lead terminals of the lead connector 40 . a control terminal c controls the opening and closing of each switch upon receipt of a control signal . the control terminals c of the switches 111 a - n of the pacing multiplexer 110 are connected to the pacing control circuit 115 . the pacing control circuit 115 is connected to the program input circuit 80 to receive a programming signal designating , which of the switches 111 a - n are closed to connect the pacing set of electrodes through the adapter 100 to pulse generator 20 to receive the pacing signal . the pacing control circuit 115 transfers the appropriate control signals to the control terminals c to close the designated switches 111 a - n connected to the pacing electrodes during the period when the pacing signal is active . the control terminals c of the switches 126 a - n of the sensing multiplexer 125 are connected to the sensing control circuit 120 . the sensing control terminals of the switches 126 a - n of the sensing multiplexer 125 are connected to the sensing control circuit 120 . the sensing control circuit 120 is connected to the program input circuit 80 to receive a programming signal designating , which of the switches 126 a - n are to be closed to connect the sensing set of electrodes through the adapter 100 of this invention to the pacemaker generator 20 to provide the sense points for the pacemaker generator 20 to sense the heart activity . the sensing control circuit 120 transfers the appropriate control signals to the control terminals c of the sensing multiplexer 125 . to close the designated switches 111 a - n connected to the sensing electrodes during the period when the pacing signal is inactive and the pulse generator 20 is sensing the heart activity . the pacing control circuit 115 and the sensing control circuit 120 are connected to the contacts of the is - 1 connector 30 . the pacing control circuit 115 and the sensing control circuit 120 examine the is - 1 connector 30 for the presence of the pacing signal . at the beginning of the pacing signal , the pacing control circuit 115 sends a close signal to the respective control terminals c of the pacing multiplexer 110 to cause closure of the selected switches such that the selected pacing electrodes of the lead 5 receive the pacing signal . moreover at the beginning of the pacing signal , the sensing control circuit 120 sends an open signal to open to the control terminals to cause all the switches of the sensing multiplexer 125 to prevent the pacing pulse from being coupled to the sensing electrodes of the multi - electrode cardiac lead and to avoid frying the sense arcuitry within the pacing electrode . after the pacing signal has terminated , control circuit 115 sends an open signal to the control terminals to cause all the switches of the pacing multiplexer 110 to be opened . at this same time the sensing control circuit 120 sends a close signal to the appropriate control terminals of the sensing multiplexer 120 to cause closure of the switches connected to the sensing electrodes of the leads to connect the selected sensing electrodes to the is - 1 connector 30 . [ 0072 ] fig8 illustrates an implementation of the pacing control circuit 115 and the sensing control 120 in the form of a control circuit 130 . the control circuit 130 has a program decoder 135 that is connected to the program input 80 to receive the programming signal . the program decoder sends the control signal 140 to the logic circuit 145 pulse . the program decoder enables each of the switches ( or gates ) of the controller . the pacing controller closes the enabled switches on a pacing pulse . the sensing controller opens the enabled switches on a pacing pulse all electronic embodiments should have a back - up fail - safe mechanism in the switch controller that assures that during a failure the adapter 10 , 100 leaves the proper pacing and sensing group of electrodes of the multi - electrode cardiac lead connected to the is - 1 connector 30 . the group of electrodes that are connected would be programmed from the programming device , eliminating the possibility that the adapter would route pacing signals to an ineffective pair of electrodes . the switches 111 a - n and 126 a - n of the mul 1 tiplexer 65 of fig5 the pacing multiplexer 110 of fig7 and the sensing multiplexer 120 of fig7 may be implemented as solid state relays that are field effect transistors fet &# 39 ; s configured as pass - gates or transmission gates as is known in the art . refer now to fig9 for a description of the steps of the method to select the group of electrodes of the cardiac lead for connection to the is - 1 connector of a pacing pulse generator . as can be seen from the above description , the adapter ( 10 , 100 ) can be provided in a number of different configurations . in the simplest configuration ( fig3 b , 3 c , 4 ) the links of the adapter are set or “ burned in ” during the implantation procedure . for the other embodiments , ( fig5 ) the links of the multiplexer can be closed and opened at will . finally in th embodiments of fig7 and 8 the adapter is dynamic in the sense that it opens and closes the links of the matrix as the patient &# 39 ; s heart is being stimulated . after a multi - electrode load 5 is implanted , its electrodes must be designated for the appropriate functions . the physician can inspect the lead and its electrodes through x - ray or other imaging means and designate the electrodes on his own . alternatively , an automated procedure may be used to identify and designate the electrodes as follows . the lead 5 is implanted ( step 200 ) into the heart . the lead 5 contains any number of independent electrodes . in the preferred embodiment the multi - electrode cardiac lead may have up to 128 electrodes or even 256 electrodes . each electrode on the lead is theoretically capable of sensing the heart &# 39 ; s electrical activity and delivering an electrical pulse to the heart . the delivery of therapy can be for optimized for bradycardia pacing and for multi - site stimulation for congestive heart failure . the endocardial cardiac lead 5 a is placed in one or more chambers of the heart and the epicardial cardiac 5 b is placed on the exterior surface of the heart , thus allowing complete sensing and stimulating control of the entire chamber . alternately , electrodes are placed along the ventricular septum and up into the right ventricular outflow tract . electrodes may be placed along one wall of the heart chamber or in the atrium and continue into the ventricle . the electrodes are spaced appropriately on the lead for the intended application . upon proper implantation ( step 200 ) of the cardiac lead in the heart , each electrode is tested ( step 205 ) to determine which of the electrodes are positional for optimal sensing of the heart activity . single site sensing only attempts to determine whether a cardiac event occurred or not . this is determined by observing the cellular electrical activity that initiates the cardiac contraction . this is the same signal that is observed on a surface electrocardiogram ( ecg ), except at a more localized level . the surface ecg is a summation of the electrical activity of all of the cells of the heart . depending on how the electrode is placed , the signal seen by a pacemaker can range between less than 1 mv to greater than 10 mv . obviously , it is desirable to find the location with the largest signal . thus , during an implant , a location with a good amplitude sensing signal is determined . referring the fig1 , an electrode of a cardiac lead is tested as follows . in step 230 one of the electrodes is selected . the magnitude of the intrinsic electrical activity served through the selected ?? is measured ( step 235 ). to be considered for inclusion for sensing , the electrode must provide a sensing signal greater than a minimum signal level . the measured magnitude of the intrinsic electrical activity as sensed by the electrode is compared ( step 240 ) to the minimum acceptable signal level . if the measured signal is not greater than the minimum acceptable signal level , a test if the chosen electrode is the last electrode being tested ( step 245 ) is performed . if it is not the last electrode being tested , a new electrode is selected ( step 230 ). if the measured magnitude of the intrinsic electrical activity as sensed by the chosen electrode is greater than minimum acceptable signal level , an electrode identifier with the measured level is logged ( step 250 ). the measured magnitude of the intrinsic electrical activity as sensed by the chosen electrode is compared ( step 255 ) to the magnitude as sensed by a previously identified electrode having the maximum measured . if the measured magnitude of the current electrode is not greater than the measured magnitude of the previously identified electrode , the electrode is tested ( step 245 ) for being the last electrode . if the electrode is the last electrode , the sensing testing ends ( step 265 ). if it is not the last electrode , the next electrode is selected ( step 230 ) and tested . if the measured magnitude of the current electrode is greater than the measured magnitude of the previously identified electrode , the electrode is identified ( step 260 ) as the electrode with the largest magnitude . the electrode is tested ( step 245 ) for being the last electrode . if the electrode is the last electrode , the sensing testing ends ( step 265 ). if it is not the last electrode , the next electrode is selected ( step 230 ) and tested . referring back to fig9 each lead is then tested 210 to determine which lead or set of leads are optimally connected for providing the pacing signal to the heart . using what is referred to in the art as “ sweet - spot pacing ”, or single - site optimization , pacing is accomplished through only one electrode , but only that electrode that optimizes a desired parameter is chosen . one parameter that could be optimized is the amount of the cardiac contraction caused by the pacing pulse to a particular electrode . a measure of a good cardiac contraction is the amount of time the entire contraction takes i . e ., the qrs width . a wider qrs indicates a slower spread of the wavefront across the heart and is usually typical of a poorly synchronized heartbeat . by pacing through each electrode and measuring the width of the qrs complex , we can find the best site from which to pace the heart . other methods , including invasive procedures , could be used to measures of cardiac output to select the optimum site . another optimization parameter can be the stimulation threshold , or the provisional amount of energy required to cause the heart to contract from a stimulating pulse ( capture ). this greatly affects the length of battery life and much time is spent during a pacemaker implant attempting to find the location with the lowest threshold . the threshold is determined by lowering the pacing energy while pacing until the pulses no longer capture the heart . the lowest value that captures the heart and augmented by a safety margin is the threshold . using the cardiac lead , the threshold of each electrode can be found and pacing is done using the electrode with the lowest threshold . as shown in fig1 , the testing ( step 210 ) for pacing begins by selecting ( step 270 ) which parameter is suitable for selecting a cardiac pacing leads . this step may be performed automatically or the parameter may be set by the physician . next , an electrode of the cardiac lead is chosen ( step 275 ) for testing . the initial selection ( step 275 ) of the electrode may be random . the electrode most likely to provide the best pacing such as one electrode near the tip of the cardiac lead , or a first terminal location on the connector . as is apparent , any initial choice ( step 275 ) of the electrode is in keeping with the intent of this invention . further , any pattern of selection of choosing ( step 275 ) subsequent electrodes is also in keeping with the intent of this invention . the pacing signal is applied ( step 280 ) through the respective electrode to the heart . the stimulation level required to stimulate the heart is recorded and compared ( step 285 ) to a maximum stimulation level allowed . if the stimulation level of the pacing signal is greater than the maximum stimulation level allowed ,. the electrode is to be ignored . the electrode is tested ( step 290 ) to determine if it is the last electrode in the cardiac lead to be evaluated . if it is not the last electrode in the multi - electrode cardiac lead to be evaluated , the next electrode is selected ( step 275 ) for testing . if it is the last electrode to be evaluated , the pacing testing ends ( step 310 ). if the stimulation level of the pacing signal is less that the maximum stimulation level allowed , the electrode identification and the stimulation level is logged ( step 295 ) and compared ( step 300 ) to the stimulation level of the previously identified electrode as having the minimum stimulation level . if the currently tested electrode has a stimulation level greater than the stimulation level of the previously electrode identified as having the minimum stimulation level , the electrode is tested ( step 290 ) if it is the last electrode in the multi - electrode cardiac lead to be evaluated . if it is not the last electrode in the multi - electrode cardiac lead to be evaluated , the next electrode is selected ( step 275 ) for testing . if it is the last electrode to be evaluated , the pacing testing ends ( step 310 ). if the currently tested electrode has a stimulation level less than the stimulation level of the previously electrode identified as having the minimum stimulation level , the currently tested electrode is identified ( step 305 ) as the electrode having the minimum stimulation level . the electrode is tested ( step 290 ) if it is the last electrode in the multi - electrode cardiac lead to be evaluated . if it is not the last electrode in the multi - electrode cardiac lead to be evaluated , the next electrode is selected ( step 275 ) for testing . if it is the last electrode to be evaluated , the pacing testing ends ( step 310 ). once the sensing electrodes and pacing electrodes are determined , the correct combination of sensing electrodes and pacing electrodes are selected ( step 215 ) to be connected to the pacemaker . if the configurations of fig3 - 5 are used , then a compromise between the pacing threshold and the sensing signal must be made in choosing which of the electrodes are to be connected to the pacemaker . the optimization criteria for sensing is simply the site with the combination of the largest sense signal and the lowest stimulation threshold . the ability to activate the pacing electrode only during pacing and to activate the same electrode during sensing as described for fig7 above eliminates the need for this compromise and can both decrease the implant time and improve the efficacy and reliability of the therapy . returning to fig9 after the sensing and pacing electrodes have been designated , the proximal end of lead 5 is inserted into the lead connector 40 of the adapter 10 . the desired group of electrodes that provide optimum sensing and pacing are programmed ( step 220 ) within the multiplexer as described above . in other words , the multiplexer is programmed to connect the sense and pace electrodes of lead 5 to the corresponding terminals of the pacemaker 20 . the adapter 10 , 100 is connected to the is - 1 connector 15 of the pacemaker 20 . the functioning of the pacemaker and the programming ( step 220 ) of the multiplexer of the adapter is verified ( step 225 ) for proper operation . the verification may be as simple as observation of the operation of the pacemaker using normal ecg criteria . alternately , in a pacemaker system having the ability to communicate the status of the connections , the address of the adapter with a coding of the electrodes connected and not connected for comparison to the logging of the sense signal magnitude and the stimulation level logging . this comparison allows for verification and diagnostics of the performance of the pacemaker . in the procedure set forth in fig9 the adapter is connected to the lead 5 only after the designation of the electrode . the adapter can be connected to the lead right after the implantation , and an external programmer can be connected to the adapter using a standard s1 connector . in this way the programmer can use the adapter to step through the electrodes of lead 5 for scanning , pacing , etc . for example , as shown in fig1 a , cable 12 can be temporarily connected to an external programmer 77 as shown . the programmer performs the function as described in fig9 - 11 to designate the electrodes , or to provide guidance to a physician regarding the designation of the electrodes . the programmer also sets the links of the adapter based either on the results of the automatic designation , or as requested by the physician . while this invention has been particularly shown and described with reference to the preferred embodiments thereof , particularly implantable pacemakers , it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes in form and details such as use with other cardiac devices such as an implantable cardioverter / defibrillator or icd may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention .	0
in the figures of the drawing , the reference numeral 1 designates in general a coating booth , in particular a powder coating booth . such powder coating booth 1 includes powder spray devices ( not shown ), as well as powder processing and supply devices for the powder coating operation ( also not shown ). the powder coating booth 1 has a preferably jacket - shaped peripheral wall 2 , a floor section 3 and a ceiling section 4 . the peripheral wall 2 in conjunction with the floor section 3 and the ceiling section 4 bound an interior space 5 of the coating booth 1 . although not shown in detail , a coating booth 1 can also have , for example , only a single floor section 3 or a single ceiling section 4 that is separate from the peripheral wall 2 . this is meant to illustrate that embodiments of coating booths 1 could also be considered where the floor or the ceiling is formed in a conventional manner and rigidly connected to a respective end of the peripheral wall 2 . as seen in fig1 and 2 , the ceiling section 4 includes , for example , at least two segments 4 a , 4 b that are not connected with the peripheral wall 2 , but separate therefrom . during the powder coating operation , the two segments 4 a , 4 b of the ceiling section 4 bound , for example , a through - slot 17 for a suspended gear of a conveyor ( not shown ), on which the parts to be coated are arranged and transported through the interior space 5 of the coating booth 1 . this arrangement can be laid out so that the two segments 4 a , 4 b of the ceiling section 4 that form the ceiling of the coating booth 1 are moved towards one another , so that the slot 17 disappears during , for example , a cleaning operation . the dimensions of the two segments 4 , 4 b of the ceiling section 4 are smaller than the dimensions of the interior space 5 , so that the two segments can move vertically to clean the interior space 5 . here too , the cleaning device 8 ′ is installed in or additionally provided on such a ceiling section 4 . when the cleaning device 8 ′ is in a ready position or rest position , the segments 4 a , 4 b of the ceiling section 4 are located apart from one another so as to tightly seal the interior space 5 of the booth , preferably resting on the end face of the peripheral wall 2 . for the coating operation , a through - slot 17 is again formed between the two segments 4 a , 4 b of the ceiling section 4 . it will be understood that optionally additional seals can be provided between the ceiling section and the interior wall of the booth . as seen more particularly in fig2 a blowing device 9 ′ and / or a suction device 10 ′ can be associated with each of the segments 4 a , 4 b . by suitably designing the segments 4 a and 4 b , it may also be sufficient to associate only a single blowing device and / or suction device ( not shown in detail ) with the segments 4 a , 4 b of the ceiling section 4 . with this arrangement , the two segments 4 a , 4 b are moved into a mutual communicating connection for cleaning . the blowing device and / or the suction device 4 is connected eccentrically with one of the segments 4 a or 4 b . preferably , there is provided on the side facing the ceiling and above the ceiling section 4 a closing plate 18 , which advantageously surrounds the upper edge of the peripheral wall 2 when the segments 4 a and 4 b are moved closely together for cleaning the interior space 5 of a booth , so as to provide a tightly sealed termination on the top during the cleaning operation . if the segments 4 a and 4 b are spaced apart and form the through - slot 17 , then the closing plate 18 can be optionally lifted on the top side of the coating booth 1 , and preferably driven by the vertical movement of the ceiling section 4 . although the coating booth 1 in the illustrated embodiment has a cylindrical shape and a circular cross - section , the invention is obviously not limited to this particular embodiment , and polygonal , four - cornered , square , rectangular , oval and other cross - sections can also be considered for the coating booth 1 , including combinations thereof . for sake of simplicity , an exemplary coating booth 1 with a round cross - section is selected for illustration in the drawing . preferred cross - sectional shapes are , for example , round - oval or flat - oval . in the following , the floor section 3 will be described in detail with reference to fig1 . the floor section 3 forms the floor of the coating booth 1 during the coating operation and is secured in its lowest position so that the interior space 5 of the coating booth 1 is tightly sealed . optionally , a sealing element 7 can be provided below the floor element 3 which operates as an additional floor seal during the cleaning cycles . as seen from the drawing , the floor section 3 preferably includes an integral cleaning device 8 which preferably includes a blowing device 9 and a suction device 10 . advantageously , the blowing device 9 includes blowing nozzles 11 which are uniformly spaced along the circumference for blowing the blast air onto the peripheral wall 2 during the cleaning operation . the suction device 10 preferably includes suction openings 12 which are also uniformly spaced along the circumference . in the illustrated example , the blowing device 9 and the suction device 10 are arranged with an axial spacing , wherein the blowing device 9 is arranged forward in the movement direction of the cleaning direction 8 which is formed by the floor section 3 , whereas the suction device 10 is arranged in the trailing region . the order of the blowing device 9 and suction device 10 can also be reversed from the illustrated preferred embodiment . a suction line 14 in the form of a telescopic assembly is connected to the suction device 10 . the suction line leads , for example , to a following filter and cyclone device ( not shown ). a hose 15 which can be wound onto a hose reel 16 , can be connected to the blowing device 9 for supplying blast air . as shown schematically in fig1 with reference to the floor - side suction device 10 , a flap 20 which can be opened and closed as required , is arranged in the region of the suction line 14 . for example , if a color change “ tint - in - tint ” is performed , then the excess powder removed during cleaning to can be recycled into the powder loop and , for example , supplied to the recovery unit ( not shown ) of the coating facility . in this case , the flap 20 in the suction line 14 is closed , and the excess powder removed during cleaning is supplied directly to the recovery device using a suction device that is disposed in the interior space of the booth ( also not shown ) and employed customarily during the coating operation . such suction device operating during conventional coating operations can be implemented , for example , as a slot which extends over most of the length or the height of the coating booth . this suction system is typically connected with the recovery device or the associated recovery system to ensure economical powder consumption . in addition , in the region of the suction line 14 , an inspection window and / or a cleaning flap ( not shown ) can be provided in the wall region of the suction line 14 . to clean the suction line 14 itself , a schematically illustrated slot 21 can be provided which can be closed with a removable cover . suitable cleaning devices for cleaning also the floor - side suction device 10 can be inserted via this slot 21 . the detailed features described for the embodiments relating to the cleaning device 8 disposed on the floor section 3 can also be provided in an identical or similar fashion for the cleaning device 8 ′ of the ceiling section 4 having the segments 4 a and 4 b . for example , if the interior space 5 of the coating booth 1 is to be cleaned when the powder is being changed , then the floor section 3 and / or the ceiling section 4 is moved upwards and downwards vertically , as indicated by the arrow 13 . the blast jets released via the nozzles 11 of the blowing device 9 , 9 ′ are directed against the interior wall of the peripheral wall 2 for the purpose of releasing the powder particles from the interior wall . the powder particles released by the cleaning operation from the interior wall 5 are then drawn in by the suction device 10 , 10 ′ as indicated by arrows . when the floor section 3 and / or the ceiling section 4 moves vertically in the direction of the arrow 13 , the hose connection 15 of the blowing device 9 , 9 ′ and the suction line 14 of the suction device 10 , 10 ′ are automatically and uniformly carried along . in this way , powder can be removed from the interior space 5 efficiently and completely during the cleaning cycles . this type of cleaning is required , for example , during a color change . during the cleaning cycles , the sealing element 7 provides an additional seal of the interior space 5 on the floor side , thereby preventing powder from escaping into the environment . similarly , the cover plate 18 on the ceiling side also provides a seal during cleaning . the cover plate 18 can also be segmented , with the segments being moved together for carrying out the cleaning operation . when the cleaning operation is carried out with the cleaning device 8 , 8 ′, the floor section 3 and / or the ceiling section 4 is withdrawn to its respective initial position and remains locked in this position . in this way , the floor section 3 and / or the ceiling section 4 , which are separate from the peripheral wall 2 , form as intended the floor and / or the ceiling of the coating booth 1 . the communicating connections between the blowing device 9 , 9 ′ and the associated supply device , and the suction device 10 , 10 ′ and the subsequent devices , respectively , are advantageously integrated into the floor section 3 and / or the ceiling section 4 . it will be understood that the invention is not limited to the aforedescribed embodiment , but that numerous changes and modifications will be apparent to those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit of the invention . in particular , the blowing device 9 , 9 ′ and the suction device 10 , 10 ′ of the cleaning device 8 , 8 ′ can be retractably disposed in the floor section 3 and the ceiling section 4 . in this way , the cleaning device 8 , 8 ′ itself is protected during the coating operation by the floor section 3 and / or the ceiling section 4 , thereby preventing contamination . optionally , the cleaning device 8 , 8 ′ can also include additional stripper lips which strip the powder from the interior wall surface of the peripheral wall 2 by brushing across the wall surface . additional brushing devices and the like can optionally be provided . moreover , wet cleaning may also be performed which would require additional water supply facilities . it is also possible to combine these additional devices in the cleaning device 8 , 8 ′. furthermore , the cleaning device 8 , 8 ′ together with the floor section 3 and / or the ceiling section 4 can also be designed to controllably rotate about its axis . however , this would require suitable modifications of the connections for the blowing device 9 , 9 ′ and the suction device 10 , 10 ′ different from the illustrated embodiment . moreover , suitable actuating devices can be employed to drive the vertical movement of the floor section 3 and / or the ceiling section 4 , as indicated by the direction of the arrow 13 , and to perform the cleaning motion of the cleaning device 8 , 8 ′. the actuating devices can be operated mechanically , hydraulically , pneumatically , electrically or by a combination of the above . any suitable drive can be employed to move the floor section 3 and / or the ceiling section 4 together with the cleaning device 8 , 8 ′ in the interior space 5 upwards and downwards in the vertical direction 13 . fig3 and 4 illustrate a modified embodiment of a coating booth 1 wherein identical or similar elements have the same reference numerals . accordingly , the identical or substantially identical elements will not be described in detail . the changes and modifications described above with reference to fig1 and 2 also apply in an identical or similar manner to the embodiment illustrated in fig3 and 4 . fig3 shows schematically a longitudinal cross - section of the coating booth 1 . the coating booth is here shown during coating operation . the floor section 3 ′ a with the associated devices is constructed similar to the previous figures . as illustrated , a projecting stop 30 is provided on the interior wall surface of the coating booth 1 , with the floor section 3 ′ a contacting the stop 30 in the conventional coating operation position . optionally , conventional sealing systems can be provided ( not shown ) which reliably seal the interior space 5 of the booth from the lower region of the coating booth 1 . the devices associated with the floor section 3 ′ a , such as the cleaning device 8 a , the blowing device 9 a and the suction device 10 a are indicated only schematically and are only partially visible ; they are constructed essentially similar to the aforedescribed embodiments . the modified embodiment illustrated in fig3 and 4 represents a combination of a cleaning device 8 a that is associated with the floor section 3 a and can be moved in the interior space of the booth 5 in a vertical direction , and a modified embodiment of a cleaning device 8 ′ a associated with the ceiling section 4 . the ceiling section 4 includes two segments 4 a and 4 b which in the operating position of the coating booth are spaced apart , thereby forming the through - slot 17 , for example , for a suspended gear . the two segments 4 a and 4 b of the ceiling section 4 rest firmly and reliably on the upper edge of the peripheral wall 2 . suitable sealing systems can optionally be provided at this location . the cleaning device 8 ′ a associated with the ceiling section 4 has , for example , the form of an annular element with a cross section matching the outer contour of the ceiling section 4 . this cleaning device 8 ′ a , shown in its rest position , is indicated in fig3 by the reference numeral 31 . as seen in fig4 an actuating device 30 is associated with the segments 4 a and 4 b , preferably in form of an articulated lever mechanism . this actuating device 30 to can be used to move the two segments 4 a and 4 b of the ceiling section 4 into the cleaning position indicated in fig4 i . e ., the segments 4 a and 4 b are slightly lifted and moved towards one another , so that the through - slot 17 of fig3 is tightly closed . the reference numeral 10 ′ a indicates the suction device for the ceiling section 4 which can be constructed as described above . the annular cleaning device 31 , which in the cleaning position of the coating booth 1 ( see fig4 ) is disposed in the space between the slightly lifted segments 4 a and 4 b and the upper edge of the peripheral wall 2 , includes several nozzle assemblies 33 which operates as blowing devices 9 ′ a . as indicated schematically , blast air exiting the nozzle assemblies 33 is preferably directed to be incident on the lower sides of the segments 4 a and 4 b that face the interior space 5 for blowing off the excess powder . the excess powder is then withdrawn through the suction device 10 ′ a by subsequent devices , as described with reference to the floor - side cleaning device . when the floor - side cleaning device 8 a is moved to its uppermost vertical position , the top side of the cleaning device 8 a can also be almost completely and automatically cleaned by the cleaning device 8 ′ a that is associated with the ceiling section 4 . the embodiment described with reference to the fig3 and 4 hence makes it possible to automatically clean both the floor - side cleaning device 8 a and the segments 4 a , 4 b of the ceiling section 4 . as depicted schematically in the enlarged detail in fig4 the floor - side cleaning device 8 a is formed like a nozzle plate 34 which forms the floor section 3 ′ a . this nozzle plate 34 has nozzle openings distributed around the outer periphery for the blowing device 9 a and the suction device 10 a . as indicated schematically by the arrows representing the flow , the blast air after the cleaning device 8 a — as viewed in the movement direction of the cleaning device 8 a — is directed onto the corresponding wall surface of the interior space 5 of the booth . the corresponding suction nozzles of the suction device 10 a immediately suction off the powder particles released from the wall by the blast air , thereby reliably preventing the powder particles released by the blast air from entering the space below the cleaning device 8 a ( see fig4 ). valves ( not shown ) can be used to control the corresponding blowing and suction air currents . after the interior space 5 of the coating booth 1 has been cleaned , the segments 4 a and 4 b of the ceiling section 4 are once more moved apart by the actuating device 32 and slightly lowered onto the upper peripheral edge of the peripheral wall . the annular cleaning device 31 then moves again outwardly into its ready position , as indicated in fig3 . the through - slot 17 is also formed again between the segments 4 a and 4 b of the ceiling section 4 . it will be understood that the annular cleaning device 31 can be modified from the embodiment illustrated in fig3 and 4 . the same applies to the nozzle devices 33 . the actuating device 32 can also be implemented differently . it is significant in the preferred embodiment illustrated in fig3 and 4 that a cleaning device 8 ′ a associated with the ceiling section 4 can be used to automatically clean both the ceiling section 4 as well as the floor section 3 ′ a . of course , in this modified embodiment depicted in fig3 and 4 , devices identical or similar to those of the previously described embodiments can also be provided . fig5 and 6 are intended to describe an alternative embodiment of a coating booth which is based on the embodiment of fig4 but differs in the cleaning process for the space between the ceiling section and the floor section . the basic design and details of the coating booth as well as of the floor section 3 ′ a and the corresponding ceiling section 4 , which includes the two segments 4 a and 4 b , are essentially identical to the embodiment depicted in fig4 . the details will therefore not be described here . all suction devices 10 ′ a of fig4 which communicate with the ceiling section 4 , are completely eliminated . as shown in fig5 the coating booth includes a ceiling cleaning device 50 associated with the ceiling section 4 . this ceiling cleaning device 50 in the embodiment of fig5 includes compressed air nozzles 51 , which are adjusted to direct a compressed air current onto the corresponding regions of the ceiling section and the floor section . the ceiling cleaning device 50 also includes a suction device 52 which suctions off the cleaning air originating from the compressed air nozzles 51 and the entrained powder . for this purpose , for example , one or several suction hose connections 52 can be provided on the ceiling cleaning device 50 . the ceiling cleaning device 50 is preferably suspended from a telescopic rail arrangement and can thereby be moved in the entire space between the ceiling section 4 and the floor section 3 , 3 ′ a parallel to the space , i . e ., in a longitudinal direction . the necessary drives to effect this movement which can be conventional drives , are not shown in fig5 and 6 . accordingly , the ceiling cleaning device 50 provides that the powder blown off with the help of the compressed air exiting from the compressed air nozzles 51 is immediately drawn off through the suction device 52 of the ceiling cleaning device 5 . the pathways between the compressed air nozzles 51 and the entrance to the suction device 52 are therefore quite short , ensuring an effective operation of the ceiling cleaning device 50 . the suction device 52 can also include one or more suction hose connections 53 disposed on the ceiling cleaning device 50 , which can be preferably controllably connected to a secondary filter of a powder recovery facility ( not shown ) using flaps 54 . the suction device 52 can also be connected to subsequent devices , such as cyclone devices and the like . in the embodiment of a coating booth according to fig6 unlike the embodiment depicted in fig5 the ceiling cleaning device 50 includes two cleaning units 55 which are constructed to match the aforedescribed ceiling cleaning device 50 . the cleaning units 55 can be moved independently of one another along telescopic rails in the space formed between this ceiling section 4 and the floor section 3 , 3 ′ a . accordingly , each cleaning unit 55 covers only approximately half the region to be cleaned between the ceiling section 4 and the floor section 3 , 3 ′ a . it should be noted with particularity that with the preferred embodiment of the ceiling cleaning devices 50 depicted in fig5 and 6 , the suction devices 10 ′ a disposed on the respective segments 4 a , 4 b can be eliminated . this simplifies , in particular , the design of the ceiling regions of a coating booth according to the invention , thereby providing a compact ceiling cleaning device 50 and a cleaning booth with a small overall height . although not described in detail above , the coating booth can also be operated during a coating operation by using the suction both on the floor and / or the ceiling . for example , when slot - like suction devices that extend along the booth length are provided for the coating operation , then the floor and / or ceiling of the cleaning device can be designed so that the slot - like suction devices that extend in the longitudinal direction of the booth can be cleaned simultaneously . while the invention has been illustrated and described as embodied in a coating booth , in particular a powder coating booth with a cleaning device , and method for cleaning the same , it is not intended to be limited to the details shown since various modifications and structural changes may be made without departing in any way from the spirit of the present invention .	1
