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as used herein , the term “ curtain ” is understood to mean a generally sheet - like structure having a top edge , a top edge portion extending downward from the top edge , and opposing side edges extending downward from the top edge . the distance between the side edges generally establishing the width of the curtain . as used herein , “ top edge ” is understood to mean the uppermost part of the curtain when hung in a conventional manner for curtains . “ top ” is intended to have its plain meaning , including the highest or uppermost part or location . fig1 illustrates a known curtain assembly including a curtain 10 , a support rod or curtain rod 12 which passes through openings 14 forming a passage in the top edge portion 16 of the curtain . the openings 14 are spaced a distance from the top edge of the curtain 18 in a direction away from the top edge . accordingly , in order to hang the curtain 10 from the rod 12 , the rod must be inserted through the openings 14 and at least the top edge portion of the curtain arranged in an accordioned or corrugated fashion . fig2 illustrates a curtain according to an embodiment of the present invention . the curtain 10 includes six openings : two outer openings 14 a and four inner openings 14 b forming two pairs of inner openings in the top edge portion 16 . six generally circular openings are shown for ease of illustration only , recognizing that more than six openings may be used and shapes other than circular may also be used with similar results . each opening 14 a and 14 b is preferably substantially surrounded by a reinforcing means such as a ring 15 made of a resilient material to reinforce the openings 14 a and 14 b if the curtain 10 is susceptible to tearing and ripping . a resilient material is one that can be deformed to enable the curtain to be mounted onto and detached from the rod while maintaining the shape of the openings sufficiently to retain the curtain on the rod . the resilient material can be made of a plastic , or a resin , or metal , or a combination thereof , or any other suitable material constructed and shaped to achieve the goal of the present invention . the use of rings 15 can also improve the movement of the mounted curtain 10 on the rod as well as improve the engagement of the openings 14 a and 14 b with the rod . the rings 15 can be separate elements made integral with the curtain 10 or can be formed from the same material as curtain 10 during the formation of the curtain 10 . the rings 15 can have any shape compatible with the invention . generally , the periphery of the openings 14 a and 14 b which actually engages the rod 12 may be defined by the rings 15 rather than the curtain 10 . no distinction between these is made herein . in the two outer openings 14 a , included are cuts 20 extending through the thickness of the curtain , starting from the top of the opening 14 a and extending to the top edge of the curtain 18 . as shown in fig3 , the cuts 20 enable engagement of the curtain 10 onto the rod 12 . in the inner openings 14 b , there is a path between each pair of openings 14 b . the path between openings 14 b in a pair further enables the engagement of the curtain 10 onto the rod 12 . this path is accomplished by cuts 17 a and 17 b extending through the thickness of the curtain between each pair of openings 14 b . if openings 14 b are reinforced with rings 15 , the cuts would also extend through the rings as shown in fig2 . although this invention has been described with respect to specific embodiments , the details hereof are exemplary and are not to be construed as limitations .	0
it has been found that the presence or combination of certain compositional features produces a refractory product in which the amount of mixing water is minimized , the quantities of matrix material are minimized , the porosity of the formed dry body is minimized , the density of the formed dry body is increased , and a product having enhanced modulus of rupture and cold crushing strength values is produced . these properties can be imparted to a formed body in the absence of sintering . the coarse aggregates useful in practicing the present invention may contain fused alumina or sintered alumina ( tabular alumina ), whole alumina balls , fused bauxite , fused and sintered mullite , fused and sintered magnesia , fused and sintered magnesia aluminum spinel , fused and sintered zirconia , refractory bauxites , refractory kyanite , refractory andalusite , refractory sillimanite , silicon carbide or combinations thereof . the coarse aggregates useful in practicing the present invention can have any shape . they can be spherical , blocky , rectangular or even fibrous . in addition , they may be used alone or in combination . the binder used in the matrix may contain calcium aluminate cement , alpha bond cement , portland cement , mono - aluminum phosphate ( map ), clays , reactive alumina ( such as aa 101 ), hydratable alumina , and combinations thereof . in certain embodiments , the matrix material according to the present invention does not contain cement . other raw materials used in the matrix may include reactive aluminas , calcined alumina , tabular alumina , fused alumina , mullite , carbon ( graphite or carbon black ), silicon carbide , zirconium dioxide , magnesium oxide , aluminum silicates ( such as kyanite , andalusite , or sillimanite ), micro silica , bauxite , chromium oxide and combinations thereof . the portion of the formulation having diameters in the range of 0 . 01 to 10 micrometers , also known as the fines , may contain reactive aluminas and fume silicas . the matrix may also contain dispersing agents , plasticizers , anti - foaming or foaming agents and de - airing components . these agents are well known in the art . the method of the invention produces castable mixtures with a minimal volume of fine grains . generally , the amount of fine grains needed to create a castable is dependent on the size of the top size grain . mixes with a top grain size of 3 mesh typically need a minimum of 33 volume percent − 100 mesh grains to form a functional castable mixture . useful castable mixtures with 30 volume percent or less − 100 mesh grains , 29 volume percent or less − 100 mesh grains , 26 volume percent or less − 100 mesh grains , 25 volume percent or less − 100 mesh grains , 22 volume percent or less − 100 mesh grains or from , and including , 24 volume percent to , and including , 18 volume percent − 100 mesh grains , can be produced according to the present invention . castable mixtures with a 3 mesh top grain size typically require a minimum of 48 volume percent − 16 mesh grains to form a functional castable mixture . useful castable mixtures with 47 volume percent or less − 16 mesh grains , 45 volume percent or less − 16 mesh grains , or 43 volume percent or less − 16 mesh grains , can be produced according to the present invention . castable mixtures with a 3 mesh top grain size typically need a minimum of 58 volume percent − 6 mesh grains to form a functional castable mixture . useful castable mixtures with 55 volume percent or less − 6 mesh grains , 47 volume percent or less − 6 mesh grains , 42 volume percent or less − 6 mesh grains , or 36 volume percent or less − 6 mesh grains can be produced according to the present invention . regardless of the top grain size , a minimum volume of fine aggregate is needed for prior art castable mixtures . these minimum volumes are similar to the values given for mixes with a top grain size of 3 mesh . mesh values are expressed here as tyler values . additionally , the maximum volume percent values for − 6 mesh grains , − 14 mesh grains , − 16 mesh grains , − 28 mesh and − 100 mesh grains presented for castable mixtures with a top grain size of 3 mesh may also be used to produce castable mixtures according to the invention having a top grain size or aggregate larger than 3 mesh . for example , − ⅜ ″ aggregates , ½ ″× ¼ ″ aggregates , − ½ ″ aggregates , − ¾ ″ aggregates and − 1 ″ aggregates , mixtures of these aggregates and aggregates having a top grain size within the range of , and including , − 3 mesh and 12 ″ may be used to produce castable compositions according to this invention . the method of the invention produces cast bodies with densities previously unattainable for the compositions used . alumina - based cast objects of the prior art may have densities up to 202 pounds per cubic foot in the green state if they incorporate chromium oxide . green state materials contain free water ; this water is removed by heating to 230 ° f . alumina - based cast objects with densities , in the green state , of 204 pounds per cubic foot or greater , or 210 pounds per cubic foot or greater , can be produced according to the present invention . alumina - based cast objects of the prior art may have densities up to 199 pounds per cubic foot after drying to 230 ° f . if they incorporate chromium oxide , or 196 pounds per cubic foot in the green state if they incorporate only aluminas . alumina - based cast objects with densities , after drying to 230 ° f ., of 200 pounds per cubic foot or greater , 202 pounds per cubic foot or greater , or 207 pounds per cubic foot or greater , can be produced according to the present invention . the method of the present invention produces cast bodies with densities , with respect to theoretic densities , previously unattainable . the theoretic density refers to the highest density attainable for a substance ( i . e ., a solid sample containing no gaps , as distinguished from a packed powder having gaps between particles ). alumina has a theoretic density of 247 . 53 pounds per cubic foot . the prior art can produce materials with ( 196 . 0 / 247 . 53 )× 100 % or 79 . 2 % of theoretic density , or ( 199 . 0 / 247 . 53 )× 100 % or 80 . 3 % of theoretic density . materials produced according to the present invention may have ( 200 . 0 / 247 . 53 )× 100 % or 80 . 7 % of theoretic density or greater , or densities that equal or exceed 83 . 6 % of theoretic density . the method of the invention enables the production of castable material with a reduced quantity of liquid . prior art castable materials typically contain at least 3 . 7 wt % liquid . castable material can be produced according to the present invention with 3 . 3 wt % liquid or less , 3 . 0 wt % liquid or less , 2 . 0 wt % liquid , or 1 . 7 wt % liquid or less . prior art castable materials typically contain at least 10 . 9 vol % liquid . castable material can be produced according to the present invention with 9 . 1 vol % liquid or less , or 7 . 8 vol % liquid or less . these percentages are expressed with respect to a total weight or volume of aggregate , matrix , fines and water . the method of the invention enables the production of cast bodies with reduced porosity . cast bodies produced by prior art casting techniques have , after heating to 1500 ° f ., porosity levels of no less than 13 %. cast bodies can be produced according to the present invention with porosity levels less than 13 %, less than 12 %, less than 11 %, less than 10 %, less than 9 %, less than 8 %, less than 7 %, less than 6 %, less than 5 %, less than 4 %, or less than 3 %. in a process according to the invention , cast shapes , cast structures and cast products , such as columnar structures , may be constructed with the castable compositions of the invention . the method comprises steps of ( a ) providing a mold having a cavity which corresponds to the size and shape of the structure or cast product , ( b ) filling the cavity with a castable composition of the invention , ( c ) optionally subjecting the castable composition of the invention to compacting and / or vibration , ( d ) curing the castable composition to form the cast shape , cast structure or cast product , and ( e ) separating the mold from the cast shape , cast structure or cast product . the compositions of the present invention may also be used in a compression forming procedure , in which the wet composition is placed in a mold and subjected to mechanical or hydraulic pressing or other compression processes to form a piece or cast product of the desired shape . the castable compositions of the invention may be heated to obtain good green strengths for demolding . heating to 110 ° c . may be used to react the reactive alumina . alternatively , or in addition , a cement may be used in the fine - grained material to provide green strength . the examples presented in table i were cast using tabular alumina sized as indicated and secar 71 cement as a binder . secar 71 is a hydraulic binder with an alumina content of approximately 70 %. ulm2 is a composition of the present invention having four peaks in particle diameter distribution ; two of the peaks correspond to particles having diameters of 250 micrometers or less . ulm3 and ulm3b are two compositions of the present invention having three particle diameter distribution peaks corresponding to particles having diameters of 1000 micrometers or less . pa1 and pa2 are prior art compositions . ulm1 is a composition of the present invention that was derived from composition pa2 by alteration of the particle distribution of the sub - 100 - micrometer ( or − 60 mesh ) range , and by introduction of gaps in that range . the “ loading ” values in tables i and ii represent remaining weight percentages , defined as the percentage by weight of particles in a given fraction with respect to the weight of all particles in the fraction plus all smaller particles . for example , the fraction containing the largest particles in ulm2 contains 53 wt % of the alumina and silica in the composition . the fraction containing the second - largest particles contains 50 wt % of the remaining particles . the fraction containing the third - largest particles contains 35 wt % of the remaining particles . the fraction containing the fourth - largest particles , which are also the smallest particles , contains 100 wt % of the remaining particles . the compositions ulm 1 , ulm 3 and ulm3b contain four or more fractions having an alternating remaining weight configuration . pa1 and pa2 lack such a configuration . ulm2 also lacks a four - fraction alternating remaining weight configuration , but does have two peaks corresponding to particles having diameters of 250 micrometers or less . the compositions pa1 and pa2 required the quantities of water shown ( 6 . 34 wt % and 5 . 25 wt % respectively ) to produce a cast product . a3000fl is a superground , bimodal reactive alumina with a d50 of approximately 2 . 5 - 3 micrometers and a specific surface area measured by the bet ( brunauer - emmett - teller ) method of typically 1 . 3 - 2 square meters per gram . a152sg is a superground alumina having a monomodal particle size distribution with a median particle size of 1 . 2 micrometers . rg 4000 is a monomodal reactive alumina with a d50 of 0 . 5 - 0 . 8 micrometers . dispex n100 is a sodium polyacrylate dispersant . present invention ultra - low matrix compositions ulm1 , ulm2 , ulm3 and ulm3b show increases in mor , bulk density , and ccs , and decreased porosity when compared with prior art compositions pa1 and pa2 . the components and properties of these compositions are presented in table i . present invention compositions ulm - fg , ulm - pg and ulm - 671 are able to produce cast shapes with decreased percentages of water when compared with prior art composition pa2 . compositions are presented in table ii ; a comparison of properties of cast shapes produced with the addition of various proportions of water is presented in table iii . all samples were subjected to 30 seconds of dry mixing , 4 . 5 minutes of wet mixing , 4 minutes of high vibration and 1 minute of low vibration . kbd values are bulk densities measured in pounds per cubic foot . kpor values are porosity values measured as volume percent . both the kbd values and kpor values are 1500 degree f . values . the designation dnb is given to compositions that did not bond . the designation dnc is given to compositions that did not consolidate . in certain compositions , such as the ultra - low - matrix compositions of the present invention in which high proportions of water were added for comparison purposes , segregation of particle fractions was observed . table values designated as “ full ” are measurements of pieces representing a complete top - to - bottom cross section of a sample . table values designated as “ bottom ” are measurements of a portion of a sample closer to the vibration source . percentages of water in table iii are weight percentages . fig1 contains a comparison of a particle size distribution 12 according to the prior art with a particle size distribution 14 according to the present invention . particle size distribution 14 corresponds to composition ulm 2 in table i . in this figure , the weight percentages for particles in the dry composition are plotted as a function of particle sizes ( expressed in micrometers on a logarithmic scale ). criterion sr 92 cf is a fine particle material that may be used to produce cast bodies according to the prior art . it contains a fine activated alumina binder . its grain size distribution , expressed in mesh , and its chemical composition are compared , in tables iv and v , with that of a fine particle material , exhibiting a particle size gap , according to the present invention . fig2 depicts a particle size distribution according to the present invention in which six fractions have an alternating remaining weight percentage configuration , alternating between 33 % and 48 % until the final fraction is reached . although the weight percentages of the fractions decrease with decreasing particle size until the last fraction is reached , the six largest fractions exhibit an alternating remaining weight percentage configuration . the first fraction 21 contains 33 wt % of the particles ; 67 wt % of the particles remain . the second fraction 22 contains ( 67 * 0 . 48 ) or 32 . 2 wt % of the particles . the first two fractions thus contain 65 . 2 wt %; 34 . 8 wt % remain . the third fraction 23 contains ( 34 . 8 * 0 . 33 ) or 11 . 5 wt % of the particles . the first three fractions thus contain 76 . 7 wt %; 23 . 3 wt % remain . the fourth fraction 24 contains ( 23 . 3 * 0 . 48 ) or 11 . 2 wt % of the particles . the first four fractions thus contains 87 . 9 wt %; 12 . 1 wt % remain . the fifth fraction 25 contains ( 12 . 1 * 0 . 33 ) or 4 . 0 wt % of the particles . the first five fractions thus contain 91 . 9 wt %; 8 . 1 wt % remain . the sixth fraction 26 contains ( 8 . 1 * 0 . 48 ) or 3 . 9 wt %. the first six fractions thus contain 95 . 8 wt %; 4 . 2 wt % remain . the seventh fraction 27 is the only fraction remaining , so it contains 4 . 2 wt % of the particles , or 100 wt % of the particles remaining fig3 depicts the particle size distribution for ulm3 , a composition of the present invention . in this figure , the volume percentages for particles in the dry composition are plotted as a function of particle sizes , expressed in micrometers , on a logarithmic scale . first fraction 31 , second fraction 32 , third fraction 33 , fourth fraction 34 , fifth fraction 35 and sixth fraction 36 are shown . first fraction 31 has a remaining volume percentage of 48 %. the remaining volume percentage is 32 % for second fraction 32 , 42 % for third fraction 33 , 48 % for fourth fraction 34 , and 44 % for fifth fraction 35 . the remaining volume percentage is the percentage of the volume of particles in the indicated range with respect to the sum of the volume of particles in all ranges in which particles have the same or smaller diameters than in the indicated range . sixth fraction 36 , the fraction containing the smallest particles , has a remaining volume percentage of 100 %. fig4 depicts the particle size distribution for ulm3b , a composition of the present invention . in this figure , the volume percentages for particles in the dry composition are plotted as a function of particle sizes , expressed in micrometers , on a logarithmic scale . first fraction 41 , second fraction 42 , third fraction 43 , fourth fraction 44 , fifth fraction 45 and sixth fraction 46 are shown . first fraction 41 has a remaining volume percentage of 48 %. the remaining volume percentage is 30 % for second fraction 42 , 41 % for third fraction 43 , 41 % for fourth fraction 44 , and 49 % for fifth fraction 45 . the remaining volume percentage is the percentage of the volume of particles in the indicated range with respect to the sum of the volume of particles in all ranges in which particles have the same or smaller diameters than in the indicated range . sixth fraction 46 , the fraction containing the smallest particles , has a remaining volume percentage of 100 %. fig5 contains a plot of percentage by mass of particle fractions with respect to particle diameter in micrometers of pa1 , a composition of the prior art . the plot depicts first fraction 51 , second fraction 52 and third fraction 53 . third fraction 53 contains all the material in the composition having a diameter of 100 micrometers or less , and exhibits a single peak . first fraction 51 contains 45 percent of the remaining weight , second fraction 52 contains 46 percent of the remaining weight , and third fraction 53 contains 100 percent of the remaining weight . fig6 contains a plot of percentage by mass of particle fractions with respect to particle diameter in micrometers of pa2 , a composition of the prior art . the plot depicts first fraction 61 , second fraction 62 , third fraction 63 and fourth fraction 64 . fourth fraction 64 contains all the material in the composition having a diameter of 100 micrometers or less , and exhibits a single peak . first fraction 61 contains 40 percent of the remaining weight , second fraction 62 contains 33 percent of the remaining weight , third fraction 63 contains 38 percent of the remaining weight , and fourth fraction 64 contains 100 percent of the remaining weight . fig7 contains a plot of percentage by mass of particle fractions with respect to particle diameter in micrometers of ulm1 , a composition of the present invention . the plot depicts first fraction 72 , second fraction 72 , third fraction 73 , fourth fraction 74 , fifth fraction 75 , and sixth fraction 76 . fractions 71 , 72 and 73 contain the same weight percent as the analogous fractions in pa2 . however , the sub - 1000 - micrometer portion of the pa2 particle distribution exhibits a single peak , whereas the sub - 1000 - micrometer portion of ulm1 exhibits three fractions , namely fractions 74 , 75 and 76 . 1 . a castable composition producing , when cast with a water content of 2 . 8 wt % or less , a cast product having a porosity equal to or less than 15 volume percent when measured after exposure to 230 degrees f . 2 . a castable composition producing , when cast with a water content of 2 . 8 wt % or less , a cast product having a modulus of rupture equal to or greater than 1000 pounds per square inch as measured after exposure to 230 degrees f . 3 . a castable composition producing , when cast with a water content of 2 . 8 wt % or less , a cast product having a cold crushing strength equal to or greater than 3000 pounds per square inch as measured after exposure to 230 degrees f . 4 . a castable composition according to claim 1 , wherein the cast product has a porosity equal to or less than 10 volume percent as measured after exposure to 230 degrees f . 5 . a castable composition according to claim 1 , wherein the cast product has a porosity equal to or less than 9 volume percent as measured after exposure to 230 degrees f . 6 . a castable composition according to claim 1 , wherein the cast product has a porosity equal to or less than 8 volume percent as measured after exposure to 230 degrees f . 7 . a castable composition according to claim 1 , wherein the cast product has a porosity equal to or less than 7 volume percent as measured after exposure to 230 degrees f . 8 . a castable composition according to claim 1 , wherein the cast product has a porosity equal to or less than 6 volume percent as measured after exposure to 230 degrees f . 9 . a castable composition according to claim 1 , wherein the cast product has a porosity equal to or less than 5 volume percent as measured after exposure to 230 degrees f . 10 . a castable composition according to claim 1 , wherein the cast product has a porosity equal to or less than 4 volume percent as measured after exposure to 230 degrees f . 11 . a castable composition according to claim 1 , wherein the cast product has a porosity equal to or less than 3 volume percent as measured after exposure to 230 degrees f . 12 . a castable composition according to any of claims 1 , 4 , 5 , 6 , 7 , 8 , 9 , 10 and 11 , wherein the porosities are obtained by measurement after exposure to 1500 degrees f . 13 . a castable composition according to claim 2 , wherein the cast product has a modulus of rupture equal to or greater than 2000 pounds per square inch as measured after exposure to 230 degrees f . 14 . a castable composition according to claim 2 , wherein the cast product has a modulus of rupture equal to or greater than 3000 pounds per square inch as measured after exposure to 230 degrees f . 15 . a castable composition according to claim 2 , wherein the cast product has a modulus of rupture equal to or greater than 4000 pounds per square inch as measured after exposure to 230 degrees f . 16 . a castable composition according to any of claims 2 , 13 , 14 and 15 , wherein the modulus of rupture values are obtained by measurement after exposure to 1500 degrees f . 17 . a castable composition according to claim 3 , wherein the cast product has a cold crushing strength of 5000 pounds per square inch as measured after exposure to 230 degrees f . 18 . a castable composition according to claim 3 , wherein the cast product has a cold crushing strength of 8000 pounds per square inch as measured after exposure to 230 degrees f . 19 . a castable composition according to claim 3 , wherein the cast product has a cold crushing strength of 10 , 000 pounds per square inch as measured after exposure to 230 degrees f . 20 . a castable composition according to claim 3 , wherein the cast product has a cold crushing strength of 12 , 000 pounds per square inch as measured after exposure to 230 degrees f . 21 . a castable composition according to any of claims 3 , 17 , 18 , 19 and 20 , wherein the cold crushing strength is obtained by measurement after exposure to 1500 degrees f . 22 . a castable composition according to any of claims 1 - 21 , characterized by a coarsest refractory grain fraction comprising at least 50 % by weight of the dry composition , and wherein the coarsest refractory grain fraction is separated from a smaller grain fraction by a gap having a ratio of largest particle diameter to smallest particle diameter of at least the square root of 2 . 23 . a castable composition according to any of claims 1 - 21 , in which the composition contains at least four grain fractions , of which three adjacent grain fractions are separated by gaps having a particle diameter ratio of at least the square root of two , and the three adjacent grain fractions have remaining weight percentages that are , with respect to the respective immediately larger particle size fractions and in order of decreasing particle size , smaller , larger and smaller in value . 24 . a castable composition according to any of claims 1 - 21 , in which the composition contains at least four grain fractions , of which three adjacent grain fractions are separated by gaps having a particle diameter ratio of at least the square root of two , and the three adjacent grain fractions have remaining weight percentages that are , with respect to the respective immediately larger particle size fractions and in order of decreasing particle size , larger , smaller , and larger in value . 25 . a castable composition according to any of claims 1 - 21 , wherein the composition contains at least two grain fractions separated by gaps having a particle diameter ratio of at least the square root of two , and the at least two grain fractions are entirely composed of particles with diameters less than 100 micrometers . 26 . a castable composition according to any of claims 1 - 21 , wherein the composition contains at least three grain fractions separated by gaps having a particle diameter ratio of at least the square root of two , and the at least three grain fractions are entirely composed of particles with diameters less than 100 micrometers . 27 . a castable composition according to any of claims 1 - 21 , wherein the composition contains at least four grain fractions separated by gaps having a particle ratio diameter of at least the square root of two , and the remaining weight percentages are at least 40 % in each of the at least four grain fractions . 28 . a castable composition according to any of claims 1 - 21 , wherein the composition contains at least five grain fractions separated by gaps having a particle ratio diameter of at least the square root of two . 29 . a castable composition according to any of claims 23 - 28 , wherein at least two of the gaps each contain less than 10 percent by mass of the mass of the dry composition . 30 . a castable composition according to any of claims 23 - 28 , wherein at least two of the gaps each contain less than 5 percent by mass of the mass of the dry composition . 31 . a castable composition according to any of the preceding claims , wherein the cast product has a density that is at least 80 . 7 % of the theoretic density . 32 . a castable composition according to any of the preceding claims , wherein the cast product has a density that is at least 83 . 6 % of the theoretic density . 33 . a castable composition according to any of the preceding claims , comprising at least 95 wt % alumina . 34 . a castable composition according to claim 33 , wherein the cast product has a bulk density of at least 190 pounds per cubic foot as measured at 230 degrees f . 35 . a castable composition according to claim 33 , wherein the cast product has a bulk density of at least 195 pounds per cubic foot as measured at 230 degrees f . 36 . a castable composition according to claim 33 , wherein the cast product has a bulk density of at least 200 pounds per cubic foot as measured at 230 degrees f . 37 . a castable composition according to claim 33 , wherein the cast product has a bulk density of at least 202 pounds per cubic foot as measured at 230 degrees f . 38 . a castable composition according to claim 33 , wherein the cast product has a bulk density of at least 207 pounds per cubic foot as measured at 230 degrees f . 39 . a castable composition according to any of claims 34 - 36 , wherein the bulk density is measured at 1500 degrees f . 40 . a cast product produced from a castable composition according to any of claims 1 - 39 . 41 . a method for producing a cast product , comprising , ( a ) providing a mold having a cavity which corresponds to the size and shape of the product , ( b ) filling the cavity with a castable composition according to any of claims 1 - 39 , ( c ) optionally subjecting the castable composition of the invention to compacting and / or vibration , ( d ) curing the castable composition to form the cast product , and ( e ) separating the mold from the cast product . 42 . a method for producing a cast product , comprising , ( a ) providing a mold having a cavity which corresponds to the size and shape of the product , ( b ) filling the cavity with a castable composition according to any of claims 1 - 39 , ( c ) subjecting the castable composition of the invention to a compression process , ( d ) curing the castable composition to form the cast product , and ( e ) separating the mold from the cast product . what is believed to be the best mode of the invention has been described above . however , it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that numerous variations of the type described could be made to the present invention without departing from the spirit of the invention . the scope of the present invention is defined by the broad general meaning of the terms in which the claims are expressed .	2
referring to fig1 of the drawings , 1 denotes a combination unit , in its entirety , incorporating machines for the manufacture of tobacco products typified by an elongated cylindrical appearance , in particular filter cigarettes . the unit 1 includes a first machine consisting in a cigarette maker 2 equipped with two tobacco rod processing lines as disclosed in u . s . pat . ser . no . 4 , 418 , 705 , to which reference may be made for a fuller description , and a second machine consisting in a filter tip attachment machine 3 . the cigarette maker 2 comprises a bed 4 carrying an outfeed beam 5 that coincides in practice with a substantially horizontal leg 6 of the unit 1 , along which two continuous cigarette rods 7 and 8 are caused to advance axially at substantially constant and identical rates of feed toward a rotary cutter head 9 of conventional type . the rods 7 and 8 are divided up by the cutter into respective sticks 10 and 11 each measuring twice the length of a single cigarette . as discernible from fig1 , 2 and 3 , the two rods 7 and 8 are made to advance at two different heights , at least along the final part of the beam , and more exactly , the rod 7 on the inboard side of the beam is elevated relative to the other rod 8 . the filter tip attachment machine 3 comprises a bed 12 surmounted by a vertical bulkhead 13 that extends parallel to the outfeed beam 5 and to the rear of the selfsame beam , as viewed in fig1 . the vertical bulkhead 13 carries a plurality of rollers denoted 14 in their entirety , mounted with axes disposed transversely to the bulkhead 13 and coinciding with a leg 15 of the unit 1 that extends in a direction substantially parallel to that of the leg 6 first mentioned . 16 denotes a transfer unit interconnecting the cigarette maker 2 and the filter tip attachment machine 3 , of which the function is to direct the sticks 10 and 11 singly and in succession from the outfeed end of the one leg 6 , identifiable also as a take - up station denoted a , to an infeed end of the other leg 15 , identifiable also as a release station denoted b and coinciding with an infeed roller 17 of which the axis is denoted 18 . the periphery of the roller 17 in question presents a plurality of aspirating grooves 17 a , familiar in embodiment , each able to accommodate a respective cigarette stick 10 or 11 . as illustrated in fig1 and 3 , the transfer unit 16 comprises a cylindrical body 19 of which the axis 20 is vertically disposed . more exactly , it will be seen that the two legs 6 and 15 extend along a direction parallel to the “ x ” axis of a set of cartesian coordinates ( indicated in fig1 ), whilst the axis 18 of the infeed roller 17 and the axis 20 of the cylindrical body 19 of the transfer unit 16 extend in directions parallel respectively to the “ y ” axis and to the “ z ” axis . in particular , and as illustrated in fig3 , 4 and 5 , the transfer unit 16 incorporates a fixed vertical sleeve 21 centered on the axis 20 of the cylindrical body 19 , anchored at the bottom end to a mounting denoted 22 and accommodating a coaxially aligned shaft 23 . this same vertical shaft 23 is power driven from the bottom end by a further shaft 24 , disposed at right angles , to which it is coupled by way of a bevel gear pair 25 - 26 . keyed onto the top end of the sleeve 21 is the fixed sun gear 27 of an epicyclic train , denoted 28 in its entirety ( fig5 ), which also includes a planet carrier 29 concentric with the sun gear 27 , and a plurality of planet gears 30 mounted freely to the planet carrier 29 and coupled to the sun gear 27 by way of intermediate idle gears 31 . it will be seen in fig5 that the transmission ratio between the sun gear 27 and the single planet gears 30 is 1 : 1 . the transfer unit 1 comprises a plurality of holder elements 32 each associated with a relative planet gear 30 and including a plate 33 of which the upwardly directed surface presents two parallel grooves 34 and 35 set at different heights , for reasons that will become apparent . the plate 33 is centered on a vertical axis 36 offset from the axis of rotation 37 of the planet gear 30 . more exactly , referring to fig3 and 4 , the planet gear 30 is keyed to a tubular portion 38 extending downward from a hollow block 39 that carries the holder element 32 . the tubular portion 38 houses a first shaft 40 centered on and rotatable about the planet axis 37 , of which a first top end carries a first gear 41 meshing by way of an idle gear 42 ( see fig4 ) with a further gear 43 carried by the bottom end of a second shaft 44 coaxial with the axis 36 of the plate 33 and connected to the holder element 32 at its top end . the first shaft 40 is connected at the bottom end to a cam and rocker mechanism , denoted 45 in its entirety , comprising an element 46 with two arms 47 and 48 which occupy a common plane and are arranged substantially in a vee formation with the vertex of the vee keyed to the shaft 40 . the cam and rocker mechanism 45 further comprises respective following rollers denoted 49 and 50 , the one mounted underslung to the arm denoted 47 , the other mounted overslung to the arm denoted 48 . finally , the mechanism 45 comprises cam means 51 that consist in a cylindrical body 52 associated rigidly with the sleeve 21 , presenting a lower first profile 53 positioned to interact with one following roller 49 , and an upper second profile 54 positioned to interact with the other following roller 50 . the two cam profiles 53 and 54 are offset one from another and from the axis 20 of the sun gear , their geometry and placement being such that the single holder elements 32 will be caused to pivot on the relative axes 36 as the planet carrier 29 rotates about the sun gear . operationally , the cam and rocker mechanism 45 combines with the first and second shafts 40 and 44 , with the first gear 41 , and with the gears denoted 42 and 43 , establishing means by which to control the axial orientation of the cigarette sticks 10 and 11 . referring finally to fig3 , the two grooves 34 and 35 presented by the plate 33 of the holder element 32 are embodied in conventional manner with suction holes arranged along the bottom surface and connected to a source of negative pressure likewise conventional in embodiment ( not illustrated ) by way of ducts 56 passing through portions of the second shaft 44 and of the hollow block 39 . in practical application , the transfer unit 16 will be positioned below the outfeed beam 5 of the cigarette maker 2 and the infeed roller 17 of the filter tip attachment machine 3 , with the infeed roller 17 rotating tangentially at its lowest point to the horizontal plane occupied by the beam 5 . the transfer unit 16 operates in such a manner as to direct the single holder elements 32 through a trajectory extending from a position at the take - up station a , below the outfeed beam 5 , to a position at the release station b beneath the roller 17 . to reiterate , the grooves 34 and 35 of the single holder elements 32 are set at different heights so that the two sticks 10 and 11 can be taken up at the two dissimilar elevations aforementioned , and transferred to two contiguous grooves 17 a of the infeed roller 17 at different heights , coinciding with those of the grooves 34 and 35 presented by the plate 33 . as discernible from fig4 , and in accordance with standard practice , the cut cigarette sticks 10 and 11 are taken up from the beam 5 at the one station a advancing at a given pitch denoted p 1 , and released to the other station b spaced apart at a reduced pitch p 2 ; pitch p 1 might be 128 mm , for example , and pitch p 2 could be 38 mm , equivalent to the distance separating the two cigarette rods 7 and 8 . the transfer unit 16 is designed to bring about a corresponding reduction in speed of the sticks 10 and 11 , which are taken up from the first station a at a higher tangential velocity substantially equal to the linear velocity of the rods 7 and 8 , and then released to the second station b at a lower tangential velocity equal to the angular velocity at the periphery of the infeed roller 17 serving the filter tip attachment machine 3 . in effect , it will be seen from fig4 that the second shaft 44 supporting the holder element 32 is at a maximum distance d 1 from the axis 20 of the cylindrical body 19 when passing through the take - up station 4 , and at a minimum distance d 2 from this same axis 20 when passing through the release station b . it will be seen also from the schematic representation of fig5 that the positions of maximum and minimum distance , diametrically opposed on either side of the sun gear 27 , are assumed by the shaft 44 as a result of the relative planet gear 30 rotating 180 ° about its axis 37 when the planet carrier 29 is set in motion around the sun axis 20 . observing fig4 , it will be seen that the trajectory followed by each of the second shafts 44 carrying a respective holder element 32 appears as a circumference denoted c , flattened slightly in the neighborhood of the release station b . referring to the foregoing description of the embodiment illustrated in fig1 , where the two legs 6 and 15 are disposed substantially parallel with one another and in the same plane , the single holder elements 32 describe an arc 57 of 180 ° in passing from the take - up station a to the release station b . in the course of this same rotation , the means controlling the axial orientation of the sticks 10 and 11 will cause each pair of sticks to pass from a position at the take - up station a in which the two axes are parallel with the first leg 6 , to a position at the release station b in which the same two axes are rotated through 90 ° and parallel with the axis 18 of the infeed roller 17 of the filter tip attachment machine 3 , hence transverse to the second leg 15 . more exactly , as the planet carrier rotates about the sun axis 20 , the interaction of the following rollers 49 and 50 with the two cam profiles 53 and 54 will cause the element 46 with the two arms to rotate clockwise , as viewed in fig4 . this same angular movement is accompanied by a rotation of the first shaft 40 about the relative axis 37 , also of the first gear 41 and , by way of the corresponding idle gear 42 and intermediate gear 43 , of the second shaft 44 carrying the holder element 32 , likewise about the relative axis 36 . one of the advantages of the transfer unit 16 disclosed is that the reduction in pitch from p 1 to p 2 can be brought about along an arc of 180 °, and therefore in a time substantially twice as long as the time taken by right angle units typical of the prior art . accordingly , the deceleration of the advancing sticks 10 and 11 is brought about more gradually , and the stresses acting on the selfsame sticks are thus significantly reduced . finally , it will be seen that the element 46 with two arms could be replaced by an element with just one arm and a relative following roller positioned to engage a relative single cam profile , albeit the solution shown in fig4 offers the advantage of greater precision in that it is a positive acting mechanism able to eliminate backlash . as illustrated in fig2 , moreover , the filter tip attachment machine 3 might present a second leg , in this instance denoted 15 a , extending in a direction opposite to that illustrated in fig1 .	0
fig1 is a schematic , section view of an optical - based sensor (“ sensor ”) 110 , according to an embodiment of the invention , that operates based on the fluorescence of fluorescent indicator molecules 116 . as shown , sensor 110 includes a sensor housing 112 . sensor housing 112 may be formed from a suitable , optically transmissive polymer material . preferred polymer materials include , but are not limited to , acrylic polymers such as polymethylmethacrylate ( pmma ). sensor 110 may further include a matrix layer 114 coated on at least part of the exterior surface of the sensor housing 112 , with fluorescent indicator molecules 116 distributed throughout the layer 114 ( layer 114 can cover all or part of the surface of housing 112 ). sensor 110 further includes a radiation source 118 , e . g . a light emitting diode ( led ) or other radiation source , that emits radiation , including radiation over a range of wavelengths which interact with the indicator molecules 116 . for example , in the case of a fluorescence - based sensor , radiation sensor 118 emits radiation at a wavelength which causes the indicator molecules 116 to fluoresce . sensor 110 also includes a photodetector 120 ( e . g . a photodiode , phototransistor , photoresistor or other photosensitive element ) which , in the case of a fluorescence - based sensor , is sensitive to fluorescent light emitted by the indicator molecules 116 such that a signal is generated by the photodetector 120 in response thereto that is indicative of the level of fluorescence of the indicator molecules . two photodetectors 120 a and 120 b are shown in fig1 to illustrate that sensor 110 may have more than one photodetector . source 118 may be implemented using , for example , led model number eu - u 32 sb from nichia corporation ( www . nichia . com ). other leds may be used depending on the specific indicator molecules applied to sensor 110 and the specific analytes of interested to be detected . the indicator molecules 116 may be coated on the surface of the sensor body or they may be contained within matrix layer 114 ( as shown in fig1 ), which comprises a biocompatible polymer matrix that is prepared according to methods known in the art and coated on the surface of the sensor housing 112 . suitable biocompatible matrix materials , which preferably are permeable to the analyte , include some methacrylates ( e . g ., hema ) and hydrogels which , advantageously , can be made selectively permeable — particularly to the analyte — i . e ., they perform a molecular weight cut - off function . sensor 110 may be wholly self - contained . in other words , the sensor is preferably constructed in such a way that no electrical leads extend into or out of the sensor housing 112 to supply power to the sensor ( e . g ., for driving the source 118 ) or to transmit signals from the sensor . rather , sensor 110 may be powered by an external power source ( not shown ), as is well known in the art . for example , the external power source may generate a magnetic field to induce a current in inductive element 142 ( e . g ., a copper coil or other inductive element ). additionally , circuitry 166 may use inductive element 142 to communicate information to an external data reader . circuitry 166 may include discrete circuit elements , an integrated circuit ( e . g ., an application specific integrated circuit ( asic ), and / or other electronic components ). the external power source and data reader may be the same device . in an alterantive embodiment , the sensor 110 may be powered by an internal , self - contained power source , such as , for example , microbatteries , micro generators and / or other power sources . as shown in fig1 , many of the electro - optical components of sensor 110 are secured to a circuit board 170 . circuit board 170 provides communication paths between the various components of sensor 110 . as further illustrated in fig1 , optical filters 134 a and 134 b , such as high pass or band pass filters , may cover a photosensitive side of photodetectors 120 a and 120 b , respectively . filter 134 a may prevent or substantially reduce the amount of radiation generated by the source 118 from impinging on a photosensitive side 135 of the photodetector 120 a . at the same time , filter 134 a allows fluorescent light emitted by fluorescent indicator molecules 116 to pass through to strike photosensitive side 135 of the photodetector 120 a . this significantly reduces “ noise ” in the photodetector signal that is attributable to incident radiation from the source 118 . according to one aspect of the invention , an application for which the sensor 110 was developed — although by no means the only application for which it is suitable — is measuring various biological analytes in the human body . for example , sensor 110 may be used to measure glucose , oxygen , toxins , pharmaceuticals or other drugs , hormones , and other metabolic analytes in the human body . the specific composition of the matrix layer 114 and the indicator molecules 116 may vary depending on the particular analyte the sensor is to be used to detect and / or where the sensor is to be used to detect the analyte ( i . e ., in the blood or in subcutaneous tissues ). preferably , however , matrix layer 114 , if present , should facilitate exposure of the indicator molecules to the analyte . also , it is preferred that the optical characteristics of the indicator molecules ( e . g ., the level of fluorescence of fluorescent indicator molecules ) be a function of the concentration of the specific analyte to which the indicator molecules are exposed . to facilitate use in - situ in the human body , the housing 112 is preferably formed in a smooth , oblong or rounded shape . advantageously , it has the approximate size and shape of a bean or a pharmaceutical gelatin capsule , i . e ., it is on the order of approximately 500 microns to approximately 0 . 85 inches in length l and on the order of approximately 300 microns to approximately 0 . 3 inches in diameter d , with generally smooth , rounded surfaces throughout . this configuration permits the sensor 110 to be implanted into the human body , i . e ., dermally or into underlying tissues ( including into organs or blood vessels ) without the sensor interfering with essential bodily functions or causing excessive pain or discomfort . in some embodiments , a preferred length of the housing is approx . 0 . 5 inches to 0 . 85 inches and a preferred diameter is approx . 0 . 1 inches to 0 . 11 inches . in the embodiment shown in fig1 , source 118 is elevated with respect to a top side 171 of circuit board 170 . more specifically , in the embodiment shown , source 118 is fixed to a support member 174 , which functions to elevate source 118 above side 171 and to electrically connect source 118 to circuitry on board 170 so that power can be delivered to source 118 . the distance ( d ) between source 118 and side 171 generally ranges between 0 and 0 . 030 inches . preferably , the distance ( d ) ranges between 0 . 010 and 0 . 020 inches . support member 174 may be a circuit board . circuit board 170 may have a groove 180 for receiving a proximal end 173 of member 174 . this feature is further illustrated in fig3 , which is a perspective , top view of board 170 . in some embodiments , support member 174 may include an electrical contact 158 ( e . g ., a conductive pad or other device for conducting electricity ) disposed on a surface thereof and electrically connected to source 118 . the contact 158 electrically connects to a corresponding electrical contact 157 that may be disposed in groove 180 through an electrical interconnect 159 ( e . g ., a circuit trace or other transmission line ). contact 157 may be electrically connected to circuit 166 or other circuit on circuit board 170 . accordingly , in some embodiments , there is an electrical path from circuit 166 to source 118 . as further shown in fig1 , a reflector 176 may be attached to board 170 at an end thereof . preferably , reflector 176 is attached to board 170 so that a face portion 177 of reflector 176 is generally perpendicular to side 171 and faces source 118 . preferably , face 177 reflects radiation emitted by source 118 . for example , face 177 may have a reflective coating disposed thereon or face 177 may be constructed from a reflective material . referring now to photodetectors 120 , photodetectors 120 are preferably disposed below a region of side 171 located between source 118 and reflector 176 . for example , in some embodiments , photodetectors 120 are mounted to a bottom side 175 of board 170 at a location that is below a region between source 118 and reflector 176 . in embodiments where the photodetectors 120 are mounted to bottom side 175 of board 170 , a hole for each photodetector 120 is preferably created through board 170 . this is illustrated in fig3 . as shown in fig3 , two holes 301 a and 301 b have been created in board 170 , thereby providing a passageway for light from indicator molecules 116 to reach photodetectors 120 . the holes in circuit board 170 may be created by , for example , drilling , laser machining and the like . preferably , each photodetector 120 is positioned such that light entering the hole is likely to strike a photosensitive side of the photodetector 120 , as shown in fig1 . this technique also diminishes the amount of ambient light striking photodetector 120 . as further illustrated in fig1 , each hole in board 170 may be contain a filter 134 so that light can only reach a photodetector 120 by passing through the corresponding filter 134 . the bottom side and all sides of the photodetectors 120 may be covered with black light blocking epoxy 190 to further diminish the amount of ambient light striking photodetector 120 . in one embodiment , photodetector 120 a is used to produce a signal corresponding to the light emitted or adsorbed by indicator molecules 116 and photodetector 120 b is used to produce a reference signal . in this embodiment , a fluorescent element 154 may be positioned on top of filter 134 b . preferably , fluorescent element 154 fluoresces at a predetermined wavelength . element 154 may be made from terbium or other fluorescent element that fluoresces at the predetermined wavelength . in this embodiment , filter 134 a and filter 134 b filter different wavelengths of light . for example , filter 134 a may filter wavelengths below 400 nm and filter 134 b may filter wavelengths below 500 nm . referring now to fig2 , fig2 illustrates a sensor 210 according to another embodiment of the invention . as shown in fig2 , sensor 210 is similar to sensor 110 . a primary difference being that reflector 176 is replaced by a support member 202 , which is connected to end 194 of board 170 and to which source 118 is fixed . in this embodiment , and support member 174 is replaced with a reflector 209 . like reflector 176 , reflector 209 has a reflective face 211 that faces source 118 . additionally , so that photodetector 120 a remains closer to source 118 , photodetector 120 a may switch places with photodetector 120 b and filter 134 a may switch places with filter 134 b . fluorescent element 154 may also be re - positioned so that it remains on top of filter 134 b . as shown in fig1 and 2 , in some embodiments , indicator molecules 116 may be positioned only in a region that is above a region 193 , which region is between source 118 and reflector 176 . referring now to fig4 , fig4 is a schematic , section view of an optical - based sensor 410 , according to another embodiment of the invention . sensor 410 includes many of the same components as sensor 110 . however , the positioning of source 118 , photodetector 120 a and filter 134 a in sensor 410 is different than the positioning in sensor 110 . as shown in fig4 , a base 412 is mounted to an end 413 of circuit board 170 . a top side 414 and bottom side 416 of base 412 each may lie in a plane that is generally perpendicular to a plane in which side 171 of board 170 lies . bottom side 416 may have a groove 418 therein that receives end 413 of board 170 . groove 418 facilitates fixing base 412 to board 170 . photodetector 120 a may be mounted on top side 414 of base 412 . preferably , photodetector 120 a is mounted on base 412 so that photosensitive side 135 of photodetector 120 a lies in a plane that is generally perpendicular to the plane in which side 171 of board 170 lies and faces in the same direction as top side 414 . filter 134 a is preferably disposed above side 135 of photodetector 120 a so that most , if not all , light that strikes side 135 must first pass through filter 134 a . filter 134 a may be fixedly mounted to photodetector 120 a . for example , a refractive index ( ri ) matching epoxy 501 ( see fig5 ) may be used to fix filter 134 a to photodetector 120 a . in some embodiments , base 412 may include at least two electrical contacts disposed thereon ( e . g ., on side 414 ). for example , as shown in fig4 , a first electrical contact 471 and a second electrical contact 472 are disposed on side 414 of base 412 . a wire 473 ( or other electrical connector ) preferably electrically connects photodetector 120 a to electrical contact 471 and a wire 474 ( or other electrical connector ) preferably electrically connects source 118 to electrical contact 472 . contact 471 electrically connects to a corresponding contact 475 via an electrical interconnect 476 . similarly , contact 472 electrically connects to a corresponding contact 477 via an electrical interconnect 478 . contacts 475 , 477 are preferably disposed on the end of board 170 that is inserted into groove 418 . contacts 475 , 477 may be electrically connected to circuit 166 or other circuit on circuit board 170 . accordingly , in some embodiments , base 412 provides a portion of an electrical path from circuit 166 to source 118 and / or photodetector 120 a . referring now to fig5 , fig5 further illustrates the arrangement of photodetector 120 a , filter 134 a and source 118 . as shown in fig4 and 5 , source 118 is mounted on a top side 467 of filter 134 a . accordingly , as shown in fig4 and 5 , photodetector 120 a , filter 134 a and source 118 are aligned . that is , as shown in fig5 , both filter 134 a and source 118 are each disposed in an area that is over at least a portion of photosensitive side 135 of photodetector 120 a . preferably , a non - transparent , non - translucent base 431 is disposed between source 118 and filter 134 . opaque base 431 functions to prevent light emitted from source 118 from striking side 467 of filter 134 a . base 431 may be a gold - clad - molybdenum tab ( molytab ) or other opaque structure . epoxy 555 may be used to fix source 118 to base 431 and base 431 to filter 134 a . preferably , in this embodiment , source 118 is configured and oriented so that most of the light transmitted therefrom is transmitted in a direction away from side 467 , as shown in fig4 and 5 . for example , in the embodiment shown , the light is primarily directed towards an end 491 of housing 102 . preferably , indicator molecules 116 are located on end 491 so that they will receive the radiation emitted from source 118 . as discussed above , indicator molecules 116 will respond to the received radiation , and the response will be a function of the concentration of the analyte being measured in the region of the indicator molecules 116 . photodetector 120 a detects the response . referring now to fig6 , fig6 is a schematic , section view of an optical - based sensor 610 , according to another embodiment of the invention . sensor 610 includes many of the same components as sensor 110 . also , sensor 610 is similar to sensor 410 in that , in sensor 610 , photodetector 120 a , filter 134 a and source 118 are preferably aligned . further , like in sensor 410 , in sensor 610 filter 134 a may be fixedly mounted on side 135 of photodetector 120 a and source 118 may be fixedly mounted on side 467 of filter 134 a , and the photodetector 120 a , filter 134 a , source 118 assembly may be located adjacent an end 491 of housing 102 , as illustrated in fig6 . however , the orientation of source 118 , photodetector 120 a and filter 134 a in sensor 610 is different than the orientation in sensor 410 . for example , in sensor 610 , side 135 of photodetector 120 a faces in a direction that is substantially perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of housing 102 . additionally , in sensor 610 , filter 134 a and / or photodetector 120 a are directly fixed to board 170 such that base 412 may be removed . in the embodiment shown , filter 134 a and / or photodetector 120 a are directly fixed to end 413 of board 170 . in one or more of the above described embodiments , housing 102 may be filled with a material to keep the components housed in housing 102 from being able to move around . for example , housing 102 may be filled with an optical epoxy either before or after board 170 and the components attached thereto are inserted into housing 120 . epo - tek 301 - 2 epoxy from epoxy technology of billerica , mass . and / or other epoxies may be used . while various embodiments / variations of the present invention have been described above , it should be understood that they have been presented by way of example only , and not limitation . thus , the breadth and scope of the present invention should not be limited by any of the above - described exemplary embodiments , but should be defined only in accordance with the following claims and their equivalents .	6
fig1 shows a sacrificial connector 10 in relation to a first complementary connector 20 that is intended to be coupled to a backplane printed circuit board ( pcb ) 40 of a hard disk drive ( hdd ) production test equipment ( not shown ) and to a second complementary connector 30 that is intended to be coupled to a pcb 45 which is further coupled to a hdd ( not shown ). this is disclosed in the singapore application serial no . 200701728 - 8 , ‘ connector apparatus ’. fig2 shows the sacrificial connector 10 in relation to the first complementary connector 20 . for illustration purposes , in both fig1 and 2 , the first complementary connector 20 is represented as a socket and the second complementary connector 30 is represented as a header . in absence of the sacrificial connector 10 , the second complementary connector 30 which is coupled to a hdd via the pcb 45 has to be plugged directly into the first complementary connector 20 which is coupled to the hdd production test equipment via the pcb 40 before any test sequences on the hdd production test equipment can be executed on the connected hdd . the second complementary connector 30 is then unplugged from the first complementary connector 20 when the test sequences are completed . each plugging and unplugging of the second complementary connector 30 to and from the first complementary connector 20 is known as a mating cycle . the performance of the first complementary connector 20 on the pcb 40 drops with increased mating cycles . the first complementary connector 20 on the pcb 40 is replaced as soon as the number of mating cycles reaches the number specified by the manufacturer of the first complementary connector 20 . to replace the first complementary connector 20 on the pcb 40 , one has to de - solder the first complementary connector 20 from the pcb 40 and then re - solder a new connector to the pcb 40 before a hdd can be coupled to the hdd production test equipment for testing . this is time consuming and repeated de - soldering and re - soldering of the first complementary connector 20 from and to the pcb 40 may damage the pcb 40 . the sacrificial connector 10 prolongs the useful life of the first complementary connector 20 by being the interface between the first complementary connector 20 and the second complementary connector 30 . since the mating and un - mating of the second complementary connector 30 is now with the sacrificial connector 10 , any wear and tear due to repeated mating and un - mating action will happen on the sacrificial connector instead of the first complementary connector 20 on the pcb 40 of the hdd production test equipment . along with this solution comes the need to secure the sacrificial connector 10 to the first complementary connector 20 on the pcb 40 of the hdd production test equipment so as to prevent any disengagement of the sacrificial connector 10 from the first complementary connector 20 during the mating and un - mating of the second complementary connector 30 with the sacrificial connector 10 . preferably , the sacrificial connector 10 can be secured to the first complementary connector 20 to the extent of withstanding a disengagement force of at least 4 newtons ( n ). here , the disengagement force refers to the force required to disengage the sacrificial connector 10 from the first complementary connector 20 . for illustration purposes , the sacrificial connector 10 as illustrated in fig2 comprises an elongated insulative housing 2 with a longitudinal base 4 and a plurality of contacts received in the housing 2 . the housing 2 forms a first mating surface 6 and a second mating surface 8 . since the first complementary connector 20 is a socket at its mating surface and the second complementary connector 30 is a header at its mating surfaces , the sacrificial connector 10 has a header at the first mating surface 6 and a socket at the second mating surface 8 . at each end of the sacrificial connector 10 is a bonding device 14 . the bonding device 14 may be any device that is able to temporarily hold the sacrificial connector 10 in place with respect to the first complementary connector 20 at the first mating surface 6 as the second complementary connector 30 is plugged and unplugged to and from the sacrificial connector 10 at the second mating surface 8 during each mating cycle . the bonding device 14 as illustrated in fig2 is a latching device with a latch release 12 , a latch member 16 extending in the direction of the first mating surface 6 and a hole 18 in the latch member 16 . as the sacrificial connector 10 engages with the first complementary connector 20 at the first mating surface 6 , a protrusion 22 coupled to an end wall on the first complementary connector 20 pushes the latch member 16 outwards away from the end wall of the first complementary connector 20 as the latch member 16 rides over the slope of protrusion 22 . as the latch member 16 passes the ridge of the protrusion 22 , the hole 18 in the latch member 16 engages with the protrusion 22 of the first complementary connector 20 causing the latch member 16 to fall back to its original horizontal position . this is the locked position of the latching device and the sacrificial connector 10 is engaged to the first complementary connector 20 . to disengage the sacrificial connector 10 from the first complementary connector 20 , the latch release 12 is depressed inwards towards the housing 2 of the sacrificial connector 10 . in doing so , the hole 18 in the latch member 16 disengages with the protrusion 22 on the first complementary connector 20 , and the two connectors 10 , 20 can be easily disengaged by pulling the sacrificial connector 10 in a direction away from the first complementary connector 20 . in cases where there is no bonding device 14 coupled to the sacrificial connector 10 and / or in cases where there is no corresponding device on the first complementary connector 20 to engage with the bonding device 14 on the sacrificial connector 10 such as to secure the sacrificial connector 10 to the first complementary connector 20 during the un - mating of the second complementary connector 30 from the sacrificial connector 10 , there is a need to have a separate engagement device to secure the sacrificial connector 10 to the first complementary connector 20 . fig3 shows another sacrificial connector 100 in relation to another first complementary connector 200 . the sacrificial connector 100 comprises an elongated insulative housing 110 with a longitudinal base 103 and a plurality of contacts received in the housing 110 . the housing 110 forms a first mating surface 106 and a second mating surface 108 . at one end of the housing 110 of the sacrificial connector 100 is a housing extension 120 which further comprises a hook 123 at one end of the housing extension 120 furthest from the second mating surface 108 . preferably , there is one housing extension 120 at each end of the housing 110 of the sacrificial connector 100 . the first complementary connector 200 comprises a housing 210 wherein at one end of the housing 210 is a housing protrusion 220 . preferably , there is one housing protrusion 220 at each end of the housing 210 of the first complementary connector 200 . the housing protrusion 220 further comprises a horizontal through - hole 240 which is in alignment with the housing extension 120 of the sacrificial connector 100 and a vertical tunnel 230 . it is preferred but not mandatory that the tunnel 230 be made perpendicular to the through - hole 240 . preferably the tunnel 230 extends from a first surface 231 of the housing protrusion 220 to a second surface 232 of the housing protrusion 220 . fig4 shows a close - up view of a vertical cross - section of the housing protrusion 220 with the sacrificial connector 100 and the first complementary connector 200 in an engaged position . while there is frictional resistance at the areas of contact between the housing extension 120 of the sacrificial connector 100 and the through - hole 240 of the housing protrusion 220 of the first complementary connector 200 , the frictional resistance may not be sufficient to prevent the disengagement of the sacrificial connector 100 from the first complementary connector 200 during the un - mating of the second complementary connector ( not shown ) from the sacrificial connector 100 , especially when the disengagement force is greater than 4 newtons ( n ). here , the disengagement force refers to the force required to disengage the sacrificial connector 100 from the first complementary connector 200 . fig5 is a perspective view of an exemplary engagement device 300 of the present invention in position before engagement with the first complementary connector 200 that is engaged with the sacrificial connector 100 . the engagement device 300 comprises a bracket body 310 which at least will partially envelop the sacrificial connector 100 once it is engaged and at least one engaging portion 320 extending from the bracket body 310 to the first complementary connector 200 and coupling to a portion of the first complementary connector 200 . fig6 a shows a close - up side view of a vertical cross - section of the housing protrusion 220 with the engagement device 300 , the sacrificial connector 100 and the first complementary connector 200 in an engaged position . fig6 b shows a close - up top view of a horizontal cross - section of the housing protrusion 220 with the engagement device 300 , the sacrificial connector 100 and the first complementary connector 200 in an engaged position . when in an engaged position , the engaging portion 320 of the engagement device 300 fits into the tunnel 230 of the housing protrusion 220 as illustrated by fig6 a . without the engagement device 300 , during the un - mating of the second complementary connector ( not shown ) from the sacrificial connector 100 , the disengagement force , typically greater than 4 newtons ( n ), may be exerted on the sacrificial connector 100 causing the sacrificial connector 100 to be disengaged from the first complementary connector 200 . however , when the engaging device 300 is engaged with the sacrificial connector 100 and the first complementary connector 200 , the engaging portion 320 of the engagement device 300 will obstruct the movement of the hook 123 thereby preventing the movement of the housing extension 120 of the sacrificial connector 100 and thus , preventing the sacrificial connector 100 from disengaging with the first complementary connector 200 . fig7 a is a perspective view of another exemplary engagement device 400 of the present invention in position before engagement with the sacrificial connector 10 which is engaged to another first complementary connector 250 that is coupled to the printed circuit board ( pcb ) 40 . as illustrated in fig7 a , the sacrificial connector 10 has a bonding device 14 coupled to each end of the sacrificial connector 10 . the first complementary connector 250 comprises a housing 255 , a housing protrusion 260 coupled to both ends of the housing 255 and at least one knob 270 extending from the housing 255 . as there is no corresponding device on the first complementary connector 250 to engage with the bonding device 14 on the sacrificial connector 10 , the sacrificial connector 10 may disengage from the first complementary connector 250 during the un - mating of the second complementary connector ( not shown ) from the sacrificial connector 10 . the engagement device 400 as shown in fig7 a comprises a bracket body 410 which at least will partially envelop the sacrificial connector 10 once it is engaged and at least one engaging portion 420 extending from the bracket body 410 to the first complementary connector 250 . the engagement device 400 further comprises at least one hole 425 on the engaging portion 420 which is positioned according to and will couple to at least one knob 270 on the housing 255 of the first complementary connector 250 when the engagement device 400 is engaged with the sacrificial connector 10 and the first complementary connector 250 . preferably , there is more than one knob 270 extending from the housing 255 and more than one hole 425 on the engaging portion 420 of the engagement device 400 . fig7 b shows the engagement device 400 engaged with the sacrificial connector 10 and the first complementary connector 250 . fig7 c shows the engagement device 400 further secured to the first complementary connector 250 by at least one securing device 275 such as but not limited to screws . while it is shown in fig7 a , 7 b and 7 c that there is a bonding device 14 coupled to the two ends of the sacrificial connector 10 , it is possible to do away with the bonding device 14 in this case since there is no corresponding device on the first complementary connector 250 to engage with the bonding device 14 . fig8 a is a perspective view of another exemplary engagement device 500 of the present invention in position before engagement with the sacrificial connector 10 engaged to another first complementary connector 280 coupled to the printed circuit board ( pcb ) 40 . the engagement device 500 comprises a bracket body 510 which at least will partially envelop the sacrificial connector 10 once it is engaged and at least one engaging portion 520 extending from the bracket body 510 to the first complementary connector 280 . the engagement device 500 further comprises at least one engagement lip 530 at the end of the engaging portion 520 which will hook over at least one portion on the first complementary connector 280 when the engagement device 500 is engaged with the sacrificial connector 10 and the first complementary connector 280 . fig8 b shows the engagement device 500 engaged with the sacrificial connector 10 and the first complementary connector 280 . while it is shown in fig8 a and 8b that there is a bonding device 14 coupled to the two ends of the sacrificial connector 10 , it is possible to do away with the bonding device 14 in this case since there is no corresponding device on the first complementary connector 280 to engage with the bonding device 14 . the foregoing description of the preferred embodiment of the invention has been presented for purposes of illustration and description . it is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the invention to the precise forms disclosed , since many modifications or variations thereof are possible in light of the above teaching . all such modifications and variations are within the scope of the invention . the embodiments described herein were chosen and described in order best to explain the principles of the invention and its practical application , thereby to enable others skilled in the art to utilize the invention in various embodiments and with various modifications as are suited to the particular use contemplated thereof . it is intended that the scope of the invention be defined by the claims appended hereto , when interpreted in accordance with the full breadth to which they are legally and equitably suited .	7