referring now to the figures of the drawing , there is shown therein the inventive combination tiltable collapsible umbrella and table 10 ( hereinafter referred to as &# 34 ; combination &# 34 ;). the umbrella 12 comprises a main telescopic solid shaft 14 operated by a bottom crank 16 which turns a gear wheel 18 whose gear teeth 20 are meshable with recesses 22 in the bottom of the shaft 14 . this telescoping feature is conceded as conventional and need not be further described . similarly conventional is the upper crank 24 which turns gear wheel 18 &# 39 ; whose gear teeth 20 &# 39 ; mesh with recesses 22 &# 39 ; in the upper portion of the shaft . thus , bottom crank 16 raises and lowers the shaft 14 while upper crank 24 opens and closes the umbrella cover portion 26 by expanding and collapsing the ribs 28 ( which latter feature is too conventional ). the table 30 portion of the combination is any standard circular or 4 - sided table , in this instance circular . the table top 32 has a central circular opening 34 and a cylindrical open cannister 36 is in registry with this opening . the entire umbrella when collapsed fits inside this cannister . a removable circular cover 38 in two semi - circular parts is adapted to cover the opening with its own central opening 40 capable of accommodating shaft 14 when the umbrella is open . a solid cover can also be used when the umbrella is not in use . the improved tilting feature of the umbrella is shown in fig4 and 5 . this is achieved by providing a separate upper shaft 15 whose lower end 17 terminates in a ball joint 19 . this allows shaft 15 to be tilted about this ball joint 19 . shaft 15 , whether tilted or upright , is urgingly held in place by a strong leaf spring 21 . leaf spring 21 is in inverted u - shape with one leg of the u mounted to a lip 23 on the upper rim of the collar 25 . no crank for this tilt feature is necessary , simple manual power will tilt the upper shaft 15 or right it . thus , there is provided by the invention a combination of an umbrella collapsible within a table and an improved tilting feature .	8
the novel formula i compounds are prepared from intermediate 4 -( 2 - chloroethyl )- 3 , 4 - dihydro - 2 - loweralkylpyrimido [ 1 , 6 - a ] benzimidazol - 1 -( 2h )- ones ( 2 ) which are prepared from 2 -( 1 - loweralkyl - 3 - pyrrolidinyl )- 1h - benzimidazoles ( 1 ) according to the following reaction sequences : ## str4 ## the 3 - cyano - 1 - loweralkylpyrrolidine is added to concentrated hydrochloric acid . after the temperature of the exothermic reaction begins to subside the mixture is heated , preferably to 110 ° c . for 4 hours . the mixture is cooled to 60 ° c . and treated with a mixture of 1 , 2 - phenylenediamine in concentrated hydrochloric acid . the reaction mixture is then stirred at reflux for about 20 h . the mixture is cooled and basified carefully with concentrated ammonium hydroxide and the crude solid product collected . the product is purified by procedures known to those skilled in the art . ## str5 ## reaction of the 2 -( 1 - loweralkyl - 3 - pyrrolidinyl )- 1h - benzimidazole ( 1 ) with phosgene in an aprotic solvent such as methylene chloride with an acid acceptor such as triethylamine yields the intermediate 4 -( 2 - chloroethyl )- 3 , 4 - dihydro - 2 - loweralkylpyrimido [ 1 , 6 - a ] benzimidazol - 1 ( 2h )- ones ( 2 ). this ring - opening rearrangement reaction was disclosed in our commonly owned u . s . pat . nos . 3 , 337 , 580 and 3 , 192 , 230 and 3 , 192 , 221 . ## str6 ## the formula i compounds are obtained by reacting the intermediate ( 2 ) with the proper amine hnr 2 r 3 in a suitable solvent such as toluene or with a large excess of hnr 2 r 3 which serves both as solvent and reactant . the optical isomers can be separated by standard laboratory procedures known to those skilled in the art . the foregoing methods of preparation of compounds of formula i and intermediates thereto are broadly described and the reactions may not be applicable as described to each compound included within the scope of this invention . other synthetic procedures for the preparation of compounds of this invention will be apparent to those skilled in the art and this disclosure should not be construed as limiting in any way . without further elaboration , it is believed that one skilled in the art will be able to carry out this invention without undue experimentation . the following preparations and examples are therefore to be construed as illustrative and not limiting to this disclosure in any way . the various reagents used in the following preparations and examples are either commercially available or readily synthesized by procedures given in the chemical and patent literature . to 240 g of concentrated hydrochloric acid was added 43 . 2 g ( 0 . 39 mol ) of 3 - cyano - 1 - methylpyrrolidine ( the temperature rose to 90 ° c .). after the temperature began to fall the solution was heated to 110 ° c . for 4 h . the solution was cooled to 60 ° c . and 42 g ( 0 . 39 mol ) of 1 , 2 - diaminobenzene in 250 ml of 1n hydrochloric acid was added . the solution was heated to reflux for 20 h . the cooled solution was made basic with concentrated nh 4 oh and the resulting crystals were collected by filtration . the product was chromatographed on a 7 . 5 × 36 cm silica column eluting with 1 gallon of 10 % nh 4 oh - 90 % ethanol . the eluent was collected in 500 - ml portions . the first 6 fractions were discarded and fractions 7 - 14 were collected and concentrated . the residue was recrystallized from ethyl acetate . yield : 18 g ( 23 %). a 5 - g sample was recrystallized three times from ethyl acetate . yield : 1 . 6 g , mp 189 °- 193 ° c . ______________________________________analysis : ______________________________________calculated for c . sub . 12 h . sub . 15 n . sub . 3 : c , 71 . 61 ; h , 7 . 51 ; n , 20 . 88found : c , 71 . 13 ; h , 7 . 47 ; n , 20 . 64______________________________________ a solution of 4 g ( 0 . 02 mol ) of 2 -( 1 - methyl - 3 - pyrrolidinyl )- 1h - benzimidazole in 100 ml of ch 2 cl 2 was added dropwise to a solution of 12 . 5 ( 0 . 025 mol ) of 20 % phosgene / toluene in 30 ml of ch 2 cl 2 . the solution was stirred for 2 h , and 10 g ( 0 . 1 mol ) of triethylamine was added dropwise . stirring was continued for 2 h and the solution was extracted with dilute naoh . the organic layer was dried ( na 2 so 4 ) and concentrated . the residue was crystallized twice from isopropyl ether . yield 1 . 5 g ( 28 %), mp 88 °- 91 ° c . ______________________________________analysis : ______________________________________calculated for c . sub . 13 h . sub . 14 n . sub . 3 ocl : c , 59 . 21 ; h , 5 . 35 ; n , 15 . 93found : c , 59 . 18 ; h , 5 . 38 ; n , 15 . 89______________________________________ following the procedure of preparation 1 and substituting for 3 - cyano - 1 - methylpyrrolidine with the following : following the procedure of preparation 2 and substituting the following for 2 -( 1 - methyl - 3 - pyrrolidinyl )- 1h - benzimidazole : to 25 ml of dimethylamine was added 5 g ( 0 . 019 mol ) of 4 -( 2 - chloroethyl )- 3 , 4 - dihydro - 2 - methylpyrimido [ 1 , 6 - a ] benzimidazol - 1 ( 2h )- one . the mixture was sealed in a glass flask and stirred for 48 h . the flask was opened and the excess dimethylamine was allowed to evaporate . the residue was partitioned between ch 2 cl 2 and dilute naoh . the organic phase was dried ( na 2 so 4 ) and concentrated . the residue was dissolved in 60 ml of isopropyl alcohol and treated with 2 . 2 g ( 0 . 019 mol ) of maleic acid . the resulting crystals were recrystallized from isopropyl alcohol containing a few drops of water . yield 4 . 6 g ( 61 %), mp 138 °- 145 ° c . ______________________________________analysis : ______________________________________calculated for c . sub . 38 h . sub . 49 n . sub . 8 o . sub . 11 : c , 57 . 39 ; h , 6 . 37 ; n , 14 . 09found : c , 57 . 69 ; h , 6 . 24 ; n , 13 . 94______________________________________ to 20 ml of morpholine was added 3 . 5 g ( 0 . 0133 mol ) of 4 -( 2 - chloroethyl )- 3 , 4 - dihydro - 2 - methylpyrimido [ 1 , 6 - a ] benzimidazol - 1 ( 2h )- one . the reaction mixture was heated in 60 ° c . for 24 hrs . the excess morpholine was removed by rotary evaporation and finally by high vacuum ( 0 . 5 mm hg ˜ 60 ° c .). the residue was dissolved in ˜ 100 ml of ch 2 cl 2 washed with 3 × 50 ml of 1n naoh , dried over na 2 so 4 , filtered , and concentrated by rotary evaporation . the residue was crystallized from isopropyl ether to give 2 . 7 g ( 65 %) of analytically pure crystals , mp 111 °- 12 ° c . ______________________________________analysis : ______________________________________calculated for c . sub . 17 h . sub . 22 n . sub . 4 o . sub . 2 : c , 64 . 95 ; h , 7 . 05 ; n , 17 . 82found : c , 64 . 93 ; h , 7 . 10 ; n , 17 . 72______________________________________ to 15 ml of n - methylaniline was added 3 . 5 g ( 0 . 0133 mol ) of 4 -( 2 - chloroethyl )- 3 , 4 - dihydro - 2 - methylpyrimido [ 1 , 6 - a ] benzimidazol - 1 ( 2h )- one . the reaction mixture was heated to 90 ° c . ( oil bath ) for 2 days , and the excess n - methylaniline removed in vacuo at 80 ° c ., 0 . 5 mm hg . the residue was dissolved in 100 ml of ch 2 cl 2 , washed with 2 × 100 ml of 1n naoh , dried over na 2 so 4 , filtered , and concentrated by rotary evaporation . the residue was subjected to high vacuum ( 0 . 5 mm , hg ) at 85 ° c . for 2 hr , and then crystallized from iso - octane / toluene to give 2 . 3 g ( 52 %) of analytically pure crystals , mp 130 °- 31 ° c . ______________________________________analysis : ______________________________________calculated for c . sub . 20 h . sub . 22 n . sub . 40 : c , 71 . 83 ; h , 6 . 63 ; n , 16 . 75found : c , 72 . 07 ; h , 6 . 69 ; n , 16 . 65______________________________________ to 18 ml of n - methylpiperazine was added 3 . 5 g ( 0 . 0133 mol ) of 4 -( 2 - chloroethyl )- 3 , 4 - dihydro - 2 - methylpyrimido [ 1 , 6 - a ] benzimidazol - 1 ( 2h )- one . the reaction mixture was heated 60 ° c . ( oil bath ) for 24 hr and the excess n - methylpiperazine removed at ˜ 60 ° c ., 0 . 5 mm hg . the residue was dissolved in 100 ml of ch 2 cl 2 , washed with 2 × 50 ml of 1n naoh , dried over na 2 so 4 , filtered , and concentrated by rotary evaporation . the residue was dissolved in toluene , treated with charcoal , filtered , and concentrated by rotary evaporation . the residue was crystallized from iso - octane / toluene to give 2 . 4 g ( 55 %) of analytically pure crystals , mp 110 °- 12 ° c . ______________________________________analysis : ______________________________________calculated for c . sub . 18 h . sub . 25 n . sub . 5 o : c , 66 . 03 ; h , 7 . 70 ; n , 21 . 39found : c , 66 . 01 ; h , 7 . 76 ; n , 21 . 07______________________________________ to a solution of 4 . 0 g ( 0 . 015 mol ) of 4 -( 2 - chloroethyl )- 3 , 4 - dihydro - 2 - methylpyrimido [ 1 , 6 - a ] benzimidazol - 1 ( 2h )- one dissolved in 20 ml of toluene was added 4 . 0 g ( 0 . 023 mol ) of 4 - hydroxy - 4 - phenylpiperidine and 4 . 0 g ( 0 . 04 mol ) of triethylamine . the reaction mixture was heated to reflux for 24 hr and the solvent removed by rotary evaporation . the residue was dissolved in 100 ml of ch 2 cl 2 , washed with 2 × 50 ml of 1n naoh , dried over na 2 so 4 , filtered , and concentrated by rotary evaporation . the residue was subjected to preparative high pressure liquid chromatography ( preparative hplc ) using ethanol as the eluent and silica gel as the stationary phase . the residue was treated with fumaric acid in isopropyl alcohol to give 3 . 2 g ( 36 . 5 %) of analytically pure crystals , mp 214 °- 17 ° c . ______________________________________analysis : ______________________________________calculated for c . sub . 39 h . sub . 35 n . sub . 4 o . sub . 6 : c , 62 . 17 ; h , 6 . 09 ; n , 9 . 67found : c , 62 . 20 ; h , 6 . 07 ; n . 9 . 61______________________________________ to 4 . 0 g ( 0 . 015 mol ) of 4 -( 2 - chloroethyl )- 3 , 4 - dihydro - 2 - methylpyrimido [ 1 , 6 - a ] benzimidazol - 1 ( 2h )- one in 35 ml of toluene was added 6 . 5 g ( 0 . 04 mol ) of n - phenylpiperazine . the reaction mixture was heated to reflux for 2 days . the entire reaction mixture was washed with 3 × 50 ml of 1n naoh , dried over na 2 so 4 , filtered , and concentrated by rotary evaporation . the residue was subjected to preparative hplc using acetone as the eluent and silica gel as the stationary phase . like fractions were combined , concentrated and the residue crystallized from isopropyl alcohol to give 3 . 7 g ( 64 %) of analytically pure , crystalline material , mp 143 . 5 °- 145 . 5 ° c . ______________________________________analysis : ______________________________________calculated for c . sub . 23 h . sub . 27 n . sub . 5 o : c , 70 . 93 ; h , 6 . 99 ; n , 17 . 98found : c , 70 . 77 ; h , 7 . 02 ; n , 17 . 81______________________________________ to 50 ml of toluene was added 5 . 0 g ( 0 . 019 mol ) of 4 -( 2 - chloroethyl )- 3 , 4 - dihydro - 2 - methylpyrimido [ 1 , 6 - a ] benzimidazol - 1 ( 2h )- one , 6 . 19 g ( 0 . 038 mol ) of 1 -( 2 - pyridyl ) piperazine , and 3 . 8 g ( 0 . 038 mol ) of triethylamine . the reaction mixture was heated to reflux for 24 hours . the reaction mixture was washed with 2 × 50 ml of naoh , dried over na 2 so 4 , filtered and concentrated by rotary evaporation . the residue was crystallized from isopropyl alcohol to afford 5 . 5 g ( 75 %) of analytically pure crystals , mp 158 °- 59 ° c . ______________________________________analysis : ______________________________________calculated for c . sub . 22 h . sub . 26 n . sub . 6 o : c , 67 . 67 ; h , 6 . 71 ; n , 21 . 52found : c , 67 . 69 ; h , 6 . 75 ; n , 21 . 50______________________________________ to 60 ml of toluene was added 4 . 0 g ( 0 . 0152 mol ) of 4 -( 2 - chloroethyl )- 3 , 4 - dihydro - 2 - methylpyrimido [ 1 , 6 - a ] benzimidazol - 1 ( 2h )- one , 6 . 0 g ( 0 . 033 mol ) of 1 -( 2 - pyrimidyl ) piperazine , and 4 . 0 g ( 0 . 04 mol ) of triethylamine . the reaction mixture was heated at reflux for 2 days and subsequently washed with 2 × 50 ml of 1n naoh , dried over na 2 so 4 , filtered , and concentrated by rotary evaporation . crystallization from ethyl acetate afforded 4 . 0 g , 67 % of analytically pure crystals , mp 161 °- 62 ° c . ______________________________________analysis : ______________________________________calculated for c . sub . 21 h . sub . 25 n . sub . 7 o : c , 64 . 43 ; h , 6 . 44 ; n , 25 . 05found : c , 64 . 35 ; h , 6 . 40 ; n , 24 . 90______________________________________ following the procedure of example 1 and substituting for 4 -( 2 - chloroethyl )- 3 , 4 - dihydro - 2 - methylpyrimido [ 1 , 6 - a ] benzimidazol - 1 ( 2h )- one the following : following the procedure of example 2 and substituting for 4 -( 2 - chloroethyl )- 3 , 4 - dihydro - 2 - methylpyrimido [ 1 , 6 - a ] benzimidazol - 1 ( 2h )- one the following : following the procedure of example 3 and substituting for 4 -( 2 - chloroethyl )- 3 , 4 - dihydro - 2 - methylpyrimido [ 1 , 6 - a ] benzimidazol - 1 ( 2h )- one the following : following the procedure of example 4 and substituting for 4 -( 2 - chloroethyl )- 3 , 4 - dihydro - 2 - methylpyrimido [ 1 , 6 - a ] benzimidazol - 1 ( 2h )- one the following : following the procedure of example 5 and substituting for 4 -( 2 - chloroethyl )- 3 , 4 - dihydro - 2 - methylpyrimido [ 1 , 6 - a ] benzimidazol - 1 ( 2h )- one the following : following the procedure of example 6 and substituting for 4 -( 2 - chloroethyl )- 3 , 4 - dihydro - 2 - methylpyrimido [ 1 , 6 - a ] benzimidazol - 1 ( 2h )- one the following : following the procedure of example 7 and substituting for 4 -( 2 - chloroethyl )- 3 , 4 - dihydro - 2 - methylpyrimido [ 1 , 6 - a ] benzimidazol - 1 ( 2h )- one the following : following the procedure of example 8 and substituting for 4 -( 2 - chloroethyl )- 3 , 4 - dihydro - 2 - methylpyrimido [ 1 , 6 - a ] benzimidazol - 1 ( 2h ) one the following : a mixture of 4 . 0 g ( 0 . 015 mol ) of 4 -( 2 - chloroethyl )- 3 , 4 - dihydro - 2 - methylpyrimido [ 1 , 6 - a ] benzimidazole - 1 ( 2h )- one , 3 . 46 g ( 0 . 015 mol ) of 1 - phenyl - 1 , 3 , 8 - triazaspiro [ 4 , 5 ]- decan - 4 - one , 9 g of nahco 3 , 0 . 5 g of kl , and 35 ml of dmf was heated on a steam cone for 24 h . the reaction mixture was poured into 500 ml of h 2 o and extracted with 3 × 100 ml of ch 2 cl 2 . the combined organic extracts were washed with 2 × 100 ml of h 2 o , dried ( naso 4 ), filtered and concentrated by rotary evaporation . the residue was purified by preparative hplc using acetone and the eluent and silica gel as the stationary phase . like fractions were combined and concentrated by rotary evaporation to a glass which crystallized upon treatment with ethyl acetate to give 4 . 3 g ( 52 %) of analytically pure material , mp 173 °- 75 ° c . ______________________________________analysis : ______________________________________calc . for c . sub . 20 h . sub . 30 n . sub . 6 o . sub . 2 . c . sub . 4 h . sub . 8 o . sub . 2 c , 65 . 91 ; h , 7 . 01 ; n , 15 . 37found : c , 65 . 58 ; h , 7 . 00 ; n , 15 . 72______________________________________ a mixture of 4 . 0 g ( 0 . 015 mol ) of 4 -( 2 - chloroethyl )- 3 , 4 - dihydro - 2 - methylpyrimido [ 1 , 6 - a ] benzimidazole - 1 ( 2h )- one , 2 . 93 g ( 0 . 015 mol ) of 1 -( 2 - methoxyphenyl ) piperazine , 9 g of nahco 3 , 0 . 5 g of kl , and 30 ml of dmf was heated on a steam cone for 18 h . the reaction mixture was poured into 400 ml of h 2 o and extracted with 2 × 100 ml ch 2 cl 2 . the combined organic layers were dried ( na 2 so 4 ), filtered and concentrated by rotary evaporation . the resulting oil was purified by preparative hplc eluting with acetone and using silica gel as the stationary phase . like fractions were combined and concentrated by rotary evaporation to an oil . the oil was treated with fumaric acid in 2 - propanol to give 3 . 7 g ( 42 %) of the salt , mp 100 °- 108 ° c . dec . ______________________________________analysis : ______________________________________calc . for c . sub . 24 h . sub . 29 n . sub . 5 o . sub . 2 . 1 . 5c . sub . 4 h . sub . 4 o . sub . 4 c , 60 . 70 ; h , 5 . 44 ; n , 11 . 80found : c , 60 . 71 ; h , 6 . 32 ; n , 11 . 44______________________________________ a solution of 2 . 4 g ( 0 . 035 mol ) of imidazole , 3 . 0 g ( 0 . 011 mol ) of 4 -( 2 - chloroethyl )- 3 , 4 - dihydro - 2 - methylpyrimido [ 1 , 6 - a ] benzimidazol - 1 ( 2h )- one and 3 . 0 g ( 0 . 03 mol ) of triethylamine in 80 ml of etoh was heated to reflux . after 24 hr 1 . 6 g of imidazole was added followed by an additional 1 . 6 g 24 hr later . another 1 . 0 g of imidazole was added and reflux continued for 3 days . the solvent was removed by rotary evaporation . the residue was taken up in ch 2 cl 2 , washed with 100 ml of 1n naoh , 3 × 100 ml of h 2 o , dried over na 2 so 4 , filtered and concentrated by rotary evaporation . the residue was treated with oxalic acid in 2 - propanol to give 0 . 5 g ( 11 %) of crystalline product , mp 148 °- 49 ° c . ______________________________________analysis : ______________________________________calc . for c . sub . 16 h . sub . 17 n . sub . 5 o . 1 . 5c . sub . 2 h . sub . 2 o . sub . 4 : c , 53 . 02 ; h , 4 . 68 ; n , 16 . 27found : c , 52 . 56 ; h , 4 . 64 ; n , 15 . 99______________________________________ to 4 . 0 g ( 0 . 015 mol ) of 4 -( 2 - chloroethyl )- 3 , 4 - dihydro - 2 - methylpyrimido [ 1 , 6 - a ] benzimidazol - 1 ( 2h )- one in 20 ml of toluene was added 5 . 0 g ( 0 . 0175 mol ) of 4 -[ bis ( 4 - fluorophenyl ) methyl ] piperidine and 5 . 0 g ( 0 . 05 mol ) of triethylamine and the reaction mixture heated to reflux for 24 hr . the reaction mixture was washed with 3 × 50 ml of 1n naoh , dried over na 2 so 4 , filtered , and concentrated by rotary evaporation . the residue was subjected to preparative hplc using ethanol as the eluent and silica gel as the stationary phase . like fractions were combined and concentrated by rotary evaporation to give 3 . 7 g ( 49 %) of an analytically pure oil . ______________________________________analysis : ______________________________________calculated for c . sub . 31 h . sub . 32 n . sub . 4 of . sub . 2 : c , 72 . 35 ; h , 6 . 27 ; n , 10 . 89found : c , 72 . 32 ; h , 6 . 27 ; n , 10 . 83______________________________________ table 1__________________________________________________________________________ ## str7 ## exam - ple r . sup . 1 nr . sup . 2 r . sup . 3 salt__________________________________________________________________________1 ch . sub . 3 n ( ch . sub . 3 ). sub . 2 maleate . 0 . 5 h . sub . 2 o2 ch . sub . 3 ## str8 ## -- 3 ch . sub . 3 ## str9 ## -- 4 ch . sub . 3 ## str10 ## -- 5 ch . sub . 3 ## str11 ## 1 . 5 fumarate6 ch . sub . 3 ## str12 ## -- 7 ch . sub . 3 ## str13 ## -- 8 ch . sub . 3 ## str14 ## -- 9a c . sub . 2 h . sub . 5 n ( ch . sub . 3 ). sub . 2 -- 9b ch ( ch . sub . 3 ). sub . 2 n ( ch . sub . 3 ). sub . 2 -- 9c ( ch . sub . 2 ). sub . 2 ch . sub . 3 n ( ch . sub . 3 ). sub . 2 -- 9d ( ch . sub . 2 ). sub . 3 ch . sub . 3 n ( ch . sub . 3 ). sub . 2 -- 10a c . sub . 2 h . sub . 5 ## str15 ## -- 10b ch ( ch . sub . 3 ). sub . 2 ## str16 ## -- 10c ( ch . sub . 2 ). sub . 2 ch . sub . 2 ## str17 ## -- 10d ( ch . sub . 2 ). sub . 3 ch . sub . 3 ## str18 ## -- 11a ch . sub . 2 ch . sub . 3 ## str19 ## -- 11b ch ( ch . sub . 3 ). sub . 2 ## str20 ## -- 11c ( ch . sub . 2 ). sub . 2 ch . sub . 3 ## str21 ## -- 11d ( ch . sub . 2 ). sub . 3 ch . sub . 3 ## str22 ## -- 12a ch . sub . 2 ch . sub . 3 ## str23 ## -- 12b ch ( ch . sub . 3 ). sub . 2 ## str24 ## -- 12c ( ch . sub . 2 ). sub . 2 ch . sub . 3 ## str25 ## -- 12d ( ch . sub . 2 ). sub . 3 ch . sub . 3 ## str26 ## -- 13a ch . sub . 2 ch . sub . 3 ## str27 ## -- 13b ch ( ch . sub . 3 ). sub . 2 ## str28 ## -- 13c ( ch . sub . 2 ). sub . 2 ch . sub . 3 ## str29 ## -- 13d ( ch . sub . 2 ). sub . 3 ch . sub . 3 ## str30 ## -- 14a ch . sub . 2 ch . sub . 3 ## str31 ## -- 14b ch ( ch . sub . 3 ). sub . 2 ## str32 ## -- 14c ( ch . sub . 2 ). sub . 2 ch . sub . 3 ## str33 ## -- 14d ( ch . sub . 2 ). sub . 3 ch . sub . 3 ## str34 ## -- 15a ch . sub . 2 ch . sub . 3 ## str35 ## -- 15b ch ( ch . sub . 3 ). sub . 2 ## str36 ## -- 15c ( ch . sub . 2 ). sub . 2 ch . sub . 3 ## str37 ## -- 15d ( ch . sub . 2 ). sub . 3 ch . sub . 3 ## str38 ## -- 16a ch . sub . 2 ch . sub . 3 ## str39 ## -- 16b ch ( ch . sub . 3 ). sub . 2 ## str40 ## -- 16c ( ch . sub . 2 ). sub . 2 ch . sub . 3 ## str41 ## -- 16d ( ch . sub . 2 ). sub . 3 ch . sub . 3 ## str42 ## -- 17 ch . sub . 3 ## str43 ## ethyl acetate18 ch . sub . 3 ## str44 ## fumarate19 ch . sub . 3 ## str45 ## oxalate20 ch . sub . 3 ## str46 ## -- __________________________________________________________________________ adult mongrel dogs which are in the conscious state are used for the test and cardiac arrhythmias are induced by prior ( 22 - 24 hr ) surgical preparation in which blood flow through a coronary artery is occluded by use of a constrictor device as reported by smith et al , 1973 . a grass model 79 polygraph is used for recording the electrocardiogram ( grass 7p4 preamplifier ). the test compound in a suitable vehicle is administered by infusion ( harvard model 942 infusion pump ) into a saphenous vein to one group of dogs at a rate of 0 . 5 mg / kg / min . concentration of compound is adjusted according to the weight of the dog to allow a volume of infusion of 0 . 5 ml / min . to determine oral efficacy the test compound is administered orally by gavage to another group of dogs at dose levels of 10 through 40 mg / kg . for oral dosing the test compound is prepared in distilled water to give a total volume of 20 ml . following the administration of the test compound , the heart rate , number of ectopic cardiac beats per min , and the percent ectopic beats ( ectopic beats / hr x100 ) are recorded at 15 min intervals . the compound is considered active if it abolishes the ectopic ventricular frequency and causes a return to normal sinus rhythm within 2 hours of administration . for example , the minimally effective dose for 100 % reduction in ectopic ventricular beats was 3 mg / kg ( iv ) for the compounds of examples 1 and 8 . cardiac arrhythmias are produced by a modification of the method of harris , 1950 , circulation , 1 , 1318 as reported by smith et al ., 1973 , pharmacologist 15 , 192 . the invention further provides pharmaceutical compositions for administration to a living animal body comprising , as active ingredients , at least one of the compounds according to the invention in association with a pharmaceutical carrier or excipient . the compounds are thus presented in a therapeutic composition suitable for oral , rectal or parenteral administration . thus , for example , compositions for oral administration are preferably solids and can take the form of capsules , tablets or coated tablets containing carriers conveniently used in the pharmaceutical art . suitable tableting carriers or excipients include lactose , potato and maize starches , talc , gelatin and stearic and silicic acids , magnesium stearate and polyvinyl pyrrolidone . for parenteral administration , the carrier or excipient can be a sterile , parenterally acceptable liquid , e . g ., water , or a parenterally acceptable oil ; e . g ., arachis oil , contained in ampoules . in compositions for rectal administration the carrier can comprise a suppository base , e . g ., cocoa butter , or a glyceride . advantageously , the compositions are formulated as dosage units , each unit being adapted to supply a fixed dose of active ingredients . tablets , coated tablets , capsules , ampoules and suppositories are examples of preferred dosage forms according to the invention . it is only necessary that the active ingredient constitute an effective amount ; i . e ., such that a suitable effective dosage will be obtained consistent with the dosage form employed . the exact individual dosages , as well as daily dosages , will , of course , be determined according to standard medical principles under the direction of a physician or veterinarian . generally the oral effective dose to either prevent or treat cardiac arrhythmias as compared with disopyramide would consist of unit dosages containing an amount of compound equivalent to about 1 to about 10 mg / kg of body weight and thus are contemplated . based on all of the above considerations , a choice in a range of unit oral dosages for humans of about 10 to about 1000 mg is contemplated , preferably about 10 to 600 mg . daily dosages of about 100 to 1200 mg are contemplated for humans and obviously several unit dosage forms may be administered at about the same time . however , the scope of the invention is not to be limited by these contemplations due to the uncertainty in transpositions discussed above . ______________________________________capsules ingredients per cap . ______________________________________1 . active ingredient 75 . 0 mg2 . lactose 146 . 0 mg3 . magnesium stearate 4 . 0 mg 219 . 0 mg______________________________________ step 2 . pass blend from step 1 through a no . 30 mesh screen ( 0 . 59 mm ) and blend again . step 3 . fill powder blend from step 2 into no . 1 hard gelatin capsules . ______________________________________ ingredients mg ./ tab . ______________________________________tablets ( 50 mg ) 1 . active ingredient 50 . 0 mg2 . corn starch 20 . 0 mg3 . alginic acid 20 . 0 mg4 . sodium alginate 20 . 0 mg5 . magnesium stearate 1 . 3 mg 111 . 3 mgtablets ( 75 mg ) 1 . active ingredient 75 . 0 mg2 . milo starch 20 . 0 mg3 . corn starch 38 . 0 mg4 . lactose 90 . 0 mg5 . magnesium stearate 2 . 0 mg 225 . 0 mg______________________________________ step 2 . add sufficient water portion wise to the blend from step 1 with careful stirring after each addition . such additions of water and stirring continue until the mass is of a consistency to permit its conversion to wet granules . step 3 . the wet mass prepared in step 2 is converted to granules by passing it through an oscillating granulator , using a # 8 - mesh ( 2 . 36 mm ) screen . step 4 . the wet granules prepared in step 3 are dried in an oven at 140 ° f . step 5 . dried granules from step 4 are passed through an oscillating granulator , using a no . 10 - mesh ( 2 . 00 mm ) screen . step 6 . lubricate the dry granules from step 5 by blending with ingredient no . 5 . step 7 . the lubricated granules from step 6 are compressed on a suitable tablet press . ______________________________________intravenous injectioningredients per ml . ______________________________________1 . active ingredient 10 . 0 mg2 . isotonic ph 4 . 0 buffer solution q . s . to 1 . 0 ml______________________________________ step 3 . the sterile solution is now aseptically filled into sterile ampouls . ______________________________________intramuscular injectioningredients per ml . ______________________________________1 . active ingredients 50 . 0 mg2 . isotonic ph 4 . 0 buffer solution q . s . to 5 . 0 ml______________________________________ step 3 . the sterile solution is now aseptically filled into sterile ampouls . ______________________________________suppositoriesingredients per supp . ______________________________________1 . active ingredient 200 . 0 mg2 . polyethylene glycol 1000 1350 . 0 mg3 . polyethylene glycol 4000 450 . 0 mg 2000 . 0 mg______________________________________ step 1 . melt ingredients 2 and 3 together and stir until uniform . step 2 . dissolve 1 in the molten mass from step 1 and stir until uniform . step 3 . pour the molten mass from step 2 into suppository molds and allow to cool . various modifications and equivalents will be apparent to one skilled in the art and may be made in the compounds , method , and compositions of the present invention without departing from the spirit or scope thereof , and it is therefore to be understood that the invention is to be limited only the scope of the appended claims .	2
the coating compositions of this invention are prepared by prehydrolyzing the silane function of a silylated ultraviolet light ( uv ) screening compound and adding it to an aqueous silicone resin . the silylated uv screens which are suitable for this invention have the general formula ## str1 ## wherein r 1 is hydrogen , c 1 - c 8 alkyl or halogen ; r 3 and r 4 are hydrogen , c 1 - c 8 alkoxy , carboxy , halogen , hydroxy , amino , carbethoxy or -- q --( ch 2 ) 3 si ( or 2 ) 3 ; q is -- nh -- or -- o --; r 2 is c 1 - c 8 alkyl ; and a is an integer equal to 1 - 3 inclusive . these compounds can be made following the description in u . s . pat . no . 4 , 278 , 804 ( ashby et al . ), which is incorporated herein by reference . the silylated uv screens used in accordance with the present invention must be soluble in , and otherwise compatible with , the silicone resin . 4 -( 3 - triethoxysilylpropoxy )- 2 - hydroxybenzophenone is preferred . once hydrolyzed and mixed with the silicone resin , it is believed that the silylated uv screens copolymerize into the silicone , as is suggested by their low volatility upon curing and continuous heating . the uv compounds used in the present invention are particularly effective in protecting polycarbonate from discoloration . any amount of silylated uv screen which is effective to prevent discoloration of the substrate to which the composition will be applied can be used herein . in general , it has been found that best results are obtained if the uv screen is employed in amounts from 8 to 20 weight percent of the total solids of the coating composition . catalyzed prehydrolysis of the silane function of the silylated uv screen component of the present invention makes it possible to eliminate the long aging period ( 5 to 10 days ) usually required when using a silylated uv screen by providing the silanol functionality necessary for the uv screen to be incorporated into the structure of the silicone resin . in another feature of this invention , the silylated uv screen is prehydrolyzed in the presence of some silicone resin . this may result in a partial copolymerization of the screen and the resin , which may further assist the incorporation of the uv screen into the final silicone resin coating composition . accordingly , it may be advantageous , in the practice of this invention , to carry out the prehydrolysis of the silylated uv screen in the presence of a small amount of silicone resin , described hereinafter . it is believed that this prevents self - polymerization of the uv screen and its possible precipitation out of the hydrolysis solution . the hydrolysis catalysts suitable for practicing this invention include any acid , base , or acid - functionalized material which will increase the rate of conversion of the silane function of the silylated uv screen to a silanol . because strong acids or bases generally result in precipitation , weak acids , especially acetic acid , and weak bases , especially ammonium hydroxide , are preferred . especially preferred catalysts are solid , acid - functionalized materials , such as acid - treated clays , carboxylic acid functional cation exchange resins or base functional anion exchange resins , which can be removed easily when the optimal silanol population is achieved . most preferred such catalysts are sulfuric acid treated clay , such as that sold as filtrol # 20 ® ( filtrol corporation ), and carboxylic acid functional cation exchange resins , such as various grades of amberlite ® ( rohm & amp ; haas co .). this type of catalyst has added advantages over soluble catalysts in that ( 1 ) the prehydrolysis product containing the uv screen is more stable , ( 2 ) the catalyst is removed from the system , ( 3 ) the ph of the final coating composition will require little or no adjustment , and ( 4 ) there is no risk of the formation of salts ( for example acetates , in the case of acetic acid catalysis ) which shorten the service life of the coating composition . the silanol population in the prehydrolysis solution determines the performance of the coating composition to which the solution is added . if hydrolysis proceeds too far or not far enough , performance of the coating composition in terms of weatherability and resistance to cracking will suffer . the optimal silanol population cannot as yet be determined , but because it is a function of the reaction time of hydrolysis , which can be monitored closely , the hydrolysis can be stopped at the reaction time corresponding to the optimal silanol population . reaction time , therefore , is a critical parameter of the instant invention . it should be noted , however , that the critical reaction time varies from catalyst to catalyst . other variables such as the ph of the hydrolysis solution , the solvents used , the presence or absence of resin , and the amount of catalyst employed , have an effect on the reaction as well . therefore , some simple trial - and - error experimentation is contemplated to reveal the critical reaction times for the many catalysts suitable for practicing this invention . in order to gain a margin of flexibility with regard to the critical reaction time involved in the use of a particular catalyst , two preparation techniques have been developed which allow more precise regulation of the hydrolysis . one technique , helpful when a weak acid or acid - functionalized material is employed as a catalyst , calls for using low levels , such as about 0 . 15 to 0 . 3 weight percent of the catalyst . this drives the hydrolysis reaction at a slow enough rate to allow some flexibility on the reaction cut off time and consequently minimizes the risk of overrunning the optimum silanol population point , which may lead to the silylated uv screen precipitating out of the final coating composition . the other technique , employed to avoid self - polymerization of the uv screen silanols formed during prehydrolysis , involves the stabilization of the silanol groups by diluting the hydrolysis solution in a large volume of an alcohol , such as isobutanol . the diluted mixture , containing the uv screen , can then be used as a solvent directly in the preparation of the silicone resin coating composition . the aqueous silicone resin compositions suitable for this invention are any of the polysilicic acid coatings well - known in this art . such compositions include those described in the aforementioned patents , u . s . pat . nos . 3 , 986 , 997 and 4 , 027 , 073 ( clark ); u . s . pat . no . 4 , 177 , 315 ( ubersax ); u . s . pat . no . 4 , 277 , 287 ( frye ); u . s . pat . no . 4 , 159 , 206 ( armbruster , et al . ); and u . s . application ser . no . 964 , 910 . these patents and application are incorporated herein by reference . in the practice of the present invention , preferred aqueous colloidal silica dispersions generally have a particle size of from 5 to 150 millimicrons in diameter . colloidal silicas having an average particle size of from 10 to 30 millimicrons are most preferred . these silica dispersions are well - known in the art and commercially available ones include , for example , those sold under the trademarks of ludox ® ( dupont ) and nalcoag ® ( nalco chemical co .). a particularly preferred product for the purposes herein is known as ludox ls ® ( dupont ). such colloidal silicas are available as both acidic and basic hydrosols . in order to prevent flowmarks , dirtmarks , and the like , on the surface of the substrates to which the coatings of this invention are subsequently applied , it will be advantageous to include in the silicone resin composition a polysiloxane polyether copolymer as disclosed in u . s . pat . no . 4 , 277 , 287 ( frye ). for the purposes of this invention , the polysiloxane polyether copolymer is employed in an amount from about 2 to about 15 weight percent of the total solids of the composition . most advantageous results are achieved when the copolymer is utilized at about 4 weight percent of the total solids . at these amounts , this additive prevents marks on the substrate which impair visibility or are aesthetically detracting but has no significant deleterious effects on the otherwise excellent abrasion resistance , adhesion , and resistance to discoloration of the coating . moreover , the presence of the polysiloxane polyether copolymer has been found to reduce the incidence of stress cracking in the cured coating . the coating compositions of the present invention can be applied to a variety of solid substrates by conventional methods , such as flowing or dipping , to form a continuous surface film . substrates which are especially contemplated herein are transparent and non - transparent plastics . as noted above , the coating compositions of this invention are especially useful as coatings for polycarbonates , such as those polycarbonates known as lexan ®, sold by general electric company . the coating compositions prepared according to the present invention will adhere to plastic substrates without the use of primers . a hard coating having all of the aforementioned characteristics and advantages is obtained by the removal of the solvent and volatile materials . the coating composition will air - dry to a tack - free condition , but heating in the range of 75 ° c . to 200 ° c . is necessary to obtain condensation of residual silanols in the partial condensate . this final cure results in the formation of silsesquioxane ( rsio 3 / 2 ). in the finished cured coating the ratio of rsio 3 / 2 units to sio 2 will range from about 0 . 43 to about 9 . 0 , preferably 1 to 3 . a cured coating having a ratio of rsio 3 / 2 to sio 2 , when r is methyl , of 2 is most preferred . the coating thickness can be varied by means of the particular application technique , but coatings of about 0 . 5 to 20 microns , preferably 2 - 10 micron thickness are generally utilized . in order that those skilled in the art may better understand how to practice the present invention , the following examples are given by way of illustration and not by way of limitation . 22 . 1 parts by weight of ludox ls ®, silica sol ( aqueous dispersion of colloidal silica , average particle size is 12 millimicrons , ph of 8 . 2 sold by dupont ) is added to a solution of 0 . 1 parts by weight of methyltriacetoxysilane in 26 . 8 parts by weight of methyltrimethoxysilane . the temperature of the reaction mixture is maintained at 20 ° c . to 30 ° c ., preferably below 25 ° c . the hydrolysis is allowed to continue for 24 hours . the solids content of the resultant reaction mixture is 40 . 5 % and is diluted to about 20 % solids with the addition of isobutanol . one part by weight ( 5 % of solids ) of sf - 1066 ( polysiloxane polyether copolymer , sold by general electric ) is thoroughly mixed with 99 parts by weight of the resultant composition . the final composition has a ph of higher than 7 . 2 . 55 . 7 parts by weight of isobutanol , 14 . 0 parts by weight of the stock silicone resins , and 11 . 2 parts by weight water are added to a reaction vessel and mixed until homogeneous . 0 . 5 parts by weight of filtrol # 20 ® ( acid - treated clay used as a catalyst , sold by filtrol corp ., is added slowly and stirred for five minutes . 18 . 6 parts by weight shbp is added , with vigorous stirring over a ten minute period . the reaction vents are closed off and the mixture allowed to stir . samples are removed after 3 , 4 and 5 hours . the reactions mixtures are each filtered through a 2μ pad . 1 . 0 weight percent oolitic &# 34 ; c &# 34 ;® ( a caco 3 neutralizing agent , sold by calcium carbonate company ) is added to the filtrate , stirred 30 minutes , then filtered again . the five - hour hydrolysis solution forms a precipitate and is unsuitable for use in a coating . coating compositions were prepared with the 3 - hour and 4 - hour solutions as follows : ______________________________________ coating a coating b______________________________________isobutanol 20 grams 20 gramsstock resin 200 grams 200 grams3 - hour prehydrolysis 34 grams -- solution4 - hour prehydrolysis -- 34 gramssolution______________________________________ coatings a and b are flow coated on different unprimed lexan ® panels and dried 30 minutes . after curing 30 minutes at 125 ° c ., the coated panels are tested for adhesion . adhesion of the coating compositions to the panels is tested by the scribed adhesion method , whereby a criss - cross pattern of scratches are made in the resin film , scotch 3m - 710 tape is applied and pulled away . three tape pulls without loss of adhesion is considered passing . for the two coatings above , coating a ( 3 - hour ) is hazy and shows poor adhesion ; coating b ( 4 - hour ) is clear and shows good adhesion . two more unprimed lexan ® panels are coated with coating b ( 4 - hour reaction time ), dried and cured at 130 ° for 1 hour and 2 hours , respectively , then tested for abrasion - resistance and weatherability . abrasion resistance is tested by measuring the increase in haze ( δ % h ) after 500 cycles on a taber abraser using a 500 - gram load and cs - 10f wheels . resistance to weathering is tested on a quv accelerated weathering tester , which uses continuous alternating cycles of eight - hours of ultraviolet radiation at 60 ° c ., then four hours condensation at 50 ° c . adhesion is tested periodically until it fails , the resistance then being recorded as the number of hours before adhesion failure . the results for the two panels cured at 130 ° c . with coating b were as follows : ______________________________________ δ % h quv life______________________________________cured 1 hour 8 . 5 failure at 283 hourscured 2 hours 8 . 2 failure at 431 hours______________________________________ 32 . 2 parts by weight each of isopropanol and isobutanol , 12 . 9 parts by weight water , and 1 . 34 parts by weight irc - 84 ( an amberlite ® cation exchange resin , sold by rohm & amp ; haas ) are added to a flask and thoroughly mixed . 21 . 45 parts by eight shbp are added slowly to the stirring mixture . aliquots of 14 . 7 grams of the prehydrolysis solution are withdrawn at different times , as the hydrolysis proceeds , and these are added to 100 grams of the stock resin to form coating compositions , as follows : ______________________________________coating required time appearance______________________________________1 6 hours no haze2 7 hours no haze3 10 hours no haze4 12 hours slight haze5 14 hours large precipitate6 16 hours large precipitate______________________________________ coatings 1 - 4 are applied to lexan ® panels , dried and cured 30 minutes at 125 ° c . coating 1 has good adhesion and no cracks ; coating 2 has 10 % adhesion failure and no cracks ; coating 3 fails adhesion but has no cracks ; coating 4 has poor adhesion . although coating 1 gave adequate results when used immediately , when the coatings were permitted to stand for about from 5 to 7 days , coating 3 gave a better over - all balance of properties . 26 . 7 parts by weight each of isobutanol and isopropanol , 10 . 6 parts by weight water , 17 . 8 parts by weight of the stock resin , and 0 . 44 parts by weight of 58 % ammonium hydroxide ( nh 4 oh ) are added to a flask and thoroughly mixed . 17 . 8 parts by weight shbp are added slowly to the violently stirred mixture . the reaction is allowed to proceed for 4 hours , at which time half the mixture is removed ( part a ), while the other half ( part b ) continues reacting . to part a are added 11 . 8 parts by weight filtrol # 20 ®. the part a mixture is stirred 30 minutes and filtered through a 2μ pad . 3 . 8 parts by weight of oolitic &# 34 ; c &# 34 ;® are added to the filtrate , which is stirred 15 minutes and refiltered through a 2μ pad . after 5 hours reaction time , part b is treated identically as part a . coating compositions a and b are prepared using parts a and b in the following proportions : ______________________________________coating a coating b______________________________________100 grams stock resin 100 grams stock resin 17 grams part a 17 grams part b 9 grams isobutanol 9 grams isobutanol______________________________________ both coating solutions are mixed well and allowed to settle for about a quarter hour . each is then flow coated on an unprimed lexan ® panel and air dried 20 minutes . the coatings show no haze or flow marks . both coated panels are cured 30 minutes at 125 ° c . both coatings exhibit good adhesion with no cracks and no haze . both panels are then thermoformed at 143 ° c . for 25 minutes . coating a ( 4 - hour solution ) shows cracking ; coating b ( 5 - hour solution ) shows only a few very small cracks . 2 . 6 weight percent shbp and 3 . 2 weight percent shbp coating compositions are made from the part b solution . the quv life of panels treated with these coatings and cured for two hours at 125 ° c . is as follows : ______________________________________coating quv life______________________________________2 . 6 % shbp adhesion loss at 650 hours3 . 2 % shbp adhesion loss at 1050 hours______________________________________ 28 . 0 parts by weight each of isopropanol and isobutanol , 11 . 2 parts by weight water , 18 . 6 parts by weight shbp , 14 . 0 parts by weight of the stock resin and 0 . 23 parts by weight of irc - 84 ( an amberlite ® cation exchange resin , sold by rohm & amp ; haas ) are mixed in a reaction vessel for 13 hours . the reaction product is filtered through 2μ pad . ______________________________________ coating a coating b______________________________________prehydrolysis solution 90 grams 86 gramsstock resin 700 grams 500 grams______________________________________ each of these coatings is applied to an unprimed lexan ® panel and , dried 20 minutes , and cured 1 hour at 125 ° c . the adhesion and abrasion resistance of both coatings is good . a prehydrolysis solution is prepared as in example 1 , except after the first filtration its discharged directly into a large vessel containing 388 parts by weight butanol . the mixture shows no precipitation after 2 hours at room temperature . ths solution , containing prehydrolyzed shbp , is used as the alcohol component to cut the solids content of the silicone resin / colloidal silica hydrolyzate in preparing the aqueous silicone resin . this coating solution is in turn flow coated on a lexan ® panel , dried for 20 minutes , and cured 1 hour at 130 ° c . the adhesion and abrasion resistance of the coating are good , and no cracks are present . after coating another panel and precuring for 45 minutes at 130 ° c ., thermoforming produces very little cracking along edges , and the quv life is greater than 500 hours . by following the teachings of this invention , a variety of useful , tough , and optically clear coatings can be made . the coating compositions are produced with a reduction in costs over conventional methods and are ready to use when formed . obviously , other compositions and variations of the present invention are possible in light of the foregoing disclosure . it is to be understood , therefore , that changes may be made in the particular embodiments of this invention which are within the full intended scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims .	2
hereinafter , embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings . the descriptions set forth below merely illustrate the principles of the present invention . therefore , those skilled in the art could devise various methods and apparatus thereof which realize the principles of the present invention and which do not depart from the spirit and scope of the present invention , even though they may not be clearly explained or illustrated in the present specification . also , it is to be appreciated that not only the principles , viewpoints , and embodiments of the present invention , but all detailed descriptions listing the particular embodiments are intended to include structural and functional equivalents . terms used in the description ( for example , a first , a second , etc .) are merely used to distinguish equal or similar items in an ordinal manner . also , the terms used in the description are merely used to describe the following embodiments , but not to limit the invention . unless clearly used otherwise , expressions in the singular number include a plural meaning . in this application , the terms “ included ” and “ stored ” intend to express the existence of the characteristic , the numeral , the step , the operation , the element , the part , or the combination thereof , and do not intend to exclude another characteristic , numeral , step , operation , element , part , or any combination thereof , or any addition thereto . unless defined otherwise , the terms used herein including technological or scientific terms have the same meaning that is generally understood by those ordinarily skilled in the art to which the invention pertains . the terms used herein shall not be interpreted not only based on the definition of any dictionary but also the meaning that is used in the field to which the invention pertains . also , unless clearly defined , the terms used herein shall not be interpreted too ideally or formally . fig1 is used as an example of an image with the uneven color deviation so as to require the compensation . fig2 is a block diagram showing the structure of an image processing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention . referring to fig2 the image processing apparatus 1 includes a sensor unit 10 , an image processing unit 20 , and a display unit 30 . besides , a key input unit , a memory , etc . can also be included , but descriptions on them are omitted since they are irrelevant to the gist of the present invention . the sensor unit 10 includes a color filter array ( cfa ) 12 and an a / d converter 14 . the sensor unit 10 may further include a lens ( not shown ). the color filter array 12 converts optical signals inputted through an external lens into electrical signals , and outputs the electrical signals . at this time , the color filter array 12 can use a variety of patterns such as a bayer pattern and an image signal containing chromatic information on only one of red , green and blue colors is outputted to each pixel . an image signal containing information on red color is outputted from the pixel corresponding to an r ( red ) pattern , an image signal containing information on green color is outputted from the pixel corresponding to a g ( green ) pattern , and an image signal containing information on blue color is outputted from the pixel corresponding to a b ( blue ) pattern . each pixel value obtained through the color filter array 12 having the bayer pattern , etc . is interpolated ( for example , deficit chromatic information can be inferred by averaging two pixel values of right and left sides , or four pixel values of neighboring four sides ) to obtain complete chromatic information . such an interpolation is conducted by an interpolation part 22 in the image processing unit 20 . the a / d converter 14 converts an image signal converted by the color filter array 12 into a digital signal , and sends the digital signal to the image processing unit 20 . the image processor 20 includes the interpolation part 22 , a lens shading interpolation part 23 , a gamma conversion part 24 , a color - deviation compensating part 25 , a color adjustment part 26 , and a format conversion part 27 . a noise filter 21 can be also included into the image processor 20 . the image processor 20 may further include a timing generating part ( not shown ) that generates a variety of timing signals out of a horizontal synchronizing signal ( hsync ), a vertical synchronizing signal ( vsync ), and a pixel clock ( pclk ). the noise filter 21 removes noise contained in the digital signal that the a / d converter 14 outputs . the noise filter 21 can be included in the image processor 20 if needed . the interpolation part 22 generates pixel signals of red , green and blue colors for each pixel . when an image signal outputted from the color filter array 12 has the bayer pattern , the pixel signals of green or blue cannot be obtained from the pixel corresponding to red color . consequently , the interpolation part 21 generates the pixel signals of green and blue for the pixel corresponding to red color by performing an interpolating operation . for this , the pixel signals of neighboring pixels are temporarily saved in a memory for interpolation ( not shown ), so that the interpolation part 22 uses these recorded pixel signals to perform the interpolating operation . the tens shading compensation part 23 analyzes the luminance and level of the pixel signals for each pixel , detects a central pixel and a slope of the lens shading image , and produces a mask image that can compensate the lens shading phenomenon , in accordance with a predetermined process . the compensation through the level analysis , lens shading image central pixel detection and slope detection is accomplished by setting an auto exposure value . the level relates to the luminance of each pixel , and , for example , when the levels of the pixels are all 10 , the overall brightness of the picture can be said to be 10 . as described above , the lens shading compensation part 23 compensates image signals of all pixels in the pixel array corresponding to one frame , namely , the pixel signals containing information on red , green and blue colors , in accordance with the level set by setting the auto exposure value , thereby keeping the quality of a primitive image from deteriorating . the gamma conversion part 24 converts image data to be appropriate for device characteristics ( gamma characteristics ) of the display unit 30 for output to the display unit ( e . g . an lcd , a crt ) 30 . in a gamma table ( not shown ) is stored a conversion table used for conversion to gamma characteristics . the color - deviation compensating part 25 compensates the uneven color deviation of the image . that is , for the gamma characteristics - compensated image by the gamma conversion part 24 , the color - deviation compensating part 25 generates a compensating image for compensating the unevenness of the color deviation occurred in each corner of the image as shown in fig1 according to a predetermined method . a structure and a function of the color - deviation compensating part 25 and a compensation method for the color deviation by means of the compensation image will be described in detail in reference to fig3 . the color adjustment part 26 adjusts color tone , and the format conversion part 27 converts pixel signals to have a digital format such as ntsc , yuv , ycbcr , etc ., and outputs them , as a means to convert pixel signals to have a format appropriate for the display unit 30 . a format conversion table ( not shown ) is a table for conversion to display signal formats such as ntsc or tun , etc . fig3 is a block diagram of a color - deviation compensating part 25 in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention . fig4 illustrates a method of generating a compensation table according to an embodiment of the present invention , and fig5 shows an example of the generated compensation table . fig6 shows a compensation curve obtained from the compensation table , and fig7 is a plan view of compensation images in each quadrant according to the present invention . referring to fig3 , the color - deviation compensating part 25 includes a color - deviation analyzing module 110 , a compensation table generating module 130 , a compensation image generating module 140 and a compensating module 150 . and , the color - deviation compensating part 25 may further include a beginning point creating module 120 . the color - deviation analyzing module 110 analyzes luminance of color components in each pixel of the image , which is composed of m × n pixels and is converted by the gamma conversion part 24 . here , the m is the number of pixels in a row , and the n is the number of pixels in a column . each pixel is composed of the color components of red , green and blue , and the color - deviation analyzing module 110 compares the rate of luminance change for each color component in the direction from the central pixel to the corner pixel of the image . here , a color component that has comparatively higher or lower rate of luminance change than the other two color components is determined as an object color component . since such a larger difference of the rate of luminance change of the object color component , compared to those of the other causes the color deviation in the corner of the image , it is for compensating the color deviation of the object color component . the compensation table generating module 130 calculates a compensation value for compensating the color deviation , based on the luminance of the object color component of each pixel , which is analyzed by the color deviation analyzing module 110 , and generates and stores the compensation table . the compensation value refers to a value used for the object color component to have the same or similar rate of luminance change as the other color components . and , in order to use time and memory effectively , the compensation table is produced by means of reference pixels and compensation values thereof , instead of all the pixels composing the image . fig4 illustrates a method of generating a compensation table according to an embodiment of the present invention . generally , four quadrants i , ii , iii , iv composing an image have different characteristics of the color deviation as described above . therefore , a separate compensation table is generated for each quadrant where a corner pixel 420 a , 420 b , 420 c , 420 d is positioned . the corner pixel refers to a pixel at the corner of the image . hereinafter , the method of generating the compensation table for the quadrant i is described . a straight line from a central pixel 400 to a first corner pixel 420 a in the quadrant i is decided as a first reference line 430 a . the characteristics of the color deviation are determined based on luminance of each pixel on the first reference line 430 a . the color deviation analyzing module 110 can analyze the luminance just for the pixels on the first reference line 430 a , as described above , not for the whole pixels in the image . among pixels on the first reference line 430 a is determined a first beginning pixel 410 a , where the luminance of the pixel begins to change . the first beginning pixel 410 a is determined by a user or the beginning point creating module 120 . in the case of determining by the user , the determination is performed through checking an image converted by the gamma conversion part 24 and then outputted on the screen by the display unit 30 and selecting a pixel on the first reference line 430 a , where the unevenness of the color deviation begins as the first beginning point 410 a . one or more of beginning points can be selected for each quadrant . the first beginning point 410 a is set by using the ( x , y ) coordinates in each quadrant or a distance ra from the central pixel 400 on the first reference line 430 a . or , the first beginning point 410 a is set by the beginning point creating module 120 . the beginning point creating module 120 compares the luminance of pixels on the first reference line 430 a one by one in the direction from the central pixel 400 to the first coiner pixel 420 a . and then , a pixel of which the luminance is greater than that of the previous pixel by a threshold value is designated as the first beginning point 410 a . here , the threshold value refers to a value for the rate of luminance change , which can be predetermined or controlled by the user . the reason why to designate the beginning point is that the calculation is performed only for the pixels around each corner pixel 420 a , 420 b , 420 c , 420 d where the most color deviation is occurred , so that unnecessary calculation for the pixels around the central pixel 400 where the color deviation is hardly occurred is removed . accordingly , the calculation for compensating the color deviation is processed quickly , and the amount of the compensation table is decreased , thereby simplifying logic for generating the compensation table . after the first beginning point 410 a is set by the user or the beginning point creating module 120 , pixels on the first reference line 430 a from the first beginning point 410 a to the first corner pixel 420 a are divided into 2 or more than 2 sections by a constant interval . the section interval can be a variety number of pixels such as 32 pixels , 16 pixels , 8 pixels , etc ., and is used as a base to generate the compensation table . referring to fig4 , as the first beginning point 410 a is designated a point a 0 that is the distance ra away from the central pixel 400 along the first reference line 430 a , and a 1 , a 2 , a 3 , a 4 , a 5 , . . . , an , which are pixels selected by an interval a from a 0 , are determined as boundary pixels of each section ( t 1 , t 2 , t 3 , t 4 , t 5 , etc .). here , the boundary pixels refer to pixels indicating the beginning and the end . the compensation table stores compensation values used for compensating the color deviation of the first beginning point 420 a , a 0 , and boundary pixels from a 1 to an . the compensation table is a type of lookup table , and an example thereof is shown in fig5 . the compensation table includes quadrant identifiers , object color information , beginning point identifiers , section interval information and compensation value tables . the quadrant identifier indicates a quadrant ( one of i , ii , iii and iv ) that can be compensated by a compensation table since each of 4 compensation tables can be generated independently for each quadrant . the object color information is information on an object color component of which color deviation is to be compensated . here , the object color information can be red , green , or blue . the beginning point identifier indicates the beginning point 410 a at which the color deviation compensation begins using the compensation table , and is recorded by using the ( x , y ) coordinates in each quadrant or the distance ra from the central pixel 400 to the beginning point 410 a . the section interval information indicates the interval of the compensation table , is expressed by a pixel unit , and is a in an embodiment of the preset invention . in the compensation value table are sequentially recorded compensation values c 0 , c 1 , c 2 , . . . , cn used for the color deviation compensation of the boundary pixels a 0 , a 1 , a 2 , . . . , an of each section determined from the beginning point 410 a by using the interval of the section interval information . because the beginning point 410 a and the section interval a are known , the coordinates of the boundary pixels a 0 , a 1 , a 2 , . . . , an can be omitted . or , the compensation table can include the quadrant identifier , the object color information and the compensation value table on which the coordinates and compensation values of the boundary pixels of each section are recorded . the beginning point 410 a and the interval a are can be omitted because the compensation value table contains the coordinates of the boundary pixels . the compensation image generating module 140 generates a compensation image for the whole quadrant i by using such a compensation table . the compensation table may further include color identifiers . since a color appeared more intense or fainter in each quadrant can be different , each quadrant can have a different compensation table corresponding to at least one of red , green and blue . in this case , each compensation table has a color identifier that can identify the color to be compensated . above description is focused on the quadrant i , but it is apparent that this method can be applied to the quadrants ii , iii , and iv . each beginning point 410 a , 410 b , 410 c , 410 d can be positioned at a distance ra , rb , rc , rd away from the central pixel 400 , respectively , which can be same or different . also , an section interval of the compensation table for the quadrant i is a , that of the quadrant ii is b , that of the quadrant iii is c , and that of the quadrant iv is d , in which such section intervals may be same or different . furthermore , a separate compensation table may be generated corresponding to each color to be compensated in each quadrant , and each compensation table may have same or different section interval for each color . the compensation image generating module 140 generates a compensation image for the overall pixels based on one or more compensation tables that are generated by the compensation table generating module 130 . a method of generating the compensation image is described in reference with fig6 . here , the compensation table for generating the compensation image is referred to the compensation table in fig5 . the compensation image for the quadrant i is obtained from the compensation values c 0 , c 1 , c 2 , c 3 , . . . of the beginning point a 0 and the boundary pixels a 1 , a 2 , a 3 , . . . that are selected by the interval a from the beginning point a 0 . first , boundary pixels for a first section are a 0 and a 1 , and their compensation values are c 0 and c 1 , respectively . here , a first linear function 610 connecting the boundary pixels , c 0 and c 1 can be obtained . and , compensation values for pixels included in the first section ( that is , pixels between a 0 and a 1 ) can be obtained by the first linear function 610 . such a compensation method is called a linear interpolation . also , boundary pixels for a second section are a 1 and a 2 , and compensation values for each boundary pixel are c 1 and c 2 . a second linear function 612 connecting the compensation values , c 1 and c 2 , can be obtained . and , compensation values for pixels included in the second section ( that is , pixels between a 1 and a 2 ) can be obtained by the second linear function 612 . a third linear function 614 , a fourth linear function 616 , a fifth linear function 618 , etc . can be obtained by applying the method as described above , to each section repeatedly , and thus compensation values for not only boundary pixels but also the other pixels of each section can be obtained by the linear functions . compensation values for pixels between the central pixel 0 and the beginning point a 0 are designated as a first value ( for example , ‘ 0 ’ or ‘ 1 ’), representing that the compensation is not needed , or as c 0 the same compensation value of the beginning point a 0 . the compensation values for all the pixels on the first reference line 430 a are obtained by the method as described above and the compensation values for the other pixels , except those on the first reference line 430 a , are obtained by assigning the same compensation values for the pixel having the same distance away from the central pixel 400 on the reference line 430 a . that is , all pixels 710 ( i ) on a circle with the same radius from the central pixel 400 have the same compensation value as shown in fig7 ( a ). the compensation image is formed by concentric circles with a common center of the central pixel 400 such that the color deviation is compensated more naturally and accurately corresponding to the property of the lens . and , compensation images are independently generated by using separate compensation tables for each quadrant ( referring to fig7 ( b ) and ( c )) so that the compensation is performed separately for each quadrant and in more detail . the compensating module 150 compensates the color deviation by applying the compensation image generated by the compensation image generating module 140 to the image inputted into the color deviation compensating part 25 . for example , when the compensation image is lower than the reference value 650 , the color deviation is compensated by subtracting the compensation image from the inputted image . and , the compensation image is added to the inputted image when the compensation image is higher than the reference value 655 . fig8 is a flowchart illustrating a method of compensating the color deviation according to an embodiment of the present invention . referring to fig8 , at the step s 810 , the color deviation compensating part 25 is inputted an image preprocessed through the noise filtering , the lens shading compensation , the gamma conversion , and so on . at the step s 820 , the color deviation analyzing module 110 analyzes luminance of each pixel in the inputted image . here , the analysis is performed for all the pixels in the image or for pixels only on the reference lines 430 a , 430 b , 430 c , 430 d ( hereinafter referred to as 430 ). at the step s 380 , the compensation table generating module 130 calculates the compensation values for the boundary pixels spaced apart by the predetermined interval based on the luminance analyzed by the color deviation analyzing module 110 , and generates the compensation table that is a reference table including the coordinates of the boundary pixels or the distances between the central pixel 400 and the boundary pixels and the compensation values . the compensation table may be generated independently corresponding to each quadrant or for one or more of red , green and blue colors . at the step s 840 , the compensation image generating module 140 generates the compensation image for the whole pixels on all reference lines 430 and the whole pixels on the all quadrants , through the linear interpolation based on the one or more compensation tables . here , the compensation image is formed by concentric circles with the common center of the central pixel 400 . at the step s 850 , the compensating module 150 compensates the color deviation by applying the compensation image to the inputted image . the compensation can be performed by multiplying , adding , subtracting , etc ., to the inputted image according to the property of the compensation image . if the compensation table is generated for the whole pixels in the image , unnecessary operation is conducted for pixels around the central pixel 400 , where the compensation is not required , the volume of the compensation table increases , and logic for generating the compensation table becomes complicated . consequently , the step s 825 , which is the step of designating the beginning points 410 a , 410 b , 410 c , 410 d ( hereinafter referred to as 410 ), is inserted between the steps s 820 and s 830 , so that the process of generating the compensation table is performed from the beginning point 410 , thereby removing the unnecessary operation , reducing the volume of the compensation table and simplifying the logic for the compensation table . the beginning point can be designated by the user or the beginning point creating module 120 . in the case of selecting the beginning point by the beginning point creating module 120 , luminance of pixels on the reference line 430 is sequentially compared from the central pixel 400 , and a pixel of which luminance is changed greater than the threshold value is determined as the beginning point 410 . according to another embodiment of the present invention , the color - deviation compensating part 25 can be a recording medium where a program for performing the steps from s 810 to s 850 as described above is recorded . an apparatus and a method for compensating color deviation , and an image processor , a digital processing apparatus , and a recording medium using it , according to the present invention , can improve the unevenness of the color deviation occurred in an image . in particular , it is possible to reduce distortions occurring at each corner of the image because of differences in color due to differences in property for each color . in addition , a separate compensation table can be applied for each quadrant of an image for elaborate compensation , and the beginning points can be configured so that unnecessary computations can be omitted and compensation operations can be performed quickly , whereby the storage region for creating compensation tables can be decreased , and the logic for creating the compensation tables can be simplified . while the invention has been described with reference to the disclosed embodiments , it is to be appreciated that those skilled in the art can change or modify the embodiments without departing from the scope and spirit of the invention or its equivalents as stated below in the claims .	7
having reference now to the drawings , and with particular reference to fig1 there is shown a typical hospital laundry area in which there is a laundry receiving or soiled laundry room 10 and a clean laundry room 11 , the two rooms being separated by a wall 12 . in the prior art , as is shown in fig1 of starr et al u . s . pat . no . 3 , 318 , 122 , supra , a stationary washing machine was built into the separating wall , the machine having a loading door in the soiled room and an unloading door in the clean room . in accordance with the invention , a wall adapter generally indicated at 14 is built into the separating wall 12 so that a tilt type washer - extractor machine having a single access door can be utilized , such a machine being generally indicated at 15 . the washer - extractor machine shown in the drawings is a commercially available machine and is not per se a part of the present invention . the machine 15 includes a cylinder 16 that is pivotally connected at 17 , fig4 to a base 18 that is rigidly secured to the soiled room floor . the cylinder can be pivoted or tilted by hydraulic cylinders , one of which is shown at 20 in fig4 between three basic positions . these are the rearwardly tilted loading position shown in fig5 and in phantom lines in fig4 the horizontal operating position shown in fig1 - 3 , and the forwardly tilted unloading position shown in fig4 and 6 . on its front side , machine 15 is provided with an access door 21 that has an automatic opening and closing mechanism 22 . the wall adapter 14 is comprised of a pair of vertical side walls 24 , a narrow , horizontal top wall 25 and an obliquely disposed back wall 26 . the back wall 26 is connected at its lower edge to a short , vertical wall section 27 . as best shown in fig4 and 6 , the adapter 14 is open on its front side and the adapter is incorporated in the separating wall 12 so that this side faces or opens into the clean room 11 . as indicated in fig1 and 4 - 6 , the front edges of the adapter side and top walls are connected to the separating wall 12 , the connection being such that a sealed joint is obtained between the wall 12 and adapter . the obliquely disposed back wall 26 of the adapter is provided with a rectangular opening 28 , and this opening is normally closed by a horizontally slatted roll door 30 , fig1 and 6 . the opening 28 is surrounded by a continuous channel 31 , fig7 that is occupied by resilient gasket material 32 . the washer - extractor machine 15 is fitted with an outwardly projecting rectangular flange 34 , fig1 - 5 and 7 that surrounds the machine access door 21 as best shown in fig3 . the flange 34 is dimensioned so that it registers with the channel 31 whereby the outer edge of the flange is pressed into sealing engagement with the resilient gasket material 32 , fig4 and 7 , when the machine is in its forwardly tilted unloading position . in operation , the washer - extractor machine is initially in its rearwardly tilted loading position as shown in fig5 and in phantom lines in fig4 . the access door 21 of the machine is open and the access opening is disposed so that the machine can be conveniently loaded from above by sling or chute . during loading , the machine cylinder 16 is rotating and a water spray is directed into it to compact the load . when the loading has been completed , the access door is automatically closed and the machine is moved into its horizontal operating position in which position the washing and extracting of the load occurs . all of these operations are automatic and are under the control of a microprocessor ( not shown ) that forms a part of the machine . upon completion of the washing and extracting , the space between the machine and adapter is scanned by a known type optical sensor ( not shown ) and if the space is clear the machine is automatically moved into its forwardly tilted unloading position , fig4 at which time the machine flange 34 moves into sealing engagement with the gasket material 32 on the obliquely disposed back wall 26 of the adapter . after the machine has been moved to its unloading position , the roll door 30 is moved out of the adapter wall opening 28 by suitable means such as an electric motor 35 , fig6 . the opening of the adapter wall opening 28 signals the access door 21 to swing open , the door being powered by a commercially available rotary actuator 22 , fig3 . in this connection , it is important to note that the wall opening 28 is in registry with the access door 21 of the machine when the latter is tilted into its unloading position and is dimensioned so that the machine door can swing freely through the wall opening to expose the interior of the machine to the clean room . at this time the machine interior is in sealed communication with the clean room , and and clean laundry in the machine can be unloaded into a cart 36 as shown in fig6 or onto a conveyor ( not shown ). after the machine has been unloaded , the machine access 21 receives a signal to swing shut after which the roll door 30 is automatically lowered to close the adapter wall opening 28 . when the wall opening is completely closed , the machine is moved back from the adapter , through its horizontal position and into its rearwardly tilted loading position . the machine access door 21 is then swung open and the machine is ready for overhead loading as before . from the foregoing description it will be apparent that the invention disclosed herein provides a novel and very advantageous wall adapter that permits clean room use of a tilt type washer - extractor machine . as will be understood by those familiar with the art , the invention may be embodied in other specific forms without departing from the spirit or essential characteristics thereof .	3