referring now to the figures of the drawing in detail and first , particularly , to fig1 thereof , there is seen a first exemplary embodiment of the circuit configuration according to the invention illustrated in the form of a block diagram . an input region 2 of the circuit configuration is connected via an input line device 3 to an external transmitting device 20 , and to its output line device 21 , via which an input signal i is transmitted to the circuit configuration 1 according to the invention . the mismatch between an input capacitance c rec and the given characteristic impedance z 1 , in the input region 2 , whose impedance is in this case high , of the circuit configuration 1 , results in a reverse reflection signal r , which passes back via the input line device 3 to the output line device 21 of the transmitting unit 20 . a protection device 4 is provided in the input region 2 of the circuit configuration 1 and , via a compensation line 10 provides a compensation signal c , which is generated by a controlled current source device 7 used as the compensation device 5 , to the input line device 3 in order to compensate for the reflection signal r which is formed . the arrow r , which is shorter than the arrow i by the arrow c , is intended to indicate this partial compensation . fig2 shows a second exemplary embodiment of the circuit configuration 1 according to the invention , likewise in the form of block diagram . the circuit configuration 1 once again receives an input signal i in its input region 2 on the input line device 3 , which is once again connected to the output line device 21 of an externally transmitting unit 20 . the input signal i leads to the formation of a partially compensated reflection signal r . a protection device 4 with a compensation device 5 is formed in the input region 2 of the circuit configuration 1 , with the compensation device 5 supplying a generated compensation signal c via a compensation line 10 to the input line device 3 in the input region 2 . the compensation device 5 has a controllable current source device 7 or current source amplification device for generating and providing the compensation signal c . the current source device 7 or current source amplification device has a control signal s applied to it , via the control device 6 , by means of a control line 22 . in the exemplary embodiment shown in fig2 the control signal s is produced and provided in the control device 6 by sampling the reflection signal r of the input line device 3 by means of the sampling line 11 and the comparison device 8 in the control device 6 . the control device 6 and / or the comparison device 8 can be controlled via external control lines 23 and 24 respectively . in a particular embodiment , they are externally programmable . using a further block diagram , fig3 shows a detailed view of a further embodiment of the circuit configuration 1 according to the invention , to be precise with respect to the protection device 4 . in this exemplary embodiment , a number n mutually independent current source devices 7 are provided . these are supplied via a common supply line 14 and are controlled via mutually isolated and independent current control lines 12 - 1 , . . . , 12 - n and switching lines 13 - 1 , . . . , 13 - n , which are likewise isolated from one another and are mutually independent , with regard to the current level to be produced and with regard to their switch - on state . for this purpose , the transistor t 1 , . . . , tn is in each case provided for current control in each of the current source devices 7 , with the respective current control lines 12 - 1 , . . . , 12 - n acting as base lines . the switching state is in each case controlled via switching elements s 1 , . . . , sn , which may likewise be in the form of transistors . the switching elements s 1 , . . . , sn are respectively connected in series with the transistors t 1 , . . . , tn . instead of the transistors t 1 , . . . , tn entirely generic , in particular controlled , current source devices can be provided . in fig3 the corresponding transistor symbols in the drawing figure would in that case need to be read as indicating a generic current source . the respective contributions of the individual current source devices 7 are provided by connecting them in parallel via the compensation line 10 and the protection device 4 . a register device 9 is provided , which has a first register r 1 and a second register r 2 , which are intended for controlling the current levels of the current source devices 7 via the current control lines 12 - 1 , . . . , 12 - n , and for controlling the switch - on state of the current source devices 7 via the switching lines 13 - 1 , . . . , 13 - n . the registers r 1 and r 2 in the register device 9 are arranged in the control device 6 and are connected controllably via bus lines 15 - 1 , 15 - 2 and 16 - 1 , 16 - 2 to the comparison device 8 , to other circuit devices , and to the outside , respectively . for its part , the comparison device 8 receives as the controlled variable the current and / or the voltage of the reflection signal r on the input line device 3 of the input region 2 , via the sampling line 11 , and then carries out an appropriate comparison operation with a predetermined reference or nominal variable which , if required , can be provided or varied via an external control line 24 . the register device 9 together with its registers r 1 , r 2 can be used as what is referred to as a mode register and may be programmable — in particular externally . fig4 shows a prior art circuit configuration 40 , likewise in the form of a block diagram . there , a protection device 4 is provided in the input region 2 of the circuit configuration 40 . the prior art protection device 4 consists solely of a passive , parallel - connected concentrated resistance 41 which is selected in conjunction with the input capacitance c rec of the input region 2 such that the reflection signal r formed because of the input signal i source received via the input line device 3 can be suppressed as well as possible for a given and fixed characteristic impedance z 1 = u rec / i source .	6
the embodiments of a nox purging system and a method of reactivating a deteriorated catalyst therein according to the present invention are described below by referring to the accompanying drawings . first , the nox purging system is described . as shown in fig1 , the nox purging system 10 is provided with a direct reduction type nox catalyst 3 arranged in an exhaust gas passage ( a passage for exhaust gas ) 2 of an engine body 1 . as shown in fig7 and 8 , the direct reduction type nox catalyst 3 is constituted by making a support t such as âtype zeolite support a special metal m such as rhodium ( rh ) or palladium ( pd ). moreover , cerium ( ce ) is blended for reducing an oxidization of the metal m and contributing to holding of a nox reduction capability , a three - way - catalyst having platinum or the like is arranged to a lower layer so as to accelerate a redox reaction , and iron ( fe ) is added to a support in order to improve a rate of nox purge . then , the direct reduction type nox catalyst 3 has the characteristic that it reduces nox to n 2 contacting with nox in an atmosphere of a high oxygen concentration like an exhaust gas of an internal combustion engine such as a diesel engine in which the air / fuel ratio is lean and the metal m itself is oxidized to become metal oxide mox such as rhodium oxide ( rhox ) as shown in fig7 , and that the metal oxide mox is reduced to become its original metal m such as rhodium by contacting with reducers such as unburned hc , co , and h 2 in the case of a reduction atmosphere in which an oxygen concentration of the exhaust gas is low almost equal to 0 % as the air / fuel ratio is equal to a theoretical air / fuel ratio or in a rich state as shown in fig8 , moreover , an operating state detector 5 is set which is constituted by a torque sensor and an engine speed sensor for detecting an operating state of an engine , mainly a torque q and an engine speed ne . furthermore , in the exhaust gas passage 2 , an air / fuel ratio sensor 6 for detecting an air / fuel ratio af is set upstream of the direct reduction type nox catalyst 3 , an exhaust gas temperature sensor 7 for detecting an exhaust gas temperature tg is set upstream of the direct reduction type nox catalyst 3 , and moreover a nox sensor 8 for detecting a nox concentration cnox is set downstream of the nox catalyst 3 . then , a controller 4 referred to as an engine control unit ( ecu ) for performing the general control of an engine such as fuel injection control by using the torque ( load ) q and engine speed ne of the engine 1 obtained from the operating state detector 5 or the like as inputs is constituted and a nox purging system control means for performing the catalyst regeneration control and deteriorated catalyst reactivation control of the direct reduction type nox catalyst 3 is set to the controller 4 . as shown in fig2 , a nox purging system control means 200 is provided with a catalyst regeneration means 210 including a regeneration time judgment means 211 and a regeneration control means 212 and a deteriorated catalyst reactivation means 220 . the catalyst regeneration means 210 is a means for regenerating the direct reduction type nox catalyst 3 in the state of low oxygen concentration where the air / fuel ratio of the exhaust gas is in a rich state . the catalyst 3 has become the metal oxide mox by contacting with nox to reduce nox to n 2 in the normal operating state of high oxygen concentration where the air / fuel ratio of the exhaust gas is in a lean state . the means 210 generates the exhaust gas of theoretical air / fuel ratio or a rich state where oxygen concentration is almost equal to 0 % by the regenerating control means 212 , judging the time for performing the regeneration by the regeneration time judgment means 211 , and makes the metal oxide mox contact with reducers such as unburned hc , co , and h 2 to reduce the metal oxide mox and return it to the metal m . the regeneration time judgment means 211 judges whether it is the regeneration time or not , by the nox concentration cnox of the exhaust gas downstream of the direct reduction type nox catalyst 3 when reducing nox , by the elapsed time when the oxygen concentration is high , or by the estimated value of the nox quantity reduced by the direct reduction type nox catalyst 3 when reducing nox . moreover , the regeneration control means 212 is a means for decreasing the oxygen concentration of the exhaust gas , that is , a means for performing the rich spike operation with the air / fuel ratio af of 14 . 7 or less , which performs any one or a combination of the controls such as a fuel injection control for controlling the injection of the fuel to be supplied to the combustion chambers of an internal combustion engine , an intake air quantity control for controlling the quantity of the intake air , and an egr control for controlling the quantity of egr gas in an egr system , and performs a feedback control so that the detection value af is kept within a predetermined range in accordance with the detection value af of the air / fuel ratio sensor 6 . the fuel injection control includes a main injection time control for changing time of the main fuel injection into the combustion chambers of an engine and a post - injection control for performing a post - injection after a main injection and the intake air control includes an intake throttle valve control for controlling a valve opening of a not - illustrated intake throttle valve and a turbocharger intake control for controlling the quantity of an intake air from a compressor of a not - illustrated turbocharger . moreover , the deteriorated catalyst reactivation means 220 is provided with a sulfur purge start judgment means 221 , a first sulfur purge control means 222 , and a second sulfur purge control means 223 . the sulfur purge start judgment means 221 judges whether to perform either of the first sulfur purge operation and the second sulfur purge operation . it estimates a sulfur quantity x 1 deposited on the direct reduction type nox catalyst 3 according to the fuel consumption and the sulfur concentration of the fuel . it judges to start the first sulfur purge operation when an accumulated value xt obtained by accumulating the deposited sulfur quantity x 1 is larger than a first purge start judgment value x1 and smaller than a second purge start judgment value x2 , and judges to start the second sulfur purge operation when the accumulated value xt is larger than the second purge start judgment value x2 and not to start any of sulfur purge operation in a case other than the above cases . moreover , the first sulfur purge control means 222 does not have to immediately perform the sulfur purge operation by assuming that the accumulated sulfur quantity xt does not reach a limit x2 though xt increases to a certain extent . however , the means 222 performs the rich spike operation for decreasing the oxygen concentration of the exhaust gas and raising an exhaust gas temperature tg to a sulfur purge temperature tr ( approx . 400 ° c .) or higher when the exhaust gas temperature tg becomes higher than a predetermined temperature tc ( 350 ° c . to 400 ° c .) during the normal operation by assuming that the sulfur purge operation must be performed according to a necessity . and it purges and reactivates a deteriorated catalyst preventing secondary sulfur poisoning under low - oxygen conditions . because the first sulfur purge operation is performed when the exhaust gas temperature tg is kept high , only a small quantity of fuel is consumed to raise the exhaust gas temperature . furthermore , the first sulfur purge control means 222 performs sulfur purge before the exhaust gas temperature tg becomes not less than the sulfur purge temperature tr after sulfur is deposited to a certain extent on the catalyst 3 . therefore , it is possible to avoid that the exhaust gas temperature tg becomes not less than the sulfur purge temperature tr under the lean state of the normal operation and to prevent a secondary sulfur poisoning . and , the second sulfur purge means 223 performs the rich spike operation for decreasing the oxygen concentration of the exhaust gas and forcibly raising the exhaust gas temperature tg to the sulfur purge temperature tr or higher by assuming that a sulfur purge is immediately necessary because the accumulated sulfur quantity xt reaches the limit x2 , independently of the exhaust gas temperature tg even when the exhaust gas temperature tg is lower than a predetermined temperature tc . and it purges sulfur and reactivates a deteriorated catalyst preventing the secondary sulfur poisoning under a rich state . it is possible to perform the rich spike operation in the first and second purge operations in accordance with any one of the fuel injection control , an intake air control , and an egr control or a combination of them similar to the case in the rich spike operation for the regenerating process . then , a nox purging system control flow is described below in which nox is purged from the exhaust gas by controlling the nox purging system 10 of above configuration by the nox purging system control means 200 . the control flow is performed in accordance with the flowcharts and the like illustrated in fig3 to 5 . the nox purging system control flow shown in fig3 comprises the catalyst regeneration control in step s 100 and the deteriorated catalyst reactivation control in step s 200 . it is composed as a part of a general flow for controlling the whole of an engine , and is called from a main system control flow . it is carried in parallel with an engine control flow and thereafter the flow returns to the main engine control flow , and completed when the engine control flow is completed . moreover , as shown in fig3 , when the nox purging system control flow starts , the catalyst regeneration control and deteriorated catalyst reactivation control are executed in parallel . as shown by the catalyst regeneration control flow in fig4 , the catalyst regeneration control performs the normal operation control for purging nox by the direct reduction type catalyst 3 for a given time ( for example , the time corresponding to a time period for judging whether to perform the catalyst regeneration control ) in step s 110 and then , judges in step s 120 whether the direct reduction type catalyst 3 is in a regenerating start time , and when it is judged to be in the regeneration start time , after the regenerating control is performed in step s 130 , but when it is not judged to be in the regenerating start time , the flow directly returns to step s 10 to repeat the above control . moreover , when the control flow is completed in such a case as a completion of the engine operation , an interruption of the completion in step s 140 occurs and the flow returns to the nox pursing system control flow in fig3 to complete the flow . then , in the case of the deteriorated catalyst reactivation control , as shown by the deteriorated catalyst reactivation control flow in fig5 , when the flow starts , the accumulated quantity xt of the sulfur accumulated on the direct reduction type nox catalyst 3 by the last - time engine operation is read from a memory in step s 11 . then , in step s 21 , the normal operation control is performed for a predetermined time ( for example , time corresponding to a time period for judging whether to perform deteriorated catalyst reactivation control ), and a deposited sulfur quantity xa by the engine operation for the predetermined time is calculated in accordance with fuel consumption and a sulfur concentration of fuel , and the deposited sulfur quantity xa is added to the accumulated quantity xt to make xt a new accumulated quantity xt ( xt = xt + xa ). in next step s 22 , the first sulfur purge start time is judged whether it is the first sulfur purge start time by whether the accumulated quantity xt is larger than a given first purge start judgment value x1 . when xt is not larger than x1 , the flow returns to step s 21 , assuming that it is not in the first sulfur purge start time . moreover , when it is judged in step 22 that the accumulated quantity xt is larger than the given first purge start judgment value x1 , it is assumed it is in the first sulfur purge start time . however further in next step s 23 , the second sulfur purge start time is judged by whether the accumulated quantity xt is larger than the given second purge start judgment value x2 . when xt is smaller than x2 , the flow goes to s 30 to perform the first sulfur purge operation by assuming it is not in the second sulfur purge start time . when xt is larger than x2 , the flow goes to s 40 to perform the second sulfur purge operation by assuming it is in the second sulfur purge start time . in the case of the first sulfur purge operation in step s 30 , it is judged whether the exhaust gas temperature tg is higher than the predetermined temperature tc in step s 31 . when the exhaust gas temperature tg is higher than the predetermined temperature tc , it is further judged in step s 32 whether the present operation is the normal operation in which other operations such as the regeneration control is not performed . when the exhaust gas temperature tg is higher than the predetermined temperature t1 and the normal operation is performed as a result of judgments in both steps s 31 and s 32 , the flow goes to the first sulfur purge operation control in step s 33 . in other cases , that is , when the exhaust gas temperature tg is lower than t1 or the regenerating operation is currently performed , it is not assumed to be in a state for the first sulfur purge operation and the flow returns to s 21 . in the case of the first sulfur purge operation control in step s 33 , the first sulfur purge operation is performed for a predetermined time and in step s 34 , a discharged sulfur quantity xs during the first sulfur purge is calculated by collating the exhaust gas quantity and the exhaust gas temperature tg with discharged sulfur quantity map data previously input and subtracting the discharged quantity xs from the accumulated quantity xt to obtain the accumulated quantity xt after performing the first sulfur purge operation control in step s 33 . however , when the accumulated quantity xt is not equal to or less than a predetermined third judgment value x3 ( x3 is normally zero ) as a result of the judgment in step s 35 , the flow returns to step s 33 to continue the first sulfur purge operation control until the accumulated quantity xt becomes not more than the predetermined third judgment value x3 . when the accumulated quantity xt becomes not more than the predetermined third judgment value x3 as a result of the judgment in step s 35 , it is judged that sulfur purge is completed to stop the first sulfur purge operation in step s 36 and returns to the normal operation . in the case of the flow in fig5 , the time when the accumulated quantity xt becomes not more than the predetermined third judgment value x3 is assumed as the time when the first sulfur purge operation is completed . however , it is also allowed to calculate a sulfur purge operation time by collating the accumulated sulfur quantity xt calculated in accordance with fuel consumption and a sulfur concentration of fuel with a sulfur purge operation time map data previously input in accordance with the exhaust gas quantity and the exhaust gas temperature tg at the start of the first sulfur purge operation and perform the first sulfur purge operation during the calculated operation time . the first sulfur purge operation control in step s 33 sets the exhaust gas temperature tg to a sulfur purge temperature or higher by performing the rich spike operation when the exhaust gas temperature tg is higher than the predetermined temperature tc ( for example , 350 ° c . to 400 ° c .) and the exhaust gas temperature tg may become not less than a sulfur purge temperature ( approx . 400 ° c .) and reactivates the deteriorated direct reduction type catalyst 3 by the rich operation preventing the secondary sulfur poisoning of cerium by making the oxygen concentration close to zero to prohibit so 3 to be produced . moreover , the second sulfur purge operation in step s 40 is the operation control for forcibly performing the sulfur purge before a proper state for sulfur purge is realized when , for example , the deterioration of the nox purging performance becomes problematic by a further progress of sulfur poisoning or an increase of fuel cost becomes problematic because of a frequent regenerating operation for regenerating a catalyst . the second sulfur purge operation performs the rich spike operation independently of the operating state to raise the temperature of the exhaust gas so that sulfur is forcibly separated , and the exhaust gas temperature tg is raised to a sulfur purge temperature or higher by the raised exhaust gas temperature to separate sulfur , and perform the deteriorated catalyst reactivation . when the above step s 30 or s 40 is completed , the flow returns to step s 21 to repeat the operation . then , when a case of completing the control flow such as a completion of an engine operation occurs , an interruption for the completion of step s 50 occurs , the accumulated sulfur quantity xt at the time of completion in step 51 , that is , the accumulated quantity xt calculated in step s 21 or s 32 is rewritten in a memory in step s 51 and the current flow returns to the nox purging system control in fig3 to complete the flow . then , when the catalyst regeneration control in fig4 and the deteriorated catalyst reactivation control in fig5 both return to the nox purging system control flow in fig3 due to the interruption of completion and further return to a not - illustrated main engine control flow , and the nox purging system control flow is also completed at the same time when the engine control flow is completed . according to the exhaust gas purging system 10 of the above configuration and the method of reactivating a deteriorated catalyst therein , it is possible to perform the deteriorated catalyst reactivation against sulfur poisoning preventing secondary sulfur poisoning by using the characteristics that the exhaust gas temperature tg at the time of reactivating the deteriorated direct reduction type nox catalyst 3 is comparatively low at approx . 400 ° c ., thereby performing the rich spike operation when the exhaust gas temperature tg reaches a temperature probably exceeding the sulfur purge temperature tr , that is , the predetermined temperature t1 ( e . g . 350 ° c . to 400 ° c .) and raising the exhaust gas temperature tg to the sulfur purge temperature tr or higher under low - oxygen conditions . moreover , it is also allowed to perform the above control at the temperature of the direct reduction type nox catalyst 3 instead of performing the control at the exhaust gas temperature tg . in this case , the predetermined temperature slightly changes . the present invention provides a nox purging system using a direct reduction type nox catalyst to purge nox contained in an exhaust gas and a method of reactivating a deteriorated catalyst therein , in which exploiting the characteristics that the reactivation of deteriorated catalyst against sulfur poisoning can be performed at an exhaust gas temperature within the normal operation range , a rich control operation is performed to set the temperature of the direct reduction nox catalyst to a sulfur purge temperature ( approx . 400 ° c .) or higher under low - oxygen conditions when the exhaust gas temperature becomes not less than a predetermined temperature ( 350 ° c . to 400 ° c .) during the normal operation of an internal combustion engine so that nox is removed efficiently excluding the influence of sulfur poisoning by the sulfur purge preventing secondary sulfur poisoning . therefore , the present invention can be used for a nox purging system provided with a direct reduction type nox catalyst in order to purge nox in the exhaust gas . thus , the present invention makes it possible to prevent air pollution by efficiently purifying the exhaust gas discharged from an internal combustion engine of a vehicle and a stationary internal combustion engine .	5
the present disclosure describes various embodiments of an exercise mat having coded markings on the mat such that the markings correlate cross - back measurements to positions for body parts during exercise . fig1 a is a diagrammatic illustration of an exemplary embodiment of an exercise mat of the present disclosure . mat 100 of the present disclosure may have an area of material twenty four feet six inches squared , six feet six inches in its height and four feet in its width . this amount of area may be preferred so a young child can use the exercise mat but also a fully matured adult of large stature could also use the mat and feel comfortable using it . the twenty four feet six inches of area will allow a much broader range of use among the many different designs of the human body . the size of mat 100 maybe adjusted when manufactured to be larger or smaller than mentioned depending on the design choice desired for a particular user . coded marks 120 , 130 , on the surface of the mat facilitate proper body alignment during the exercise motions for a push up or sit up , squats , lunges . coded markings 120 , 130 , such as for example colors , cross - hatching patterns , dots , ovals , square , circle , hand prints , as well as lines 110 , 140 , 142 , 144 , may be coordinated with legend 150 on exercise mat 100 that correlates or gives a user directions on what each color or other indicator means and what body part a person should place with that certain color during a push up or sit up . directly down the center of mat 100 is a line called the centerline or centering line 110 . along every twelve inches , or foot , on the centerline is a marking 140 denoting a foot of length . starting from the top edge 141 of mat 100 on centerline 110 one may count down twelve inches and be at a mark 140 and repeat this pattern to the bottom edge 145 of the mat . every three inches on the centerline 110 there is a mark 142 . the three inch markings 142 are shorter than the half way markings 144 between each foot , but the half way markings 144 are shorter than the foot markings 142 . the lines 144 intersecting at each foot are six inches long horizontally , the lines 144 intersecting at the half way point between each foot are four inches long horizontally , and the line intersecting between the halfway marks of the foot markings are two inches long horizontally . center line 110 is used to align the user &# 39 ; s feet properly according to the user &# 39 ; s body size during a push up and a sit up . in specific embodiments , the center line as well as the other intersecting lines should be roughly one half of an inch thick . for example , a foot and a half down the center line from the top , to the left and to the right horizontal of the centerline 110 , may be a series of color coordinated ovals or other suitable shapes 120 resting next to each other to serve as a guide for hand positions . not all of the markings are fully exposed ; however , five of them are and the remaining fourteen under lap each other . in a preferred embodiment only five of the markings 120 , shown in fig1 a as ovals , in the series may be fully exposed . one of the full shaped ovals 121 is on centerline 110 at a foot and a half down from the top , in the middle of the horizontal arrangement of hand markings 120 . the preferred dimensions of the horizontal arrangement of oval for the placement of the hands may be four inches wide and six inches tall and are oriented vertically on the mat . the other four fully exposed ovals may be as follows : two 123 , 124 spread fourteen inches apart and centered in accordance with centerline 110 ; the other two 122 , 125 spread eighteen inches apart in accordance with centerline 110 . legend 150 maybe provided in the upper right corner of mat 100 to explain markings 120 . fig1 b is a diagrammatic illustration of a legend detail of an exemplary embodiment exercise mat of the present disclosure . on the inside of the fully exposed ovals spread fourteen inches apart may be three under - lapping ovals 158 a , 158 b ; they eventual under - lap the fully exposed center oval 121 of the horizontal arrangement . between the fully exposed ovals spread at fourteen inches and eighteen inches may be an under - lapping oval 156 a , 156 b . on the outsides of the fully exposed oval spread at eighteen inches may be three under - lapping ovals 154 a , 154 b . each may be under - lapping by approximately half their shape more or less . in the total arrangement there may be nineteen ovals . one on the center line and nine to its right and nine to its left . the spacing of ovals , or other coded markings , correlates to the cross back measurement of an exerciser . fig2 is a diagrammatic illustration of instructions for an exemplary embodiment of an exercise mat of the present disclosure . graphical explanation 210 of markings 120 may be provided by instructions 200 , together with written instructions 220 . instructions 200 may be included in legend 150 or may be provided as a separate inclusion with the purchase of mat 100 or both . the ovals 120 may be placed on mat 100 so that a human can put his hands on those designated areas , align his or her feet with the center line , and perform one or more pushups . the pectoral muscles may be described as having four different regions : the inner , outer , lower , and upper . mat 100 allows the user to target each of those specific areas by placing their hands wider or closer together during a push up motion . other body positions such as tilting the chest up or down , keeping the chest higher or feet higher during a push up with the desired spread of the hands will allow the user to target the lower portions of the chest , the upper portions of the chest , the outer portions of the chest and inner portions of the chest . on average a small child ( boy or girl ) has a cross back measurement of fourteen inches . the two shapes 156 a , 156 b as a destination point for the user &# 39 ; s hands , spread at fourteen inches apart are for a user who has a cross back measurement of twelve through fifteen inches . these shapes 156 a , 156 b spread at fourteen inches are there for people of that stature . during a standard pushup a person may position their hands at about shoulder width apart and on the markings 120 suitable for exercising the desired muscles . they can then move their hands closer together to target the inner chest or they can move their hands further apart from that point to target the outer portions of pectoral muscles . it may be helpful for the person using the mat to understand how to tilt the chest to target the upper or lower portions of the chest muscles while the hands are at a desired position on the mat . by understanding how to use the mat , the user can focus more attention on the upper - outer , upper - middle , lower - outer , lower - middle . this will help develop the best muscle growth , strength , and balance in those specific areas . on an average , a man or woman has a cross back measurement of eighteen inches . on the exercise mat 100 may be placed two of the shapes 154 a , 154 b at eighteen inches apart specifically for the hands of adults to be placed during a standard push up . if an adult with a cross back measurement of eighteen inches would like to work the inner portion of the chest all they have to do is use a few of the shapes closer to the center line ; if they want to work the muscle groups on the outer part of pectoralis major , for example , they can place there hands on the other three under - lapping shapes 156 a , 156 b outside the shapes spread 123 , 124 nine inches form the center line . the user places their hands on any of the circles no matter what size their body , align their feet with the center line and bends their elbows , lowering the chest and then straightening their arms to complete a push up and be confident that they are aligned for the best pushup of their body &# 39 ; s ability . table 1 provides a convenient reference guide to convert from clothing sizes to measurements in inches to help determine which markings on the mat to use . specific alternative embodiments provide , on the opposite side of the mat , an array , or arrangement of coded markings . positioned in the center of the mat is a primary circular marking eight inches in diameter . two inches outside the primary marking is a series of circles six inches in diameter . this pattern continues , with the circles decreasing in diameter by two inch increments as the circles are spread further apart from the center primary circle . a person can be guided by the coded markings for stretching , lunges , squats , and other floor exercises . exercise mat 100 is versatile because not only can one do a pushup properly and in alignment but also another shape , or oval 130 may be printed on the mat as a destination point for the buttocks during a sit up . directly above the three foot mark may be a bigger oval shape six inches tall and eight inches wide . this shape is there for a user to sit down on , place their feet out in front of them on any of the markings on the center line and perform a sit up , crunch or the like . the human &# 39 ; s abdominal muscle is generally classified into four sections : upper , middle , lower and the obliques . when the user sits down on the bigger shape 130 on mat 100 , puts his feet out in front of him or her on centerline 110 , they will be able to remember which marking they used and which worked the best in targeting the different regions of the abdominals during a sit up ; furthermore , they are confident that the body is inline by using centerline 110 . the material of mat 100 may preferably be water resistant , resilient , tear resistant , flexible and lightweight . mat 100 is preferably made out of water resistant material so that bodily fluids such as perspiration , extracted from body during exercise , can easily be wiped away . closed cell foam materials or rubber are preferred for water resistance . examples of closed cell materials include but are not limited to neoprene , silicone , pvc , nitrile , eva , epdm viton and xlpe . solid rubber material include , for example , eppm , butyl , flexmat and fluourosilicon . alternatively , open celled materials such as for example polyether , polyester , melamine , filter foam , high density urethane , natural sponge and pe may be used . additional alternative materials may include but not be limited to em / rfi , shielding , polycarbonate , plastic films , kaplon , cork , nomex and adhesive coatings . the materials may be treated with a fungus inhibiting substance to help maintain freshness . the mat is preferably made from flexible material such that the mat may be selectively rolled up for storage and unrolled for use . specific embodiments provide one or more fasteners , such as ties , velcro , snaps and the like , attached to the mat to maintain the mat in a rolled - up state when fastened . other specific embodiments provide a kit consisting of a floor exercise mat as described herein , a carrier for carrying the mat to various locations such as back and forth from a gym or from a closet to a den , and a set of instructions that explain to a user how to understand and use the markings and how the coded markings correlate to the proper position of a body part on the mat for a desired exercise . the markings of the present exercise mat may be printed directly onto the substance of mat 100 or alternatively the markings may be printed on a slipcover that is disposed over a cushioned pad or mat . the material of the slip cover may be washable fabric . mat 100 may be a simple sheet of fabric , plastic , rubber or of the materials described herein such that the sheet is simply laid on the floor or on top of an existing exercise mat for use . alternatively , mat 100 may be a pad of cushioning closed cell foam , for instance , with the markings as described herein printed on the pad . another alternative embodiment is that mat 100 is a slipcover with the markings such that the slipcover can be disposed over an existing pad for comfort of use or may be use directly on the floor or simply put on an existing pad . the preferred mat 100 is resilient and cushioning to be absorbent of the shock the body places on mat 100 during human performance . a persons feet , hands , or buttock are going to be constantly putting pressure in one area or mat 100 for a period of time during an exercise routine ; therefore , the mat may be made from durable and shock absorbing material . mat 100 is also preferably flexible so that it can be rolled up for storage when it is not in use . another preferred quality of the material that mat 100 may be made from may be tear resistance . this exercise mat will be able to be moved from one area of a room to another . during the handling of the mat , it should not tear . it may be tear resistant and durable . child &# 39 ; s play and rough housing should not be able to destroy the mat . the mat may be lightweight and flexible . since the mat may be used any where , the mat may preferably be made out of a material that is light weight giving it easy portability . its flexibility may allow the mat to be folded in any fashion , or rolled into a tube , for easy storage and so that the mat will take up less room if desired . many modifications and other embodiments of the exercise mat will come to mind to one skilled in the art to which this disclosure pertains having the benefit of the teachings presented in the foregoing descriptions and the associated drawings . therefore , it is to be understood that this description is not to be limited to the specific embodiments disclosed and that modifications and other embodiments are intended to be included within the scope of the appended claims . although specific terms are employed herein , they are used in a generic and descriptive sense only and not for purposes of limitation .	0
turning now to the drawings , fig1 schematically illustrates the modular playpen apparatus of the present invention , generally referenced as 10 . the apparatus includes : a plurality of vertical uprights 20 ; a series of substantially rectangular side panels 30 ; a plurality of horizontal cross bars 40 ; floor pads 50 and a center support post 60 underneath the floor pads ( shown in fig6 ). referring specifically to fig1 vertical uprights 20 are positioned a sufficient distance from each other in order to allow for a side panel 30 to fit between them . each upright 20 is a round post comprised of plastic or other suitable material , approximately 2 feet high . each upright 20 has a slot or groove 21 running along its length . this can be seen more clearly in fig2 and fig3 . the vertical side of each side panel 30 slides into one of the grooves 21 of a vertical upright 20 . each upright 20 is joined to two side panels 30 to form the enclosure shown in fig1 . although the playpen 10 can be configured as a square , as shown in fig1 there are an infinite number of configurations that can be formed by either matching different grooves 21 of different uprights 20 with different side panels 30 or by adding on additional panels 30 , uprights 20 and cross bars 40 . each upright 20 has four identical grooves 21 running along its length , in order to receive up to four side panels 30 . in an alternate embodiment , each upright 20 can have more than four grooves . this would allow for connection to more side panels 30 and cross bars 40 thereby creating many more playpen configurations . each horizontal cross bar 40 is of approximately the same length as each side panel 30 and provides structural support to the bottom , horizontal side of each side panel 30 . each end of the horizontal cross bar 40 is inserted into a vertical upright 20 , just below the bottom of groove 21 . fig3 shows the inter - connection of a side panel 30 with a vertical upright 20 . the groove 21 running down the length of the vertical upright 20 is approximately 1 / 2 - inch deep and sized to receive a vertical edge of a side panel 30 . the groove 21 does not extend the entire length of the upright 20 but terminates near the bottom to allow for the cross bar 40 to be inserted into the upright 20 . in the preferred embodiment , the groove 21 begins at the top of the vertical upright 20 and terminates near the bottom of the vertical upright 20 , above where the cross bar 40 meets the upright 20 . fig4 shows a top view of the upright - side panel connection . two side panels 30 can be slid from the top of an upright 20 within one of the grooves 21 . the length of the groove 21 corresponds to the length of each side of a side panel 30 allowing for each vertical side of a side panel 30 to be slidably secured to an upright 20 . fig6 depicts a top view of the square - shaped playpen 10 of fig1 and shows the interconnection of the side panels 30 with the grooves 21 in each vertical upright 20 . also shown is the center post 60 as it protrudes through and between the floor pads 50 . the cut - outs 51 in each corner of the floor pads 50 allow for the center post 60 to protrude between the pads thereby providing a contiguous inner surface . the top covering of the center post 60 is comprised of the same material that comprises the floor pad 50 . in this way , the floor of the playpen 10 forms a uniform surface . the actual inter - connection of the panel and upright can occur in a variety of ways . one method can be to provide a notch or downward protrusion in the bottom of the edge of the side panel 30 . this protrusion would be inserted into the upright 20 first until the protrusion reaches the terminus of the groove 21 . the remaining portion of the edge of the panel 30 can then slide into the remaining portion of the groove 21 until the panel 30 is secured therein . other methods to connect the panels 30 to the uprights 20 may include providing panels with a spring mechanism on one or both ends , a small horizontal flange on the top corner of the panel preventing the panel from dropping down into the groove , or a retractable knob similar to those used to secure accordion closet doors within closet enclosures , located at the bottom corner of each panel used in conjunction with the flange . each side panel 30 is substantially rectangular or square . its sides are generally of plastic and surround a see - through nylon mesh or netting made of standard nylon material . this allows for the young child or infant within the playpen enclosure to observe the events outside of the playpen . each side panel 30 can be easily removed by lifting it up and out of the groove 21 of the vertical uprights 20 . no tools are necessary . the easy removal of the side panels 30 does not belie the fact that the panel - upright connection is sturdy and a young child within the enclosure could not remove a panel by himself . fig5 shows the horizontal cross bar 40 of the present invention in greater detail . each horizontal cross bar 40 has a flat upper longitudinal surface 41 and a rounded lower longitudinal surface 42 . the flat upper longitudinal surface 41 has a thin protruding edge 43 running along its entire length . this edge 43 bisects the flat upper longitudinal surface 41 , thereby creating an inner and outer upper longitudinal surface . as can be seen clearly in fig5 the inner portion of the upper longitudinal surface 41 provides support to the outer edge of the floor pad 50 . for safety and aesthetic purposes , the top of the edge 43 remains below the top surface of the floor pad 50 thereby preventing the appearance of the edge within the interior of the playpen 10 . the lower horizontal side of the side panel 30 rests on top of the protruding edge 43 . each floor pad 50 is made of a sturdy plastic backing material topped by a vinyl - covered cushion , such as polyurethane foam . to accommodate the vertical uprights 20 , the floor pads 50 have an arc - shaped cut - out 51 at each of its corners . therefore , when a floor pad 50 abuts against an upright 20 or center post 60 , a contiguous surface is created , and the pads do not overlap . fig6 shows a top view of the square playpen 10 of fig1 . the cut - outs 51 can be seen wherever a floor pad 50 is positioned next to an upright 20 or center post 60 . these cut - outs 51 allow for the floor pads 50 to fit snugly within the enclosure without any spaces which may cause injury to the child . the floor pads 50 are sized such that each pad will fit snugly between the vertical uprights 20 and the protruding center post 60 . each vertical upright 20 receives an end of a cross bar 40 . in the preferred embodiment , each upright 20 has a notch of approximately the same shape as the t - shaped end 44 of cross bar 40 , below the terminus of groove 21 to receive one end of the cross bar 40 . however , other connection means may be employed to join the upright and cross bar . fig7 shows the center post 60 and its connection to four horizontal cross bars 40 . the center support post 60 is positioned substantially underneath the floor pads 50 , within the interior of the playpen 10 . the top portion of the center post 60 is covered with the same vinyl cushion material as that of the floor pads and protrudes up and between the void created by the cut - outs 51 . the four horizontal cross bars 40 connect to the center support post 60 via the same means as the cross bars 40 are connected to the uprights 20 around the perimeter of the playpen 10 , namely , the insertion of the t - shaped end 44 of the cross bar 40 into a notch in the center support post 60 . once again , other standard connecting means could be employed . the center post 60 , therefore , receives one end of the four cross bars 40 , and the four centermost uprights 20 around the perimeter of the playpen 10 receive the other end of the cross bar 40 . fig6 shows the four ( 4 ) centermost uprights around the perimeter of the playpen 10 receiving three ( 3 ) horizontal cross bars 40 each , ( two along the perimeter of the playpen and a third underneath the floor pads 50 ), while the four ( 4 ) corner uprights receive two ( 2 ) horizontal cross bars 40 . fig6 also shows the cut - outs 51 of the floor pads 50 allowing for the center post 60 to protrude between the floor pads 50 . the center support post 60 , in conjunction with the cross bars 40 , does not support the side panels 30 , but instead serves to provide support to the playpen 10 from underneath the floor pads 50 while forming a connection between the sides of the playpen 10 . the center post 60 is not noticeably discernable as only its top protrudes between the pads and it is made of the same material as the floor pads . in the preferred embodiment of the present invention , a total of eight uprights 20 , eight side panels 30 , four floor pads 50 , twelve cross bars 40 and one center support post 60 are used to create a square playpen enclosure , approximately 3 feet by 3 feet . however , as can be seen in fig8 - 11 , the components can also be reconfigured to produce an approximately 41 / 2 foot by 11 / 2 foot rectangular enclosure , or other non - conventional configurations , to conform to the contour of different sized rooms or area constraints . additional side panels , uprights and cross bars can be added to expand and alter the shape of the enclosure to adapt to available space . as shown in fig8 the playpen 10 can be configured around objects in the room . as seen in fig9 side panels 30 can be inserted into the uprights 20 to create separate enclosures . the need for a separate enclosure may be for a sleeping child who needs to be separated from the other children , or to store children &# 39 ; s shoes or extra clothing while the child plays in the larger , adjacent enclosure . a long , rectangular version of the playpen 10 may be used to near a pool , as seen in fig1 . for example , if others are in the pool , and there is not sufficient space to fit a standard playpen , the playpen 10 of the present invention can be configured to &# 34 ; wrap around &# 34 ; and follow the perimeter of the pool . this would allow the child to remain safely in the playpen , yet follow the activity in the pool . with a small amount of creativity , parents can create a variety of entertaining and practical configurations of the playpen 10 . the present invention could be used in various rooms in the home , outside in the backyard , in day - care centers , or taken on trips . the ease at which the side panels can be slid out of the elongated grooves along the length of the uprights make the present invention easy to disassemble and reassemble without the use of tools . furthermore , the horizontal cross bars can be removed from the vertical uprights with little difficulty . the entire playpen can be disassembled and transported in a travel bag . further embodiments can offer an attachable covering or canopy if the playpen were to be used outside , in inclement weather . the instant invention has been shown and described herein in what is considered to be the most practical and preferred embodiment . it is recognized , however , that departures may be made therefrom within the scope of the invention and that obvious modifications will occur to a person skilled in the art .	0
the copolymers as used in the present invention can be easily produced by conventional methods . for instance , styrene and acrylic acid are dissolved in a reaction medium , e . g ., methanol , ethanol , acetone , benzene , dimethylformamide , dioxane or mixtures thereof . then , a polymerization catalyst , e . g ., azobisisobutyronitrile , benzoyl peroxide , or the like , is added in an amount of about 0 . 5 to 2 . 0 % by weight of the monomer used followed by stirring at 60 ° to 80 ° c . for 3 to 6 hours under a nitrogen atmosphere . the reaction product is re - precipitated in water , dried , and , if desired , neutralized with sodium hydroxide or the like . a chain transfer agent , e . g ., p - cymene , isopropanol , carbon tetrachloride or the like can be effectively used to control the molecular weight of the polymer . representative copolymers can be produced by copolymerizing styrene and acrylic acid , styrene and methacrylic acid , methylstyrene and acrylic acid , methylstyrene and methacrylic acid , or a like combination , and , if desired , neutralizing the resulting polymers . in the copolymers of the present invention , a high content of the styrene or methylstyrene unit reduces the compatibility of the copolymer with gelatin whereas a high content of the acrylic acid or methacrylic acid unit adversely affects the sensitivity . thus , the styrene or methylstyrene content is about 30 to 70 mole % and preferably 40 to 60 mole %. the acrylic acid or methacrylic acid content is about 70 to 30 mole % and preferably 60 to 40 mole %. too low a molecular weight reduces the effect of the copolymer while too high a molecular weight reduces the compatibility of the copolymer with gelatin . thus , the reduced viscosity , i . e ., η sp / c as measured in a 1 % by weight sodium chloride aqueous solution at 30 ° c ., is about 0 . 2 to 2 . 0 and preferably 0 . 3 to 1 . 0 . the photographic light - sensitive element which can be used in the present invention is characterized as having an uppermost layer which contains the copolymer described hereinbefore . the uppermost layer comprises a hydrophilic colloid and the copolymer of the present invention . the hydrophilic colloid which is preferably used in the present invention is gelatin . also , a part of the gelatin , generally up to about 70 % by weight of the gelatin used can be replaced by one or more hydrophilic colloids other than gelatin . any hydrophilic colloid which is conventionally used in a hydrophilic layer of a photographic material can be used and examples include colloidal albumin , casein , cellulose derivatives such as carboxymethyl cellulose , hydroxyethyl cellulose and the like , agar , sodium alginate , saccharide derivatives such as starch derivatives , synthetic hydrophilic colloids , e . g ., polyvinyl alcohol , polyvinyl pyrrolidone , acrylic acid copolymers , polyacrylamide , and derivatives thereof , gelatin derivatives such as gelatin treated with a compound having at least one group capable of reacting with the functional groups contained in gelatin , i . e ., an amine group , an imino group , a hydroxy group , and a carboxy group , or those gelatins to which high polymeric molecular chains have been grafted , and the like . compounds which can be used for preparing gelatin derivatives are , e . g ., isocyanates , acid chlorides and acid anhydrides as described in u . s . pat . no . 2 , 614 , 928 ; acid anhydrides as described in u . s . pat . no . 3 , 118 , 766 ; bromo acetates as described in japanese patent publication no . 5514 / 1964 ; phenyl glycidyl ethers as described in japanese patent no . 26845 / 1967 ; vinyl sulfone compounds as described in u . s . pat . no . 3 , 132 , 945 ; n - allylvinyl sulfonamides as described in british pat . no . 861 , 414 ; maleinimide compounds as described in u . s . pat . no . 3 , 186 , 846 ; acrylonitriles as described in u . s . pat . no . 2 , 594 , 293 ; polyalkylene oxides as described in u . s . pat . no . 3 , 312 , 553 ; epoxy compounds as described in japanese patent publication no . 26845 / 1967 ; acid esters as described in u . s . pat . no . 2 , 763 , 639 ; alkanesultones as described in british pat . no . 1 , 033 , 189 ; etc . suitable branch polymers to be grafted to gelatin include polymers or copolymers of the so - called vinyl monomers such as acrylic acid , methacrylic acid , or the esters , amides , or nitriles thereof , or styrene as described in u . s . pat . nos . 2 , 763 , 625 ; 2 , 831 , 767 ; 2 , 956 , 884 ; 3 , 620 , 751 ; polymer letters , 5 , 595 ( 1967 ), phot . sci . eng ., 9 , 148 ( 1965 ), j . polymer sci ., a - 1 , 9 , 199 ( 1971 ), etc . hydrophilic vinyl polymers which are mutually compatible with gelatin to a certain extent , such as polymers or copolymers of acrylic acid , methacrylic acid , acrylamide , methacrylamide , hydroxyalkylacrylate , hydroxyalkylmethacrylate , etc ., are particularly useful . the amount of the copolymer of the present invention which is incorporated in the uppermost layer can be varied over wide range , since the copolymer is compatible with gelatin in any ratio . a suitable amount ranges from about 10 to about 70 , and particularly from 20 to 50 , % by weight . advantageously the binder of the uppermost layer is hardened using a hardening agent . a matting agent , e . g ., particles of polystyrene , polymethyl methacrylate , silica or the like , which is generally used in the field of photography , can be , if desired , added , e . g ., in an amount of from about 0 . 1 to about 5 , preferably 0 . 3 to 2 , % by weight based on the total amount of the hydrophilic colloid in the layer , to the layer comprising the copolymer and a binder . a suitable particle size ranges from about 0 . 1 to about 5 microns , preferably 0 . 3 to 3 microns . moreover , where the copolymer is used in combination with a binder such as gelatin or its derivatives , a hardening agent can be advantageously used . suitable hardening agents which can be preferably used include those hardening agents as described in c . e . k . mees and t . h . james , the theory of the photographic process , 3rd . edition , pages 55 - 60 , macmillan co . ( 1966 ), and u . s . pat . no . 3 , 316 , 095 . particularly , aldehyde type ( including mucochloric acid type and aldehyde precursor type hardening agents ), e . g ., as disclosed in u . s . pat . nos . 3 , 232 , 761 ; 3 , 565 , 632 ; 3 , 677 , 760 , active vinyl type , e . g ., as disclosed in u . s . pat . nos . 3 , 635 , 718 ; 3 , 232 , 763 ; etc ., active halogen type , e . g ., as disclosed in u . s . pat . nos . 3 , 288 , 775 ; 3 , 732 , 303 ; etc ., carbodiimide type , e . g ., as disclosed in u . s . pat . nos . 3 , 100 , 704 ; etc ., isooxazole type , e . g ., as disclosed in u . s . pat . nos . 3 , 321 , 313 ; 3 , 543 , 292 ; etc ., epoxy type , e . g ., as disclosed in u . s . pat . no . 3 , 091 , 537 ; etc ., aziridine type , e . g ., as disclosed in u . s . pat . nos . 3 , 017 , 280 ; 2 , 983 , 611 ; etc ., and inorganic type hardening agents can be preferably used . a suitable amount of the hardening agent can range from about 0 . 1 to about 10 , preferably 0 . 3 to 5 , % by weight based on the total amount of the hydrophilic colloid in the layer . more particularly , the following hardening agents provide good results . aldehyde type hardening agents : mucochloric acid , mucobromic acid , mucophenoxychloric acid , mucophenoxybromic acid , formaldehyde , dimethylolurea , trimethylolmelamine , 1 , 3 - bis -( diallylamino ) methyl urea , 1 , 3 - bis ( piperidinomethyl ) urea , glyoxal , monomethylglyoxal , 2 , 3 - dihydroxy - 1 , 4 - dioxane , 2 , 3 - dihydroxy - 5 - methyl - 1 , 4 - dioxane , succinaldehyde , 2 , 5 - dimethoxytetrahydrofuran , glutaraldehyde , etc . these hardening agents can be , as in conventional methods , dissolved in water or an organic solvent and directly added to the uppermost layer containing the copolymers or can be added to other layers in a large amount so that the hardening agent diffuses into the uppermost layer . of these hardening agents , dichlorohydroxy - s - triazine sodium salt , triethyleneimino - s - triazine , formaldehyde , glyoxal , mucochloric acid , trichlorotriazine , 3 - chloro - 1 , 2 - propyleneglycol - diglycidyl ether and the like are particularly preferred . in addition , as a coating aid , sodium dodecyl benzene sulfonate , sodium n - oleyl - n - methyl - taurate , sodium 1 , 4 - p - nonylphenyl - 5 , 8 , 11 , 14 - tetraoxatetradecane - 1 - sulfonate , dimethyltetradecyl ammonioacetate , and the like can be used . the mixing ratio of the copolymer of the present invention , gelatin , a matting agent ( e . g ., fine particles of inorganic or organic compound such as silica , magnesium oxide , polymethyl methacrylate , cellulose acetate propionate , etc . ), an anti - adhesive agent , an anti - slip agent ( e . g ., polyethyleneoxide , glycerol , etc . ), a lubricant ( e . g ., polydimethylsiloxane , stearylamide , etc . ), an antistatic agent ( e . g ., saponin , polyoxyethylene lauryl ether , etc . ), a hardening agent , and a coating aid , etc ., can be varied over a wide range depending upon the kind and use of the photographic photosensitive element . the type and suitable amounts of the above described ingredients can be determined by one skilled in the art . appropriate selection of a suitable coating method is important for increasing productivity . for instance , dip coating , air knife coating , curtain coating , extrusion coating , etc ., can be used . an uppermost layer containing the copolymer of this invention can suitably range in thickness from about 0 . 5 to about 3 , preferably 1 to 1 . 5 , microns . the copolymer which can be used in the present invention cn also be added to other photographic hydrophilic layers of the photographic material . such photographic layers include a silver halide emulsion layer , an intermediate layer , a filter layer , and the like . the present invention is further illustrated in greater detail by reference to the following examples . unless otherwise indicated , all parts , percents , ratios and the like are by weight . a reaction vessel was charged with 43 g ( 0 . 5 mole ) of methacrylic acid , 52 g ( 0 . 5 mole ) of styrene , 150 ml of ethanol and 0 . 45 g of benzoyl peroxide as a polymerization initiator . after purging the system with nitrogen , the mixture was stirred at 70 ° to 80 ° c . for 5 hours . then , the reaction product was reprecipitated in water and vacuum - dried until a constant weight was reached . thus , copolymer - 1 was obtained . the yield was 69 . 3 g ( 73 . 0 %). the product was neutralized with sodium hydroxide to adjust the ph of a 20 % aqueous solution to 7 . 5 . the viscosity was 0 . 73 ( η sp / c . c = 0 . 1 %, 30 ° c .). the same procedure was repeated to produce copolymer - 2 and copolymer - 3 using the monomers and proportions as indicated in the following table . ______________________________________ amount chargedcopolymer monomer ( g ) yield η sp / c . c ph______________________________________copolymer - 1 methacrylic 43 69 . 3 g 0 . 73 7 . 5 acid styrene 52 ( 73 . 0 %) copolymer - 2 acrylic acid 36 61 . 4 g 0 . 27 7 . 8 styrene 52 ( 76 . 7 %) copolymer - 3 acrylic acid 25 . 2 80 . 1 g 0 . 31 7 . 8 vinyl toluene 76 . 7 ( 78 . 6 %) ______________________________________ example 1 p on an undercoated cellulose triacetate base were coated a red - sensitive silver halide emulsion layer , an intermediate layer , a green - sensitive silver halide emulsion layer , a yellow filter layer , a blue - sensitive silver halide emulsion layer , and a protective layer as indicated in table 1 below . mixtures of gelatin as a binder and copolymer - 1 containing 0 , 20 , 40 , 60 and 80 % by weight of copolymer - 1 were used for the protective layer to produce samples 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , and 5 , respectively . to each of these binder combinations , 2 , 4 , 6 - triethyleneimino - 1 , 3 , 5 - triazine was added in an amount of 25 mg per gram of the binder as a hardening agent . in addition , as a matting agent , silicon dioxide particles and polymethyl methacrylate particles were added . the thus prepared mixtures were coated and dried to provide a dry thickness of 1 to 2μ . table 1__________________________________________________________________________red - sensitive layer green - sensitive layer blue - sensitive layer__________________________________________________________________________color4 - chloro - n - n - dodecyl - 1 - 2 , 4 , 6 - trichlorophenyl - 3 -{ 3 - 3 -( 2 , 4 - di - amylphenoxyacetamido )- coupler1 - hydroxy - 2 - ( α - 2 , 4 - di - t - amylphenoxy )- α -( 4 - methoxybenzoyl ) acetanilidenaphthamide acetamido }- benzamido - 5 - pyrazolonespectralbis -( 9 - ethyl - 5 - chloro - bis -( 9 - ethyl - 5 - phenyl - 3 - ethyl )- nonesensitizer3 - hydroxyethyl )- oxycarbocyanine isothiocyanatethiacarbocyaninebromidestabilizer5 - methyl - 7 - hydroxy - same as used in red - sensitive same as used in red - sensitive2 , 3 , 4 - triazaindolizine layer layerhardening2 , 4 , 6 - triethyleneimino - same as used in red - sensitive same as used in red - sensitiveagent1 , 3 , 5 - triazine layer layerauxiliarysodium dodecylbenzene same as used in red - sensitive same as used in red - sensitivecoatingsulfonate layer layeragent__________________________________________________________________________ intermediate layer : a gelatin layer containing the hardening agent and auxiliary agent as indicated in table 1 . yellow filter layer : a gelatin layer containing the hardening agent , auxiliary agent as indicated in table 1 and yellow colloidal silver . these samples were allowed to stand under the conditions of a temperature of 25 ° c . and 60 % rh for 1 week . after subjecting these samples to color negative processing , these samples were examined with respect to the formation of reticulation . the processing temperature was 35 °, 40 °, 45 ° or 50 ° c . ______________________________________ time______________________________________color development 3 &# 39 ; 15 &# 34 ; bleaching 6 &# 39 ; 30 &# 34 ; washing 3 &# 39 ; 15 &# 34 ; fixing 6 &# 39 ; 30 &# 34 ; washing 3 &# 39 ; 15 &# 34 ; stabilizing bath 3 &# 39 ; 15 &# 34 ; ______________________________________ with each of the samples processed , the degree of the formation of reticulation was as illustrated in table 2 . table 2______________________________________processingtemperature sample (° c .) 1 2 3 4 5______________________________________35 c a a a a40 c b a a a45 c c b a a50 c c c b b______________________________________ a : no reticulation was observed . b : slight reticulation was observed . c : considerable reticulation was observed . it can be seen from the results in table 2 that the formation of reticulation is prevented by replacing a part of the gelatin with copolymer - 1 of the present invention and that the formation of reticulation is more prevented by increasing the content of copolymer - 1 . to each of the layers as used in example 1 was added copolymer - 2 in the following manner . sample 2 : 30 % of the gelatin contained in the intermediate layer and the yellow filter layer was replaced with copolymer - 2 . sample 3 : 30 % of the gelatin contained in all of the layers except for the protective layer was replaced with copolymer - 2 . sample 4 : 30 % of only the gelatin contained in the protective layer was replaced with copolymer - 2 . sample 5 : 30 % of the gelatin contained in each of the intermediate layer , the yellow filter layer and the protective layer was replaced with copolymer - 2 . sample 6 : 30 % of the gelatin contained in all of the layers was replaced with copolymer - 2 . these samples were allowed to stand under the conditions of a temperature of 25 ° c . and 60 % rh for 1 week and , after being subjected to the same processing as described in example 1 , were examined with respect to the formation of reticulation . the results obtained are shown in table 3 . table 3______________________________________processingtemperature sample (° c .) 1 2 3 4 5 6______________________________________35 c b a a a a40 c c c a a a45 c c c b a a50 c c c c c a______________________________________ a , b and c designate the same grades as set forth for example 1 . it can be seen from table 3 that the formation of reticulation is most effectively prevented by replacing a part of the gelatin contained in all of the layers with copolymer - 2 and that a considerable effect can be attained by replacing only a part of the gelatin contained in the protective layer . on an undercoated polyethylene terephthalate base were coated a red - sensitive silver halide emulsion layer , a green - sensitive silver halide emulsion layer , a yellow filter layer and a blue - sensitive silver halide emulsion layer , which contained the same spectral sensitizer , stabilizer , and auxiliary coating agent as described in example 1 , and 5 mg of 2 - oxy - 4 , 6 - dichloro - s - triazine sodium salt per gram of the binder as a hardening agent , in the following manner . sample 2 : 20 % of the gelatin contained in the red - sensitive emulsion layer , the green - sensitive emulsion layer and the yellow filter layer was replaced with copolymer - 3 . sample 3 : 20 % of the gelatin contained in the blue - sensitive emulsion layer only was replaced with copolymer - 3 . sample 4 : 20 % of the gelatin contained in all four layers was replaced with copolymer - 3 . these samples were allowed to stand at a temperature of 25 ° c . and 0 . 60 % rh for week and , after being subjected to the following color - in - developer type color processing ( the pre - hardening time was changed from 10 seconds to 50 seconds ), examined with respect to the formation of reticulation . ______________________________________ tem - perature time______________________________________1 . pre - hardening 27 ° c . as indicated in table 42 . washing &# 34 ; 1 minute3 . negative development &# 34 ; 4 minutes4 . washing &# 34 ; 3 minutes5 . reversal red flash exposure6 . cyan color development &# 34 ; 5 minutes7 . washing &# 34 ; 2 minutes8 . reversal blue flash exposure9 . yellow color development &# 34 ; 5 minutes10 . washing &# 34 ; 2 minutes11 . reversal white exposure12 . magenta color development 27 ° c . 5 minutes13 . washing &# 34 ; 2 minutes14 . silver bleaching &# 34 ; 5 minutes15 . fixing &# 34 ; 3 minutes16 . washing and drying______________________________________ each of the compositions of processing baths are shown in columns 18 and 19 of u . s . pat . no . 3 , 723 , 125 . the degree of the formation of reticulation is indicated in table 4 . table 4______________________________________pre - hardening time sample ( seconds ) 1 2 3 4______________________________________10 c c c b20 c b b a30 c b a a40 b a a a50 a a a a______________________________________ a , b and c designate the same grades used for example 1 . it can be seen from the results in table 4 that the formation of reticulation is reduced by replacing a part of the gelatin with copolymer - 3 . while the invention has been described in detail and with reference to specific embodiments thereof , it will be apparent to one skilled in the art that various changes and modifications can be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope thereof .	8
a preferred embodiment of the invention comprises a two - stage cma and axially disposed electron gun as illustrated in fig1 . for the purposes of this discussion &# 34 ; electron gun &# 34 ; refers to the entire beam forming and scanning apparatus . the two - stage cma portion of the apparatus comprises a pair of spaced coaxial metal cylinders 10 and 12 with respective radii r 10 and r 12 arranged on axis 13 . these cylinders form a cylindrical capacitor characterized by a radially directed electric field in the space therebetween . the inner cylinder has an intermediate aperture 14 located at the midpoint of the axis which divides the stages of the cma . secondary electrons from the sample pass through this aperture 14 if their energies are within the energy band selected by the cma . the principal purpose of aperture 14 is to prevent electrons which pass through the first stage from striking elements of the electron gun and scattering into the second stage . nearly annular slots 15 and 15 &# 39 ; are formed in the inner cylinder to permit entrance and exit respectively of the particle trajectories under analysis into the radial electric field space between cylinders 10 and 12 . similar slots 16 and 16 &# 39 ; serve similar purposes for the second stage of the analyzer . these slots are each conventionally gridded by mesh 18 to preserve a generally equipotential cylindrical surface and prevent unwanted electric field distortion due to the discontinuities introduced by the presence of the slots . end effects introduce distortions of the electric field for finite length cylinders . these are relieved in a well known manner by a system of guard rings 19 for dividing the potential between cylinders with a resistive network ( not shown ). the extreme trajectories 17 and 17 &# 39 ; are defined with respect to a focus 20 . a sample surface 21 is positioned at focus 20 . it will be appreciated that the sample is situated in a vacuum enclosure although such enclosure does not appear in fig1 . the focal distance determines the location of the focus and is a design parameter of the analyzer . this parameter and radii r 10 and r 12 geometrically determine α , the mean angle of analyzer acceptance , as measured with respect to the analyzer axis . optimum values for α may be found for given relative dimensions of the cma according to well - known analytic treatments . in each stage of the cma , the entrance and exit apertures are preferably symmetrically disposed on the axis with respect to the midplane from each of the respective stages and the stages are themselves symmetrically disposed in respect to intermediate aperture 14 . in general , the two stages need not be identical ( or symmetrically disposed with respect to the midplane ). for example , a shorter second stage may be achieved if the electric field in the second stage is appropriately increased . it will readily occur to one skilled in the art to accomplish this end by employing the same potential difference between the cylinders while decreasing the inner - electrode space , as for example by increasing the inner radius . final aperture 24 defines the image point which is preferably located symmetrically with the object point . aperture 24 may be a simple circular hole as shown , or annular if displaced along the axis toward the intermediate aperture 14 . the dimensions of aperture 24 are selected to accept a portion of the trajectories transmitted by the analyzer . in a preferred form , aperture 24 may be variable in its dimensions to permit selection of a particular narrow band of trajectories defined by the analyzer . this may be accomplished readily by providing a hermetically sealed rotary feedthrough not shown to position a desired aperture at the indicated position . particle detector 25 such as , for example , an electron multiplier , or a scintillator and photomultiplier is provided for detection of the particles transmitted by the analyzer and aperture 24 . a particle beam source , as for example , an electron gun , is disposed on the axis of the cma as described below . such a gun comprises an electron source 30 , anode 32 for establishment of the longitudinal accelerating fields for the beam , 1st lense 34 alignment plates 36 , anti - scattering aperture 38 and secondary electron suppression tube 39 with defining aperture 40 located therein , second electrostatic lens 42 , a second set of alignment plates 44 , objective aperture 46 , stigmator assembly 48 , deflector plates 50 and 50 &# 39 ; and final lens 52 . other electron optical elements may be inserted in the space available , as may be desired . because the primary beam passes through the same region as the analyzed beam , it is essential that the primary beam be carefully collimated to remove the possibility of scattering or secondary electron emission consequent to the primary beam striking intermediate aperture 14 or other structure in this region . aperture 38 is carefully designed and positioned to prevent the entrance of such stray electrons into the second stage of the analyzer . aperture 38 also serves a beam restrictive function . by minimizing the number of electrons passing through the front focal region of the second part of the analyzer , scattering from residual gas molecules in this region is minimized and can be reduced to a negligible level . two sets of alignment plates 36 and 44 are provided to align the beam with respect to the respective apertures 40 and 46 whereas deflection plates 50 and 50 &# 39 ; provide transverse deflection for scanning the sample . the electrostatic lenses may be cylindrical , multiple aperture or quadrupole lenses as may be required for desired optical properties . the distribution of the elements of the electron gun along the axis of the two - stage cma entails a division of components including all of the attendant electron optics , among the axial spaces of both stages of the cma . because the beam is often employed to scan a sample , certain benefits innure to the combination of an n - stage cma with an internal axial gun . for example , a two - stage cma possesses twice the dispersion , e ( δz / δe ), compared to a single stage cma where e is the particle energy and z is the axial displacement of the intersection of trajectories . this remains true , although comparable single and two - stage instruments both possess magnification of unity and identical resolution . because of the increased dispersion , the exit aperture 24 will be twice the diameter of the aperture of the comparable single stage analyzer for accepting the same energy band of trajectories . a magnification of unity for both instruments means that displacement of the beam on the object results in roughly equal displacement of the image thereof at the exit of the analyzer . because of the greater dimension of this aperture , the beam may be scanned over a wider field of view , approximately twice that of the comparable single stage device for the same analyzer reduction and signal attenuation at the edges of the field of view . fig2 illustrates the beam displacement dependence for response of the analyzer to an elastically scattered peak as the beam is swept across the sample . the response measurement is shown for each of three different values of resolution as determined by aperture dimension for exit aperture 24 . normailization of the curves permits comparison of the various resolutions for the extent of lateral sweep which incurs no more than 10 percent variation in analyzer response . while an n stage analyzer effectively widens the useful field of view by a factor approximately n , the effect is not without limit in angular width , nor for the number of stages . the angular width cannot be increased to the extent that the trajectories depart substantially from the acceptance angle α without incurring aberrations in the analyzer which degrade its resolution . for example , displacement of the object point from the axis will introduce a component in the electron trajectories which lay outside of a single radial plane . greater displacements will produce trajectories , each of which to a greater degree contain a non - coplanar component . the non - coplanar component of motion ultimately degrades analyzer resolution and limits the performance of the instrument . non - coplanar trajectories could be removed , for example by means of radial baffles , with consequent reduction in intensity of the detected signal . it will also be apparent that displacement of the trajectories 17 and 17 &# 39 ; is also limited by components of the electron gun whereby large deflection of the incident beam results in trajectories which are not unobstructed over the entire annular acceptance region of the analyzer . utility of the principle of plural stages of analysis is finally limited by the cumulative effect of aberrations in the several stages of such an analyzer . the electron gun of the preferred embodiment is arranged to place the final lense 52 close to the sample . minimizing the distance to the sample from the final lense has the effect of minimizing the effect of spherical aberration , permitting greater beam concentration for a given beam diameter . deflection plates 50 therefore precede lense 50 . it has been found that aberration in the deflected ( and thus non - paraxial ) beam upon traversal of lense 52 is minimized by the artifice of arranging the deflection plates 50 and voltages applied thereto to pivot the beam substantially about the center 54 of lense 52 . this is accomplished by dividing the deflectors into two units displaced by an intermediate drift space . each unit comprises both x and y deflection plates . an &# 34 ; essing &# 34 ; technique is then utilized to direct the &# 34 ; essed &# 34 ; beam to cross the beam transport axis at a predetermined position . for example , y deflection is accomplished by first deflecting the beam away from the axis with the y plates of deflection plates 50 and the beam is then returned to the axis by the y plates of deflection plates 50 &# 39 ;. the same potential difference ( with polarity reversed ) may be applied to both pairs of y deflection plates . the dimensions of the plates are chosen to cause the beam to cross the beam transport axis after the second deflection at center 54 of the lense 52 . for a symmetrical lense , the center is understood to be the geometrical center . the technique is also applicable to an asymmetric lense wherein the center is understood to be the optical center of the asymmetric lense . typical design parameters for the preferred embodiment include variable electron beam energy over the range from 100 ev to 10 kev with optics sufficient to achieve a parallel beam of circular cross section with diameter ranging from 0 . 2 micron or less , to 10 microns . the voltages which are applied to the various optical elements , such as lenses , alignment plates , stigmators , deflection plates , etc ., are arranged to track the beam energy in order to preserve the geometric properties of the beam over the beam energy range . the design for achieving these specifications is well known and beyond the scope of this work . accordingly , the details of the optical elements are not further elaborated . the physical dimensions of the preferred embodiment include outer radius r 10 = 6 cm and inner radius r 12 = 2 . 5 cm . the preferred embodiment has a mean angle of acceptance ( α ) of 42 . 44 ° with an angular spread of ± 6 °. the length between object and image focii is 13 . 091 inches . the intermediate aperture may assume dimensions ranging from 2 mm to 4 mm : where desired , a smaller diameter is used to function as a defining aperture thereby limiting the transmission of the analyzer . although the invention has been shown and described with reference to preferred embodiments , it will be readily apparent to one of average skill in the art that various changes in the form and arrangement of the parts may be made to satisfy requirements without departing from the scope of the invention as defined by the dependent claims . it will be apparent , for example , that the invention is not limited to electron excitation and that the principals taught herein are equally applicable for similar studies wherein ion beams are employed . it will also be apparent that electromagnetic excitation of photoelectrons can utilize the principals of the invention especially where a spacially coherent radiation source , as for example a laser , is mounted in the interior of the mult stage cma .	7