a shutter of this invention employs a bimorph actuator 1 comprising two thin piezoelectric strips 2 , 3 brought into face - to - face engagement with their engaging faces bonded together or to opposite sides of a thin flexible electrically conductive substrate 4 as shown in fig1 . the strips 2 and 3 are made of a material having a high piezoelectric constant , for example lead zirconate titanate . if the two strips 2 and 3 are so arranged that the two negative poled faces ( or the two positive poled faces ) are bonded together , or on opposite sides of a thin flexible electrically conductive substrate 4 and connected electrically , then when a voltage v is applied across the outer faces through wires 8 one strip will increase in length while the other will decrease in length . alternatively , the two strips 2 , 3 can be bonded with a negative poled face bonded to a positive poled face either directly or on opposite sides of a thin flexible electrically conductive substrate 4 ( see fig2 ) and a voltage v applied between both outer faces and the bonded faces to obtain an equivalent effect . this effect causes the bonded bimorph strip 1 to bend , and when supported as a cantilevered beam at one end 5 the displacement obtainable at the unsupported free end 6 is substantial by piezoelectric standards . as an example , a bimorph actuator 1 which is 3 mm wide , 0 . 5 mm thick and with a cantilever length of 25 mm can achieve a peak - to - peak displacement δ of about 0 . 5 - 0 . 8 mm . thus there is provided a small , simple robust and inexpensive actuator that can directly achieve the required displacement . the thin flexible electrically conductive substrate is preferably a carbon - fibre composite . to achieve the shuttering effect , a small piece of thin metal foil 7 or other appropriate material is glued or otherwise bonded adjacent to the free end 6 of the bimorph actuator 1 to act as a shutter element , blocking or unblocking the light path to a ccd detector in a spectroscopic instrument depending on movement of the free end 6 from a first position to a second position dependent upon the polarity of the applied drive voltage v . fig3 shows one possible means of mounting piezoelectric bimorph actuator 1 and making electrical connections to it . bimorph 1 is attached to a fibreglass circuit board 9 , being inserted into a slot in said circuit board and secured therein with epoxy cement 10 or other appropriate adhesive . circuit board 9 is attached in position onto the entrance aperture of the polychromator or other spectroscopic apparatus ( not shown ). electrical connection to bimorph 1 is established by means of connecting wires 8 that are soldered to copper contact pads 11 on board 9 . electric wires 12 are soldered to pads 11 for connection to a drive circuit such as that of fig4 . the circuit diagram of fig4 and associated voltage versus time waveforms show how the required driving voltage waveform may be achieved . a pulse signal 13 applied to schmitt trigger pulse squarer 14 produces a square wave 15 that passes to an integrator and limiter 16 , producing a trapezoid wave 17 . this passes to a sine shaper 18 and generates a quasistatic ‘ sine ’ wave 19 , which is applied to amplifier 20 . the output of amplifier 20 drives the piezoelectric bimorph actuator 1 to move the shutter to block ( or unblock ) the beam for a time determined by the width of pulse 19 and then return it to its original position . the output of differentiator 21 is fed into schmitt trigger pulse squarer 14 as a lockout , so that once a movement of bimorph 1 is initiated , it must be completed before a signal is applied to drive it in the opposite direction . protection circuit 22 is shown in more detail in fig5 . referring now to fig5 voltages from supply rails 23 are monitored by microprocessor supervisory device 24 . if any of these voltages fall below pre - determined specified levels , timing and relay drive 25 is activated . this switches photovoltaic relay 26 off quickly , so that the driving voltage from amplifier 20 is passed through high - value resistance 27 to ensure that bimorph 1 is not subjected to any abrupt changes in said driving voltage . when all supply voltages 23 return to their specified values the microprocessor supervisory device 24 signals the timing and relay drive 25 to close photovoltaic relay 26 . relay 26 is closed slowly , through the linear region of its operating characteristics , to ensure that there are no abrupt voltage changes applied to the bimorph 1 . an alternative piezoelectric excitation voltage sequence , as shown in fig6 involves an initial application of the drive voltage v at time t 1 ( see lower voltage ( v ) versus time ( t ) trace 38 ) until the bimorph 1 has moved through approximately half the desired displacement ( eg . point 42 on upper displacement ( δ ) versus time ( t ) trace 40 ). ( the dashed trace 41 illustrates the decaying oscillation that an undamped bimorph 1 would experience on application of a single step voltage v ). the polarity of the drive voltage is then reversed at time t 2 to actively decelerate the bimorph 1 , so that it reaches the desired position with essentially zero velocity ( eg . point 44 on upper trace 40 ). finally , at time t 3 , as the end 6 of the bimorph actuator 1 reaches the target position the steady state drive voltage is re - applied to maintain the new position . the displacement δ of the bimorph actuator 1 approximates much more closely to a step function , as the trace 40 in fig6 shows . in practice , it has been found that the piezoelectric properties of a bimorph 1 are sufficiently constant from unit to unit and in repetition to allow the excitation drive timing to be established by independent timing elements such as monostables rather than via feedback of the bimorph position . the circuit diagram of fig7 and associated voltage traces fig8 a - e show how the required alternative excitation damping voltage waveform may be practically achieved . the circuit of fig7 comprises inverters 46 , 48 , or gates 50 , 56 and monostables 52 , 54 . the traces a - e correspond to voltage versus time signals at the positions marked a - e on the circuit of fig7 . trace a of fig8 represents the applied drive signal to actuate the shutter device 1 between times t 1 and t ′ 1 , whilst trace e of fig8 denotes the actual drive to piezoelectric actuator 1 , utilising the excitation sequence explained above . monostable elements 52 and 54 provide the voltage switching periods as triggered by the applied drive signal a , the sequence t 1 - t 3 showing the drive signal for actuating piezoelectric actuator 1 into its shuttering position , whilst the sequence t 1 - t 3 represents the drive in the reverse direction for actuator 1 to recover its at - rest position . fig9 a shows the bimorph 1 in a first position in which light rays 28 and 29 are allowed to enter the entrance aperture 32 of a spectroscopic instrument ( not shown ). rays 28 and 29 indicate the effective optical entrance beam of said spectroscopic instrument , while rays 30 and 31 indicate the edges of the beam from the light source ( not shown ) focussed onto the plane of entrance aperture 32 . fig9 b shows bimorph 1 in a second position in which shutter element 7 prevents light rays 28 and 29 from entering entrance aperture 32 , but rays 30 and 31 striking the surface 33 surrounding the entrance aperture 32 may be reflected or scattered from said surface 33 onto the proximate surface of shutter element 7 and thence into the entrance aperture 32 . fig1 a and 10b show how masks 34 and 35 placed between a source ( not shown ) of light rays 28 , 29 , 30 and 31 prevent light from striking the surface 33 around entrance aperture 32 . rays 28 and 29 indicate the effective optical entrance beam of a spectroscopic instrument ( not shown ), while rays 30 and 31 indicate the extreme edges of the light beam from said source focussed onto the plane of entrance aperture 32 . mask 35 includes an aperture 36 having a size just greater than that of the effective optical entrance beam at that location , said optical entrance beam being indicated by light rays 28 and 29 . fig1 a shows the bimorph 1 in a first position in which light rays 28 and 29 are allowed to enter the entrance aperture 32 of a spectroscopic instrument ( not shown ). fig1 b shows bimorph 1 in a second position in which shutter element 7 prevents light rays 28 and 29 from entering entrance aperture 32 , and at the same time rays 30 and 31 are prevented from striking the surface 33 surrounding the entrance aperture 32 by masks 34 and 35 . consequently the problem indicated in fig9 b of light entering entrance aperture 32 by reflection or scattering from surface 33 and the proximate surface of shutter 7 is avoided . an example of spectroscopy apparatus according to the invention , namely an optical emission spectrometer as illustrated by fig1 , comprises a spectroscopic light source 60 which emits spectral light of a sample 62 . light source 60 in a preferred embodiment is an inductively coupled plasma but may be any other spectroscopic light source adapted to emitting light of spectroscopic interest ( i . e . spectral light of a sample ). spectral light 62 emitted by spectroscopic light source 60 falls on mirror 64 . those skilled in the art will appreciate that it is advantageous that mirror 64 be provided with adjustment means ( no shown so that light can be selected according to its spatial origin within spectroscopic light source 60 . spectral light 62 is reflected from mirror 64 onto a focusing mirror 66 . the spectral light 62 then strikes a folding mirror 68 and is thereby directed onto aperture 70 , onto which it is focused by the action of focussing mirror 66 . a shutter device 72 as above described is so located with respect to aperture 70 that the shutter 72 can selectively be moved to a first position in which it obstructs spectral light 62 or to a second position in which spectral light 62 passes without obstruction . when shutter device 72 is in the second position the spectral light 62 passes through aperture 70 and falls on a first polychromator focussing mirror 74 which focuses the spectral light 62 through an order - separating prism 76 and onto an echelle grating 78 . light reflected from echelle grating 78 has been spatially separated in a first direction according to wavelength but a plurality of spectral orders are spatially superimposed , as is known to those skilled in the art . on passing through order - separating prism 76 the spectral light 62 is spatially separated in a second direction according to wavelength . the light 62 then strikes a second polychromator focussing mirror 80 which focuses it onto an array detector 82 . an image of aperture 70 is formed on array detector 82 at a spatial position that is determined by the wavelength of the light . array detector 82 is provided with a large plurality of light - detecting elements ( pixels ) that convert , by known means , incident light intensity into an electrical charge proportional to the intensity of the incident light . measurement of the electric charges generated at specific spatial positions on array detector 82 by means 84 for serially reading a plurality of elements of the detector 82 ( which means is known ) thus provides a measurement of the intensities of light of specific wavelengths . such intensity measurements are converted to measurements of the concentration of specific chemical elements by reference to measurements made when samples having known concentrations of said chemical elements are subjected to the measuring process . according to the invention , the shutter device 72 is operated by application of an electrical signal to its piezoelectric structure to move the shutter to the first position to prevent the spectral light 62 from reaching the detector 82 . this allows a plurality of the elements of the detector 82 to be serially read by the means 84 whilst the detector 82 is shielded from the spectral light 62 . thus fig1 shows spectroscopy apparatus for spectrochemical analysis of a sample which comprises a light source and a system for interacting the light source and a sample 60 for providing spectral light 62 of the sample . the optical system of the spectroscopy apparatus includes a polychromator 70 , 74 - 78 and the multi - element solid state detector 82 . the apparatus also includes means 84 for serially reading a plurality of the elements of the detector to provide light intensity measurements . in an absorption spectrometer apparatus as illustrated by fig1 , light 92 is emitted by light source 90 , which in a preferred embodiment is a hollow cathode lamp but which may be any other spectroscopic light source adapted to emitting light capable of being absorbed by a sample 98 in an absorption cell 96 . absorption cell 96 may be a chemical flame , a furnace , a glass cell , or any other device capable of containing a sample 97 of spectroscopic interest for exposure to light 92 . the light 92 is focussed into absorption cell 96 by focussing means 94 . focussing means 94 may be a lens or a mirror or a plurality or combination thereof . for the purpose of obtaining information about the chemical composition of an analytical sample , a representative portion 97 of said sample is introduced into absorption cell 96 by means as known to those skilled in the art , and is therein caused to absorb light at specific wavelengths . the extent of absorption at specific wavelengths is indicative of the chemical composition of said sample . the light 98 exiting the absorption cell 96 is the spectral light of the sample as hereinbefore defined . measurements of light absorption at specific wavelengths are converted to measurements of the concentration of specific chemical species of interest by reference to measurements made when samples having known concentrations of said chemical species are subjected to the measurement process . the rest of the apparatus shown in fig1 is the same as that shown in fig1 , and is therefore referenced by the same numerals . it separates the spectral light 98 into its constituent wavelengths and measures the intensity of said light 98 at wavelengths of interest , as hereinbefore described . measurement of the electric charges generated at specific spatial positions on array detector 82 provides a measurement of the intensities of light of specific wavelengths . those skilled in the art will appreciate that such intensity measurements are readily converted to absorption measurements by reference to intensity measurements made when a sample containing essentially none of the chemical species of interest is placed in absorption cell 96 . the invention that has been described is applicable for use with various types of spectroscopic techniques such as , for example , optical emission spectrometry with an inductively coupled plasma source . it is also applicable to emission spectrometry with any other appropriate light sources including but not limited to electrical arcs , electrical sparks , plasma , glow discharges and flames . furthermore , the invention is applicable to any spectroscopic apparatus or instrument that might require the rapid and reproducible blocking and unblocking of an optical path . the invention has been described with reference to the use of a single shutter having a bimorph actuator serving to block and unblock an optical path , but clearly a number of such shutters may be used together and operable to block different optical paths or different parts of an image area . the invention which has been described preferably makes the use of a piezoelectric bimorph arranged as a cantilever , in which the free end moves along an arc , but other configurations are possible . for example a piezoelectric bimorph might be configured as a simple beam , in which the centre of the beam moves up and down . in such a configuration the deflection is only 25 % of that achievable from a beam of the same dimensions configured as a cantilever but the force exerted is 4 times greater . by way of another example , a piezoelectric bimorph might be configured as an ‘ s ’ beam , in which the free end moves linearly . in such a configuration the deflection is only 50 % of that achievable from a beam of the same dimensions configured as a cantilever but the force exerted is twice as great . such alternative configurations are illustrated in the catalogue of a manufacturer of piezoelectric bimorphs ( reference : catalog # 3 , 1998 , piezo systems , inc ., 186 massachusetts avenue , cambridge , mass ., usa , page 33 ) the invention described herein is susceptible to variations , modifications and / or additions other than those specifically described and it is to be understood that the invention includes all such variations , modifications and / or additions that fall within the scope of the following claims .	6
while this invention is illustrated and described in a preferred embodiment , the device may be produced in many different configurations , forms and materials . there is depicted in the drawings , and will herein be described in detail , a preferred embodiment of the invention , with the understanding that the present disclosure is to be considered as a exemplification of the principles of the invention and the associated functional specifications of the materials for its construction and is not intended to limit the invention to the embodiment illustrated . those skilled in the art will envision many other possible variations within the scope of the present invention . as described above , prior art solutions propose to store in an encapsulated object : b . a mostly textual description of the metadata ( the semantic of the stored data ); d . the program , also as a bit stream , that was used to store and manipulate the data ( this program runs on m2000 ), including the operating system and other necessary components ). the encapsulated object contains the same components a , b and c described above ; d is different , and e is not needed anymore . d is now seen as one or more programs ( methods , as in object programming ) that can be invoked by a client to recreate the contents of the object . the client program does not “ see ” the contents of the data itself , but accesses it by issuing a function call to an executor ; the parameters specify which method is to be invoked . as in any object - oriented scheme , the interface to the methods deals with data at the logical level , while the data itself may be stored as an internal , implementation dependent level ; the methods are actually routines that decode the bit stream into data immediately usable by the client . the returned data , at a logical level , is much more understandable to the client . it is generally intrinsic to the type of data and therefore is much easier to explain . a description of which methods are available to restore the information hidden in the data , is always available , and part of the metadata . clearly , the methods in d constitute the key to the decoding of the data . how are these methods specified ? some possibilities : 1 . describe the algorithm in a natural language . the difficulties are well known ; and computers scientists have invented all kinds of codes and pseudo - codes to avoid them , leading to the next item : 2 . use a high level language ; however , high level languages are designed to facilitate the writing of a program . they always try to incorporate the latest features that may facilitate program development ; every five or ten years , something new seems to come along and the current language gets obsolete . 3 . use the machine language of the computer on which the algorithm runs in 2000 . this is the option that requires a full emulation of the m2000 to be written at restore time ; we have discussed the difficulties above . instead , the present invention describes the methods as programs written in the machine language of a universal virtual computer ( uvc ). the uvc is a computer in its functionality ; it is virtual because it will never have to be built physically ; it is universal because its definition is so basic that it will endure forever . the uvc program is completely independent of the architecture of the computer on which it runs . it is simply interpreted by a uvc interpreter . a uvc interpreter can be written for any machine . actually , there is nothing to be saved in e since the architecture of m2000 becomes irrelevant . this approach does not have the drawbacks of the method 3 above . if a uvc program is written in m2000 , it can be tested on a uvc interpreter written in 2000 for an m2000 machine . if ten years later , in 2000 + 10 , a new machine architecture comes up , a new uvc interpreter can be written . it can be checked by running the same uvc program through both the 2000 and 2000 + 10 uvc interpreter . in other words any uvc interpreter can be checked by comparison with the interpreter of the previous generation . note that the simpler the structure of the data to be archived , the simpler the uvc program needed to restore the information later on . in addition , the uvc can be very simple — and at the same time very general , so that writing an interpreter at any time remains a simple task , far from the complexity of writing a full machine emulator . in 2100 , a machine m2100 will come with a restart program that will read the contents of the encapsulated object in a virtual memory and then issue requests to the uvc interpreter . some of these requests ( class 1 ) are part of the universal interface that will be known from generation to generation . others ( class 2 ) depend on the data ; they are specific to a class of object . a uvc has a set of registers simulated by the interpreter . a request will put some values into some specific registers before giving control to the interpreter which will execute each instruction in the uvc program , sequentially . the registers used at the interface level are : reg 0 : an integer ( k ) indicating which function is being invoked reg 2 : a pointer to memory to return the tag ( logical type of the data ) or a completion code returned by the function . the uvc interpreter reads a displacement at * reg 2 to branch to the uvc code . it interprets the code that computes the location of the code for function 0 , and starts interpreting . function 0 returns in * reg 3 an ascii description of the alphabet used to encode the characters . it contains the name of the alphabet used for character strings ( using a subset of a very well known alphabet such as ascii ) and , just in case , a full definition such as : use 8 bits per character : “ a ” 80 “ b ” 81 . . . “ a accent grave ” 122 . . . “ u umlaut ” 155 . . . the metadata describes which class 2 requests are available , what type of data each request returns , what the data mean , etc . this is done by adopting a data model . the model is linear so that its mapping onto the bit stream remains simple . flat files , as in the relational model , certainly satisfy that requirement . but , so do hierarchies — at least along one single hierarchical path . since the present invention is not concerned about query language , an old and traditional repeating group model can be used . not surprisingly , xml , which is also concerned about exchanging information between different consumers , is based on the same basic model as described by e . r . harold in xml , extensible markup language ( idg books worldwide , 1998 ). when appropriate , the present invention uses the xml constructs . this is only a preferred embodiment of a model . other equivalents may be envisaged . considering again the data in fig4 the data consist of entries . each entry consists of a sequence of fields , like in flat files . but each field can itself be a list of entries made of fields that can be lists , etc . the repeated group structure looks like this : the same structure ( and types ) can be defined in a simple subset of xml , as follows : the token * means a certain number of . . . ; + means that the item must be present ; ? means optional . we introduce the special terms cdata for character data and ndata for numeric data . for the sake of presentation we also got rid of separators . a way must be provided to be able to look at the metadata . a simple solution consists of using a data type definition ( dtd in xml ). logically , the metadata looks like this : the level specifies the depth of a group ( record ) in the hierarchy ; it takes care of the recursion . the client queries the metadata using a mechansm that is very similar to the one used to restore data ( described in a section below ). the output of the metadata retrieval is shown in fig7 . the introduction of a data model like the one presented above accomplishes the following : it defines a universal interface for accessing the archived data . since it is universal , its definition may have to be stored in more than one place but it certainly does not need to be stored with each archived object . class 2 requests actually return the data . knowing the metadata , the client knows exactly the type of information that is expected . the application executes the following sequence ( expressed here as a piece of pseudo - code in some kind of high level language ). for each field , the value is returned in variable x ( x is actually a structure containing the value together with an indication of the length ) with a tag identifying the field . in the example , the repetitive call to get_field would return the data in the form described in fig8 . the logic used to retrieve the data elements in the order shown in the hierarchy is illustrated in fig9 . since the same method is invoked repeatedly , the state of the process must be saved at each call : this includes the tag of the data element to be returned and , if the tag is ‘ dependent ’, the number of dependents still to be processed . now , we look more carefully at the uvc architecture and the method used to retrieve the data ; as mentioned above , the method is written in the uvc machine language . for example , we consider the section of code corresponding to the lines [ 901 ],[ 902 ] in fig9 . again , as in fig4 the data is encoded as : 4johna23joeb4maryc where a , b , c are 16 - bit integers with respective values 1937 , 1962 , 0 ( for unknown ). it is important to note that the uvc never needs to be implemented physically . therefore there is no actual physical cost . for example , the uvc can have a large number of registers ; each register has a variable number of bits plus a sign bit . the uvc has an unlimited sequential bit - oriented memory . addresses are bit - oriented ( so that a 9 - bit “ byte ” computer can be emulated as easily as an 8 - bit one ). also , since speed is not a real concern ( these programs are run only to restore the data , which are then stored in actual m2100 systems for actual use ), a small set of instructions is sufficient . this reduces the amount of work involved in developing an emulator of the uvc instructions onto a real m2100 machine . writing uvc program themselves is not an issue since compilers will be written to translate high level languages ( which will change in time ) into uvc instructions ( which will not ). the uvc program for lines [ 901 - 4 ] is shown in fig9 . it uses a self explanatory assembler form for loading n bits onto a register ( from a register reg or a memory address * reg ) or moving n bits from memory to memory ( where the memory addresses are specified in registers . the number of bits involved is also stored in a register . for data preservation , it eliminates the need for agreeing on standardized formats . anybody who wants to preserve a file can use any format but must make sure that uvc routines are supplied . only the uvc emulator will have to be written when a new architecture emerges . there is no impact on the archived information . the uvc can be made so general , and at the same time so basic , that its definition will remain relevant in the future . as a result of the universal interface and the fact that the actual extraction of the data is performed by the — also archived — decoding algorithm , the bit stream organization becomes very simple , consisting of : la : 32 bits that contain ( right justified ) the binary representation of the length ( in bits ) of the field a a : the name of a well known alphabet ( such as ascii , ebcdic , etc . . . ), expressed as ascii characters . this is the encoding under which the client will be able to read the field t . t : the description of the alphabet encoding for character string data . note that lt can be 0 and t empty if the alphabet is the same as the one specified in a . clearly , in 2100 , the stream can be decomposed easily in its various components . the interpretation program simply skips 8 bits , interprets the following 32 bits as a length la , reads the la following bits and decomposes them into ascii characters . this yields the name of the alphabet encoding for t . the program then considers the next 32 lt bits , interpreting them as an integer specifying the length of t , reads the next lt bits as t and passes the address of s to the executor , which takes control . note that , in order to restore the information , the present invention relies on two assumptions : that the content of a is stored in ascii , and that the lengths are stored as 32 - bit integers . these assumptions can be made today , well publicized , and identified as assumptions 0 . the value zero is stored as a binary value in the tag . so , a restore program will always first look at the tag and start the decoding using the appropriate assumptions . in the future , if there is ever a reason for changing these assumptions , a tag 1 , then 2 , etc . can be used . in this case , the information to be archived is itself a program . in the straightforward emulation approach , an emulator of m2000 is written , at restoration time , on the m2100 machine . then , that emulator will be able to run the old code . but , writing an emulator for the m2000 in 2100 may be a problem , since no version of m2000 will be in existence ; so nobody will know exactly what the right execution should be . also , any new machine will have to have an emulator to run m2000 programs . in this case , the information stored is itself a program . if the program is only a series of native instructions of the m2000 , it may not require the saving of any other package or operating system . however , if the object is a full running system with input / output interactions , then not only the emulator must be available , but the operating system as well . on the contrary , the present invention does not require the writing of a complex m2000 emulator in 2100 . the uvc approach can be naturally extended to support the archiving of programs . instead of archiving the data in d and the uvc to decode the data in c , the program ( the executable code for m2000 ) will be stored in d and a uvc program that emulates the functioning of m2000 will be stored in c . this time , in 2100 , the uvc interpreter will interpret the m2000 machine instructions . that interpretation will perform exactly as the original program on an m2000 . this suffices if the program does not have any interaction with the external world ( input / output operations or interrupts ). we now look at input / output operations . suppose the program prints on an all - point - addressable black / white printer . the program somewhere issues a start i / o operation with some data . clearly the execution of that instruction is not part of the m2000 . the m2000 only sends the data to an output device control unit which actually performs the operation . our proposal for extending the method to support such operations is as follows . in addition to archiving the uvc program that interprets the m2000 code , another uvc program that mimics the functioning of the control unit must also be archived . finally that emulator must output the page on whatever device will exist in 2100 . that part cannot be anticipated in 2000 . the present invention defines an abstract all - point - addressable printer which is invoked with the parameters ( l , w , pixels ) where l represents the number of pixel lines in the page , w the number of pixels per line and pixels , a bit stream of l times w pixels . in 2100 , the abstract machine will map the pixels into an actual device . this scheme , again , ensures that the difficult part ( which depends heavily on the details of the device ) is written in 2000 when the device exists . it can be fully tested in 2000 by mapping the abstract device into a 2000 device . abstract devices must be similarly defined for sequential tapes ( with operations such as r , w , rewind , skip ), for random access storage units ( r , w at a particular record address ), for sequential character output or input ( screen , keyboard ), for x / y positioning ( mouse , touch - screen , cursor ), etc . in 2000 , for each existing or new machine , the manufacturer needs to provide an emulator of the m2000 written as uvc code . manufacturers of devices in 2000 need to provide uvc code that emulates the device control unit . in 2000 , whoever creates a new data format needs to produce a uvc program to decode the data . in 2100 , every machine manufacturer needs to produce a uvc interpreter . each device manufacturer needs to produce an implementation of the abstract device on the particular 2100 device . the present invention analyzes the challenges of the 100 - year problem : how to archive digital information that is being created so that it may be readable a century from now and beyond . we made a distinction between the archiving of data and the archiving of a program to be executed . the same technique is used to solve both problems : both rely on a virtual computer . for archiving data , the uvc is used to archive methods to access the data . for archiving a program , the uvc is used to specify the functioning of the original computer . what the method accomplishes is to avoid the problem of defining standards under which the data should be stored . these standards would have to be defined for all types of applications , and would have to remain valid for centuries ; this is just unfeasible . instead , the present invention replaces the need for a multitude of standards ( for each format ) by a single standard on a uvc , which is actually independent of any application , and is so basic that it remains relevant in all ages . it would be naive to think that solving the archiving problem is simply a technical challenge . for example , the success of any effort would hinge on the overall agreement of all parties generating new technologies or creating new types of information . but the computer science community has at least the obligation of trying to shed some light on the challenges , and to start addressing the problems . the above uvc used to archive computer data and programs and its described functional elements are implemented in various computing environments . for example , the present invention may be implemented on a conventional ibm pc , mainframe , or equivalent , multi - nodal system ( e . g . lan ) or networking system ( e . g . internet , www ). all programming , guis , display panels and dialog box templates , and data related thereto are stored in computer memory , static or dynamic , and may be retrieved by the user in any of : conventional computer storage , display ( i . e . crt ) and / or hardcopy ( i . e . printed ) formats . a system and method has been shown in the above embodiments for the effective implementation of long term archiving of digital information . while various preferred embodiments have been shown and described , it will be understood that there is no intent to limit the invention by such disclosure , but rather , it is intended to cover all modifications and alternate constructions falling within the spirit and scope of the invention , as defined in the appended claims . for example , the present invention should not be limited by software / program , computing environment , specific computing hardware and uvc .	6
fig1 is a cross sectional view of a semiconductor device according to a first embodiment of the invention . fig2 is a circuit diagram showing the circuit configuration of the semiconductor device according to the first embodiment . referring now to fig1 , n - type well layer 2 is formed in the surface portion of p - type substrate 1 . the n - type well layer 2 works as a floating layer . in the surface portion of n - type well player 2 , p - type well layer 3 and p - type well layer 4 are formed such that p - type well layer 3 and p - type well layer 4 are spaced apart from each other . depletion - type nmosfet 21 is formed in the surface portion of p - type well player 3 . enhancement - type nmosfet 22 is formed in the surface portion of p - type well player 4 . in depletion - type nmosfet 21 , n + - type drain layer 5 and n + - type source layer 6 are formed in the surface portion of p - type well layer 3 such that n + - type drain layer 5 and n + - type source layer 6 are spaced apart from each other . in the surface portion of p - type well layer 3 , n − - type depletion layer 7 is formed such that n − - type depletion layer 7 is in contact with n + - type drain layer 5 and n + - type source layer 6 . an impurity such as phosphorus ( p 31 ) is doped in n − - type depletion layer 7 . in the surface portion of p - type well layer 3 , p + - type pickup layer 8 is also formed . gate electrode 10 is formed above n − - type depletion layer 7 with gate oxide film 9 interposed between n − - type depletion layer 7 and gate electrode 10 . for example , gate oxide film 9 is 170 å in thickness . in enhancement - type nmosfet 22 , n + - type drain layer 11 and n + - type source layer 12 are formed in the surface portion of p - type well layer 4 such that n + - type drain layer 11 and n + - type source layer 12 are spaced apart from each other . in the surface portion of p - type well layer 4 , p − - type channel layer 13 is formed such that p − - type channel layer 13 is in contact with n + - type drain layer 11 and n + - type source layer 12 . in the surface portion of p - type well layer 4 , p + - type pickup layer 14 is also formed . gate electrode 16 is formed above p − - type channel layer 13 with gate oxide film 15 interposed between p − - type channel layer is 13 and gate electrode 16 . for example , gate oxide film 15 is 170 å in thickness . field oxide film 17 is formed in the surface portion of n - type well layer 2 such that field oxide film 17 spaces apart depletion - type nmosfet 21 and enhancement - type nmosfet 22 from each other . field oxide film 18 isolates depletion - type nmosfet 21 from the other devices not shown . field oxide film 19 isolates enhancement - type nmosfet 22 from the other devices not shown . output terminal vref is connected electrically to n + - type source layer 6 and gate electrode 10 in depletion - type nmosfet 21 and to n + - type drain layer 11 and gate electrode 16 in enhancement - type nmosfet 22 . high - potential - side terminal vh is connected electrically to n + - type drain layer 5 in depletion - type nmosfet 21 . low - potential - side terminal vl is connected electrically to p + - type pickup layer 8 in depletion - type nmosfet 21 and to n + - type source layer 12 and p + - type pickup layer 14 in enhancement - type nmosfet 22 . now the method for manufacturing a mos reference voltage circuit according to the first embodiment of the invention will be described below . first , n - type well layer 2 is formed in the surface portion of p - type substrate 1 . then , field oxide films 17 , 18 and 19 are formed . in the surface portion of n - type well layer 2 , p - type well layers 3 and 4 are formed . then , n − - type depletion layer 7 is formed in the surface portion of p - type well layer 3 . depletion layer 7 is doped , for example , with phosphorus ( p 31 ). then , gate oxide film 9 of , for example , 170 □ in thickness is formed on n − - type depletion layer 7 . further , gate electrode 10 is deposited on gate oxide film 9 . in p - type well layer 4 , p − - type channel layer 13 is formed . then , gate oxide film 15 of , for example , 170 å in thickness is formed on p − - type channel layer 13 . further , gate electrode 16 is deposited on gate oxide film 15 . shielding masks are formed on the portions of p - type well layers 3 and 4 , in which any n + - type layer will not be formed . then , n + - type drain layers 5 , 11 and n + - type source layers 6 , 12 are formed by implanting n - type impurity ions over gate electrode 10 , 16 and field oxide films 17 , 18 , 19 . shielding masks are formed on the portions of p - type well layers 3 and 4 , in which any p + - type layer will not be formed . then , p + - type pickup layers 8 and 14 are formed by implanting p - type impurity ions over gate electrodes 10 , 16 and field oxide films 17 , 18 , 19 . then , output terminal vref is connected electrically to n + - type source layer 6 and gate electrode 10 in depletion - type nmosfet 21 and to n + - type drain layer 11 and gate electrode 16 in enhancement - type nmosfet 22 . high - potential - side terminal vh is connected electrically to n + - type drain layer 5 in depletion - type nmosfet 21 . low - potential - side terminal vl is connected electrically to p + - type pickup layer 8 in depletion - type nmosfet 21 and to n + - type source layer 12 and p + - type pickup layer 14 in enhancement - type nmosfet 22 . in fig2 , depletion - type nmosfet 31 and enhancement - type nmosfet 32 are shown . fig3 is a block circuit diagram describing the configuration of a voltage detecting circuit that uses the semiconductor device according to the first embodiment of the invention . as shown in fig3 , voltage detecting circuit section 42 in voltage detecting circuit 40 includes comparators 44 connected to respective lithium battery cells 41 , and mos reference voltage circuits 43 which feed reference voltages to respective comparators 44 . mos reference voltage circuit 43 is configured by the semiconductor device shown in fig1 and 2 . if the cell voltage of each lithium battery cell 41 is 4 . 0 v , the high - potential - side voltage of the battery , which includes four lithium battery cells 41 as shown in fig3 , will be 16 v . mos reference voltage circuit 43 according to the first embodiment is connected to the reference - potential - side of each lithium battery cell 41 . therefore , it is effective to divide the voltage difference of 4 . 0 v and to feed the divided voltage difference to the input - potential - side of each comparator 44 . since comparator 44 is disposed for every lithium battery cell 41 in the mos reference voltage circuit according to the first embodiment , the voltage of every lithium battery cell 41 is detectable . when the battery includes four lithium battery cells , the error caused by the resistance for dividing the high - voltage cell potential and for obtaining a low voltage is suppressed to be ¼ the error caused in the conventional voltage detecting circuit including one comparator . therefore , the voltage of every cell in the battery including many battery cells is detected very precisely according to the first embodiment of the invention . in detail , when the battery includes four lithium battery cells 41 , the voltage for over - charge detection is different by the magnitude of several tens mv from maker to maker according to the prior art . further , for trimming the detected charging voltage finely , it is necessary for voltage dividing resistance r 1 ( cf . fig7 ) to be 16 mω to 20 mω . in contrast , for dividing the voltage of each cell according to the invention , it is enough for the voltage dividing resistance to be 4 mω to 5 mω . therefore , the error caused by the voltage dividing resistance according to the invention is ¼ the error caused according to the prior art . as described above , the precision , with which the voltage of the battery including many cells is detected , is improved and the safety of battery charging is improved . according to the first embodiment , the circuit for detecting the voltages of the respective cells included in a battery can be configured on one chip . fig4 is a cross sectional view of a semiconductor device according to a second embodiment of the invention . the semiconductor device according to the second embodiment is different from the semiconductor device according to the first embodiment in that gate oxide films 51 and 52 thereof are around 300 □ in thickness . generally , the recommended operating voltage per the thickness of a gate oxide film in the mosfet is from 3 . 0 mv / cm to 3 . 3 mv / cm . therefore , the gate oxide film is 300 å in thickness for sustaining the breakdown voltage of around 10 v . the semiconductor device according to the second embodiment facilitates detecting a voltage very precisely when it is required for the semiconductor device to exhibit a breakdown voltage of around 10 v . fig5 is a cross sectional view of a semiconductor device according to a third embodiment of the invention . the semiconductor device according to the third embodiment is different from the semiconductor devices according to the first and second embodiments in that the semiconductor device according to the third embodiment is manufactured using an epitaxial substrate . as shown in fig5 , the epitaxial substrate includes n - type buried layer 71 on p - type substrate 1 , and p - type epitaxial layer 72 laminated on n - type buried layer 71 . epitaxial layer 72 works as a floating layer . in the surface portion of p - type epitaxial layer 72 , p - type well layer 73 is formed . in the surface portion of p - type well layer 73 , depletion - type nmosfet 101 and enhancement - type nmosfet 102 are formed such that depletion - type nmosfet 101 and enhancement - type nmosfet 102 are spaced apart from each other . by making the potential of p - type epitaxial layer 72 float , the semiconductor device according to the third embodiment obtains the effects similar to the effects which the semiconductor devices according to the first and second embodiments exhibit . as described above , the semiconductor device according to the invention is very useful for a reference voltage circuit . especially , the semiconductor device according to the invention is suitable for a voltage detecting circuit for detecting the voltage of a battery such as a lithium ion battery . this application is based on , and claims priority to , japanese patent application no : 2007 - 238924 , filed on sep . 14 , 2007 . the disclosure of the priority application , in its entirety , including the drawings , claims , and the specification thereof , is incorporated herein by reference .	7
heart cells from mouse embryos were cultured in dmem supplemented with 20 % fcs , l - glutamine ( 2 mmol / l ) and nonessential amino acids ( all chemicals from sigma - aldrich ). a drop of the cell suspension ( 10 7 cells / ml ) was placed on an mea produced by the applicant and having 60 microelectrodes . after attachment of the cells , culture medium was added to give a final volume of 800 μl . after 1 to 3 days in culture , the cells formed a confluent monolayer of multicellular aggregates which showed spontaneous beating activities . the fp wave shapes measured with the mea after 4 days in culture are shown in fig1 a . different fp wave shapes were recorded on different microelectrodes , of which two representative examples are shown enlarged in fig1 b . the field potential shows in each case a recurring pattern in the beat rhythm with a first minimum fpmin and a last maximum fpmax , where fpmin and fpmax could in each case be preceded by a further maximum fppre and fpslow . the time interval between the first minimum and the last maximum is designated as fpdur . a further parameter of the fp wave shape is the duration of the falling or declining flank in the fp wave shape from the base line to the first minimum fpmin which is characterized by a parameter fprise . fprise is calculated as the duration between reaching 10 % of fpmin and reaching fpmin . it was found that fpdur and fprise are important parameters which can be calculated from the extacellularly derived fp wave shape and which change in a manner comparable to qt upon addition of qt - modifying substances . in a method comparable to example 1 , ventricular myocytes from chicken embryos were in this case cultured on the mea . the heart muscle cells were obtained by trypsin digestion of the isolated ventricle of chicken embryos ( 10 - 12 days after fertilization ). the heart was freed of blood vessels and atria . the cells were cultured in mem medium supplemented with 10 % fetal calf serum ( fcs ). one to two days before the measurement , the medium was replaced by standard tyrode solution . the heart cells were again cultured on the mea , the derivation and recording time being 10 minutes , which in most cases proved sufficient to permit conclusions to be drawn in this control experiment concerning heart rate and stability of the qt interval . the standard tyrode solution was then replaced by a tyrode solution with 5 μm of a test substance and the change in fpdur was determined . thereafter , the concentration of the test substance was increased in logarithmic steps . a measurement was now taken every 10 minutes . in a first test , the substances tested were quinidine and digoxin , the influence of which on qt has long been known . quinidine has a qt - prolonging effect and is used as an antiarrhythmic agent ; see for example w . b . campbell , “ ekg of the month : qt prolongation induced by quinidine in therapeutic doses ”, in j . tenn . med . assoc . 1982 , 75 ( 5 ): 340 - 341 . by contrast , digoxin has a qt - shortening effect and is used in chronic heart insufficiency and to prevent and treat tachycardia ; see , for example , joubert et al ., “ a correlative study of serum digoxin levels and electrocardiographic measurements ”, in s . afr . med . 1975 , 49 ( 29 ): 1177 . in measurements with quinidine , 0 . 5 % dmso was added to the cell tyrode since quinidine is not water - soluble . the control experiment was also carried out with dmso here . initial evaluations of these experiments showed that addition of digoxin led to a decrease in fpdur and addition of quinidine led to an increase in fpdur . in these qualitative evaluations , i . e . comparison of data from the respective control experiment and the data derived from addition of the qt - modifying substance , possible changes in the heart rate were taken into account . fig2 shows typical measured values which were determined in the tests described here for quinidine at different concentrations . fig2 a shows a typical time course for a field potential measured on meas , while fig2 b shows field potential courses after addition of the respectively indicated quinidine concentrations for 200 seconds . a qt prolongation increasing with concentration can be clearly seen from the increase in fpdur . in fig2 c , the dose - dependent prolongation is indicated as fpdur ( qt ) or as fpdur normalized with the heart rate ( qtc ). for the normalized case , the fpdur value was divided by the square root of the time span ( in seconds ) between two action potentials . fig3 shows the diagrammatic comparison between ecg , action potential , potassium ion current i ( kr ) and mea field potential for ventricular myocytes from chicken embryos without addition ( normal ) and with addition ( qt prolongation ) of quinidine . it can clearly be seen that the qt prolongation observed in the ecg has its correspondence not only in the measured action potential but also in the field potential , fpdur changes measured by meas are therefore a direct measure for qt changes . fig4 shows by comparison the normalized qt interval for four different active substances whose effect on ventricular myocytes from chicken embryos was determined with meas . it has been found that verapamil ( 5 -[ n -( 3 , 4 - dimethoxyphenylethyl ) methylamino ]- 2 -( 3 , 4 - dimethoxyphenyl )- 2 - isopropylvaleronitrile hydrochloride ) in the concentration range of from 1 nm to 3 μm has only a very slight effect on qt , although it is known as an antagonist for the l - type calcium channel and blocks potassium channels . although verapamil would therefore be ruled out as potential medicament in an herg test , the mea measurement on spontaneously active heart cells shows that no appreciable qt change is caused . it follows from this that measurements on only one channel ( such as herg ) do not correctly reflect the complex inter - relationships and may lead to false - positive results , whereas this is not the case in mea measurements ( via fpdur ). as a control , fig4 plots the qt changes for the above - discussed quinidine and for e4031 and sotalol , each of which is known to lead to a qt prolongation . for quinidine , the prolongation of the qt interval in the ecg has been described by a great many authors , and it is recognized by the fda . likewise , the fda confirms an influence of quinidine on the occurrence of tachycardia / torsades de pointes leading to ventricular fibrillation . the qt prolongation was already demonstrated in the 70 s . more recent works show an inhibitory effect of quinidine on heterologously expressed herg channels , as a molecular mediator of qt prolongation . qt prolongations are already shown in vitro in the mea system at therapeutic concentrations in the range of 2 - 7 μm . sotalol , ( n -[ 4 -[ 1 - hydroxy - 2 -( isopropylamino ) ethyl ] phenyl ] methanesulfonamidehydrochloride , is also used as an antiarrhythmic agent . qt prolongation and triggering of torsades de pointes have been described in many instances and accepted as side effects . the risk of torsades de pointes is much higher in female patients than in male patients . in the measurements carried out here , a clear prolongation of the action potential was shown ( about double ). for the known effects of sotalol , reference is made , for example , to : farkas a ., lepran i ., papp j . g . : proarrhythmic effects of intravenous quinidine , amiodarone , d - sotalol , and almokalant in the anesthetized rabbit model of torsade de pointes ; j . cardiovasc . pharmacol . 2002 february ; 39 ( 2 ): 287 - 297 . e4031 , { 4 ′-[[ 1 -[ 2 -( 6 - methyl - 2 - pyridinyl ) ethyl - 4 - piperidinyl ] carbonyl ] methanesulfonamide , 2hcl }, is not a medication , but a highly selective inhibitor of i ( kr ) current . this current is responsible for the repolarization of the ventricular action potential . in terms of molecular biology , the channel through which most of the i ( kr ) current flows is referred to as herg ( human ether - a - gogo - related gene ). since herg channels are often used in heterologous expression systems as in vitro assay for a potential qt prolongation , this substance is of particular importance as a reference . the sensitivity of the mea system is also clear from the fact that even submicromolecular concentrations of e4031 lead to inhibition of the i ( kr ) current , which is expressed in a prolongation of the ventricular action potential of over 90 %. at higher concentrations , the cells no longer have any spontaneous contractions . for the effect of e4031 , see for example webster r ., allan g ., anto - awuakye k ., harrison a ., kidd t ., leishman d ., walker d . : pharmacokinetic / pharmacodynamic assessment of the effects of e4031 , cisapride , terfenadine and terodiline on monophasic action potential duration in dog , xenobiotica . 2001 august - september ; 31 ( 8 - 9 ): 633 - 650 . in so far , the inventors could show the prolongating effect of quinidine , amiodarone ( antiarrhythmic agent ), terfenadin ( antihistaminic agent ), astemizol ( antihistamic agent ), e - 4031 , cisapride ( prokinetic agent ), sotalol and fexofenafine ( antihistaminic agent ) ( the latter only at very high concentrations ), respectively , on the qt interval . no qt prolongation was found for verapamil ( herg blocker ) and ivabradine ( ikf blocker , regulates pace maker current ). further , two substances with so far unknown effect on qt interval have been tested , whereby rilmakalim ( ikatp opener ) reduced the frequency but did not prolong the field potential , but h1098 had a remarkably prolonged field potential .	2
while this invention may be embodied in many different forms , there are described in detail herein a specific preferred embodiment of the invention . this description is an exemplification of the principles of the invention and is not intended to limit the invention to the particular embodiment illustrated . the cut - to - size piece 1 ′ of fig1 has a bottom wall 2 , a side wall 3 hinged to a longitudinal side of bottom wall 2 , a side wall 5 hinged to another longitudinal side of bottom wall 2 and a top wall 6 hinged to another longitudinal side of side wall 5 . side walls 3 , 5 each have a lower side wall portion 3 ′, 5 ′ in the shape of a rectangle and an upper side wall portion 3 ″, 5 ″ in the shape of a trapezoid . bottom wall 2 , top wall 4 , and further top wall 6 are rectangular with top wall 4 and further top wall 6 being of a slightly smaller longitudinal extension than is bottom wall 2 . the two transverse sides of bottom wall 2 have hinged thereto approximately rectangular bottom wall elements 7 ′, 7 ″. the transverse sides of top wall 4 have hinged thereto upper side wall elements 8 ′, 8 ″ which also are approximately rectangular . the transverse sides of rectangular portions 3 ′, 5 ′ of side walls 3 , 5 have hinged thereto lower side wall flaps 9 ′, 9 ″, 10 ′, 10 ″ which are of a substantially rectangular shape each . the transverse sides of trapezoidal portions 3 ″, 5 ″ of side walls 3 , 5 have hinged thereto upper side wall flaps 11 ′, 11 ″, 12 ′, 12 ″ which are of a substantially trapezoidal shape each . the transverse sides of the further top wall 6 have hinged thereto side flaps 13 ′, 13 ″ which are of an approximately trapezoidal shape . top wall 4 and side wall elements 8 ′, 8 ″ have defined therein a handle portion 14 by punched lines . it has a strip - shaped central portion 15 which is completely disposed in top wall 4 . further , handle portion 14 has fork - shaped end portions 16 ′, 16 ″ which extend each in top wall 4 and a side wall element 8 ′, 8 ″. fork - shaped end portions 16 ′, 16 ″ each have two prongs 17 ′, 17 ″ and 17 ′″, 17 iv , respectively which extend in top wall 4 and into one of the two side wall elements 8 ′, 8 ″. fork - shaped end portions 16 ′, 16 ″ end in the side wall elements 8 ′, 8 ″ not very distant from their hinging point at top wall 4 . the outer punched lines which define handle portion 4 end in filletings 18 ′, 18 ″, 18 ′″, 8 iv bent away from handle portion 14 in side wall elements 8 ′, 8 ″. top wall 4 has punched - out portions 19 ′, 19 ″, which are approximately tray - shaped , on either side of strip - shaped central portion 15 . punched - out portions 19 ′, 19 ″ are apertures to place hands in . punched - out portions 19 ′, 19 ″ have tabs 20 ′, 20 ″ hinged to the longitudinal sides of strip - shaped central portion 15 which are separated by weakening lines from the remaining top wall 4 . the further top wall 6 has a further strip - shaped central portion 21 defined by a circumferential weakening line which runs in the longitudinal direction of the further top wall 6 . the two longitudinal sides of the further strip - shaped central portion 21 , in the further top wall , have prepared thereon approximately rectangular tabs 22 ′, 22 ″ which can be pressed in by hand , which exposes further apertures to place hands in which are approximately in congruence with the punched - out portions 19 ′, 19 ″ and , for simplicity , are also designated as 22 ′, 22 ″. the further top wall 6 has located therein four reversing tabs 23 ′, 23 ″, 23 ′″, 23 iv which are oriented lengthwise and extend to the transverse sides of the further top wall 6 . those have two transversely oriented channelled lines 24 ′ 24 ″. further , each side flap 13 ′, 13 ″ has located therein two reversing tabs 25 ′, 25 ″, 25 ′″, 25 iv which also are transversely oriented and extend to the hinged joints of side flaps 13 ′, 13 ″ on the further top wall 6 . each of the reversing tabs 25 ′, 25 ″, 25 ′″, 25 iv is oriented to an adjoining reversing tab 23 ′, 23 ″, 23 ′″, 23 iv with a slot - shaped punched - out portion 26 ′, 26 ″, 26 ′″, 26 iv being therebetween . side walls 3 , 5 have located therein pull - up tabs 27 , 28 which are defined by weakening lines . pull - up tabs 27 , 28 extend downwards from the hinged joint on top wall 4 and further top wall and have a short tongue - shaped gripping tab 29 , 30 at the lower end . a bottle carrier may be manufactured from this cut - to - size piece 1 ′ and be filled with bottles as follows : the cut - to - size piece 1 ′ may be enveloped around a set of three times four bottles with top wall 4 being placed on top of further top wall 6 and top wall 4 and further top wall 6 being glued to each other in the area of the strip - shaped central portion 15 and the further strip - shaped central portion 21 disposed underneath as well as outside the handle portion 14 and the reversing tabs 23 ′, 23 ″, 23 ′″, 23 iv disposed under the fork prongs 17 ′, 17 ″, 17 ′″, 17 iv . glueing can be done even before , in which case the set of bottles can be introduced subsequently into the cut - to - size piece 1 ′, which has been brought into an envelope shape , through the front - sided aperture . the bottles will seat their bottoms on the bottom wall 2 and orient their mouths onto top wall 4 . subsequently , all of the side wall flaps 9 ′, 9 ″, 10 ′, 10 ″, 11 ′, 11 ″, 12 ′, 12 ″ are folded into the front - sided apertures . finally , the side wall elements 7 ′, 7 ″, 8 ′, 8 ″ are also folded into the front - sided apertures and are glued to each other and to the side wall flaps 9 ′, 9 ″ to 12 ′, 12 ″. this will form further side walls . this completes the bottle carrier which is then ready to be stored and carried . to carry it , the user presses the fingers of one hand against the tabs 20 ′, 20 ″ and 22 ′, 22 ″, forcing them downwards until they fold under the ( further ) strip - shaped central portions 15 , 21 . then , he pulls the ( further ) strip - shaped central portions 15 , 21 upwards . as a result , fork prongs 17 ′ to 17 iv are slightly drawn into the inner volume of the bottle carrier , which causes them to enter the vacant spaces between the upper areas of adjoining bottles . three bottles each are arranged on the transverse sides of the bottle carrier with each middle bottle gripping in between the prongs 17 ′, 17 ″ and 17 ′″, 17 iv of a fork - shaped end portion 16 ′, 16 ″ and the outer bottles being placed each at the outer surfaces of fork prongs 17 ′ to 17 iv . the deformation of the fork - shaped end portion 16 ′, 16 ″ is limited by the reversing tabs 23 ′ to 23 iv and 25 ′ to 25 iv , which force the fork prongs 17 ′ to 17 iv onto an approximately curved path . at this point , the adjoining reversing tabs 23 ′ to 23 iv and 25 ′ to 25 iv may escape each other because of the slots formed 26 ′ to 26 iv therebetween and the channelled lines 23 ′ to 23 iv . the “ retraction ” of areas of the fork - shaped end portions into the interior of the bottle carrier makes it possible to remove the ( further ) strip - shaped central portion 15 , 21 from the bottles by such a distance that they will not interfere with carrying . in addition , this achieves a favourable transfer of forces from the handle portion 14 into the further side walls . in contrast to the cut - to - size piece 1 ′, the cut - to - size piece 1 ″ has pull - up tabs 27 ′, 28 ′ in the side walls 3 , 5 that are torn open from top and do not have any gripping tab at bottom . the embodiment of fig2 is of advantage particularly for long - neck bottles . here , the parabolic pull - up tabs 27 ′, 28 ′ still achieve sufficient stability even after bring opened , which allows to carry reinserted bottles . in addition , the top wall 4 and the side wall elements 8 ′, 8 ″ have upper pull - up tabs 31 , 32 which are arranged on either side of handle portion 14 . they are defined by punched lines which externally define the punched - out portions 19 ′, 19 ″ and the fork - shaped end portions 17 ′ to 17 iv . further , straight - lined weakening lines run from the filletings 18 ′ to 18 iv in the side wall elements 8 ′, 8 ″ to the lateral borders of the side wall elements 8 ′, 8 ″. as a particularity , the further top wall 6 has four reversing tabs 23 v to 23 viii which are tapered towards the side flaps 13 ′, 13 ″ in the shape of an arrow tip . on either side of the further central portion 21 , the further top wall 6 and the side flaps 13 ′, 13 ″ have located therein further upper pull - up tabs 34 , 35 . those are defined by further pull - up lines 36 ′ to 36 iv which extend from the narrow ends of rectangular tabs 22 ′, 22 ″ to the outer borders of reversing tabs 23 v to 23 viii . in addition , the further upper pull - up tabs 34 , 35 are defined by further straight - lined weakening lines 37 ′ to 37 iv which run in the side flaps 13 ′, 13 ″ from the reversing tabs 25 ′ to 25 iv to the lateral borders of side flaps 13 ′, 13 ″. in this cut - to - size piece 1 ″, the top wall 4 and the further top wall 6 are glued to each other in the area of the strip - shaped central portion 15 and the further strip - shaped central portion 21 . furthermore , the upper and further upper pull - up tabs 31 and 34 as well as 32 and 35 are glued to each other . also here , a set of bottles may be pushed through a front - sided aperture of the cut - to - size piece 1 ″ brought into an envelope shape , in which case the reversing tabs 23 v to 23 viii facing the push - in aperture , because of the taper , are raised by the bottles being pushed in if they protrude into the interior . for handling , the tabs 20 ′, 20 ″ and 22 ′, 22 ″ are folded under the central portions 15 , 21 and are then raised together with these . for bottle removal , the upper pull - up tabs 31 , 32 , along with the further upper pull - up tabs 34 , 35 pasted on , are torn out starting from the punched - out portions 19 ; 19 ″, at least until the weakening lines 33 ′ to 34 iv and 37 ′ to 37 iv are torn apart . the user may outwardly fold the tom - apart pull - up tabs 31 , 32 , 34 , 35 or may even detach the pull - up tabs 27 ′, 28 ″ from the bottle carrier . then , the bottles may be conveniently drawn out both at top and at the side and may be reinserted later . the cut - to - size piece 1 ′″ is initially distinguished from the cut - to - size piece 1 ′ by the configuration of the pull - up tabs 27 ′, 28 ″ in the side walls 3 , 5 . the pull - up tabs 27 ″, 28 ″ each are defined by a straight - lined weakening line which runs between the lower side wall portion 3 ′, 5 ′ and the upper side wall portion 3 ″, 5 ″. in the side wall elements 8 ′, 8 ″, the upper pull - up tabs 31 ′, 32 ″ are defined by weakening lines 33 v to 33 viii which extend from the filletings 18 ′ to 18 iv and initially run in parallel with the borders of the side wall elements 8 ′, 8 ″ and are then angled towards the borders . in the side flaps 13 ′, 13 ″, the further upper pull - up tabs 34 ′, 35 ′ are defined straight - lined weakening lines 37 v to 37 viii which come to terminate towards the ends of the side flaps 13 ′, 13 ″. the top wall 4 and the further top wall 6 are glued to each other in the area of the central portion 15 and the further central wall portion 21 and in the area of the upper and further pull - up tabs 31 ′ and 34 ′ as well as 32 ′ and 35 ′. for opening , the upper pull - up tabs 31 ′, 34 ′, 32 ′, 35 ′ are torn out starting from the punched - out portions 19 ′, 19 ″, at least until the weakening lines 33 v to 33 viii and 37 v to 33 viii are torn apart . the pull - up tabs 27 ″, 28 ″ may also be torn out in addition afterwards . the cut - to - size piece 1 iv of fig4 is distinguished from the cut - to - size piece 1 ′ by the fact that the further central portion 21 in the further top wall 6 is joined to two further fork - shaped end portions 38 ′, 38 ″ which extend to end in the side flaps 13 ′, 13 ″. the further central portion 21 and the further fork - shaped end portions 38 ′, 38 ″ are substantially in congruence with the central portion 21 and the fork - shaped end portions 16 ′, 16 ″ of the top wall 4 or side wall elements 8 ′, 8 ″. fork prongs 39 ′ to 39 iv of the punched lines defining the fork - shaped end portions 38 ′, 38 ″ extend to terminate in filletings 40 ′ to 40 iv in the side flaps 13 ′, 13 ″. fork prongs 17 ′ to 17 iv have located therebetween intermediate tabs 41 ′, 41 ″ which extend from the side wall elements 8 ′, 8 ″ to terminate in the top wall 4 . fork prongs 39 ′ to 39 iv have located therebetween further intermediate tabs 42 ′, 42 ″ which extend from the side flaps 13 ′, 13 ″ to terminate in the further top wall 6 . they have a mushroom head - shaped widenings 43 ′, 43 ″ each within the further top wall 6 . large punched - out portions or flaps 22 ′″, 22 iv are located on either side of the further central portion 21 . in a bottle carrier formed by the cut - to - size piece 1 iv , the central portions 15 , 21 and the fork - shaped end portions 16 ′, 38 ′ and 16 ″, 38 ″ are glued to each other . furthermore , each intermediate tab 41 ′, 41 ″ is glued to a further intermediate tab 42 ″, 42 ″. when the central portions 15 , 21 are raised the fork - shaped end portions 16 ′, 38 ′ and 16 ″, 38 ″ penetrate into the intermediate areas between the bottles . the outer portions of fork - shaped end portions 38 ′, 38 ″ are pushed over the mushroom head - shaped widenings 43 ′, 43 ″, retaining the further intermediate tabs 42 ′, 42 ″ and the intermediate tabs 41 ′, 41 ″ on the upper surfaces of the bottles . in contrast to the cut - to - size piece 1 v of fig5 the cut - to - size piece 1 ′ has a handle portion 14 ′ including fork - shaped end portions 16 ′″, 16 iv which have three fork prongs 17 v to 17 x each . the punched lines externally defining the fork prongs 17 v , 17 vii , 17 viii , and 17 x have a filleting 18 ′ to 18 iv each . furthermore , the further strip - shaped central portion 21 ′ in the further top wall 6 has strip - shaped end portions 21 ″, 21 ′″ which come to terminate in the side flaps 13 ′, 13 ″. the reversing tabs 23 v to 23 viii and 25 ′ to 25 v are designed as for the cut - to - size pieces 1 ′ and 1 ′″. a bottle carrier formed from the cut - to - size piece 1 v is capable of accommodating four times five bottles . the strip - shaped central portions 15 and 21 ′ are glued to each other and so are the fork prongs 17 vi and 17 ix to the strip - shaped end portions 21 ″, 21 ′″. for carrying , the tabs 20 ′, 20 ″ and 22 ′, 22 ″ are folded down on either side of the strip - shaped central portions 25 , 21 ′ and are raised , along with the strip - shaped central portions 25 , 21 ′. at this stage , the fork prongs 16 iii , 16 iv , and the strip - shaped end portions 21 ″, 21 ′″ penetrate into the vacant spaces next to the two middle bottles of the two outer rows of bottles . the handle portion 14 ′ of the bottle carrier made from the cut - to - size piece 1 iv is specifically protected against being torn off due to torsional loads . in contrast to the cut - to - size piece 1 v , the cut - to - size piece 1 iv of fig6 has ovally designed handle apertures 44 ′, 44 ″ in the side wall elements 8 ′, 8 ″. the handle apertures 44 ′, 44 ″ have located therein gripping tabs 45 ′, 45 ″ each , which are hinged at top , i . e . to the border of the handle apertures 44 ′, 44 ″ that is adjacent to the fork prongs 17 v to 17 x . the gripping tabs 45 ′, 45 ″ each have two straight folding lines 46 ′, 47 ′, 46 ″, 47 ″ which run from the upper border to the lower border of the handle apertures 44 ′, 44 ″ and approach each other in this direction . these allow to fold the gripping tabs 45 ′, 45 ″ in between the middle bottles of the outer rows , in which case the outer gripping tab portions , when contacting the bottle necks , swivel inwards and can swivel out again after them . further , the particularity of the cut - to - size piece 1 v is that they have bulges 4 ′, 4 ″ and 6 ′, 6 ″ in the top wall 4 and the further top wall 6 adjacent to the tabs 20 ′, 20 ″ and 22 ′, 22 ″, which bulges cover the upper areas of bottles located underneath . this makes it easier to swivel the tabs 20 ′, 20 ″ and 22 ′, 22 ″ downwards between the covered bottles in order to raise the strip - shaped central portions 15 , 21 ′. finally , the particularity of the cut - to - size piece 1 v is that it has asymmetrically formed pull - up tabs 27 ′″, 28 ′″. the gripping tabs 29 , 30 thereof are arranged so as to allow themselves to be forced into the intermediate areas between two bottles , which makes it easier to tear open the pull - up tabs 27 ′″, 28 ′″. the above examples and disclosure are intended to be illustrative and not exhaustive . these examples and description will suggest many variations and alternatives to one of ordinary skill in this art . all these alternatives and variations are intended to be included within the scope of the attached claims . those familiar with the art may recognize other equivalents to the specific embodiments described herein which equivalents are also intended to be encompassed by the claims attached hereto .	1