summarizing briefly in advance , the banding fixture 10 is for applying bands 11 to a workpiece such as a coil 12 of tubing or any other type of coiled material or material to be banded . the bands 11 are received in a predetermined length from a band - dispensing machine of any type which can supply it . each band , by the use of fixture 10 , can then be banded about the coiled material . the banding fixture 10 includes a body 14 fabricated out of a suitable plastic material . body 14 includes a lower plastic portion 15 ( fig2 a ) of substantially rectangular configuration . formed integrally with lower portion 15 are two narrow members 17 and 19 . member 17 merges into a horizontal member 20 and member 19 merges into a horizontal member 21 . a horizontal opening 22 ( fig2 and 2a ) is defined by edge 23 ( fig2 a ) of lower body member 15 , edge 24 of member 20 , edge 25 of member 17 , edge 26 of member 19 and edge 29 ′ of member 21 . metal plates 25 are screwed to body 14 by screws 27 . a substantially rectangular block 29 ( fig2 ) is secured between plates 25 by screws 30 and by a plastic pin 31 . a plastic pin 32 also extends through plates 25 and body portion 20 . a band - receiving slot 33 is thus formed between block 29 and body portion 20 . a second block 34 is secured between plates 25 by screws 35 . a slot 37 is located between body portion 21 and block 34 . a carriage 39 is positioned in horizontal opening 22 for sliding movement between its position shown in fig2 and the position shown in fig7 and 8 . carriage 39 ( fig2 b and 2c ) is a plastic block of substantially solid rectangular configuration having a recess 40 therein . also , a spring - biased ball 41 protrudes from the upper surface 42 of carriage 39 . the bottom surface 43 ( fig2 b and 8 ) of carriage 39 slides on surface 23 of body 14 , and the top surfaces 45 and 42 ( fig2 b ) travel in close relationship to surfaces 24 and 29 ( fig2 a ) of body 14 . as can be seen from fig2 and 5 , the edges 28 of plates 25 which are adjacent to and surround horizontal opening 22 confine carriage 39 for rectilinear movement within horizontal opening 22 . a plate 47 ( fig3 ) is secured to body 14 by screws 49 and plate 47 is for securing the fixture 14 to the band - dispensing machine 13 by screws 50 which pass through apertures 51 in plate 47 . a leg 52 extends downwardly from body 14 for supporting body 14 on a suitable surface . also , a screw 53 is threaded into body 14 to support a plate 54 which is attached to the band - dispensing machine 13 . in operation , a band 11 having a cohesive coating on its upper surface is dispensed from band - dispensing machine into band - receiving slots 37 and 33 and confined against lateral movement by plates 25 on opposite sides of slots 37 and 33 . the band 11 is dispensed to a position as shown in fig5 wherein its central portion lies across workpiece - receiving slot 36 in body 14 above the recess 40 in carriage 39 . the band 11 is positioned so that after it has been banded about coil 12 , its ends will be in perfect overlying relationship as shown in fig8 . the workpiece coil 12 is thereafter manually initially positioned in slot 38 between body members 29 and 34 over the central portion of band 11 , as shown in fig5 and moved downwardly with the adjacent central band portion of band 11 through slot 36 and into recess 40 of carriage 39 , as shown in fig6 . slots 36 and 38 , which extend transversely to band - receiving slots 37 and 33 , can be considered separately and jointly as a coil - receiving slot , and more broadly as workpiece - receiving slots . when the coil is in the recess 40 , portions of the central portion of band 11 will lie along the sides of the coil which are adjacent the lower side of the coil in the lowermost part of recess 40 ( fig6 ). thereafter , the carriage 39 is manually moved to the position shown in fig7 wherein the ends of band 11 are pressed together between spring - biased ball 41 and the undersurface 24 of member 20 so that the band 11 assumes the condition shown in fig8 . during the movement of the carriage 39 into horizontal opening 22 to the position of fig7 a portion of the central portion of band 11 to the right of the coil 12 in fig6 will be moved across the inner side of the coil , and the end portions of the band will be placed in overlapping pressed relationship . thereafter , the carriage 39 is moved to the position of fig9 whereupon the coil 12 can be withdrawn . because the band 11 which is used is of the cohesive type , the surfaces of the band which are pressed together will cohere to each other but the band itself will not adhere to anything else . because the band 11 is confined against lateral movement in slots 37 and 33 by plates 25 during the banding process , the end portions of the band which cohere to each other will be in exact overlying relationship with all of their edges being perfectly aligned with each other . however , while the side edges of the band are in exact alignment because of the above - noted confinement against lateral movement in slots 37 and 33 , under certain circumstances the extreme outer edges on the ends may not be in alignment , depending on the initial placement of the band . slots 36 and 38 were designated above as workpiece - receiving slots . in this respect , while the workpiece which was illustrated is a coil 12 , it will be appreciated that the “ workpiece - receiving slot ” can receive a bundle of material which is not in coil form and a single object to which a band has to be applied . in fig1 - 26 another banding fixture embodiment 60 is disclosed . summarizing briefly in advance , the fixture 60 includes a plurality of features which do not exist in the embodiment 10 of fig1 - 9 . these features include structure for easily replacing carriages to accommodate different coil sizes . also , this embodiment includes an adjustable band - receiving slot to accommodate bands having different curl characteristics . in addition , the embodiment of fig1 - 26 is more simplified than the embodiment of fig1 - 9 . the banding fixture 60 includes a body portion 61 ( fig1 and 13 ) which is fabricated out of a suitable plastic material . body portion 61 includes a lower body portion 62 ( fig1 ) of substantially rectangular configuration . formed integrally with lower body portion 62 is a narrow solid rectangular member 63 which merges into solid rectangular horizontal member 64 . the body also includes an upper body portion 65 ( fig1 ) in the form of a substantially solid rectangular plastic block . two metal plates 67 ( fig1 , 11 , 12 and 14 ) secure body portions 61 and 65 to each other . in this respect screws 69 extend through the apertures 68 in the lower portions of plates 67 and are received in bores 76 ( fig1 ) in body portion 61 to fasten these parts together . screws 70 extend through bores 71 in plates 67 and are received in block 65 to fasten block 65 in position . screws 72 extend through bores 73 ( fig1 ) in plates 67 to fasten the upper portions of plates 67 to portion 64 of body portion 61 . a plate 85 ( fig1 , 11 and 12 ) is secured to body 61 by screws 87 , and screws 89 extend through apertures 90 in plate 85 to secure fixture 60 to band - dispensing machine 13 which will dispense measured lengths of cohesive tape to fixture 60 . a foot 91 is secured to the undersurface of lower body portion 62 to rest on a suitable surface . a bracket 92 is fastened to band - dispensing machine 13 by screw 93 and to body portion 61 by screw 94 . a carriage 74 ( fig1 , 12 , 15 ) is movable in horizontal opening 75 . carriage 74 is fabricated from a block of plastic , and it has a recess 76 therein . carriage 74 also includes sides 74 ′ and ends 78 and 76 ′ and a bottom surface 79 ′ and top surfaces 73 ′ and 75 ′ on opposite sides of recess 76 . the horizontal opening 75 is defined by edge 77 of lower body portion 62 , edge 79 of upper body portion 65 , edge 80 ( fig1 ) of lower body portion 61 and edge 81 of body portion 61 . the edge portions 82 of plates 67 extend above edge 77 of lower body portion 62 , and the edges 83 of plates 67 extend below the lower edge 79 of upper body portion 65 to thereby provide side portions of plates 67 which confine carriage 74 in horizontal opening 75 . also , portions 84 of plates 67 confine the left end of carriage 74 therebetween when the carriage is in the position of fig1 and 22 , and the portions 85 ′ of plates 67 confine the right end of carriage 64 therebetween when the carriage is in the position of fig2 . carriage 74 also includes a spring - biased ball 95 which biases the carriage upwardly so that its upper surfaces 73 ′ and 75 ′ ( fig1 ) will bear against undersurface 79 of body portion 65 and the undersurface 64 ′ of body portion 64 when the carriage is in the position of fig1 and against the undersurface 79 when the carriage 74 is in the position of fig2 . in accordance with one aspect of the present invention , the fixture 60 has an improved band - receiving arrangement . one aspect of this arrangement is shown in fig1 and 22 - 26 . in this respect , the substantially solid rectangular block 97 has its right end ( fig1 and 11 ) secured to plates 67 by screws 99 . the screws 99 also pass through elongated slots 100 ( fig1 ) in plates 67 . thus , the right end of block 97 can be adjusted in the vertical direction . the left end of block 97 is secured to plates 67 by brackets 101 ( fig1 , 20 and 21 ). the lower ends of brackets 101 have apertures 102 therein . screws 70 pass through apertures 102 and are received in block 65 . the upper ends of brackets 101 have apertures 103 therein . screws 104 pass through apertures 103 and into block 97 . as can be seen from fig1 and 22 - 26 , a slot 105 is provided between blocks 65 and 97 which is in the shape of a wedge with the wide part 107 being the entry portion for band 109 . thus , in the event that band 109 has a relatively large upward curl , it will be received within slot 105 in the manner depicted in fig2 and 23 . in addition to the foregoing , it is to be noted from fig1 , 10 a and 22 - 26 that the tape 109 passes across the top 110 of horizontal member 64 and is restricted only by the upper portions 111 of plates 67 . in other words , there is no block above horizontal member 64 and therefore the leading edge of band 109 does not have to pass through a slot . it is merely guided by the upper portions 11 of plates 67 . the slot between blocks 65 and 97 is adjustable from the position shown in fig1 to the positions such as shown in fig1 and 19 . in this respect , in fig1 the slot 105 a is shown in a condition in which it has been placed by adjusting the screws 99 and 104 in slots 100 and 112 , respectively . in fig1 the slot 105 b is shown in an enlarged condition relative to slot 105 a by adjusting the screws 99 and 104 to different positions in slots 100 and 112 , respectively . thus , as can be seen from a comparison of fig1 , 18 and 19 , the slots 105 , 105 a and 105 b can be adjusted to different sizes depending on the curl of the particular banding material which is being used . the sequence of banding a coil 113 is shown in fig2 - 26 , and this sequence is similar to that described in detail above relative to fig5 - 9 . briefly , the band 109 is shown moving to the right and being inserted into slot 105 in fig2 and 23 . slot 105 is located between the lower wall ( not numbered ) of block 97 and the upper wall ( not numbered ) of block 65 . thereafter , as shown in fig2 , coil 113 is inserted through slot 114 between the inner edges 115 and 117 of plates 67 and into engagement with the central portion of band 109 . thereafter the coil 113 is moved downwardly through the slot portion 119 between the ends 120 and 121 of block 65 and member 64 , respectively . the coil 13 is then inserted into carriage recess 76 , as shown in fig2 . the carriage 74 is then moved from the position of fig2 to the position of fig2 so as to cause the ends of band 109 to overlie each other and be pressed together because of the engagement between upper surface 73 ′ of carriage 74 and the undersurface 79 of block 65 , with the two surfaces being biased toward each other by the action of spring - biased detent 95 bearing on surface 77 of lower body portion 62 . thereafter , the carriage is moved back to the position of fig2 , and the banded coil 113 is removed from the fixture . in accordance with another aspect of the present invention , carriages having different recess configurations can be used in fixture 60 . in this respect , a carriage having a recess configuration 76 is shown in fig1 . a carriage 74 a is shown in fig1 having a recess 76 a which differs dimensionally from recess 76 . all other dimensions may be the same except for the upper surfaces 73 a and 75 a which correspond to upper surfaces 73 ′ and 75 ′. in order to remove carriage 74 from fixture 60 , it is merely necessary to unscrew screw 123 ( fig1 and 11 ) so as to pivot plate 124 from its obstructing orientation relative to window 125 ( fig1 ) to thereby permit carriage 74 to be slid out of the fixture through the window 125 . thereafter , a carriage , such as 74 a of fig1 , can be slid into horizontal opening 75 through window 125 and thereafter plate 124 can be returned to its obstructing position relative to window 125 . the window 125 is bounded by the inside surfaces of plate portions 85 ′ and by surface 79 of block 65 and surface 77 of body portion 61 . while preferred embodiments of the present invention have been disclosed , it will be appreciated that the present invention is not limited thereto but may be otherwise embodied within the scope of the following claims .	1
fig2 is a block diagram of a communications system that provides on - demand call establishment services in accordance with the present invention . the communications system 200 depicts , in part , a third generation wireless system , as defined by the 3 rd generation partnership program , also known as 3 gpp ( see 3 gpp . org ). in such a system , terminals 102 a may be mobile radiotelephone devices , personal digital assistants ( pdas ), modems , network access devices , internet peripherals , and the like . such wireless terminals 102 a generally include a user interface and an interface for coupling to communications system 200 . the user interface of a terminal 102 a is often referred to as terminal equipment . the user interface generally includes an audio interface , such as a microphone and speaker , a visual interface , such as a display or graphic user interface ( gui ), and a user input interface , such as a keyboard , touch pad , keypad , touch screen , track - ball system , voice recognition system , hand writing recognition system , or combinations thereof . the interface for coupling wireless terminals 102 a to the system 200 is typically referred to as a mobile terminal and generally includes an over - the - air interface for transmitting and receiving data . in the typical environment , base stations 104 include an over - the - air interface that is complementary to the over - the - air interface of user terminal 102 a , thereby permitting terminals 102 a and base stations 104 to communicate . while the suggested over - the - air interface is one defined by 3 gpp ( see 3 gpp . org ), it will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that several other wireless interfaces are known in the art and may be substituted therefore , without departing from the spirit of the present invention . during operation , the communications that are directed to and received from user terminals 102 a via base stations 104 are coordinated and transferred using a serving device , such as a wireless access gateway ( wag ) 202 . in accordance with a preferred embodiment , when user terminals 102 a are mobile radiotelephones , wag 202 may consist of the gprs ( gsm packet radio system ) equipment ( 106 – 124 ) described in association with fig1 . as will be appreciated after review hereof , wag 202 may also couple user terminals 102 a to other networks . in accordance , wag 202 is also shown coupled to an internet protocol ( ip ) network 146 via well - known data links ( not shown ). such data links implement packet - based protocols providing access to any elements connected to ip network 146 , such as , for example , a telephone 144 , through a public switched telephone network ( pstn ) 142 . with further reference to fig2 , ip network 146 is shown coupled to pstn gateway 204 via a data link ( not shown ). as previously discussed , such data links implement well known packet - based protocols within the knowledge of those skilled in the art , and therefore are not described herein in detail . pstn gateway 204 is in turn coupled to pstn 142 via communications link 152 . during operation , pstn gateway 204 converts packetized voice received from wag 202 to a circuit - switched protocol acceptable to pstn 142 . conversely , pstn gateway 204 converts circuit - switched communications received from pstn 142 , to packetized communications acceptable to wag 202 . by virtue of this connection , user terminals 102 a are coupled to devices attached to the pstn 142 , such as telephones 144 . the communications system 200 also depicts , in part , a local area network ( lan ) communication system , as may be defined by the institute of electronic and electrical engineering ( ieee ), american national standards institute ( ansi ), european transmission standards institute ( etsi ), or other similar governmental or industry standards organization . in such a system , user terminals 102 b may be wired or wireless devices such as , but not limited to , personal computers ( pcs ), personal digital assistants ( pdas ), network access devices , internet peripherals , and the like . such terminals 102 b generally include a user interface and a lan interface . the user interface of terminals 102 b is typically referred to as terminal equipment . the user interface generally includes an audio interface , such as a microphone and speaker , a visual interface , such as a display or graphic user interface ( gui ), and a user input interface , such as a keyboard , touch pad , keypad , touch screen , track - ball system , voice recognition system , hand writing recognition system , or combinations thereof . the lan interface couples terminals 102 b to the system 200 via a communications protocol for transmitting and receiving data , thereby permitting terminals 102 b and the access point 206 to communicate . while the suggested lan is one that may be defined by the ieee 802 . 11 standard , it will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that several other wired and / or wireless lan protocols are known in the art and may be substituted therefore , without departing from the spirit of the present invention . during operation , communications that are directed to and received from a user terminal 102 b via access point 206 are coupled to the internet protocol ( ip ) network 146 via well - known data links ( not shown ). such data links implement packet - based protocols providing access to any elements connected to ip network 146 , such as , for example , the other user terminals 102 a and 102 b , or telephone 144 through pstn 142 . with further reference to fig2 , a high level structure of ip transmission packets 280 for use within the internet protocol ( ip ) network 146 are shown . since details regarding ip transmission packets 280 are well within the knowledge of those skilled in the art , no further description will be provided at this time . fig3 is a block diagram of a user terminal 102 a or 102 b of fig2 . as will be appreciated by those skilled in the art , the user terminal of fig2 is capable of receiving a plurality of packet data streams ( 320 – 324 ) comprising audio , data , video , or combinations thereof . each packet data stream ( 320 – 324 ) is presented to respective input ports of a selective digitizer 306 . in accordance with the preferred embodiment , the selective digitizer 306 is a digital - to - analog ( d / a ) converter . in an alternative embodiment , the selective digitizer 306 may comprise any of the available encoder , vocoder , or transcoder techniques known in the art , used alone or in combination with a d / a converter . as shown , the input ports of selective digitizer 306 are individually controlled and enabled / disabled by call control module 308 . the selective digitizer 306 operates to convert an incoming packet data stream into separate analog representations ( 321 – 325 ). the analog representations ( 321 – 325 ) may then be communicated to respective input ports associated with selective mixer 304 . similar to selective digitizer 306 , the selective mixer 304 input ports are individually controlled and enabled / disabled by call control module 308 . in accordance with the present invention , call control module 308 is a processing device such as a central processing unit ( cpu ), digital signal processor ( dsp ), or an equivalent application specific processing unit ( aspu ), with or without a separate memory storage device . the enable / disable operations controlled by call control module 308 may employ any of the well know memory device access or bus addressing techniques available in the art . assuming a dsp - based call control module 308 implementation , it will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that several of the functions described in association with fig3 may , in fact , be performed by call control module 308 . by way of example , and not by way of limitation , the function of selective digitizer 306 may be performed by an appropriately programmed dsp , without departing from the spirit of the present invention . as previously discussed , each user terminal 102 a and 102 b has an input device , such as a keyboard , touch pad , keypad , touch screen , track - ball system , voice recognition system , hand writing recognition system , or some combinations thereof . the input device ( not shown ) is coupled to call control module 308 , enabling the user to make call service elections , such as , for example call waiting service or conference call service . in response to user election and under direction of call control module 308 , selective mixer 304 sums , mixes , blends , synthesizes , combines , or otherwise manipulates the analog representations ( 321 – 325 ) to provide either a mixed or a non - mixed output 326 to speaker 302 . in accordance with the preferred embodiment , a non - mixed output 326 from selective mixer 304 is synonymous with the provision of a static call or call waiting service . a mixed , summed , blended , or otherwise composite output 326 from selective mixer 304 is synonymous with the provision of call conferencing service . that is , the composite output from selective mixer 304 represents a conference . selective mixer 304 is preferably implemented by an analog mixer in which the set of inputs are controlled by call control module 308 . during operation , the terminal user uses the audio interface consisting of speaker 302 and microphone ( mic ) 312 to communicate with a party or parties of interest . with reference to fig3 , analog voice 328 from mic 312 and feed back 326 from selective mixer 304 are provided to a mixer digitizer consisting of a mixer 314 and an analog - to - digital ( a / d ) converter 316 . the analog inputs 326 and 328 are then summed , mixed , blended , synthesized , or otherwise combined to produce a composite representation of the original inputs . this mixed or composite signal is delivered to a / d converter stage 316 . a / d converter 316 converts the mixed or otherwise composite signal to a packetized data stream . a / d converter 316 may include an encoder , vocoder or transcoder . the mixer 314 is preferably implemented by an analog mixer like those known in the art . from a / d converter 316 , the packet data stream is provided to a multiplexer circuit ( mux ) 318 . under direction of call control module 308 , mux 318 distributes the packet data stream 330 to call sessions of interest . the distribution operation performed by mux 318 may employ any of the well known memory device access or bus addressing techniques available in the art . mux 318 distributes the packet data stream 330 to a single call session for purposes of static call mode and call waiting mode services . conversely , mux 318 communicates the packet data stream 330 to a plurality of call sessions for purposes of establishing and maintaining a conference call . of note , the static call mode is distinguished from the multi - party call waiting mode , in that the static mode is characterized by a single in - bound call session . based upon the prior discussion and with reference to fig3 , it will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that the terminal 102 is shown engaged in the call waiting service mode . by way of example , and not by way of limitation , terminal 102 is in receipt of a plurality of in - bound call sessions . notwithstanding , the selective digitizer 306 and selective mixer 304 inputs associated with analog representations 321 and 323 have been disabled by call control module 308 . by disabling the selective digitizer 306 and selective mixer 304 inputs associated with analog representations 321 and 323 , terminal 102 does not decode voice stream data from devices associated with call sessions 1 and 2 . with respect to call session 3 , it will be appreciated that selective mixer 304 receives the analog representation 325 , which corresponds to voice data stream 324 and call session 3 . as such , call session 3 is serviced by terminal 102 and the selective mixer output 326 comprises a non - mixed signal . under direction from call control module 308 , mux 318 communicates packet data stream 330 to call session 3 only . as such , call session 3 will be serviced by terminal 102 , while call sessions 1 and 2 are , in effect , on - hold . fig4 is another block diagram of the user terminal 102 a and 102 b of fig2 . the user terminal 102 of fig4 is identical to the user terminal 102 depicted in fig3 , except the user terminal 102 of fig4 is shown operating in the conference call or multi - party call service mode . by way of example , and not by way of limitation , the user terminal 102 of fig4 is in receipt of a plurality of in - bound call sessions . notwithstanding , the selective mixer 304 inputs associated with analog representations 321 , 323 , and 325 are enabled by call control module 308 . by enabling the selective mixer 304 inputs associated with analog representations 321 , 323 , and 325 , terminal 102 receives voice stream data from the devices associated with call sessions 1 , 2 and 3 . as such , call sessions 1 , 2 , and 3 are serviced by terminal 102 and the selective mixer output 326 comprises a mixed or composite signal . under direction from call control module 308 , mux 318 communicates the packet data stream 330 to call sessions 1 , 2 , and 3 , i . e ., the call sessions of interest . as such , call sessions 1 , 2 , and 3 are serviced by terminal 102 and a conference call is established and maintained . fig5 is a flow chart illustrating a method for establishing call waiting service in accordance with the present invention . fig5 is described herein with reference to the device shown in fig3 . it will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that the routine of fig5 is employed by user terminal 102 of fig3 when establishing call waiting service in accordance with the present invention . in accordance , the steps described in association with fig5 are those performed by a device , or under the control of a device , such as call control module 308 , which , in accordance with the preferred embodiment , is a central processing unit ( cpu ), digital signal processor ( dsp ), or equivalent application specific processing unit ( aspu ) with or without accompanying memory . commencing at step 500 , flow proceeds to step 502 where a determination is made whether there is an active call session in progress . assuming not , flow continues to monitor step 502 , until such time as an active call session is detected . of note , it matters not whether the call is originated or terminated at user terminal 102 . from step 502 , flow proceeds to step 504 where the user terminal awaits a sip ( session initiation protocol ) invite message , such as , for example , the messaging defined by the internet engineering task force — ietf — rfc 2543 , indicating that an incoming call from a terminating call session is attempting to contact terminal 102 . from step 504 , flow proceeds to step 506 where a determination is made whether the user elects to accept or reject the call for call waiting purposes . assuming the user elects to refrain from initiating call waiting service , flow branches back to step 504 to await receipt of another sip invite message . otherwise , the user utilizes an input device like those described herein above to initiate call waiting service . in response to initiation of call waiting service by the user , flow proceeds from step 506 to step 508 , where the call control module 308 of fig3 disables the selective digitizer 306 and selective mixer 304 input port associated with the in progress call session detected at step 502 . from step 508 , flow proceeds to step 510 where the call control module 308 enables selective digitizer 306 and selective mixer 304 input ports associated with the call session identified by the sip invite message and accepted by the user at step 506 . collectively , steps 508 and 510 of fig5 operate to select , from amongst a number of available call sessions , the call session of interest . with reference to fig3 , upon selection of a call session of interest , the user terminal 102 proceeds to mix at mixer 314 the analog representation 326 of the call session of interest , with the user generated voice from microphone 312 to produce a mixed output that is converted into a packet data stream 330 . returning to fig5 , flow proceeds from step 510 to step 512 where the packet data stream , which includes voice or data , is distributed by multiplexer 318 to the call session of interest . from step 512 , flow proceeds to step 514 where a check is made to determine whether the call session of interest has terminated . if not , flow branches back to step 504 where the terminal awaits receipt of an additional sip invite message . assuming the call session of interest terminates at step 514 , flow proceeds to step 516 where a determination is made whether a call placed on - hold at step 508 is still available . assuming an on - hold call is available , flow branches back from step 516 to step 510 , which operates to select , from amongst a number of available call sessions , another call session of interest . otherwise , if all call sessions have ended at step 516 the process terminates . fig6 is a flow chart illustrating a method for establishing conference call services in accordance with the present invention . fig6 is described below with reference to the device shown in fig4 . it will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that the routine of fig6 is employed by user terminal 102 of fig4 when establishing on - demand conference call and / or multi - party call service . in accordance , the steps described in association with fig6 are those performed by a device , or under the control of a device , such as call control module 308 , which , in accordance with the preferred embodiment is a central processing unit ( cpu ), digital signal processor ( dsp ), or equivalent application specific processing unit ( aspu ) with or without accompanying memory . commencing at step 600 , flow proceeds to step 602 where a determination is made whether there is an active call session in progress . assuming not , flow continues to monitor step 602 , until such time as an active call session is detected . of note , it matters not whether the call is originated or terminated at user terminal 102 . from step 602 , flow proceeds to step 604 where the user terminal awaits : 1 ) receipt of an incoming call session , as indicated , for example , by a sip ( session initiation protocol ) invite message , of the type defined by internet engineering task force — ietf — rfc 2543 , and indicating that an incoming call for a call session is attempting to contact terminal 102 ; or 2 ) receipt of an outbound call request , indicating that the terminal user is attempting to make a call , as indicated , for example , by a sip ( session initiation protocol ) invite message . from step 604 , flow proceeds to step 606 where a determination is made whether the user elects to accept or reject the call for conference call purposes . assuming the user elects to refrain from initiating conference call services , flow branches back to step 604 to await receipt or initiation of another call . otherwise , the user utilizes an input device like the ones described herein above to initiate a conference or multi - party call . in response to user election , flow proceeds from step 606 to step 608 , where the call control module 308 of fig3 , in response to the user selected input , enables the selective digitizer 306 and selective mixer 304 input ports associated with the call session detected at step 602 . from step 608 , flow proceeds to step 610 where the call control module 308 of fig4 enables selective mixer 304 input ports associated with the call sessions identified by the sip invite message and accepted by the user at step 606 . collectively , the steps 604 – 608 of fig6 operate to select , from amongst a plurality of available call sessions , those call sessions of interest to the user . with reference to fig4 , upon selection of said call sessions of interest , the user terminal 102 proceeds to mix at selective mixer 304 the analog representations 321 , 323 , and 325 of the call sessions of interest . thereafter , the mixed output 326 is combined with user - generated voice from microphone 312 to produce another mixed output that is converted into a packet data stream 330 by mixer 314 and a / d converter 316 . returning to fig6 , flow proceeds from step 608 to step 610 where the packet data stream , which includes at least one of voice and data packets , is distributed by multiplexer 318 of fig4 to the call sessions of interest . from step 610 , flow proceeds to step 612 where a check is made to determine whether a conference call session has terminated . if not , flow branches back to step 604 where the terminal awaits receipt or initiation of additional calls . assuming a conference call session of interest terminates at step 612 , flow proceeds to step 614 where associated selective digitizer 306 , selective mixer 304 and mux 318 inputs / outputs are disabled to halt distribution of packet data 330 to terminated call sessions at step 612 . call termination ends the flow at step 616 . advantageously , the invention described herein allows a party to elect call - waiting and / or conference call services in a very timely and cost efficient manner . based upon this arrangement , the user elects on - demand call waiting and call conferencing services . unlike the prior art , the user is permitted to establish call conference services for originating and terminating calls , alike . moreover , the call conference service described herein is established without the coordination of , and use of , substantial network resources . of additional importance , call waiting as described herein is a multi - party call service , permitting multiple calls to be placed on - hold . whereas the present invention has been described with respect to specific embodiments thereof , it will be understood that various changes and modifications will be suggested to one skilled in the art and it is intended that the invention encompass such changes and modifications as fall within the scope of the appended claims .	7
fig1 . in fig1 a cdma transmitter 1 is shown to feed a transmitter 8 with i and q components of the cdma signal . a transmitter coupler 12 , connected to the transmit antenna 2 , removes a sample of the transmit signal . the sample of the transmit signal represents the transmitted cdma signal but with a small part of the total power . the transmit signal sample is fed to a vector modulator 20 , and a correlator 22 . the line 14 , in fig1 is representative of a coupling between the transmit and received antennas . this coupling has an effect of causing the transmit signal to be present at a front end of the receiver , as a result of coupling between the transmit and receive antenna . as such a component of transmit signal detected by receiver 6 . a representative sample of the receiver signal may be thereby taken from the receiver and fed to a second input of the correlator 22 . the correlator 22 , serves to generate error signals v 1 , v 2 , representative of i and q components of a correlation between the transmit signal sample fed on a first input to the correlator 22 , and the received signal fed on a second input to the correlator . the error signals v 1 , v 2 , are fed to first and second inputs of a vector modulator 20 , with the transmit signal sample fed to a third input of the vector modulator 20 . the vector modulator 20 , serves to modulate the transmit signal sample , with the complex error signal v 1 , v 2 . the modulated transmit signal sample is thereafter fed to the receiver 6 , via a coupler 28 . by arranging for this correlation apparatus , in combination with a separation of the transmitter and received antennas , an isolation of the transmitter and receiver can be effected without a requirement of a duplexing filter . in fig2 and 4 the present invention is explained by way of example , with each example using a different method to provide some initial isolation between the rx and tx ports . none of these methods alone provide the necessary rx / tx isolation of 30 to 40 db required for cellular mobile applications . however , with the enhanced isolation provided by the cancellation device and the controller according to the present invention , adequate isolation performance can be achieved . in fig2 a radio transceiver system 101 is shown which operates as part of a radio communication system ( not shown ). two co - located antenna elements 2 , 4 are arranged in an orthogonal fashion , so as to minimise coupling between them . the antenna elements may be dipoles or patches . for frequency division duplexing operation the orthogonal elements are connected to the receiver unit 6 and transmitter unit 8 . it is well known in the art that the frequency isolation achievable between two cross polarised co - located antennas , such as those shown in fig2 is limited to the region of 15 - 25 decibels . this is due to the asymmetry between the antenna elements 2 , 4 and gives rise to parasitic coupling , shown by arrow 14 , between the tx signal path 12 and the rx signal path 10 . the amount of parasitic coupling between the rx and tx signals is represented by a static coupling coefficient ko . furthermore , some of the transmitted signal from the tx antenna 2 is reflected back to the rx antenna 4 from the surrounding environment . since this environment is always changing during the operation of the radio communication system , this gives rise to a time variant coupling between the rx and tx signals . the amount of time variant coupling is denoted by the dynamic coupling coefficient k ( t ). the initial 15 - 25 decibel isolation achievable between two cross polarised co - located antennas can be enhanced to 30 - 40 decibels by means of a cancellation device 20 and control unit 22 according to the present invention . in this preferred embodiment of the present invention , the combination of the static ( ko ) and dynamic ( k ( t ) coupling coefficients ( ko + k ( t )), hereafter referred to as the leakage signal , is shown by arrow 16 . the leakage signal 16 travels via conductor 10 to the input of the receiver unit 6 . the leakage signal 16 is then amplified by a low noise amplifier 30 located within the receiver unit 6 . a small sample of the amplified leakage signal ( srx ) is then applied by a conductor 32 to control unit 22 . a sample of the original transmitted signal ( stx ) transmitted from transmitter unit 8 is applied via conductor 33 to the control unit 22 . the control unit 22 operates to correlate the srx and stx signal samples and applies control signals c 0 , c 1 . . . cn to a vector modulator 20 . control coefficients 26 comprising of variables c 0 , c 1 . . . cn serve to control the transfer function of the vector modulator 20 . the control coefficients are continuously updated as a result of the dynamic component k ( t ) of the leakage signal being fed to the control unit . thus , the transfer function of the vector modulator which depends on the control coefficients is also continuously updated . the control unit 22 operates to set the control coefficients 26 so that a cancellation signal 28 opposite to the leakage signal 16 is generated at the output of the vector modulator 20 . the cancellation signal as shown in fig2 by arrow 28 is approximately equal to −( ko + k ( t )) and has the effect of cancelling the leakage signal 16 . by the continuous updating of control coefficients 26 , both the static ( ko ) and time variant ( kt ) components of the leakage signal 16 are substantially cancelled at the input of the receiver unit 6 . any components of the leakage signal 16 still remaining are input back into receiver unit 6 and the process is repeated . a further embodiment of the present invention is shown in fig3 where parts also appearing in fig2 bear identical numeric designation . in fig3 a radio transceiver system 102 is shown which operates as part of a radio communication system ( not shown ). a circular device 40 is employed to combine the tx signal path 12 and the rx signal path 10 . the circular 40 is a three part device which rotates a signal from port “ a ” to port “ b ” and from port “ b ” to “ c ” hence providing isolation between ports “ a ” and “ c ”. an ideal isolator has infinite isolation between ports “ a ” and “ c ” and therefore in principle would be capable of providing sufficient isolation required for duplexing operation . however , as is well known in the art , the achievable isolation with a circulator device is limited to approximately 10 - 20 decibels . this is due to the imperfect cancellation of the magnetic fields within the circulator device . in addition , the reflection coefficients at each port are finite and thus give rise to parasitic coupling 70 between ports “ a ” and “ c ”. this parasitic coupling 70 is represented by the static coupling coefficient ko . furthermore , as was detailed in fig2 some of the transmitted signal is reflected back to the antenna from the surrounding environment . this signal appears at port “ b ” of the circular device 40 and is in turn coupled to the input of the receiver unit 6 . since the environment is always changing during operation of the system , this dynamic coupling is denoted by a time varying voltage reflection coefficient γa ( t ). the initial 10 - 20 decibel isolation of the circular device 40 can be enhanced according to this embodiment of the present invention , by means of a cancellation device 50 and a control unit 22 . in fig3 the reflected signal γa ( t ) from antenna unit 3 is shown by the arrow 52 and appears at the input of the cancellation device 50 . this signal passes through the cancellation device and in a modified form appears at port “ c ” of the circulator device 40 and is represented by the static coefficient γko . control coefficients 26 comprising of coefficient c 0 , c 1 . . . cn control the transfer function of the cancellation device 50 . if the transfer function is set for 1 by the control coefficients 26 then γko = γa and the entire reflection signal appears at port “ b ”. in this case , the leakage signal ( ko + γa ( t )) represented by arrow 44 is present at the input of receiver unit 6 and is amplified by low noise amplifier 30 present in the receiver unit 6 . a small sample of both the leakage signal srx represented by arrow 32 and the originally transmitted signal stx represented by arrow 33 are applied to the control unit 22 . the control unit correlates the srx and stx signal and applies control signals 26 to the cancellation device 50 . the control signals are continuously updated in accordance with the changing environment around antenna unit 3 . the control unit sets the control coefficient such that γa ( t ) is continuously mapped to provide a constant reflection coefficient at the output of the cancellation device . by the continuous updating of the control coefficient , the time dependant of the antenna reflection coefficient γa ( t ) is removed and a static reflection coefficient γko is generated . in order to achieve perfect cancellation , the control unit 22 adaptively adjusts the transfer function of the cancellation device such that γko + ko = 0 . yet a further embodiment of the present invention is shown in fig4 in which items also appearing in fig2 & amp ; 3 bear identical numerical designation . in fig4 a radio transceiver system 103 is shown which operates as part of a radio communication system ( not shown ). in fig4 a three decibel hybrid coupler unit 60 is used to combine the tx signal path 12 and the rx signal path 10 in a manner similar to that of the circulator unit 40 shown in fig3 . the three decibel coupler unit 60 has the technical advantage of having a wider band than the circulator unit 40 . however , as is well known in the art , there is an inherit 3 decibel loss in coupler unit 60 due to the fact that the signals are equally split between the antenna unit 3 and the termination unit 70 . the achievable isolation with a 3 decibel coupler such as the one shown in fig4 is limited to approximately 20 decibels . this is due to the fact that there is a static coupling coefficient ko 65 between ports 201 and 203 of coupler unit 60 . this is due to a finite directivity and return loss of the coupler unit 60 . furthermore , as in fig2 and 3 , a portion of the transmitted signal is reflected back to antenna unit 3 from the surrounding environment . in the absence of a cancellation device , the signal is coupled to port 201 and port 203 . due to the fact that the environment is always changing during the operation of the system , this coupling is denoted by a time variant voltage reflection coefficient γa ( t ) 52 . the initial 20 decibel isolation of coupler unit 60 can be enhanced by means of a cancellation device 50 and a control unit 22 . in fig4 the signal γa ( t ) 52 reflected from the antenna unit 3 appears at the input of the cancellation unit 50 . this signal 52 passes through the cancellation unit and in a modified form ( γko ), represented by arrow 53 , appears at port 202 of the coupler unit 60 . the control coefficients 26 comprising of coefficients c 0 , c 1 . . . cn , control the transfer function of the cancellation unit 50 . if the transfer function is set for 1 by the control coefficients , then γko = γa and the entire reflected signal appears at port 202 . in this case a signal equal to ( ko + γa ( t )/{ square root over ( 2 + l )}) and hereafter referred to as the leakage signal and represented by arrow 54 , is present at the input of receiver unit 6 . this signal is then amplified by the low noise amplifier 30 present in receiver unit 6 . a small sample of both the leakage signal ( srx ) and the originally transmitted signal ( stx ) is applied to the controller unit 22 . the controller unit correlates the srx and stx signals and applies control coefficients 26 to the cancellation device 50 . the control signals are continuously updated in accordance with the changing environment around antenna unit 3 . the controller unit sets the control coefficient so that γa ( t ) is continuously mapped to provide a constant reflection coefficient at the output of the cancellation device . by the continuous update of the control coefficient , the time variance of the antenna reflection coefficient γa ( t ) is removed and a static reflection coefficient γko is generated . for perfect cancellation , the control unit adaptively adjusts the transfer function of the cancellation unit such that ( ko + γa ( t )/{ square root over ( 2 + l )})= 0 . fig5 provides an example embodiment of a transmitter for broadband cdma signals where the radio frequency signal is generated in a single stage . in fig5 a vector modulator 220 , is fed with i and q components of a baseband cdma signal on conductors 222 , 224 . the resulting radio signal is fed to an amplifier 226 and then to a transmit antenna 228 . also connected to an output of the power amplifier 226 is an envelope detector 230 , which in this example embodiment is a diode operating as a rectifier . the envelope detector 230 is connected to a low pass filter 232 . the output of low pass filter 232 feeds a comparator and loop controller 34 . the comparator and loop controller 234 generates first and second output signals on conductors 236 , 238 , which are connected to the conductors 222 , 224 , respectively . the envelope detector 230 rectifies the rf envelope and the low pass filter 232 averages out the amplitude varying components . broadband cdma used in cdma link and also the is 95 system waveforms passes a high proportion of amplitude modulation , this means that through correct choice of the low pass filter 232 cut off , the dc voltage fed to the comparator and loop controller 234 contains a component due to the modulation and a component due to any non time varying signal such as carrier leakage . thus , for a given output power , the input to the comparator and loop controller 234 is a voltage proportional to the carrier leakage plus and offset due to the modulation . the error signal is processed by the comparator and loop controller 234 and it produces two dc levels that are used to dc offset the i and q inputs of the i and q vector modulator 220 . dc levels at the inputs to the i and q vector modulator 220 offset the carrier impression , thus if the name of the feedback is correct , the comparator and loop controller will adjust the i and q input level to reduce the error signal to a minimum , thus reducing the carrier level at the output of the modulator . in fig6 where parts also appearing in fig2 and 4 bear identical numerical designation , control unit 22 is shown in more detail . as in fig2 and 4 sample leakage signal srx 32 and sample transmit signal stx 33 are applied to control unit 22 . a local oscillation 70 provides a complex sample of signals srx 32 and stx 33 . these complex samples , srx ′ 32 ′ and stx ′ 33 ′ respectively , are input along with sample signals srx and stx to a pair of analogue - to - digital converters 72 . the sample signals are then applied to an adaptive control unit 74 . the output of the adaptive control unit 74 are the control coefficients 26 comprising of coefficients c 0 , c 1 . . . cn . each coefficient comprises of an m bit wide bit binary word , where m is an integer value . there control coefficients 26 are then applied to a cancellation unit . the control coefficients are initially set to fulfil the criteria for cancellation of the static components of the leakage signal at the receiver input . this is achieved by setting srx = 0 when γa ( t )= 0 . the appropriate data for this condition is stored in a look - up table 80 . as is well known in the art , the control coefficient are frequency dependent . in order for the look - up table 80 to provided the correct data , the frequency as determined by frequency table 85 is input to the look - up table via conductor 76 . frequency table 85 further operates to control the frequency of local oscillator 70 . furthermore , tolerances of circuit elements such as the cancellation device , circulator device , vector modulator device , and hybrid coupler are also represented the look - up table 80 . the complex variable srx ′/ stx ′ ( t ) corresponds to the transfer function of the time variant leakage path k ( t ) or similarly to γa ( t ). these signals are applied to the adaptive control unit 74 . in the adaptive control unit 74 , the appropriate control coefficients 26 for cancellation of the time variant components are continuously computed and updated . the computation is based on the amplitude and phase of srx ′/ stx ′ and a built in algorithm representing the model of the cancellation device . as will be appreciated by those skilled in the art , the present invention finds application with other radio systems and with a variety of modulation schemes besides cdma . the foregoing disclosure has been set forth merely to illustrate the invention and is not intended to be limiting . since modifications of the disclosed embodiments incorporating the spirit and substance of the invention may occur to persons skilled in the art , the invention should be construed to include everything within the scope of the appended claims and equivalents thereof .	7
fig1 a is a plan view showing an important part of a trench gate type mos structure of a trench gate type igbt according to a first embodiment of the invention . fig1 a shows important part of trenches 5 formed in a surface of a semiconductor substrate , poly - si patterns ( satin - hatched portions ) as gate electrodes 7 embedded in the trenches 5 respectively and patterns of n + emitter regions 9 and important part of patterns of p + contact regions 10 hatched with slant lines disposed at narrow intervals and interlayer insulating films 11 transparently hatched with slant lines disposed at wide intervals but others are omitted . fig1 b is a sectional view taken along the line a - a in fig1 a in the case where the others are not omitted . fig1 b is like fig3 b which is a sectional view taken along the line b - b in fig3 a in the background art . fig1 c is a plan view showing important part of a trench gate type mos structure of a trench gate type igbt according to a second embodiment of the invention . fig4 is a plan view showing poly - si as the semiconductor substrate and gate electrodes 7 and n + emitter regions 9 appearing in the semiconductor substrate surface as depicted in the plan view of fig3 a according to the background art . in fig4 , rectangular region portions hatched with slant lines disposed at narrow intervals are portions on which a resist is placed when the n + emitter regions are formed so that ion implantation is suppressed to expose p + contact regions 10 from the surface . when minute patterning advances , trenches are formed at intervals of not longer than 3 μm in the case of the trench gate structure , so that the resist size of the p + contact regions 10 is inevitably reduced to be not larger than 1 μm in terms of the length of one side . consequently , if there is any photo process abnormality , the resist in the abnormal portion is apt to be separated to thereby cause pattern abnormality of the p + contact regions 10 . on the contrary , in first embodiment shown in fig1 a and the second embodiment shown in fig1 c , surface patterns of regions where the n + emitter regions 9 are not formed , that is , surface patterns of the p + contact regions 10 are not simply rectangular as shown in fig4 but polygonal . accordingly , the area of each pattern is large and the length of each side is large compared with the background art shown in fig4 . the first and second embodiments are characterized in that the area of contact between the resist and the semiconductor substrate increases when the n + emitter regions 9 are formed by a photolithography process . for this reason , the risk that the resist will be separated is reduced even when adhesion between the resist and the semiconductor substrate is lowered due to some abnormality . consequently , increase in the gain of a parasitic transistor caused by photo pattern defects can be suppressed to improve breakdown tolerance . in the first and second embodiments , regions where the n + emitter regions are not formed , that is , missing portions 13 of the n + emitter region patterns are slightly formed on channel - forming regions ( substrate surface side ), so that there is no current path formed in the missing portions 13 . however , an igbt or the like may be designed so that each channel is partially inactivated to adjust to a short - circuit current . for example , an igbt with a high withstand voltage is generally designed so that a main current does not flow in a channel width equal to about 5 %- 40 % of the total channel width . particularly in an si igbt with a high withstand voltage , as the withstand voltage increases , the rate of the resistance component of the channel portion to the total resistance component decreases ( e . g . to 10 %) and the influence of the missing portions 13 on transfer characteristic decreases . accordingly , there is no big problem in transfer characteristic such as on - voltage because it can be said that the rate of the width of the missing portions 13 to the total channel width does not change from that in the background art if the rate is in the aforementioned range of 5 % to 40 % though the rate varies according to design . the first and second embodiments are different in the form of the patterns of the missing portions 13 . in the first embodiment , as shown in fig1 a , missing portions 13 of one of n + emitter regions 9 are provided to extend from a long side of each of rectangular p + contact regions 10 to the trench 5 so that one missing portion 13 corresponds to one p + contact region 10 . accordingly , the surface regions of the p + contact regions 10 are extended by patterns corresponding to the missing portions 13 . in the second embodiment , as shown in fig1 c , missing portions 13 of n + emitter regions 9 are provided to extend from long sides of each of rectangular p + contact regions 10 to the trenches 5 so that two missing portions 13 correspond to one p + contact region 10 , differently from the first embodiment . fig2 a is a plan view showing important part of a planar gate type mos structure of a planner gate type igbt according to a third embodiment of the invention . fig2 b is a plan view showing important part of a planar gate type mos structure of a planner gate type igbt according to a fourth embodiment of the invention . fig2 a or 2 b is like fig1 a or 1 b which is a plan view and shows important part of poly - si as gate electrodes 7 and patterns of n + emitter regions 9 appearing in the semiconductor substrate surface and important part of patterns of p + contact regions 10 hatched with slant lines disposed at narrow intervals and interlayer insulating films 11 transparently hatched with slant lines disposed at wide intervals but others are omitted . a sectional view taken along the line d - d in the case where the others are not omitted is like fig5 b which is a sectional view of important part taken along the line e - e in fig5 a in the background art . fig6 is a plan view showing poly - si as the gate electrodes 7 and n + emitter regions 9 and interlayer insulating films 11 appearing in the semiconductor substrate surface as depicted in the plan view of fig5 a . in fig6 , p + contact regions 10 hatched with slant lines disposed at narrow intervals are rectangular portions on which a resist is placed when n + emitter regions 9 are formed . similarly to the trench gate structure shown in fig4 , when minute patterning advances , openings of the poly - si gate electrodes 7 are formed at intervals of not longer than 5 μm , so that the resist size of the p + contact regions 10 is inevitably reduced . accordingly , because the length of one side is reduced , the area of contact between the resist and the semiconductor substrate is reduced . if there is any abnormality , the resist in the abnormal portion is apt to be separated to thereby cause pattern abnormality of the p + contact regions 10 . in contrast , in the third embodiment shown in fig2 a and the fourth embodiment shown in fig2 b , surface patterns of regions where the n + emitter regions 9 are not formed , that is , surface patterns of the p + contact regions 10 are polygonal . accordingly , the area of each pattern is large and the length of each side is large compared with the background art . accordingly , the area of contact between the resist and the semiconductor substrate increases when the n + emitter regions 9 are formed . for this reason , the risk that the resist will be separated is reduced similarly to the case of fig4 even when adhesion between the resist and the semiconductor substrate is lowered due to some abnormality . consequently , increase in the gain of a parasitic transistor caused by photo pattern defects can be suppressed to improve device destruction tolerance . in the third and fourth embodiments , missing portions 13 having no n + emitter region are slightly formed on surfaces of channel - forming regions , so that there is no current path formed in the missing portions 13 . this is , however , not a major issue for the same reason as described with respect to the first and second embodiments . the invention has been described with reference to certain preferred embodiments thereof . it will be understood , however , that modifications and variations are possible within the scope of the appended claims . this application is based on , and claims priority to , japanese patent application no : 2008 - 147714 , filed on jun . 5 , 2008 . the disclosure of the priority application , in its entirety , including the drawings , claims , and the specification thereof , is incorporated herein by reference .	7
in order to assist with the understanding of the invention several terms are defined herein . the terms “ peptide ”, “ membrane - translocating peptide ” or “ mtp ” as used herein refer to a plurality of amino acids joined together in a linear chain , including a dipeptide , tripeptide , oligopeptide and polypeptide . a dipeptide contains two amino acids ; a tripeptide contains three amino acids ; and the term oligopeptide is typically used to describe peptides having between 2 and about 50 or more amino acids . peptides larger than about 50 are often referred to as polypeptides or proteins . for purposes of the present invention , the terms “ peptide ”, and “ membrane - translocating peptide ” or “ mtp ” are not limited to any particular number of amino acids . preferably , however , they contain about 2 to about 50 amino acids , or about 2 to about 40 amino acids , more preferably about 2 to about 30 amino acids or about 2 to about 25 amino acids . most preferably the peptide or mtp contains from about 2 to about 20 amino acids or from 8 to about 20 amino acids . for example , an mtp identified according to the methods of the invention may be 18 , 19 . 20 , 21 , 22 , 23 , 24 or 25 amino acids in length . typically , a membrane spanning domain of a protein is 22 to 25 amino acids in length , and therefore , particularly where the mtp spans rather than crosses a target membrane , the mtp may be 22 , 23 , 24 or 25 amino acids in length . “ membrane - translocating peptides ” ( mtps ) as used herein are amino acid sequences ( as described above ), which may contain naturally as well as non - naturally occurring amino acid residues . therefore , so - called “ peptide mimetics ” and “ peptide analogues ”, which may include non - amino acid chemical structures that mimic the structure of a particular amino acid or peptide , may also be “ membrane - translocating peptides ” within the context of the invention . such mimetics or analogues are characterized generally as exhibiting similar physical characteristics such as size , charge or hydrophobicity , and the appropriate spatial orientation that is found in their natural peptide counterparts . a specific example of a peptide mimetic compound is a compound in which the amide bond between one or more of the amino acids is replaced by , for example , a carbon - carbon bond or other non - amide bond , as is well known in the art ( see , for example sawyer , in peptide based drug design , pp . 378 - 422 , acs , washington d . c . 1995 ). the present invention is directed towards the identification and characterisation of mtps from amongst a population ( or library ) of peptides — i . e . potential or putative mtps that may be expressed from a library of nucleic acid sequences . although the term ‘ peptide ’ is used herein , it will be understood that the present invention does not preclude identification of mtps or larger peptide domains and motifs that would perhaps under conventional nomenclature be appropriately referred to as polypeptides or proteins . furthermore , the term “ membrane - translocating peptide ” ( mtp ) may include peptides that cross a membrane so that the mtp and any associated non - translocating moieties pass from one side of the membrane to the other , and peptides that merely “ span ” the target membrane . by “ span ” it is meant that an mtp may insert into ( or penetrate ) the target membrane so that at least a portion of the mtp remains within the membrane . thus , for example , an mtp selected by the methods of the invention may span the target membrane causing a portion of the mtp to remain within the membrane ( or lipid bilayer ) and a portion of the mtp or an associated non - translocating moiety to be internalised ( i . e . found on the inside of the respective vesicle or cell . preferably , however , an mtp according to the invention crosses a target membrane , passing from one side of the membrane to the other side of the membrane . in one form , an mtp according to the invention is able to cross a plurality of membranes , such as a plurality of layers of caco - 2 cells or epithelium , such that the mtp is able to move from one side of a tissue to another side of the tissue , or to within the tissue layer . by the term “ derivative ” of an mtp it is meant a peptide sequence that is capable of translocating itself and optionally also an associated / conjugated non - translocating moiety across a target membrane , but that comprises one or more mutations or modifications to the primary peptide sequence of an mtp identified by the methods of the invention . thus , a derivative of an mtp may have one or more , e . g . 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 or more chemically modified amino acid side chains , which have been introduced into an mtp of the invention . in addition or in the alternative , a derivative of an mtp may contain one or more , e . g . 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 or more amino acid mutations , substitutions or deletions to the primary sequence of an mtp of the invention . thus , the invention encompasses the results of maturation experiments conducted on an mtp to improve one or more characteristics of the mtp . for example , 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 or more amino acid residues of an mtp sequence may be randomly or specifically mutated using procedures known in the art ( e . g . by modifying the encoding dna or rna sequence ), and the resultant library / population of derivatised peptides may be selected according to pre - determined requirements ( such as improved translocation into a particular cell - type , or improved selectivity of a particular cell - type ), by any method known in the art . selected peptides that display membrane - translocation capability are derivatives of mtps and fall within the scope of the invention . the term “ membrane ” in the context of the phrase “ membrane - translocating ”, includes the membranes of any artificial or naturally occurring membrane that comprises a monolayer or bilayer of aliphatic molecules , such as fatty acid or lipid molecules . thus , the term includes the membranes of micelles , liposomes , or other vesicles known to the person of skill in the art , and any type of naturally occurring cell , including bacterial , fungus , plant , animal or human , for example blood cells ( e . g . red blood cells ), or epithelial cells , including skin cells and gut wall cells . preferably , the membrane is a lipid bilayer and it encapsulates an artificial liposome or an endocytotic - incompetent cell . a “ non - translocating moiety ” as used herein , refers to an entity that cannot by itself cross a membrane , such as a lipid monolayer , bilayer or cell membrane ; or to a moiety that cannot by itself cross such a membrane effectively enough to cause the desired intracellular effect . such a non - translocating moiety includes nucleic acids and other polymers , peptides , proteins , peptide nucleic acids ( pnas ), antibodies , antibody fragments , and membrane - impermeable small molecules amongst others . preferably , a non - translocating moiety is a therapeutic molecule , which is further described elsewhere herein . the term “ amino acid ” within the scope of the present invention is used in its broadest sense and is meant to include naturally occurring l α - amino acids or residues . the commonly used one and three letter abbreviations for naturally occurring amino acids are used herein ( lehninger , a . l ., ( 1975 ) biochemistry , 2d ed ., pp . 71 - 92 , worth publishers , new york ). the correspondence between the standard single letter codes and the standard three letter codes is well known to one skilled in the art , and is reproduced here : a = ala ; c = cys ; d = asp ; e = glu ; f phe ; g = gly ; h his ; i = ile ; k = lys ; l = leu ; m = met ; n = asn ; p = pro ; q = gln ; r = arg ; s = ser ; t = thr , v = val ; w = trp ; y = tyr . the general term “ amino acid ” further includes d - amino acids as well as chemically modified amino acids such as amino acid analogues , naturally occurring amino acids that are not usually incorporated into proteins such as norleucine , and chemically synthesized compounds having properties known in the art to be characteristic of an amino acid . for example , analogues or mimetics of phenylalanine or proline , which allow the same conformational restriction of the peptide compounds as do natural phe or pro , are included within the definition of amino acid . such analogues and mimetics are referred to herein as “ functional equivalents ” of the respective amino acid . other examples of amino acids are listed by roberts and vellaccio , the peptides : analysis , synthesis , biology , gross and meiehofer , eds ., vol . 5 p . 341 , academic press , inc ., n . y . 1983 , which is incorporated herein by reference . the present invention is directed towards the identification and characterisation of mtps from amongst a population ( or library ) of peptides — i . e . potential or putative mtps . in particular , the mtps of the invention are selected using in vitro display of in vitro generated libraries of peptides . the terms “ in vitro display ”, “ in vitro peptide display ” and “ in vitro generated libraries ” as used herein refer to systems in which peptide libraries are expressed in such a way that the expressed peptides associate with the nucleic acids that encoded them , and in which such association does not follow the transformation of cells or bacteria with the said nucleic acids . such systems contrast with phage display and other “ in vivo display ” systems in which the association of peptides with their encoded nucleic acids follows the transformation of cells or bacteria with the nucleic acids . membrane - translocating peptides , when used within the context of the present invention , may be “ conjugated ” to a non - translocating moiety . the term “ conjugated ” is used in its broadest sense to encompass all methods of attachment or joining that are known in the art . for example , the non - translocating moiety can be an amino acid extension of the c - or n - terminus of the mtp . in addition , a short amino acid linker sequence may lie between the mtp and the non - translocating moiety . the invention further provides for molecules where the mtp will be linked , e . g . by chemical conjugation to the non - translocating moiety optionally via a linker sequence . typically , the mtp will be linked to the non - translocating moiety via a site in the non - translocating moiety that does not interfere with the activity of the non - translocating moiety . here again , the mtp is considered to be “ conjugated ” to the non - translocating moiety . optionally this linkage may be broken under reducing conditions found in the cytoplasm of cells after internalization . as used herein , the term “ conjugated ” is used interchangeably with the terms “ linked ”, “ associated ” or “ attached ”. a wide range of covalent and non - covalent forms of conjugation are known to the person of skill in the art , and fall within the scope of the invention . for example , disulphide bonds , chemical linkages and peptide chains are all forms of covalent linkages . where a non - covalent means of conjugation is preferred , the means of attachment may be , for example , a biotin -( strept ) avidin link or the like . antibody ( or antibody fragment )- antigen interactions may also be suitably employed to conjugate an mtp of the invention to a non - translocating moiety . one suitable antibody - antigen pairing is the fluorescein - antifluorescein interaction . in this manner a unidirectional and targeted delivery system can be made , whereby the means of conjugation between an mtp and a non - translocating moiety is preferably broken / cleaved once the mtp and its associated non - translocating moiety ( or at least the non - translocating moiety itself ) has crossed the target membrane . any suitable combination of conjugation means and cleavage system can be used , such as enzymatic cleavage , ligand competition , radiation and the like . preferably , when the target membrane is a cell membrane ( such that the non - translocating moiety is delivered into a cell ), the conjugation means is a peptide linkage that can be cleaved by an enzyme , preferably an endogenous enzyme , within the cell ( e . g . in the cytoplasm ). alternatively , the conjugation is preferably a disulphide bridge that can be readily cleaved by the reducing intracellular environment of the cell . where the membrane - encapsulated compartment is not a cell , e . g . it is a lipid vesicle , liposome , or the like , it may be preferable to use an alternative combination of conjugation means and cleavage means . again , any suitable means can be used , provided ( if desired ) that the non - translocating moiety can be delivered unidirectionally to the interior of the compartment . the non - translocating moiety may or may not be active in the conjugated form but in any case , is preferably active after it has been disassociated from the mtp ( i . e . once the conjugation has been broken ). the present invention represents a significant advance in the art of peptide drug development by allowing screening of in vitro generated libraries for membrane - translocating properties . in vitro generated nucleic acid libraries encoding a plurality of peptides are synthesised and initially selected for binding to , penetration of ( e . g . membrane spanning ) or internalization into a target cell or liposome population . library members incapable of associating with a target cell or liposome in one or more of the above ways are removed by washing or other appropriate methods known to those skilled in the art . by way of example , cells , liposomes ( or other target membrane - encapsulated compartment ) that are sufficiently dense may be spun through a non - aqueous layer of oil to separate the membrane - associated library members from the non - associated library members . preferably , the oil is mineral oil . other oils that may be suitable include oils with a specific gravity of less than water . in this regard , mineral oil has a specific density of 0 . 84 g / ml at 25 ° c . preferably , cells such as red blood cells are separated from non - associated library members by centrifugation through mineral oil . as already noted above , an mtp may penetrate or cross the target membrane . library members encoding an mtp or surface - binding peptide will remain bound to the target or internalized within the cell during this step . surface - bound library members are then removed from the cell surface by a non - specific protease such as trypsin , or a nuclease such as dnasei , or a combination of both , or by any other method known to one skilled in the art . only library members encoding an mtp remain within the cell population . the internalized mtps are then recovered and individually characterised by sequencing the associated nucleic acid , and for example , expressing or synthesising the encoded mtp to confirm the desired membrane - translocating properties . the eventual sub - cellular localization of the mtp may also be determined . as mentioned previously , such a step ( i . e . the removal of membrane - bound library members from mtps ) is not possible with phage display libraries as these are naturally resistant to proteases such as trypsin ( see e . g . wo - a - 99058655 ), and a nuclease cannot be used as the phage nucleic acid is protected by the viral coat . a further limitation of phage display libraries is the inherent non - specific binding by phage particles to cell membranes , such non - specific binding being well known to those skilled in the art . advantageously , the mtps of the invention are isolated and individually characterised . however , a mixed population of mtps may be obtained by the methods of the invention , e . g . where more than one nucleic acid - peptide complex crosses a membrane and is internalised into , for example , a liposome or cell during the methods of the invention . in this event , the invention also encompasses said mixed population of mtps . preferably , the invention provides mtps that surprisingly can cross the cell membranes without endocytosis . such mtps can be further selected for by using cells in a selection with no known endocytotic transfer mechanism , such as red blood cells , or by using membrane - encapsulated compartments such as liposomes . optionally , the invention can be applied to the isolation of cell - type specific mtps . in vitro generated nucleic acid libraries encoding a plurality of peptides are synthesised and selected for binding or internalization to a target cell population of interest , such as a population of cancer cells for example , after an earlier incubation with a different non - target cell population , in order to remove cross - reactive mtps ( i . e . those mtps that associated with the non - target cell - type ). means of carrying out such methods will be known to those skilled in the art . typically , library members incapable of binding to the target cell population of interest are removed by washing or other methods known to those skilled in the art . surface bound library members are then removed from the cell surface by a non - specific protease such as trypsin , or a nuclease such as dnasei , or a combination of both or by any other method known to one skilled in the art . as in the above - described methods of the invention , only library members encoding an mtp remain within the cell population . the internalized mtps may then be recovered and individually characterised by sequencing the associated nucleic acid , expressing or synthesising the encoded mtp to confirm the desired membrane - translocating properties , and possibly also determining the sub - cellular localization of the mtp . the invention can also be applied to the isolation of mtps capable of crossing layers of cells such as caco - 2 cells or human epithelium . in vitro generated nucleic acid libraries encoding a plurality of target peptides are synthesised and selected for binding to , penetration of , or internalization into a target cell population of interest such as , by way of example , caco - 2 cells grown in layers . library members incapable of binding to the target cell population of interest are removed by washing or other methods known to those skilled in the art . preferably , surface - bound library members are then removed from the cell surface by a non - specific protease such as trypsin , or a nuclease such as dnasei , or a combination of both or by any other method known to one skilled in the art . once again , only library members encoding an mtp remain within the cell population and are protected from the protease or nuclease . the internalized mtps may then be recovered and individually characterised by sequencing the associated nucleic acid , and optionally expressing or synthesising the encoded mtp to confirm the desired epithelial cell layer translocating properties . alternatively , the cells can be arranged as monolayers on polycarbonate filters and a selection made as described by stevenson et al . ( 1999 , int . j . pharm . 177 , pp 103 - 115 ). in vitro peptide libraries placed on the apical side of the cells can be recovered on the basolateral side if they translocate through the cells . using such methods it is possible to select mtps that are capable of crossing biological membranes , such as the gut wall and skin . mtps isolated in this manner have utility as oral delivery agents for non - translocating moieties . by way of example , an mtp of the invention can be conjugated to a protein drug such as insulin and formulated in a suitable pharmaceutical composition such that on entering the intestine , the mtp causes translocation of insulin into the blood circulatory system . as a further example , an mtp of the invention can be conjugated to a small molecule and formulated in a suitable pharmaceutical composition such that on entering the intestine , the mtp causes translocation of the small molecule drug into the blood circulatory system . in yet another example , the mtp may be coated onto the surface of a nanoparticle containing a protein , peptide or small molecule drug in a suitable pharmaceutical composition such that on entering the intestine , the mtp causes translocation of the nanoparticle into the blood circulatory system . in an alternative composition of the invention , an mtp and its associated non - targeting moiety ( i . e . a therapeutic molecule ) is mixed with a population of liposomes ( i . e . a lipid vesicle or other artificial membrane - encapsulated compartment ), to create a therapeutic population of liposomes that contain the mtp and the therapeutic molecule . the therapeutic population of liposomes can then be administered to a patient by e . g . intra - venous injection . where it is necessary for the therapeutic liposome composition to target specifically a particular cell - type , the liposome composition may additionally be formulated with an antibody domain or the like , which recognises the target cell - type . such methods are known to the person of skill in the art . the mtps according to the invention and mtps conjugated to non - translocating peptides may be produced by recombinant dna technology and standard protein expression and purification procedures . thus , the invention further provides nucleic acid molecules that encode the mtps , derivatives thereof , or therapeutic molecules according to the invention . for instance , the dna encoding the relevant peptide can be inserted into a suitable expression vector ( e . g . pgem ®, promega corp ., usa ), and transformed into a suitable host cell for protein expression according to conventional techniques ( sambrook j . et al , molecular cloning : a laboratory manual , cold spring harbor press , cold spring harbor , n . y .). suitable host cells are those that can be grown in culture and are amenable to transformation with exogenous dna , including bacteria , fungal cells and cells of higher eukaryotic origin , preferably mammalian cells . alternatively , mtps may be synthesised in vitro using a suitable in vitro ( transcription and ) translation system ( e . g . the e . coli s30 extract system , promega corp ., usa ). the term “ operably linked ”, when applied to dna sequences , for example in an expression vector or construct indicates that the sequences are arranged so that they function cooperatively in order to achieve their intended purposes , i . e . a promoter sequence allows for initiation of transcription that proceeds through a linked coding sequence as far as the termination sequence . having selected and isolated an mtp , a functional group such as a therapeutic molecule may then be attached to the mtp by any suitable means . as discussed hereinbefore , an mtp may be conjugated to any suitable form of therapeutic molecule , such has an antibody , enzyme or small chemical compound . a preferred form of therapeutic molecule is an sirna molecule capable of inducing rnai in a target cell . typically a chemical linker will be used to link an sirna molecule to a peptide , such as an mtp . for example , the nucleic acid or pna can be linked to the peptide through a maleimide - thiol linkage , with the maleimide group being on the peptide and the thiol on the nucleic acid , or a disulphide link with a free cysteine group on the peptide and a thiol group on the nucleic acid . pharmaceutical formulations and compositions of the invention are formulated to conform with regulatory standards and can be administered orally , intravenously , topically , or via other standard routes . the pharmaceutical compositions may be in the form of tablets , pills , lotions , gels , liquids , powders , suppositories , suspensions , liposomes , microparticles or other suitable formulations known in the art . accordingly , the invention also encompasses the use of an mtp isolated by the methods of the invention in a therapeutic or diagnostic treatment . in particular , the invention provides the use of an mtp to deliver a non - translocating moiety ( as described hereinbefore ) to one or more populations of membrane - encapsulated compartments . preferably , the membrane - encapsulated compartment is a liposome or one or more populations of cell types . particularly preferred is the use of an mtp according to the invention for delivering a non - translocating moiety , especially a therapeutic molecule , such as an sirna molecule , to a target cell type or population . the target cell or cell population may be in vivo , i . e . in an animal or human subject , or ex vivo , i . e . removed from the animal or human subject to be reintroduced thereto , or in the alternative , the cell , cell population or liposome is in vitro . any route of administration known to the person of skill in the art could be used . particularly , a route of administration that is preferred for the target cell type or population should preferably be used . for example , preferred routes of administration to the subject or patient include subcutaneous injection , ingestion or suppository . by way of example , to treat a viral infection in a subject , an mtp of the invention may be conjugated to a suitable antiviral agent , and the mtp and antiviral molecule can then be administered to the subject either naked or comprised in an artificial liposome , for example . similarly , where a subject is suffering from a cellular disease such as cancer , an mtp of the invention may be conjugated to an appropriate anti - cancer molecule / drug , such as an sirna molecule or other therapeutic entity , and administered via an appropriate administration route to the subject . the mtps can also be used to deliver themselves or a non - translocating moiety to a bacterial cell . thus , a bacterial infection can be treated in a subject , by conjugating an mtp of the invention to an anti - bacterial agent . further in this regard , it is sometimes necessary for a therapeutic composition , such as an mtp conjugated to a therapeutic molecule to be delivered to a specific cell type or population in a subject . this can be achieved ex vivo , for example , by adding the therapeutic composition to a population of cells that have been previously removed from the subject or patient . alternatively , the mtp can be selected , as previously described , to translocate into a specific cell type or cell types , as required . in a further alternative , the mtp may be directly conjugated to an antibody molecule , an antibody fragment ( e . g . fab , f ( ab ) 2 , scfv etc .) or other suitable targeting agent , so that the mtp and any additional conjugated moieties are targeted to the specific cell population required for the treatment or diagnosis . in yet another alternative embodiment , the mtp and its associated non - translocating moiety may be comprised in a liposome population , wherein the liposomes ( e . g . the liposome membranes ) additionally comprise an appropriate targeting moiety , such as an antibody or antibody fragment . the resultant liposomes may then be suitably administered to the subject or patient . preferably in the uses described above , the mtp is conjugated to the non - translocating moiety or therapeutic molecule via an interaction that is cleavable inside the target cell type , e . g . by way of an enzymatic cleavage or due to the reducing intracellular environment . the invention will now be further illustrated by way of the following non - limiting examples . unless otherwise indicated , commercially available reagents and standard techniques in molecular biological and biochemistry were used . the following procedures used by the present applicant are described in sambrook , j . et al ., 1989 supra . : analysis of restriction enzyme digestion products on agarose gels and preparation of phosphate buffered saline . general purpose reagents were purchased from sigma - aldrich ltd ( poole , dorset , u . k .). oligonucleotides were obtained from eurogentec ltd ( southampton , u . k .). amino acids , and s30 extracts were obtained from promega ltd ( southampton , hampshire , u . k .). vent and taq dna polymerases were obtained from new england biolabs ( cambridgeshire , u . k .). fitc labelled peptides were obtained from pepscan systems ( lelystad , netherlands ). library construction and in vitro transcription and translation were carried out as described by odegrip et al . ( 2004 , proc . natl . acad . sci . usa , 101 2806 - 2810 ). the tac - nnb - repa - cis - ori pcr construct was prepared by appending an 18 - mer nnb library ( where n is any nucleotide and b is either c , t or g ) to the tac promoter by pcr and then ligating it to the repa - cis - ori region followed by pcr amplification . in vitro transcription and translation was performed with 2 μg of library dna in an e . coli s - 30 lysate system for up to 30 minutes at 30 ° c . and then diluted with blocking buffer ( 1 % bsa in pbs ). typically , 2 μg of linear dna was added per 50 μl of s - 30 lysate . the expressed library was added to 5 μl of pbs washed human red blood cells ( rbc ) and incubated on ice for 30 minutes . rbc were centrifuged at 2000 rpm for 5 min and supernatant removed . the rbc pellet was resuspended in 200 μl of pbs supplemented with 2 mm cacl 2 , 2 mm mgcl and 1 μg of dnase 1 and incubated at room temperature for 15 minutes . the cells were washed once with pbs by centrifugation to form a loose pellet and then resuspended in 200 μl pbs . the rbc suspension was layered over 200 μl of dibutyl pthalate and centrifuged at 11000 rpm for 4 minutes . the aqueous phase was removed and the rbc pellet gently pipetted from the oil and resuspended in 100 μl of pbs . cells were lysed in 500 μl of pb buffer ( qiagen ), and the dna was purified using qiagen columns and then resuspended in 50 μl of sterile water . in a parallel selection , the rbc pellet was treated with 1 μg / ml of trypsin at 37 ° c . for 30 min instead of dnasei , at which point the cells were spun , the supernatant removed and the pellet resuspended in 200 μl of pbs . the cells were then spun through dibutyl phthalate and dna recovered as described above for dnase treated cells . the n - terminal library region was amplified separately from both selections and reassembled with the repa - cis - ori , as described by odegrip et al . ( 2004 , proc . natl . acad . sci . usa , 101 2806 - 2810 ), to produce input dna for the next round of selection . after five rounds of selection , recovered dna was amplified using pcr , purified and digested with noti and ncoi . the dna was then ligated into a similarly digested m13 gpviii phagemid vector and transformed into e . coli xl - 1 blue cells , and plated on 2 % glucose , 2 × ty , 100 μg / ml ampicillin plates . individual colonies were grown overnight and phagemid dna was isolated and sequenced to determine the peptide sequence . selected peptides were synthesized labelled with fitc at the n - terminus and analysed by facs for cell association using jurkat cells . jurkat cells ( 100000 ) were washed twice in pbs , incubated with 1 μg of labelled peptide in 100 μl pbs supplemented with 1 % foetal calf serum for 15 minutes at room temperature , and washed twice in pbs and analysed in a becton dickinson facs analyzer . peptides associated with cells were then viewed by fluorescence microscopy without fixation to monitor internalization into cells . nine out of twenty - three peptides were cell associated . examples of these are shown in fig1 . fig1 shows fluorescent microscopy and facs analysis of non - fixed jurkat cells . peptides 7 , 13 , and 19 are examples of membrane - translocating peptides isolated by the method described . labelling can be seen by the fluorescence within the cells as observed by microscopy ( left and central photos ) and the fluorescence intensity of the cells by facs ( plot chart on the right ). the facs analysis plot chart shows fitc - fluorescence ( x - axis ) against counts of cells ( y - axis ). peptide 24 is a negative control flag epitope peptide , which does not cause cells to fluoresce as analysed by microscopy or by facs . as described above , parallel selections were performed with either dnasei or trypsin to remove membrane bound or non - translocated peptide - repa - dna complexes from contaminating the recovery of mtps after lysis of the cells . the internalised peptide - repa - dna complexes would be resistant to treatment with either of these enzymes . in the alternative methods , either dnasei was used to digest the repa dna so that this could not be amplified , or trypsin was used to digest the peptide - repa protein and any potential protein - protein interactions . both methods were found to be successful in allowing the selection of the desired mtps . a membrane translocation competent peptide ( mtp ) was selected for sequence analysis to determine whether the translocation competent peptide sequence had any sequence similarities to known membrane - translocating motifs . the result is shown in fig2 . as shown , the selected peptide ( denoted d4 , top row , seq id no : 1 ) showed some sequence homology ( as indicated in the middle row ) to the known membrane - translocating motif of the hiv - tat protein ( bottom row ). the results further demonstrate the efficacy of the selection method described for isolating compounds that exhibit cell - membrane translocation activity . it is interesting to note , however , that other mtps isolated according to the methods described did not show sequence homology to known translocating domains . this allows the identification of new classes of mtps . the following example describes the selection of mtps that are capable of crossing or penetrating synthetic lipid membranes . library construction and in vitro transcription and translation are carried out as described in example 1 above . in vitro transcription and translation are performed as described in example 1 above . emulsions of artificial oil compartments are made by slowly adding 50 μl pbs ( in 10 μl aliquots ) to 0 . 5 ml ice cold 0 . 5 % triton x - 100 and 4 . 5 % span 80 ( sorbitane trioleate ) in light mineral oil on ice stirred at 1600 r . p . m . for 5 minutes . the emulsion mix is then spun at 3000 g for 5 minutes and the oil phase removed to leave the emulsion at the bottom of the tube . the in vitro transcription and translation mix is then added to the emulsion mix in 1 ml pbs and mixed by gently inverting five times and incubating on ice for 30 minutes . 2 . 5 μg of dnasei is then added with 2 mm cacl 2 and 2 mm mgcl ( final concentration ) and incubated at room temperature for 15 minutes . alternatively , to adding dnasei , 1 μg / ml of trypsin can be added and incubated at 37 ° c . for 30 minutes . the emulsion is washed 5 times by adding 1 ml pbs and centrifuging at 3000 g for 5 minutes , removing the wash solution each time . the emulsion is broken and washed by adding 1 ml hexane , vortexing , briefly centrifuging , and then removing the hexane layer . this washing step can be repeated one or two more times and the residual hexane is removed by drying in a speedvac ( farmingdale , n . y .) for 5 minutes at room temperature . the dna can be recovered by addition of 100 μl pb buffer ( qiagen ) and the dna can be prepared for the next round of selection as described in example 1 . the selection process is repeated , for example , 5 times before cloning the dna into phage as described in the example 1 above . peptide sequences can be identified by sequencing and the peptides tested as described in example 1 .	2
the following description includes the best mode presently contemplated for practicing the invention . the description is not to be taken in a limiting sense but is made merely for the purpose of describing the general principles of the invention . the scope of the invention should be ascertained with reference to the issued claims . in the description of the invention that follows , like numerals or reference designators will be used to refer to like parts or elements throughout . as shown in fig1 , there is a stimulation device 10 in electrical communication with the heart 12 of a patient by way of three leads , 20 , 24 and 30 , suitable for delivering multi - chamber stimulation and shock therapy . to sense atrial cardiac signals and to provide right atrial chamber stimulation therapy , the stimulation device 10 is coupled to an implantable right atrial lead 20 having at least an atrial tip electrode 22 , which typically is implanted in the right atrial appendage and an atrial ring electrode 23 . to sense left atrial and ventricular cardiac signals and to provide left chamber pacing therapy , the stimulation device 10 is coupled to a “ coronary sinus ” lead 24 designed for placement in the “ coronary sinus region ” via the coronary sinus or for positioning a distal electrode adjacent to the left ventricle and / or additional electrode ( s ) adjacent to the left atrium . as used herein , the phrase “ coronary sinus region ” refers to the vasculature of the left ventricle , including any portion of the coronary sinus , great cardiac vein , left marginal vein , left posterior ventricular vein , middle cardiac vein , and / or small cardiac vein or any other cardiac vein accessible by the coronary sinus . accordingly , an exemplary coronary sinus lead 24 is designed to receive atrial and ventricular cardiac signals and to deliver left ventricular pacing therapy using at least a left ventricular tip electrode 26 , left atrial pacing therapy using at least a left atrial ring electrode 27 , and shocking therapy using at least a left atrial coil electrode 28 . the stimulation device 10 is also shown in electrical communication with the heart by way of an implantable right ventricular lead 30 having , in this embodiment , a right ventricular tip electrode 32 , a right ventricular ring electrode 34 , a right ventricular ( rv ) coil electrode 36 , and an svc coil electrode 38 . typically , the right ventricular lead 30 is transvenously inserted into the heart so as to place the right ventricular tip electrode 32 in the right ventricular apex so that the rv coil electrode is positioned in the right ventricle and the svc coil electrode 38 is positioned in the superior vena cava . accordingly , the right ventricular lead 30 is capable of receiving cardiac signals , and delivering stimulation in the form of pacing and shock therapy to the right ventricle . to provide a “ tickle warning ” signal , an additional electrode 31 is provided in proximity to the device can . as illustrated in fig2 , a simplified block diagram is shown of the multi - chamber implantable stimulation device 10 , which is capable of treating both fast and slow arrhythmias with stimulation therapy , including cardioversion , defibrillation , and pacing stimulation . while a particular multi - chamber device is shown , this is for illustration purposes only , and one of skill in the art could readily duplicate , eliminate or disable the appropriate circuitry in any desired combination to provide a device capable of treating the appropriate chamber ( s ) with cardioversion , defibrillation and pacing stimulation . the housing 40 for the stimulation device 10 , shown schematically in fig2 , is often referred to as the “ can ”, “ case ” or “ case electrode ” and may be programmably selected to act as the return electrode for all “ unipolar ” modes . the housing 40 may further be used as a return electrode alone or in combination with one or more of the coil electrodes , 28 , 36 and 38 , for shocking purposes . the housing 40 further includes a connector ( not shown ) having a plurality of terminals , 42 , 43 , 44 , 46 , 48 , 52 , 54 , 56 and 58 ( shown schematically and , for convenience , the names of the electrodes to which they are connected are shown next to the terminals ). as such , to achieve right atrial sensing and pacing , the connector includes at least a right atrial tip terminal ( a r tip ) 42 adapted for connection to the atrial tip electrode 22 and a right atrial ring ( a r ring ) electrode 43 adapted for connection to right atrial ring electrode 23 . to achieve left chamber sensing , pacing and shocking , the connector includes at least a left ventricular tip terminal ( v l tip ) 44 , a left atrial ring terminal ( a l ring ) 46 , and a left atrial shocking terminal ( a l coil ) 48 , which are adapted for connection to the left ventricular ring electrode 26 , the left atrial tip electrode 27 , and the left atrial coil electrode 28 , respectively . to support right chamber sensing , pacing and shocking , the connector further includes a right ventricular tip terminal ( v r tip ) 52 , a right ventricular ring terminal ( v r ring ) 54 , a right ventricular shocking terminal ( r v coil ) 56 , and an svc shocking terminal ( svc coil ) 58 , which are adapted for connection to the right ventricular tip electrode 32 , right ventricular ring electrode 34 , the rv coil electrode 36 , and the svc coil electrode 38 , respectively . to provide the “ tickle warning ” signal , an additional terminal 59 is provided for connection to the tickle warning electrode 31 of fig1 . at the core of the stimulation device 10 is a programmable microcontroller 60 , which controls the various modes of stimulation therapy . as is well known in the art , the microcontroller 60 ( also referred to herein as a control unit ) typically includes a microprocessor , or equivalent control circuitry , designed specifically for controlling the delivery of stimulation therapy and may further include ram or rom memory , logic and timing circuitry , state machine circuitry , and i / o circuitry . typically , the microcontroller 60 includes the ability to process or monitor input signals ( data ) as controlled by a program code stored in a designated block of memory . the details of the design and operation of the microcontroller 60 are not critical to the invention . rather , any suitable microcontroller 60 may be used that carries out the functions described herein . the use of microprocessor - based control circuits for performing timing and data analysis functions are well known in the art . as shown in fig2 , an atrial pulse generator 70 and a ventricular pulse generator 72 generate pacing stimulation pulses for delivery by the right atrial lead 20 , the right ventricular lead 30 , and / or the coronary sinus lead 24 via an electrode configuration switch 74 . it is understood that in order to provide stimulation therapy in each of the four chambers of the heart , the atrial and ventricular pulse generators , 70 and 72 , may include dedicated , independent pulse generators , multiplexed pulse generators or shared pulse generators . the pulse generators , 70 and 72 , are controlled by the microcontroller 60 via appropriate control signals , 76 and 78 , respectively , to trigger or inhibit the stimulation pulses . the microcontroller 60 further includes timing control circuitry 79 which is used to control the timing of such stimulation pulses ( e . g ., pacing rate , atrio - ventricular ( av ) delay , atrial interconduction ( a — a ) delay , or ventricular interconduction ( v — v ) delay , etc .) as well as to keep track of the timing of refractory periods , blanking intervals , noise detection windows , evoked response windows , alert intervals , marker channel timing , etc ., which is well known in the art . switch 74 includes a plurality of switches for connecting the desired electrodes to the appropriate i / o circuits , thereby providing complete electrode programmability . accordingly , the switch 74 , in response to a control signal 80 from the microcontroller 60 , determines the polarity of the stimulation pulses ( e . g ., unipolar , bipolar , combipolar , etc .) by selectively closing the appropriate combination of switches ( not shown ) as is known in the art . moreover , as the explained in greater detail below , the microcontroller transmits signals to controlling the switch to connect a different set of electrodes during a far - field overdrive pacing than during near - field overdrive pacing . atrial sensing circuits 82 and ventricular sensing circuits 84 may also be selectively coupled to the right atrial lead 20 , coronary sinus lead 24 , and the right ventricular lead 30 , through the switch 74 for detecting the presence of cardiac activity in each of the four chambers of the heart . accordingly , the atrial ( atr . sense ) and ventricular ( vtr . sense ) sensing circuits , 82 and 84 , may include dedicated sense amplifiers , multiplexed amplifiers or shared amplifiers . the switch 74 determines the “ sensing polarity ” of the cardiac signal by selectively closing the appropriate switches , as is also known in the art . in this way , the clinician may program the sensing polarity independent of the stimulation polarity . each sensing circuit , 82 and 84 , preferably employs one or more low power , precision amplifiers with programmable gain and / or automatic gain control , bandpass filtering , and a threshold detection circuit , as known in the art , to selectively sense the cardiac signal of interest . the automatic gain control enables the device 10 to deal effectively with the difficult problem of sensing the low amplitude signal characteristics of atrial or ventricular fibrillation . the outputs of the atrial and ventricular sensing circuits , 82 and 84 , are connected to the microcontroller 60 which , in turn , are able to trigger or inhibit the atrial and ventricular pulse generators , 70 and 72 , respectively , in a demand fashion in response to the absence or presence of cardiac activity in the appropriate chambers of the heart . for arrhythmia detection , the device 10 utilizes the atrial and ventricular sensing circuits , 82 and 84 , to sense cardiac signals to determine whether a rhythm is physiologic or pathologic . as used herein “ sensing ” is reserved for the noting of an electrical signal , and “ detection ” is the processing of these sensed signals and noting the presence of an arrhythmia . the timing intervals between sensed events ( e . g ., p - waves , r - waves , and depolarization signals associated with fibrillation which are sometimes referred to as “ f - waves ” or “ fib - waves ”) are then classified by the microcontroller 60 by comparing them to a predefined rate zone limit ( i . e ., bradycardia , normal , low rate vt , high rate vt , and fibrillation rate zones ) and various other characteristics ( e . g ., sudden onset , stability , physiologic sensors , and morphology , etc .) in order to determine the type of remedial therapy that is needed ( e . g ., bradycardia pacing , antitachycardia pacing , cardioversion shocks or defibrillation shocks ). cardiac signals are also applied to the inputs of an analog - to - digital ( a / d ) data acquisition system 90 . the data acquisition system 90 is configured to acquire intracardiac electrogram signals , convert the raw analog data into a digital signal , and store the digital signals for later processing and / or telemetric transmission to an external device 102 . the data acquisition system 90 is coupled to the right atrial lead 20 , the coronary sinus lead 24 , and the right ventricular lead 30 through the switch 74 to sample cardiac signals across any pair of desired electrodes . the microcontroller 60 is further coupled to a memory 94 by a suitable data / address bus 96 , wherein the programmable operating parameters used by the microcontroller 60 are stored and modified , as required , in order to customize the operation of the stimulation device 10 to suit the needs of a particular patient . such operating parameters define , for example , pacing pulse amplitude or magnitude , pulse duration , electrode polarity , rate , sensitivity , automatic features , arrhythmia detection criteria , and the amplitude , waveshape and vector of each shocking pulse to be delivered to the patient &# 39 ; s heart 12 within each respective tier of therapy . other pacing parameters include base rate , rest rate and circadian base rate . advantageously , the operating parameters of the implantable device 10 may be non - invasively programmed into the memory 94 through a telemetry circuit 100 in telemetric communication with the external device 102 , such as a programmer , transtelephonic transceiver or a diagnostic system analyzer . the telemetry circuit 100 is activated by the microcontroller by a control signal 106 . the telemetry circuit 100 advantageously allows intracardiac electrograms and status information relating to the operation of the device 10 ( as contained in the microcontroller 60 or memory 94 ) to be sent to the external device 102 through an established communication link 104 . in the preferred embodiment , the stimulation device 10 further includes a physiologic sensor 108 , commonly referred to as a “ rate - responsive ” sensor because it is typically used to adjust pacing stimulation rate according to the exercise state of the patient . however , the physiological sensor 108 may further be used to detect changes in cardiac output , changes in the physiological condition of the heart , or diurnal changes in activity ( e . g ., detecting sleep and wake states ) accordingly , the microcontroller 60 responds by adjusting the various pacing parameters ( such as rate , av delay , v — v delay , etc .) at which the atrial and ventricular pulse generators , 70 and 72 , generate stimulation pulses . while shown as being included within the stimulation device 10 , it is to be understood that the physiologic sensor 108 may also be external to the stimulation device 10 , yet still be implanted within or carried by the patient . the stimulation device additionally includes a battery 110 , which provides operating power to all of the circuits shown in fig2 . for the stimulation device 10 , which employs shocking therapy , the battery 110 must be capable of operating at low current drains for long periods of time , and then be capable of providing high - current pulses ( for capacitor charging ) when the patient requires a shock pulse . the battery 110 must also have a predictable discharge characteristic so that elective replacement time can be detected . accordingly , the device 10 preferably employs lithium / silver vanadium oxide batteries , as is true for most ( if not all ) current devices . as further shown in fig2 , the device 10 is shown as having an impedance measuring circuit 112 which is enabled by the microcontroller 60 via a control signal 114 . in the case where the stimulation device 10 is intended to operate as an implantable cardioverter / defibrillator ( icd ) device , it detects the occurrence of an arrhythmia and automatically applies an appropriate electrical shock therapy to the heart aimed at terminating the detected arrhythmia . to this end , the microcontroller 60 further controls a shocking circuit 116 by way of a control signal 118 . the shocking circuit 116 generates shocking pulses of low ( up to 0 . 5 joules ), moderate ( 0 . 5 – 10 joules ), or high energy ( 11 to 40 joules ), as controlled by the microcontroller 60 . such shocking pulses are applied to the heart 12 through at least two shocking electrodes , and as shown in this embodiment , selected from the left atrial coil electrode 28 , the rv coil electrode 36 , and / or the svc coil electrode 38 . as noted above , the housing 40 may act as an active electrode in combination with the rv electrode 36 , or as part of a split electrical vector using the svc coil electrode 38 or the left atrial coil electrode 28 ( i . e ., using the rv electrode as a common electrode ). cardioversion shocks are generally considered to be of low to moderate energy level ( so as to minimize pain felt by the patient ), and / or synchronized with an r - wave and / or pertaining to the treatment of tachycardia . defibrillation shocks are generally of moderate to high energy level ( i . e ., corresponding to thresholds in the range of 5 – 40 joules ), delivered asynchronously ( since r - waves may be too disorganized ), and pertaining exclusively to the treatment of fibrillation . accordingly , the microcontroller 60 is capable of controlling the synchronous or asynchronous delivery of the shocking pulses . finally , with regard to fig2 , microcontroller 60 includes a t - wave - based cardiac ischemia detection system 101 for controlling the detection of episodes of cardiac ischemia and a warning system 103 for controlling the delivery of warning signals to the patient . in particular , warning system 103 controls a tickle circuit 105 to generate a perceptible internal warning signal using tickle warning electrode 31 of fig1 . referring to the remaining figures , flow charts , graphs and other diagrams illustrate the operation and novel features of stimulation device 10 as configured in accordance with exemplary embodiments of the invention . in the flow charts , the various algorithmic steps are summarized in individual “ blocks ”. such blocks describe specific actions or decisions made or carried out as the algorithm proceeds . where a microcontroller ( or equivalent ) is employed , the flow charts provide the basis for a “ control program ” that may be used by such a microcontroller ( or equivalent ) to effectuate the desired control of the stimulation device . those skilled in the art may readily write such a control program based on the flow charts and other descriptions presented herein . fig3 illustrates pertinent components of t - wave - based cardiac ischemia detection system 101 of the microcontroller or fig2 . briefly , the system operates to detect t - waves within iegm signals and then to detect the onset of an episode of cardiac ischemia based on an analysis of total energies and maximum slopes of the t - waves . to this end , detection system 101 includes both a t - wave detection controller 150 for coordinating components that identify t - waves within iegm signals and a cardiac ischemia detection controller 152 for coordinating components that analyze the t - waves to detect the onset of ischemia . t - waves are detected using both an atrial bipolar signal processing unit 154 and a unipolar signal processing unit 156 . atrial events ( i . e . p - waves ) detected with the bipolar signals are then eliminated from the unipolar signals using an atrial event rejection unit 157 . by eliminating atrial events from the unipolar signals , the unipolar signals thereby include only ventricular events , i . e . t - waves and r - waves . a t - wave / r - wave peak detection unit 158 examines the filtered unipolar signals to identify the peaks of t - waves and r - waves . a t - wave window calculation unit 160 specifies a t - wave location window based upon either the t - wave peak or the preceding r - wave peak . once a t - wave window has been specified , a t - wave energy integration unit 162 calculates the energy associated with the t - wave while a t - wave slope determination unit 164 determines its maximum slope . detection of the onset of the cardiac ischemia depends , in part , on whether each t - wave was a result of a sinus beat or a paced beat . accordingly , both a sinus beat processing unit 166 and a paced beat processing unit 168 are provided . note that , depending upon the implementation , not all of the components shown in fig3 need be implemented as portions of the microcontroller . rather , some or all of the components may be implemented as stand - alone devices within the overall implantable device or may be integrated with other device components . hence , the invention is not limited to being implemented as shown in the figure . fig4 provides an overview of the cardiac ischemia detection technique performed by the ischemia detection system of fig3 . initially , at step 200 , iegm signals are received and t - waves are detected under the control of the t - wave detection controller . then , t - wave energy and maximum slope are determined , at step 202 , using the energy integration unit and slope determination unit . at step 204 , the onset of a cardiac ischemia is detected based upon the t - wave energy and maximum slope using the paced beat and sensed beat processing units . so long as no ischemia is detected , steps 200 – 204 are merely repeated . if ischemia is detected , however , the patient is warned of the ischemia by application of an internal perceptible “ tickle ” notification signal , at step 206 . if the device is configured to generate warning signals for other arrhythmias , such as atrial fibrillation , the device preferably employs different notification signal frequencies for the different warnings so that the patient can properly distinguish between different warnings . in addition , warning signals may be transmitted using a short - range telemetry system to a handheld warning device using techniques described within the above - referenced patent application to wang et al . thus , the technique exploits both the total energies of individual t - waves and the maximum slopes of t - waves to detect cardiac ischemia . the effect of cardiac ischemia on both t - wave energy and t - wave maximum slope is illustrated in fig5 , which shows various conventional iegm and surface ekg signal traces obtained from a canine test subject during normal sinus rhythm and during an episode of artificially - induced cardiac ischemia . more specifically , graph 300 illustrates various surface ekg signals during a normal sinus rhythm and graph 302 illustrates corresponding iegm signals also during normal sinus rhythm . graph 304 illustrates surface ekg signals during an artificially induced cardiac ischemia , generated by inflating a balloon within an artery leading to heart tissue . graph 306 illustrates corresponding iegm signals also during the artificially induced episode of cardiac ischemia . as can be seen , t - waves 308 during cardiac ischemia are much larger than t - waves 310 during normal sinus rhythm . since t - waves are considerably larger during cardiac ischemia , the total energy within the t - waves ( i . e . the integral or sum of the individual amplitude values of the signal during the t - wave ) is considerably greater during cardiac ischemia then during a normal sinus rhythm . hence , total t - wave energy provides a reliable indicator of cardiac ischemia . in addition , the maximum slope of each t - wave is considerably steeper during the episode of cardiac ischemia . compare , for example , slope 312 of graph 306 against slope 314 of graph 302 . detection of a sharp maximum t - wave slope thereby helps confirm the detection of cardiac ischemia made based upon the t - wave energy . alternatively , the maximum t - wave slope can be used as an independent indicator of cardiac ischemia , but it is believed to be more reliable when used in combination with total t - wave energy . fig6 provides a side - by - side comparison of a right ventricular ring iegm for a single heart beat for normal sinus rhythm and for cardiac ischemia , again obtained from a canine test subject . more specifically , solid line 314 illustrates the heart beat during normal sinus rhythm ( i . e . baseline ) whereas dashed line 312 illustrates the heart beat obtained five minutes after artificial occlusion of the left anterior descending coronary artery ( lad ). in the figures , reference numeral 316 identifies a t - wave window , centered at each t - wave peak , in which the total energy and maximum slope is actually calculated . the t - wave window ( tw ) is 60 milliseconds ( ms ) in both cases . the integral of t - wave energy within the window was determined to be 364 μv - seconds during the ischemia but only 124 μv - seconds during normal sinus rhythm . max dv / dt during ischemia was determined to be − 0 . 22 v / second but only − 0 . 08 v / second during normal sinus rhythm . note that maximum dv / dt here refers to the maximum positive or maximum negative slope , whichever is larger in magnitude . referring now to fig7 – 9 , the detection of t - waves of step 200 of fig4 will now be described in greater detail . simultaneously , at steps 400 and 402 , atrial near - field signals are received using a bipolar lead mounted within the atria and far - field signals are received via unipolar sensing derived from a lead mounted anywhere in the heart . in one example , the far - field channel is derived via unipolar sensing from a lead mounted in the ventricles ( either from a ventricular unipolar lead or from a ventricular bipolar lead used in unipolar configuration ). in another example , the far - field channel is derived from an atrial bipolar lead used in unipolar configuration . in other words , in that example , two channels are derived from the single atrial bipolar lead — a near - field channel derived by using the lead in bipolar configuration ( i . e . tip to ring sensing ) and a far - field channel by using the lead in unipolar configuration ( i . e . ring to case sensing .) in any case , the atrial near - field channel is derived by detecting a voltage difference between a pair of electrodes within the atria ; whereas the far - field channel is derived by detecting a voltage difference between an electrode and the device can . the bipolar lead provides a small antenna for detecting electrical signals and is well suited to sensing near - field signals arising within the atria . the large antenna provided via unipolar sensing is well suited for detecting any cardiac electrical cardiac signals , including r - waves and t - waves arising in the ventricles and p - waves arising in atria . this is illustrated within fig8 . a graph 408 illustrates surface ekg signals and graph 409 illustrates corresponding atrial bipolar iegm signals . as can be seen , the bipolar signals contain primarily only p - waves 410 . graph 412 illustrates surface ekg signals and graph 413 illustrates corresponding unipolar channel signals derived from an atrial bipolar lead in a unipolar sensing mode . as can be seen , the unipolar channel signals include r - waves 414 and t - waves 416 as well as p - waves 410 . the presence of the p - waves makes it difficult to distinguish between p - waves and r - waves so that the t - waves may be reliably detected . returning to fig7 , at step 404 , the atrial near - field channel signals are examined to detect p - waves therein . the detected p - waves are then used to eliminate or filter p - waves from the far - field unipolar channel signals , at step 406 . this is illustrated in fig9 and 10 . fig9 illustrates an atrial bipolar sensing channel along with an atrial unipolar sensing channel derived from the same atrial bipolar lead but operating in a unipolar mode . fig1 illustrates the same atrial bipolar sensing channel along with a ventricular unipolar sensing channel derived from a unipolar lead mounted in the ventricles ( or from some other ventricular lead operating in a unipolar mode .) referring first to fig9 , for each p - wave 410 detected within the atrial bipolar signals , an atrial blanking window 418 is applied to the atrial unipolar channel signals . during the blanking window , signals sensed on the atrial unipolar channel are ignored . as a result , only r - waves 414 and t - waves 416 are detected . the r - waves then can be easily distinguished from the t - waves based upon shape and amplitude . referring next to fig1 , for each p - wave 410 detected within the atrial bipolar signals , an atrial blanking window 432 is applied to the ventricular unipolar channel signals so that signals sensed on the ventricular unipolar channel are ignored . as a result , again , only r - waves 414 and t - waves 416 are detected and the r - waves then can be easily distinguished from the t - waves based upon shape and amplitude . returning to fig7 , the system then detects the peaks of the r - waves and the t - waves within the remaining far - field channel signals , at step 420 . for each beat , a t - wave window is calculated , at step 422 , based upon either the detected peak of the t - wave or the detected peak of the r - wave . in one example , the device is programmed to specify the t - wave window as commencing 150 milliseconds ( ms ) prior to the t - wave peak and concluding 150 ms after the t - wave peak . the starting and ending points of the t - wave window are referred to , herein , as t start and t end , respectively . alternatively , the t - wave window is specified as commencing 80 ms after the r - wave peak and terminating 480 ms after the r - wave peak . preferably , the device is preprogrammed to calculate the t - wave window based on either the t - wave peak or the r - wave peak , but not both . alternatively , the device may be programmed to utilize the t - wave peak so long as t - waves can be clearly identified and to use the r - wave peak otherwise . thus , for example , if the amplitudes of the t - waves are relatively low and their peaks cannot be reliably identified , the t - wave window is instead calculated based upon the r - wave peak . other techniques for specifying the t - wave window may also be employed . for example , the t - wave window may be programmable by the physician via the external programmer . the t - wave window may also be automatically specified based on heart rate or st interval . in any case , an exemplary t - wave window 424 applied to the atrial unipolar channel is illustrated within fig9 and an exemplary t - wave window 434 applied to the ventricular unipolar channel is illustrated within fig1 . note that the t - wave windows are not blanking windows during which signals are completely ignored . rather , the t - wave windows specify periods of time in which the unipolar signals are integrated to determine total t - wave energy and during which time derivatives are calculated to determine t - wave slope . having determined the t - wave window , processing returns to fig4 . as noted , the improved t - wave detection technique is not limited for use with ischemia detection but may also be used for any other suitable purpose wherein reliable t - wave detection is required , such as in the detection of svts and pvcs . referring now to fig1 , the determination of the t - wave energy and maximum slope performed at step 202 of fig4 will now be described in greater detail . at step 500 , the total energy of the latest t - wave is calculated based upon the start and stop times of the t - wave window using the following equation : e t - wave = ∑ n = tstart tend ⁢ s ⁡ ( n ) wherein s ( n ) is a digitized version of the cardiac signal and n represents individual samples of a digitized version of an iegm signal . only summation is required since the sampling rate is assumed to be fixed . if the sampling rate is not fixed , otherwise conventional signal integration techniques may be used to obtain the t - wave signal energy . in one example , s ( n ) is a digitized version of the unipolar ventricular signal filtered using a 0 . 5 hz to 40 hz preamplifier . in other examples , techniques are employed to first emulate a surface ekg based upon iegm signals , preferably configured to emulate surface leads i , ii and v2 . the emulated surface ekg is digitized and used as s ( n ). one technique for emulating a surface ekg using internal electrical signals that allows individual surface ekg lead signals to be individually emulated is described in u . s . patent application ser . no . 10 / 334 , 741 to kroll et al ., entitled “ system and method for emulating a surface ekg using implantable cardiac stimulation device ”, filed dec . 30 , 2002 , which is assigned to the assignee of the present application and is incorporated by reference herein . the maximum slope of the t - wave ( i . e . max dv / dt ) is then calculated , at step 502 , using the following equation : maxslope t - wave = max ⁡ [ abs ⁡ [ s ⁡ ( n + 1 ) - s ⁡ ( n ) ] ] n = tstart tend i . e . the device calculates the slope at each sample point within the t - wave window by 1 ) calculating a numerical difference between a pair of adjacent samples at that point ; 2 ) taking absolute values of those differences ; and 3 ) then identifying the maximum of the absolute values . other techniques may be employed as well . in addition , a maximum positive slope and a maximum negative slope may be separately calculated . in any case , processing again the returns to fig4 . referring now to fig1 , the detection of cardiac ischemia based upon t - wave energy and maximum slope performed at step 204 of fig4 will now be described . as already noted , the detection of ischemia depends , in part , upon whether the latest t - wave is the result of the paced ventricular beat or a sinus ventricular beat . an indication of whether the ventricular beat is paced or not is provided by other components of the microcontroller . if “ sinus ” then , at step 600 , the ischemia detection system first determines whether the t - wave was the result of an ectopic beat and , if so , the t - wave is ignored . to identify ectopic beats , otherwise conventional morphology - based techniques or svt discrimination techniques can be used . other suitable techniques can be used as well for detecting ectopic beats such as those described in u . s . pat . no . 6 , 081 , 747 to levine , et al ., which is incorporated by reference herein . then , at step 601 , the detection system normalizes the t - wave energy value ( assuming it is not the result of an ectopic beat ) based upon the amplitude of the preceding r - wave peak . at step 602 , a running average of t - wave energies of all non - ectopic sinus beats is updated ( e averagesinus ). by normalizing the t - wave energy value , any differences in t - wave energy arising solely from different intrinsic depolarization signal voltages are thereby eliminated . if “ paced ”, then , at step 603 , the detection system first determines whether the t - wave was the result of a fused beat and , if so , the t - wave is ignored . to detect fusion , a paced depolarization integral ( pdi ) value ( or other measure of the evoked response ) may be calculated within an evoked response window then compared against acceptable bounds . if the pdi is outside acceptable bounds , then either the paced beat was not captured or fusion occurred . with this technique , a wider than normal evoked response detection window is preferably employed . the size of the window and the acceptable bounds may be determined via routine testing . other suitable techniques can be used for detecting fusion as well such as those described in u . s . pat . no . 6 , 456 , 881 to bornzin , et al ., which is incorporated by reference herein . then , at step 604 , the detection system then normalizes the t - wave energy value ( assuming the t - wave is not ignored ) based again on some measure of the evoked response , such as pdi , or on a maximum of the derivative of the evoked response ( dmax ). pdi is discussed in u . s . pat . no . 5 , 643 , 327 to dawson , et al ., which is also incorporated herein by reference . note that , if the paced beat is not captured , its energy is zero and it is also ignored . at 605 , a running average of the normalized t - wave energy for non - fused paced beats is updated ( e averagepaced ). the corresponding running average is based on some fixed number of previous t - waves , such as the two hundred t - waves . at step 606 , a running average of the maximum slope is updated ( e averagemaxslope ). then , at step 608 , differences are calculated between the latest value for the t - wave energy and its corresponding running average and between the latest value of the maximum slope and its corresponding running average . at step 610 , the calculated differences are compared against predetermined threshold values ( t pacedbeatenergy , t sinusbeatenergy , t maxslope ) to identify the onset of an episode of cardiac ischemia and to subsequently identify the termination of the episode . for example , the following logic may be used to detect the onset of an episode of ischemia : the following logic may be used to detect the termination of an episode of ischemia : preferably , though , the determination of whether an episode of ischemia has commenced is not based on a single instance of one of the thresholds being exceeded , but is based on some predetermined number of beats for which one or more thresholds is exceeded . a state machine may be employed to implement logic for determining when to enter and when to exit an ischemia alarm state based on some predetermined number of beats for which some combination of thresholds are exceeded . details of such as state machine may be found in the wang et al . patent application referenced above . in addition , although described with reference to an example wherein the device examines either t - wave energy or maximum t - wave slope or both , other combinations of features may be exploited . for example , the device may calculate a product of t - wave energy and maximum t - wave slope , which is then compared against suitable thresholds . alternatively , the average of the slope of the t - wave may instead be exploited . additionally , or in the alternative , the slope of the st - segment may be used as a basis for detecting the onset of cardiac ischemia , as it has been found that the slope of the st - segment is generally elevated during ischemia . accordingly , either maximum or average slope of the st - segment ( or of a period of time including both the st - segment and the t - wave ) may be examined for the purposes of detecting ischemia . in general , a wide variety of techniques can be implemented consistent with the principles the invention and no attempt is made herein to describe all possible techniques . although described primarily with reference to an example wherein the implanted device is a defibrillation / pacer , principles of the invention are applicable to other implantable medical devices as well . the various functional components of the exemplary systems may be implemented using any appropriate technology including , for example , microprocessors running software programs or application specific integrated circuits ( asics ) executing hard - wired logic operations . the exemplary embodiments of the invention described herein are merely illustrative of the invention and should not be construed as limiting the scope of the invention .	0
in the following detailed description , only certain exemplary embodiment of the present invention has been shown and described , simply by way of illustration . as those skilled in the art would realize , the described embodiments may be modified in various different ways , all without departing from the spirit or scope of the present invention . accordingly , the drawings and description are to be regarded as illustrative in nature , and not restrictive . fig3 is a circuit diagram of a multiplying analog to digital converter ( mdac ) according to a first embodiment of the present invention . the mdac is provided in a like manner to a mdac in each stage of a multipath pipelined analog to digital converter ( adc ) according to an embodiment of the present invention , and thus a detailed description of the mdac in each stage will be omitted . hereinafter , the mdac according to a first embodiment of the present invention will be described . referring to fig3 , the mdac includes a digital to analog converter ( dac ) 100 and an amplifier 200 . the dac 100 includes a first capacitor array ( c 1 to c n ) 110 , a second capacitor array ( c 1b to c nb ) 120 , first selection circuits s 1 to s n , and second selection circuits s 1b to s nb . the amplifier 200 includes a first amplifier a 1 , a second amplifier a 2 , compensation capacitors c c and c cb , feedback capacitors c f and c fb , and switches sw 3 , sw 3b , sw 4 , sw 4b , and sw 5 . typically , an n - bit mdac requires 2 n capacitors . ‘ n ’ in the capacitor arrays represents 2 n , and ‘ n ’ represents a number of bits of a digital signal to be converted in each stage according to the first embodiment of the present invention . in the dac 100 , first ends of capacitors c 1 to c n in the first capacitor array 110 are respectively coupled to the first selection circuits s 1 to s n . meanwhile , first ends of capacitors c 1b to c bn in the second capacity array 120 are respectively coupled to the second selection circuits s 1b to s nb . second ends of the first and second capacitor arrays 110 and 120 are coupled to an input end of the first amplifier a 1 , and an output end of the first amplifier a 1 is directly coupled to an input end of the second amplifier . the respective first selection circuits s 1 to s n include the switches sw 1 and sw 2 , receive a clock signal during a sampling period , and apply an analog input voltage v in + to the first capacitor array 110 through the switch sw 1 . in addition , the respective first selection circuits s 1 to s n receive an n - bit digital signal from a sub - analog to digital converter ( sub - adc ) during a holding period and apply a positive reference voltage v ref + or a negative reference voltage v ref − to the first capacitor array 110 through the switch sw 2 . herein , the positive reference voltage v ref + is applied to the first capacitor array 110 when the digital signal is set to be ‘ 1 ’, and the negative reference voltage v ref + is applied thereto when the digital signal is set to be ‘ 0 ’. all elements in the second selection circuit are connected between those , and are operated , as those in the first selection circuit which are arranged with the second selection circuit in a like manner . however , the negative reference voltage v ref − is applied to the first capacitor array 110 when the digital signal is set to be ‘ 1 ’, and the positive reference voltage v ref + is applied to the first capacitor array when the digital signal is set to be ‘ 0 ’ in the second selection circuits . in the amplifier 200 of the mdac , a first end of the switch sw 3 is coupled to the second end of the first capacitor array 110 and the input end of the first amplifier a 1 , and a second end of the switch sw 3 is coupled to a first end of the switch sw 4 and the output end of the first amplifier a 1 . a second end of the switch sw 4 is coupled to a first end of the compensation capacitor c c , and a second end of the c c is coupled to an output end of the second amplifier a 2 . the feedback capacitor c f is coupled to the first end of the switch sw 3 and the second end of the compensation capacitor c c . operations of the switches sw 3b , the switch sw 4b , the compensation capacitor c cb , and the feedback capacitor c fb correspond to operations of the corresponding switch sw 3 , the switch sw 3 , the capacitor cc , and the feedback capacitor c fb . an operation of the mdac will be described with respect to a clock holding period φ 1 and a clock sampling period φ 2 according to the first embodiment of the present invention . during the clock sampling period φ 2 , the first capacitor array 110 is coupled to an output voltage v in + of a previous stage through the switch sw 1 of the first selection circuit , and stores the output voltage v in + . herein , the switch sw 2 is turned off and thus the positive reference voltage v ref + or the negative reference voltage v ref − is no longer applied to the first capacitor array 110 , a first offset voltage v os1 is applied to another end of the first capacitor array 110 , and the switches sw 3 and sw 5 are turned on , and the switch sw 4 is turned off . during the clock holding period φ 1 , in the first capacity array 110 , the switch sw 1 of the first selection circuit is switched to the switch sw 2 by the output voltage v in + , and the positive reference voltage v ref + or the negative reference voltage v ref − is applied to the switch sw 2 . herein , each capacitor in the first capacitor array 110 is applied with the positive reference voltage v ref + or the negative reference voltage v ref − depending on a digital output value of the sub - adc . the switch sw 3 is turned off and the switch sw 4 is turned on . an output from the output end of the amplifier is obtained by charge redistribution between the first capacitor array 110 and the feedback capacitor c f . the compensation capacitor c c maintains stability in a loop by obtaining a phase margin in a multistage amplifier . the operation of the mdac will be described with reference to the following equations that are related to the charge redistribution according to the first embodiment of the present invention in the assumption that values of the capacitors in the capacitor array are given to be c . as shown in fig3 , the mdac turns off the switches sw 4 and sw 4b during the sampling period φ 2 , and thus an offset voltage in the input end of the first amplifier 110 is fed back and stored in the capacitor array to remove the offset voltage . therefore , charges q 2 sampled in the capacitor array during the sampling period φ 2 are given as equation 1 : q 2 =( v os1 − v in ) nc + v os1 c f [ equation 1 ] where v in is an input voltage , n is a number of the capacitors in the capacitor array , v os1 is a first offset voltage , and c f is the feedback capacitor . charges q 1 stored in the capacitor array and the feedback capacitor c f during the holding period φ 1 is given as equation 2 : q ⁢ ⁢ 1 = ⁢ ( v x - v out ) ⁢ c f + ⁢ ( v x - v ref ) ⁢ mc ⁡ ( v x + v ref ) ⁢ ( n - m ) ⁢ c = ⁢ ( v x - v out ) ⁢ c f + v x ⁢ nc + v ref ⁡ ( n - 2 ⁢ m ) ⁢ c = ⁢ v x ⁡ ( nc + c f ) + v ref ⁡ ( n - 2 ⁢ m ) ⁢ c - v out ⁢ c f [ equation ⁢ ⁢ 2 ] where v x is a voltage at the output end of the capacitor array , v out is a voltage at the output end of the mdac , v ref is the reference voltage , and m is a number of the capacitors in the capacitor array coupled to the negative reference voltage v ref − ( 0 ≦ m ≦ n ). the charges in each phase are identical , and therefore q 1 is equal to q 2 . accordingly , equation 3 is derived from equation 1 and equation 2 : v in nc = v os1 ( nc + c f )− v x ( nc + c f )− v ref ( n − 2 m ) c + v out c f . [ equation 3 ] the output voltage v out is given as equation 4 : v out =−[( v x − v os1 ) a 1 − v os2 ] a 2 =−( v x − v os ) a [ equation 4 ] accordingly , the voltage v x is given as equation 5 , which is derived from equation 4 : when a gain a of the multistage amplifier having the first and second amplifiers is set to be great enough , v x = v os is satisfied . thus , the output voltage v out of the mdac is given as equation 6 . herein , v x = v os is substituted to equation 3 : herein , v os =( v os1 + v os2 / a 1 ). thus , when the gain a 1 of the first amplifier is set to be great , v os2 / a 1 becomes zero , and v os =( v os1 + v os2 / a 1 )≈ v os1 . in this case , ( v os − v os1 )( nc + c f )/ c f is deleted in equation 6 , and thus the effect of the offset voltage is removed . in other words , the offset voltage is removed by setting the gain a 1 of the first amplifier to be high in the multistage amplifier to prevent degradation of resolution . according to the first embodiment of the present invention , the offset is deleted by using the first amplifier in the two - stage amplifier . thus , it is possible to design a multistage amplifier that satisfies characteristics of a feedback loop varying in the sampling and holding periods φ 2 and φ 1 . in other words , the feedback loop is configured with the first amplifier during the sampling period φ 2 to store the offset while obtaining a high phase margin because load of the amplifier is low and a feedback gain is high during the sampling period φ 2 . however , the feedback loop is configured with the first and second amplifiers during the holding period φ 1 to obtain a high gain because the load of the amplifier is high and the feedback gain is low during the holding period φ 1 . during the sampling period φ 2 , power consumption is minimized by intercepting a portion or an entire current to the second amplifier . thus , the mdac according to the first exemplary embodiment of the present invention may achieve the feedback loop as a single - stage during the sampling period φ 2 by turning off the switch sw 4 to intercept the compensation capacitor c c . thus , operation of the first amplifier may be maximized . the mdac uses only the first amplifier of the multistage amplifier during the sampling period to delete the offset to thereby gain a larger phase margin . therefore , the mdac is not affected by the offset voltage of the amplifier , and an output voltage of the mdac in this case is given as equation 7 : v out =[ v in − v ref ( 2 m / n − 1 )]× nc / c f . [ equation 7 ] as shown in equation 7 , the mdac substrates v ref ( 2m / n − 1 ) from an input voltage v in according to values of n and m , and amplifies the subtraction output of the mdac by nc / c f . the values of n and m are determined by a digital output of the sub - adc . the operation of the mdac has been described with reference to the first capacitor array 110 , the first selection circuit , the switch sw 3 , the switch sw 4 , and the compensation capacitor c c , but operations of the corresponding second capacitor array 120 , the second selection circuit , the switch sw 3b , the switch sw 4b , and the compensation capacitor c cb correspond to the operations of the first selection circuit , the switch sw 3 , the switch sw 4 , and the compensation capacitor c c , and therefore , no corresponding descriptions will be provided . with reference to fig4 , an mdac according to a second embodiment of the present invention will be described . fig4 is a circuit diagram of the mdac according to the second embodiment of the present invention . as shown therein , the mdac includes a dac 100 which corresponds to the dac in the first embodiment of the present invention , and an amplifier 300 . the amplifier 300 includes a first amplifier a 1 , a second amplifier a 2 , first compensation capacitors c c1 and c cb1 , second compensation capacitors c c2 and c cb2 , feedback capacitors c f and c fb , and switches sw 3 , sw 3b , sw 4 , sw 4b , and sw 5 . a first end of the switch sw 3 is coupled to input ends of the first capacitor array 110 and the first amplifier a 1 , and a second end thereof is coupled to an output end of the second amplifier a 2 . a first end of the switch sw 4 is coupled to an output end of the first amplifier a 1 and a first end of the first compensation capacitor c c1 , and a second end thereof is coupled to a first end of the second compensation capacitor c c2 . a first end of the first compensation capacitor c c1 is coupled to an input end of the second amplifier a 2 , and a second end thereof is coupled to the output end of the second compensation capacitor c c2 . the first end of the second compensation capacitor c c2 is coupled to the second end of the switch sw 4 , and a second end thereof is coupled to the output end of the second amplifier a 2 and the second end of the switch sw 3 . a first end of the feedback capacitor c f is coupled to the first end of the switch sw 3 , and a second end thereof is coupled to the second end of the switch sw 3 . connections between the first compensation capacitor c c1 the second compensation capacitor c c2 , the feedback capacitor c f , and the switches sw 3 and sw 4 are applied in a like manner to the corresponding first capacitor c cb1 , the corresponding second compensation capacitor c cb2 , the corresponding feedback capacitor c fb , and the corresponding switches sw 3b and sw 4b . an operation of the mdac according to the second embodiment of the present invention will be described in more detail . an operation of the dac 100 according to the second embodiment of the present invention is the same as the operation of the dac 100 according to the first embodiment of the present invention . the amplifier 300 will now be described in more detail . during a clock sampling period φ 2 , an input voltage v in + is stored in the first capacitor array 110 through the first selection circuit . herein , the switches sw 3 , sw 4 , and sw 5 are turned on . the input voltage v in + is intercepted , and a positive reference voltage v ref + or a negative reference voltage v ref − is applied to the first capacitor array 110 during a clock holding period φ 1 . a digital output value determines whether to apply the positive reference voltage v ref + or the negative reference voltage v ref − to the first capacitor array 110 , and the switches sw 3 and sw 4 are turned off . the operation of the mdac according to the second embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the following charge redistribution equations . in the mdac , an output end of the amplifier is fed back to an input end thereof through the switches sw 3 and sw 3b during the sampling period φ 2 to store an offset . in this case , charges q 2 sampled in the capacitor row during the sampling are given in equation 8 : the operation of the mdac during the sampling and holding periods is similar to the first embodiment of the present invention , and accordingly , equation 2 to equation 5 are applied to the operation of the mdac according to the second embodiment of the present invention . thus , an output voltage of the mdac according to the second embodiment of the present invention is given in equation 9 : when comparing equation 9 to equation 6 , an offset still partially exists , but it is not amplified . the compensation capacitor according to the second embodiment includes the first compensation capacitors c c1 and c cb2 and the second compensation capacitors c c2 and c cb2 in a parallel connection , as shown in fig4 . the switch sw 4 controls the connection of the second compensation capacitors c c2 and c cb2 , and switches the size of the compensation capacitor in each phase . in other words , the size of the compensation capacitor is switched in each phase in the mdac structure according to the second embodiment of the present invention . thus , the amplifier may be designed to satisfy variable characteristics of the loop in each phase . in more detail , since feedback factors are low during the holding period , the switches sw 4 and sw 4b are turned off to reduce capacity of a phase compensation capacitor for high frequency response to thereby increase operation speed . when a unit - gain feedback can be made , the switches sw 4 and sw 4b are turned on to reduce the frequency to gain the phase margin . referring to fig5 , a mdac according to a third embodiment of the present invention will be described . fig5 is a circuit diagram of the mdac according to the third embodiment of the present invention . as shown therein , the mdac includes a dac 100 and an amplifier 400 . the dac 100 is similar to the dac 100 according to the first embodiment of the present invention , and thus a detailed description will be omitted . the amplifier 400 includes a first capacitor array 110 , a first amplifier a 1 , a second amplifier a 2 , compensation capacitors c c and c cb , feedback capacitor c f and c fb , switches sw 3 , sw 3b , and sw 4 , and a bias control 410 . in the amplifier 400 , a first end of the switch sw 3 is coupled to inputs of the first capacitor array 110 and the first amplifier a 1 , and a second end thereof is coupled to an output end of the second amplifier a 2 . a first end of the compensation capacitor cc is coupled to an input end of the second amplifier a 2 , and a second end thereof is coupled to t the output of the second amplifier a 2 . the bias control 410 is coupled to the first ends of the first and second amplifiers a 1 and a 2 . the switch sw 3b , the compensation capacitor c cb , and the feedback capacitor c fb are coupled to each other in the same way as the switch sw 3 , the compensation capacitor cc , and the feedback capacitor c f are coupled . an operation of the mdac according to the third embodiment of the present invention will be described in more detail . the operation of the mdac will be focused to an operation of the amplifier 400 because the dac 100 is similar to the operation of the dac according to the first embodiment of the present invention . during a clock sampling period φ 2 , an input voltage v in + is stored in the first capacitor array 110 through the first selection circuit . herein , the switches sw 3 and sw 4 are turned on . during a clock holding period φ 1 , the input voltage v in + is intercepted , the first capacitor array 110 is coupled to a positive reference voltage v ref + or a negative reference voltage v ref − through the first selection circuit , and the switches sw 3 and sw 4 are turned off . herein , the first capacitor array 110 is coupled to the positive reference voltage v ref + or a negative reference voltage v ref − depending on a digital output of a sub - adc . according to the third embodiment of the present invention , a current flowing to first and second amplifiers is changed between the sampling period and the holding period ( amplifying period ) through the bias control 410 coupled to the first and second amplifiers . gains of the first and second amplifiers become differentiated by the change of the current flow between the sampling period and the holding period ( amplifying period ). thus , it is possible to design an amplifier that satisfies characteristics of the loop that varies in each phase . in more detail , the current flowing to the first amplifier is reduced and the current flowing to the second amplifier is increased during the sampling period to gain the phase margin since the feedback factors are high during the sampling period . during the holding period , the current flowing to the first amplifier is increase and the current flowing to the second amplifier is reduced to maximize the operation speed and minimize power consumption since the feedback factors are low during the holding period . in addition , an amount of the current flowing one of the first and second amplifiers is set to be fixed and a current flowing to the other amplifier is set to be periodically changed to thereby control the currents with ease . as previously described , the multipath adc removes the offset without requiring an additional offset calibration circuit according to the embodiments of the present invention . the adc exploiting the mdac removes the offset voltage while gaining the phase margin . while this invention has been described in connection with what is presently considered to be practical exemplary embodiments , it is to be understood that the invention is not limited to the disclosed embodiments , but , on the contrary , is intended to cover various modifications and equivalent arrangements included within the spirit and scope of the appended claims .	7