fig1 illustrates a diaphragm assist device according to an embodiment of the invention . in the illustrated embodiment , the device includes a magnetic mat 10 which is adapted to be mounted inside the human body , within the thoracic cavity and adjacent the diaphragm d . preferably , the mat 10 is a permanent magnet made from a flexible ferro - magnetic material , including but not limited to samarium cobalt , neodymium iron , and neodymium iron boron ( nefebo ). it can be appreciated , however , that the mat may comprise other materials ( such as a superconductive material ) so long as the mat is sufficiently responsive to application of an electromagnetic field to compress the diaphragm in accordance with the principles of the present invention . regardless of the material used , however , the exterior surface of the mat should be chemically inert , and not immunogenic , so that it does not react with blood , tissue , or organs . if necessary , the mat may be coated or surrounded by an inert substance , including but not limited to polyvinyl chloride ( pvc ), polytetrafluoroethylene ( ptfe ), and zinc . in an embodiment , each magnetic mat has a curvilinear , relatively flat shape and is made from neodymium iron boron ( nefebo ) and has a zinc coating . the mat 10 is supported within the body , preferably in contact with the superior dome of the diaphragm d . if both diaphragms are paralyzed , a magnetic mat may be placed over each diaphragm , as shown in fig1 . preferably , the mat support comprises a plurality of heavy mono - filament threads 20 each having one end secured to the mat and another end secured to the rib cage r ( or sternum ). the threads are flexible to permit movement of the mat , and should be sufficiently strong to withstand continued flexing without breakage . when the mat is disposed on the diaphragm , the threads 20 may also be sutured through the diaphragm so that the mat will stay in position . it can be appreciated that many alternatives to the mono - filament threads can be used to support the mat , as long as such alternatives maintain the mat in movably supported relation proximate to the diaphragm . in an embodiment , the mat 10 may also include , a silicone or silicone - like sleeve 50 , or , alternatively , each magnetic mat may be covered with silicone or a silicone - like substance to decrease the risk of injury to the diaphragm and also to decrease the risk of contact reactivity . further details of a suitable sleeve may be found in u . s . patent application ser . no . 11 / 648 , 914 , which is incorporated herein by reference . the silicone sleeves that cover each mat may be secured loosely to the patient &# 39 ; s ribs and located closely to diaphragmatic tissue . the mat 10 may be placed via thoracoscopy in sections with tongue and groove interlocking joints or hinges . further details of a magnetic mat that includes sections and hinges may be found in u . s . patent application ser . no . 11 / 648 , 635 , which is incorporated herein by reference . the heavy mono - filament threads 20 each have one end thereof secured to the peripheral edges of two opposite sides of the mat , which preferably has a substantially rectangular or oval shape . an incision may be made immediately below the breastbone using the sub - xiphoid approach , and the threads may then be sutured to the rib cage and / or sternum by use of curved trochar sheath . enough slack should be left in the mono - filament sutures to permit movement of the mat 10 into compressive relation with the diaphragm upon application of an electromagnetic field to the mat 10 , as described in further detail below . an electromagnetic assembly 12 is adapted to be mounted externally to the human body , preferably so that it surrounds the torso t of the body , in functionally cooperative relation with respect to the mat 10 . the electromagnetic assembly 12 includes at least one induction coil 13 that surrounds the torso of the body and to which a current is provided ( preferably by a d . c . battery , not shown ) to generate or produce an electromagnetic field mf , which moves the mat in a first direction into compressive relation with the diaphragm and away from the lungs l , as shown in fig2 by arrow f . the operation of the electromagnetic assembly and the magnetic mat may be similar to the electromagnetic assembly and mat disclosed by u . s . pat . no . 5 , 498 , 228 , which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety . more particularly , the electromagnetic assembly 12 may alternately generate and discontinue the electromagnetic field to alternately move the diaphragm and then permit the diaphragm to relax , thereby assisting the mechanical pumping function of the diaphragm . the magnitude of the force produced will be proportionally dependent on the mat &# 39 ; s magnetic field strength , the amount of current traveling through the electromagnetic assembly 12 , and the number of current - turns in the electromagnetic assembly 12 , but inversely proportional to the distance between the electromagnetic assembly and the mat . optimal coil function may be seen when the coil is adjacent to the torso , with the shortest distance between the ribs and coil . the current in the coil is controlled in time regarding onset and duration , in power regarding quantity of current delivered , and direction as to reverse polarity . for example , the electromagnetic assembly 12 may be configured so that the current that is provided to the coil 13 may be reversed so that a second electromagnetic field mf ′ may be applied to the magnetic mat , which causes the magnetic mat to be moved in a second direction that is away from the diaphragm and toward the lungs l , as shown in fig3 and represented by arrow f ′. because the mat will tend to stick to the diaphragm , the diaphragm will move with the mat 10 via suction . in an embodiment , the mat 10 may be physically attached to the diaphragm d with sutures . when properly timed , such an application and reversal of the electromagnetic field mf may further improve the assistance being provided to the patient , as described in further detail below . as shown in fig4 and 5 , the electromagnetic assembly 12 may include a hinge 60 that is configured to allow the electromagnetic assembly 12 to open up like a clamshell . after opening the electromagnetic assembly 12 , the patient would lie in the assembly 12 and the assembly 12 may close and lock with a locking structure 62 so that the coil 13 is a continuous structure wrapped around the torso t . as shown in fig6 , the diaphragm assist device also includes a transthoracic impedance device (“ tid ”) 28 that measures transthoracic impedance as the patients breathes . a controller 22 may be programmed with what would be normal transthoracic impedance measurements during inspiration and expiration . as the patient produces , what would be for the patient a normal inspiration , the transthoracic impedance changes , thereby yielding a curve . when inspiration is detected by the device per the curve , current is provided to the coil 13 , which moves the magnetic mat 10 through the coil 13 in a direction as determined by the polarity of the mat and the coil , which is set during manufacture . as the transthoracic impedance device 28 detects expiration , the current provided to the coil 13 may be turned off , or if desired , the current flow may be reversed to that the polarity of the electromagnetic field that is generated by the coil 13 may be reversed to produce opposite movement of the mat 10 and diaphragm . in this manner , both expiration and inspiration may be augmented . the interaction of the coil 13 with the magnetic mat 10 on the diaphragm d will produce a physical force vector both on the diaphragm d and on the coil 13 . piezoelectric sensors 14 on the electromagnetic assembly 12 may be used to indicate how much force is being applied to the diaphragm d in each direction . this is a feedback mechanism that may be used to avoid excessive force on the diaphragm and potential injury to the diaphragm . as shown in fig6 , the sensors 14 forms part of an electronic feedback / control loop , and function to evaluate the compressive resistance of the diaphragm during movement of the mat into compressive relation with the diaphragm . the transducer 14 senses the compressive pressure or force applied thereto and outputs a voltage proportional to such force or pressure . the controller 22 receives the signal generated by the transducer and controls the intensity of said electromagnetic field generated by the electromagnetic assembly as a function of that signal . as a result , the controller effectively controls the degree to which the mat moves the diaphragm . more specifically , the controller 22 includes a compensation / comparison circuit 26 ( or “ compensation circuit ”) which compares the voltage generated by the sensors 14 to a command voltage generated by command voltage generator 24 . the command voltage corresponds to a predetermined voltage which represents the ideal amount of force required to move the diaphragm . the compensation / comparison circuit 26 measures the difference between the voltage generated by the sensors 14 and the command voltage , and then digitally compensates for such difference so that an appropriate amount of current is sent through the coil 13 in the electromagnetic assembly 12 . for example , if the voltage generated by sensors 14 is less than the command voltage , the compensation circuit 26 will ramp up the current sent through the coil 13 and thereby increase the intensity of the magnetic field applied by electromagnetic assembly 12 . in contrast , if the voltage generated by sensors 14 is less more than the command voltage , the compensation circuit will decrease the amount of current through the coil 13 and thereby decrease the intensity of the magnetic field applied by the electromagnetic assembly 12 . thus , the intensity or magnitude of the electromagnetic field generated by the electromagnetic assembly is controlled so that the force applied by the mat 10 to the diaphragm remains within a predetermined range with each compressive stroke . the predetermined amount of force to be applied to the diaphragm in order to obtain the desired output is determined experimentally during an initial procedure wherein a catheter , may placed in the body to monitor pressures in the body near the diaphragm . the pressures are correlated with the voltages generated by the sensors 14 , and after several days of experimentation , the catheter may be removed . the sensors 14 thereafter may generate a voltage as a function of the resistance of the diaphragm . while the magnitude of the electromagnetic field generated by the electromagnetic assembly 12 is controlled by the controller 22 , together with the sensors 14 , it can be appreciated that the frequency of the electromagnetic field will coincide with the natural contractions of the diaphragm . the initial treatment course , which may include a series of treatments may be evaluated regarding the current delivered to the coil and pressure production on the diaphragm . the patient &# 39 ; s resting title volumes , heart rate , oxygen saturation , and respiratory rate may be monitored to determine treatment efficacy . after the initial series , a treatment program may be set up with given currents . initial treatments may be performed by a fixed device in which the patient may come to a hospital or doctor &# 39 ; s office for initial treatment , and evaluation of the treatment , until a safety protocol has been outlined for that specific patient . once the patient has safely undergone a series of treatments and current delivery parameters have been established , a portable device may be substituted for home use . it will be appreciated that the aspects of this invention have been fully and effectively accomplished . it will be realized , however , that the foregoing preferred specific embodiments have been shown and described for the purpose of this invention and is subject to change without departure from such principles . therefore , this invention includes all modifications encompassed within a spirit and scope of the following claims .	0
the present invention may be variously changed , and may have various embodiments , and specific embodiments will be described in detail below with reference to the attached drawings . however , it should be understood that those embodiments are not intended to limit the present invention to specific disclosure forms and they include all changes , equivalents or modifications included in the spirit and scope of the present invention . the terms used in the present specification are merely used to describe specific embodiments , and are not intended to limit the present invention . a singular expression includes a plural expression unless a description to the contrary is specifically pointed out in context . in the present specification , it should be understood that terms such as “ include ” or “ have ” are merely intended to indicate that features , numbers , steps , operations , components , parts , or combinations thereof are present , and are not intended to exclude the possibility that one or more other features , numbers , steps , operations , components , parts , or combinations thereof will be present or added . unless differently defined , all terms used here including technical or scientific terms have the same meanings as the terms generally understood by those skilled in the art to which the present invention pertains . the terms identical to those defined in generally used dictionaries should be interpreted as having meanings identical to contextual meanings of the related art , and are not interpreted as having ideal or excessively formal meanings unless they are definitely defined in the present specification . embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings . in the following description of the present invention , the same reference numerals are used to designate the same or similar elements throughout the drawings , and repeated descriptions of the same components will be omitted . fig1 is a perspective view of a controlled reception pattern antenna ( crpa ) according to an embodiment of the present invention , and fig2 is a plan of a controlled reception pattern antenna according to an embodiment of the present invention . a controlled reception pattern antenna 10 according to an embodiment of the present invention includes a ground platform 20 and a radiator 30 . one or more radiator slots 22 are formed in the ground platform 20 . the ground platform 20 may have , for example , a circular form . the radiator 30 is a ceramic patch - type radiator , and may receive a satellite signal ( that is , a gnss signal ). the radiator 30 is arranged in the ground platform 20 . the radiator 30 may be implemented using a commercial low - cost gps antenna . fig1 and 2 show a structure in which three radiators 30 are arranged in the ground platform 20 . more specifically , the three radiating slots 22 are formed to be separated from each other in the ground platform 20 , and three radiators 30 are also formed to be separated from each other in the ground platform 20 . namely , each of the radiators 30 is disposed between two adjacent radiating slots 22 . in other words , each of the radiating slots 22 is formed between two adjacent radiators 30 . n ( n is a positive integer ) number of radiators 30 and n number of radiating slots 22 may be formed in the ground platform 20 . accordingly , the controlled reception pattern antenna 10 exemplified in fig1 and fig2 has a structure in which a 3 - element array antenna is arranged in the ground platform 20 . on the other hand , as shown in fig2 , the position ( r 1 ) and the direction ( α ) of a radiator 30 are optimized to raise the pattern consistency of each of the antenna elements . in particular , in the present invention , a radiating slot 22 is disposed between antenna elements to increase the antenna gain at a low elevation angle . in this case , the length ( l s ) of the radiating slot 22 may be determined to operate as the parasitic element of the adjacent antenna element ( l s = λ / 4 ). here , λ is the center wavelength of an operating band . namely , the radiating slot 22 has a length corresponding to 1 / 4 of the center wavelength of the operating band . a slot having a length of λ / 4 resonates at a corresponding frequency and operates as a radiating slot 22 ( serves as an antenna ). consequently , the radiating slot 22 , operating as the parasitic element of the radiator 30 , increases the antenna gain at a low elevation angle , whereby it may minimize antenna pattern distortion . fig3 is a graph illustrating the return loss and the mutual coupling of a controlled reception pattern antenna according to an embodiment of the present invention . as illustrated in fig3 , in a gps l 1 band ( for example , at 1575 . 42 mhz ), the return loss is equal to or less than − 17 . 8 db , and the mutual coupling ( isolation ) is equal to or less than − 13 . 7 db . therefore , the basic performance of an array antenna is satisfied . fig4 is a distribution chart illustrating the surface current when power is fed to the first antenna element of a controlled reception pattern antenna according to an embodiment of the present invention , and fig5 is an enlarged view of a of fig4 . specifically , fig4 and 5 show the surface current distribution of an array antenna in the gps l 1 band when power is fed to the first antenna element 30 a ( the second antenna element 30 b and the third antenna element 30 c are matched to 50ω ). as shown in fig4 and 5 , the radiating slots 22 a and 22 b adjacent to the first antenna element 30 a resonate , and the surface current increases compared to another radiating slot 22 c . therefore , the radiating slots 22 a and 22 b operate as the parasitic element of the first antenna element 30 a , and serve as an antenna . fig6 is a graph illustrating the upper hemisphere right - handed circular polarization antenna gain of a controlled reception pattern antenna having a radiating slot , and fig7 is a graph illustrating the upper hemisphere right - handed circular polarization antenna gain of a controlled reception pattern antenna without a radiating slot . to analyze the effect of a radiating slot 22 , a comparison is made of the upper hemisphere right - handed circular polarization ( rhcp ) antenna gain of a crpa in the case including a radiating slot ( fig6 ) and the case without a radiating slot ( fig7 ). first , as illustrated in fig6 , a crpa including a radiating slot 22 shows a gain equal to or greater than − 5 . 3 dbic at low elevation angles , including the horizontal plane ( theta = 90 °). meanwhile , as illustrated in fig7 , a crpa without a radiating slot 22 shows about − 7 . 8 dbic of a gain at low elevation angles . therefore , a gain increase greater than 2 . 5 db is achieved at low elevation angles , including a horizontal plane , simply by adding a radiating slot 22 . fig8 is a graph illustrating the z - x plane antenna gain of a controlled reception pattern antenna according to an embodiment of the present invention . as illustrated in fig8 , a co - polarization ( right handed circular polarization ) gain is not biased in the direction ( 0 ° to 90 °, 270 ° to 360 °) in which gps satellite signals are received , and is equal to or greater than − 5 dbic . also , it is confirmed that unwanted cross - polarization ( left handed circular polarization ) gain is maintained less than the co - polarization gain in the direction in which gps satellite signals are received . as described above , optimal embodiments of the present invention have been disclosed in the drawings and the specification . although specific terms have been used in the present specification , these are merely intended to describe the present invention , and are not intended to limit the meanings thereof or the scope of the present invention described in the accompanying claims . therefore , those skilled in the art will appreciate that various modifications and other equivalent embodiments are possible from the embodiments . therefore , the technical scope of the present invention should be defined by the technical spirit of the claims .	7
the present invention applies methods and apparatuses for reducing torque ripple to electrical motors , motor controller circuits and systems and devices using electrical motors . more particularly , the present invention applies to motor controller circuits that are designed to operate or drive electric spindle motors at a nearly constant speed . one example of such a motor controller circuit is the l6260 controller available from sgs - thomson microelectronics , inc ., of carrollton , tex ., usa . this type of motor controller can be used in conventional disc drives to control the speed of the spindle motor . disc drives typically utilize a three - phase brushless , sensorless spindle motor that is driven by either a 5 or 12 volt drive signal depending upon the type of computer system . for example , a disc drive for use with a portable or laptop computer may operate on a 5 volt drive signal , while a disk drive for use with a desktop computer system may operate on a 12 volt drive signal . in either case , the motor controller circuit is usually designed to output a drive signal that quickly brings the motor from a non - rotating state to a rotating state and then maintains the rotating speed at a substantially constant level . this may be accomplished by initially supplying an increased electrical current to bring the motor up to the desired speed followed by a fairly constant electrical current to maintain the desired speed . within the motor controller circuit , the speed of the rotating motor is typically monitored via feedback control loop circuitry . to maintain the desired rotational speed , the feedback control loop circuitry can be coupled to modify the current of the drive signal based on the differences between the desired and measured or calculated rotational speed . three - phase motors are typically designed with a separate coil for each of three phases . these coils are usually coupled to a common center tap . as a result of this configuration three phase motors may be operated in several different modes of operation , including unipolar , bipolar and tripolar modes . in unipolar mode only one of the coils is driven at a time . in bipolar mode two of the three coils are being driven at a given time . in tripolar mode all three coils are driven at the same time . these and other operating modes , such as pulse width modulation operating modes and related digitally controlled modes , are well known to those skilled in the art . it is believed that the methods and apparatuses of the present invention can be easily adapted by those skilled in the art to effectively reduce torque ripple in electric motors , including single or multi - phase electric motors , that are operated in the aforementioned modes or other equivalent modes . the described embodiment of present invention is particularly applicable for operating a three phase brushless sensorless spindle motor in a bipolar mode wherein , at any one time , one coil is driven high , one coil is driven low and the remaining coil is left floating . this can be accomplished by switching the connections applying the drive signal to each phase &# 39 ; s coil . when switched to high a coil will be at a high voltage level and have a positive current flow . when switched to low a coil will be at a low voltage level and have a negative current flow . when switched to floating a coil will have a falling or rising voltage level depending upon its previous state ( i . e ., high or low , respectively ) and will have no current flow . this bipolar switching operation is further illustrated in the waveforms shown in fig3 a - c . variances in rotational speed , caused in part by torque ripple , are reflected in the resulting back - emf signal as an additional , lower magnitude , sinusoidal ( time - varying ) component signal . this torque ripple signal is inversely proportional to the torque ripple in the motor . thus , the torque ripple signal will be at a maximum magnitude when the torque ripple is most prevalent , i . e ., when the magnetic fields are strongest . fig3 a - c illustrate the typical components of a back - emf signal generated by a three phase spindle motor operating in a bipolar mode . fig3 a illustrates a back - emf signal 70 comprised of three back - emf phase signals 72 , 74 and 76 , switching between a high voltage level 78 and a low voltage level 80 over time . fig3 b illustrates the typical waveform associated with one of the phases of back - emf signal 70 , namely back - emf phase signal 72 , as extrapolated from fig3 a . fig3 b better illustrates the switching characteristics of signal 72 between high 78 and low 80 voltage levels . as shown , back - emf phase signal 72 is momentarily at low voltage level 80 during low voltage period 82 . back - emf phase signal 72 is momentarily at high voltage level 78 during high voltage period 84 . between low 82 and high 84 voltage periods , back - emf phase signal 72 is floating as depicted by floating voltage periods 86a and 86b . as shown , during low voltage period 82 the waveform of back - emf phase signal 72 includes an additional torque ripple signal 88 . torque ripple signal 88 represents the torque ripple effects on one phase of the three - phase spindle motor . referring back to fig3 a , it can be seen that each of the back - emf phase signals 72 , 74 and 76 includes a torque ripple signal 88 . fig3 c illustrates an ac component signal 90 resulting from the combined ripple signals 88 of back - emf phase signals 72 , 74 and 76 as shown in fig3 a . the waveform of ac component signal 90 may be obtained from back - emf signal 70 by typical rectification means , such as an analog filter / rectifier circuit , or by digitally sampling extraction methods . ac component signal 90 essentially represents the torque ripple effects on all three phases of a three - phase spindle motor . the present invention identifies this torque ripple signal in the back - emf signal and utilizes it to counteract and reduce the torque ripple in the motor . as a result , the present invention tends to reduce induced torque ripple jitter in devices such as disc drives . fig4 illustrates a motor controller 62 which is electrically coupled to a motor 34 , for controlling the operation of motor 34 . as shown , motor controller 62 outputs a drive signal to drive signal line 66 which causes motor 34 to operate . motor 34 outputs a back - emf signal which is fed - back to motor controller circuit 62 via back - emf feedback line 68 . the back - emf signal may be used to monitor and control the speed or torque of motor 34 . techniques for feedback control , such as this , are well known to those skilled in the art . within motor controller 62 , there is a torque ripple reduction circuit 100 and a control circuit 102 , each of which are electrically coupled to receive the back - emf signal from motor 34 . torque ripple reduction circuit 100 extracts the torque ripple signal from the back - emf signal and generates a proportional ac component signal which is supplied to control circuit 102 over ac component signal line 104 . control circuit 102 utilizes the back - emf signal and the ac component signal in generating the drive signal to drive motor 34 . for example , the position and rotational speed of the motor may be determined by sampling the back - emf signal during a floating voltage period and monitoring particular voltage level crossings . this positioning information can then be used to control the speed of motor 34 via the drive signal . the ac component signal can be used within control circuit 102 to modify the drive signal , so as to counteract torque ripple , by supplying additional current to the coils of motor 34 at critical times thereby reducing the effects of torque ripple . fig5 a shows one embodiment of control circuit 102 having a feedback control circuit 106 and a drive circuit 108 . feedback control circuit 106 receives the back - emf and ac component signals and outputs a feedback control signal to feedback control signal line 110 . feedback control circuit 106 is a closed loop circuit that compares inputted , or internally generated signals , with the back - emf and ac component signals to generate a signal representative of the perceived errors or differences and output a feedback control signal intended to reduce such differences . those skilled in the art will recognize that there are many possible ways to create such a circuit using standard or custom electronic components . for example , to accomplish this functionality , feedback control circuit 106 may include an operational amplifier and associated conditioning circuitry . the overall gain in feedback control circuit 106 may be optimized for particular circuits and motors . as such , it is recognized that the ac component signal may be amplified or suppressed prior to being introduced into the feedback control loop . not surprisingly , experiments associated with the present invention tend to show that by increasing the gain of the ac component signal the torque ripple is reduced proportionally . fig5 b shows a modified control circuit 102 similar to that shown in fig5 a , but further including a sample and hold circuit 112 that receives the ac component signal from ac component signal line 104 and filters or smoothes - out the ac component waveform such that spikes and other noises are reduced or eliminated from the ac component signal prior to it being supplied to feedback control circuit 106 over sampled ac component signal line 114 . for example , sample and hold circuit 112 may be used to smooth out the ac component signal by reducing noise associated with the commutation points related to the spinning of the motor by sampling the ac component signal and averaging the signal &# 39 ; s magnitude over finite periods of time . it is further recognized that , depending upon the type of feedback control circuit , one or both of the back - emf and ac component signals may be further conditioned , converted , inverted , or otherwise modified to properly influence the feedback control loop and subsequently the drive signal provided to motor 34 . fig6 shows one embodiment of a torque ripple reduction circuit 100 , having a rectifier circuit 116 and a current mirror circuit 118 . rectifier circuit 116 receives the back - emf signal from back - emf signal line 68 and extracts and outputs a torque ripple signal from the back - emf signal over torque ripple signal line 120 . those skilled in the art will recognize that there are many different ways to create a rectifier circuit using standard or custom electronic components . for example , rectifier circuit 116 may include a negative peak detector diode circuit that separates the torque ripple signal from the back - emf signal . current mirror circuit 118 receives the torque ripple signal and converts it to a proportional ac component signal that is output over ac component signal line 104 . again , those skilled in the art will recognize that there are many different ways to create a current mirror circuit using standard or custom electronic components . for example , current mirror circuit 118 may include a pair of coupled transistors and associated conditioning circuitry to convert the torque ripple signal into an ac component signal wherein the current of the ac component signal is proportional to the torque ripple signal &# 39 ; s voltage . additionally , current mirror circuit 118 may also be configured to increase or decrease the gain of the ac component signal or portions thereto . fig7 illustrates one embodiment of the present invention in the form of a motor controller 62 &# 39 ; having a torque ripple reduction circuit 100 and a control circuit 102 , which are electrically coupled to a motor 34 . within control circuit 102 there is a feedback circuit 106 which is electrically coupled to a drive circuit 108 ( as depicted by the dashed - lined areas in fig7 ). drive circuit 108 is electrically coupled to motor 34 and supplies the proper commutation related connections and drive signals to coils 120 , 122 , and 124 which are located within motor 34 . as shown , coil 120 receives phase a signals , coil 122 receives phase b signals , and coil 124 receives phase c signals . for the purposes of this discussion ( as reflected in fig7 ), phase a ( i . e ., coil 120 ) is considered as being driven high by drive circuit 108 , phase b ( i . e ., coil 122 ) is considered as being driven low by drive circuit 108 , and phase c ( i . e ., coil 124 ) is considered as being in a floating state ( i . e ., driven neither high nor low by drive circuit 108 ). although phase c is floating , a bemf signal will nonetheless be produced in coil 124 . the bemf signal is supplied to feedback control circuit 106 and to torque ripple reduction circuit 100 . within torque ripple reduction circuit 100 there is a rectifier circuit 116 and current mirror circuit 118 . rectifier circuit 116 is electrically coupled to receive and rectify a bemf signal from coils 120 , 122 and 124 . rectifier circuit 116 includes diodes 126a , 126b and 126c , which are arranged to receive bemf signals from coils 120 , 122 and 124 , respectively . diodes 126a - c act as a negative peak detector , the output of which is a torque ripple signal applied across resistor 128 and supplied to current mirror 118 . current mirror 118 includes resistors 130a and 130b , a collector - base shorted pnp transistor 132 , a capacitor 134 , a resistor 136 , and a pnp transistor 138 . the torque ripple signal is applied across resistors 130a - b , along with a positive d . c . signal (+ v ), to the emitters of pnp transistors 132 and 138 . pnp transistor 132 , having its base and collector short circuited , essentially acts as a diode that establishes a d . c . bias current . the torque ripple signal is applied to capacitor 134 and is imposed onto the d . c . bias current over resistor 136 . the d . c . bias current and torque ripple signal , as applied to resistor 136 , act to modulate the output current of pnp transistor 138 which is applied to a sense resistor 140 located within feedback loop circuit 106 . as a result , the output current of pnp transistor 138 which is an ac component signal , will mirror the voltage of torque ripple signal . the ac component signal generated by current mirror circuit 118 is applied to a sample and hold circuit 112 , along with the conventional feedback signal generated by current sensing circuit 142 . current sensing circuit 142 is electrically coupled to receive and detect the bemf generated in coils 120 - 124 . sample and hold circuit 112 can be a standard sample and hold circuit , as is known in the art , that is arranged to sample the combined ac component signal and the signal from current sensing circuit 142 . the output of sample and hold circuit 112 is a smoothed - out feedback control signal which is supplied to the negative input of an error amplifier 144 . error amplifier 144 may , for example , be an operational transconductance amplifier ( ota ). error amplifier 144 is also connected to receive a control signal from conventional speed loop control and monitoring circuitry ( not shown ). error amplifier 144 compares the control signal ( e . g ., representing the desired rotational speed of the motor ) with the feedback control signal . the output of error amplifier 144 is a corrected signal which is applied across compensation circuitry 146 ( shown as including a series connected resistor and capacitor ) and to drive circuit 108 . it should be noted that , as with other conventional circuitry in control circuit 102 , not all of the circuits are depicted in fig7 so as to not overly complicate the various embodiments of this invention which are intended to supplement and improve existing technologies . with this in mind , drive circuit 108 , as illustrated , includes power transistors 148 , 150 , 152 , and 154 . power transistor 148 represents the high side power transistor associated with supplying a drive signal across coil 120 , power transistor 150 represents the low side power transistor associated with pulling a drive signal across coil 122 , power transistor 152 represents the high side power transistor associated with supplying a drive signal across coil 124 , and power transistor 154 represents the low side power transistor associated with pulling a drive signal across coil 124 ( assuming the illustrative configuration and status of the circuitry in fig7 ). power transistors 148 - 154 , may be , for example , nmos transistors capable of supplying the start - up and running currents required for motor 34 . as shown , when a v cc signal originating from within drive circuit 108 is applied to the gate of power transistor 148 and the output of error amplifier 144 is applied to the gate of power transistor 150 , a drive signal is allowed to pass through coils 120 and 122 , so as to drive motor 34 . while operating as above , power transistors 152 and 154 are not biased , and coil 124 is , therefore , allowed to exist in a floating state . fig8 illustrates a method 200 for reducing the effects of torque ripple in an electric motor that can be employed in operating and controlling circuitry associated with the electric motor . method 200 includes step 202 for generating a drive signal for driving the electric motor , and step 204 for driving the motor with the drive signal generated in step 202 . as the motor is being driven , step 206 calls for sampling a back - emf signal generated within the motor in step 204 , and step 208 for extracting a torque ripple signal from the back - emf signal as sampled in step 206 . step 210 includes generating an ac component signal that is proportional to the extracted torque ripple signal of step 208 . step 212 includes generating a feedback control signal based on the back - emf and ac component signals , of steps 208 and 210 respectively . in step 214 the drive signal as generated in step 202 is modified based on the feedback control signal , generated in step 212 , such that the torque ripple in the motor is reduced when the modified drive signal is applied to the motor in step 204 . to further demonstrate the methods and apparatuses of the present invention , fig9 a illustrates the shape of a typical pre - invention back - emf voltage signal 300 across a single coil , having a torque ripple signal 88 ( similar to fig3 b ). fig9 b illustrates the shape of a corresponding pre - invention current drive signal 320 as applied to the coil of fig9 a . fig9 c illustrates the shape of a post - invention current drive signal 340 having been modified to counteract torque ripple signal 88 in accordance with the present invention . fig9 d illustrates the shape of a post - invention back emf signal 360 across a single coil being driven by the post - invention current drive signal 340 in fig9 c . notice that the torque ripple signal 88 shown in the pre - invention back - emf voltage signal 300 of fig9 a , has been significantly reduced in the post - invention back emf signal 360 of fig9 d . while the present invention has been described in detail , there are many alternative ways of implementing the methods and apparatus of the present invention . it is therefore intended that the following appended claims be interpreted as including all such alterations , permutations , and equivalents as fall within the true spirit and scope of the present invention .	8