below , preferred embodiments of the present invention will be explained with reference to the accompanying drawings . in the following explanations , “ shared channel ” is used to indicate a downlink channel for high - speed data communication and shared by a number of mobile stations , such as dsch ( including hs - dsch ). further , in the following explanations , although hs - dsch is used to explain the shared channel , the present invention is not limited to hs - dsch ; it is applicable to any shared channels having the same concept . [ 0042 ] fig1 is a conceptual view for explaining a channel structure of a mobile communication system related to the first embodiment of the present invention . it is shown in fig1 that a radio base station 100 performs radio communication with three mobile stations a 201 , b 202 , and c 203 . the mobile communication system shown in fig1 for example , is a w - cdma communication system , and the radio base station 100 is equipped with a transmitting antenna able to control the beam direction to each mobile station ( mobile stations a 201 , b 202 , and c 203 ), for example , an adaptive array antenna . fig1 shows downlink packet transmission from the radio base station 100 , and mobile stations a 201 , b 202 , and c 203 share hs - dsch allocated by the radio base station 100 , and are adapted to be able to receive high speed downlink packet data . in the channel structure of the present invention , the radio base station 100 allocates the secondary common pilot channel , that is , s - cpich , only to mobile station 201 to which hs - dsch has been allocated . at mobile station 201 to which s - cpich is allocated , channel estimation , coherent , and data restoration are performed using the received s - cpich . at mobile stations 202 and 203 to which hs - dsch is not allocated , channel estimation and other reception processing functions are performed by using dedicated pilots arranged in a dedicated channel ( in this example , it is a - dpch , associated dedicated channel ). [ 0046 ] fig2 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of a transmitting end of the radio base station 100 shown in fig1 . the radio base station 100 related to the first embodiment of the present invention allocates s - cpich only to mobile station 201 to which hs - dsch has been allocated . the transmitting end of the radio base station 100 shown in fig1 is comprised of a scheduling unit 11 , a - dpch transmitting - signal processing units 12 through 14 , an hs - dsch transmitting signal processing unit 15 , an s - cpich transmitting signal processing unit 16 , accumulators 17 through 19 , weight generators 20 through 22 , weight multipliers 23 through 25 , a radio transmitter 26 , and transmitting antennas 27 , through 27 n . next , operation of the transmitting end of the radio base station 100 having the above configuration will be explained . the thick arrows in fig2 indicate the state of parallel input and output of a number of signal sequences related to the transmitting antennas 27 1 through 27 n . here , it is assumed that user data no . 1 through no . 3 from mobile station users ( here , denoted as user no . 1 through user no . 3 ) are separately input to an input port 1 . further , a - dpch transmitting signal processing units 12 through 14 are respectively allocated to all mobile stations able to receive hs - dsch . here , it is assumed there are three mobile stations that can receive hs - dsch . thus , each user ( user no . 1 , no . 2 , and no . 3 ) is equipped with respective a - dpch transmitting signal processing units 12 through 14 . the scheduling unit 11 decides the order of transmission of data in user data no . 1 , no . 2 , or no . 3 , and switches the user data ( no . 1 , no . 2 , no . 3 ) to be output to the hs - dsch transmitting signal processing unit 15 . once user data decided by the scheduling unit 11 is input to the hs - dsch transmitting signal processing unit 15 , in the hs - dsch transmitting signal processing unit 15 , the user data is coded in block , and is spread by using channelization codes . the spread user data is added to the a - dpch to be transmitted at this moment and is output to a weight multiplier . for example , if the spread user data output from the hs - dsch transmitting signal processing unit 15 is user data no . 1 , in the accumulator 17 , user data no . 1 is added to a - dpch output from the a - dpch transmitting signal processing unit 12 . a - dpch transmitting signal processing units 12 and 13 convert the dedicated pilot bits , data bits , and the other control bits into blocks , then spread them by using channelization codes ( usually the orthogonal code series ). the spread a - dpch transmission signals are output to accumulators 17 through 19 . in weight generators 20 through 22 , weight coefficients ( antenna weights ) are generated so that directions of transmitting beams emitted from transmitting antennas 27 1 through 27 n are in good coincidence with directions of mobile stations . concerning methods for generating those weights , for example , the uplink receiving signals may be used to do that , but any other methods may also be used if they are able to generate weight coefficients making the beams point to the mobile stations . in s - cpich transmitting signal processing unit 16 , data bits in an s - cpich pattern ( as a pilot channel , the pattern is preset ) are spread by using channelization codes . the transmitting signals output from the s - cpich transmitting signal processing unit 16 are added to the user data at a certain moment decided by the scheduling unit 11 , and to a - dpch and hs - dsch used by the user data . for example , in weight multiplier 23 , the signal summed at the accumulator 17 is multiplied by the weight factor generated by the weight generator 20 . signals output from weight multiplier 23 are shaped and frequency transformation is carried out in the radio transmitter 26 . then these signals are sent to transmitting antennas 27 1 through 27 n . in transmitting antennas 27 1 through 27 n , the transmitting beams are emitted pointing in the direction of the mobile station . note that , for mobile stations to which hs - dsch is not allocated , only a - dpch is present , and transmission can be done by processing a - dpch in the same way as above . [ 0054 ] fig3 is view showing an example of a time - varying transmission allocation of channels in the radio base station 100 related to the first embodiment of the present invention . as shown in fig3 in each time section ( t1 , t2 , t3 , . . . ), a - dpch is transmitted successively to mobile station users no . 1 through no . 3 , while hs - dsch is transmitted to selected users because of the scheduling function of the scheduling unit 11 . further , s - cpich is transmitted in association with hs - dsch of the selected users , and is used as a pilot channel of hs - dsch . [ 0055 ] fig4 is a view of a sequence showing an example of signal exchange between a mobile station and a radio network controller that is the host node of the radio base station 100 of the first embodiment of the present invention . as shown in fig4 for example , a mobile station makes a request for communication using hs - dsch to the radio network controller ( communication setting request ). receiving this request , the radio network controller gives back a response of accepting the request ( communication setting response ), and notifies the mobile station of various setting conditions relevant to a - dpch or hs - dsch ( mobile communication setting ). after the step of mobile communication setting , that is , notices from the radio network controller , is finished , the mobile station starts communication . [ 0056 ] fig5 is a view showing an example of information elements of mobile communication setting in the sequence shown in fig4 . as shown in fig5 among the information elements , neither p - cpich nor s - cpich is used as the phase reference signal of a - dpch ( indicated as “ not allowed ” in the column of “ setting value ” in fig5 ), but use is made of the dedicated pilots arranged in a - dpch . furthermore , it is shown in the relevant information elements that not p - cpich but s - cpich is used as the pilot channel of hs - dsch . note that , as shown in the relevant information elements , when s - cpich is used , replacement is possible by writing down its code number . as shown above , according to the first embodiment , because the radio base station uses s - cpich as a pilot channel to transmit only to the mobile station to which hs - dsch has been allocated , it is possible to save transmission electric power and code resources , and increase the system capacity . the radio base station related to present embodiment has essentially the same configuration as that of the first embodiment . fig6 is a view showing an example of a time - varying transmission allocation of s - cpich allocated at the radio base station according to the second embodiment of the present invention . in the second embodiment of the present invention , s - cpich is allocated for every k transmission blocks in a time interval in which a mobile station measures the downlink quality . of course , as shown in the first embodiment , s - cpich may be transmitted to the mobile station to which hs - dsch has been allocated . as shown above , according to the second embodiment , because s - cpich is allocated in a time interval in which a mobile station measures the downlink quality , and in the time section for hs - dsch transmission , shortage of the transmission electric power and code resources due to usage of s - cpich can be limited , and this enables incrementing of system capacity and improvement of communication quality . [ 0062 ] fig7 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of a receiving end of a mobile station ( for example , the mobile station 201 shown in fig1 ) related to the third embodiment of the present invention . the receiving end of the mobile station shown in fig7 is comprised of a receiving antenna 51 , a radio receiver 52 , an a - dpch despreading unit 53 , an s - cpich despreading unit 54 , an hs - dsch despreading unit 55 , a channel ( ch ) estimation unit ( a - dpch ) 56 , a ch estimation unit ( s - cpich ) 57 , an a - dpch coherent detecting unit 58 , an hs - dsch coherent detecting unit 59 , an a - dpch data processing unit 60 , and an hs - dsch data processing unit 61 . next , operation of the receiving end of the mobile station having the above configuration will be explained . as shown in fig7 radio signals received at the receiving antenna 51 are transformed in frequency , and are shaped , sampled and quantized in the radio receiver 52 , and then are input to the respective despreading units 53 , 54 , 55 of a - dpch , s - cpich , and hs - dsch . in the despreading units 53 , 54 , 55 , by multiplying the spreading code of each channel , a symbol sequence of each channel ( despread signals ) is obtained . the a - dpch despread signals output from the a - dpch despreading unit 53 are input to the ch estimation unit ( a - dpch ) 56 and the a - dpch coherent detecting unit 58 . in the ch estimation unit ( a - dpch ) 56 , the dedicated pilots of a - dpch are extracted . by going back to the known phase patterns of the extracted pilots and taking their average , an estimated channel value is obtained . while , the s - cpich despread signals output from the s - cpich despreading unit 54 are input to the ch estimation unit ( s - cpich ) 57 , and in the ch estimation unit ( s - cpich ) 57 , by going back to the known phase patterns of s - cpich and taking their average , an estimated channel value can be obtained . [ 0067 ] fig8 is a view showing a schematic configuration of the a - dpch coherent detecting unit 58 in the mobile station shown in fig7 . the a - dpch coherent detecting unit 58 shown in fig8 is comprised of a complex conjugate transformer 71 and a multiplier 72 . as shown in fig8 in the complex conjugate transformer 71 , complex conjugate transformation is carried out for the estimated channel value input from the ch estimation unit ( a - dpch ) 56 . then in the multiplier 72 , the transformed estimated channel value is multiplied with the a - dpch despread signals output from the a - dpch despreading unit 53 , thereby being restored to the a - dpch data symbol . [ 0068 ] fig9 is a view showing a schematic configuration of the hs - dsch coherent detecting unit 59 in the mobile station shown in fig7 . the hs - dsch coherent detecting unit 59 shown in fig7 is comprised of multipliers 81 , 82 , 85 , an accumulator 83 , and a complex conjugate transformer 84 . as shown in fig9 the accumulator 83 adds the product from the multiplier 81 of the estimated channel value output from the ch estimation unit ( a - dpch ) 56 and the weight coefficient α , and the product from the multiplier 82 of the estimated channel value output from the ch estimation unit ( s - cpich ) 57 and the weight coefficient 1 - α , so an estimated channel value is obtained . the weight coefficient α shown in fig9 is a weight coefficient of the estimated channel value obtained from a - dpch , but the estimated channel value may also be obtained by using s - cpich only ( setting α as 0 ). in this case , since it is possible to omit the element block for inputting the estimated channel value obtained from the channel estimation unit ( a - dpch ) 56 in the hs - dsch coherent detecting unit 59 , the hs - dsch coherent detecting unit 59 can be configured relatively easily . as shown above , in the complex conjugate transformer 84 , the complex conjugate transformation is carried out for the estimated channel value combined in the accumulator 83 ( or the estimated channel value obtained from the ch estimation unit ( s - cpich )), and then in the multiplier 85 , the transformed estimated channel value is multiplied with the hs - dsch despread signals output from the hs - dsch despreading unit 55 , thereby being restored to the hs - dsch data symbol . [ 0071 ] fig1 is a view schematically showing receiving signals of s - cpich and hs - dsch along the time axis when one block of hs - dsch is allocated to a mobile station . the time interval t shown in fig1 is a time interval in which the transmission block of hs - dsch is allocated to a mobile station . the mobile station estimates channels by using s - cpich despread signals only in the same time interval . as shown above , according to the third embodiment , s - cpich is used when a mobile station detects coherent of hs - dsch . that is , channel estimation is performed by using s - cpich only that is transmitted in a time interval in which s - cpich is at the same direction as that of hs - dsch transmitted to the mobile station , therefore it is possible to prevent signal deterioration due to averaging of signals of different directions , and high accuracy of channel estimation is obtainable . as a result , it is possible to avoid the degradation of communication quality . [ 0074 ] fig1 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of a receiving end of a mobile station related to the fourth embodiment of the present invention . the receiving end of the mobile station shown in fig1 has essentially the same configuration as that of the third embodiment , except that a downlink quality measuring unit 62 is provided in the present embodiment . next , operation of the receiving end of the mobile station having the above configuration will be explained . the downlink quality measuring unit 62 measures the quality of the s - cpich despread signals output from the s - cpich despreading unit 54 . for example , it calculates the sir ( signal to interference power ratio ) of s - cpich . the downlink quality value ( for example , sir ) measured by the downlink quality measuring unit 62 is output to a radio transmitter ( not shown ) of the mobile station for transmission to the radio base station 100 . [ 0078 ] fig1 is a view schematically showing a receiving sequence of s - cpich along the time axis in a mobile station . the time intervals t0 , t1 shown in fig1 are time intervals in which s - cpich is allocated to a mobile station . further , t0 indicates one of the times when transmission of s - cpich to the mobile station starts . as shown in fig1 , the mobile station is first notified via the radio network controller , and based on t0 , t1 , and t0 , the above downlink quality is measured by using the s - cpich despread signals only in the time interval from t = t0 + nt1 to t = t0 + nt1 + t0 ( n is an integer ). as shown above , according to the fourth embodiment , the radio base station is able to allocate s - cpich only in the time intervals for the downlink quality measurement by mobile stations , and in the time intervals for hs - dsch transmission , therefore shortage of transmission electric power and code resources due to usage of s - cpich can be limited , and this enables incrementing of system capacity and improvement of communication quality . in the above example , the pilot channel setting function of the radio base station 100 corresponds to the pilot channel setting unit , the first pilot channel setting unit , and the second pilot channel setting unit . the weight generating function of the weight generator 20 corresponds to the beam direction controlling unit . in addition , the channel estimation function of the ch estimation unit ( a - dpch ) 56 and the ch estimation unit ( s - cpich ) 57 corresponds to the channel estimation unit , the first channel estimation unit , and the second channel estimation unit . further , the function of downlink quality measurement of the downlink quality measuring unit 62 corresponds to the downlink quality measuring unit . while the present invention has been described with reference to specific embodiments chosen for purpose of illustration , it should be apparent that the invention is not limited to these embodiments , but numerous modifications could be made thereto by those skilled in the art without departing from the basic concept and scope of the invention . summarizing the effect of the invention , as it has been clearly shown above , according to the present invention , because the radio base station allocates a common pilot channel able to provide sufficient power to channel estimation only for demodulation of the shared channel , it is possible to limit transmission power of the common pilot channel . as a result , downlink interference can be reduced , and degradation of system capacity can be prevented . further , in a mobile station , because the above common pilot channel is used for demodulation of the received shared channel , it is possible to improve the accuracy of channel estimation and communication quality . this patent application is based on japanese priority patent application no . 2002 - 059444 filed on mar . 5 , 2002 , the entire contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference .	7
the present invention is illustrated in detail with the following examples , which should not be construed as limiting the scope of the invention . into a 3 - liter jacketed separable flask equipped with a stirrer and a condenser were charged 20 . 22 g of anhydrous aluminium chloride , 400 . 5 g of p - cymene and 300 g of cyclohexane , and vigorously stirred . then , a mixture of 126 g of 2 , 3 - dimethyl - 1 - butene , 156 . 9 g of t - butyl chloride and 300 g of cyclohexane was added dropwise to the resulting suspension over a period of 1 . 5 hours while maintaining the temperature of the suspension at 20 ° c ., to carry out the reaction . the reaction mixture was stirred at the same temperature for another 10 minutes and then allowed to stand to separate tar , whereby an organic layer was obtained . the organic layer was washed successively with 600 g of water , 600 g of a 1 % aqueous sodium hydroxide solution and 600 g of water . the solvent was removed from the organic layer by distillation at atmospheric pressure , after which the excess p - cymene was recovered under reduced pressure . thus , 251 . 6 g of crude hmt with a purity of 86 . 0 % was obtained . in a 500 - ml jacketed separable flask equipped with a stirrer and a condenser were placed 40 . 0 g of the hmt with a purity of 86 . 0 % and 80 g of methanol . then , the mixture in the flask was heated under reflux for 1 hour , after which the temperature of the mixture was reduced at a rate of 1 ° c . per 3 minutes . when the temperature became 55 ° c ., 0 . 1 g of seed crystals of hmt were added . subsequently , the temperature of the resulting mixture was reduced at a rate of 1 ° c . per 6 minutes . the mixture was stirred at 0 ° c . for 1 hour , after which the precipitate thus formed was filtered by suction through a buchner funnel . after the filtration , the precipitate was washed with 20 g of methanol . in this case , the stirring was vigorously conducted so as to prevent hmt and the solvent from separating into two layers . the crystals thus obtained were collected and the solvent was allowed to evaporate by means of a vacuum pump . the amount of the purified hmt thus obtained was 30 . 30 g , its purity 99 . 4 %, and the recovery of hmt 87 . 7 %. the solvent was recovered from the filtrate , whereby 8 . 88 g of an oil was obtained . the hmt content of the oil was 48 . 1 %. in a 500 - ml jacketed separable flask equipped with a stirrer and a condenser were p1aced 40 . 0 g cf hmt with a purity of 86 . 0 %, 64 g of methanol and 16 . 0 g of ethanol . then , the mixture in the flask was heated while refluxing methanol , to dissolve hmt . the temperature of the mixture was reduced at a rate of 1 ° c . per 3 minutes . when the temperature became 55 ° c ., 0 . 1 g of seed crystals of hmt were added . then , the temperature of the resulting mixture was reduced at a rate of 1 ° c . per 6 minutes . the reaction mixture was stirred at 0 ° c . for 1 hour , after which the precipitate thus formed was filtered by suction through a buchner funnel . after the filtration , the precipitate was washed with 20 g of a mixed solvent of methanol and ethanol . during the above precipitation of crystals , the mixture was stirred at a slow rate at which crystals did not settle to the bottom of the flask . the crystals thus obtained were collected and the solvent was allowed to evaporate by means of a vacuum pump . the amount of the purified hmt thus obtained was 30 . 86 g , its purity 99 . 1 %, and the recovery of hmt 88 . 8 %. the solvent was recovered from the filtrate , whereby 8 . 94 g of an oil was obtained . the hmt content of the oil was 45 . 6 %. the same procedure as in example 2 was repeated except for stirring the mixture at such a rate at which crystals settled . the amount of the purified hmt thus obtained was 30 . 84 g , its purity 99 . 1 %, and the recovery of hmt 88 . 8 %. the solvent was recovered from the filtrate , whereby 9 . 25 g of an oil was obtained . the hmt content of the oil was 46 . 6 %. the same procedure as in example 3 was repeated except for changing the temperature at the addition of seed crystals and the final temperature to 50 ° c . and 10 ° c ., respectively . the amount of the purified hmt thus obtained was 31 . 25 g , its purity 99 . 2 %, and the recovery of hmt 90 . 1 %. the solvent was recovered from the filtrate , whereby 9 . 05 g of an oil was obtained . the hmt content of the oil was 40 . 5 %. in a 500 - ml jacketed separable flask equipped with a stirrer and a condenser were placed 40 . 0 g of hmt with a purity of 85 . 3 % and 80 g of methanol . then , the mixture in the flask was heated under reflux for 1 hour , after which the temperature of the mixture was reduced at a rate of 1 ° c . per 3 minutes . when the temperature became 55 ° c ., 0 . 1 g of seed crystals of hmt were added . subsequently , the temperature of the resulting mixture was reduced at a rate of 1 ° c . per 3 minutes . the mixture was stirred at 0 ° c . for 1 hour , after which the precipitate thus formed was filtered through a buchner funnel . during the above precipitation of crystals , the mixture was stirred at a slow rate at which crystals did not settle to the bottom of the flask . the crystals thus obtained were collected and the solvent was allowed to evaporate by means of a vacuum pump . the amount of the purified hmt thus obtained was 31 . 55 g , its purity 96 . 5 %, and the recovery of hmt 89 . 2 %. the same procedure as in example 5 was repeated except for using a mixed solvent of 64 g of methanol and 16 g of ethanol in place of methanol and changing the final temperature to 5 ° c . the purity of the purified hmt thus obtained was 98 . 6 %, and the recovery of hmt 88 . 5 %. the same procedure as in example 5 was repeated except for using a mixed solvent of 48 g of methanol and 12 g of ethanol in place of methanol . the purity of the purified hmt thus obtained was 96 . 3 %, and the recovery of hmt 87 . 0 %. the same procedure as in example 5 was repeated except for using a mixed solvent of 72 g of methanol and 8 g of isopropanol in place of methanol . the purity of the purified hmt thus obtained was 96 . 6 %, and the recovery of hmt 87 . 0 %. the same procedure as in example 5 was repeated except for using a mixed solvent of 54 g of methanol and 6 g of isopropanol in place of methanol . the purity of the purified hmt thus obtained was 96 . 7 %, and the recovery of hmt 89 . 3 %. the same procedure as in example 5 was repeated except for using a mixed solvent of 72 g of methanol and 8 g of ethylene chloride in place of methanol . the purity of the purified hmt thus obtained was 97 . 8 %, and the recovery of hmt 86 . 2 %. in a 500ml jacketed separable flask equipped with a stirrer and a condenser were placed 40 . 0 g of hmt with a purity of 86 . 0 % and 23 g of isopropanol . the mixture in the flask was heated under reflux for 1 hour , after which the temperature of the mixture was reduced at a rate of 1 ° c . per 3 minutes . when the temperature became 50 ° c ., 0 . 1 g of seed crystals of hmt were added . then , the temperature of the resulting mixture was reduced at a rate of 1 ° c . per 3 minutes . the mixture was stirred at 5 ° c . for 1 hour , after which the precipitate formed was filtered by suction through a buchner funnel . during the above precipitation of crystals , the mixture was stirred at such a rate at which crystals did not settle to the bottom of the flask . the crystals thus obtained were collected and the solvent was allowed to evaporate by means of a vacuum pump . the amount of the purified hmt thus obtained was 29 . 03 g , its purity 94 . 4 %, and the recovery of hmt 80 . 3 %.	2
as noted above , in accordance with the present invention cationic mercury is removed from an effluent by a reaction which enables the precipitation of elemental mercury therefrom . the present invention more particularly removes mercury chloride and other mercury salts such as mercury sulfate , mercury acetate , mercury nitrate and the like from such mercury salt - containing effluent by the precipitation of mercury therefrom . the present invention is achieved by introducing aluminum into mercury salt - containing effluent to cause the precipitation therefrom of elemental mercury . the aluminum reacts with the mercury salt to free the mercury , as described below . the mercury , precipitates out of the water , as elemental mercury and is recovered therefrom . in practicing the present invention , the aluminum is introduced into the solution in any convenient form and , preferably , as aluminum foil . aluminum foil is of the type which is well - known and commercially available and may be of any suitable grade and suitable thickness including domestic or consumer grade as well as thin , industrial aluminum foil . preferably , and in order to provide sufficient surface area for the reaction between the aluminum and the mercury - containing salt , minute pieces of the foil are introduced into the aqueous effluent . preferably , the minute pieces have a minimize size of from about 1 to about 2 cm 2 . of course , it is to be understood that the size of the aluminum foil pieces is not critical hereto only that there be sufficient amounts thereof to provide adequate surface area for the reaction to proceed . the process is carried out , preferably , at room temperature and pressure , under normal ambient conditions . typically , the mercury salt - containing effluent - solution has the aluminum foil added thereto with stirring . typically , stirring will take place at from about 10 rpm to about 200 rpm , and , preferably , from about 25 rpm to about 100 rpm depending on the volume of water to be treated . ordinarily , and , again , depending on the quantity of water to be treated the reaction will proceed and be completed in a time period ranging from about one to about 12 hours . the amount of aluminum to be added to the waste water is in excess of stochiometric requirements so that the amount of available aluminum for reaction with the mercury salt is in excess of that which is required under stochiometric conditions . typically , generally from about 1 . 5 to about 2 . 0 molar excess amounts of aluminum is present per anion in the mercury - containing salt . in carrying out the reaction , the mercury precipitates out from a reaction vessel , as elemental mercury , which after decanting , can be recovered and washed several times . it is contemplated that by practicing the present invention that at least 99 . 9 percent of mercury present in any effluent as a salt can be recovered , if sufficient aluminum foil is added thereto . the present invention is contemplated as being useful in connection with any effluent which contains a mercury salt and has particular utility in the removal and recovery of mercury from b - 5 fixatives , pva fixative , schaudian &# 39 ; s fixative , as well as from environmental contaminant containing bodies such as bodies of water and soil or other sources containing mercury chloride in the mercuric form . however , the present invention will also be useful with mercurous forms of the cation , as denoted hereinabove . although not wishing to be bound by any theory it appears that when the aluminum is added to the mercury salt containing water there is formed mercury - aluminum amalgam which frees the anionic ion of the mercury salt , and which remains in the water phase . the mercury - aluminum amalgam , itself , appears to decompose into elemental mercury , aluminum hydroxide and aluminum oxide in the effluent . the aluminum being an electron donor donates its electrons to the mercury ions , as measured by the electromotive forces , to form the elemental mercury . moreover , the thus formed aluminum ion reacts with the water to form the hydroxide and oxide in solution . thus , within the effluent , upon introduction of the aluminum , elemental mercury and a mercury - aluminum oxide are being formed . as the reaction proceeds to final , all of the aluminum is consumed . it appears that there is an equilibrium reaction in the effluent as follows : where there exists about 0 . 003 %, by weight , of amalgam and about 99 . 997 % of elemental mercury . thus , as the reaction proceeds the elemental mercury precipitates out of solution . it should be noted that the time for the reaction to proceed can be accelerated by carbonyl addition to the effluent such as by aldehyde or ketone addition . suitable aldehydes include , for example , formaldehyde , acetaldehyde , propionaldehyde , and so forth , as well as mixtures thereof . suitable keatones include , for example , acetone , methyl ethyl ketone , ethyl ketone , and so forth , as well as mixtures thereof generally , from about 0 . 5 to about 5 . 0 parts , by volume , per 100 parts , by volume , of water in the effluent , and , preferably , about 1 to about 4 parts , by volume , of carbonyl - containing compound per 100 parts , by volume , of water in the effluent is employed , when used . where used , the preferred carbonyl - containing compound is formaldehyde , especially where the effluent is a mercury chloride - containing effluent . after the reaction with the foil is completed , the effluent is decanted and the elemental mercury is recovered . because the reaction does not recover 100 percent of the mercury , where necessary , further treatment of the decanted effluent may be conducted . in such instances , the effluent water is first rendered alkaline by introducing a quantity of alkaline material such as caustic soda , potassium hydroxide , sodium carbonate or the like into the water to raise the ph of the water to a ph ranging from about 11 . 5 to about 12 or greater to neutralize any acid or free ions , such as metal chloride ions , in the effluent and to promote precipitation the mercury . thereafter , a quantity of weak organic or mineral acid , such as phosphoric acid , citric acid , acetic acid , tartaric acid , or the like , as well as mixtures thereof , is added thereto to bring the ph of the system back to about neutral , i . e . ph of about 7 . it is theorized that the alkaline material addition causes the formation of neutral salts , e . g . nacl , and the promotion of the precipitation of residual elemental mercury and aluminum oxide from the effluent . it is believed that by neutralizing the effluent with the acid that the elemental mercury will then complex with the anion of the acid . the so - formed salt can , then , be removed by filtration . a flocculant or water conditioner , including polyelectrolytes such as a polyacrylate or the like , may then be added to the water as a clarifier thereof to promote the precipitation of minute particles remaining in the decanted water , as noted hereinabove . generally , from at least about 1 to about 2 parts or more , by weight , of the flocculant is added to the water per one million parts per million of the water . in the post - treatment of the water to recover residual mercury , generally from about 5 . 0 to about 75 parts of the alkaline material , per million parts of water is sufficient amount to raise the ph to about 11 . 5 to 12 . similarly , sufficient amounts of the acid are used to neutralize the effluent , i . e . bring the ph back to about 7 and , generally , 6 . 5 to 7 . 5 . the so - treated effluent is , thus , filtered through any suitable filtering medium of minimal micron porosity , such as a filter paper , to filter out the so - formed mercury salts as well as any aluminum oxide precipitate . the so - filtered effluent may , then , be further treated to ensure substantially 100 percent removal of mercury . thus , the effluent may be further post - treated through a further or second filtration . preferably , the effluent is further treated by passing the effluent through a mixed bed filter or filtering medium . generally , the mixed bed medium comprises a mixture of ( a ) aluminum , preferably , deployed as granular aluminum , ( b ) activated carbon , such as charcoal , ( c ) an ion exchange resin comprising a cationic exchange resin , an anionic exchange resin and mixtures thereof , and ( d ) silicon dioxide , preferably , present as sand or glass beads . the components of the mixed bed are mixed together to form a uniform homogeneous mix . the mixed bed is housed in any suitable container therefor . the effluent is fed through the container by any suitable means such as by gravity feed , pumping or the like . generally , the effluent has a dwell or contact time with the filtering medium of between 1 / 2 to about 12 hours , and , preferably , from about 3 to 4 hours . the so - obtained discharge from the housing is substantially 100 percent free of mercury . the present invention can be more clearly understood by reference to the following illustrative examples . in the examples all parts are by weight , absent indications to the contrary . it is to be understood that the following examples are for illustrative purposes and are not to be deemed as limitative of the present invention . at room temperature , and into a suitable reaction vessel equipped with stirring means was added 20 parts of b - 5 fixative , which is a common fixative comprising water , 1 . 16 parts mercury chloride and 0 . 2 parts sodium acetate per 100 parts of fixative . thereafter , 20 parts of deionized water was added to the 20 parts of fixative to form a 40 part 1 : 1 dilution solution . a quantity of aluminum foil , introduced as 2 cm 2 small pieces of foil which is domestically available under the mark reynolds wrap ® was then added to the solution with stirring at 100 rpm for about ten hours . upon the addition , an immediate reaction was observed on the surface of the foil particles . the reaction was permitted to proceed . at the end of a ten hour period , elemental mercury had precipitated out . the effluent water was removed and the remaining mercury precipitate was washed several times with deionized water . it was determined by weighing that 0 . 85 parts of elemental mercury was recovered representing a theoretical recovery of 99 . 998 percent . following the procedure of example i , 12 . 5 parts of mercury chloride were dissolved in 400 parts of deionized water . one hundred parts of the so - prepared solution was , then , placed into a separate vessel equipped with stirring means . to this was added 0 . 465 parts of aluminum foil , present as 1 to 2 cm 2 pieces of consumer grade reynolds wrap ®. the aluminum foil - containing solution was then stirred at ambient conditions , for a period for about ten hours . thereafter , the water was decanted from the beaker leaving a residue of precipitated elemental mercury and some residual amalgam . upon removal of the water , the shiny amalgam , still present within the vessel , continued to react with atmospheric oxygen to give aluminum oxide and elemental mercury . the reaction was permitted to continue until the reaction stopped . the residue was , then , washed with water and weighed to recover the mercury . the mercury was recovered in an amount of 2 . 29 parts representing recovery of 99 . 998 percent of the theoretical . the procedure of example ii was repeated except that 1 . 05 parts of iron , as a fine powder , was added to the 100 parts of the mercury chloride solution in lieu the aluminum foil . no mercury was recovered . thereafter 0 . 465 parts of aluminum foil was added to the iron - containing mercury chloride solution and stirring was continued for 24 hours at ambient conditions . thereafter , the light precipitate was removed and the recovered mercury was washed several times with water . two and one tenth parts of mercury were recovered . it was detected that some aluminum was in the core of the mercury and when exposed to water , aluminum oxide or hydroxide was formed . the procedure of example i was repeated except that the test solution was a mixture of polyvinyl alcohol and mercuric chloride . into a suitable beaker equipped with stirring means was added 50 parts of the solution which contained 2 . 25 parts mercury chloride to which was added two times the molar excess of about 2 cm 2 pieces of aluminum foil . the vessel was stirred at 100 rpm at room temperature for 24 hours and elemental mercury was recovered . one and sixty - six hundredths parts of elemental mercury was recovered representing 99 . 98 percent of the theoretical amount . it is to be appreciated from the preceding that the present invention provides an efficient method for recovery elemental mercury from spent effluent .	8
a known machine from the current prior art will be described with reference to fig1 . this machine is designated generally by the reference number 1 and comprises the following parts : a feed 2 for the sheets to be printed , a printing module 3 , and a transport system 4 , with which the printed sheets are transported to the delivery systems 5 and 6 of the machine 1 . this machine additionally comprises a feed for intermediate sheets 7 beside the delivery systems 5 and 6 . put more precisely , the printing module 3 comprises a plate cylinder , which is inked by ink applicator rolls 9 from the ink fountains 13 , 14 , 15 and 16 . the module further comprises an impression cylinder on which there rest the sheets 18 which come from the feed 2 . the module additionally contains a wiping cylinder 19 and transfer rolls 20 and 21 for transporting the sheets 18 onto the impression cylinder 17 . when the sheets have been printed , they are picked up by the output system 4 which , for example , comprises a chain gripper system 22 and drying means 23 such as lamps . the sheets 18 which are transported by the output system 4 are therefore dried by the drying means 23 before they are stacked in the delivery systems 5 and 6 . in addition , in the machine of fig1 a feed device for intermediate sheets 7 is used , with which a protective sheet 24 is placed between each sheet 18 stacked in the delivery systems 5 and 6 . the machine according to the invention will be described in detail with reference to fig2 . this machine is identified by the reference number 30 and generally comprises a feed 31 for unprinted sheets 32 , which are fed to a printing unit 33 and then , after the end of printing , to a delivery stack 34 . the printing unit 33 comprises a plate cylinder 35 and an impression cylinder 36 . the machine illustrated in fig2 also simultaneously uses the principle of direct inking and of indirect inking . the direct inking of the plate cylinder is implemented by means of an ink fountain 37 and an ink applicator roll 38 . the indirect inking , for its part , is carried out by means of the ink fountains 39 , 40 and 41 and their ink applicator rolls 42 , 43 and 44 . these ink applicator rolls 42 , 43 and 44 provide the ink to a collecting inking cylinder 45 , which in turn applies the necessary ink to the plates of the plate cylinder 35 . in the example illustrated in fig2 , the plate cylinder 35 can carry two plates and therefore only a single printing plate is mounted in the present case . the printing module likewise comprises a wiping device with a wiping cylinder 49 . the unprinted sheets 32 are brought from the feed 31 onto the impression cylinder 36 by a suitable transfer system 50 , such as a chain gripper system , and are firmly held on this cylinder by means of suitable grippers belonging to the cylinder 36 . fitted above the impression cylinder 36 and the delivery stack 34 was a feed 46 for intermediate sheets 47 . according to the invention , these intermediate sheets 47 are of the same size as the unprinted sheets 32 on which the securities print is to be made and , like the sheets 32 , are guided onto the impression cylinder 36 by suitable conventional means , such as a chain gripper system or a transfer roll 48 . in this way , the impression cylinder 36 alternately receives an unprinted sheet 32 and an intermediate sheet 47 . since there is only a single plate on the plate cylinder , the adjustment of register between the latter and the sheet 32 which is on the plate cylinder 36 and on which the securities prints are to be printed is carried out : in this way , one of two sheets is printed by the plate , that is to say the sheet 32 which is intended to contain the securities print and the other sheet carried by the impression cylinder 36 , which is the intermediate sheet 47 , is not printed but takes the same route as the printed sheet in the printing machine 30 . in this way , it is possible to obtain a printed sheet and an intermediate sheet 47 alternately in the delivery stack 34 , said intermediate sheet effectively protecting the successive printed sheets from one another . the delivery stack 34 is fed by the impression cylinder 36 : following each revolution of the impression cylinder , the sheets carried by it are picked up by a suitable transfer system , for example by a transfer roll operating on the suction principle by means of a vacuum , in order to transfer the sheet , or a system having a chain 51 with grippers 52 , as illustrated schematically by dotted lines in fig2 . these systems are known in such printing machines in the current prior art . the intermediate sheets 47 are fed to the impression cylinder 36 by conventional means , for example a gripper chain system , and are transferred to the impression cylinder 36 with the aid of a transfer roll 48 . fig3 shows a block diagram of the method according to the invention . in the method described , it may be assumed that the impression cylinder carries two sheets , as in the machine illustrated in fig2 . in the first stage of the method , an unprinted sheet 32 to be printed and an intermediate sheet 47 are fed alternately to the printing module of the printing machine 30 . the variable n is used , as above , in order to define the total number of plates which can be carried by the plate cylinder 35 , n being an integer multiple of 2 . in fig1 , n is equal to 4 and in fig2 , n is equal to 2 . thus , with reference to fig2 and 3 , if the printing module 33 is fed alternately with n / 2 unprinted sheets 32 to be printed and n / 2 intermediate sheets 47 , one is in the situation in which the impression cylinder 36 carries a sheet 32 to be printed and an intermediate sheet 47 . as a result of rotation of the impression cylinder 36 , the individual prints are printed onto the sheet 32 with the aid of the plate carried by the plate cylinder 35 . irrespective of the number of sheets carried by the impression cylinder 36 , in this way each second sheet is printed in the printing machine 30 . when the print has been completed , that is to say when the plate cylinder 35 and the impression cylinder 36 have completed one revolution , the sheets are collected and a sheet stack 34 is formed in the delivery system of the machine , said stack being composed alternately of printed sheets 32 and intermediate sheets 47 which separate the printed sheets 32 from one another . the invention is not restricted to the types of embodiments described , and modifications are possible . for example , the principle of the invention can be applied in printing machines in which a printing process other than copper printing is used . the intermediate sheets are preferably unprinted . however , it is also possible to imagine that , in the case of sufficient absorbency of the paper used for the intermediate sheets , this could nevertheless be printed with individual prints . this procedure could be advantageous if n is equal to 2 . this is because , in this case , when there is only one plate on the plate cylinder , the rotation of the latter is not balanced and disruptive oscillations can be produced . it would be possible to imagine that a second plate were nevertheless fitted to the plate cylinder and could have on it a simplified printing motif in order to avoid excessively large amounts of ink . on the other hand , the variable n is not restricted to 2 . n can in fact be 4 or 6 or even 8 . this number is partly dictated by the size of the sheets to be printed , that is to say the size of the prints and the number of prints per sheet , and also by the diameter of the impression and plate cylinders . on the assumption that n is 4 or 6 or else 8 , the uniform function of the machine is improved by a symmetric distribution of the sectors of the plate cylinder which carry a plate , and the sectors on which there is no plate — this symmetric distribution being necessary to produce printed sheets and intermediate sheets alternately — since no imbalance is produced as a result of the absence of a plate . one advantage of the method according to the invention and of the printing machine which permits the use of the method is the modular construction for small machines . it is actually simple to fit on an intermediate sheet feed above the machine , to insert these sheets into the flow of the unprinted sheets to be printed at the level of the cylinder carrying the sheets and not to interrupt the flow of the sheets stacked in the delivery system of the printing machine . the system described is also very compact , and the necessary space is reduced considerably as compared with a conventional drying system . the system in which the method according to the invention is used is ultimately by far less expensive than a drying system .	1
the following detailed description of the invention refers to the accompanying drawings . the detailed description does not limit the invention . instead , the scope of the invention is defined by the appended claims and equivalents . the invention includes methods and apparatus for embedding content within an electronic mail message . the invention also includes methods and apparatus for creating a link associated with the content stored on a remote device . the invention also includes methods and apparatus for automatically attaching the link associated with the content onto the electronic mail message . in one embodiment , the content may include a variety of items such as an image , a document , a music selection , and the like . for simplicity and clarity , the various embodiments of the invention are shown using an image and / or corresponding image data to represent the content . the invention is not intended to be limited to be utilized with any particular type of content . those skilled in the art will recognize that many other implementations are possible , consistent with the present invention . [ 0019 ] fig1 is a diagram illustrating an environment within which the invention may be implemented . the environment includes a client 110 , a network 120 , and a server 130 . the client 110 may be a consumer electronics device . the consumer electronics device may include a computer , a digital camera , a telephone , a pager , and the like . the client 110 may be configured to be utilized by a sender . the network 120 interfaces with the client 110 , and the server 130 . in one embodiment , the network 120 is the internet . in another embodiment , the network 120 may be any transmission medium between the client 110 and the server 130 . the sever 130 is a device configured to interface with the client 110 through the network 120 . the client 110 and / or the server 130 may include a combination of software , hardware , and / or firmware to provide functionality for the invention . [ 0024 ] fig2 is a simplified diagram illustrating an exemplary architecture in which the present invention may be implemented . the exemplary architecture includes a plurality of client devices 202 , a server device 210 , and a network 201 . in one embodiment , the network 201 may be the internet . the plurality of client devices 202 are each configured to include a computer - readable medium 209 , such as random access memory , coupled to a processor 208 . processor 208 executes program instructions stored in the computer - readable medium 209 . in another embodiment , the plurality of client devices 202 may also include a number of additional external or internal devices , such as , without limitation , a mouse , a cd - rom , a keyboard , and a display . the interface framework may be stored on the plurality of client devices 202 within each computer - readable medium 209 . similar to the plurality of client devices 202 , the server device 210 may include a processor 211 coupled to a computer - readable medium 212 . the server device 210 may also include a number of additional external or internal devices , such as , without limitation , a secondary storage element , such as database 240 . the interface framework may be stored on the server device 210 within each computer - readable medium 212 . the plurality of client processors 208 and the server processor 211 can be any of a number of well known computer processors , such as processors from intel corporation , of santa clara , calif . in general , the plurality of client devices 202 may be any type of computing platform connected to a network and that interacts with application programs , such as a digital assistant or a “ smart ” cellular telephone or pager . the server 210 , although depicted as a single computer system , may be implemented as a network of computer processors . the plurality of client devices 202 and the server 210 may include the portions of the invention . in one embodiment , the plurality of computer - readable medium 209 and 212 may contain , in part , a portion of the invention . additionally , the plurality of client devices 202 and the server 210 are configured to receive and transmit electronic messages for use with the invention . similarly , the network 201 is configured to transmit electronic messages for use with the invention . [ 0031 ] fig3 illustrates one embodiment of a system 300 . in one embodiment , the system 300 is configured to perform any or all of the following : upload content to a remote device , create a url associated to the content , automatically attach the url to an electronic message , and / or view the uploaded content . in one embodiment , the sent electronic message may contain both the url corresponding to the content and a thumbnail image which displays at least a portion of the content . the system 300 includes an upload module 310 , a url creation module 320 , an attachment module 330 , an interface module 340 , and a control module 350 . in one embodiment , the control module 350 is configured to communicate with the upload module 310 , the url creation module 320 , the attachment module 330 , and the interface module 340 . in one embodiment , the control module 350 is configured to coordinate tasks , requests and communications between the upload module 310 , the url creation module 320 , the attachment module 330 , and the interface module 340 . in one embodiment , the upload module 310 is configured to upload image data to a target server . for example , the image data may resides within the sender &# 39 ; s computer , a remote server , or the target server . if the image data resides within the sender &# 39 ; s computer or a remote server , the image data is uploaded to the target server . in one embodiment , the target server is a photo album application . in one embodiment , the image data may be stored within the target server . in one embodiment , the image data may be stored in a tiff format , a jpeg format , and the like . in another embodiment , the target server is a content storage server which is configured to store a variety of content . this content may include documents , music selections , and the like . in yet another embodiment , the target server may be the same device as the sender &# 39 ; s device . in one embodiment , the upload module 310 may identify the location of the image data and coordinate the transmission of the image data to the target server . in one embodiment , the url creation module 320 is configured to identify a specific image or multiple selected images and to associate a url with the specific image ( s ). for example , if a plurality of images are stored within the target server , the url creation module 320 may be configured to identify the specific image ( s ) from the plurality of images . next , these specific image ( s ) are associated with an url that corresponds with these specific image ( s ). in one embodiment , the attachment module 330 is configured for embedding the url that corresponds to specific image ( s ) within an electronic mail message created by the sender . for example , the attachment module 330 automatically embeds the url which was created in the url creation module 320 into an electronic mail message which is created by the sender and addressed to a recipient . the resulting electronic mail message may be opened by the recipient . after opening the electronic mail message , the recipient may view the specific image ( s ) through the url . accordingly , the sender may transmit an electronic mail message to the recipient which allows the recipient to view the specific image ( s ) without directly sending the specific image ( s ) to the recipient . the sender may seamlessly and automatically embed the specific image ( s ) within the electronic mail message while creating this electronic mail message for the recipient . in one embodiment , the interface module 340 is configured to receive sender instructions to operate the system 300 . in one embodiment , the interface module 340 is configured to receive any of the following : an image selection from a sender , recipient information , message content , and the like . the system 300 in fig3 is shown for exemplary purposes and is merely embodiment of the invention . additional modules may be added to the system 300 without departing from the scope of the invention . similarly , modules may be combined or deleted without departing from the scope of the invention . the flow diagrams as depicted in fig4 , and 6 are merely one embodiment of the invention . the blocks within the flow diagrams may be performed in a different sequence without departing from the spirit of the invention . further , blocks may be deleted , added , or combined without departing from the spirit of the invention . the flow diagram in fig4 illustrates attaching content data to a message according to one embodiment of the invention . in block 410 , a message is created . in one embodiment , the message is an electronic mail message . the message may include information identifying the recipient and / or a corresponding text message directed to the recipient . in one embodiment , the message is created on an email application residing on the sender &# 39 ; s local device such as microsoft outlook ™. in another embodiment , the message is created on an on - line email application residing in a remote location relative to the sender &# 39 ; s local device such as hotmail ™. in block 420 , a selection is made by the sender to identify content . the content identified by the sender is selected to be attached to the message created to be sent to the recipient . in one embodiment , the content includes one of an image , a document , a music selection , an a / v presentation , and the like . in block 430 , content data which corresponds to the content selected by the sender is uploaded to a target server . in one embodiment , the content data is located outside the target server . in another embodiment , the content data is already located within the target server . in one embodiment , the upload module 310 ( fig3 ) may be utilized to upload the content data to the target server . in block 440 , a url is created to correspond with the content data . in one embodiment , the url is configured to uniquely correspond to a location within the target server which stores the content data that represents the content selected by the sender . accordingly , accessing the url allows the content associated with the content data to be displayed . in block 450 , the electronic mail message is embedded with the url . in one embodiment , the url is displayed within the electronic mail message . for example , the recipient opens the electronic mail message and is prompted to select the embedded url . once the url is selected , the recipient may view the selected content . in another embodiment , the url is automatically activated upon the recipient opening the electronic mail message . for example , the recipient opens the electronic mail message . next , the embedded url is automatically selected which causes the content corresponding to the content data to be displayed for the recipient . in yet another embodiment , the url is displayed within the electronic mail message in addition to a thumbnail icon which represents at least a portion of the content which is embedded within the electronic mail message . the content upload in the block 430 , the url creation in the block 440 , and the url attachment in the block 450 are configured to be automatically performed without intervention from the sender . the flow diagram in fig5 illustrates generating image data and attaching the image data to a message according to one embodiment of the invention . in block 510 , a plurality of images may be viewed by the sender . in one embodiment , these images are located on a target server . in one embodiment , this target server hosts a photo album application such as imagestation sm . in one embodiment , the plurality of images are stored and configured as a photo album . in block 520 , a selection is made by the sender to identify an image from the multiple images . the image identified by the sender is selected to be attached to the message created to be sent to the recipient . in one embodiment , a single image is selected by the sender . in another embodiment , multiple images are selected by the sender for attachment to the message . in block 530 , the selected image is copied to a specific location . for example , the selected image is separated from the plurality of images as viewed in the block 510 . specifically , the selected image is duplicated . this duplicated image is stored within the target server but separate from the plurality of images . in this embodiment , the plurality of images may still be viewed as a single photo album while also having the selected image stored separately from the plurality of images . in block 540 , a url is created to correspond with the selected image . in one embodiment , the url is configured to uniquely correspond to a location within the target server which stores the selected image . the location of the selected image differs from the location of the plurality of images . accordingly , accessing the url allows the selected image to be displayed . in block 550 , the url created in the block 540 is transmitted to the location in which an electronic mail message is being created by the sender for receipt by the recipient . in block 560 , the electronic mail message is embedded with the url . in one embodiment , the url is displayed within the electronic mail message . for example , the recipient opens the electronic mail message and is prompted to select the embedded url . once the url is selected , the recipient may view the selected image . in another embodiment , the url is automatically activated upon the recipient opening the electronic mail message . for example , the recipient opens the electronic mail message . next , the embedded url is automatically selected which causes the image corresponding to the image data to be displayed for the recipient . in yet another embodiment , the url is displayed within the electronic mail message in addition to a thumbnail icon which represents at least a portion of the content which is embedded within the electronic mail message . the image copy in the block 530 , the url creation in the block 540 , the url transmission in the block 550 , and the url attachment in the block 560 are configured to be automatically performed without intervention from the sender . the flow diagram in fig6 illustrates generating image data and attaching the image data to a message according to one embodiment of the invention . in block 610 , an electronic mail message is initiated by a sender for transmission to a recipient . in block 620 , the sender is able to browse for images to include within the electronic mail message . the sender may browser for images stored locally within the sender &# 39 ; s device , images stored within a remote location , and / or images stored within the target server . in one embodiment , this target server hosts a photo album application such as imagestation sm . in block 630 , a selection is made by the sender to identify an image to be attached to the electronic mail message . the image identified by the sender is selected to be attached to the message created to be sent to the recipient . in one embodiment , a single image is selected by the sender . in another embodiment , multiple images are selected by the sender for attachment to the message . in block 640 , the location where the image selected by the sender for attachment to the electronic mail message is determined . if the selected image is stored within the target server , the selected image is copied to a specific location within the target server within block 645 . for example , the selected image is separated from other images stored within the target server . specifically , the selected image is duplicated . this duplicate image is stored within the target server but separate from other images . in this embodiment , the other images may still be viewed on the target server prior to the duplicating the selected image while also having the selected image stored separately from the images . if the selected image is stored outside the target server , the selected image is uploaded to the target server within a block 670 . in one embodiment , the upload module 310 ( fig3 ) may be utilized to upload the image data to the target server . after duplicating the selected image in the block 645 or uploading the selected image in the block 670 , a url is created to correspond with the selected image within a block 650 . in one embodiment , the url is configured to uniquely correspond to a location within the target server which stores the selected image . the location of the selected image differs from the location of the plurality of images . accordingly , accessing the url allows the selected image to be displayed . in block 660 , the electronic mail message is embedded with the url . in one embodiment , the url is displayed within the electronic mail message . for example , the recipient opens the electronic mail message and is prompted to select the embedded url . once the url is selected , the recipient may view the selected image . in another embodiment , the url is automatically activated upon the recipient opening the electronic mail message . for example , the recipient opens the electronic mail message . next , the embedded url is automatically selected which causes the image corresponding to the image data to be displayed for the recipient . in yet another embodiment , the url is displayed within the electronic mail message in addition to a thumbnail icon which represents at least a portion of the content which is embedded within the electronic mail message . the image copy in the block 645 , the url creation in the block 650 , the image upload in the block 670 , and the url attachment in the block 660 are configured to be automatically performed without intervention from the sender . the foregoing descriptions of specific embodiments of the invention have been presented for purposes of illustration and description . for example , the invention is described within the context of creating profiles for modifying digital images as merely one embodiment of the invention . the invention may be applied to a variety of other applications . they are not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the invention to the precise embodiments disclosed , and naturally many modifications and variations are possible in light of the above teaching . the embodiments were chosen and described in order to 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 .	6
referring to fig1 , a purely schematic overview of the present anti - shock method and system is shown . the sound input 1 , a mixture of signal and noise , is first acquired by a transducer 2 , i . e . a microphone , and then converted to a digital input signal 4 by an a / d converter 3 . this digital input signal 4 is then fed to a digital subsystem 5 comprising the below described anti - shock system . a digital output signal 6 , which has been treated by the anti - shock system by applying the present anti - shock method as well as by other digital components such as filters and amplifiers within the digital subsystem 5 , will then be converted by a d / a converter 7 into an analog output signal 8 that will be applied to a receiver for outputting a corresponding sound 9 . referring now to fig2 , an example of a digital subsystem according to fig1 is described in more details . the digital input signal 4 is on one path framed and windowed with a low - pass filter 10 . the windowed data is then converted from the time domain to the frequency domain via a time - to - frequency transformation such as 2n - point fft . the coefficients of the 2n - point fft represent n frequency bands of a band - pass filter - bank . the signal strength of a band is calculated from its fft coefficients . the signal strength of the band in the frequency - domain varies with time . in addition , the input signal changes its frequency components over time . the signal at each frequency band is processed accordingly . a frequency - to - time transformation such as reverse fft 11 is then applied to convert the coefficients from the frequency - domain to the time - domain , providing a digital output signal 6 that may be converted to an analog output signal with a d / a converter 7 , as shown in fig1 . it is to be noted that the transformation of the digital signal between the time - domain and frequency - domain also can be performed with other methods such as band - pass filters or wavelet transforms . on a second path , the digital input signal will be introduced into a shock detection module 12 for an immediate detection of a shock . this shock detection module 12 thus continuously monitors and detects the digital input signal 4 in real time in the time - domain . fig3 depicts the plot of the curve of the signal s ( t ) of a typical aperiodic shock event as a function of the time t . a periodic shock can be viewed as if it consists of a train of attenuating aperiodic shocks . therefore , the detection of a periodic shock can be treated as a set of individual detections of aperiodic shocks , which follow one after the other . in a real world environment , the shock event could start off with soft shocks and then be followed by stronger shocks . therefore , the detection of shock needs to be designed to handle each individual shock independently . then , an adaptive shock reduction can be applied accordingly to handle different kinds of shock within a set of successive shocks . with this approach , shock detection is simplified and different shock reduction strategies can be applied to different kinds of individual shocks . the shock shown in fig3 has a peak level l ( in decibel ) at time t 1 and a duration t = t 2 - t 0 . time t 0 is defined as the starting point of the shock and time t 2 is defined as the half - way point between peak level l and the signal floor sn . the shock contrast level dl ( in decibel ) is : where the signal floor sn can be obtained through a fast smooth processing that can catch up the non - transient signal change over time . as an example , signal floor sn here is using the fast average in such a signal floor sn , the fast averaging of input signal s ( t ) is processed over a short duration such as 1 ms so that it can reflect the normal speech signal or the music signal change over time . other smoothing functions of s ( t ) can be applied to derive signal floor sn to achieve the same characteristic as the above fast averaging example . the higher the shock peak level l , the stronger the shock will be perceived . for the same source of shock , the perceived shock strength depends on the actual shock contrast level dl and the duration t . with the same shock peak level l , the lower the signal floor sn , the higher the shock contrast , which will result in a stronger shock impact perception . also , the longer the duration t of the shock , the stronger the shock will be perceived . therefore , it is critical to detect the shock duration t and shock contrast level dl in order to determine the shock impact and the necessary solution in managing the shock with an appropriate anti - shock strategy . that means : the higher the shock peak level l is , the shorter the attack time ( t 1 - t 0 ) and the longer duration t are , the stronger the shock is perceived . therefore , the relative shock impact level can be expressed as the shock index : si = σ ⁢ ⁢ l - sn t 1 - t 0 where σ is the coefficient for shock index normalization . the shock index normalization constant σ can be defined according to the individual &# 39 ; s preference . in an exemplary system , σ may be defined by referring to a typical dish transient noise with a shock level l = 70 db in quiet ( sn = 40 db ) with 0 . 2 ms attack time ( t 1 - t 0 ) and 10 ms duration t . by applying the formula for the shock index si , σ will be 0 . 0067 ( ms / db ) with si = 1 as normalized shock index . if the environment noise level increases for the same dish noise , the shock index si will drop . the constant may be defined by using other typical shock events or shock sounds respectively as a reference for the normalization . the relative shock energy e may be measured as follows : therefore , two thresholds , the minimum shock contrast level ( mcl ) and the minimum shock index ( msi ), are used for shock detection . these two thresholds ( mcl ; msi ) can be determined through a self - learning process or pre - determined measurement so that daily life non - transient signals such as speech , music , normal acoustic sound are not detected as shock , and that a transient sound such as a gun shot or a door slam will be detected as shock . a stronger and sharper shock will generate a stronger shock index si . the duration of shock t will be used together with shock index si as the measurement of shock strength , which is used for anti - shock reduction control . the shock detection runs in real - time with the use of the thresholds of minimum shock contrast level ( mcl ) and minimum shock index ( msi ). the present shock detection includes the shock detection as such and the shock strength detection . according to the shock contrast level dl and shock index si , it can determine whether a shock happens and how strong the shock is . since the shock detection runs continuously , the shock can be detected anytime as long as it meets with the shock detection criteria ; it is not necessary that shock detection happens solely at the shock peak time . this implies that a shock can be detected during its build - up process before it reaches its peak level . the continuous growth of the shock will result in up - dated shock detection with stronger shock contrast and stronger shock index si , which will overtake the previous shock detection . after detection of a shock , an anti - shock management module has to react for reducing or minimizing the shock effect , by keeping the shock sound as natural as possible to allow awareness by the user of the shock event . furthermore it should keep the relative loudness of shock so that the user can perceive the shock level and keep the shock within a comfort range of the user . in a first embodiment , the shock detection and the anti - shock management will be both performed in the time - domain , as depicted schematically in the block diagram of fig4 . the shock peak thus can be detected without delay but the anti - shock process could be delayed until a shock is detected . therefore , a few samples of signal delay such as 250 μs ( i . e . n = 4 for sampling rate 16 khz ) for anti - shock management is required . as can be see from the lower curve of fig5 , the whole shock part cannot be handled with the anti - shock process in the time - domain without adding additional delay , which will cause distortion of shock event . hence , additional time delay is required to be added by these few samples in addition to the existing system time delay . adding additional time delay at this juncture could cause artificial effects on the input signals . the threshold delay beyond which this negative impact would happen is determined by the overall system delay , the type of shock and the actual shock detection . if the shock detection takes longer time , more samples , and thus more delay , is needed to reduce the artifacts . on the other hand the more delay is implemented due to this fact , the overall system delay could become longer than desired . therefore , these two mechanisms are balanced to reduce artifacts and keep the overall system delay below the desired threshold . the anti - shock manager will apply anti - shock gain reduction g ( t ) to the input signal s ( t ) to get a new signal x ( t ) with anti - shock processing already completed after a shock is detected . as one typical implementation of the embodiment , anti - shock gain reduction g ( t ) is defined as : g ( t )= a exp − β ( t − t1 ) with t ε ( t 1 , t 2 ) a is the anti - shock strength , and β is a time constant for anti - shock control . as can be seen , time constants β and λ can be different to achieve different release speeds at different durations for different purposes ; or be the same to simplify the anti - shock release process . as one typical implementation , it may be desired to have slow anti - shock release for the peak shock duration ( tε ( t 1 , t 2 )) so that the shock can be efficiently controlled . in another typical implementation , it may be desired to have fast anti - shock release for the peak shock duration ( tε ( t 1 , t 2 )), so that the useful signal following the shock is less affected . in a further typical implementation , it may be desired to use the same anti - shock release speed in order to simplify the design . in addition to using the above gain reduction function g ( t ), different activation functions can be selected according to the shock type and the user preference . a very simple one is linear reaction to shock . in a second embodiment of the present invention , the shock detection takes place in the time - domain whereas the treatment or management respectively of the signal takes place in the frequency - domain , as depicted schematically in fig6 . the shock detection will be carried out by the shock detection module 12 in the time domain as already described above with no additional time delay required . the signal s ( t ) in the time - domain is then transformed into frequency domain by a fft module 14 for any frequency - domain signal processing in module 15 and the anti - shock management by the anti - shock management module 13 . afterwards , the frequency - domain signal gain ( f ) is transformed back to time - domain by the ftt module 16 resulting in a new signal y ( t ). for example , the signal transformation from time - domain to frequency - domain and then back to time - domain is frame - based by applying a certain window such as hanning or hamming . the frame size is typical 2 n samples such as 64 ( n = 5 ) for 32 - bit fft , which corresponds to a time length 3 . 2 ms for a sampling rate of 20 khz . this creates a certain time - delay τ ( such as 1 ms ˜ 10 ms ; according to the actual system implementation ) between the signal input and signal output . the fast shock detection in time - domain provides early prediction for anti - shock processing in frequency - domain . an adaptive anti - shock management plan can thus be specified to suppress shock without artificial break of anti - shock . in the anti - shock management module 13 , the anti - shock gain reduction g ( t ) may be divided into three anti - shock phases , such as anti - shock attack phase , anti - shock holding phase and anti - shock release phase . g ( t )= a 0 exp α ( t − t1 ) with t ε ( t 1 , t 1 + τ ) where a 0 is an initial gain reduction and α is the time constant for anti - shock attack speed ; g ( t )=( a 0 exp ατ )· exp − β ( t − t1 − τ ) with t ε ( t 1 + τ , t 2 + τ ) where β can have the same meaning as described above ; and g ( t )=( a 0 exp ατ − β ( t2 − t1 ) )· exp − λ ( t − t2 − τ ) with t & gt ;( t 2 + τ ) the factors a 0 , α , β or λ can be pre - defined as constants or they can be adaptively updated according to the shock contrast level dl , shock index si or shock duration t . in general , the higher the shock contrast level dl and / or the higher shock index si , the higher a 0 and / or α will be . the shorter the system delay , the higher α will be . unlike the shock - detection which is applied in the time - domain and performs broadband , the above described anti - shock processing is applied in different frequency bands independently , as already shown in fig2 . each frequency band can have a different weighting factor adjusted according to preferences . this can result in an effective anti - shock system for the preferable hearing compensation or comfort . in addition to using the above anti - shock management functions , different activation functions can be selected according to the shock type and the user preference . the method according the present invention is not only suitable for single shock events , but will also handle multiple shock events . fig8 to 10 displays three different types of multiple shock events : a second stronger shock follows a first weaker shock , as depicted in fig8 . in this case , the stronger shock will mask the previous one and the new anti - shock for the stronger shock will take over the control once the stronger shock is detected . an equal shock follows a first shock , as depicted in fig9 . in this case , the actual anti - shock relation depends on time difference between the two shocks . if they are very close , they will be detected as only one shock . if the time difference is big enough , they will be detected as two separate shocks and a similar anti - shock processing will be applied to both independently . a weaker second shock follows a stronger first shock , as depicted in fig1 . in this case , the weaker shock after the strong shock can be masked by the stronger shock , if the time difference between them is short . if the weaker shock happens a certain time after the stronger one , it can be detected as a new shock and new anti - shock processing is applied . therefore , a stronger shock happening right after a weaker shock will overtake the weaker shock management , while a stronger shock management will not be affected by a following weaker shock . a zero - delay or predictive shock detection and adaptive shock management has thus been achieved . shock detection takes place with zero time delay , or even predicts the shock before it fully goes through the signal processing . the present method thus is highly efficient and very fast and may be used for shock detection and shock reduction . while reducing acoustic shock adaptively , it keeps the natural sound quality of shock events for environmental awareness by the user maintained and does not hamper the user &# 39 ; s safety . this method is capable of detecting and canceling acoustic shocks adaptively under different environments and reducing the shock in an optimized way to keep the natural sound quality of shock events . it can detect various acoustic shocks reliably and adaptively to the environment . the acoustic shock detection results in a shock index , which reflects the actual shock strength and allows more adaptive shock reduction accordingly . this is also very different from most other transient or impulse detection technologies which simply detect whether a transient or impulse is present or not . based on the continuous shock detection resulting shock index si , an adaptive shock management is carried out to adaptively reduce the acoustic shock . finally , it is expressly pointed out that the method and system according to the present invention can not only be used in connection with a correction of hearing impairment , but also can be very well used in connection with any wired or wireless communication device . in this sense , the term “ hearing device ” must be understood as hearing aid , be it introduced in the ear canal or implanted into a patient , to correct a hearing impairment as well as to any communication device used to facilitate or improve communication .	7
with reference to fig1 to 5 , the helmet assembly includes a conventional helmet 1 and six actuators , in the form of separate air bags 2 to 7 mounted on a support frame 8 secured to the helmet . the air bags are located on the frame 8 such that , when inflated , they contact the upper part of the pilot / aircrew &# 39 ; s body 9 or the seat headrest 10 . the air bags 2 to 7 are individually inflated or deflated by air from the aircraft &# 39 ; s pneumatic supply 11 under control of a control system 12 , so as to increase or reduce the force between the helmet and the crew &# 39 ; s body 9 or headrest 10 . in fig1 the air bags 2 and 6 are shown partially inflated , such that any acceleration of the pilot upwards tending to rotate the center of gravity 13 of his head - helmet combination downwards in pitch by inertial force 14 about its natural point of rotation 15 at the base of the skull , is resisted by pressure in the air bag 2 reacting against the pilot &# 39 ; s helmet 1 above and the pilot &# 39 ; s body 9 below . forward components of acceleration , tending to pitch the pilot &# 39 ; s head backwards by inertial force 16 , are resisted by pressure in the air bag 6 attached to the rear of the helmet 1 reacting against the pilot &# 39 ; s seat headrest 10 . by varying the quantity of air in the bags 2 and 6 , the stable position of the pilot &# 39 ; s head under varying levels of acceleration can be controlled without muscular effort by the pilot . the forces applied , in this way , to the pilot &# 39 ; s head via his helmet 1 are predominantly linear , the direction of action of the forces being tangential to the point of rotation 15 . the actuators are arranged to apply forces in orthogonal axes so that the helmet can be turned and translated to any desired position or orientation . fig2 shows , in front elevation , inflation of the air bag 4 which reacts against the pilot &# 39 ; s body 9 to stabilize the helmet 1 against a lateral , acceleration - induced inertial force 17 tending to roll the pilot &# 39 ; s head sideways about the neck rotation point 15 . the air bag 2 on the up - going side of the helmet 1 is shown deflated but can be rapidly inflated in the event the sense of application of inertial force 17 is reversed , shown dotted by numeral 18 , tending to roll the pilot &# 39 ; s head in the opposite direction . fig3 shows , in plan view , inflation of the air bag 7 attached to the rear of the pilot &# 39 ; s helmet 1 . this reacts against the headrest 10 to resist a lateral acceleration - induced inertial force 17 tending to yaw the center of gravity 13 of the pilot &# 39 ; s head - helmet combination sideways about the neck rotation point 15 . the air bag 6 is shown deflated but may be rapidly inflated to stabilize the position of the pilot &# 39 ; s head should inertial force 17 reverse its direction of application . it will be appreciated that any combination of the actuator air bags shown in fig1 and 3 may be inflated to position the pilot &# 39 ; s head - helmet in other positions not shown . with reference now more especially to fig4 and 5 , the support frame 8 is attached to the pilot &# 39 ; s helmet 1 by fasteners 19 . the frame 8 is symmetrical , having a concave vertical back - plane 80 which engages the rear of the helmet 1 , and two shoulder plates 81 and 82 which extend forwardly , in a generally horizontal plane , on opposite sides of the helmet . on the under side of the left - hand plate 81 are supported the two air bags 2 and 3 . the forward bag 2 is located to engage the upper chest of the crew ; the rear bag 3 engages the shoulder of the crew . similarly , the air bags 4 and 5 are supported under the right - hand plate 82 . the back - plane 80 supports the two air bags 6 and 7 which are mounted side - by - side on the left and right side of the back - plane respectively . the air bags 2 to 7 are readily removable from the frame 8 for repair and maintenance . the rear air bags 6 and 7 both have , on their surface , a smooth plate 83 which enables the pilot to turn his head with minimum friction when in contact with the seat headrest 10 . the size of the air bags is selected such as to limit the extent of displacement of the pilot &# 39 ; s head to an amount that will not cause injury . compressed air is supplied to the assembly via six flexible pipes 20 which are coupled with respective ports 21 on the frame 8 . the ports 21 connect with individual ones of the air bags 2 to 7 via pipes 22 that extend within the frame 8 . a helmet position sensor 30 , which may employ electro - magnetic , electro - optic , ultrasonic or other means of detection , senses the position of markers 31 attached to the pilot &# 39 ; s helmet 1 and , by calculation , locates the helmet in space . this location information is passed via a cable 32 to the control system 12 which includes an electronic computer . detected movements of the helmet 1 are compared with movements predicted by calculation with reference to the inertial forces detected by an inertial measurement sensor 33 attached to the aircraft . the fidelity with which the inertial responses of the pilot &# 39 ; s head - helmet combination are predicted may be enhanced by reference to previously recorded computerized information peculiar to the pilot and which he provides to the control system 12 by inserting a memory module 34 when boarding the aircraft . the control system 12 may include a neural net computer which monitors over time the measured effects of actuator commands . in this way , a model of the behavior of the helmet assembly on the particular pilot is continually built up so that progressively more appropriate actuator operations are commanded . this information may be recorded in the memory module 34 and take the form of a profile of the synaptic strengths of the computer memory . initially , the control system would include a set of standard starting instructions which is modified as better knowledge of the variables , such as the mass of the pilot &# 39 ; s head , is acquired during the flight . any differences between the measured and predicted movements of the helmet 1 are interpreted by the control system 12 to be head positioning commands imparted by the pilot exerting muscular effect . electrical signals are supplied via cables 35 to electrically - actuated servo - pneumatic valves 36 . the valves 36 are arranged one per air bag and admit pressurized air from the aircraft supply 11 via a manifold 37 into the pipes 20 and thence into selected air bags 2 to 7 , so as to drive the helmet 1 to the calculated commanded position . the valves 36 may similarly be signalled to vent designated air bags so that they collapse under incident forces , or may open them to a suction source ( not shown ) for more rapid collapse . the control system 12 may be commanded not to actuate pressurization of the air bags until a pre - set threshold acceleration level is encountered by the pilot . by a further input from the aircraft &# 39 ; s flight control system 50 , the helmet control system 12 may be provided with information on forthcoming aircraft maneuvers , thus permitting anticipatory actuation of the air bags 2 to 7 before the development of measurable changes in ambient acceleration . the pipes 20 are separated for pilot ingress or egress from the aircraft at a personal equipment connector 38 which preferably incorporates in one connector , all pipes for the helmet assembly and other pilot system connections ( not shown ). the helmet assembly alleviates the need for the pilot to exert muscular energy to prevent his head from being deflected from position by accelerative forces . this enables the pilot to view his instrumentation and the external scenery with less difficulty and reduces tiredness and the risk of injury . the pilot is also , however , free to move his head at will . when not required , the actuators may be retracted to reduce obstruction to the pilot &# 39 ; s movement , such as applying suction . the control system 12 may receive a loss - of - consciousness monitoring input 40 and be arranged , on receipt of such a signal , to drive the actuators so that the pilot &# 39 ; s head is moved to a position in which he will be least prone to injury and most likely to recover quickly . similarly , in the event of ejection , appropriate ones of the actuators may be extended to stabilize the pilot &# 39 ; s head position and neck flexure to prevent spinal compression and other injuries . by appropriately shaping the actuators they can minimize airblast effects . actuation on ejection may be by stored energy within the seat and may be commanded by the seat sequencer independently of the control system 12 . the sequencer may similarly command disablement of the actuators after separation from the aircraft . alternatively , the actuators may remain extended , subject to manual selection , to assist injury - free parachute descent of an unconscious pilot and correct head positioning in the event of landing in water . an alternative helmet assembly is shown in fig6 in which the helmet 1 &# 39 ; is especially shaped to accommodate the invention by the incorporation of a chin frame 40 which is integral with the shell of the helmet . the frame 40 has attached at its bottom edge , air bags 2 &# 39 ; and 4 &# 39 ;, under the pilot &# 39 ; s chin , and air bags 3 &# 39 ; and 5 &# 39 ;, under his ears . the air bags 2 &# 39 ; and 4 &# 39 ; are separated by a gap 41 through which may pass an oxygen pipe 42 to the pilot &# 39 ; s face mask 43 ( shown in fig4 ). compressed air is supplied via pipes 20 &# 39 ; to ports 21 &# 39 ; ( duplicated on the other side of the helmet , not shown ) and thence through pipes 22 &# 39 ; within the shell of the helmet 1 &# 39 ; to the airbags 2 &# 39 ; to 7 &# 39 ;. fig7 shows a cutaway view of an alternative form of air bag used in the assembly shown in fig6 . the air bag has an envelope 50 in the shape of a bellows of rubber - impregnated flexible - matrix material . air injected into the bellows , or extracted from it , will tend to expand or contract it in a direction perpendicular to its edge corrugations , while lateral changes of shape will be resisted by internal diaphragms 51 incorporating breather holes 52 to permit the free passage of gases . fig8 shows a further alternative embodiment of the invention in which actuators 2 &# 34 ; to 5 &# 34 ; are worn by the pilot ( not shown ) independently of his helmet 1 &# 34 ;. the actuators are attached to the pilot &# 39 ; s jacket 60 or may be worn as a component of a smaller garment . additional air bag actuators 63 and 64 may be used in this assembly , being located behind the pilot &# 39 ; s neck . the helmet 1 &# 34 ; is attached to the pilot &# 39 ; s head by a chin strap 29 so that the helmet moves with the head . the tops of the actuators 2 &# 34 ; to 5 &# 34 ;, 63 and 64 , adjacent to the helmet , are attached to a smooth - faced plate 44 which may be segmented or may form a continuous ring , as shown . in this way , the lower surface 45 of helmet 1 &# 34 ; may slip with minimum friction on the plate 44 when the pilot turns his head in the yaw sense . the plate 44 is preferably not attached to the helmet 1 &# 34 ;. alternatively , the plate 44 may be constrained axially with respect to the helmet 1 &# 34 ; after donning by the pilot , while still being free to rotate circumferentially , thus forming the neck - seal of what may be a pressure suit . pipes 20 &# 34 ; conducting compressed air from the personal equipment connector 38 &# 34 ; to the air bag actuators are preferably attached to the jacket 60 to minimize cockpit clutter . the source of compressed air may be the same as that used to inflate the pilot &# 39 ; s g - suit via pipes 61 and 62 . where headrest air bags ( not shown ) are attached to the helmet 1 &# 34 ;, connector pipes 65 may be plugged into the air supply 20 &# 34 ; in the jacket via a socket 66 . a lever 67 coupled with a valve is connected in line with the pipes 20 &# 34 ; so that , by manually depressing the lever 67 , the valve is opened and the pilot may vent and deflate the air bags at any time . the invention is not restricted to the use of airbags or other pneumatic actuators . alternatively , hydraulic , mechanical or electromechanical actuators could be used . any number of actuators could be used for greater dexterity of operation , more rapid actuation , redundancy of operation or for other purposes . the helmet assembly could include force sensors that detect the pressure exerted on the pilot &# 39 ; s head by the helmet . this is sensed and used to control the actuators in a sense that reduces this pressure . the actuators need not apply force to the pilot &# 39 ; s head via the helmet but could do this directly by contact with the head , such as by means of an actuator under the chin .	0
in the example shown in fig1 , the breathing aid device comprises a patient circuit 1 which itself comprises a patient connection 2 , namely a facial or nasal mask , or an intubation or tracheotomy tube , connected to an inspiratory branch 3 and to an expiratory branch 4 by the intermediary of a bidirectional branch 5 . the expiratory branch 4 comprises an expiration device 6 which , in a way which is not shown , comprises an expiration valve and means of controlling this valve . the expiration valve is closed during the inspiratory phases of the patient &# 39 ; s breathing . during the expiratory phases of the patient &# 39 ; s breathing , the expiration valve can either be open so that the patient expires at atmospheric pressure , or it can operate like a discharge valve to oblige the patient to expire at a certain predetermined excess pressure . the inspiratory branch 3 is connected , at its end furthest from the mask 2 , to a unit 8 for ventilation through inspiratory aid which comprises means , such as an adjustable speed motor - turbine set , for supplying breathable gas through the inspiratory branch 3 at an adjustable pressure , in the direction of the mask 2 , means of detecting the patient &# 39 ; s respiratory reflexes , for example from instantaneous flow rate variations , and means of controlling the expiration valve of the expiration means 6 and an inspiration valve placed in the inspiratory branch 3 in order to open the inspiration valve and to close the expiration valve during the inspiratory phase , and to close the inspiration valve and to release the expiration valve during the expiratory phases . thus , in the inspiratory phase , the patient is connected in a gas - tight manner with the inspiratory branch 3 , and the volume flowing in the inspiratory branch 3 corresponds to the volume of gas inspired . and during the expiratory phases , the patient is connected in a gas - tight manner with the expiratory branch 4 and the volume flowing in the expiratory branch 4 corresponds to the volume of gas expired . such inspiratory aid devices , or inspiratory aid devices of the same kind are described in the prior art , in particular in fr - a - 2 695 830 . the ventilation unit 8 can comprise pressure control means by means of which the pressure p detected in the inspiratory branch 3 by a detector 10 is compared with a pressure command ai in order to adjust , for example , the speed of rotation of the motor - turbine set in the direction tending to make the pressure p equal to the command ai . according to the invention , the breathing aid device comprises means 11 of regulating the patient &# 39 ; s breathed volume . the regulating means 11 comprise a control unit 9 for controlling the pressure command ai which the ventilation unit 8 must apply to the inspiratory branch 3 during the inspiratory phases . the regulating means 11 furthermore comprise a unit 12 for measuring the volume vti inspired by the patient during each breathing cycle . the unit 12 provides the control unit 9 with a signal indicative of the volume vti . the control unit 9 comprises an input 13 for receiving the signal vti , and three inputs 14 , 16 , 17 , allowing the user of the device to enter a minimum breathed volume command into the control unit , in the form of a minimum inspired volume per cycle vtimini , a minimum inspiratory pressure command aimini , and a maximum inspiratory pressure command aimaxi . in general , the control unit 9 compares the measured volume vti with the command vtimini and adjusts the pressure command ai in the direction tending to bring the measured volume vti towards the command vtimini , without however causing the command ai to move outside of the range included between the two extreme values aimini and aimaxi . within this range , the control unit 9 tends to increase the command ai when the measured volume vti is lower than the command vtimini , and to reduce the pressure command ai in the opposite case . when starting up the device , the commands vtimini and aimini are chosen such that the breathed volume vti is established at a value higher than vtimini when the pressure command ai is equal to aimini . thus , if the patient breathes as expected , the pressure command ai stabilises at aimini with a breathed volume above the minimum command vtimini . it is only in the event of a breathing anomaly or incident , for example a partial obstruction of the breathing channels , that the measured breathed volume vti is likely to become lower than vtimini , thus causing an increase in the command ai generated by the control unit 9 . when the breathing becomes normal again , the breathed volume again becomes higher than the command vtimini , such that the control unit 9 returns the pressure command ai more or less rapidly to the value aimini . the flowchart used by the control unit 9 will now be described in greater detail with reference to fig2 . at the start , ai is made to equal to aimini ( step 18 ). then , at the end of each breathing cycle , or during each expiratory phase , the measurement vti of the volume inspired during the preceding inspiratory phase is acquired ( step 19 ) and is then compared with the command vtimini by the test 21 . if the measured volume vti is greater than or equal to vtimini , in other words if the volume inspired by the patient is satisfactory , a test 22 determines if the pressure command ai is or is not greater than the minimum aimini . if the pressure command is equal to the minimum , the conditions are therefore ideal ( volume at least equal to the minimum , minimum pressure ) and the sequence therefore returns directly to step 19 for acquiring the next inspired volume measurement . in the opposite case , advantage will be taken of the fact that the inspired volume is satisfactory in order to attempt to reduce the pressure command by a step 23 in which there is applied to the pressure command ai , expressed in relative value , a variation equal in percentage and opposite in sign to the difference between the measured inspired volume vti and the command vtimini . the formula is such that , in the particular case in which the measured volume vti is equal to vtimini , no modification is applied to the pressure command ai ( 0 % variation ). returning now to the test 21 on the measured volume vti , if the latter is lower than the command vtimini , an attempt will be made to increase the pressure command ai in order to assist the patient more . but prior to this , by a test 24 , it will be checked that the pressure command ai has not already reached the maximum aimaxi . if the answer is yes , an alarm is triggered ( step 26 ) to indicate the necessity of an urgent intervention . on the other hand , if the pressure command ai is not yet equal to aimaxi , the sequence returns as before to step 23 in which there will be applied to the command ai a variation equal in percentage and opposite in sign to the difference between the measured volume vti and the command vtimini . before actually applying the command ai , reduced or increased such as it has been computed in step 23 , to the input of the ventilation unit 8 , it will firstly be checked , by a test 27 , that the new computed ai value does not exceed the maximum aimaxi and , by a test 28 , that it is not less than the minimum aimini . if the new ai value has gone beyond one or other of these extreme values , the command ai which will be applied to the ventilation unit 8 will be equal to the extreme value in question ( steps 29 and 31 ). the example shown in fig3 will only be described where it differs with respect to the example shown in fig1 . in the example of fig3 , the breathed volume is no longer measured by means of the volume inspired in each cycle but by means of the volume vte expired in each cycle . for this purpose , the vti measuring unit 12 in the inspiratory branch 3 has been eliminated and it has been replaced by a vte measuring unit 32 in the expiratory branch 4 , which sends the measured vte , indicated at 33 , to the control unit 9 . the minimum breathed volume command applied to the control unit 9 is therefore the command vtemini for the volume expired per cycle , in order to be able to be compared directly with the measured vte 33 provided by the unit 32 . it can be advantageous to select , case by case , measurement of the inspired volume or measurement of the expired volume . this is the solution proposed by the embodiment shown in fig4 , which will be described only where it differs with respect to the example shown in fig1 . the measuring unit 42 is this time installed in the bidirectional branch 5 of the patient circuit 1 and it comprises means 43 of selecting the direction of flow in which the volume is to be measured . in accordance with this selection , the unit 42 provides , by choice , a measurement of vti or of vte , indicated at 44 . in accordance with the operating mode of the measuring unit 42 , the control unit 9 interprets the input applied at 14 as an inspired volume command or as an expired volume command . there is no longer any measuring unit in the inspiratory branch 3 nor in the expiratory branch 4 . in all of the described embodiments , the speed of execution of the flowchart in fig2 is sufficient for the measurement carried out in each breathing cycle to make it possible to correct the pressure applied during the following inspiratory phase . when the measurement is based on the expired volume , it is however possible that the pressure correction will occur only during , and not from the start , of the following inspiratory phase . the invention is applicable to all ventilators capable of measuring the volumes delivered and of automatically controlling the value of the insufflation pressure . the invention is applicable to all methods of ventilation using pressure control , and in particular to “ inspiratory aid ” and “ controlled pressure ” methods . inspiratory aid is a method consisting in maintaining a substantially constant pressure in the patient circuit during the insufflation , the patient initiating the start and end of the insufflation by his respiratory reflexes . the controlled pressure method is identical to the inspiratory aid method except that the patient does not initiate the end of the insufflation , the latter being determined by a fixed time . it would also be conceivable for the control unit , instead of adjusting the pressure command ai applied to the ventilation unit , to adjust , for example , the speed of rotation of the motor turbine set , or the electrical power supplied to it . it would then be possible to avoid abnormal pressures in the inspiratory branch 3 by comparing the pressure in the inspiratory branch 3 with limits such as aimini and aimaxi , and by initiating a corrective modification of the speed or of the power of the motor turbine set in the case of exceeding , or of risk of exceeding such limits .	0
referring now to fig1 referance numeral 1 indicates the said support group according to the present invention , comprising two main support parts 2 and 3 which are attached to one another by means of screws 4 in a way which will described later . support part 2 comprises a substantially cylindrical tube provided at its front end with an annular rim 5 having an axial bore 6 . extending upwardly from the front end of part 2 is a substantially rectangular projection 7 to which there is fixed , by means of screws 8 , a support arm 10 ( partially shown by dashed lines ) which is provided at its ends with two support projections 11 to which there are fixed , respectively , two electric control blocks 12 for mounting positions for various elements , such as direction indicators , lights , emergency signalling device , thermal rear window , etc . projecting from the lower region of the cylindrical support part 2 is a hollow cylindrical part 14 whose axis is orthogonal to the support part 2 and in which there may be accomodated an ignition key switch of known type ( not shown ) and a steering lock device ( of known type ) which controls the engagement and disengagement of a latch 15 with a steering wheel hub 16 . projecting from the rear end of the cylindrical support part 2 are two side projections 18 which are bent orthogonally toward the outside and in the ends of which there are formed two longitudinal slots 19 in which there are accomodated , with a possibility of adjustment , the two screws 4 which serve to fix to the two projections 18 to the respective vertical projections 20 of the support part 3 . support part 2 is made in one piece , conveniently by pressure die - casting , and comprises the cylindrical central part , the front base 5 , the projections 7 and 18 and the lower cylindrical part 14 . support part 3 , instead of being die cast , is conveniently made of a shaped sheet plate having a substantially rectangular planar central portion 22 which is bent upwardly at its front end so as to define a horizontal portion 23 at a level higher than the central portion 22 , and from the front end of which two projections 20 extend downwardly . at its rear end the central portion 22 is bent upwards , thus forming a wall 24 which and a rearwardly projecting vertical part 25 to there is fixed , for example by welding , the front region of a support part 26 , made of plate , which at its rear edge is bent upwards and is provided with two projections 27 for the attachment , by known means ( not shown ), of an instrument and control device carrier assembly ( shown by a chain line ). originating from the rear region of the plane central portion 22 and the wall 24 are a vertical wall 31 and a plane wall 32 , and this latter , in combination with the plane portion 23 , defines a bearing horizontal for a board 33 of an electric interconnection group for the control devices , instruments and accessory elements of the vehicle . the said board 33 , which is fixed to the wall 32 and to the portion 23 by means of screws 35 , carries ( in a known manner not shown ) a printed circuit , a plurality of fuse carrier elements with their respective fuses , and a plurality of connectors for the electric connection of the various control devices , instruments and accessory elements , in particular the instrument and control device carrier assembly 28 , to the electric control blocks 12 and to the ignition switch housed within on part 14 . the assembling of the support group 1 constructed according to the present invention is carried out as follows . to the support part 2 are connected by means of screws 8 the arms 19 which carry the electric control blocks 12 , and in the cylindrical part 14 there is accomodated the ignition switch with the steering lock device , while to the support part 3 are connected the instrument and control device carrier assembly 28 ( by means of the support part 26 ) and the board 33 ( by means of the screws 35 ). the two support parts 2 and 3 are then connected to one another by means of the screws 4 , and to the board 33 are connected the various electric connectors ( not shown ). in this way , the said support group comprising the parts 2 and 3 and the instrument and control device assembly 28 , board 33 , electric control blocks 12 and the ignition switch , may be easily subjected to prelimnary testing before being mounted in the vehicle . for the actual mounting of the support group in the vehicle , cylindrical support part 2 is fitted around a tube 40 forming a part of a steering column 41 of the vehicle , until the front end of the said tube 40 comes to rest on the inner surface of the annular rim 5 of the part 2 . the steering column 41 projects outwardly from the axial bore 6 and on its front end is mounted , in a known manner , the steering wheel hub 16 . the position of the support part 3 is then adjusted relative to the part 2 by means of the screws 4 which are housed in the slots 19 , in such a manner that the central planar portion 22 of the support part 3 will rest on a central portion 42 of a body bracket 43 , which has two shaped side portions of u - shaped cross - section ( one of which is shown in fig1 ) and is fixed in its rear region to a transversely disposed wall 44 of a body crosspiece 45 corresponding to the dashboard of the vehicle . connected to the central portion 42 of the body bracket 43 is a wall 65 whose end is fixed in the upper region of the body crosspiece 45 . the said central planar portion 22 of the support prt 3 is then secured the central portion 42 of the body bracket 43 by means of three bolts 46 . the support group shown in fig2 differs from that shown in fig1 by a different embodiment of the support part 2 which is indicated in fig2 by reference numeral 50 . instead of having a cylindrical central portion , the central portion is semicylindrical in shape , and has two longitudinal walls 51 and 52 which are substantially rectangular in shape and project outwardly in opposite directions . extending perpendicularly from front end of the wall 51 is a substantially rectangular projection 53 , to which there is fixed , by means of screws 54 , the support arm 10 supporting the electric control blocks 12 , while from the rear end of the wall 51 there extends perpendicularly a projection 55 , substantially rectangular in shape , to which there are fixed , by means of screws 56 , the vertical projections 20 of the support part 3 . in this embodiment , for the adjustment of the position of the support part 3 relative to the support part 2 , instead of the longitudinal slots 19 on the projections 18 of the support part 2 there are provided longitudinal slots 58 on the projections 20 of the support part 3 . the support part 50 is made by pressure die - casting and comprises , integrally therewith , the walls 51 and 52 , the projections 53 and 55 . the casting also may include an integral cylindrical portion 60 which is disposed perpendicularly to the axis of the support part 50 and accomodates a key type ignition switch and the steering lock device ( which are known ), which steering lock device acts onto the steering column , instead of acting onto the steering wheel hub , as shown in fig1 . the assembly of the support part 50 onto the tube 40 of the steering column 41 is carried out by means of a semicircular bracket 61 which has the same diameter as the tube 40 and the support part 50 and whose ends are fixed , by means of screws 62 , to the longitudinal walls 51 and 52 . the adjustment of the position of support part 50 and its fixing attachment to the body bracket 43 are carried out previously described with reference to fig1 . with the support group according to the present invention there is thus obtained the advantage of having an assembly of various components supported on each of the parts 2 and 3 and with the possibility of adjustment of the relative positions of the two parts . the components are easily assembled both on the various support parts and on the steering column of the vehicle . the said common support group for these various components facilitates their preliminary testing before their assembly in the vehicle , inasmuch as the support group forms an assembly including the various electric connection elements . in addition , the manufacture of the said support group is relatively simple and therefore economical . finally , it is clear that many modifications and variations may be made to the described embodiments of the present invention , without departing from the scope of the invention itself . for example , the support parts 2 and 3 may have different shapes ; the electric interconnection board 33 may be of a different type ; etc .	1
the process of this invention can be represented by the following equation for the monoaminecarbotrithioate formula ( i ) compounds , the reaction involved being equally operable in the preparation of formula ( ii )-( vi ) compounds : ## equ8 ## wherein m + 0 = alkali metal or ammonium cation r 1 = alkenyl , substituted alkenyl , 2 -( loweralkylthio ) ethyl , 2 -( arylthio ) ethyl , 2 -( lower - alkoxy ) ethyl , 2 -( aryloxy ) ethyl or propargyl and wherein r 3 and r 4 represent the remaining portion of a heterocyclic ring containing the nitrogen atom . in the reaction , a single organic liquid or a mixture of two immiscible organic liquids or a mixture of a water immiscible liquid and water may be used as the reaction medium . for instance , the thiolsulfonate reactant may be dissolved in a water - immiscible solvent such as methylene chloride , chloroform , ethyl ether , benzene , toluene , xylene or commercial chlorinated solvents , and the carbodithioate salt may be dissolved in water . the two solutions are then mixed and vigorously agitated for a period of time from 5 minutes to 20 hours advantageously at a temperature ranging between 20 ° and 150 ° c . again , both reactants may be completely soluble in a single organic solvent , or only one reactant may be completely soluble in the single organic liquid or neither reactant may be completely soluble in the single organic liquid . for another example , a solution of the thiosulfonate in ethanol can be added to a suspension of the carbodithioate salt in ethanol , and the resulting mixture stirred at the required temperature to cause reaction . solvents useful in single organic liquid systems include ethanol , methanol , isopropanol , acetone , methylethylketone , methylene chloride , chloroform , benzene , toluene , or xylene . when operating above the boiling point of the solvent system , a pressure vessel is advantageously used . the amounts of the reactants to be employed in the reaction are not critical , some of the desired products being obtained when the reactants are employed in any proportions . in a preferred method , good yields are obtained when employing substantially stoichiometric proportions of the reactants . bis ( aminecarbotrithioates ) are advantageously prepared by reacting two equivalents of an aminecarbodithioate , for example , sodium 4 - morpholinecarbodithioate , with one equivalent of a thiolsulfonate , for example , 2 , 2 &# 39 ;- bis ( phenylsulfonylthio ) diethyl sulfide to give thiodiethylene bis ( morpholinecarbotrithioate ). up to 100 percent excess of either reactant is not deleterious , however . representative thiolsulfonates useful in the process of this invention include o - nitrophenyl benzenethiolsulfonate , dinitrophenyl benzenethiolsulfonate , 2 , 3 , 3 - tribromoallyl p - toluenethiolsulfonate , 2 , 3 , 3 - tribromoallyl benzenethiolsulfonate , p - phenylene bis ( methanethiolsulfonate ), pentamethylene bis ( methanethiolsulfonate ), allyl p - toluenethiolsulfonate , α , α &# 39 ;- bis ( methylsulfonylthio )- o - xylene , propargyl p - toluenethiolsulfonate , methyl methanesulfonate , 2 - methylbenzyl benzenethiolsulfonate , ethyl p - toluenethiolsulfonate , n - dodecyl p - toluenethiolsulfonate , benzyl p - toluenethiolsulfonate , 2 -( methylthio ) ethyl p - iodobenzenethiolsulfonate , 2 -( methylthio ) ethyl methanethiolsulfonate , 2 , 2 &# 39 ;- bis ( phenylsulfonylthio ) diethyl sulfide , 2 -( ethylthio ) ethyl methanethiolsulfonate , 2 -( phenoxy ) ethyl benzenethiolsulfonate , 2 - phenylallyl methanethiolsulfonate , 2 , 2 &# 39 ;- bis ( phenylsulfonylthio ) diethyl sulfide and methylthiomethyl methanethiolsulfonate . representative aminocarbodithioate salts useful in the process of this invention include sodium , potassium , lithium and ammonium dithiocarbamate , dimethylaminecarbodithioate , diethylaminecarbodithioate , 1 - piperidinecarbodithioate , and 4 - morpholinecarbodithioate . the novel compounds of this invention are particularly useful as pesticides for the control of various fungal and bacterial organisms and other pests such as bacillus subtilis , staphylococcus auraus , escherichia coli , candida albicans , trichophyton mantagrophytes , venturia inaequalis , piricutaria oryzae , aerobacter aerogenes , salmonella typhosa , candida pelliculosa , pullularia pullulans , rhizopus nigricans , aspergillus terreus , eimeria necatrix , eimeria tenella and daphnia . the following examples described completely representative specific embodiments and the best modes contemplated by the inventors of carrying out their invention . temperatures given are centigrade . o - nitrophenyl benzenethiolsulfonate ( 14 . 8 grams ; 0 . 0500 mole ) in 75 milliliters of methylene chloride and 8 . 7 grams ( 0 . 0510 mole ) of sodium diethylaminecarbodithioate in 75 milliliters of water were combined and stirred vigorously for 18 hours at room temperature . the organic layer was separated , washed with water until free of water - soluble salts and dried over anhydrous magnesium sulfate . the solvent was removed by evaporation in vacuo , and the yellow , oily residue was crystallized ( norit ) from 1 : 1 volumetric proportions of methylcyclohexane and benzene to give golden platelets , melting point 92 °- 93 °. recrystallization from the same methylcyclohexane - benzene mixture gave the pure o - nitrophenyl diethylaminecarbotrithioate , melting point 92 . 5 °- 93 °. anal . calcd . for c 11 h 14 n 2 o 2 s 3 : c , 43 . 68 ; h , 4 . 67 ; n , 9 . 27 ; s , 31 . 80 . found : c , 43 . 69 ; h , 4 . 64 ; n , 8 . 93 ; s , 32 . 07 . sodium 1 - piperidinecarbodithioate ( 6 . 7 grams ; 0 . 033 mole ) was added to a suspension of 15 . 0 grams ( 0 . 0330 mole ) of 2 , 3 , 3 - tribromoallyl p - toluenethiolsulfonate in 250 milliliters of methanol with stirring at room temperature . dissolution of the reactants occurred immediately with concomitant formation of a yellow - orange color . the mixture was stirred vigorously at room temperature for 1 . 75 hours , and the product , 2 , 3 , 3 - tribromoallyl 1 - piperidinecarbotrithioate , was obtained as a light tan solid , melting point 84 °- 86 °. two recrystallizations from ethanol gave the pure substance as white crystals , melting point 84 . 5 °- 86 . 5 °. anal . calcd . for c 9 h 12 br 3 ns 3 : c , 23 . 0 ; h , 2 . 57 ; br , 51 . 0 . found : c , 23 . 0 ; h , 2 . 57 ; br , 51 . 0 . sodium 4 - morpholinecarbodithioate ( 18 . 5 grams ; 0 . 100 mole ) was added in one portion to a solution of 45 . 1 grams ( 0 . 100 mole ) of 2 , 3 , 3 - tribromoallyl benzenethiolsulfonate in 750 milliliters of methanol at room temperature with vigorous stirring . stirring was continued for 20 minutes , and the cream - colored precipitate which had formed was collected on a filter , dried in vacuo and recrystallized from ethanol to give orange - brown crystals , melting point 112 °- 113 . 5 °. a second recrystallization from ethanol gave the pure 2 , 3 , 3 - tribromoallyl 4 - morpholinecarbotrithioate as tan crystals , melting point 112 . 5 °- 114 °. anal . calcd . for c 8 h 10 br 3 nos 3 : c , 20 . 4 ; h , 2 . 14 ; br , 50 . 8 . found : c , 20 . 4 ; h , 2 . 37 ; br , 50 . 7 . a solution of 3 . 7 grams ( 0 . 020 mole ) of sodium 4 - morpholinecarbodithioate in 25 milliliters of ethanol was added to a suspension of 2 . 9 grams ( 0 . 010 mole ) of pentamethylene bis ( methanethiolsulfonate ) in 125 milliliters of ethanol . the reaction mixture was stirred at room temperature for 15 minutes , and the precipitated white crystalline product was collected on a filter and dried . recrystallization from ethanol gave the pure pentamethylene bis ( 4 - morpholinecarbotrithioate ) as colorless crystals , melting point 83 °- 84 . 5 °. anal . calcd . for c 15 h 26 n 2 o 2 s 6 : c , 39 . 27 ; h , 5 . 71 ; s , 41 . 93 . found : c , 39 . 3 ; h , 5 . 48 ; s , 41 . 49 . a mixture of 16 . 5 grams ( 0 . 0726 mole ) of allyl p - toluenethiolsulfonate and 13 . 3 grams ( 0 . 0726 mole ) of sodium 1 - piperidinecarbodithioate in 200 milliliters of ethanol was heated at reflux temperature for one hour . the solvent was removed by evaporation in vacuo , leaving a mixture of crystalline material and oil . the mixture was slurried in ether and filtered to remove the insoluble by - product , sodium p - toluenesulfinate . the ether was removed by evaporation in vacuo to give the crude product as an amber oil . the material was chromatographed on an acid - washed activated alumina column , using 1 : 1 benzene - petroleum ether ( boiling point 60 °- 70 °). the pure allyl 1 - piperidinecarbotrithioate was obtained as a yellow oil , n d 25 1 . 6339 . anal . calcd . for c 9 h 15 ns 3 : c , 46 . 31 ; h , 6 . 48 ; n , 6 . 00 ; s , 41 . 21 . found : c , 46 . 2 ; h , 6 . 56 ; n , 5 . 92 ; s , 41 . 70 . a mixture of 10 . 0 grams ( 0 . 0306 mole ) of α , α &# 39 ;- bis ( methylsulfonylthio )- o - xylene and 11 . 3 grams ( 0 . 0612 mole ) of sodium 4 - morpholinecarbodithioate in 300 milliliters of ethanol was stirred at room temperature for 30 minutes . the precipitate which formed was collected by filtration and stirred with hot ethanol . the ethanol - insoluble crude product was collected on a filter , air - dried and recrystallized from acetonitrile to give the pure o - xylylene bis ( 4 - morpholinecarbotrithioate ) as ivory - colored crystals , melting point 174 °- 175 °. anal . calcd . for c 18 h 24 n 2 o 2 s 6 : c , 43 . 87 ; h , 4 . 91 ; n , 5 . 69 . found : c , 43 . 7 ; h , 4 . 70 ; n , 5 . 54 . a mixture of 9 . 0 grams ( 0 . 040 mole ) of propargyl p - toluenethiolsulfonate and 7 . 4 grams ( 0 . 040 mole ) of sodium 4 - morpholinecarbodithioate in 300 milliliters of ethyl ether was stirred at room temperature for 17 hours . during this period of time the by - product sodium p - toluenesulfinate had precipitated as white crystals and was removed by filtration . the solvent was removed from the filtrate by evaporation in vacuo , leaving an oily , red solid . the substance was dissolved in a minimum amount of benzene and precipitated by the addition of petroleum ether ( boiling point 60 °- 70 °) to give a yellow , crystalline , crude product . recrystallization from isopropanol gave the pure propargyl 4 - morpholinecarbotrithioate as pale yellow crystals , melting point 77 °- 78 °. anal . calcd . for c 8 h 11 nos 3 : h , 41 . 2 ; h , 4 . 75 ; n , 6 . 00 . found : c , 41 . 4 ; h , 5 . 12 ; n , 6 . 11 . a mixture of 41 . 0 grams ( 0 . 325 mole ) of methyl methanethiolsulfonate , 116 . 8 grams ( 0 . 0682 mole ) of sodium diethylaminecarbodithioate , 400 milliliters of methylene chloride and 25 milliliters of water was stirred vigorously at room temperature for 48 hours . the methylene chloride layer was separated , washed with water and dried over anhydrous magnesium sulfate . removal of the solvent by evaporation in vacuo gave the methyl diethylaminecarbotrithioate as a yellow oil , n d 25 1 . 6111 . the oil was crystallized at low temperature from a solution of ethyl ether and petroleum ether ( boiling point 60 °- 70 °) to give a low melting yellow solid , which was quickly collected on a sintered glass buechner funnel and dried in vacuo as a liquid in an abderhalden drying pistol . the purified product , methyl diethylaminecarbotrithioate , was obtained as a yellow oil , n d 25 1 . 6118 . anal . calcd . for c 6 h 13 ns 3 : c , 36 . 9 ; h , 6 . 71 ; s , 49 . 23 . found : c , 37 . 5 ; h , 6 . 91 ; s , 49 . 57 . a solution of 16 . 0 grams ( 0 . 0865 mole ) of sodium 4 - morpholinecarbodithioate in 50 milliliters of water was added to a solution of 25 . 1 grams ( 0 . 0850 mole ) of o - nitrophenyl benzenethiolsulfonate in 250 milliliters of methylene chloride , and the reaction mixture was stirred vigorously at room temperature for four hours . after standing at room temperature for an additional 13 hours , the methylene chloride layer was separated , washed with water and dried over anhydrous magnesium sulfate . the solvent was then removed by evaporation in vacuo , leaving the crude product as bright yellow crystals . two recrystallizations from ethanol gave the pure o - nitrophenyl 4 - morpholinecarbotrithioate as yellow crystals , melting point 158 °- 160 °. anal . calcd . for c 11 h 12 n 2 o 3 s 3 : c , 41 . 75 ; h , 3 . 82 ; n , 8 . 86 . found : c , 41 . 7 ; h , 3 . 87 ; n , 8 . 68 . a solution of 20 . 1 grams ( 0 . 110 mole ) of sodium 1 - piperidinecarbodithioate in 50 milliliters of water was added to a solution of 29 . 5 grams ( 0 . 100 mole ) of o - nitrophenyl benzenethiolsulfonate in 200 milliliters of methylene chloride , and the reaction mixture was stirred at room temperature for 30 hours . the methylene chloride layer was separated , washed with water and dried over anhydrous magnesium sulfate . the solvent was removed by evaporation in vacuo , leaving the bright yellow , crystalline , crude product . two recrystallizations from acetonitrile gave the pure o - nitrophenyl 1 - piperidinecarbotrithioate as bright yellow crystals , melting point 149 . 5 °- 151 . 5 °. anal . calcd . for c 12 c 14 n 2 o 2 s 3 : c , 45 . 84 ; h , 4 . 49 ; h , 8 . 91 . found : c , 45 . 8 ; h , 4 . 51 ; n , 8 . 84 . a mixture of 27 . 8 grams ( 0 . 100 mole ) of 2 - methylbenzyl benzenethiolsulfonate and 19 . 7 grams ( 0 . 110 mole ) of sodium dimethylaminecarbodithioate dihydrate in 300 milliliters of methanol was stirred at room temperature for 20 hours . the white solid which had formed was collected on a filter and dried . the crude substance was twice recrystallized from ethanol to give the pure 2 - methylbenzyl dimethylaminecarbotrithioate as colorless crystals , melting point 83 °- 85 °. anal . calcd . for c 11 h 15 ns 3 : c , 51 . 32 ; h , 5 . 87 ; n , 5 . 44 . found : c , 51 . 3 ; h , 6 . 01 ; n , 5 . 33 . a mixture of 18 . 0 grams ( 0 . 0832 mole ) of ethyl p - toluenethiolsulfonate and 16 . 4 grams ( 0 . 0915 mole ) of sodium dimethylaminocarbodithioate dihydrate in 250 milliliters of methanol was stirred at room temperature for 2 hours . the solvent was then removed by evaporation in vacuo , leaving an oily residue which was slurried in ether and filtered to remove the insoluble by - product , sodium p - toluenesulfinate . the ether filtrate was dried over anhydrous magnesium sulfate and evaporated to dryness , leaving the crude product as a pale green oil . treatment of a solution of the crude product in methylene chloride with activated alumina , with subsequent filtration and evaporation of the solvent , gave the ethyl dimethylaminecarbotrithioate as a pale yellow oil , n d 25 1 . 6205 . ( lit . n d 20 1 . 6278 ; a . a . watson , j . chem . soc ., 1964 , 2100 ). a solution of 13 . 8 grams ( 0 . 0772 mole ) of sodium dimethylaminecarbodithioate dihydrate in 150 milliliters of methanol was slowly added with stirring to a suspension of 25 . 0 grams ( 0 . 0702 mole ) of n - dodecyl p - toluenethiolsulfonate in 150 milliliters of methanol . the reaction mixture was stirred at room temperature for 16 hours during which time the product precipitated . the white , crystalline precipitate was collected on a filter and recrystallized from ethanol to give the pure n - dodecyl dimethylaminecarbotrithioate as colorless crystals , melting point 48 °- 50 °. anal . calcd . for c 15 h 31 ns 3 : c , 56 . 02 ; h , 9 . 72 ; n , 4 . 36 . found : c , 56 . 3 ; h , 9 . 98 ; n , 4 . 37 . a solution of 17 . 8 grams ( 0 . 0640 mole ) of benzyl p - toluenethiolsulfonate in 150 milliliters of methanol was added to a stirred suspension of 12 . 6 grams ( 0 . 0700 mole ) of sodium dimethylaminecarbodithioate dihydrate in 150 milliliters of methanol , and the mixture was stirred at room temperature for 18 hours . during the reaction period the crude product precipitated as white crystals and was collected on a filter . the filtrate was evaporated to dryness , and the residue was extracted with methylene chloride , leaving the by - product , sodium p - toluenesulfinate , undissolved . the methylene chloride extract was concentrated to give a further amount of the crude benzyl dimethylaminecarbotrithioate , which was combined with the first amount . recrystallization from ethanol ( norit ) gave the pure benzyl dimethylaminecarbotrithioate as long , colorless needles , melting point 86 . 5 °- 87 °. ( lit . melting point 85 °, u . s . pat . no . 3 , 232 , 974 , imperial chemical industries , ltd .). anal . calcd . for c 10 h 13 ns 3 : c , 49 . 34 ; h , 5 . 38 ; n , 5 . 76 . found : c , 49 . 35 ; h , 5 . 44 ; n , 5 . 40 . a solution of 24 . 1 grams ( 0 . 110 mole ) of sodium 1 - piperidinecarbodithioate in 200 milliliters of methanol was added with stirring to a suspension of 27 . 8 grams ( 0 . 100 mole ) of 2 - methylbenzyl benzenethiolsulfonate in 100 milliliters of methanol . the formation of a white precipitate was observed immediately . the reaction mixture was allowed to stand at room temperature for 20 hours and was then filtered to collect the white , crystalline , crude product . recrystallization from isopropanol gave the pure 2 - methylbenzyl 1 - piperidinecarbotrithioate as colorless crystals , melting point 103 °- 105 °. anal . calcd . for c 14 h 19 ns 3 : c , 56 . 56 ; h , 6 . 44 ; n , 4 . 71 . found : c , 56 . 6 ; h , 6 . 55 ; n , 4 . 87 . a solution of 16 . 1 grams ( 0 . 0431 mole ) of 2 -( methylthio ) ethyl p - iodobenzenethiolsulfonate in 75 milliliters of methanol was added with stirring to a solution of 8 . 5 grams ( 0 . 047 mole ) of sodium dimethylaminecarbodithioate dihydrate in 75 milliliters of methanol , and the reaction mixture was stirred for 15 hours at room temperature . the solvent was removed by evaporation in vacuo , leaving a residue of white solid . the residue was extracted with methylene chloride and the sodium p - iodibenzenesulfinate by - product removed by filtration . the filtrate was concentrated to give the crude product as a white solid , which was collected on a filter and recrystallized from methanol to give the pure 2 -( methylthio ) ethyl dimethylaminecarbotrithioate as colorless needles , melting point 36 °- 37 °. anal . calcd . for c 6 h 13 ns 4 : c , 31 . 68 ; h , 5 . 76 ; n , 6 . 16 . found : c , 31 . 7 ; h , 6 . 00 ; n , 5 . 93 . a solution of 10 . 6 grams ( 0 . 0592 mole ) of sodium dimethylaminecarbodithioate dihydrate in 100 milliliters of methanol was purged of air by a stream of nitrogen . 2 -( methylthio ) ethyl methanethiolsulfonate ( 10 . 0 grams ., 0 . 0537 mole ) in 100 milliliters of methanol was then added slowly with stirring at room temperature . after the mixture had been stirred under nitrogen at room temperature overnight the solvent was removed by evaporation in vacuo to leave an oily residue which , when shaken with methylene chloride , left a water miscible layer which was separated from the organic phase and discarded . the methylene chloride solution was concentrated to give white crystals , melting point 35 °- 36 °, with some remaining solid not completely melting until a temperature of 105 ° was reached . a lengthy fractional crystallization procedure , using methanol as a recrystallizing solvent , gave the pure product as colorless needles , melting point 36 °- 37 °. a mixture of this substance and a sample of the authentic substance gave no depression of melting point . a solution of 21 . 8 grams ( 0 . 118 mole ) of sodium 4 - morpholinecarbodithioate in 150 milliliters of methanol was added slowly at room temperature to a stirred solution of 20 . 0 grams ( 0 . 107 mole ) of 2 -( methylthio ) ethyl methanethiolsulfonate in 150 milliliters of methanol . stirring was continued for 15 hours , and the solvent was then removed by evaporation in vacuo . the yellow oily residue was shaken with water and the mixture extracted with methylene chloride . after the extract was dried over anhydrous magnesium sulfate the methylene chloride was removed by evaporation , leaving 27 . 0 grams of a turbid , yellow oil n d 25 1 . 6473 . residual solvent was removed by vacuum distillation , leaving 25 . 0 grams of yellow oil which was dissolved in methylene chloride , the solution treated with activated charcoal and filtered . upon removing the methylene chloride in vacuo , the residue was found to consist of a clear , yellow oil , n d 25 1 . 6445 . anal . calcd . for c 8 h 15 nos 4 : c , 35 . 66 ; h , 5 . 61 ; n , 5 . 20 . found : c , 35 . 4 ; h , 5 . 48 ; n , 5 . 43 . a solution of 9 . 7 grams ( 0 . 0440 mole ) of sodium 1 - piperidinecarbodithioate in 150 milliliters of methanol was added with stirring to a suspension of 14 . 3 grams ( 0 . 0401 mole ) of n - dodecyl p - toluenethiolsulfonate in 150 milliliters of methanol at room temperature . a thick , white precipitate formed almost immediately . the reaction mixture was allowed to stand at room temperature for 16 . 5 hours . the mixture was then collected on a filter and dried . two recrystallizations from ethanol gave the pure product as white crystals , melting point 47 . 5 °- 49 . 5 °. anal . calcd . for c 18 h 35 ns 3 : c , 59 . 78 ; h , 9 . 75 ; n , 3 . 88 . found : c , 59 . 8 ; h , 10 . 04 ; n , 4 . 14 . sodium 4 - morpholinecarbodithioate ( 18 . 5 grams ; 0 . 100 mole ) was added to a warm , stirred solution of 21 . 7 grams ( 0 . 0500 mole ) of 2 , 2 &# 39 ;- bis ( phenylsulfonylthio )- diethyl sulfide with the immediate formation of a voluminous , white precipitate . the reaction mixture was heated under reflux with stirring for 15 minutes and the white , crystalline product collected on a filter and washed with water to remove the sodium benzenesulfinate by - product . the crude product was recrystallized from methanol to give a very pale yellow solid , melting point 116 . 5 °- 117 . 5 °. a second recrystallization from methanol gave a pure product as pale yellow crystals , melting point 117 °- 117 . 5 °. anal . calcd . for c 14 h 24 n 2 o 2 s 7 : c , 35 . 27 ; h , 5 . 07 ; n , 5 . 88 . found : c , 35 . 2 ; h , 4 . 97 ; n , 5 . 79 . to a stirred solution of 27 . 2 grams ( 0 . 121 mole ) of sodium diethylaminecarbodithioate trihydrate in 100 milliliters of methanol was slowly added a solution of 15 . 0 grams ( 0 . 0806 mole ) of 2 -( methylthio ) ethyl methanethiolsulfonate in 100 milliliters of methanol under nitrogen . the reaction mixture was then stirred at room temperature under nitrogen for 18 hours . evaporation of the solvent left an oil which was washed with water . the water washings were combined and washed with methylene chloride . the oil portion was added to the methylene chloride extract and the resulting solution dried over anhydrous magnesium sulfate . the solution was then treated with decolorizing charcoal , filtered and concentrated in vacuo to give a clear , yellow oil , n d 25 1 . 6137 . anal . calcd . for c 8 h 17 ns 4 : c , 37 . 57 ; h , 6 . 71 ; n , 5 . 48 . found : c , 38 . 0 ; n , 6 . 69 ; n , 5 . 40 . a mixture of 11 . 0 grams ( 0 . 055 mole ) of 2 -( ethylthio ) ethyl methanethiolsulfonate and 12 . 2 grams ( 0 . 066 mole ) of sodium 4 - morpholinecarbodithioate in 300 milliliters of methanol was stirred at room temperature for 18 hours . the solvent was removed in vacuo , leaving an oily , crystalline mass which was stirred in ether and filtered to remove the insoluble by - product . the filtrate was dried over anhydrous magnesium sulfate and was evaporated to dryness to give a yellow oil . the oil was crystallized by cooling in a dry - ice - methylene chloride bath and recrystallized from methanol . two recrystallizations from isopropanol gave the pure substance as colorless crystals , melting point 31 °- 32 . 5 °. anal . calcd . for c 9 h 17 nos 4 : c , 38 . 13 ; h , 6 . 05 ; n , 4 . 95 . found : c , 38 . 0 ; h , 5 . 85 ; n , 4 . 96 . a solution of 15 . 1 grams ( 0 . 0816 mole ) of sodium 4 - morpholinecarbodithioate in 150 milliliters of methanol was added with stirring to a suspension of 20 . 0 grams ( 0 . 0680 mole ) of 2 -( phenoxy ) ethyl benzenethiolsulfonate in 150 milliliters of methanol . a thick , white precipitate began forming immediately . the reaction mixture was stirred at room temperature for 19 hours , and the precipitate was collected on a filter . recrystallization of product from methanol gave the pure substance as colorless crystals , melting point 89 °- 91 °. anal . calcd . for c 13 h 17 no 2 s 3 : c , 49 . 49 ; h , 5 . 43 ; n , 4 . 44 . found : c , 49 . 2 ; h , 5 . 50 ; n , 4 . 47 . a solution of 16 . 7 grams ( 0 . 0732 mole ) of 2 - phenylallyl methanethiolsulfonate and 16 . 3 grams ( 0 . 0878 mole ) of sodium 4 - morpholinecarbodithioate in 300 milliliters of methanol was stirred at room temperature for 28 hours . the solvent was removed in vacuo , leaving a yellow residue which was stirred in ether and filtered to remove the insoluble by - product , sodium methanesulfinate . the ether filtrate was dried over anhydrous magnesium sulfate and evaporated to dryness to obtain a yellow , viscous oil . trituration with a small amount of cold ether gave the crude , crystalline product which was collected on a filter . recrystallization of product from ethanol gave the pure substance as colorless crystals , melting point 69 . 5 °- 71 °. anal . calcd . for c 14 h 17 nos 3 : c , 53 . 98 ; h , 5 . 51 , n , 4 . 50 . found : c , 54 . 0 ; h , 5 . 38 ; n , 4 . 31 . sodium dimethylaminecarbodithioate dihydrate ( 14 . 2 grams ; 0 . 0792 mole ) was added to a warm , stirred solution of 17 . 2 grams ( 0 . 0396 mole ) of 2 , 2 &# 39 ;- bis ( phenylsulfonylthio ) diethyl sulfide in 700 milliliters of methanol . the mixture was heated under reflux with stirring for one hour , after which time the methanol was removed by evaporation in vacuo . the solid residue was extracted with water at room temperature to remove the by - product , sodium benzenesulfinate , collected on a filter and dried in vacuo over calcium chloride . two recrystallizations from ethyl acetate gave the pure substance as colorless crystals , melting point 105 °- 105 . 5 °. anal . calcd . for c 10 h 20 n 2 s 7 : c , 30 . 58 ; h , 5 . 13 ; n , 7 . 14 . found : c , 30 . 6 ; h , 5 . 10 ; n , 7 . 25 . a solution of 13 . 0 grams ( 0 . 0700 mole ) of sodium 4 - morpholinecarbodithioate in 125 milliliters of methanol was added to a solution of 10 . 0 grams ( 0 . 0580 mole ) of methylthiomethyl methanethiolsulfonate in 125 milliliters of methanol , and the reaction mixture was stirred at room temperature for 16 hours . the white precipitate , which had formed during the reaction period , was collected on a filter and recrystallized from methanol to give the pure methylthiomethyl 4 - morpholinecarbotrithioate as pale yellow crystals , melting point 55 °- 57 °. anal . calcd . for c 7 h 13 nos 4 : c , 32 . 88 ; h , 5 . 13 ; n , 5 . 49 . found : c , 33 . 1 ; h , 4 . 81 ; n , 5 . 41 . the compounds of the present invention are variously useful as pesticides for the control of various bacteria , fungi , mollusks , crustaceans , insects and terrestial plants . for such use , the unmodified compounds can be employed . alternatively , the compounds can be dispersed on an inert finely divided solid and the resulting preparation employed as a dust . also , such compounds or dust compositions containing said compounds can be dispersed in water with or without the aid of additional wetting agents and the resulting aqueous dispersions employed as sprays . in other procedures , the compounds can be employed as solutions in petroleum distillates or in other solvents or as constituents of oil - in - water or water - in - oil emulsions . such liquid compositions can be employed as sprays , drenches or washes . in representative operations , the compound of example 2 gives good control of nymphal american cockroaches . in the test method , a paper cylindrical cage is provided , fitted on the bottom with a number 52 whatman filter paper and on the top with a retaining screen . twenty - five nymphal cockroaches are inactivated with co 2 and immersed in an aqueous dispersion of 1 , 000 parts per million by weight of the compound of example 2 contained in the cage . the water is drawn off by suction through the filter paper . the nymphs are then fed with sugar water and left in the cage for three days , when a mortality count is made . under such conditions , substantially complete control is attained . the same compound is separately dispersed in a series of melted nutrient agar samples to product a bacteriological culture medium containing 500 p . p . m . thereof by weight of ultimate medium . each of these media is then poured into a separate petri dish and allowed to solidify . the solidified agar surface in each petri dish is separately inoculated with one of staphylococcus aureus , bacillus subtilis , aspergillus terreus , candida pelliculosa , pullularia pullulans or salmonella typhosa , the inoculation being carried out by mopping the agar surfaces with a swab from a 24 - hour broth culture of the organism . after 72 hours incubation at 30 ° c ., the agar surface of each petri dish is examined for micro - organisms . in each of the series , the control is 100 percent . a control culture , to which none of the compound is added , shows vigorous growth . the compound of example 3 is similarly 100 percent effective against staphylococcus aureus and bacillus subtilis at a concentration of 500 p . p . m . the compound of example 5 is similarly effective against staphylococcus aureus , candida albicans and trichophyton mentagrophytes , but at 100 p . p . m . concentration . this compound is also effective in controlling daphnia and carassius auratus when 100 p . p . m . of compound is dispersed in water containing these organisms . piricutaria oryzae is controlled 100 percent by application of an aqueous dispersion containing 100 p . p . m . of compound . amaranthus species is 100 percent controlled by application to the soil of 10 lb ./ acre of the compound applied in aqueous dispersion as a drench to soil containing viable seed of said species . the compound of example 7 is 100 percent effective against the american cockroach at a concentration of 1000 p . p . m . used in the form of an aqueous dispersion . an aqueous dispersion of 150 p . p . m ., when sprayed on cucumber plants and potato plants , respectively , gives 100 percent control against erysiphe cichoracearum and 95 percent control against phytophthora infestans . the compound of example 24 is similarly 100 percent effective against the american cockroach and against staphylococcus aureus at 500 p . p . m ., and 100 percent effective against candida albicans , trichophyton mentagrophytes , bacillus subtilis , aspergillus terreus , candida pelluculosa , pullularia pullulans and mycobacterium phlei , all at a concentration of 100 p . p . m . the following table shows effectiveness of other compounds at the stated concentrations , using tests as described above . effective for 100 % compound control of : concentration______________________________________example 6 crabgrass 4 , 000 p . p . m . example 16 daphnia 2 p . p . m . ram &# 39 ; s horn snail 2 p . p . m . goldfish 2 p . p . m . cucumber , powdery mildew 75 p . p . m . example 18 daphnia 0 . 4 p . p . m . goldfish 2 p . p . m . cucumber powdery mildew 150 p . p . m . apple scab fungus 400 p . p . m . s . aureus 100 p . p . m . e . coli 100 p . p . m . c . albicans 100 p . p . m . t . mentagrophytes 100 p . p . m . b . subtilis 100 p . p . m . a . aerogenes 100 p . p . m . a . terreus 10 p . p . m . c . pelliculosa 100 p . p . m . p . pullulans 100 p . p . m . s . typhosa 100 p . p . m . example 21 e . coli 500 p . p . m . c . albicans 100 p . p . m . t . mentagrophytes 100 p . p . m . b . subtilis 100 p . p . m . a . terreus 100 p . p . m . c . pelliculosa 100 p . p . m . p . pullulans 100 p . p . m . s . typhosa 100 p . p . m . example 22 s . aureus 500 p . p . m . c . albicans 500 p . p . m . t . mentagrophytes 100 p . p . m . b . subtilis 100 p . p . m . a . terreus 100 p . p . m . c . pelliculosa 100 p . p . m . p . pullulans 100 p . p . m . bread mold fungus 500 p . p . m . example 5 s . aureus 500 p . p . m . t . mentagrophytes 500 p . p . m . b . subtilis 500 p . p . m . bean mildew 100 p . p . m . example 19 s . aureus 100 p . p . m . t . mentagrophytes 100 p . p . m . p . pullulans 100 p . p . m . ram &# 39 ; s horn snail 2 p . p . m . example 4 amaranthus spp . 25 lb ./ acreexample 25 s . aureus 100 p . p . m . c . albicans 100 p . p . m . t . mentagrophytes 100 p . p . m . b . subtilis 100 p . p . m . a . terreus 100 p . p . m . c . pelliculosa 100 p . p . m . ______________________________________	2