the present invention is believed to be applicable to a variety of flip - chip semiconductor structures . the invention has been found to be particularly advantageous in mos devices , such as pmos , nmos , cmos , or bicmos devices . while the present invention is not so limited , an appreciation of various aspects of the invention is best gained through a is discussion of various example semiconductor structures described below . the invention permits etching a rear surface of a substrate to accommodate placement of probes in close proximity one to another . fig2 - 4 illustrate one example problem addressed by the present invention . fig2 is a cross - sectional view of a semiconductor structure having a probe that extends from the rear surface of the substrate to an active region ; fig3 is a cross - sectional view of an example semiconductor structure having two active regions to which probes are to be coupled ; and fig4 is a cross - sectional view of the semiconductor structure of fig3 in which a first cavity has been etched for forming a probe . referring first to fig2 the structure 100 includes a substrate 102 in which are formed a drain region 104 and a source region 106 . the substrate 102 , along with the drain and source regions 104 and 106 can be constructed using conventional semiconductor processes , and p - type and n - type dopants are used in the various regions in accordance with implementation requirements . the drain and source regions 104 and 106 are example “ active ” regions of the semiconductor structure 100 . the structure 100 also includes an electrically insulative layer 108 through which electrical conductors 110 and 112 are respectively coupled to the drain and source regions 104 and 106 . a gate electrode 114 is arranged to switch the transistor formed by the drain region 104 , source region 106 , and gate electrode 114 . the electrical conductors 110 , 112 , and 114 extend into the interconnect and passivation layer 116 where they are coupled to other signal lines ( not shown ) of the integrated circuit of which the structure 100 is a part . the illustrated shapes of the elements 102 - 116 are intended to serve as examples . those skilled in the art will recognize that semiconductor structures can assume many different shapes and profiles depending on the particular implementation requirements for the integrated circuit . in accordance with the example embodiment of fig2 an electrically conductive probe 122 extends from the rear surface 124 and is coupled to an example one of the active regions , namely , the drain region 104 . coupling the probe 122 to the drain region 104 eliminates the need to locate an interconnect signal line ( not shown ) in the interconnect layer 116 that is coupled to the drain region 104 and that at some location in the integrated circuit is accessible for constructing a probe . the probe 122 includes a pad portion 123 that is large enough to make contact with conventional micro - probe test equipment . in addition , the probe 122 is electrically insulated from the substrate 102 with electrically insulative material 126 . to construct an example probe 122 where various active regions , 104 and 106 for example , have been formed in the substrate 102 , a selected portion of the substrate at the desired location is etched away , leaving approximately 4 - 5 microns of substrate covering the region to be probed . a focused ion beam system can be used to create the final hole through the substrate to the region 104 . the focused ion beam system can also be used to deposit the electrically insulative material 126 . it will be appreciated that a larger dimension probe cavity requires less precision than does a relatively smaller dimension probe cavity having a greater height . the methods used to insulate and fill such a cavity with conductive material generally depends upon the aspect ratio of the hole , that is the ratio of depth : width . in one example method , the entire hole is filled with electrically insulative material , and the insulative material is then etched back to a selected width to expose a portion of the desired region . then , a metal such as copper or aluminum is deposited to make contact with the desired region . a pad 123 is then deposited on the surface of the substrate to provide for electrical contact with , for example , a micro - probe or electron beam system . referring now to fig3 two example , adjacent active regions 202 and 204 in substrate 102 are to have probes coupled thereto from the rear surface 124 of the substrate . to construct such probes , cavities must first be etched in the substrate 102 to accommodate the probes . using the above described methods , the cavities are etched one at a time . for example , first a cavity is etched for active region 202 , and then a cavity is etched for active region 204 . fig4 illustrates one example problem resulting from the above described method . if the cavity 254 for active region 202 is etched first , it can be seen that the rear surface 124 is splayed in an area surrounding the cavity 254 , as illustrated by portion 256 of the rear surface 124 . in an example method , a focused ion beam is used in combination with xenon di - flouride to remove the desired material . the xenon di - flouride is highly reactive with the silicon substrate , thereby splaying the surface of the substrate . line 258 illustrates the rear surface of the substrate prior to application of the focused ion beam and xenon di - flouride gas . in an alternate method , chlorine gas can be substituted for xenon di - flouride . however , chlorine is also highly reactive with a silicon substrate and also creates a splayed surface surrounding the cavity 254 , but to a lesser degree . the splayed portion 256 of the substrate 102 creates a problem in forming a cavity for the adjacent active region 204 . the problem is that the splayed portion 256 of the substrate 102 overlaps the portion 260 of the substrate 102 to be etched . when the portion 260 is etched , the splayed portion causes the cavity 260 to be etched further than desired , i . e ., into the active region 204 . this can damage or destroy the device by etching away the active region and effectively removing part of the electrical circuit . another example problem created by the aforementioned etching techniques is found in locating areas of the substrate at which cavities are to be etched . generally , a conventional infrared ( ir ) camera is used for such course navigation . however , if the surface 124 of the substrate 102 is not smooth , the view of structures below the surface is obscured . a rough surface results in diffraction of the ir light . thus , the excess etching of the substrate resulting from the gas can cause severe problems in locating areas to be etched . fig5 is a cross - sectional view of a semiconductor structure 300 in which a protective layer 302 is formed on the rear surface 124 of substrate 102 . the protective layer 302 is a material that is not reactive with the gas selected for use with the focused ion beam system . example materials include silicon dioxide and silicon nitride . it is also desirable that layer 302 be electrically insulative . the thickness of the protective layer 302 can vary from hundreds of angstroms to a few microns , depending upon the quality of the film and the particular gas chemistry used for etching . the protective layer 302 is applied to the entire rear surface 124 of the substrate 102 . when a cavity 308 is etched , the focused ion beam removes the protective layer from a selected area , 306 for example , and the gas reacts only with silicon in the selected area . thus , the portion of the rear surface 124 surrounding the cavity 308 is not splayed as shown in fig5 . the protective layer 302 permits a cavity 310 to be etched in relative proximity to cavity 308 while maintaining a desired depth from the rear surface 124 of the substrate 102 , and hence a desired separation between the cavity 310 and the active region 312 . the protective layer 302 also permits location of adjacent active regions with a conventional ir camera because a smooth surface 314 is maintained adjacent to the cavity 308 . fig6 is a cross - sectional view of a semiconductor structure 352 in which probes 354 and 356 have been formed and coupled to active regions 358 and 360 through the rear surface 124 of a substrate 102 having a protective layer 302 , according to an example embodiment of the invention . the structure 352 also includes respective , electrically insulative regions 362 and 364 for the probes 354 and 356 . contact pads 366 and 368 are formed on the probes 362 and 364 , respectively , for making contact with conventional micro - probe test equipment to permit gathering of signals . it will be appreciated that additional probes can be constructed to respectively connect with additional active regions ( not shown ) of the semiconductor structure 352 . fig7 illustrates an example embodiment in which probes 402 and 404 are coupled one to the other via an electrically conductive metal trace 406 that is deposited on the rear surface of the substrate over the protective layer 302 . the protective layer 302 having electrically insulative characteristics , insulates the electrically conductive substrate 102 from the metal trace 406 . the protective layer 302 deposited over the entire rear surface of the substrate effectively provides the necessary insulation before recognition of where signals will be routed on the rear surface of the substrate . as noted above , the present invention is applicable to a number of different semiconductor structures and arrangements . accordingly , the present invention should not be considered limited to the particular examples described above , but rather should be understood to cover all aspects of the invention as fairly set out in the attached claims . various modifications , equivalent structures , as well as numerous structures to which the present invention may be applicable will be readily apparent to those of skill in the art upon review of the present specification . the claims are intended to cover such modifications and devices .	7
as shown in fig1 , provided is a tamper proof outer wrapping 10 for a product package 12 . the outer wrapping 10 includes a reinforced tear zone 14 for opening the outer wrapping 10 . preferably , the reinforced tear zone 14 has a tab 50 that is grasped to pull the reinforced tear zone 14 . the reinforced tear zone 14 pulls away from the remaining portion of the outer wrapping 10 at the perforation portions 34 . in an embodiment , because the tear zone 14 is reinforced , the tear zone 14 does not break off as it is pulled , thereby providing easy access to the contents of the wrapper 10 . in a preferred embodiment , the wrapping material 19 is a plastic . preferably , the plastic is a shrink wrap . in an embodiment , the shrink wrap is selected from the group consisting of pet - g , pvc , polypropylene , polyethylene , polyolefin , polylactide and combinations thereof . in other embodiments , the wrapping material 19 may also be formed with paper or metal , such as metalized film , metal foil , or other metallic material . in a preferred embodiment , the wrapping material 19 is clear . in another embodiment , the wrapping material 19 is opaque . in other embodiments , the wrapping material 19 is colored or scented . preferably , the outer wrapping 10 is used as an outer wrapping for pocket - sized containers that enclose tobacco or non - tobacco products such as cigarettes , pouched tobacco products , pouched non - tobacco products , and the like . in other embodiments , the outer wrapping 10 is used to enclose containers for gums , mints , and other edible products that require tamper resistant features . preferably , the outer wrapping 10 covers the opening device of the inner packaging so that the enclosed product cannot be accessed without first removing the outer wrapping 10 . as seen in fig2 , preferably , the reinforced tear zone 14 includes at least two layers 16 , 18 of a wrapping material 19 , and a tear tape 20 affixed between the layers 16 , 18 . also preferably , the layers 16 , 18 of wrapping material 19 are sealed around the inner tear tape 20 . in an embodiment , the layers 16 , 18 are glued together . in another embodiment , the layers 16 , 18 are heat sealed together . in an embodiment , as seen in fig3 , additional layers 22 , 24 of wrapping material 19 may surround the tear tape 20 and the layers 16 , 18 of wrapping material 19 . in an embodiment , an equal number of layers of the wrapping material 19 surround the tear tape 20 . as seen in fig6 , in another embodiment , an unequal number of layers of wrapping material 19 surround the tear tape 20 in the reinforced tear zone 14 . in a preferred embodiment , as seen in fig4 , the tear tape 20 is affixed to a first edge 32 of the outer wrapper 10 . a second edge 30 of the outer wrapper 10 is folded over the first edge 32 and the tear tape 20 to create a tube with a reinforced tear zone 14 that can be placed over a product package . in another embodiment , the tear tape 20 is affixed between two separate pieces of wrapping material 19 . positioning the tear tape 20 between multiple layers of the wrapping material strengthens the reinforced tear zone so that the tear zone does not break when pulled to remove the wrapper from around the package or product . as shown in fig5 , in an embodiment , perforated portions 38 , 40 extend longitudinally along the wrapping material 19 , also preferably , the perforated portions 38 , 40 run along each side of and substantially parallel to the reinforced tear zone 14 . preferably , the perforated portions 38 , 40 are parallel to one another . also preferably , the perforated portions 38 , 40 are each a substantially straight line . in an embodiment , the perforated portions 38 , 40 are created prior to forming the reinforced tear zone 14 . preferably , the perforated portions 38 , 40 are formed at a distance from the edge of the wrapping material 19 to leave space for the reinforced tear zone 14 to be formed between the perforated portion 40 and the edge 32 . preferably , when the reinforced tear zone 14 is formed , the edges 30 , 32 can overlap and be sealed together so that the reinforced tear zone 14 lies between the perforated portions 38 , 40 . in a preferred embodiment , at least one angled cut 34 , 36 , as seen in fig4 , is made adjacent to the at least one perforated portion 38 , 40 . preferably , the cuts 34 , 36 are made at an angle of about 20 ° to about 160 ° with respect to the perforated portions 38 , 40 . more preferably , the cuts are made at an angle of about 40 ° to about 140 °. in a preferred embodiment , the cuts are made at an angle of about 45 ° with respect to the perforated portions 38 , 40 . preferably , the cuts 34 , 36 angle down from the top 70 of the wrapping material 19 to the perforated portion 38 , 40 . in an embodiment , the cuts are made at the bottom of the wrapping material . the cuts 34 , 36 form a tab 50 , as shown in fig1 and fig5 . preferably , the tab 50 is created adjacent to the reinforced tear tape zone 14 . preferably , the tab 50 is pulled to engage the reinforced tear zone 14 . when the tear zone 14 is pulled by the tab 50 , the tear zone 14 pulls away from the remaining wrapper material 19 along the perforated portions 38 , 40 . in addition , the angled cuts 34 , 36 reduce the amount of “ point ” created during the shrinking process when the reinforced tear zone is used on shrink wrap packaging . preferably , as shown in fig1 , the wrapping material 19 has indicia 60 printed thereon . the indicia 60 includes lettering , graphics , and the like . preferably , the indicia 60 is printed on the wrapping material 19 prior to the formation of the outer wrapping 10 . in an embodiment , the indicia 60 is printed on the wrapping material 19 prior to the addition of the perforated portions 38 , 40 . the indicia 60 can be printed on the front 100 , sides 101 or the back 102 of the wrapping material 19 . also provided is a method of forming a tamper proof outer wrapping having a reinforced tear zone . the method includes obtaining a wrapping material and printing indicia thereon . in an embodiment , at least two perforated portions are formed in the wrapping material near opposing edges . in a preferred embodiment , a tear tape is affixed to a first layer of wrapping material so that the tear tape runs parallel to both the edge of the first layer and a perforated portion . the method also includes sealing a second layer of wrapping material over the first portion having the tear tape affixed thereto to create a reinforced tear zone flanked by each of the perforated portions . in an embodiment , the reinforced tear zone and wrapping material are formed with one piece of wrapping material so that once the reinforced tear zone is formed , the wrapping material is in the form of a tube . in an embodiment , the tube is cut into portions sized to fit the product to be covered , and angled nick cuts are made adjacent to each perforated portion . the product is then inserted into the tube . if the wrapping material is a shrink wrap , then the wrapped product is placed in a heater to shrink the material around the product package . in use , the consumer grabs the tab 50 , shown in fig1 and 5 , and pulls . the tab 50 engages the reinforced tear zone 14 , so that when pulled the reinforced tear zone 14 tears away from the remaining wrapping material 19 at the perforated portions 38 , 40 . while the foregoing has been described in detail with reference to specific embodiments thereof , it will be apparent to one skilled in the art that various changes and modifications may be made , and equivalents thereof employed , without departing from the scope of the claims .	1
global - cash flexible currency is an invention that allows barterers and business - to - business traders to determine how much cash they need to accept in a barter - type transaction in order stay comfortably in business . it is a hybrid currency system for individual trading members of business - to - business trading communities where each individual member selects a percentage of cash and barter that he is willing to accept in trade for his product or service , and which he is willing to offer in trade . the percentage is variable and is determined by each individual member . this solves the problem that barterers often face when negotiating transactions in barter systems where partial cash trading is allowed , but not the norm , or where partial cash transactions are simply not allowed , or where a trader does not care to have to negotiate extra details of each and every trade he makes . in this system , a merchant chooses the mix of cash and product and / or services ( his individualized global - cash flexible currency ) that is he is willing to both accept and offer in trade . dealing in a 50 : 50 cash to trade ratio , when , e . g . a jewelry store operates with a cost of goods of 50 % of the retail sales price , this merchant chooses a program of 50 % global - cash ( or more or less ) and 50 % standard currency . on this basis , when the merchant makes a sale in this system for $ 1000 , his global - cash flexible currency account would reflect a balance of $ 500 cash , which he can withdraw at any time . he then withdraws the $ 500 cash . now this merchant wishes to purchase a product from another member of this community , e . g . a $ 200 television . he uses $ 100 from his global - cash trade account ( leaving $ 400 from the jewelry transaction ) and he has to deposit $ 100 cash into his account with the barter company to finalize the transaction , because he had already withdrawn the $ 500 cash . ( this merchant is dealing in a 50 : 50 ratio , cash to trade .) furthermore , if the television dealer has selected an 80 : 20 cash to trade ratio , he will be paid $ 160 cash by the barter manager even though the jeweler has paid the barter manager only $ 100 cash for this transaction . each merchant has the ability to manage his account , i . e . to deposit and withdraw available cash at will . if a merchant tries to make a purchase , and does not have enough cash in his account , then he will be notified by the barter manager . there is no requirement that a merchant chooses a percentage that is a multiple of ten , and no requirement that he choose a percentage that will allow him to cover the cost of his inventory / overhead expenses . the foregoing is simply an example to illustrate how this hybrid cash / trade currency system works . the barter company keeps an accounting of the entire transaction . in the jewelry example above , the merchant is able to withdraw half of his sales price in cash , but he must use the remaining portion of his sales price in trade . there is no requirement regarding how he trades with his global - cash flexible currency , or with whom he trades . all such transactions are recorded by the barter group manager and the credits and debits of each individual trading member are kept for reference . in this system , there must be least 2 people to trade with one another , and those making trades do not have to trade in person , they can be connected across the internet or other electronic means , including telephone or fax , or simply via the barter network . all of the necessary accounting involved in this currency system can be done by hand or by a computer program . there are many factors that may be considered in granting a line of credit to an applicant . in this invention , two factors are necessary , and the others listed below are ancillary . for this invention to work , the category of the product or service offered for trade must be evaluated and assigned a score , and the percent of trade that the applicant is willing to take in exchange for his product or service that is cash must be given a score . the sales price of the product is important but not essential to this invention , especially if there are other products on the market that are similar or identical to the one offered by the applicant . the overall score a trader is given in evaluating his credit - worthiness is determined by mathematically manipulating the scores given for the type of product offered , ( the product value score ), and the score given for the percent cash that that trader is willing to accept , ( the cash value score ) as well as the scores for other possible factors , ( including but not limited to a score for the total number of a trader &# 39 ; s listings , the total cash values of those listings , the average ticket price of those listings , the percent above the lowest advertised price on the internet of those products which are identical to products offered by other vendors , the length of time the trader has been in business at the time of application , and the estimated monthly sales of the trader . the mathematical manipulations used to determine the barter score value may be simple addition , multiplication or raising values of one factor to the power of another value . for instance , if the product value score is 50 and the cash value score is 35 , the barter credit score would be 85 if these are the only scores taken into consideration and they are simply added . if , however , the barter manager feels that a better indication of credit - worthiness at a given time would be determined more heavily by the product value score , he can double the product value score and add that to the cash value score . ( 50 × 2 + 35 = 135 ). a person using this credit scoring system can take as few as two variables into consideration , ( category of product and percent global - cash flexible currency ), or that person can take many other variables into consideration when extending a line of credit . the example below takes seven variables into consideration . tables 1 through 7 show numerical values assigned to the variables found to be important in extending credit to members of trade exchanges . five points is a relatively low score and one hundred a relatively high score counting toward the total points an applicant can be assigned for a category in calculating that applicant &# 39 ; s credit - worthiness . the exact point values given are not as important as the relative values . the heart of the credit scoring system is the interaction between the cash value score and the product value score ( i . e . the product or service offered ). by offering some cash in every transaction , or a relatively high amount , ( e . g . 50 % cash ) then the barter company can extend a higher line of credit because the cash is immediately liquid , while one night in a hotel room is not . so according to table 2 , 50 % cash translates to 50 points in the total calculation of creditworthiness , again , a relatively high number of points . the category of the product or service offered is equally vital to the operation of this invention . no barter company has ever offered credit based on the type of product a member / credit applicant had to offer , and one &# 39 ; s product or service is arguably the most important thing a member has to offer a barter community . all scores for applicants are to be kept in a registry for comparison and general record keeping . it is neither necessary to make the scores available to the applicants or the general public , nor is it necessary to keep the scores secret . table 1 shows the point values assigned for different types of businesses , higher numbers correlate with more desirable products and services in the barter industry . desirability can be a function of both scarcity and of the product or service or unwillingness of the usual business owner or professional to offer that type of product or service for trade in a barter community , and how much members of a barter community desire to have this product or service offered them . table 2 shows the point assignments for percent cash offered in trade . table 3 shows the point totals assigned for the number of listings a trader offers to the barter community , higher number of listings translate to a greater chance that some member of the community will be interested in something that the applicant has to offer . table 4 shows the scores for the total value of the listings . an application is given more points for bringing more value in trade to the exchange . table 5 shows the score given for the average ticket price of each of an applicant &# 39 ; s listings . table 6 shows the values given to the dollar amounts equal to the estimated total monthly sales of the product or service sold through the trade exchange . table 7 shows the points given for the price of the listing above the lowest advertised price on the internet for which the same item is offered . it is in the best interest of the barter community when members offer products at competitive prices . granted , it is expected that the products offered are to be exchanged for the excess inventory of other members , but the more competitive the offering prices , the greater number of transactions a member is likely to perform . table 8 shows the scores assigned for the number of years an applicant has already been in business . the longer a company or professional has been in business , the more likely it is that this applicant will be a valuable member of the trade community . table 9 shows sample credit lines offered based on the total score for these hypothetical applicants . in table 10 , all of the point values are tabulated for a number of different hypothetical applicants . some of the point values for the columns are multiplied by a factor of two or three before being tabulated . in this example , the product value score is multiplied by a factor of three , the cash value score is multiplied by a factor of two and the average sales price above the lowest advertised price on the internet is multiplied by a factor of two . this manipulation of the scores allows for a customization of the scoring in many different ways based on the current needs of the barter company . if there is little diversity in the types of services offered , the points given for the category of service , i . e . the product value score , can be raised / multiplied by a factor greater than one . if more cash is needed in the system , then points given for cash value score can be raised . if the price structure is not competitive , then the score for the sales price can be multiplied by a greater factor . in other words , all of these values can be manipulated based on the economical needs of the system . the scoring system allows the people running the barter community , those offering credit to members , to be aggressive or conservative in each of the main credit scoring values , ( product values score , cash value score and , and sales price score ), as these factors have the most impact on global shopping . a computer hardware dealer desires to enter into a barter group and apply for credit . the products he offers are new desktop and laptop personal computers . based on the categories shown in table 1 , his category is worth 75 points and therefore his product value score is 75 points . this dealer is willing to enter the barter group at a 25 : 75 cash to barter ratio , and according to table 2 , the cash value score is 25 points on the barter credit scoring scale . he has 100 computers to offer in trade , and on table 3 that translates to 40 points ( for his “ number of products ” score ). the total value of his listings is $ 50 , 000 and that translated to ( a “ number of products or services offered ” score of ) 20 points on the credit scoring scale . the average price of each computer is $ 500 and that translates to ( an “ average sales price score ” of ) 25 points . his estimated monthly sales is $ 7000 a month and that is worth 20 (“ gross monthly sales ” score ) points , the “ percent over the lowest advertised same item on the internet ” is 10 % score is worth 30 points , he has been in business for 2 years and that gives him ( a “ number of years in business ” score of ) 10 points . the total number of points is 245 , ( 75 + 25 + 40 + 20 + 25 + 20 + 30 + 10 = 245 ). however , due to the needs of the system , the scorer , ( the barter manager ), deems that at this point in time , the product value scores should be worth 3 times their normal value , the cash value scores should be worth 2 times their normal point values , and the sales price as a percent over the lowest advertised internet price should be worth double its normal score as well . therefore , his score is 450 , ( 75 × 3 + 25 × 2 + 40 + 20 + 25 + 20 + 30 × 2 + 10 = 450 ) and according to table 9 , that translates to a credit line of $ 5000 . the invention may be embodied in other specific forms without departing from the spirit or essential characteristics thereof . the present embodiments are therefore to be considered in all respects as illustrative and not restrictive , the scope of the invention being indicated by the appended claims rather than by the foregoing description , and all changes which come within the meaning and range of equivalency of the claims are therefore intended to be embraced therein .	6
referring to fig1 , a bottle warming device 10 is shown . the bottle warming device includes a housing 12 having a bottle - receiving opening 14 in the top thereof for receiving a bottle , such as baby bottle 16 . the housing 12 is configured to hold a volume of water in the bottom thereof . a heating element 13 is disposed at the bottom of the housing 12 and is actuatable from an off position to an on position by rotation of a dial 18 on the front of the housing 12 . the heating means serves to heat the water within the housing 12 to produce steam to heat the contents of the bottle 16 . the heating element 13 may be any type of heating element known in the art , such as a resistive heating element . in an embodiment , the dial 18 includes an automatic timer that automatically turns off the heating element after a pre - set duration sufficient to warm the contents of the bottle 16 to an optimum temperature for feeding . as shown in fig2 , the bottle warming device 10 includes an integrated measuring cup 20 received in a recess in the housing 12 . the measuring cup 20 is easily accessible by a user to pour a measured quantity of water into the housing 12 . in addition , the bottle warming device 10 includes a built - in nightlight ( not shown ) that is actuatable via a button 22 located on the top surface of the housing 12 . in an embodiment , the nightlight is located within the housing 12 so as to illuminate the bottle 16 and the contents thereof to make nighttime feedings easier . in another embodiment , the nightlight is located within the housing so as to illuminate the dial and the measuring cup on the front face of the device . as best shown in fig4 , the bottle - receiving opening 14 is defined by substantially cylindrical sidewalls . as shown therein , eight vertically extending slots are formed in the cylindrical sidewalls of opening 14 . in particular three long slots 24 are formed in the sidewalls . a first long slot 24 is oriented at an angular orientation of 0 degrees ( adjacent the back of the housing 12 and opposite the front of the housing ; the top - most slot 24 in fig4 ), and the other two long slots 24 are located at substantially 135 degrees and 225 degrees with respect to the first long slot . the remaining slots are short slots 26 and are located at approximately 45 degrees , 90 degrees , 180 degrees , 270 degrees and 315 degrees with respect to the first long slot 24 . importantly , the short slots 26 do not extend as deeply into the opening 14 as the long slots 24 . turning now to fig5 and 6 , the bottle warming device 10 further includes a bottle basket 28 that is dimensioned to fit within the opening 14 in the housing 12 . as shown therein , the bottle basket 28 is generally cylindrical in shape and has a pair of handles 30 that are dimensioned to be received in handle recesses 32 in the outer walls of the housing 12 . the basket 28 has numerous openings 34 in the bottom and sidewalls thereof to permit steam to pass therethrough , as discussed hereinafter . as best shown in fig5 , the basket 28 has three vertically extending ribs 36 on the sidewalls thereof that correspond in position to the three long slots 24 of the opening 14 ( i . e ., one at ‘ 0 ’ degrees , one at 135 degrees and one at 225 degrees , respectively , when viewed from the top ). the long slots 24 of the opening 14 and the ribs 36 of the basket 28 are dimensioned such that the top of the basket 28 sits substantially flush with the top of the housing 12 when the basket is received in the opening 14 and the ribs 36 are received in the long slots 24 . turning now to fig9 - 16 , various positions of the basket 28 with respect to the housing are shown . as shown in fig9 , when the ribs 36 on the basket are aligned with the long slots 24 in the opening of the housing 12 , the basket 28 is able to sit fully within the opening 14 such that the top of the basket 28 is generally flush with the top of the housing 12 . in this position , the basket 28 is fully received within the opening 14 of the housing 12 such that a tall bottle may be warmed . as shown in fig1 , if the basket 28 is rotated 45 degrees counterclockwise (‘ 45 degree position ’) with respect to the housing 12 , each of the ribs 36 will be received in short slots 26 . because the short slots 26 do not extend as deeply into the housing , downwards travel of the basket into the opening 14 is limited . as a result , the bottom of the basket 28 does not sit as far below the top surface of the housing 12 as it does when in the ‘ 0 degree ’ position of fig9 . in this position , a shorter bottle may be placed in the basket 28 to be warmed . fig1 , depicts the basket 28 in a ‘ 90 degree ’ position . in this position , the basket is rotated 90 degrees counterclockwise with respect to the housing , such that one of the ribs 36 is received in a long slot 24 while the other two ribs are received in short slots 26 . as the two short slots 26 prevent the basket 28 from reaching its fully seated position , the bottom of the basket 28 is in the same position as shown in fig1 , such that a short bottle may be accommodated . fig1 - 16 illustrate the basket 28 at other degrees of rotation with respect to the housing 12 . in particular , these figures illustrate the basket 28 in a ‘ 135 degree position ,’ a ‘ 180 degree position ,’ a ‘ 225 degree position ,’ a ‘ 270 degree position ,’ and a ‘ 315 degree position .’ notably , the basket 28 can only be fully received within the housing 12 when the three ribs 36 are received in the three long slots 24 , i . e ., in the 0 degree position . in all of the other positions , the basket 28 is in the elevated position such that a short bottle may be accommodated . as will be readily appreciated , by elevating the basket 28 for short bottles , access to the bottle for removal from the device is facilitated . in the absence of such a feature , short bottles would be difficult to retrieve from the bottom of the housing . while fig1 - 16 show the bottle warming device 10 as having an opening with eight slots ( 3 long slots and 5 short slots ) and a basket with three vertical ribs , an opening having more or fewer long and short slots and a basket with more or fewer vertical ribs is also possible and contemplated by the present invention . with further reference to fig1 , the bottle warming device 10 may also include an adapter ring 38 that is received by the top of the basket 28 . the adapter ring 38 has a smaller inner diameter than the basket 28 to more closely receive a bottle therethrough . in operation , a user of the bottle warming device 10 plugs the device into a standard wall outlet . a measured quantity of water may then be poured into the housing 12 through the opening 14 using the integrated measuring cup 20 . depending on the size bottle to be warmed , a user may then place the basket in the ‘ 0 degree position ,’ for tall bottles , or in any of the other positions for short bottles . the adapter ring 38 may also be placed into position on the basket 28 to more closely receive the bottle 16 . the user may then insert the bottle 16 into the basket 28 and rotate the dial 18 to the on position . when in the on position , the heating element 13 is energized to heat the water in the housing 12 to produce steam . the steam rises and travels through the openings 34 in the basket 28 to heat the contents of the bottle 16 .] with reference to fig7 and 8 , the bottle warming device 10 of the present invention may also be utilized to heat jars of baby food and the like in a similar manner . in particular , the device 10 also includes a food jar basket 40 that may be utilized in place of the bottle basket 28 . as shown in fig7 and 8 , the food jar basket includes a lower basket portion 42 having a plurality of openings or apertures 44 therein through which steam may pass through , and a handle 46 attached to the lower basket portion 42 . the food jar basket 40 is dimensioned so as to receive a jar of baby food therein and , like the bottle basket 28 , is dimensioned so as to be received in the opening 14 in the housing 12 . while the bottle warming device 10 of the present invention is particularly adapted to warm the contents of baby bottles , the device may also be utilized with other bottles utilized for other purposes . although this invention has been shown and described with respect to the detailed embodiments thereof , it will be understood by those of skill in the art that various changes may be made and equivalents may be substituted for elements thereof without departing from the scope of the invention . in addition , modifications may be made to adapt a particular situation or material to the teachings of the invention without departing from the essential scope thereof . therefore , it is intended that the invention not be limited to the particular embodiments disclosed in the above detailed description , but that the invention will include all embodiments falling within the scope of this disclosure .	0