we have discovered that dhaa is stable in solutions of pure polyol solvents and in solutions wherein the polyol content is greater than about 50 percent . by “ stable ” is meant that dhaa in these solutions deteriorates very slowly over a sufficient period of time that it can be stored and sold as a dietary supplement or as a skin care product , or as a concentrate for preparing or manufacturing them , with a reasonable shelf life . the solutions are made by oxidizing ascorbic acid that is first dissolved in a pure polyol solvent , or in water , or in some mixture of these liquids . the polyol concentration may be adjusted to about 50 % or greater prior to oxidizing the aa or afterwards . the solutions can also be made by oxidizing aa that is dissolved in an alcohol ( e . g ., ethanol ), and then combining the dhaa - containing alcohol with a polyol solvent . if it is desired that the final solution does not contain alcohol , the alcohol can be removed by evaporating the alcohol from the polyol solvent solution using heat or vacuum , or both . the solutions can also be made by dissolving solid dhaa in a pure polyol solvent , or in water , or in some mixture of these liquids . the polyol concentration may be adjusted to about 50 % or greater prior to dissolving the dhaa or afterwards . the organic polyol solvents are chosen for pharmaceutical and dietary acceptability , their ability to solubilize the aa and dhaa component , water content , and effect on the stability of the dhaa component . at present we prefer to employ commercially available glycerol which generally contains 5 % or less water . in general , we prefer to minimize the water content of the solvent ( s ), consistent with economic and functional considerations . other polyols which can be employed include propylene glycol , hexylene glycol , butylene glycol and the almost infinite molecular weight range of polyethylene glycols , as well as so - called sugar alcohols , e . g ., sorbitol and xylitol , and mixtures thereof with other polyols . these solutions can be prepared entirely with one polyol solvent , e . g ., glycerol , or mixtures of polyol solvents . the final choice of solvent will depend on economics and other relevant factors . methods we have successfully applied for oxidizing the ascorbic acid include the use of halogen or ozone or oxygen / activated charcoal or fenton &# 39 ; s reagent or ascorbic acid oxidase enzyme . all of these methods are known in the art , as are other methods ; the previously cited references pecherer and koliou show typical applications of various methods for example . the method by which the oxidation is accomplished is not the determinant factor of the long term stability of the dhaa in the solution , and other methods of oxidation are within the scope of the invention . aa concentration in solution is commonly measured as the reducing activity of the solution using starch - iodine titration methods that are well - known in the art . aa is also measured by ultra - violet spectrophotometry using a wavelength at which aa absorbs strongly and dhaa does not , typically about 265 nm . this method is also well known in the art . dhaa in solution can be converted into aa by reducing agents such as dithiothreitol ( dtt ) or tris ( 2 - carboxyethyl ) phosphine ( tcep ), and its concentration is commonly measured spectrophotometrically as the difference in absorbance of a solution subjected to reduction by dtt or tcep versus a similar solution that is not subjected to a reducing agent . these methods are also well - known in the art , but see deutsch for examples . in the description , claims , and the following examples , dhaa in the compositions of the invention is the vitamin c that can be measured by the difference in absorbance at 262 nm using tcep reducing agent . in a preferred embodiment of the invention , aa dissolved in glycerol and / or water is oxidized using ozone to produce dhaa solutions . water - based solutions and glycerol - based solutions may be combined to yield stable dhaa compositions having the desired polyol concentration . a 15 % aa solution in water was prepared by adding 15 grams aa per 100 ml purified water with stirring . a 15 % solution of aa in glycerol was prepared by adding 15 grams aa per 100 ml pure usp glycerol and stirring with heat . a corona - discharge type ozone generator with feed - gas of pure oxygen was used to supply an oxidizing gas containing about 5 % ozone , and each of the 15 % aa solutions was subjected to oxidizing conditions by bubbling the oxidizing gas through the solution using a glass diffuser . the progress of aa oxidation in each solution was monitored by the disappearance of reducing activity as measured by starch - iodine titration . each solution was subjected to the oxidizing conditions until all (& gt ; 99 %) of the original reducing activity had disappeared . the solution made with pure glycerol was labeled “ 100 % glycerol ,” and the solution made with purified water was labeled “ 100 % water .” portions of these two solutions were combined to produce solutions of various glycerol concentrations by weight , specifically “ 99 % glycerol ,” “ 98 % glycerol ,” “ 97 % glycerol ,” “ 96 % glycerol ,” “ 95 % glycerol ”, “ 90 % glycerol ,” and “ 50 % glycerol .” for example , 99 parts by weight of “ 100 % glycerol ” was combined with 1 part by weight “ 100 % water ” to produce the “ 99 % glycerol ” solution . aliquots of each of the solutions prepared above were placed in translucent , screw - capped polyethylene vials and were stored at room temperature . no attempt was made to further protect the vials from ambient indoor light , and each vial contained a headspace of normal air . each vial was periodically opened to remove a sample for stability testing over the next 229 days . the concentration of dhaa in each sample was measured by spectrometry on each testing day . the initial dhaa concentration of each solution on day 1 was recorded and assigned a value of 100 %, and the concentration on each subsequent stability test day was calculated as the percent remaining of the initial concentration . fig1 through 8 show the results of stability testing of the various glycerol - containing solutions ; each graph also shows the result of the “ 100 % water ” solution for comparison . it can be seen that dhaa decomposes rapidly in water . by the time the water solution was tested at 20 days , less than 10 percent of the initial amount of dhaa remained . by contrast , dhaa is preserved very well in solutions containing high concentrations of glycerol . in pure glycerol for example , greater than 80 % of the initial dhaa concentration remains even after approximately 8 months of storage at room temperature . as the glycerol concentration is reduced , stability is reduced , until only minor improvement is gained at 50 % glycerol concentration . in another embodiment , a stable dhaa composition is produced by oxidation of aa dissolved in glycerol using exposure to activated charcoal and oxygen as the oxidation method . a solution of aa in pure usp glycerol was subjected to oxidizing conditions by suspending activated charcoal in the solution and then bubbling pure oxygen through the solution . oxidation of aa during this process was monitored by starch - iodine titration . after the desired amount of aa had been oxidized , the activated charcoal was removed from the solution by centrifugation and filtration . this solution was labeled “ 100 % glycerol .” a portion of the solution was then placed in a translucent , screw - capped polyethylene vial and was stored at room temperature . no attempt was made to further protect the vial from ambient indoor light , and the vial contained a headspace of normal air . the vial was periodically opened to remove a sample for stability testing over the next 191 days . the concentration of dhaa in the sample was measured by spectrometry on each testing day . the initial dhaa concentration of the solution on day 1 was recorded and assigned a value of 100 %, and the concentration on each subsequent stability test day was calculated as the percent remaining of the initial concentration . fig9 shows the results of the stability testing of this solution , and for comparison also shows the stability of a dhaa solution prepared in purified water ( labeled “ 100 % water ”). it can be seen that dhaa in glycerol produced by an alternative oxidation method shows excellent long - term stability . in another embodiment , stable dhaa compositions are produced by oxidizing aa dissolved in water using fenton &# 39 ; s reagent as the oxidizing method , and then combining the water solution with propylene glycol such that the final concentration of polyol is 50 % or greater . aa was dissolved in purified water to give a highly concentrated solution , and then sufficient 30 % hydrogen peroxide was added to oxidize about half of the aa . iron to catalyze the reaction was provided by addition of ferrous sulfate . oxidation of the aa was monitored by spectrometry until the expected amount of aa had been oxidized . this solution was labeled “ 100 % water .” portions of this solution were combined with portions of pure , usp grade propylene glycol to produce solutions of “ 97 % propylene glycol ,” “ 95 % propylene glycol ,” “ 90 % propylene glycol ,” “ 80 % propylene glycol ,” “ 70 % propylene glycol ,” and “ 50 % propylene glycol .” for example , 3 parts by volume of the “ 100 % water ” solution were combined with 97 parts by volume propylene glycol to yield the “ 97 % propylene glycol ” solution . aliquots of each of the solutions prepared above were placed in translucent , screw - capped polyethylene vials and were stored at room temperature . no attempt was made to further protect the vials from ambient indoor light , and each vial contained a headspace of normal air . each vial was periodically opened to remove a sample for stability testing over the next 31 days . the concentration of dhaa in each sample was measured by spectrometry on each testing day . the initial dhaa concentration of each solution was recorded and assigned a value of 100 % ( day 0 ), and the concentration on each subsequent stability test day was calculated as the percent remaining of the initial concentration . fig1 through 15 show the results of stability testing of the various propylene glycol - containing solutions ; each graph also shows the result of the “ 100 % water ” solution for comparison . it can be seen that dhaa decomposes rapidly in water ; after only 5 days , less than 20 percent of the initial amount of dhaa remains . by contrast , dhaa is preserved very well in solutions containing high concentrations of propylene glycol . in fact , the dhaa concentration in many of these solutions actually increased significantly over time , a remarkable and unexpected discovery . we believe this phenomenon can be explained this way : residual aa continues to oxidize while the dhaa is stabilized and therefore accumulates in the solution . the spectrophotometric measurements support this explanation , but we do not wish to be bound by this explanation . example 3 demonstrates that stable dhaa compositions may be prepared using a third alternative oxidation method as compared with the first two examples , and also demonstrates that an alternative polyol solvent can be used . while the above description contains many specificities , these should not be construed as limitations on the scope of the invention , but rather as exemplification of preferred embodiments . the compositions can be prepared using various methods and ingredients as mentioned , and their equivalents . polyol solvents are known to be antimicrobial in high concentrations and therefore the compositions of the invention generally do not require preservatives . polyol solvents are also capable of dissolving substances that are not soluble in water , so are capable of solubilizing not only aa and dhaa but additional dietary or skin - enhancing ingredients such as vitamin e . many polyol solvents are excellent skin - enhancing substances in their own right , such as glycerol which is commonly utilized in skin care products as a humectant . many polyol solvents are not only safe for ingestion , but in fact have a pleasant , sweet flavor . thus the compositions have favorable properties that are synergistic with their use as dietary supplements , skin - enhancers , concentrates , or research solutions . accordingly , the scope of the invention should be determined not by the embodiments illustrated , but by the appended claims and their equivalents .	0
the invention relates to an interconnect , and to interconnect architecture , for communicating between processing elements and memory modules in a parallel on - chip computer system . as used herein , the term “ interconnect ” refers to a circuit element capable of processing and / or storing data in accordance with switching decisions , and of routing data from an input lead to an output lead . the term “ switching decision ” refers to criterion upon which data is evaluated to determine its routing through the interconnect . switching decisions may be made by a “ computer - facilitated protocol ” ( i . e ., a decisional process that employs software and / or hardware devices and that involve data exchange , analysis and / or processing ), and , in particular , by circuit architecture ( e . g ., the placement and orientation of leads , wires , semiconductor devices , etc .). the term “ computer system ,” as used herein is intended to encompass not only mainframe or base computer systems , but to generally include any device ( e . g ., personal computers , data processors , switching systems , telephones , fax machines , personal digital assistants ( pdas ), 2 - way radios , etc .) that is capable of processing and / or storing data . the term “ chip ” as used herein denotes an integrated circuit chip , which comprises cells and connections between the cells formed on or within a semiconductor substrate . the chip may include a large number of cells and require complex connections between the cells . the term “ cells ” denotes a group of one or more circuit elements such as transistors , capacitors , and other basic circuit elements grouped to perform a function . each of the cells of a chip may have one or more pins , each of which , in turn , may be connected to one or more other pins of the chip . in particular , the interconnects of the present invention provide a workable solution to the above - mentioned problems that preferably possesses the following characteristics : 1 . the interconnects are configured such that switching decisions can be made locally thereby permitting messages to progress dynamically as soon as they are able to do so . 2 . the network of interconnects are highly pipelined , thereby enabling short wires and high throughput . 3 . the design of the interconnects incorporates asynchrony , since driving a large , pipelined system at high clock speeds becomes increasingly impractical as its size increases . 4 . while additional hardware and software to handle severely unbalanced communication loads may be needed , global coordination of the interconnect is typically unnecessary . in a preferred embodiment for implementing the interconnects of the present invention possessing such characteristics , most , and preferably , all , of the wires that will make the same routing decisions will be co - located . as illustrated in fig2 ( with respect to a 2 - bit interconnect , for ease of illustration ) the plurality of bits from a given port will be located adjacently to one another . in a preferred embodiment , pairs of multiplexors (“ muxs ”) are coupled as a single logical “ mux - pair ,” thereby enabling switching decisions to be made at the switch points so that messages can progress through a switchpoint as soon as they arrive . in a further preferred embodiment , the multibits from a given port will be “ coordinately processed ,” for example , by some finite state machine . as used herein , the term “ coordinately processed ” is intended to refer to processing in which a mux pair evaluates the multibits from one port against the multibits of a second port . by way of contrast , in a non - coordinately processed architecture each single bit is evaluated against the corresponding single bit of a different port . the “ interconnects ” of the present invention are illustrated with reference to explicit multi - threading ( xmt ) processing ( vishkin , u . et al ., “ explicit multi - threading ( xmt ) bridging models for instruction parallelism ( extended summary & amp ; working document ( 1998 ); http :// www . umiacs . umd . edu / users /˜ vishkin / xmt / bsp - like . ps ); u . vishkin et al ., explicit multi - threading ( xmt ) bridging models for instruction parallelism ( extended abstract ). in proc . 10 th acm symposium on parallel algorithms and architectures ( spaa ) 1998 ; u . vishkin . “ a no - busy - wait balanced tree parallel algorithmic paradigm .” in proc . 12 th acm symposium on parallel algorithms and architectures ( spaa ), 2000 ; d . naishlos , et al ., “ evaluating multi - threading in the prototype xmt environment . in proc . 4 th workshop on multi - threaded execution , architecture and compilation ( mteac 2000 ), december 2000 ( held in conjunction with the 33rd int . symp . on microarchitecture micro - 33 ), all at http :// vww . umiacs . umd . edu /˜ vishkin / xmt ; all such references herein incorporated by reference ). xmt is a framework for parallel computing that provides a high - level parallel programming language and encompasses efficient implementation down to a parallel on - chip microprocessor architecture . such on - chip architecture has the potential to scale to a high degree of parallelism . use of the xmt framework requires an interconnect device capable of providing efficient communication between the parallel processing units and shared memories . the most distinguishing feature about the xmt framework is that it envisions an extension to a standard instruction set which aspires to efficiently implement parallel random access model ( pram )- like algorithms ; xmt does so by single - program - multiple data ( spmd ) explicit multi - threaded instruction - level parallelism ( ilp ). the ( virtual ) thread structure of pram - like algorithms is very dynamic : the number of threads that need to be generated changes frequently , new threads are generated and terminated frequently , and often threads are relatively short . xmt frameworks that can be used in accordance with the interconnects of the present invention are described in pct application serial no . wo / us98 / 05975 , and u . s . patent application ser . no . 09 / 224 , 104 , and in naishlos , d . et al ., “ evaluating multi - threading in the prototype xmt environment ,” http :// www . umiacs . umd . edu / users /˜ vishkin / xmt / mteac4 . df ); and naishlos , d . et al ., “ evaluating multi - threading in the prototype xmt environment ,” in proc . 4th workshop on multi - threaded execution , architecture and compilation ( mteac2000 ), december 2000 ( held in conjunction with the 33rd int . symp . on microarchitecture micro - 33 ), all herein incorporated by reference . the xmt high - level programming language provides a multi - threaded model that attempts to mimic “ no - busy - wait ” finite state machines . in such machines , no ( software ) thread ever needs to suspend its progress in order to wait for another thread . execution involves a plurality of ( software ) threads that follow independence of order semantics ( ios ); that is , different speeds of execution among threads as well as an ability to tolerate different orders of executions of some reads and writes to memory locations . thus , an attribute of xmt is that threads need to synchronize relatively infrequently . this attribute provides an opportunity for reduced - synchrony hardware implementation , and provides an opportunity for the novel technological solution of the present invention . xmt frameworks that can be used in accordance with the present invention are described in pct application serial no . wo / us98 / 05975 , and u . s . patent application ser . no . 09 / 224 , 104 , both herein incorporated by reference . [ 0047 ] fig1 and fig2 illustrate the difference in datapath layout of the preferred embodiment of the invention . fig1 represents a more conventional interconnect design ; fig2 illustrates a preferred embodiment of the design of the interconnects of the present invention with respect to an exemplary 2 - bit interconnect . as will be appreciated , larger bit interconnects ( e . g ., 8 - bit , 16 - bit , 32 , bit , 64 - bit , 128 bit , etc .) may be likewise employed by extension of the design shown in fig2 . both figures illustrate the datapath layout of an interconnect between four ports ( a , b , c , and d ). each port has a 2 - bit input port ( e . g ., a . i . 0 and a . i . 1 ) going into the interconnect and a 2 - bit output port coming out of the interconnect ( e . g ., a . 0 . 0 and a . 0 . 1 ). the trapezoidal boxes are muxs at which switching decisions are made as to which of two or more input ( s ) is / are to be passed along . the layout in fig1 can be described as a series of bit slices stacked one on top of another . in fig2 the 2 bits from a given port are “ bundled ” together and follow the same global route throughout . the dashed lines in fig2 connect pairs of muxs that are coupled as a single logical 2 - bit mux (“ mux - pair ”). this new configuration enables a scheme in which switching decisions are made at the switch points . messages are allowed to progress through a switchpoint as soon as they arrive . to achieve this goal , asynchronous control techniques are preferably employed . each node of the mux - tree buffers a single data bundle . at each mux - pair , two data bundles compete to progress toward the root of the tree . an arbiter primitive ( sutherland , i . e ., “ micropipelines ,” communications of the acm 32 : 720 - 738 ( 1989 )) guards access to the buffer associated with the mux . the first of the two data bundles to arrive will win and be latched into the data buffer . if a second bundle arrives before the first clears the mux , then the second will be granted next access . optionally , this switching automaton could be designed to incorporate alternation between inputs when both are continually attempting access . when applied globally , an alternation policy can prevent starvation . by abandoning scheduled switching in favor of a more dynamic scheme , a new consideration is introduced . a data bundle written into the interconnect potentially can go to any of the destinations ( e . g ., the 4 possibilities depicted in the figures ) for demonstration purpose only simple bus connections are shown for connecting each source to the leaves of the mux trees of each destination . if the data is initially labeled with the intended destination , a leaf from each mux - tree can interpret the label to determine if it should enter that particular mux - tree . the label can be discarded at that point . similarly , when data is received at an output port ; the source of the data must be determined . each mux - pair can encode the local decision made and pass this data on toward the root of the tree . the receiver can determine the sender from this information . if desired , asynchronous design can also be applied to pipelining the wires in the form of micropipelining ( sutherland , i . e ., “ micropipelines ,” communications of the acm 32 : 720 - 738 ( 1989 )). long wires are highly pipelined to form independently latched short wires . each bundle of wires ( e . g ., the 2 - bit bundles in the figures ) requires 2 control wires to handshake between stages . data can proceed from one stage to the next when the next stage has cleared . the interconnects of the present invention can potentially overcome the limitations of the synchronous crossbar described above . the locally determined switching avoids global communication and coordination , while enabling efficient utilization of connectivity . the high degree of pipelining enables high bandwidth by allowing many data bundles in flight at once . in addition , long wires are avoided , thereby speeding stage - to - stage transfers and reducing driver size . furthermore , an asynchronous global interconnect allows for all processing elements to be independently clocked . this eliminates the need for a global clock tree and allows processing elements to be clocked as fast as is locally possible . while the figures show only a limited number of ports , those of ordinary skill will recognize , in light of the above description , that the invention is readily adaptable to the inclusion of a larger number of ports and / or a larger number of bits per input port . in a preferred embodiment , the memory architecture of the interconnects of the present invention will include parallel memories ( i . e ., a partition of the memory ) so as to permit the system to achieve a digital signal processing ( dsp )- like rate ( for a general purpose processor ) for streaming data in and out of the chip . by providing a strong on - chip interconnect , the invention permits one to use each of the pins connecting the chip to the outside ( or clusters of such pins ), for a separate memory connection . thus , all of the pins can function in parallel . one can rely upon the high bandwidth of the interconnect to “ mix and match ” information once all of the relevant information is on - chip . all publications and patent applications mentioned in this specification are herein incorporated by reference to the same extent as if each individual publication or patent application had been specifically and individually indicated to be incorporated by reference . the discussion of the background to the invention herein is included to explain the context of the invention . such explanation is not an admission that any of the material referred to was published , known , or part of the prior art or common general knowledge anywhere in the world as of the priority date of any of the aspects listed above . while the invention has been described in connection with specific embodiments thereof , it will be understood that it is capable of further modifications and this application is intended to cover any variations , uses , or adaptations of the invention following , in general , the principles of the invention and including such departures from the present disclosure as come within known or customary practice within the art to which the invention pertains and as may be applied to the essential features hereinbefore set forth .	7
as indicated , the fluid compositions of the invention comprise an aqueous hydrated metal crosslinked galactomannan gum solution . preferred solutions are those derived from guar , hydroxypropyl guar , or carboxymethylhydroxypropyl guar , and mixtures thereof . initially , the hydrated metal gum solutions may be formed by providing the gum compositions in solid powder form , or as a suspension in a hydrocarbon liquid ( e . g ., diesel or kerosene ) and blending with a neutral or acidic aqueous solution , the hydrate forming a gel . as indicated , it is a surprising advantage of the invention that reduced concentrations of the hydrated crosslinked gum may be employed in the fluid . preferably , the concentrations of the hydrated metal crosslinked gum will be below 25 pounds per 1000 gallons , being most preferably from about 10 pounds to 25 pounds per 1000 gallons , it being understood that higher amounts may be employed . superior advantages accrue at levels of from 10 to 22 pounds per 1000 gallons of fluid . any suitable crosslinking metal ion , metal containing species , or mixture of such ions and species may be employed . accordingly , as used herein , the term &# 34 ; metal crosslinked &# 34 ; is understood to include crosslinking attributable to certain metal containing species , such as borate ion . the crosslinking ions or species may be provided , as indicated , by dissolving into the solution compounds containing the appropriate metals , or by other means . exemplary metal ions or metal containing species include those of boron , zirconium , and titanium , supplied from compounds such as boric acid , sodium borates , boron oxide , zirconium oxide , and titanium oxide . the concentration of added crosslinking metal releasing agent is dependent on factors such as the temperature and the amount of thickening agent employed , and will normally range from about 5 ppm to about 100 ppm , preferably from about 10 ppm to about 60 ppm . it is an important advantage of the invention that higher levels of the crosslinking metal ion or metal containing species may be employed , thereby insuring improved crosslinking . while cross - linking may be virtually immediate , a slight delay thereof , e . g ., up to twenty seconds or so , may actually be preferred in the field since it allows mixing and pumping of the precursor solution through surface equipment , formation of the composition being feasible on the fly . of course , persons of skill in the art would readily recognize that this invention may be employed using conventionally known polyol stabilizers , encapsulated crosslinkers , or timed released borate sources . any buffering agent or combination of such that will provide or maintain the solution at the necessary ph required may be employed . thus , the combination of a weak acid and its salts may be employed , so long as the ph of the solution is maintained in the range mentioned . for example , the corresponding acid and ammonium and alkali metal phosphates , carbonates , bicarbonates , sesquicarbonates , acetates , or mixtures thereof may be used . ammonium , potassium , and sodium carbonates , bicarbonates , sesquicarbonates and hydrogen phosphates are preferred as buffer salt components . for ph values toward the upper end of the range specified , combinations of alkali metal hydroxide and appropriate weak acid salt may be employed . for example , a buffer comprising a base such as naoh or ioh and a weak acid salt such as na 2 h 2 po 4 may be used . proportioning of the buffer components of the combinations to achieve the desired ph is well within the ambit of those skilled in the art . as will be appreciated by those skilled in the art , other additives commonly employed in fracturing solutions , such as breakers , clays , etc ., must be selected so that they do not significantly reduce the ph of the solution . as indicated , the ph required in the various embodiments of the invention ranges from about 9 . 0 to 11 , preferably from about 9 . 5 to about 10 . the amount of buffer required is , of course , an effective amount , i . e ., an amount sufficient to maintain the desired ph , given the additives and other components of the fluid . preferably , this amount will not exceed 50 pounds per 1000 gallons of fluid , most preferably , not more than about 20 pounds per 1000 gallons of fluid . in order to illustrate the invention more fully , the following procedures were performed . base fluids comprising fifteen pounds and twenty pounds of guar respectively per 1000 gallons of fresh water , optionally containing kci or similar salt , were prepared , and the guar in each was allowed to hydrate . the fluids also contained minor amounts of normal , non - active ( from the standpoint of crosslinking activity ) fracturing fluid additives such as a surfactant , a biocide , and a defoamer . these fluids were used in the tests reported hereinafter . sodium sesquicarbonate and sodium carbonate were added as a buffering agent to each base fluid in the amount of 12 pounds and 5 pounds , respectively , per 1000 gallons . finally , boric acid , as a 3 . 5 percent by weight solution in water , based on the weight of the water and acid , was mixed with each of the base fluids containing the buffer to give a concentration - triton of 1 . 5 pounds of boric acid per 1000 gallons . borate crosslinking of the guar was effected within 5 to 20 seconds . to demonstrate the suitability of the fluids for fracturing , viscosity tests were performed . the conditions of and results of the tests are given in the tables below . table i reports results with the 15 pound solution , while table ii reports results with the 20 pound solution . in both tables , viscosity results are rounded to the nearest 5th unit . table i______________________________________ viscosity , 100 sec . sup .- 1 ( cp ) temperature initial final ( 3 hours ) ______________________________________1 ) 100 ° f . 135 1202 ) 125 ° f . 140 1103 ) 150 ° f . 140 105______________________________________ table ii______________________________________ viscosity , 100 sec . sup .- 1 ( cp ) temperature initial final ( 3 hours ) ______________________________________1 ) 100 ° f . 350 2752 ) 125 ° f . 370 2553 ) 150 ° f . 290 2504 ) 175 ° f . 285 180______________________________________ as those skilled in the art will be aware , upon completion of fracturing , removal or breakdown of the fluid in the fracture is important , compositions called breakers ( e . g ., ammonium persulfate or peroxide ) being employed to assist in such . the retained conductivity of the formation after such withdrawal and / or breakdown is an important measure of fracturing - fluid efficiency . accordingly , standardized retained conductivity tests were run on two fluids according to the invention , utilizing a combination breaker system , the fluids containing 15 pounds ( a ) and 20 pounds ( b ), per 1000 gallons , respectively , of hydrated borate crosslinked galactomannan gum thickener . each fluid was buffered with 12 pounds of sodium sesquicarbonate and 5 pounds of sodium carbonate . proppant type was 20 / 40 badger sand at a concentration of 2 lbs / sq . ft . a two percent by weight kci solution was used as a base line solution . results are shown in table iii . table iii______________________________________ final polymer percent breaker closure cone conduc - retained temp lbs / 1000 pressure lbs / 1000 tivity conduc - fluid ° f . gal . ( psi ) gal ( darcy ) tivity______________________________________2 % kci 125 0 2000 -- 216 -- a 125 2 . 5 ( tot .) 2000 159 130 60b 125 3 . 0 ( tot .) 2000 188 106 49______________________________________ static fluid coefficients for fluids according to the invention were determined utilizing standard fluid loss coefficient procedures . results are shown in table iv . table iv______________________________________fluid temp . permeability cw spurt ( lbs / 1000 gal ) ° f . ( md ) ( ft / min . sup . 1 / 2 ) ( gal / 100 ft . sup . 2 ) ______________________________________15 100 0 . 76 0 . 0017 1 . 8215 125 0 . 77 0 . 0018 0 . 1515 150 0 . 73 0 . 0023 5 . 1720 100 0 . 77 0 . 0014 0 . 020 125 0 . 80 0 . 0016 0 . 020 150 0 . 71 0 . 0013 0 . 020 175 0 . 80 0 . 0032 0 . 0______________________________________ these results clearly demonstrate the suitability of the low concentration borate crosslinked guar solution , buffered according to the invention , for use as a fracturing fluid . in the manner described , supra , a fracturing fluid was prepared containing , per 1000 gallons , 10 pounds of guar , 1 . 5 pounds of boric acid , and 5 pounds each of sodium bicarbonate and sodium carbonate . viscosity of solution at 90 of was 170 sec - 1 with greater than 100 cp . this further experiment demonstrates the ability of the borate - buffer combination to crosslink very reduced concentrations of galactomannan gum .	8
the present invention is directed to a material for removing gaseous pollutants from combustion exhaust streams , in which the material comprises an oxidation catalyst specie disposed on a high surface area support coated with an absorber material . the oxidation catalyst specie is selected from the group of noble metal elements , base metal transitional elements and combinations thereof . more particularly , the oxidation catalyst species are selected from platinum , palladium , rhodium , cobalt , nickel , iron , copper and molybdenum , and preferably , platinum and rhodium , and most preferably , platinum . the oxidation catalyst specie concentration is 0 . 05 to 0 . 6 percent by weight of the material , and preferably is 0 . 1 of 0 . 4 percent by weight of the material , and most preferably is 0 . 15 to 0 . 3 percent by weight of the material . more than one element may be used as an oxidation catalyst specie , and under these conditions each of said elements has a concentration in the range of 0 . 05 to 0 . 6 percent by weight . the high surface area support is made of alumina , zirconia , titania , silica or a combination of two or more of these oxides . preferably , the high surface area support is made of alumina . the surface area of the support is in the range of 50 to 350 square meters per gram , preferably 100 to 325 square meters per gram , and more preferably 200 to 300 square meters per gram . the high surface area support may be coated on a ceramic or metal matrix structure . the catalyst absorber may be in a shape such as a sphere , solid cylinder , hollow cylinder , star shape or wheel shape . the absorber is coated with at least one alkali or alkaline earth compound , which can be hydroxide compound , bicarbonate compound , or carbonate compound , or mixtures of hydroxides and / or bicarbonates and / or carbonated compounds . preferably , the absorber comprises substantially all carbonate , and most preferably sodium carbonate , potassium carbonate or calcium carbonate . the absorber is disposed on the material at a concentration in the range of 0 . 5 to 20 percent by weight of the material , preferably 5 . 0 to 15 percent by weight of the material , and most preferably about 10 % percent by weight of the material . the process for making the novel catalyst absorber of the present invention includes applying the oxidation catalyst specie from solution . the solution is preferably a nonaqueous solution . the oxidation catalyst specie may also be applied from chloride free aqueous solution . once applied the oxidation catalyst specie is dried after application and may be activated after application , possibly by calcining it . after the catalyst absorber is spent or partially spent , it can be reactivated . reactivation is accomplished by removing and replacing the spent absorber and disposing of the removed spent absorber . the spent absorber can be used as fertilizer in that it is rich in nitrogen , carbon and sulfur . alternatively , reactivation is accomplished by decomposing components formed by the combination of pollutants with the absorber and trapping the concentrated pollution gases for disposal or use . the apparatus of the present invention supports the catalyst absorber and contacts the catalyst absorber with a combustion exhaust . it includes a means for removing spent catalyst absorber from contact with the combustion gases and at the same time moving an equivalent amount of new or regenerated catalyst absorber into contact with the combustion gas to maintain a specified outlet pollution concentration limit . the apparatus is in the shape of a wheel or carousel , or it may be a fluid bed or two or more beds which are alternately used for absorption of pollutant gases and reactivated . as shown in fig1 a - c , the catalyst absorber of the present invention can take on different configurations . fig1 a shows a spherical catalyst absorber made up of an alumina sphere 10 with a platinum coating 12 and a carbonate coating 14 thereon . as shown in fig1 b , the surface of the sphere is very irregular so that there is an extremely large surface area per gram of material as described herein . as shown in fig1 c , the catalyst absorber can be in the form of a monolith surface including a ceramic or stainless steel support 20 , an alumina layer 22 , a platinum layer 24 and a carbonate layer 26 . the method of making the catalyst absorber is shown in fig2 . the catalyst / absorber of the present invention is made by starting with high surface area alumina spheres having a surface area of 50 to 350 squares per gram , these spheres being commercially available from several sources , and preferably from la roche chemicals , inc ., baton rouge , la . the spheres are approximately 1 / 8 inch in diameter . it will be appreciated that other forms of supports may be used without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention . the alumina spheres are washed with distilled water to remove small particles bound loosely to the surface . the spheres are then dried for about 16 hours at 300 ° f . to ensure that all of the cavities and interstices in the spheres are fully dried , and that the surface is free of water . the spheres are then stored in an air - tight container until ready for further processing . a solution of pt 2 - ethylhexanoate which contained 25 % pt was added to toluene to get a concentration of pt such that the weight of solution equal to the toluene uptake would contain sufficient pt to give a loading of 0 . 23 weight percent per weight of alumina . the platinum coated spheres were then dried for 3 hours at 900 ° f . in air . the spheres are then cooled to approximately room temperature and stored in an air - tight container again . the platinum coated spheres are then coated with an alkali or alkaline earth carbonate or bicarbonate coating , the alkali or alkaline earth carbonate or bicarbonate being selected from lithium , sodium , potassium or calcium carbonate or bicarbonate solution , preferably a sodium carbonate solution at a concentration of 14 percent by weight in distilled water . the water was heated to dissolve all of the sodium carbonate . the carbonate coated spheres were then dried at 300 ° f . for two hours . the final catalyst absorber had a coating of platinum in the amount of 0 . 23 weight percent added to the alumina , and 10 . 0 weight percent na 2 co 3 added to the alumina . the spheres are then disposed in a 3 × 3 × 6 inch wire mesh basket and used as described below . alternatively , another form of the catalyst absorber can be made using ceramic or metal monolith supports . tests were performed by taking a core plug of a metal monolith having approximately 300 openings per square inch , obtaining a core from the monolith of appropriate dimensions for use in the test equipment , coating the surface of the channels in the monolith with alumina from a water slurry , calcining at 900 ° f . for 3 hours , and cooling . this core is then coated with a platinum coating as described above with respect to the spheres and then the carbonate is applied by the method used for the spheres . after the catalyst absorber is exhausted or saturated , it can be regenerated . a typical regeneration procedure is as follows : 1 . the beads after cooling are transferred to containers approximately 7 &# 34 ;× 10 &# 34 ;× 5 &# 34 ;. the containers have closeable lids and inlet and outlet gas or drain lines . 2 . approximately 260 cubic inches of spheres are washed at 190 ° f . with 4 liters of demineralized water for five minutes with stirring . 4 . three liters of approximately 14 % sodium or potassium carbonate solution at 190 ° f . are added to the container . 5 . the spheres are stirred and soaked for 20 minutes , or as little as 2 to 5 minutes . 7 . in a 300 ° f . furnace the beads are dried for 45 minutes with approximately 10 scfm heated dry air flowing through the container . 8 . the weighed dry beads are returned to the screen container for reuse . as shown in fig3 the catalyst absorber of the present invention can be installed in a wheel apparatus to permit contacting stack gases with the catalyst absorber and regenerating the catalyst absorber after it is saturated or partially saturated . as shown in fig3 the wheel apparatus includes an inlet 30 for receiving the combustion gases and stack 32 for exhausting the treated gases , a cylindrical assembly 34 containing catalyst absorber and a regenerating unit 36 for regenerating the spent catalyst , the regenerating unit having an inlet 37 and outlet 38 for replenishing fresh regeneration fluid . the inner wall 39 and outer wall 40 of a portion of the wheel adjacent the stack 32 are perforated or otherwise vented to permit passage of the gas therethrough . the inner and / or outer walls 41 and 42 of the remainder of the wheel is closed so that the exhaust gases only exhaust through the stack 32 . a drive 44 is used to rotate the wheel either discretely or continuously . arrow a designates the direction of the drive 44 rotation and arrow b indicates the direction of the wheel rotation . as shown in fig4 an alternative arrangement for the catalyst absorber is disclosed , in which a carousel is used . the stack gases enter through the inlet 50 and exit through the stack 52 . the catalyst absorber is inserted in line with the stack gases at 54 , and when spent is retracted into the carousel at 56 and a new absorber installed . the spent catalyst absorber is then regenerated . fresh regeneration fluid enters through inlet 57 and is removed through outlet 58 . as shown in fig5 a fluidized bed apparatus is disclosed . this apparatus has a combustion gas inlet 60 and stack outlet 70 . there is a fluidized bed 62 in line with the gas which contains active catalyst absorber . a portion of the catalyst absorber is removed from the fluidized bed and moved to the regeneration unit 64 . regeneration fluid is sent into the regeneration unit at 65 and is removed by the fluid separator 66 . as shown in fig6 a multiple fluidized bed apparatus is disclosed . this apparatus has a combustion gas inlet 71 and stack outlet 80 . there is a first fluidized bed 72 in line with the gas which contains active catalyst absorber . there is a second fluidized bed 73 which is being regenerated . the first fluidized bed has inlet 77 and outlet 76 with valves to permit regeneration fluid in and out . the second fluidized bed has inlet 75 and outlet 74 with valves to permit regeneration fluid in and out . valve 78 controls whether combustion gases go to the first or second fluidized bed . a most preferred arrangement is shown in fig7 - 10 . the catalyst is disposed in a frame 710 having discrete beds of catalyst 730 at the end of the final heat exchanger for the turbine flue gas . the gas leaving the heat exchanger and entering the catalyst section is at a temperature of about 300 ° f . it has been found that the catalyst may be regenerated by subjecting the spent catalyst to a stream of reducing gas . this preferred method of regeneration is described in detail in commonly assigned co - pending patent application ser . no . 08 / 371 , 274 filed dec . 23 , 1994 , and incorporated herein by reference . in order to achieve the regeneration the reducing gas , such as hydrogen , must be contacted with the spent catalyst . it is contemplated that only a portion of the catalyst would need to be regenerated at one time , leaving the remainder to continue to remove the contaminants . thus the apparatus has been adapted to divert the flue gas from a particular section of the catalyst and to direct the reducing gas thereon . additionally , means have been provided to remove the regeneration gas separately from the flue gas exiting the catalyst section . the apparatus for regenerating the catalyst is shown in fig7 - 10 . fig7 generally shows the catalyst 730 in frame 710 disposed in the exhaust 700 of turbine . the turbine exhaust gases pass through the frame 710 and then out the stack 750 . the regeneration gas is provided by conduit 701 to header 702 which is then fed to the individual sections of the catalyst to be regenerated . the individual or discrete beds of catalyst 730 are covered by hoods 720a - 720c which preclude the exhaust gases from contacting the catalyst bed being regenerated . referring now to fig8 and 10 a hood arrangement for regenerating individual sections of catalyst is shown . in this embodiment each discrete bed of catalyst 730 is one foot in height and there are 23 individual beds . there are four moveable hoods 720a - 720d which are connected by regeneration gas header 702 . additionally there are four other moveable hoods 740a - 740d which collect the spent regeneration gas to prevent it from exiting with the exhaust gases out the stack . the regeneration gas is collected in the header 703 and exits through the conduit 706 . the moveable hoods are raised or lowered by a screw mechanism 704 / 705 a maximum of five feet . four of the individual discrete beds are regenerated at once and then the hoods raised to another level , e . g . the next bed level by the screw mechanism 704 / 705 . the hoods are shown in the uppermost position in fig9 . when the last bed is regenerated the hoods are lowered back down to the lowest position and the process can begin again . in fig8 and 9 the flow of exhaust gas is indicated by the arrows . in fig8 the hood sets 720a - 720d / 740a - 740d are aligned with beds 19 , 13 , 7 and 1 , respectively . after the appropriate regeneration cycle , the screw 704 is operated to raise screw 705 and the associated hood sets one or more bed levels . in normal operation the regeneration would move up one bed after each regeneration cycle and return to position shown in fig8 after completion of the cycle shown in fig9 where the hood sets are on beds 23 , 17 , 11 and 5 . thus the regeneration can be carried out on a continuous or intermittent schedule that will result in a repeat of the cycle as the catalyst is deactivated . in the following examples , gas measurements were made as follows ; co was measured by a teco model 48 infrared analyzer , co 2 was measured by a horiba co 2 infrared meter and no and no 2 were measured using a teco model # 10r chemiluminescent detector with a stainless steel converter . sulfur oxides were measured using a teco model # 43a pulsed fluorescence so 2 analyzer . in each of the following experiments , the starting gas was obtained from a slip stream from the turbine exhaust from a cogeneration plant turbine . the catalyst absorber was disposed in two wire mesh baskets having a 3 inch by 3 inch by 6 inch geometry and placed in line with the slip stream in series to minimize any edge effects and ensure that all of the slip stream comes in contact with the catalyst absorber . the space velocity of the slip stream was 18 , 000 hr - 1 . the two temperatures listed indicate the temperature for the upstream first basket and the temperature for the downstream second basket . all pollutant measurements are in ppm . nox is the total concentration of nitrogen oxide ( no ) and nitrogen dioxide ( no 2 ) . ______________________________________initial starting pollutant levelsco in . 10 . 98 ppmno in , 29 . 0 ppmnox in , 33 . 0 ppmtime temp 1 temp 2 co out no out nox outhrs : min (° f .) (° f .) ( ppm ) ( ppm ) ( ppm ) ______________________________________ : 15 230 216 0 . 36 3 . 0 3 . 0 : 30 355 323 0 . 18 3 . 0 4 . 0 : 45 355 328 0 . 20 3 . 0 4 . 01 hr . 354 329 0 . 19 3 . 0 5 . 01 : 15 352 328 0 . 20 3 . 0 5 . 01 : 30 351 328 0 . 23 2 . 5 6 . 01 : 45 350 327 0 . 25 3 . 0 7 . 02 hrs . 348 325 0 . 17 7 . 0 8 . 02 : 15 348 325 0 . 17 7 . 0 8 . 02 : 30 348 325 0 . 19 8 . 0 10 . 02 : 45 348 325 0 . 18 9 . 0 10 . 03 hrs . 348 325 0 . 18 10 . 0 11 . 03 : 15 347 325 0 . 17 11 . 0 12 . 03 : 30 346 323 0 . 17 11 . 0 12 . 03 : 45 346 322 0 . 18 12 . 0 13 . 0______________________________________ the catalyst absorber was regenerated and the experiment was run again under the same conditions using the regenerated catalyst absorber . ______________________________________initial starting pollutant levelsco in . 9 . 91 ppmno in , 30 . 0 ppmnox in , 36 . 0 ppmtime temp 1 temp 2 co out no out nox outhrs : min (° f .) (° f .) ( ppm ) ( ppm ) ( ppm ) ______________________________________ : 15 135 162 2 . 49 16 . 0 16 . 0 : 30 365 160 . 13 5 . 0 5 . 0 : 45 363 351 . 05 2 . 0 2 . 01 hr . 363 353 . 05 2 . 5 2 . 51 : 15 362 353 . 08 4 . 0 4 . 01 : 30 362 352 . 05 4 . 5 5 . 01 : 45 362 354 . 07 5 . 5 6 . 02 hrs . 362 354 . 07 6 . 0 7 . 02 : 15 362 354 . 07 7 . 0 8 . 02 : 30 361 353 . 06 7 . 5 8 . 52 : 45 362 354 . 09 8 . 5 9 . 53 hrs . 362 354 . 08 9 . 0 10 . 03 : 15 362 354 . 08 9 . 0 10 . 53 : 30 363 355 . 08 10 . 0 11 . 53 : 45 363 356 . 08 10 . 0 12 . 04 hrs . 364 356 . 07 10 . 5 12 . 5______________________________________ it is believed that the first reading at 15 minutes showed high pollution level because the temperature of the catalyst absorber was below the necessary temperature for oxidation . the catalyst absorber was regenerated a second time and the experiment was run again under the same conditions using the twice regenerated catalyst absorber . ______________________________________initial starting pollutant levelsco in . 13 . 16 ppmno in , 26 . 0 ppmnox in , 32 . 5 ppmtime temp 1 temp 2 co out no out nox outhrs : min (° f .) (° f .) ( ppm ) ( ppm ) ( ppm ) ______________________________________ : 15 133 134 0 . 2 23 . 0 23 . 0 : 30 296 139 3 . 02 16 . 0 16 . 0 : 45 313 142 0 . 43 7 . 5 7 . 51 hr . 296 296 0 . 30 6 . 0 6 . 01 : 15 285 285 0 . 34 7 . 0 7 . 01 : 30 279 278 0 . 37 8 . 5 8 . 51 : 45 282 273 0 . 40 10 . 0 10 . 02 hrs . 304 290 0 . 30 9 . 5 9 . 52 : 15 320 308 0 . 25 9 . 5 10 . 02 : 30 330 319 0 . 22 10 . 0 11 . 02 : 45 339 329 0 . 20 10 . 5 12 . 03 hrs . 343 334 0 . 20 11 . 5 12 . 53 : 15 347 338 0 . 22 12 . 0 14 . 0______________________________________ the catalyst absorber was regenerated again and the experiment was run again under the same conditions using the three time regenerated catalyst absorber . ______________________________________initial starting pollutant levelsco in . 12 . 13 ppmno in , 28 . 0 ppmnox in , 34 . 0 ppmtime temp 1 temp 2 co out no out nox outhrs : min (° f .) (° f .) ( ppm ) ( ppm ) ( ppm ) ______________________________________ : 15 142 155 7 . 61 20 . 0 20 . 0 : 30 352 195 0 . 30 3 . 0 3 . 0 : 45 350 342 0 . 22 2 . 5 2 . 51 hr . 351 342 0 . 23 3 . 0 3 . 51 : 15 351 343 0 . 24 4 . 0 4 . 51 : 30 351 345 0 . 24 5 . 0 5 . 51 : 45 351 344 0 . 27 6 . 0 6 . 52 hrs . 352 345 0 . 24 6 . 5 7 . 52 : 15 351 346 0 . 24 8 . 0 9 . 02 : 30 351 345 0 . 23 8 . 0 9 . 02 : 45 351 345 0 . 30 9 . 0 10 . 03 hrs . 350 343 0 . 37 9 . 5 11 . 03 : 15 350 342 0 . 28 10 . 0 12 . 03 : 30 348 341 0 . 30 11 . 0 12 . 03 : 45 348 341 0 . 30 12 . 0 13 . 5______________________________________ the catalyst absorber was regenerated again and the experiment was run again under the same conditions using the four time regenerated catalyst absorber . ______________________________________initial starting pollutant levelsco in . 13 . 16 ppmno in , 28 . 0 ppmnox in , 34 . 0 ppmtime temp 1 temp 2 co out no out nox outhrs : min (° f .) (° f .) ( ppm ) ( ppm ) ( ppm ) ______________________________________ : 15 132 132 10 . 28 22 . 0 23 . 0 : 30 353 143 1 . 22 8 . 0 8 . 0 : 45 351 259 0 . 45 4 . 0 4 . 51 hr . 350 338 0 . 42 4 . 0 4 . 51 : 15 349 338 0 . 43 5 . 0 5 . 51 : 30 349 338 0 . 41 6 . 0 6 . 51 : 45 349 339 0 . 41 7 . 0 7 . 52 hrs . 349 339 0 . 42 8 . 0 9 . 02 : 15 348 338 0 . 46 8 . 5 9 . 52 : 30 349 339 0 . 45 9 . 5 10 . 52 : 45 349 339 0 . 49 10 . 0 11 . 53 hrs . 349 339 0 . 48 10 . 5 12 . 03 : 15 350 340 0 . 55 11 . 0 13 . 0______________________________________ the conditions for this series of experiments was the same as those for experiment no . 1 . this series was begun with a new catalyst absorber of the same type and configuration as described above for experiment no . 1 . ______________________________________initial starting pollutant levelsco in . 10 . 98 ppmno in , 29 . 0 ppmnox in , 33 . 0 ppmtime temp 1 temp 2 co out no out nox outhrs : min (° f .) (° f .) ( ppm ) ( ppm ) ( ppm ) ______________________________________ : 15 345 225 0 . 20 2 . 0 2 . 0 : 30 348 308 0 . 19 2 . 0 2 . 5 : 45 350 315 0 . 22 2 . 0 2 . 01 hr . 350 317 0 . 24 2 . 0 2 . 51 : 15 351 317 0 . 23 2 . 5 2 . 51 : 30 351 318 0 . 23 3 . 0 3 . 01 : 45 351 317 0 . 24 3 . 5 4 . 02 hrs . 351 317 0 . 26 5 . 0 7 . 02 : 15 350 318 0 . 24 6 . 0 8 . 02 : 30 351 319 0 . 25 8 . 0 10 . 02 : 45 351 320 0 . 23 10 . 0 11 . 03 hrs . 352 320 0 . 26 10 . 0 12 . 03 : 15 352 320 0 . 22 11 . 0 12 . 03 : 30 353 321 0 . 26 11 . 0 13 . 0______________________________________ the catalyst absorber was regenerated and the experiment was run again under the same conditions using the regenerated catalyst absorber . ______________________________________initial starting pollutant levelsco in . 11 ppmno in , 29 ppmnox in , 33 ppmtime temp 1 temp 2 co out no out nox outhrs : min (° f .) (° f .) ( ppm ) ( ppm ) ( ppm ) ______________________________________ : 15 144 142 7 . 75 20 . 0 20 . 0 : 30 374 142 0 . 39 5 . 0 5 . 0 : 45 372 358 0 . 17 2 . 0 2 . 01 hr . 371 362 0 . 15 1 . 5 2 . 01 : 15 370 363 0 . 17 3 . 0 3 . 51 : 30 370 363 0 . 17 4 . 0 4 . 51 : 45 368 361 0 . 18 4 . 5 5 . 02 hrs . 367 369 0 . 13 5 . 0 6 . 02 : 15 367 360 0 . 15 6 . 5 7 . 52 : 30 366 358 0 . 17 7 . 5 8 . 52 : 45 366 359 0 . 18 8 . 0 9 . 03 hrs . 366 358 0 . 14 9 . 0 10 . 03 : 15 366 358 0 . 17 10 . 0 11 . 03 : 30 365 358 0 . 17 10 . 0 11 . 53 : 45 363 356 0 . 18 10 . 5 12 . 04 hrs . 362 354 0 . 17 11 . 5 13 . 0______________________________________ the catalyst again absorber was regenerated and the experiment was run again under the same conditions using the twice regenerated catalyst absorber . ______________________________________initial starting pollutant levelsco in . 11 ppmno in , 29 ppmnox in , 33 ppmtime temp 1 temp 2 co out no out nox outhrs : min (° f .) (° f .) ( ppm ) ( ppm ) ( ppm ) ______________________________________ : 15 186 142 5 . 53 18 . 0 18 . 0 : 30 279 144 2 . 65 12 . 0 13 . 0 : 45 275 255 0 . 85 7 . 0 7 . 01 hr . 271 254 0 . 65 7 . 0 7 . 01 : 15 267 253 0 . 77 9 . 0 9 . 01 : 30 274 255 0 . 78 10 . 0 10 . 01 : 45 283 262 0 . 73 11 . 0 11 . 02 hrs . 284 266 0 . 68 11 . 0 11 . 52 : 15 282 266 0 . 68 13 . 0 13 . 0______________________________________ the catalyst absorber was regenerated again and the experiment was run again under the same conditions using the three time regenerated catalyst absorber . ______________________________________initial starting pollutant levelsco in . 9 . 05 ppmno in , 26 . 0 ppmnox in , 32 . 0 ppmtime temp 1 temp 2 co out no out nox outhrs : min (° f .) (° f .) ( ppm ) ( ppm ) ( ppm ) ______________________________________ : 15 354 142 1 . 06 7 . 0 7 . 0 : 30 356 150 0 . 49 2 . 0 2 . 0 : 45 354 338 0 . 41 2 . 0 2 . 01 hr . 351 337 0 . 43 2 . 0 3 . 01 : 15 352 338 0 . 45 3 . 0 5 . 01 : 30 352 339 0 . 50 6 . 0 7 . 01 : 45 352 337 0 . 50 7 . 0 8 . 02 hrs . 351 338 0 . 50 8 . 0 9 . 02 : 15 350 336 0 . 49 8 . 5 9 . 52 : 30 349 335 0 . 50 9 . 0 10 . 02 : 45 348 334 0 . 56 10 . 0 11 . 03 hrs . 348 334 0 . 58 11 . 0 12 . 0______________________________________ this experiment was run using a monolith core catalyst in a laboratory set up under the conditions set forth below . the space velocity was 10 , 000 hr - 1 s . the initial starting pollutant levels are set out at time zero ( 0 ) minutes . only one catalyst absorber unit was used and the temperature was measured just before the catalyst absorber . ______________________________________time temp co nox no sulfur ( so . sub . 2 ) minutes (° f .) ( ppm ) ( ppm ) ( ppm ) ( ppm ) ______________________________________input 351 18 . 0 33 . 0 29 . 0 0 . 5concentrations 1 405 0 1 . 0 0 . 5 2 415 1 . 0 0 . 5 0 . 35 5 420 0 . 75 0 . 05910 480 0 . 45 0 . 00420 401 0 0 . 4 032 380 2 . 4 0 . 00442 408 2 . 3 0 . 00748 360 1 . 5 0 . 00150 344 1 . 85 0 . 00264 296 5 . 2 4 . 2 0 . 01675 291 8 . 6 7 . 1 0 . 02385 291 9 . 0 0 . 037______________________________________ the catalyst absorber was regenerated and the experiment was run again under the same conditions using the regenerated catalyst absorber . ______________________________________time temp co nox no sulfur ( so . sub . 2 ) minutes (° f .) ( ppm ) ( ppm ) ( ppm ) ( ppm ) ______________________________________input 20 . 0 34 . 0 31 . 0 0 . 51concentrations 0 . 5 378 0 . 1 1 . 8 0 . 08 1 369 0 . 1 1 . 8 0 . 02 2 343 0 . 1 1 . 75 1 . 55 0 . 32 3 326 0 . 1 1 . 75 1 . 6 0 . 19 6 300 0 . 1 2 . 0 1 . 85 0 . 0510 286 0 . 1 2 . 6 2 . 6 0 . 02512 284 0 . 1 3 . 0 0 . 02121 287 0 . 1 5 . 0 0 . 02125 288 0 . 1 6 . 2 6 . 2 0 . 02430 291 0 . 1 9 . 0 7 . 9 0 . 0247 300 0 . 1 13 . 5 12 . 5 0 . 05______________________________________ in the following experiment , the starting gas was obtained from a slip stream from the turbine exhaust from a cogeneration plant turbine , as with experiments 1 and 2 . the catalyst has the same configuration as in experiments 1 and 2 . the space velocity of the slip stream was 18 , 000 hr - 1 . the temperature for the upstream first basket was 330 ° f . and 300 ° f . for the downstream second basket . all pollutant measurements are in ppm . ______________________________________time o nox no no . sub . 2minutes ( ppm ) ( ppm ) ( ppm ) ( ppm ) ______________________________________input 20 . 0 33 27 6concentrations0 0 1 . 5 1 . 5 0 . 5 0 1 . 5 1 . 5 01 . 5 0 5 5 103 0 10 10 0______________________________________ to apply the catalyst absorber to the continuous reduction of gaseous pollutants in stack gases , an apparatus is required . the catalyst absorber is moved into contact with the stack gas and remains there until the outlet levels of carbon monoxide , nitrogen oxides and / or sulfur oxides exceed some specified low concentrations . the catalyst absorber is then moved out of contact with the stack gases for regeneration while being replaced with fresh or previously regenerated catalyst absorber . the regenerated catalyst absorber is cycled back into contact with the stack gases in sequence . the apparatus to apply the catalyst absorber of the present invention can be in the form of a wheel or carousel , a portion of which is in contact with the stack gas and a portion of which is outside of contact with the stack gas . in this case , the catalyst absorber is mounted to the wheel and moves in and out of the stack gas stream as the wheel rotates . the apparatus may alternatively be a moving continuous belt with the catalyst absorber being disposed on the belt . alternatively , a fluidized bed of the alumina spheres of the catalyst absorbed can be located in the stack gas stream . in this embodiment a small fraction of the catalyst absorber , for example , one percent per minute , is continuously removed , regenerated and returned . any other apparatus could be used to accomplish the goals specified herein , the choice of such apparatus depending upon the individual applications . it would be obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art that a number of changes and modifications can be made to the presently described process , apparatus and methods without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention . it is contemplated that the present invention is encompassed by the claims as presented herein and by all variations thereof coming within the scope of equivalents accorded thereto .	8
the present invention uses naturally odiferous chemical compounds that have been known to produce deterrents or repellents for other animals , mixed together to produce a mixture that will repel squamate reptiles , such as without limitation snakes , particularly snakes common to the u . s . the composition of the present invention may be prepared as a concentrate and then administered via a hose spray , or mixed with water in another manner . additionally , it may be prepared as “ ready to use ” with the sufficient quantity of water to allow spreading , but not too much to dilute the amounts of garlic oil , putrescent egg solids and one or more of : menthol , menthene , camphor , camphene , carvacrol , thymol , carvone or 1 , 8 - cineol so that the squamate reptiles , such as without limitation snakes , do not detect the repellent in the vomeronasal organ , or detect and ignore the repellent . the preferred ranges for these components are set forth in table 2 . additionally , the compositions may be prepared as liquids which are then deposited on solids , e . g . without limitation particulates , granules , crushed egg shells , sawdust , diatomaceous earth , dried kelp , and fuller &# 39 ; s earth . it is preferred that the solids are fine because they are easier to disperse in the barriers or snakes &# 39 ; habitats . other embodiments of the present invention include : garlic oil , putrescent egg solids and one or more of compositions containing high levels of menthol , menthene , camphor , camphene , carvacrol , thymol , carvone or 1 , 8 - cineol . compositions containing high levels of menthol and / or menthene include but are not limited to cornmint oil , spearmint oil , horsemint oil , round leaf mint oil , oil of hyssop , japanese mint oil , european pennyroyal , and american pennyroyal . compositions containing high levels of camphor , camphene and / or 1 , 8 - cineol include but are not limited to tea tree oil , cardamon oil , red thyme oil ( thymus vulgaris ), white thyme oil ( thymus zygis ), spanish marjoram oil ( thymus mantichina ), rosemary oil and sage oil . other embodiments include garlic oil , putrescent egg solids , and mint oils . the preferred mint oil have either high levels ( either individually or net ) of one or more of : menthol , menthene , camphor , camphene , carvacrol , thymol , carvone and 1 , 8 - cineol . in some embodiments , surfactants , preferably without limitation alkyl sulfates , more preferably sodium lauryl sulfates , may be used to maintain homogeneity of the composition . weaker surfactants will need to be present in higher amounts than stronger surfactants , such as sodium lauryl sulfates . in some embodiments , it may be desirable to add additional components to the compositions , such as plant fertilizers , plant growth stimulants , repellents for other animals , repellents for insects , colorants , preservatives , dyes , and perfumes . it is believed without being limited to mechanism , that the composition repels snake due to the exposure of the composition and its components to the snake &# 39 ; s tongue and vomeronasal organ . the following study shows that snakes were repelled from the composition set forth in table 1 . fifty - one ( 51 ) snakes were tested for their response to the formulation set forth in table 1 . most of the snakes were members of the family colubridae . the snakes and how they were acquired are set forth in table 2 . the snakes were kept on a 14 hr . light / 10 hr . dark schedule . small snakes were fed twice weekly and large snakes were fed weekly . water was available ad libidum . a few of the snakes did not survive the entire test prior for reasons apparently unrelated to the testing . the testing occurred in wooden chambers 119 cm in internal length , 28 cm in internal width and 28 cm in internal height . the floor , back and sides were wood painted with an odorless paint , and the front was plexiglass , while the top was a screen in a wooden frame . the front of each chamber was marked in one centimeter intervals . the floors were lined with newspaper and 2 wooden shelters were placed at each end of the chamber ( one at each end ). during the trial , a snake was placed in the center of the chamber and allowed to acclimate for 60 minutes . during some runs , a light was placed over one of the shelters to provide a source of heat . snakes sometimes are attracted to heat . controls were run with no repellent in the chambers . during the other trials , absorbent pads were placed in one shelter on top of duct tape ( which was over the floor ) at about the point designated 0 cm . at the end of the acclimation period , about 1 . 5 ml of the formulation was added to the absorbent pad . the snake &# 39 ; s position was then recorded every ten minutes until fifteen positions were recorded . the snakes behaved in three different ways . first , some snakes entered a coiled position and remained essentially motionless . second , some snakes wandered about the chamber for the entire test . third , some snakes intermittently moved gradually from one part of the chamber to another . all three behaviors were recorded in control trials and experimental trials . a few snakes escaped through cracks between the lid and wall , and were recaptured in time to be re - introduced to the chamber before the next positional reading . some snakes moved about frequently and showed no overt reaction to the repellent . however , other snakes did stop near the repellent , flicked their tongues and moved in a different direction , noticing the repellent . the mean average position for each treatment produced the following mean of the snakes &# 39 ; average positions . the mean of the average positions of the snakes was tested using two way analysis of variance in order to separate the effects of heat and repellent . the repellent effects were highly significant , while the light effect was non - significant . the repellent was present at about 0 cm , and from these results , it is apparent that the snakes preferred to stay away from the repellent . based on these results , the formulation had a definite repellent effect . there were some snakes that were restless in both the control and experimental trials . it is possible that this restlessness was caused by the motivation to escape , and that non - captive snakes would have a stronger tendency to avoid the repellent . it is to be understood that while the invention has been described in conjunction with the detailed description thereof , that the foregoing description is intended to illustrate and not limit the scope of the invention , which is defined by the scope of the appended claims . other aspects , advantages , and modifications are evident from a review of the following claims .	8
particular embodiments of the present invention will now be described . the invention may , however , be embodied in many different forms and should not be construed as being limited to the embodiments set forth herein ; rather , these embodiments are provided by way of example so that this disclosure will be thorough and complete , and will fully convey the scope of the invention to those skilled in the art . fig4 is a diagrammatic drawing of a device for suppression of undesired temporal variations in a video frame sequence . generally , the functional sections ( represented by rectangles in fig4 ) do not necessarily refer to physically separate entities ; at least some of the functional sections may be combined into multi - functional sections , or may even be embodied as computer - executable instructions . to provide insight into the purpose of the functional sections in fig4 , a high - level description of the system is provided before a sequential description of the operations described in fig4 . the input to the system in fig4 is a sequence 1100 of frames ( a first video signal ), which may suffer from flicker . the sequence corresponds to a time - domain sampling of the observed scene , each time - domain sample of the video signal consisting of a set of pixel values ( or vectors ) that represent a spatial sampling of the scene . the output is a second sequence of frames ( a second video signal ) 1800 , where the flicker is essentially removed . in the following , it is assumed that the pixel value is a scalar representing luminance . however , it is understood that the input can be a vector of any dimension describing the color and intensity of the pixel in a particular format . the operations can then be performed for each component separately . for the purpose of this description it is defined , in addition to flicker cycle ( see above ), the term current flicker interval . a current flicker interval refers to a time interval that includes one flicker cycle that includes the current time instant . the precise duration of the flicker interval is not critical , but it is advantageously sufficiently long to include the maximum expected duration of the flicker cycle and sufficiently short to not be biased by intentional scene changes . as an example , for a 30 - frames - per - second video recording and a 50 - hz lighting system , the current flicker interval is set to seven times the time sampling interval . to reduce the flickering , the system of fig4 computes a mapping 1700 that assigns an output pixel value to each possible input pixel value . the actual mapping for each pixel is executed in a mapping operator 700 . the result of the pixel - by - pixel mapping is that the sequence 1100 of video frames ( the first video signal ) is mapped to the second video signal 1800 . the mapping 1700 is based on knowledge of a set of desired values 1600 of each of the quantiles . the desired quantiles together with the corresponding cumulative probabilities form the guidance number pairs . importantly , even if the desired quantiles do not vary over time , the output from the pixel mapping operator 700 — i . e ., the corrected frames — may contain residual flicker due to saturation or resolution effects . consider a video - signal frame f 1 and a video - signal frame f 2 . now consider a set of pixels with identical luminance values in frame f 1 . this set of pixels may not have identical values in frame f 2 , that is , frame f 2 may resolve image features that are not visible in frame f 1 . in a common example of this effect , the pixels are saturated in frame f 1 but not in frame f 2 . the mapping operator 700 then outputs a flickering image as certain features are resolved at some times ( of which frame f 2 is an example ) and not at other times ( of which frame f 1 is an example ). therefore , a major objective of the device shown in fig4 is to resolve in the output 1800 only those features that are resolved in all frames of sequence 1100 over an interval of duration somewhat larger than the current flicker cycle . to avoid ambiguity it is noted that quantiles are effectively a function of cumulative probability ( in this embodiment , the quantiles are evaluated for a set of fixed cumulative probability values ) and that “ not resolving image features ” is equivalent to the quantile value being constant over the range of cumulative probabilities in which such image features are displayed . this is illustrated in fig3 for the exemplary frames f 1 ( solid line ) and f 2 ( dashed line ). it is seen that the quantile function of cumulative probability is constant for frame f 2 for cumulative probabilities between 0 . 75 and 1 . 0 . this corresponds to saturation of bright spatial regions in the image . importantly , the present invention requires knowledge only of a subset of quantiles and not of an entire curve of the type displayed in fig3 . the mapping 700 is constructed from corresponding sets of desired quantiles and input - frame quantiles — herein referred to as basic quantiles — for a frame . the basic quantiles and their corresponding quantiles form the number pairs . if an input value corresponds to a particular basic quantile from the set , then the output value is the corresponding particular desired quantile . let q basic and q desir denote the set of basic and desired quantiles for a predefined set of cumulative probabilities . a mapping v : q basic → q desir can then be written as : where q basic and q desir are the basic and desired quantiles , respectively . note that the quantile q basic is a function of the cumulative probability p , i . e . q basic = q basic ( p ), where q basic denotes a function . advantageously , q basic is the image under q basic of a set of 12 cumulative probabilities , thus , q basic = q basic ( p ). smaller and larger sets can also be used , with smaller sets generally requiring a lower computational effort . if the set of basic quantiles q basic contained all possible values of luminance , then the input - output mapping would be complete . in practice , it is possible to construct the mapping 700 from a small set of basic and desired quantile pairs , such as those pairs specified by the 12 cumulative probabilities in the set p , and by assuming that the mapping 700 is monotone . the remaining parts of the mapping can be found by interpolation between the values obtained with the function v of equation ( 1 ) for the input values q basic εq basic and subsequent rounding off to a suitable set of integer values . advantageously , linear interpolation is used . let q represent the finite set of discrete pixel values ( in 8 - bit coding , q ={ 0 , 1 , . . . , 255 }) then a mapping w desir : q → q can be written as : as mentioned above , the invention aims to remedy the fact that the mapping constructed in the above manner does not resolve image features that are resolved in other frames of the current flicker interval . it is noted that the input has the same discrete scale and the same finite range as the output . furthermore , the basic quantiles are a property of the input frame and , therefore , fixed . the goal of not resolving image features must therefore be reached by changing the output levels , i . e ., the desired quantiles . consider the quantile function q ( p ). not resolving image features means that the corresponding quantiles are constant as a function of the cumulative probability p in a particular range of p , i . e . : where p 0 and p 1 specify the boundaries of the range . there is a fixed number of input levels in q and the same number of output levels at most ( two input levels may be mapped to the same output level ). hence , the presence of constant - quantile intervals ( corresponding to constant - quantile regions in the image ) in some frames imply that the goal of not resolving image features is reachable only if the number of levels used of the output scale is made lower , in other frames of the flicker cycle , than that of the input scale . thus , not resolving image features , the reduction of resolution , in a certain cumulative probability range comes at the price of either a coarser description of the desired quantiles for other quantile ranges , or of a reduction in the dynamic range . clearly both effects are undesirable and the reduction in resolution should be minimized . generally it is desirable to have an image with a large dynamic range so that , advantageously , the option of increasing the coarseness of the desired - quantile scale is selected . while the non - resolving of image features can occur for any quantile range , it most commonly happens near the ends of the pixel - value scale . that is , for reasons of truncation , very dark features and / or very bright features are commonly not resolved in some frames of the current flicker interval . the above overview discusses the operation of the function sections of the system illustrated in fig4 . below follows a step - by - step description of the same system . for each frame , basic - quantiles computer 100 computes a set of quantiles . depending on the resolution of the image and on the quality required , the quantiles can be based on all pixels of the frame or on a subset of pixels based on a spatial sub - sampling of the pixels . advantageously a regular sub - sampling by an integer number can be used for this purpose . the quantiles can be estimated with any of the many well - known methods . for example the quantiles can be computed by sorting the pixel values and selecting the pixel value corresponding to the m &# 39 ; th value of the sorted set such that : where p is the cumulative distribution value of the quantile and n is the number of pixels used for the estimation of the quantile . let the output of the function x ( t , m ) represent the m &# 39 ; th value of the sorted set at sampling time t , then the basic quantile at time t can be estimated from the frame pixel values as where q basic ( t , p ) is a function that maps the cumulative distribution value p and sampling time t onto the basic - quantile value , many other methods exist to estimate the basic quantiles directly , some of which do not require the computation of the cumulative distribution function . the flicker of a sequence of images can be observed directly in the basic quantiles , without further use of the frame pixels . that is , the time variation of q basic ( t , p ), with p chosen suitably , will indicate flicker in the image . as an alternative , consecutive frame - wise means of the pixel values can be monitored for oscillations ; cf . fig2 in which flicker occurs from the 20 th frame and onwards . moreover , the quantiles directly provide information about whether the corresponding image is bright or dark . this is a convenient aspect of using quantiles for the analysis of flicker . this information is not conveniently available in the cumulative distribution function . consecutive sets of basic quantiles are stored in a buffer 200 for a finite time duration , a sliding time window . advantageously , the sliding window has a length of at least one cycle of the flicker . it is natural to set the length of the sliding time window to that of the current flicker interval defined above . the stored sets of basic quantiles are processed in both bright - quantile computer 300 and dark - quantile computer 400 . as will be seen below , the use of two types of processing facilitates the elimination of resolution of certain image features . the bright - quantile computer 300 computes the time maximum over the sliding time window for a subset of the basic auantiles , that is , q bright ⁡ ( t , p ) = max t - t 2 & lt ; s ≤ t + t 2 ⁢ q basic ⁡ ( s , p ) where t is the length of the sliding time window ( s being a discrete quantity ) and pεp ⊂ p . advantageously , the subset is selected to be all the basic quantiles , i . e ., p ′= p . the output of 300 then consists of sets of time - maximum quantiles , one set for each time sample ( frame ) of the video signal . this set of outputs are referred to as the bright quantiles for the sliding window . usually , but not necessarily , the output of 300 is the set of quantiles of the brightest frame of the set of frames corresponding to the sliding window . if the sliding window is at least as long as one cycle of the flicker , then the bright quantiles display little flickering . it is noted that the output of bright - quantile computer 300 can be , as an alternative , the second brightest time value of the basic quantile , the average of the two brightest time values of a basic quantiles , or another similar indicator that numerically characterizes the temporal peak of a basic quantile over the sliding time window . such indicators may be selected because they have the advantage of a smaller estimation error than a simple maximum . the estimation error ultimately results in a jitter in the brightness level . it is understood that ‘ maximum ’, in this context , may refer to any such indicator . an important motivation for the invention is that pixels belonging to the bright quantiles do not resolve image features that are saturated and , therefore , not resolved in at least one frame of the current flicker interval . in the case of bright saturation , the maximum of one or more bright quantiles will then be equal to the maximal admissible value , max q . as the 1 . 0 - quantile equals max q by definition , saturation can be described as a coincidence of this quantile and the next highest one , such as the 0 . 98 - quantile ; if the saturation is severe , there may be even more coinciding quantiles . in practice , this means that the main source of residual flicker is removed when the mapping 1700 is based on the bright quantiles . the dynamic range of the image corresponding to the bright quantiles is usually reduced from that of the input frame at the same time sample . if the bright quantiles were used as desired quantiles , the resulting output video signal would in general be overly bright . this is one reason why a satisfactory deflickering algorithm cannot be based on the set of bright quantiles alone . the dark - quantile computer 400 computes the minimum of a subset of the quantiles , each drawn from the frames of basic - quantiles within the sliding window . its operation is similar to that of the bright - quantile computer 300 . alternatively , and without a strong effect on the final outcome of the method , the dark - quantile computer 400 can compute the time median of each quantile : q dark ⁡ ( t , p ) = median t - t 2 & lt ; s ≤ t + t 2 ⁢ q basic ⁡ ( s , p ) , ⁢ p ∈ p ′ , ( for clarity it is emphasized that , with this definition , q dark ( 0 . 50 ) is the time median of the sequence of pixel - value medians ) or the temporal minimum of each quantile : q dark ⁡ ( t , p ) = min t - t 2 & lt ; s ≤ t + t 2 ⁢ q basic ⁡ ( s , p ) , ⁢ p ∈ p ′ . as an alternative , the dark - quantile computer 400 could compute the temporal average of the quantiles , q dark ⁡ ( t , p ) = 1 t ⁢ ∑ s = t - t 2 + 1 t + t 2 ⁢ q basic ⁡ ( s , p ) , ⁢ p ∈ p ′ , t being the length of the discrete , sliding time window , or other similar quantities useful as indicators , such as the minimum over the sliding time window . as with the bright quantiles , the skilled person may effectuate variations beyond to the formulas above when devising the computation of the dark quantiles . in this process , the minimization of the associated estimation error may be used as a guiding principle in addition to routine experimentation . like the bright quantiles , the dark quantiles generally do not suffer from flicker . however , if the dark quantiles are used for constructing the mapping 1700 , the corrected image may either be too dark ( if the minima over the sliding time window are used as dark quantiles ) or have about the right level of brightness ( if the medians or averages are used as dark quantiles ). however , the dark quantiles generally resolve image features that are saturated and , thus , not resolved in at least one frame of the flicker interval . this means that if the set of dark quantiles is used as the set of desired quantiles , then a residual flicker generally remains for bright image features . on the other hand , if the minimum estimator is used , then the dark quantiles do not resolve features that are not resolved in some of the frames of the current flicker interval because their luminance value falls to zero . this means that the dark quantiles remove residual flicker in dark spatial regions . it should be noted , however , that some residual flicker in dark spatial regions generally is not perceptually annoying . the outputs of the bright - quantile computer 300 and dark - quantile computer 400 are a set of bright quantiles and a set of dark quantiles for each sampling time t . neither set itself suffers from temporal flicker but applying correction based on one of them would either lead to an overly bright or too dark image . if used as desired quantiles , bright quantiles may result in residual flicker in dark spatial regions , and dark quantiles may result in residual flicker in bright spatial regions . to remedy this problem , a desired - quantile computer 500 combines the bright quantiles and the dark quantiles to provide a set of desired quantiles 1600 which do not resolve features for high and low brightness , and which have a coarser resolution in the middle pixel - value range . let w dark : q → q denote a function that maps the set of discrete pixel values onto itself and has the property of mapping each basic quantile to the corresponding dark quantile : similarly , let w bright : q → q denote a function that maps each basic quantile to the corresponding bright quantile . both functions are obtained by linear interpolation , which extends their domains from q basic to q in a manner similar to that described above for w desir : q → q . furthermore , let q desir be the desired quantile value . then , for each quantile , the corresponding desired quantile is constructed as follows : q desir = ( 1 - α ⁡ ( q basic ) ) ⁢ w dark ⁡ ( q basic ) + α ⁡ ( q basic ) ⁢ w bright ⁡ ( q basic ) , ⁢ 0 ≤ q basic ≤ q 0 , ( 2 ⁢ a ) q desir = w bright ⁡ ( q basic ) , ⁢ q 0 & lt ; q basic ≤ max ⁢ ⁢ q , ⁢ α ⁡ ( q ) = q q 0 ( 2 ⁢ b ) for some fixed quantile q 0 . the lower q 0 is chosen , the more the bright quantiles contribute to the desired quantiles . the desired quantile together with its corresponding cumulative probability forms a guidance number pair . a map computer 600 constructs the mapping 1700 on the basis of the desired quantiles ( 2a ), ( 2b ). as it is based on the bright quantiles for bright spatial regions and predominantly on the dark quantiles for dark spatial regions , the mapping 1700 removes residual flicker for both high and low brightness as it reduces the resolution in these regions . since residual flicker is less noticeable for dark regions , and since it is desirable to minimize the coarseness of the desired quantile scale , the dependency on the bright quantiles in bright spatial regions in ( 2a ) and ( 2b ) is stronger than the dependency on the dark quantiles in the dark spatial regions . fig5 illustrates the desired quantiles given by ( 2a ), ( 2b ). the horizontal axis denotes quantile values from zero to max q , and the sets of basic quantiles q basic , desired quantiles q desir , bright quantiles q bright and dark quantiles q dark are indicated on one line for each set and labeled with their corresponding cumulative probabilities . in the exemplary case shown in fig5 , there are seven basic quantiles . the corresponding cumulative probabilities are denser near the ends , 0 and 1 , for this is where non - resolution of image features is most likely to occur and also where the highest sensitivity is needed . below the quantiles , the function α ( q ) is traced . for quantiles greater than q 0 — in the present case , this is the quantiles for cumulative probabilities 0 . 7 , 0 . 8 and 0 . 9 — the desired quantiles are equal to the corresponding bright quantiles . clearly , the two highest quantiles are equal to max q , the 1 . 0 - quantile , and no image features between q basic ( t , 0 . 8 ) and max q are resolved in the corrected frame . below q 0 , the desired quantiles are obtained by interpolation between bright and dark quantiles , e . g . : q desir ( t , 0 . 1 )=( 1 − α ( q basic ( t , 0 . 1 ))) w dark ( q basic ( t , 0 . 1 ))+ α ( q basic ( t , 0 . 1 )) w bright ( q basic ( t , 0 . 1 )) because of the properties of the function α ( q ), the contribution from the dark quantiles is most important near 0 . as has already been mentioned , the mapping 1700 can be constructed by linear interpolation between the basic quantiles . accordingly , the quantile β q basic +( t , p 1 )+( 1 − β ) q basic ( t , p 2 ), where 0 & lt ; β & lt ; 1 and p 1 , p 2 βp * are adjacent cumulative probabilities , is mapped to while the invention has been illustrated and described in detail in the drawings and foregoing description , such illustration and description are to be considered illustrative or exemplary and not restrictive ; the invention is not limited to the disclosed embodiments . in particular , the bright and dark quantiles may be defined in a different manner to fulfill specific purposes and the interpolation used for replacing quantiles is not necessarily linear . further , it is understood that some components that are included in the disclosed embodiments are optional . other variations to the disclosed embodiments can be understood and effected by those skilled in the art in practicing the claimed invention , from a study of the drawings , the disclosure , and the appended claims . the mere fact that certain measures are recited in mutually different dependent claims does not indicate that a combination of these measures cannot be used to advantage . any reference signs in the claims should not be construed as limiting the scope .	7