turning now to the figures , fig1 a and 1b are a cross - sectional view and a plan view , respectively , of an fed 90 . referring to fig1 a and 1b , the fed 90 has a triode structure made of a cathode electrode 12 , an anode electrode 22 , and a gate electrode 14 . the cathode electrode 12 and the gate electrode 14 are formed on a rear substrate 11 , and the anode electrode 22 is formed at the bottom of a front substrate 21 . a fluorescent layer 23 is formed of r , g , and b fluorescent materials , and a black matrix 24 is formed on the bottom surface of the anode electrode 22 so as to improve contrast . the rear substrate 11 and the front substrate 21 are a predetermined distance apart from each other . the predetermined distance between the rear substrate 11 and the front substrate 21 is maintained by a spacer 31 disposed between the rear substrate 11 and the front substrate 21 . when manufacturing the fed 90 , the cathode electrode 12 is formed on the rear substrate 11 , an insulation layer 13 and the gate electrode 14 , both perforated by minute apertures 15 , are deposited on the rear substrate 11 , and an emitter 16 is formed in each of the apertures 15 on top of the cathode electrode 12 . the fed 90 of fig1 a and 1b , however , may lack good color purity and general picture quality for the following reasons . most of the electrons emitted from the emitter 16 come from edges of the emitter 16 . the electrons are converted into an electron beam , and the electron beam proceeds to the fluorescent layer 23 . however , when proceeding to the fluorescent layer 23 , the electron beam may disperse due to a voltage of several to dozens of volts applied to the gate electrode 14 , in which case , the electron beam illuminates not only a fluorescent material of a desired pixel but also fluorescent materials of other pixels adjacent to the desired pixel . in order to minimize the tendency of the electron beam emitted from the emitter to disperse toward the fluorescent layer 23 , a plurality of emitters , each having a smaller area than the emitter 16 corresponding to one pixel , can be disposed on the cathode electrode 12 in each of the apertures 15 . in this case , however , there is a clear limit as to the number of emitters that can be satisfactorily formed for each pixel having a predetermined size , the entire area of the emitter 16 for illuminating a fluorescent material of one pixel decreases , and an electron beam is not focused sufficiently . in order to prevent an electron beam from dispersing when proceeding to a fluorescent layer , another feds respectively having structures , which are illustrated in fig2 a and 2b , can be considered . the feds 92 and 93 of fig2 a and 2b respectively each include an additional electrode disposed near a gate electrode to enhance the focusing characteristics of electron beams . more specifically , in the fed 92 of fig2 a , a focusing electrode 54 , which is ring - shaped , is disposed around a gate electrode 53 . in the fed 93 of fig2 b , a double gate structure having a lower gate electrode 63 and an upper gate electrode 64 is provided to focus electron beams . however , the feds of fig2 a and 2b have a relatively complicated structure . in addition , the structure of the feds 92 and 93 of fig2 a or 2 b , in which an emitter 52 or 62 , which is a metallic micro - tip , is formed on a cathode electrode 51 or 61 , has not yet been proven satisfactorily fruitful when it comes to its application to an fed having a flat emitter . in the meantime , u . s . pat . no . 5 , 552 , 659 macaulay et al . discloses an electron emitter that reduces electron emission divergence by imposing restrictions on a ratio between the thickness of a non - insulation layer formed on a substrate where the electron emitter is formed and the thickness of a dielectric layer and a ratio between the diameter of a hole formed through the non - insulation layer , the dielectric layer , and a gate layer formed on the dielectric layer and the thickness of the non - insulation layer . however , it is very difficult to manufacture the electron emitter because the electron emitter has a very complicated structure in which a plurality of holes are formed to correspond to each pixel , and a plurality of electron emitters are formed in each of the holes . in addition , there are spatial restrictions in manufacturing the electron emitter . therefore , there is a limit in maximizing the number and area of emitters corresponding to each pixel , and the lifetime of the emitters may be shortened when driving the emitters for a long time . turning now to fig3 and 4 , fig3 and 4 are a cross - sectional view and a plan view , respectively , of a field emission display ( fed ) 100 according to a first embodiment of the present invention . referring to fig3 and 4 , the fed 100 includes two substrates , i . e ., a first substrate 110 , which is also referred to as a rear substrate , and a second substrate 120 , which is also referred to as a front substrate . the rear substrate 110 and the front substrate 120 are formed so that they can be separated from each other by a predetermined distance . a spacer 130 is disposed between the rear substrate 110 and the front substrate 120 so that the predetermined distance therebetween can be maintained . the rear and front substrates 110 and 120 are typically formed of glass substrates . a structure that can emit electrons is formed on the rear substrate 110 , and a structure that can realize images using the emitted electrons is formed on the front substrate 120 . more specifically , a plurality of cathode electrodes 111 are arranged on the rear substrate 110 at regular intervals in a predetermined pattern , for example , as stripes . the cathode electrodes 111 are formed by depositing a conductive metallic material or a transparent conductive material , such as indium tin oxide ( ito ), on the rear substrate 110 to a thickness of , for example , several hundreds to several thousands of å and patterning the deposited conductive metallic material or transparent conductive material as stripes . the material of the cathode electrodes 111 may be determined depending on how emitters 115 are formed , which will be described in greater detail later . cavities 111 a , having a width wc are preferably formed in the cathode electrodes 111 and perforate cathode electrodes 111 so that the rear substrate 110 can be exposed therethrough . each of the cavities 111 a is disposed between emitters 115 . it is within the scope of the invention not to have any cavities formed perforating the cathode electrode 111 . also , it is within the scope of the invention to have more than one cavity per pixel , as will be discussed in fig9 and 10 . for the fed 100 of fig3 , there will be a one - to - one correspondence between the cavities 111 a perforating the cathode electrode 111 and the pixels 125 . in addition , the cavities 111 a may be formed , in consideration of the shape of their respective pixels 125 , as rectangles extending longer in the longitudinal ( or +/− y ) direction of the cathode electrodes 111 , i . e ., rather than in the latitudinal (+/− x ) direction . a conductive layer 112 is formed on each of the cathode electrodes 111 so as to be electrically connected to each of the cathode electrodes 111 . the conductive layer 112 may be formed to a thickness of about 2 - 5 μm by coating a conductive paste on each of the cathode electrodes 111 using a screen printing method and plasticizing the conductive paste at a predetermined temperature . first apertures 112 a having width w 1 , through which the cathode electrodes 111 are partially exposed , are formed in and perforate the conductive layer 112 . the first apertures 112 a may be formed as rectangles that extend longer in the longitudinal direction of the cathode electrodes 111 ( i . e ., the y direction ) than in the latitudinal direction of the cathode electrodes 111 ( i . e ., the x direction ) so that first aperture 112 a can correspond to one of the pixels 125 . in a case where the cavities 111 a are formed in the cathode electrodes 111 , as described above , the first apertures 112 a are formed to have a width w 1 , which is larger than a width w c of the cavities 111 a , so that they can be connected to their respective cavities 111 a . an insulation layer 113 is formed on the conductive layer 112 . the insulation layer 113 is formed on the entire surface of the rear substrate 110 so that not only the top surface of the conductive layer 112 but also the rear substrate 110 exposed between the cathode electrodes 111 can be covered with the insulation layer 113 , as shown in fig3 . the insulation layer 113 may be formed to a thickness of about 10 - 20 μm by coating a paste - type insulating material on the rear substrate 110 using a screen printing method and plasticizing the insulating material at a predetermined temperature . second apertures 113 a having width w 2 are formed in the insulating layer 113 to perforate the insulating layer 113 so that they can be connected to their respective first apertures 112 a . the second apertures 113 a may be formed as rectangles that extend longer in the longitudinal direction of the cathode electrodes 111 ( i . e ., the y direction ) rather than in the latitudinal direction ( i . e ., the x direction ) so that the second apertures 113 a can form a one - to - one correspondence with the pixels 125 . in addition , the second apertures 113 a are formed to have a width w 2 , which is larger than the width w 1 of the first apertures 112 a . accordingly , the conductive layer 112 is partially exposed through the second apertures 113 a . a plurality of gate electrodes 114 are formed on the insulation layer 113 at regular intervals in a predetermined pattern , for example , as stripes . the gate electrodes 114 extend in a direction perpendicular to the longitudinal direction of the cathode electrodes 111 ( the y direction ), i . e ., in the x direction . the gate electrodes 114 may be formed by depositing a conductive metal , e . g ., chrome ( cr ), on the insulation layer 113 using a sputtering method and patterning the conductive metal into stripes . third apertures 114 a having width w 3 , which are connected to their respective second apertures 113 a , are each formed in and perforate the gate electrodes 114 . the third apertures 114 a have the same shape as the second apertures 113 a . the third apertures 114 a may have a width w 3 , which is the same as the width w 2 of the second apertures 113 a as in fig3 or a width greater than w 2 as in fig6 . the emitters 115 are formed on each of the exposed portions of the cathode electrodes 111 exposed through the first apertures 112 a . the emitters 115 are formed to have a smaller thickness than the conductive layer 112 and are formed to be flat on the cathode electrodes 111 . the emitters 115 emit electrons when affected by an electric field generated by voltage applied between the cathode electrodes 111 and the gate electrodes 114 . in the present invention , the emitters 115 are formed of a carbon - based material , for example , graphite , diamond , diamond - like carbon ( dlc ), fulleren ( c 60 ), or carbon nano - tubes ( cnts ). preferably , the emitters 115 are formed of cnts , in particular , so that they can smoothly emit electrons even at a low driving voltage . in the present embodiment of fig3 and 4 , the emitters 115 are disposed at either side of each of the first apertures 112 a so that they are a predetermined distance apart from each other . for example , two emitters 115 may be disposed in a first aperture 112 a in contact with side surfaces of exposed portions of the conductive layer 112 . the emitters 115 may be formed as parallel bars extending in the longitudinal direction of the first apertures 112 a ( i . e ., the y direction ). accordingly , the emitters 115 have a larger area than the emitters of fig1 a , 1 b , 2 a , 2 b and macaulay &# 39 ; 659 , and thus can guarantee a longer lifetime than those of fig1 a , 1 b , 2 a , 2 b and macaulay &# 39 ; 659 when driven for a long time . in addition , in a case where the cavity 111 a is formed between the emitters 115 , as described above , a distance between the emitters 115 is smaller than the width w 1 of each of the first apertures 112 a but larger than the width w c of each of the cavities 111 a . the emitters 115 may be formed in various manners . for example , in a first method , the emitters 115 may be formed by coating a photosensitive cnt paste on the top surface of the rear substrate 110 , applying ultraviolet ( uv ) rays to the bottom surface of the rear substrate 110 to selectively expose the photosensitive cnt paste , and developing the photosensitive cnt paste . in this case , the cathode electrodes 111 should be formed of a transparent conductive material , i . e ., ito , and the conductive layer 112 and the insulation layer 113 should be formed of an opaque material . alternatively , in a second method , the emitters 115 may be formed in the following manner . a catalyst metal layer of ni or fe is formed on the top surface of each of the cathode electrodes 111 exposed through the first aperture 112 a , and cnts are vertically grown from the surface of the catalyst metal layer by supplying a carbon - based gas , such as ch 4 , c 2 h 2 , or co 2 , to the catalyst metal layer . still alternatively , in a third method , the emitters 115 may be formed by depositing photoresist in the first aperture 112 a , patterning the photoresist so that the photoresist can remain only on predetermined portions of the top surfaces of the cathode electrodes 111 where the emitters 115 are to be formed , coating a cnt paste on the remaining photoresist , and heating the rear substrate 110 to a predetermined temperature to enable the cnt paste to thermally react to the remaining photoresist . the second and third methods of forming the emitters 115 are free from the restriction of the first method of forming the emitters 115 as to the materials of the cathode electrodes 111 , the conductive layer 112 and the insulation layer 113 . turning now to fig5 a , 5 b and 5 c , fig5 a , 5 b , and 5 c illustrate three examples of the conductive layer 112 formed on one of the cathode electrodes 111 . referring to fig5 a , conductive layers 112 are respectively formed at both sides of a cathode electrode 111 to extend in the longitudinal (+/− y ) direction of the cathode electrode 111 , in which case , a first aperture 112 a is formed between the conductive layers 112 . emitters 115 are formed between the conductive layers 112 to have a predetermined length in the longitudinal (+/− y ) direction of the conductive layers 112 and contact side surfaces of the conductive layers 112 . a cavity 111 a is formed in the cathode electrode 111 between the emitters 115 to have the same length as the emitters 115 . referring to fig5 b , conductive layers 112 are formed at either side of a cathode electrode 111 to have a predetermined length , and a first aperture 112 a is formed therebetween . in the case of fig5 b , the conductive layers 112 are illustrated as having the same length as emitters 115 . referring to fig5 c , a conductive layer 112 is formed in the form of a closed polygon on a cathode electrode 111 so as to completely surround a first aperture 112 a . all of the four sidewalls of a first aperture 112 a are defined by the conductive layer 112 . accordingly , emitters 115 are completely surrounded by the conductive layer 112 . referring now to fig3 and 4 , the structure formed on the front or second substrate 120 will now be discussed . an anode electrode 121 is formed on the bottom surface of the front substrate 120 , which faces the top surface of the rear substrate 110 , and fluorescent layers 122 are formed of r , g , and b fluorescent materials on the anode electrode 121 . the anode electrode 121 is formed of a transparent conductive material , such as ito , so that visible rays emitted from the fluorescent layers 122 can pass therethrough . the fluorescent layers 122 are formed to extend in the longitudinal direction parallel to the cathode electrodes 111 , i . e ., in the y direction . black matrices 123 may be formed among the fluorescent layers 122 on the bottom surface of the front substrate 120 so as to improve contrast . a metallic thin layer 124 may be formed on the fluorescent layers 122 and on the black matrices 123 . the metallic thin layer 124 is formed of aluminium to have such a small thickness ( e . g ., several hundreds of å ) so that electrons emitted from the emitters 115 can easily pass therethrough . the r , g , and b fluorescent materials of the fluorescent layers 122 emit visible rays when excited by electron beams emitted from the emitters 115 , and the visible rays emitted from the r , g , and b materials of the fluorescent layers 122 are reflected by the metallic thin layer 124 . thus , the amount of visible light radiated from the entire fed increases , and eventually , the brightness of the entire fed increases as well . in a case where the metallic thin layer 124 is formed on the front substrate 120 , the anode electrode 121 may not necessarily be formed because the metallic thin layer 124 can serve as a conductive layer , i . e ., an anode electrode , when voltage is applied thereto . the rear substrate 110 and the front substrate 120 are located a predetermined distance apart from each other so that the emitters 115 can face the fluorescent layers 122 . the rear substrate 110 and the front substrate 120 are bonded to each other by applying a sealing material ( not shown ) around them . as described above , the spacer 130 is disposed between the rear substrate 110 and the front substrate 120 so as to maintain the predetermined distance between the rear substrate 110 and the front substrate 120 . the operation of the fed according to the preferred embodiment of the present invention will now be described . when predetermined voltages are applied to the cathode electrodes 111 , the gate electrodes 114 , and the anode electrode 121 , an electric field is formed among them so that electrons are emitted from the emitters 115 . at this time , a voltage of zero to minus dozens of volts , a voltage of several to dozens of volts , and a voltage of hundreds to thousands of volts are applied to the cathode electrodes 111 , the gate electrodes 114 , and the anode electrodes 121 , respectively . the conductive layer 112 is in contact with the top surface of the cathode electrodes 111 , and thus the same voltage applied to the cathode electrodes 111 is applied to the conductive layer 112 . the emitted electrons are converted into electron beams , and the electron beams are led to the fluorescent layers 122 so that they can eventually collide with the fluorescent layers 122 . as a result , the r , g , and b fluorescent materials of the fluorescent layers 122 are excited and emit visible rays . as described above , since the emitters 115 are disposed at either side of each of the first apertures 112 a , electron beams , which are formed of electrons emitted from the emitters 115 , are focused rather than to be widely dispersed . in addition , since the conductive layer 112 is disposed at either side of the emitters 115 , the electron beams can be efficiently focused due to an electric field formed by the conductive layer 112 . moreover , the cavity 111 a may be formed in each of the cathode electrodes 111 so that the emitters 115 can be surrounded by equipotential lines of an electric field formed around the emitters 115 . due to the electric field , current density increases , and a peak in the current density is precisely located in each of the pixels 125 of the fluorescent layers 122 . it is possible to more efficiently focus electron beams by adjusting the width w c of the cavity 111 a . as described above , color purity of an image can be enhanced by improving the focusing of electron beams emitted from the emitters 115 , and the brightness of the image can be enhanced by precisely placing a peak in current density in each of the pixels 125 . therefore , it is possible to realize an image with high picture quality . advantages of the fed according to the preferred embodiment of the present invention will be described in greater detail later with reference to fig1 a through 13c . turning now to fig6 , fig6 is a cross - sectional view of one variation of an fed according to the first embodiment of the present invention . referring to fig6 , fed 106 is similar to fed 100 in fig3 except that the width w 3 of third aperture 114 a is larger and thus not equal to the width w 2 of second aperture 113 a . by forming the third apertures 114 a to have a larger width w 3 than the width w 2 of the second apertures 113 a , a distance between the cathode electrodes 111 and their respective gate electrodes 114 can be lengthened , and thus , the voltage withstanding characteristics of the fed according to the first embodiment of the present invention can be improved . turning now to fig7 , fig7 illustrates yet another fed 107 according to the present invention , fed 107 being another variant of fed 100 of fig3 . referring to fig7 , the fed 107 includes a conductive layer 112 ′ that may include an insulation material layer 1121 formed on each of the cathode electrodes 111 and a metal layer 1122 formed to cover the top surface and side surfaces of the insulation material layer 1121 , so that the metal layer 1122 is electrically connected to the cathode electrodes 111 so as to serve basic functions of the conductive layer 112 ′. more specifically , the conductive layer 112 ′ may be formed by forming the insulation material layer 1121 on each of the cathode electrodes 111 and forming the metal layer 1122 on the insulation material layer 1121 through a deposition , sputtering , or plating method . the metal layer 1122 can serve as a passivation layer that protects the conductive layer 112 ′ from an etchant when forming the second apertures 113 a in the insulation layer 113 using the etchant . therefore , it is possible to prevent damage to the conductive layer 112 ′ caused by the etchant that is used to make the second apertures 113 a . more specifically , the conductive layer 112 of fig6 may be damaged by the etchant because it is formed of a conductive paste . however , the conductive layer 112 ′ of fig7 is not aversely affected by the etchant because its surface is formed of the metal layer 1122 . turning now to fig8 , fig8 illustrates yet another variant to fed 100 of fig3 . referring to fed 108 in fig8 , an insulation material layer 1123 is formed on the cathode electrodes 111 , and a conductive layer 112 ″ is formed on the top surface of the insulation material layer 1123 so that the conductive layer 112 ″ can be disposed as much apart from the cathode electrodes 111 as the thickness of the insulation material layer 1123 and can be electrically isolated from the cathode electrodes 111 by the insulation material layer 1123 . unlike fed 107 , conductive layer 112 ″ in fed 108 does not include the insulation material 1123 . therefore , unlike fed 107 of fig7 , conductive layer 112 ″ is not electrically connected to the cathode electrode 111 . in this case , the conductive layer 112 ″ may be connected to a different power source from a power source connected to the cathode electrodes 111 , and thus a different voltage from a voltage applied to the cathode electrodes 111 can be applied to the conductive layer 112 ″. therefore , it is possible to maximize the electron beam - focusing effect of the conductive layer 112 ″ by controlling the voltage applied to the conductive layer 112 ″ independently of the voltage applied to the cathode electrodes 111 . accordingly , the conductive layer 112 ″ can serve as an independent electrode , i . e ., a focusing electrode . the conductive layer 112 ″ may be formed by forming the insulation material layer 1123 on the cathode electrodes 111 and depositing a conductive metallic material on the top surface of the insulation material layer 1123 through a sputtering or plating method . since the conductive layer 112 ″ is formed of a metallic material rather than to be formed of a conductive paste , the conductive layer 112 ″ can be prevented from being damaged by an etchant used in an etching process for forming the second apertures 113 a in the insulation layer 113 . the rest of the elements of the fed 108 of fig8 are the same as their respective counterparts of the fed 100 of fig3 except that the first apertures 112 a are formed in the insulation material layer 1123 and in the conductive layer 112 ″ at regular intervals and the emitters 115 disposed in each of the first apertures 112 a are formed in contact with side surfaces of the insulation material layer 1123 exposed through each of the first apertures 112 a . in the fed 108 of fig8 , a longitudinal end of the conductive layer 112 ″ may be electrically connected to each of the cathode electrodes 111 , in which case , the same voltage can be applied to the conductive layer 112 ″ and the cathode electrodes 111 . fig9 is a plan view of an fed 200 according to a second embodiment of the present invention . the fed according to the second embodiment of the present invention has the same cross - sectional structure as the fed according to the first embodiment of the present invention , and thus a cross - sectional view of the fed according to the second embodiment of the present invention will not be presented . referring to fig9 , in each pixel 225 , a plurality of first apertures 212 a , for example , two first apertures 212 a are formed in a conductive layer 212 , two second aperture 213 a are formed in an insulation layer 213 , and two third apertures 214 a , are formed in a gate electrode 214 . emitters 215 are formed in each of the first apertures 212 a . unlike fed 100 of fig3 , there is now more than one set of apertures for each pixel in fed 200 . the emitters 215 , like the emitters 115 in the first embodiment of the present invention , are formed on a cathode electrode 211 and exposed through the first aperture 212 a . in addition , the emitters 215 are disposed at either side of each of the first apertures 212 a so that they are at a predetermined distance apart from each other . a plurality of cavities 211 a , for example , two cavities 211 a , may be formed in the cathode electrode 211 corresponding to each pixel 225 . other elements of the fed 200 according to the second embodiment of the present invention are the same as their respective counterparts of the fed 100 according to the first embodiment of the present invention , and thus their descriptions will be omitted . the variations of the fed according to the first embodiment of the present invention , shown in fig6 , 7 , and 8 , may also be applied to the fed 200 according to the second embodiment of the present invention . fig1 a and 10b are a plan views of an fed 300 according to a third embodiment of the present invention . fig1 a focusses on a single emitter and fig1 b shows how may circular emitter structures correspond to a single pixel 325 . the fed 300 according to the third embodiment of the present invention has the same cross - sectional structure as the fed 100 according to the first embodiment of the present invention , and thus a cross - sectional view of the fed 300 according to the third embodiment of the present invention will not be presented . referring to fig1 a , a first aperture 312 a formed in a conductive layer 312 , a second aperture 313 a formed in an insulation layer 313 , and a third aperture 314 a formed in a gate electrode 314 are all circular in shape instead of rectangular as in the first embodiment . an inner diameter d 3 of the third aperture 314 a and an inner diameter d 2 of the second aperture 313 a are larger than an inner diameter d , of the first aperture 312 a . in addition , the inner diameter d 3 of the third aperture 314 may be the same as the inner diameter d 2 of the second aperture 313 a . an emitter 315 , which is ring - shaped , is formed on a cathode electrode 311 exposed through the first aperture 312 a along an inner circumference of the first aperture 312 a . an inner diameter d e of the emitter 315 is smaller than the inner diameter d 1 of the first aperture 312 a . the emitter 315 , like the emitters 115 in the first embodiment of the present invention , may be formed of a carbon - based material , e . g ., cnts . in the third embodiment of the present invention , like in the first embodiment of the present invention , a cavity 311 a , which is circular , may be formed to perforate the cathode electrode 311 . the cavity 311 a is disposed inside the emitter 315 . therefore , an inner diameter dc of the cavity 311 a is smaller than the inner diameter d , of the first aperture 312 a and the inner diameter de of the emitter 315 . in the third embodiment of the present invention as illustrated in fig1 b , a plurality of first apertures 312 a , a plurality of second apertures 313 a , and a plurality of third apertures may be provided for each pixel 325 , in which case , the emitter 315 is formed in each of the plurality of first apertures 312 a . the rest of the elements of the fed 300 according to the third embodiment of the present invention are the same as their respective counterparts of the fed 100 according to the first embodiment of the present invention , and thus their descriptions will be omitted . the variations of the fed according to the first embodiment of the present invention , shown in fig6 , 7 , and 8 , may also be applied to the fed according to the third embodiment of the present invention . in other words , the inner diameter d 3 of the third aperture 314 a formed in a gate electrode 314 may be larger than the inner diameter d 2 of the second aperture 313 a formed in the insulation layer 313 , and the conductive layer 312 may include an insulation material layer formed on the cathode electrode 311 and a metal layer formed on the insulation material layer . in addition , the conductive layer 312 may be formed on the top surface of the insulation material layer , which is formed on the cathode electrode 311 . it is to be appreciated that features from various embodiments and from various variations of embodiments may be mixed and matched to form an fed within the scope of the present invention . the aperture sizes may be rectangular , circular , have a one - to - one correspondence with the pixels or have a many - to - one correspondence with the pixels , the relative sizes of the apertures may vary and the presence or absence of a cavity are all within the scope of the present invention . empirical simulation results of an fed according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention and the feds of fig1 a and 1b will now be described in the following paragraphs . in electron beam emission simulations , the fed 90 of fig1 a and 1b and the fed 100 according to the first embodiment of the present invention , shown in fig3 , were respectively selected for an empirical comparison . more specifically , the feds according to the first through third embodiments of the present invention have almost the same cross - sectional structure and thus have almost the same electron beam emission characteristics , and thus , the feds of fig3 , 6 , 7 , and 8 were selected as exemplary embodiments of the present invention for the electron beam emission simulations . therefore , the feds according to the first embodiment and their variations were empirically tested and test results for the feds 200 and 300 according to the second and third embodiments are not shown as they are essentially the same as that of the first embodiment . before the simulations , design dimensions of the fed &# 39 ; s tested were fixed . for example , screens of the fed 90 of fig1 a and 1b and the feds according to the first embodiment of the present invention were each set to have an rgb trio pitch of about 0 . 69 mm in a case where they were designed to have an aspect ratio of 16 : 9 , a diagonal line length of 38 inches , and a horizontal resolution of 1280 lines so as to realize high definition ( hd )- level picture quality . in this case , in the fed according to the first embodiment of the present invention , an insulation layer 113 is preferably set to have a height of 10 - 20 μm , a conductive layer 112 is preferably set to have a height of 2 - 5 μm , first apertures 112 a formed in the conductive layer 112 are preferably set to have a width w 1 of 60 - 80 μm , second apertures 113 a formed in the insulation layer 113 are preferably set to have a width w 2 of 70 - 90 μm , third apertures 114 a formed in gate electrodes 114 are preferably set to have a width w 3 of 70 - 95 μm , and cavities formed in cathode electrodes 111 are preferably set to have a width w c of 10 - 30 μm . however , the above - mentioned elements of the fed according to the first embodiment of the present invention may have different measurements from those set forth herein , depending on the size , aspect ratio , and resolution of the screen of the fed according to the first embodiment of the present invention . fig1 a through 11c illustrate electron beam emission simulation results of the fed 90 of fig1 a and 1b . referring to fig1 a , an electron beam emitted from an emitter 16 of the fed 90 disperses widely toward fluorescent layers 23 of the fed 90 . the vertical axis in fig1 b represents current density . referring to fig1 b , peaks in the current density are located near the edges of a pixel , rather than the center of the pixel , because most electrons are emitted from the edges of the emitters 16 , as described above . if a central portion of the pixel has a low current density , fluorescent materials of the pixel cannot be sufficiently excited , thereby decreasing the brightness of an image displayed on the screen of the fed 90 . particularly , in a case where emitters are not exactly arranged where they are supposed to be arranged , or in a case where front 21 and rear 11 substrates of the fed 90 are not precisely aligned with each other when bonding them together , peaks in current density are likely to be located near the edges of each pixel of the fed 90 , which results in a considerable decrease in color purity . referring to fig1 c , the spot of an electron beam arriving at a fluorescent layer of the fed undesirably encroaches upon another pixel . in short , the fed 90 of fig1 a and 1b may end up in low color purity and low picture quality . fig1 a through 12c illustrate electron beam emission simulation empirical results of the fed 100 according to the first embodiment of the present invention as shown in fig3 , modified for the case where there is no cavity 111 a perforating cathode electrode 111 ( hereinafter referred to as modified fed 100 ). referring to fig1 a , electron beam emitted from emitters 115 that are respectively arranged at both sides of a first aperture 112 a of this modified fed 100 according to the first embodiment of the present invention are more focused and less dispersed than the electron beams of fed 90 of fig1 a and 1b . this improvement in the electron beam of the modified fed 100 is caused by the electric field formed by the conductive layer 112 . referring to fig1 b , peaks in current density are generally located in a central portion of a pixel , unlike the empirical results of fed 90 illustrated in fig1 b . accordingly , as shown in fig1 c , the size of the spot of an electron beam arriving at a fluorescent layer is much smaller in this modified fed 100 than in fed 90 , and thus it is possible to solve the problem of the feds of fig1 a , 1 b , 2 a , 2 b and macauley &# 39 ; 659 that an electron beam aimed at one pixel encroaches upon another pixel as well . even though current density is generally lower in the electron beam of modified fed 100 than in fed 90 , color purity of an image is higher for modified fed 100 than for fed 90 because the focusing characteristics of electron beams emitted from the emitters 115 of the modified fed 100 according to the first embodiment of the present invention are considerably improved , compared to fed 90 of fig1 a and 1b . in addition , since peaks in the current density are located in a central portion of each pixel for modified fed 100 , the brightness of an image displayed on the screen of the modified fed 100 according to the first embodiment of the present invention can be compensated for . turning to fig1 a , 13 b and 13 c , fig1 a through 13c illustrate electron beam emission simulation empirical results of the fed 100 according to the first embodiment of the present invention , shown in fig3 , in a case where there is a one - to - one correspondence between cavities 111 a perforating cathode electrode 111 and pixels 125 . referring to fig1 a , due to the cavity 11 a formed in each cathode electrode 111 of the fed 100 of fig3 , an electric field is formed around the emitters 115 so that the emitters 115 can be surrounded by equipotential lines of the electric field . due to the electric field , electron beams emitted from the emitters 115 that are respectively disposed at both sides of a first aperture 112 a can be efficiently focused proceeding toward fluorescent layers 122 . referring to fig1 b , a peak in current density is precisely located in a central portion of a pixel . accordingly , as shown in fig1 c , the size of the spot of an electron beam arriving at a fluorescent layer 122 is much smaller in a case where a cavity 111 a is formed in each cathode electrode 111 of the fed 100 according to the first embodiment of the present invention than in a case where no cavity 111 a is formed in each cathode electrode 111 of the corresponding modified fed 100 . in addition , current density is higher in a case where a cavity 111 a is formed in each cathode electrode 111 of the fed 100 according to the first embodiment of the present invention than in a case where no cavity 111 a is formed in each cathode electrode 111 of the corresponding modified fed 100 as well as the feds of fig1 a , 1 b , 2 a and 2 b . therefore , by forming a cavity 111 a in each cathode electrode 111 of an fed , it is possible to enhance the focusing characteristics of electron beams , increase current density , place a peak in the current density in a central portion of each pixel of the fed , and eventually improve the color purity and brightness of the fed . turning now to fig1 a , 14 b and 14 c , fig1 a through 14c illustrate electron beam emission simulation empirical results of the fed 100 according to the first embodiment of the present invention , shown in fig3 , in a case where the width wc of the cavity 111 a formed in each cathode electrode 111 of the corresponding fed has been changed so that it is larger than the feds whose results are shown in fig1 a , 13 b and 13 c . referring to fig1 a , an electric field is formed around the emitters 115 so that the emitters 115 can be better surrounded by equipotential lines of the electric field than in fig1 a . referring to fig1 b , a peak in current density is precisely located in a central portion of a pixel . accordingly , as shown in fig1 c , the size of the spot of an electron beam arriving at a fluorescent layer 122 is much smaller than in fig1 c . in addition , the current density is also much higher in fig1 c than in fig1 c . therefore , by adjusting the width wc of a cavity 111 a formed in each cathode electrode 111 of fed 100 , it is possible to considerably increase current density , efficiently focus electron beams , and eventually realize high quality images . fig1 a , 15 b , and 15 c are diagrams illustrating empirical results of electron beam emission simulation results of the fed 107 of fig7 . referring to fig1 a , due to a conductive layer 112 ′, which is formed of an insulation material layer 1121 and a metal layer 1122 , and a cavity 111 a , which is formed in a cathode electrode 111 , an electric field is formed around emitters 115 so that the emitters 115 can be surrounded by equipotential lines of the electric field . accordingly , electron beams emitted from the emitters 115 can be efficiently focused . therefore , as shown in fig1 b , peaks in current density are precisely located in their respective pixels . in addition , as shown in fig1 c , the size of a spot of an electron beam on a fluorescent layer 122 is very small . as described above , the fed 107 of fig7 can have the same effects as the fed 100 of fig . fig1 a and 16b are diagrams illustrating electron beam emission simulation results of the fed 108 of fig8 . referring to fig1 a and 16b , the fed 108 of fig8 , in which a conductive layer 112 ″ is formed on the top surface of an insulation material layer 1123 so that it can be insulated from a cathode electrode 111 , has the same effects as the feds 100 and 107 of fig3 and 7 . the fed 108 of fig8 can focus electron beams more efficiently than the feds 100 and 107 of fig3 and 7 by adjusting a voltage applied to the conductive layer . as described above , the feds according to the present invention can improve the focusing characteristics of electron beams emitted from emitters resulting in increased color purity of images and thus realize high quality images . in addition , the fed according to the present invention can improve the brightness of images by precisely placing a peak in current density in each pixel . while the present invention has been particularly shown and described with reference to exemplary embodiments thereof , it will be understood by those of ordinary skill in the art that various changes in form and details may be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention as defined by the following claims .	7

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