in a screen device shown in fig1 , a screen 2 is interposed between a pair of screen installation frames 1 and 1 , at least one of which can slide , in such a manner as to be contractable and expandable , and therefore , the screen 2 can be laterally opened or closed . moreover , an upper guide frame 3 is provided to cover an upper end section of the screen installation frame 1 , thereby guiding the screen installation frame 1 . in the screen device shown in fig1 , the screen installation frame 1 includes a fall - down prevention guide section 11 formed of a projection or a groove at the upper end section of the screen installation frame 1 . the upper guide frame 3 includes therein a guide rail projection 31 , which locks the fall - down prevention guide section 11 so as to prevent the upper end section of the screen installation frame 1 from being detached from the upper guide frame 3 . the fall - down prevention guide section 11 may be constituted of , for example , a projection or the like having a width greater than that of the screen installation frame 1 , and may be positioned at the upper end section of the screen installation frame 1 . the upper guide frame 3 can be fixed to an upper crosspiece , a ceiling face or the like of an opening of a window or a door . a lower end of the screen installation frame 1 can slide on a lower crosspiece or a floor face in a predetermined direction along a rail 7 having various kinds of shapes or structures . even if the screen installation frame 1 is tilted due to a large external force on the screen installation frame 1 or the screen 2 owing to strong winds or a contact with a human body , the fall - down prevention guide section 11 is locked in the guide rail projection 31 , so that the screen installation frame 1 is suspended , as shown in , for example , fig2 , in the screen device shown in fig1 . thus , the screen installation frame 1 can be prevented from being detached and falling down from the upper guide frame 3 . in the state shown in fig2 , it is possible to correct the inclination of the screen installation frame 1 , and further , to readily restore the screen device in a predetermined state . incidentally , the fall - down prevention guide section 11 as a molded product made of a plastic or metal can be fixed to the upper end section of the screen installation frame 1 , and further , the guide rail projection 31 as a molded product made of a plastic may be integrated with the upper guide frame 3 or included via other appropriate means . the fall - down prevention guide section 11 and the guide rail projection 31 may take various shapes or arrangements . for example , as shown in fig3 a and 3b , the fall - down prevention guide section 11 and the guide rail projection 31 may be formed into a laterally symmetric shape viewed in cross section . otherwise , as shown in fig4 a and 4b , the fall - down prevention guide section 11 and the guide rail projection 31 may be formed into a laterally asymmetric shape viewed in cross section . the fall - down prevention guide section 11 shown in fig3 a includes a channel formed into a substantial c shape viewed in cross section , and is included integrally with the upper end section of the screen installation frame 1 . inside of the upper guide frame 3 is suspended a suspending piece , to which the guide rail projection 31 is horizontally connected . the suspending piece and the guide rail projection 31 are included integrally with the upper guide frame 3 . the guide rail projection 31 is housed inside of the fall - down prevention guide section 11 . the fall - down prevention guide section 11 shown in fig3 b is formed into a substantial t shape viewed in cross section , and is included integrally with the upper end section of the screen installation frame 1 . the fall - down prevention guide section 11 shown in fig4 a includes a groove formed into a substantial u shape viewed in cross section , and is included integrally with the upper end section of the screen installation frame 1 . the guide rail projection 31 horizontally projects from the inner surface on one side of the upper guide frame 3 in such a manner as to be inserted into the u shape viewed in cross section . the fall - down prevention guide section 11 shown in fig4 b horizontally extends outward from one side at the upper end section of the screen installation frame 1 . the guide rail projection 31 horizontally projects from the inner surface on one side of the upper guide frame 3 . the fall - down prevention guide section 11 and the guide rail projection 31 , as described above , can prevent the screen installation frame 1 from being detached and falling down from the upper guide frame 3 . however , it may be difficult to insert the upper end section of the screen installation frame 1 into the upper guide frame 3 when the screen device is constructed . in view of this , in a screen device shown in fig5 , at least one of a pair of suspending walls 32 facing each other in the upper guide frame 3 has elasticity , and thus , the suspending wall 32 is opened outward when the upper end section of the screen installation frame 1 is inserted into the upper guide frame 3 , to be restored to its original shape owing to its elasticity after the opening . for example , the suspending wall 32 is made of a plastic so that it is elastic . moreover , a width between the guide rail projections 31 , 31 is made smaller than the width of the fall - down prevention guide section 11 . when the upper end section of the screen installation frame 1 is inserted into the upper guide frame 3 , the fall - down prevention guide section 11 is pressed upward against the guide rail projections 31 at both right and left ends thereof , so that the force from the fall - down prevention guide section 11 is exerted in such a manner as to widen the suspending walls 32 , thereby opening the suspending walls 32 outward with the exertion of the force , so as to enable the insertion of the screen installation frame 1 . when the fall - down prevention guide section 11 rides on the guide rail projections 31 , the suspending walls 32 are restored inward owing to the elasticity , so that the upper end section of the screen installation frame 1 is inserted into the upper guide frame 3 . additionally , it is preferable to form contact surfaces of the fall - down prevention guide section 11 and the guide rail projection 31 into a curved surface such as an arch , as shown in fig5 , in order to facilitate the opening of the suspending wall 32 outward . in a screen device shown in fig6 , in order to facilitate work for inserting the upper end section of the screen installation frame 1 into the upper guide frame 3 , a part of the guide rail projection 31 is cut out , so that the upper end section of the screen installation frame 1 provided with the fall - down prevention guide section 11 can be inserted into the upper guide frame 3 through a cutout 33 . in a screen device shown in fig7 , a part of the suspending wall 32 of the upper guide frame 3 is cut out , so that the upper end section of the screen installation frame 1 provided with the fall - down prevention guide section 11 can be readily inserted into the upper guide frame 3 through a cutout 34 . in a screen device shown in fig8 , the upper guide frame 3 is positioned with a clearance 35 . the clearance 35 may be formed along the upper guide frame 3 or between the upper guide frame 3 and the wall surface or a vertical crosspiece . additionally , in the screen device shown in fig8 , the upper end section of the screen installation frame 1 provided with the fall - down prevention guide section 11 can be readily inserted into the upper guide frame 3 through the clearance 35 . here , the clearance 35 is effective in inserting the upper end section of the screen installation frame 1 into the upper guide frame 3 and suitable for installation of the screen device in a large space . in installing the screen device in a large space , the upper guide frame 3 is required to be long . however , it is preferable to connect frames divided into a plurality of pieces to each other in consideration of workability and transportability . in this case , from the perspective of ensuring a smooth and stable sliding motion and the appropriate design of an exterior appearance of the screen installation frame 1 , work needs to be carried out with an accuracy high enough to prevent any misalignment between axes 30 a and 30 b in a longitudinal direction and to prevent any generation of a gap 30 c at an end face when respective ends of divided upper guide frames 3 a and 3 b are mated with each other , as shown in fig9 . actually , it is not easy to perform the work at a site with such high accuracy . in view of this , as with the screen device shown in fig8 , a relatively large clearance 35 is formed at the upper guide frame 3 . even if the axes 30 a and 30 b are misaligned or the gap 30 c is generated at the end face , little force is imparted on the sliding motion of the screen installation frame 1 due to the relatively large clearance 35 , with the attendant advantage of visual unobtrusiveness . from the viewpoints of a smoother and more stable sliding motion and the design of the screen installation frame 1 , it is effective that the plurality of clearances 35 are formed and a cap member 8 shown in fig8 is attached to each of the clearances 35 . the cap member 8 includes a suspending wall 82 , inside of which a guide rail projection 81 is disposed . like the upper guide frame 3 , the cap member 8 can prevent the screen installation frame 1 , which slides , from being detached and falling down or being inclined . at both side ends of the suspending wall 82 are tongue pieces 83 overlapping the end surface of the upper guide frame 3 . as illustrated in fig1 , the cap member 8 is securely disposed at the clearance 35 by the effect of the tongue piece 83 . thus , the screen installation frame 1 can slide smoothly and stably by the guide function of the cap member 8 even if the axes of the upper guide frames 3 a and 3 b are misaligned . the cap member 8 is located at a mating position 9 c of separation type screen devices 9 a and 9 b , as shown in fig1 and 12 . in this case , it is effective that a stopper 84 is positioned at the mating position 9 c inside the cap member 8 . the stopper 84 enables the slidable screen installation frame 1 to be stopped at the predetermined mating position 9 c in the separation type screen devices 9 a and 9 b . the stoppage of the screen installation frame 1 at the mating position 9 c can prevent in advance any inconvenience from occurring at the screen 2 due to a load in association with the sliding motion of the screen device , that is , an excessive opening / closing distance or the like . the screen device according to the invention may be configured such that both of a pair of screen installation frames 1 , each having the screen attached thereto , can slide , and that at least either one of the screen installation frames 1 is connected to the slidable screen installation frame 1 in another screen device via a connector . such a construction type screen device is configured such that a plurality of unified screen devices a , b and c are connected to each other via respective connectors 10 of screen installation frames 1 arranged adjacently to each other , in a contracted state shown in fig1 a and 13b and in an expanded state shown in fig1 . the screen device can be implemented by the one - way drawing type screen device shown in fig1 and 14 or a double - leaf drawing type screen device shown in fig1 . reference numeral 20 denotes a magnet for fixing the screen installation frames 1 to each other . in any one of the screen devices , the screen installation frame 1 can be prevented from being detached from the upper guide frame 3 . furthermore , the upper end section of the screen installation frame 1 can be readily inserted into the upper guide frame 3 even in a large - sized screen device . additionally , although the screen 2 is typified by a foldable and unfoldable pleat net member in the screen device according to the invention , the screen 2 is not limited to a pleat net member , but it may be a pleat member made of cloth or a sheet . otherwise , the screen device may incorporate therein a rotary roll that can be freely wound or pulled . in the screen device , the upper end section of the screen installation frame can be prevented from being detached from the upper guide frame , and further , the upper end section of the screen installation frame is readily inserted into the upper guide frame even in a large - sized screen device .	4
for the examples described herein , the precursor form of nafion ™, a perfluorosulfonic acid ( pfsa ) copolymer in the sulfonyl fluoride form with an ion exchange capacity iec = 1 mmol / g was used as ionomeric material ( grade r - 1000 purchased from ion power ). for nanocomposite systems , fumed silica nanoparticles with a surface area of 380 m 2 / g were used as inorganic filler ( grade cab - o - sil eh - 5 purchased from cabot ). a branched low density polyethylene ldpe ( novapol ™ lf - y918 - a ) with mfi = 0 . 75 g / 10 min at 190 ° c / 2 . 16 kg was the incompatible polymer used as a support material for the external layers . to determine melt viscosities of polymeric materials , dynamic rheological measurements were performed in an ares ( advance rheometric expansion system ) rotational rheometer in dynamic mode , using 25 - mm diameter parallel plates in oscillatory shear mode under dry nitrogen atmosphere at t = 240 ° c . prior to testing , samples were dried 24 h under active vacuum at 60 ° c . the test comprises a frequency sweep over a range spanning from 100 down to 0 . 1 rad / s . small deformations ( 10 % or 15 %) oscillatory motions were imposed on the samples for all time and frequency sweeps to avoid any irreversible damage of the structure of the material . the measurements allow to evaluate the response of the materials tested in term of elastic or storage modulus ( g ′), viscous or loss modulus ( g ″), and the dynamic complex viscosity ( η ). rheological measurements were carried out to characterize the viscoelastic properties of ionomeric materials used in the examples described herein . the measurements allow the evaluation of the response of the materials tested in terms of elastic or storage modulus ( g ′), viscous or loss modulus ( g ″), and the dynamic complex viscosity ( eta or η *) as a function of the oscillation frequency . the results of the frequency sweep test at 240 ° c . are shown in fig2 for pfsa precursor nafion ™ r - 1000 , and fig3 for pfsa nanocomposite with 6 wt % eh - 5 filler . for nafion ™ r - 1000 the viscosity increases as the shear rate is decreased but at sufficiently low shear rates it becomes independent of shear rate and shows a linear plateau typical of newtonian melts . for nafion ™ r - 1000 + 6 wt % eh - 5 , the consequence of adding silica filler is an increase in melt viscosity and deviation from the linear viscoelastic range at low frequency . also , the contribution of the viscous or loss modulus ( g ″) clearly governs the rheological behaviour of both ionomeric materials in the range of frequencies investigated . pfsa precursor nafion ™ r - 1000 pellets were directly melt - blown without previous preparation . nanocomposites based on nafion ™ r - 1000 and fumed silica eh - 5 were previously compounded at 240 ° c . using a twin - screw extruder leistritz nano - 16 mm . the melt - blowing experiments were performed on a labtech multilayer co - extrusion blown film line equipped with a flat spiral die system . the multi - layer die has more than one spiral ‘ layer ’ and the die is fed from several extruders . for the examples described herein , a die fed by three melt streams was used , one melt stream of ionomeric materials coming from extruder ( b ) and the other two melt streams of support polymer coming from separate extruders ( a and c ) with a pancake die with four plates as illustrated in fig1 . the multilayer melt - blowing film line is equipped with three single - screw extruders labtech 12 . 5 mm ( type lbe 12 . 5 / 30 ). pfsa precursor thin films obtained by melt blowing are converted to the acid form by using the following process . 1 ) hydrolysis in a solution of 15 % koh / 35 % dmso / 50 % de - ionized ( di ) water at 80 ° c ., followed by washing with di water to remove all traces of un - reacted koh . 2 ) acid conversion to the h t form by exchanging the k + for h − ions using a 10 to 15 % solution of nitric acid ( hno 3 ), followed by di water washing . 3 ) activation : the h − form of pfsa membranes are activated with 7 . 5 % h 2 o 2 at 80 ° c . for 1 h , soaked in di water at 80 ° c . for 1 h , and finally treated with 15 % h 2 so 4 at 80 ° c . for 1 h . the treated membranes are washed thoroughly with di water . in - plane proton conductivities were measured using a solartron ™ 1260 . a strip of membrane ( in h + form ) was set between two pt electrodes and an alternating current was passed through the plane of the sample . in the case of room temperature and liquid water conditions , the samples were immersed in millipore water . room temperature varied from 20 ° c . to 22 ° c . nyquist plots between 5 mhz to 10 hz were collected and membrane resistance was extrapolated by fitting the semi - circle part of the data to equivalent circuits . proton conductivities were calculated from the equation below : where σ is proton conductivity , d is the distance between the pt electrodes , r is membrane resistance and s is the cross - sectional area of the sample . water uptake ( wu ) and volume change ( vc ) were determined as follows . after measuring mass of wet and dried membranes ( in h + form ), wu was calculated from the equation below : the mass of dried membranes were obtained after drying them in a vacuum oven at 80 ° c . overnight . for vc measurements , thickness , width and length of wet and dried membranes ( in h + form ) were determined . wet / dry volume change was calculated from the equation below : dimensions of dried membranes were obtained after drying them in a vacuum oven at 80 ° c . overnight . crystalline orientation was determined from wide - angle transmission x - ray spectroscopy analysis . the equipment used was a bruker d8 discover x - rays goniometer equipped with a hi - star ™ two - dimensional area detector . the generator was set up at 45kv and 0 . 65 ma . membranes in the acid form were previously immersed in a saturated lead acetate solution for 2 h at room temperature to stain the ionic domains . the samples were encapsulated in epoxy resin . the cured epoxies containing the membranes were then microtomed at room temperature into thin slices of 50 nm using a diamond knife . tem of ultrathin sections of the samples were obtained with a philips cm 200 instrument with an acceleration voltage of 200 kv . five different multilayer films were prepared by melt - blowing co - extrusion process using nafion ™ r - 1000 as ionomeric material , and ldpe as a support material . the structures obtained in this example are tri - layer films , where nafion ™ r - 1000 is the mid - layer , and ldpe the external layers ( fig4 b ). the extruder ( b in fig1 ) used for the nafion ™ r - 1000 mid - layer has the following profile temperature : zone 1 : 220 ° c ., zone 2 : 230 ° c ., zone 3 : 240 ° c ., die temperature 240 ° c . the two extruders ( a and c in fig1 ) used for ldpe external layers have the following profile temperature : zone 1 : 185 ° c ., zone 2 : 190 ° c ., zone 3 : 200 ° c ., die temperature 200 ° c . control parameters for the five different multilayer films prepared are listed in table 1 . ldpe is incompatible with the pfsa precursor , which prevents any interfacial bonding between the layers during melt processing . the external layers are peeled easily to obtain a thin membrane of pfsa precursor . thin membranes with different thicknesses ranging from 30 to 6 microns were obtained . blow - up ratios ( bur ) used were between 4 . 5 and 5 . 5 , and draw - down ratios were between 1 and 2 . a multilayer film was prepared by a melt - blowing process using a composite of nafion ™ r - 1000 + 6 wt % silica as ionomeric material , and ldpe as a support material . the structure obtained in this case is a tri - layer film , where nanocomposite pfsa is the mid - layer , and ldpe the external layers ( fig4 b ). the extruder ( b in fig1 ) used for nafion ™ r - 1000 + 6 wt % eh - 5 mid - layer has the following profile temperature : zone 1 : 220 ° c ., zone 2 : 230 ° c ., zone 3 : 240 ° c ., die temperature 240 ° c . the two extruders ( a and c in fig1 ) used for ldpe external layers have the following profile temperature : zone 1 : 185 ° c ., zone 2 : 190 ° c ., zone 3 : 200 ° c ., die temperature 200 ° c . control parameters used for the multilayer film based on nanocomposite pfsa ionomer prepared are listed in table 2 . even though the rheological measurements show an increase in melt viscosity and a deviation from the linear viscoelastic range at low frequency after nanoparticles incorporation , the parameters were very similar since extrusion is a high frequency process . the processes described in examples 1 and 2 permit melt - blowing of a continuous multilayered cylinder . once the cylinder is obtained , it is flattened and drawn through nip rolls to a winder . a cutting device can be used before winding to split the cylinder into two sheets that can be then wound to produce the finished rolls of films or go through chemical treatment baths in case of a continuous process . melt blown films were hydrolyzed by peeling one ldpe layer away from the pfsa layer and following the process outlined above . the second ldpe layer was used as a support during manipulation and chemical treatment to avoid deformation and wrinkling of the very thin films . tests were previously done to ensure that ldpe is not affected by the chemical reagents used for the hydrolysis and activation . examples 1 and 2 show that it is possible to produce thin uniform films from ion exchange resin precursor and composites of ion exchange resin precursor . properties of melt - blown ion exchange resin membranes produced from the films of example 1 ( film 2 ) and example 2 ( film 6 ) were compared with nafion ™ nre - 211 ( a solution - cast commercial ion exchange resin membrane ) and with an extruded membrane prepared from nafion ™ r - 1000 - cs in a bench - top 5cc microextruder ( dsm ) equipped with 5 cm width flat dies . the extruded nafion ™ r - 1000 - cs membranes were melt - cast directly from the flat die and rapidly quenched on a chill roll , producing a monolayer membrane . for the comparative study , the thickness of the membranes selected is about 25 ± 5 microns . transmission electron microscopy ( tem ) was used to examine the morphology and arrangement of the hydrophobic / hydrophilic phase separation within the ionomeric materials . high resolution tem images on lead acetate stained membranes prepared by solution - casting ( nafion ™ nre - 211 ), melt - extrusion ( nafion ™ r - 1000 ) and melt - blowing ( film 2 ) are presented in fig5 . two magnifications are shown for each membrane . the fine phase separation of hydrophilic and hydrophobic domains characteristic of pfsa ionomers is visible in all cases . for solution - cast film of nre - 211 ( fig5 a and fig5 b ), ordered and aligned ionic domains agglomerated in dark spheres ranging from 3 to 10 nm in diameter embedded in a pale background of hydrophobic fluoropolymers can be observed . the very clear regions could suggest free volume left by solvent evaporation . in the case of the melt - extruded membrane ( fig5 c and fig5 d ), ionic domains are smaller and uniform ( 4 to 6 nm ), less ordered , and more interconnected . melt - blown membrane ( fig5 e and fig5 f ) shows ionic domains having even smaller size as illustrated in the high magnification image . 2d xrd patterns obtained in transmission mode are shown in fig6 , where solution cast nre - 211 and melt - blown r - 1000 show an isotropic halo , while extruded r - 1000 shows an anisotropic halo . the spectra in fig7 were obtained by integration of the xrd patterns at an incidence angle of 90 ° , where spectra of extruded and melt - blown membranes are compared with the nre - 211 solution - cast membrane . all the samples show two diffraction peeks at 2 theta of 17 . 2 ° ( 100 ) and 39 . 6 ° ( 101 ) corresponding to d - spacing of 5 . 5 a and 2 . 4 a respectively , attributed to ptfe backbone of pfsa . a more pronounced intensity can be observed for the extruded membrane compared to the melt - blown and solution - cast nre - 211 membrane , which indicates that nre - 211 and melt - blown r - 1000 ( film 2 ) present less anisotropy compared to the extruded - r - 1000 membrane as shown from the higher intensity of the amorphous halo horizontally , where the machine direction axis is vertical . the anisotropic pattern is due to higher orientation generated from stretching in the machine direction during the cast - extrusion process to achieve the required thickness . integrating the halo at 0 ° and 90 ° incidence angle reflects the two normals to the diffraction plane relative to the md / td plane . to quantify the isotropy / anisotropy of the samples , we determined an orientation ratio ( or ) defined as the ratio of the intensity of the peek at 2 theta = 17 . 2 ° ( 100 ) integrated at 0 and 90 ° . or calculated for nre - 211 , melt - blown and extruded r - 1000 were 1 , 1 . 1 and & gt ; 1 . 5 , respectively . after hydrolysis according to the protocol previously described , the proton conductivity of hydrated membranes were measured by impedance spectroscopy at room temperature in water . the results in fig8 show that room temperature ( rt ) conductivity was not affected by the process used for membrane manufacturing , and was around 7 . 10 - 2 s / cm . however , the incorporation of silica seems to slightly reduce the conductivity in water to 3 . 10 - 2 s / cm , which is typical in nanocomposite membranes . the composite membranes are expected to excel at low relative humidity ( rh ), where the fillers have the ability to retain more water than the ionomeric polymer at higher temperature . fig9 shows water uptake ( wu ) and dry / wet volume change ( vc ) measured for solution - cast nre - 211 membrane , extruded membrane , melt - blown nafion ™ r - 1000 membrane ( film 2 ), and melt blown nanocomposite membrane ( film 6 ). membranes prepared by melt blowing show reduced water uptake and volume change compared to the nre - 211 solution - cast membrane and the extruded membrane . thus , the process of the present invention produces ion exchange membranes with increased dimensional stability . membrane - electrode assemblies ( mea ) were prepared by placing the membranes between two electrodes ( 0 . 4 mg pt / cm 2 at the cathode and 0 . 1 mg pt / cm 2 at the anode ) and tested in fuel cell hardware with an active area of 25 cm 2 . testing was done at the facilities of the nrc - ifci using a scribner associates test stand model : 850c . hydrogen crossover was measured by cyclic voltammetry for melt - blown nafion ™ r - 1000 membranes ( film 2 ) and nre - 211 solution - cast membranes . the limiting current densities for hydrogen oxidation at the cathode determined were 1 . 89 and 2 . 07 ma / cm 2 , respectively , demonstrating that the membrane of the present invention has lower hydrogen permeability than the standard solution - cast membrane . fig1 and 11 show i - v preliminary polarization curves measured for solution - cast nre - 211 membrane , melt - blown nafion ™ r - 1000 membrane ( films 2 and 3 ), and melt blown nanocomposite membrane ( film 6 ). the results show that melt blown membranes have similar beginning of life ( bol ) performance compared to nre - 211 reference , with a slightly improved performance for thin melt - blown membranes ( 18 microns ) and the composite membrane , especially at high temperature and low rh conditions ( 95 ° c ., 30 % rh ). the contents of the entirety of each of which are incorporated by this reference . giuffrida a . ( 1994 ) heterogeneous ion exchange materials comprising polyethylene of linear low density or high density high molecular weight . u . s . pat . no . 5 , 346 , 924 issued sep . 13 , 1994 . hasegawa t , inoue y . ( 2007 ) ion exchange fluorocarbon resin membrane . u . s . pat . no . 7 , 160 , 926 issued jan . 9 , 2007 . howard e . ( 2009 ) solid polymer membrane for fuel cell with polyamine imbibed therein for reducing methanol permeability . u . s . pat . no . 7 , 534 , 516 issued may 19 , 2009 . kato h . ( 2003 ) ion exchange assembly for an electrochemical cell . united states patent publication us 2003 / 0152820 published aug . 14 , 2003 . kinoshita s . ( 2009 ) membrane / electrode assembly for polymer electrolyte fuel cells and polymer electrolyte fuel cell . united states patent publication us 2009 / 0246592 published oct . 1 , 2009 . lai y - h , mittelsteadt c k , gittleman c s , dillard d a . ( 2009 ) viscoelastic stress analysis of constrained proton exchange membranes under humidity cycling . journal of fuel cell science and technology . 6 ( 2 ), 021002 - 1 to 021002 - 13 . lavoie p - a , laliberte r , dube j , gagnon y . ( 2010 ) co - extrusion manufacturing process of thin film electrochemical cell for lithium polymer batteries and apparatus therefor . u . s . pat . no . 7 , 700 , 019 issued apr . 20 , 2010 . miyake n , hasegawa t . ( 2006 ) ion - exchange resin membrane and method for producing the same . united states patent us 7 , 037 , 949 issued may 2 , 2006 . nishihata n , tada m . ( 2006 ) separator for solid polymer fuel cells , and production process thereof . u . s . pat . no . 7 , 128 , 996 issued oct . 31 , 2006 . oren y , freger v , kedem o , linder c , korin e . ( 2005 ) highly conductive ordered ion exchange membranes . united states patent publication us 2005 / 0238937 published oct . 27 , 2005 . oren y , freger v , kedem o , linder c , korin e . ( 2010 ) highly conductive ordered ion exchange membranes . u . s . pat . no . 7 , 740 , 967 issued jun . 22 , 2010 . rajendran r g . ( 2007 ) process for making cation exchange membranes with reduced methanol permeability . united states patent publication us 2007 / 0031716 published feb . 8 , 2007 . other advantages that are inherent to the structure are obvious to one skilled in the art . the embodiments are described herein illustratively and are not meant to limit the scope of the invention as claimed . variations of the foregoing embodiments will be evident to a person of ordinary skill and are intended by the inventor to be encompassed by the following claims .	7
the composition of this catalyst was suggested by our preliminary experiments in which we discovered the need of a pt / sno 2 catalyst for bound water to enhance its activity . these experimental results suggested that if the water were bound to the surface , this water would enhance and prolong catalyst activity for long time periods . since the catalyst is to be exposed to a laser gas mixture , and since a co 2 laser can tolerate only a very small amount of moisture therein , a hygroscopic support for the catalyst would provide the needed h 2 o into the gas . of all the hygroscopic materials that would be useful as support materials , silica gel is considered to be superior because of its property to chemisorb water on its surface over a wide range of moisture content . the equilibrium weight percent of water chemisorbed on silica gel ranges from 0 to over 40 percent when exposed to relative humidities of 0 to 100 percent , respectively . silica gel chemisorption characteristics result from its huge surface area , the highly porous nature of its particles , and its tendency toward hydration . the application of a very thin film of pt / sno 2 on the silica gel surface preserves a large fraction of this area and hence , control of the moisture content on the catalyst surface is attained . the catalyst of the present invention may be produced by first preparing a mixture of a commercially available , high - surface - area silica gel and an oxidizing agent . very beneficial results have been obtained using nitric acid as the oxidizing agent since it leaves no residue . it is also helpful if the silica gel is first deaerated by boiling in water to allow the entire surface to be coated . a metal , such as tin , is then dissolved in the oxidizing agent / support material mixture to yield , in the case of tin , metastannic acid . although tin has proven especially beneficial for use in a closed - cycle co 2 laser , in general any metal with multiple valence states may be used . the metastannic acid is adsorbed onto the high - surface - area silica gel and coats the surface thereof . any excess oxidizing agent is then evaporated , and the resulting metastannic acid - coated silica gel is dried , whereby the metastannic acid becomes tin ( iv ) oxide ( sno 2 ). the second step is accomplished by preparing an aqueous mixture of the tin ( iv ) oxide coated silica gel and a soluble , chloride - free salt of at least one platinum group metal . extremely beneficial results have been obtained using chloride - free salts of platinum , palladium , or a combination thereof , such as tetraamine platinum ( ii ) hydroxide ( pt ( nh 3 ) 4 ( oh ) 2 ) or tetraamine palladium ( ii ) nitrate ( pd ( nh 3 ) 4 ( no 3 ) 2 ). it is also beneficial if the coated silica gel is first deaerated by boiling . the platinum group metal salt is adsorbed onto the high surface area and coats the surface . a chloride - free reducing agent is then added to the aqueous mixture whereby the platinum group metal is deposited onto the tin ( iv ) oxide coated silica gel . any reducing agent which decomposes to volatile products and water upon reaction or drying is preferred . formic acid , hydroxylamine ( nh 2 oh ), hydrazine ( n 2 h 4 ), and ascorbic acid are particularly advantageous . after the platinum group metal has been deposited onto the tin ( iv ) oxide coated silica gel , the solution is evaporated to dryness , whereby the desired catalyst is obtained . evaluating its performance , we found that the catalyst of the present invention has not only a high activity , i . e ., a pumping speed of 3 . 2 × 10 - 3 / s - 1 g - 1 under ambient temperature conditions , but also a very long lifetime , exhibiting a half life of eight months . thus , the purpose of this invention , viz ., to formulate a catalyst composition with enhanced activity and long life for sealed co 2 laser applications , has been fulfilled because of the unique composition of this catalyst . an exemplary composition consisting of 6 . 7 % pt , 39 . 7 % sno 2 , and 53 . 6 % silica gel , was tested at 30 ° c . for a period of 106 days with an activity half life of eight months . the water content of this catalyst was determined to be 12 . 5 %. the silica gel employed in the instant composition can be in the form of granules , beads , pellets or monoliths . the size and shape of the particles can vary , although a uniform size and shape are desirable properties for good flow distribution through a bed or structure of these particles . the water content of the silica gel has varied up to 27 %. any other compound which can bind water to its structure can be substituted for silica gel in the instant catalyst composition . examples of other materials include , but are not limited to calcium chloride , magnesium sulfate , hydrated alumina , and magnesium perchlorate , as well as other metal oxides , hydroxides , salts and their hydrates . witteman supra has shown that the introduction of water into the gas phase of a sealed co 2 laser without a hygroscopic catalyst present can increase laser output by approximately 100 percent . however , this output decayed , whereas the hygroscopic properties of the catalyst of the present invention confers a long life at room temperature conditions : a half life of eight months with an initial pumping speed of 3 . 2 × 10 - 3 / s - 1 g - 1 without the introduction of moisture in the gas phase . no other catalyst known can compare with this performance . furthermore , introduction of moisture in the gas phase has been shown to have deleterious effects on the performance of some sealed co 2 lasers . the present invention has been described in detail with respect to certain preferred embodiments thereof . however , as is understood by those of skill in the art , variations and modifications in this detail can be made without any departure from the spirit and scope of the present invention as defined in the hereto - appended claims .	1
with specific reference to fig1 and 2 of the drawings , there is shown a pair of side frames or plates 1 , 1 which provide the basic side structure for the apparatus . a pair of reinforcing stringer bars 15 , 15 extend transversely between the side frames 1 , 1 at or near the ends thereof and establish the width of the apparatus . a plurality of relatively stationary supporting members 14 , such as wires or relatively thin rods , extend for substantially the full length of the apparatus between the transversely - extending stringer bars 15 , 15 . wires of small diameter are preferred as the supporting members 14 for reasons which will become clearer from a further reading and understanding of this specification . the support wires 14 are substantially parallel , are equally spaced from one another , and are sufficiently closely spaced as to be capable of supporting thereon small flat articles g such as medallions , appliques , patches , and the like , without permitting them to slip and fall downwardly through the individual support wires 14 . wire anchor bars 30 , 30 are provided immediately adjacent the stringer bars 15 , 15 to facilitate the anchoring of the support wires 14 in their desired spaced , parallel relationship . a shuttle assembly 25 is employed to intermittantly advance the medallions , appliques , patches , or like goods g individually by step - by - step stages through the apparatus and comprises a pair of spaced , substantially cylindrically shaped cam followers 2 , 2 which extend transversely across the full width of the apparatus and are adapted to have their ends slide along a pair of lower rails 5 , 5 secured to the inside walls of the side frames or plates 1 , 1 ( see fig1 ). a plurality of movable , lifting and transporting members 32 are mounted on and connect the cam followers 2 , 2 and are employed to intermittantly lift the goods g from the support wires 14 and to advance them in stepwise stages a predetermined distance individually through a considerable portion of the length of the apparatus . the lifting and transporting members 32 may comprises wires , or relatively thin rods , or vertically positioned slats , and are positioned between the support wires 14 , as best shown in fig1 . the upper or top surfaces or edges of the lifting and transporting members 32 are preferably serrated or are otherwise roughened and thus may resemble the working operative edges of saw blades , which actually is one specific embodiment of the lifting and transporting members 32 , as shown in fig2 and 6 . smooth top edges or surfaces , however , are also of use . the shuttle assembly 25 which thus primarily comprises the two spaced cam followers 2 , 2 and the plurality of connecting lifting and transporting members 32 extending therebetween ( and other parts to be described in greater detail hereinafter ) is intermittantly actuated by a conventional intermittantly operable electric motor ( not shown ) and a suitable cyclic reversing mechanism to advance from a rearmost position , as shown in fig1 - 3 to a forwardmost position , as shown in fig7 and then to return to the rearmost position of fig1 - 3 , and then to keep repeating such a cycle , which will be described in greater particularity in fig3 - 8 which represent a modification of the cam portion of the present invention which is different mechanically but not procedurally from the cam portion prepresented in fig1 and 2 . in fig3 the cam followers 2 , 2 riding on the lower rails 5 , 5 are driven forwardly or to the left to successive positions , as shown in fig3 wherein the cam followers 2 , 2 and their associated lifting and transporting members 32 are moved upwardly whereby goods g which were previously manually positioned ( as shown in fig3 ) by an operator , or by an automatic feeding and loading device , are picked up and lifted from the support wires 14 by the lifting and transporting members 32 . this is accomplished by the cam followers 2 , 2 riding up off the lower rails 5 , 5 and onto the upwardly slanting surfaces of a pair of elevating or &# 34 ; up &# 34 ; cams or dogs 3 , 3 , a pair located on each side of the apparatus . the sharpness or the angularity of the upward rise of the sam followers 2 , 2 decreases after the cam followers 2 , 2 pass the corner or point 34 ( see fig3 ) and subsequently actually becomes horizontal in direction after the cam followers 2 , 2 pass the pivot point p3 of the &# 34 ; up &# 34 ; cam 3 ( see fig4 ) which causes the cam 3 to tilt , as shown . by this time , the lifting and transporting members 32 have lifted the goods g from the relatively stationary support wires 14 and are moving them forwardly , or to the left . the cam followers 2 , 2 continue to move horizontally , or to the left ; move over a fixed horizontal elevated rail 4 ; and move onto the horizontal portion of a lowering or &# 34 ; down &# 34 ; cam or dog 6 . when the cam followers 2 , 2 pass the pivot point p6 of the &# 34 ; down &# 34 ; cam 6 , the cam 6 tilts and rotates to assume the position shown in fig6 . the cam followers 2 , 2 are then lowered to finally reach the lower rails 5 , 5 , as shown in fig7 . by this time , the goods g have been advanced the full length of their individual step - by - step forward movement and are replaced on the stationary support wires 14 . the shuttle carrier 25 is then automatically returned rearwardly , or to the right , passing under and temporarily tilting the &# 34 ; up &# 34 ; cam , as shown in fig8 to ultimately return to the rearmost position of fig3 and thus is ready for the beginning of the next cycle . in fig3 - 8 , there has been illustrated an elevating cam 3 , an elevated rail 4 , and a lowering cam 6 to provide for the up , horizontal , down , and return movements of the cam followers 2 , 2 . in fig1 and 9 , there is illustrated a simpler form of such a movement - controlling device . a pair of integral , one - piece elevating and lowering cams 33 , 33 are shown , a pair on each side plate 1 , having an elevating cam surface 37 , a horizontal sliding surface 38 , a lowering cam surface 39 , and a single pivot point p33 . the operation of cam 33 is somewhat generally similar to the operation of cam 3 . the cam followers 2 , 2 slide along the side rails 5 , 5 , move upwardly along the slanting cam surface 37 , then horizontally along the horizontal elevated surface 38 , then tip or tilt the cam 33 after they pass the pivot point p33 , and finally slide downwardly on the inclined cam surface 39 to return to the rails 5 , 5 . return movement of the cam followers 2 , 2 is rearwardly along the side rails 5 , 5 and under the right hand end of the cam 33 which tips or tilts counterclockwise to permit the cam follower 33 to pass thereunder to return to the original initial starting point , ready for the beginning of the next cycle . in fig1 , there is illustrated another form of an integral , one - piece elevating and lowering cam 43 having an upwardly inclined cam surface 46 to raise the cam followers 2 , 2 , a horizontal guiding surface 47 , a second surface 48 which initially is inclined upwardly but , after the cam followers 2 , 2 pass the pivot point p43 , tips or tilts and becomes a second horizontal guiding surface 48 , and a downwardly inclined lowering cam surface 49 which contacts and rests on the lower rail 5 after the cam followers 2 , 2 , have tipped or tilted the cam 43 . return movement of the cam followers 2 , 2 is along the surface of the lower rail 5 to the right and under the &# 34 ; up &# 34 ; portion of the cam surface 46 which tilts upwardly temporarily to permit the cam followers 2 , 2 to return to their original initial starting point , ready for the beginning of the next cycle . it is to be appreciated that the cam surface 48 , although initially inclined upwardly as shown in fig1 at a relatively small angle , say , between about 7 ° and about 12 °, becomes horizontally disposed when the cam 43 tips or tilts , due to the action of the cam followers 2 , 2 passing the pivot point p43 . the extent of the tipping or tilting of the cam 43 is also in the same range , that is , from about 7 ° to about 12 °. it is to be observed that the various pivot points p3 , p6 , p33 and p43 are not located at the centers of gravity of their respective cams but are actually positioned away from such centers of gravity , so that the respective cams will naturally tend to rotate , due to the force of gravity , and fall to the positions indicated in fig3 and 10 . and , of course , the respective cams will tend to return to such illustrated positions , if they are tipped or tilted away from such positions . if desired , conventional and standard springs or other spring - loaded devices ( not shown ) may be employed to insure that the cams promptly and positively come to the desired positions , as shown in fig3 and 10 . the cyclic forward up , horizontal and down movements and the rearwardly back movement of the cam followers 2 , 2 and the associated shuttle carrier or assembly 25 is provided for by any suitable driving means and reversing - movement mechanism . as shown in fig2 and 11 - 14 , a motor ( not shown ) drives a rotatable shaft 60 upon which is mounted a sprocket wheel 61 . a sprocket chain 62 meshes with the sprocket wheel 61 and in turn drives a second sprocket wheel 63 mounted on a rotatable shaft 64 . secured to the underside of the sprocket chain 62 is a depending detent or contact 65 which periodically and cyclically makes contact with electrical or other terminals 66 and 67 to actuate a vibrator 29 , or any other mechanism at the proper moment , or to stop the operation of the apparatus temporarily completely , if a dwell or delay is desired or required at any specific time during the operation . such a delay or dwell in the operating cycle is desirable in many instances , particularly when more time is desired or required for the heating , fusing , and bonding operation , due to the nature of the particulate thermoplastic materials or to the nature of the goods themselves , or for other reasons . in such a case , the terminal 67 is attached to a suitable , conventional time - delay device , which is well known in the art , which immediately cuts off and stops the movement of the sprocket wheel 61 and the sprocket chain 62 , without cutting off or stopping the heating of the heating and bonding unit 20 and the heating and bonding of the particulate thermoplastic materials t . in other words , the heating unit 20 does not cool during the time delay . the sprocket wheel 61 and the sprocket chain 62 remain halted for a pre - selected period of time , say , from about 1 / 2 second to about 5 seconds , or even more , if necessary , and then the movement of the sprocket wheel 61 and the sprocket chain 62 is automatically resumed and the entire operation continues . another detent or rod 69 is secured to the top side of the sprocket chain 62 and extends upwardly therefrom , as shown in fig2 and 11 - 14 . it is to be appreciated that this upstanding rod 69 will cyclically move back and forth as the sprocket chain 62 carries it back and forth , with a momentary dwell at the extreme ends of such abck and forth movements , as the upstanding rod 69 changes direction of movement . secured near the ends of the cam followers 2 , 2 are a pair of blocks 71 , 71 having vertically depending portions 72 , 72 between which a pair of horizontally extending , cylindrically shaped rods 73 , 73 are positioned . a centrally located sliding block 74 is mounted on the rods 73 , 73 and is adapted to slide thereon laterally . the centrally located sliding block 74 is provided with a vertically - extending opening 75 into which the upstanding rod 69 slidably enters , as shown in fig1 . as the sprocket chain 62 moves , the upstanding rod 69 moves with it and describes a corresponding geometric figure comprising two straight lines and two semi - circles resembling a rectangle with semi - circles at the narrow ends thereof . the upstanding rod 69 which enters the opening 75 in the sliding block 74 causes the block 74 to have a similar back and fourth movement with a slight dwell at the ends thereof and to impart a similar movement to the shuttle assembly 25 and its associated parts , particularly the lifting and transporting members 32 which additionally have upward and downward movements . during such forward and rearward movement , the sliding block 74 also moves directly forwardly and rearwardly but also possesses a sidewise sliding movement on the sliding rods 73 , 73 at the ends of the forward and rearward movements . the total intermittant forward step movement or stroke of the goods g by means of the lifting and transporting members 32 is , of course , less than the total movement or stroke of the cam followers 2 , 2 inasmuch as the lifting and transporting members 32 are below the level of the support wires 14 for a brief portion at the beginning and the end of the operating stroke . it is only when the lifting and transporting members attain a level above the support wires 14 that the goods g are lifted and transported forwardly . the total intermittant forward step movement of the goods g results in the goods g being moved forwardly to the left from their initial loading position , as placed there by an operator , or automatically if such type of feeding and loading device is used , to a second station g t whereat powdered , particulate , thermoplastic material t is applied to the upwardly - facing side of the goods g . the goods g are positioned initially on the support wires 14 with their faces or insignia or other informative surfaces down , so that their backs or reverse surfaces are up and are adapted to receive the powdered , particulate , thermoplastic materials t . as shown in fig1 and 2 , a hopper 23 is provided to contain a supply of the powdered , particulate , thermoplastic material t and is located directly over the support wires 14 with enough clearance therebetween as to permit the lifting and transporting members 32 to carry the goods g thereunder and deposit them thereat , in position to receive the powdered , particulate , thermoplastic materials t . the hopper 23 is provided with a bottom , floor , or base 27 having perforations or openings therein of a size suitable to permit the passage therethrough of the powdered , particulate , thermoplastic materials t at the desired , preselected moment during the cyclic operation . the floor 27 of the hopper 23 may be a suitably perforated sheet of metal , or plastic , or the like , having openings or holes drilled , punched , or otherwise formed therein , or it may be a woven screen having screen or sieve openings of the desired size . also , the floor 27 may be flat or planar , or it may be corrugated to give it some additional strength . the perforations or openings in the floor 27 of the hopper 23 will be described in greater detail herein with reference to a woven screen but it is to be appreciated that such description is equally applicable to the size and number of the perforations or other openings in other sheet materials of plastic , metal , or the like . the screen 27 located at the bottom or floor of the hopper 23 possesses screen or sieve openings of such a size that substantially no portion of the finely divided , powdered , particulate thermoplastic materials t will pass therethrough , when the hopper 23 is stationary and motionless . however , if the hopper 23 is given a sudden , relatively violent vibratory or oscillatory motion , the particulate thermoplastic materials t will very rapidly pass through the openings in the screen 27 to fall upon any goods located thereunder . the vibratory or oscillatory force is created by one or more conventional , commercially available vibrators 29 capable of producing a range of vibrations or oscillations of the hopper 23 of from about 30 cycles ( back and forth movements ) per second , up into the ultrasonic range , generally considered as greater than about 20 , 000 cycles per second . normally , however , a range of from about 60 cycles per second to about 14 , 000 cycles per second has been found to be most desirable commercially . the screen or sieve openings in the screen 27 located in the bottom or floor of the hopper 23 will also vary , depending to a very great extent upon the average particle size and the range of particle sizes of the particulate thermoplastic materials t . normally , screens having a sieve opening of from about 250 microns ( no . 60 , u . s . standard sieve series ) to about 590 microns ( no . 30 , u . s . standard sieve series ) are commercially desirable and practical . other screens having smaller or larger sieve openings , say , as small as about 210 microns ( no . 70 , u . s . standard sieve series ) or as large as about 2000 microns ( no . 10 u . s . standard sieve series ) are also of use in special and unusual circumstances . additional details and further discussion regarding the relationship between the average particle size and the overall particle size range of the particulate thermoplastic materials t and the size of the screen or sieve openings of the screen 27 in the bottom or floor of the hopper 23 are to be found in my co - pending patent application , ser . no . 673 , 719 which was filed on apr . 5 , 1976 . the vibrator ( or vibrators ) 29 is mounted on the hopper 23 as securely as possible , in a fashion consistent with the vibrational forces which are to be applied to the hopper 23 . the vibrator 29 is intermittantly vibrated , in timed relationship and synchronization with the intermittant advancing movements of the goods , to vibrate the hopper 23 , whereby the finely divided , powdered , particulate thermoplastic materials t pass through the screen or sieve openings to be deposited upon a particular applique , or patch , or the like . when the vibrating motion of the hopper 23 ceases , no further particulate thermoplastic materials t pass through the screen or sieve openings , until the next particular applique , or patch , or the like , is moved underneath the hopper 23 and the hopper is vibrated again . the particular chemical nature of the finely divided , powdered , particulate thermoplastic materials t in the hopper 23 does not relate to the essence of the present inventive concept but , preferably , such particulate thermoplastic materials t have a chemical nature that they possess relatively good potentially adhesive properties at relatively low softening or sticking temperatures , as well as relatively low melting or fusing temperatures . the particulate thermoplastic materials t must , of course , be plastic or adhesively fusible at the normal operating temperatures of the present process , which temperatures must , of course , be low enough that the material which is to form the main body portion of the appliques , patches , or other goods not be undesirably affected or damaged . synthetic or man - made polymers , copolymers , or other resinous products are of use . these include : polyamides such as nylon 6 , 6 / 6 , 11 , 12 , 6 / 10 and copolymers thereof ; cellulosic derivatives such as cellulose acetate and cellulose acetate butyrate ; polyesters , such as polyethylene terephthalate ; vinyl compounds including homopolymers , copolymers , and terpolymers derived from vinyl chloride , vinyl acetate , polyvinyl alcohol , etc . ; homopolymers , copolymers , and terpolymers of acrylic and methacrylic acids and esters ; polyurethanes ; etc . blends and mixtures of these polymeric materials and resins in varying proportions frequently yield very desirable properties and characteristics of excellent applicability to the present inventive concept . the average particle size of the particulate thermoplastic materials t varies within relatively wide ranges , depending to a very large extent upon the size , thickness and the shape of the goods upon which they are to be deposited , the size of the openings of the screen 27 in the hopper 23 ; and so forth . within the broader aspects of the present inventive concept , an average particle size of from about 0 . 1 micron to about 150 microns has been found practical , with preferred commercial limits for the average particle size ranging from about 5 microns to about 120 microns , and , most desirably , from about 20 microns to about 100 microns . the amount of the particulate thermoplastic materials t which are applied to the goods may be varied within relatively wide limits depending upon the nature and type of the goods , the nature and type of the particulate thermoplastic materials , the purpose and subsequent use of the goods to which the particulate thermoplastic materials t are applied , and so forth . under normal circumstances , from about 50 grams to about 300 grams per square yard are applied , with preferred commercial ranges extending from about 100 grams per square yard to about 200 grams per square yard . the specific amount applied to an individual piece of goods will depend , of course , upon its size or area . the temperatures attained during the heating and bonding of the particulate thermoplastic materials t to the goods depend primarily upon the chemical and the physical properties and characteristics of the particulate thermoplastic materials t and , to a lesser extent , upon the nature of the goods to which they are applied and adhered . under normal circumstances , the temperatures reached by the particulate thermoplastic materials t are in the range of from about 150 ° to about 600 ° f ., and preferably in the range of from about 220 ° to about 460 ° f . the specific temperature selected for any particular process must be sufficient to soften and fuse the particulate thermoplastic materials t but not too elevated as to possibly damage the goods . any excess powdered materials t which do not fall on the goods g or remain thereon , fall between the spaced , relatively thin stationary support wires 14 and the relatively thin lifting and transporting members 32 and go into a collection hopper 40 to be collected for subsequent recycling and re - use . as noted in fig2 the slanting and converging walls of the collection hopper 40 lead to a narrow mouth under which any desired receptacle or container ( not shown ) may be placed for easy collection of the unused thermoplastic materials t . as a consequence , there is substantially no loss of any powdered materials t and waste is cut to an absolute minimum , leading to enhanced efficiencies and economies . after the powdered materials t have been deposited on the reverse side of the goods g , the next cycle commences immediately and another article is placed on the stationary wire supports 14 at the feeding or loading station and is advanced by the lifting and transporting members 32 to a position under the hopper 23 . at the same time , a more forward portion of the lifting and transporting members 32 lifts the goods g t with the powdered materials t thereon from underneath the hopper 23 and moves the goods g t to the next advanced station or position underneath a heating and bonding station . such a position is shown in fig1 . at the heating and bonding station , the forward portions of the lifting and transporting members 32 are capped or provided with rectangular , inverted u - shaped presser elements or blocks 51 , preferably made of metal or plastic , whereby , when the lifting and transporting members 32 are moved upwardly due to the cam action of the cam 33 on the cam followers 2 , 2 to lift the goods g t from the stationary support wires 14 , the goods g t are supported not on narrow , thin wires , such as the top surfaces of the thin lifting and transporting members 32 , but by much wider presser elements 51 . additionally the goods g t will be lifted to a higher level inasmuch as the tops of the presser blocks 51 are higher than the tops of the members 32 . in fig1 , merely ten presser blocks 51 are shown , but it is to be realized that a larger number ( or a smaller number ) of such presser blocks 51 may be used whereby the intervening spaces between the presser blocks 51 may be smaller and merely sufficient to permit the passage of the stationary support wires 14 therebetween . the upper surfaces of the presser blocks 51 are preferably covered with a firm , yielding but resilient material 52 , such as a foamed or expanded material , sponge rubber , natural or synthetic rubber , synthetic elastomers , or like materials . this provides for a smoother and more even application of the heat and the pressure desired or required for the fusing and bonding operation . a heating unit 20 is provided at the heating and bonding station and heat - resistant sheet material , such as a suitable release paper 21 , delivered from a source of supply ( not shown ), or in the form of an endless sheet or belt , is positioned directly below the lower surface of the heating unit 20 . consideration of fig1 and 12 will establish that , when the goods g t are lifted and raised by the resilient tops 52 of the presser blocks 51 , the top surface of the goods g t will be pressed directly against the release paper 21 and the bonding heat from the heating unit 20 will be transmitted to the powdered materials t through the intervening release paper 21 . as a consequence , the powdered materials t are fused and bonded to the reverse sides of the goods g t which , in turn , are bonded to the release paper 21 . therefore , when the presser elements 51 are lowered due to the cam action of the cams 33 on the cam followers 2 . 2 , the goods g t are not replaced on the stationary wires 14 but remain adhered to the under surface of the release paper 21 , as shown at the left hand portion of fig2 . the release paper 21 is normally prepared by applying a standard or conventional release agent coating composition substantially uniformly to the surface of paper or like sheet material . silicone polymeric materials are normally preferred as the release coatings and may be sprayed , brushed , padded , or otherwise applied in any desired fashion and to any desired thickness of coating . other suitable release agents applicable for use in the present inventive concept may be applied in the same way and include : fluorocarbon plastic materials such as polytetrafluoroethylene ptfe , fluorinated ethylene propylene fep , etc . ; natural and synthetic manufactured waxes ; metallic salts of fatty acids , such as zinc stearate ; soaps ; polyvinyl alcohol ; polyamides ; polyethylene ; polysiloxanes ; &# 34 ; quilon &# 34 ; werner type chromium complexes in isopropanol ; mica ; talc ; etc . these release agents are applied substantially uniformly in standard or conventional amounts in order to provide the desired or required anti - stick , low - adhesion release properties and characteristics to the goods as applied to the release paper . at the forward end of the shuttle assembly 25 , a pair of vertically upstanding studs or rods 80 are vertically mounted on the blocks 71 and slidably project through vertically extending openings formed in the overhanging portion of the framework of the heating unit 20 . as a consequence , whenever the shuttle assembly 25 is cyclically moved forwardly or rearwardly , due to the action of the driving and reversing mechanism of fig1 , the heating unit 20 will be correspondingly cyclically moved forwardly and rearwardly in synchronization therewith . however , since the studs or rods 80 of the shuttle assembly 25 slide vertically within the corresponding openings 81 of the heating unit 20 , no vertical movement is imparted to the heating unit 20 . thus , the heating unit 20 will not receive any upward or downward movement , even though the lifting and transporting members 32 and the associated cam followers 2 , 2 may be moving upwardly and downwardly cyclically . the heating unit 20 receives only forward and rearward movements from the rod 80 . also , at the same time , as the shuttle assembly 25 moves upwardly from the position shown in fig1 to the position shown in fig1 , a pair of spring - loaded t - shaped clamping heads 84 on each side of the heating unit 20 are slidably mounted in openings in the blocks 71 and also move upwardly to contact and clamp the release paper 21 against the lower surface of the heating unit 20 to prevent any relative movement or slippage between the two . as shown in fig1 , the t - shaped clamping head 84 is spring - loaded upwardly , urged thereby by a helical compression spring 83 surrounding the shaft 82 of the clamping head 84 , which shaft 82 is slidably received in an opening in the block 71 . it is to be appreciated that the release paper 21 is not driven forwardly or pulled by any separate external driving force , such as a motor or the like , or is it mounted on a driving or constantly driven rotatable shaft . it is normally stationary or motionless but , when urged forwardly by means to be described hereinafter , may move forwardly a pre - selected or predetermined distance . however , when such forwardly - urging means is removed , the movement of the release paper 21 stops immediately . the heating unit 20 may slide horizontally in upper and lower rails secured to the inside walls of the side plates 1 , 1 , in which case it will move in a level horizontal plane . however , if desired , the heating unit 20 may merely ride on a lower horizontal rail secured to the inside walls of the side plates 1 , 1 . in such a case , the heating unit 20 will be maintained in a floating condition and may be raised slightly vertically off the lower rail when so urged by the clamping heads 84 and the upward thrust of the presser elements 51 and their resilient tops 52 . as a result , the pressure exerted on the goods g t during the fusing and bonding operation is due to the weight of the heating unit 20 and therefore provides a constant loading factor . such a constant loading factor is , of course , desirable , particularly when goods are being processed which may have different thickness and which will receive different loading factors if the heating unit 20 were to be maintained in a constant horizontal plane at all times . with the floating heating unit 20 , different thicknesses of goods g t are compensated for by the raising of the heating unit 20 to different levels or heights , whereby the loading factor is constant and is created only by the weight of the heating unit 20 . additionally , if increased or decreased pressures are desired , then additional weights may be placed on or removed from the heating unit 20 to provide additional or less loading . during the forward movement of the shuttle assembly 25 , the release paper 21 , the goods g t , and the heating unit 20 , when they are pressed together at the elevated temperature of the heating unit 20 , the goods g t are heated and the powdered thermoplastic materials t fused and bonded to the goods g t . the temperature levels reached by the thermoplastic materials t are in the range of from about 150 ° to about 600 ° f . and preferably in the range of from about 220 ° to about 460 ° f ., depending upon the particular powdered thermoplastic material used in the process . at the end of the forward movement , the shuttle assembly 25 moves downwardly as the cam followers 2 , 2 slide down the &# 34 ; down &# 34 ; cams but the heating unit 20 , release paper 21 and the goods g t remain basically at the same height . the separation of the shuttle assembly 25 and the heating unit 20 causes the clamping heads 84 to move downwardly and to release their grip on the release paper 21 . when the shuttle assembly 25 and the heating unit 20 move rearwardly to start a new cycle , the release paper 21 with the goods g t adhered thereto is disengaged and separated from the shuttle assembly 25 and the heating unit 20 which move rearwardly . as a result , the release paper 21 and the freshly fused and bonded goods g t are positioned beyond the heating unit 20 and subsequently are moved beyond the heating unit 20 to a cooling station and subsequently on out of the operation . if desired , such as when an endless stretch or belt of release paper 21 is used to be returned and re - used again , the fused and bonded goods g t may be removed from the release paper 21 by a doctor blade or an equivalent device and dropped or directed to a receptacle or container positioned at the delivery end of the apparatus . the time required for one complete cycle ( including forward and rearward movements ) depends upon many factors , primarily , the temperature of the heating unit and the nature , properties and characteristics of the powdered , particulate , thermoplastic materials , and more specifically , its particle size range and its softening and melt point characteristics . depending upon the above factors , and the degree of adhesion desired , complete cycles of as short as about one second are achievable in some circumstances , whereas complete cycles of as long as about twenty seconds are required in other instances . in rare cases , such as in the use of relatively high melting point resins or high energy absorbing resins and in the use of goods which are heavy in weight and of considerable thickness , a complete cycle of as long as a minute or even longer are noted . however , such is not the usual situation or rule . the present invention will be further described with particular reference to the following specific examples , wherein there are disclosed typical and preferred embodiments of the present inventive concept . however , it is to be stated that such specific examples are primarily illustrative of the present invention and are not to be construed as limitative of the broader aspects , except as defined and limited by the appended claims . the apparatus illustrated in fig1 , 9 and 11 -- 14 is used in the example . the goods are small , woven cotton fabric ovals which are intended to be adhered to shirts of employees , indicating their company affiliation . the ovals are approximately three inches by two inches ( major and minor axes , respectively ). the powdered , particulate , thermoplastic material is bostik 5132a specialty polyamide resin designed for use as a fusible textile adhesive . it has the following specifications : ______________________________________type of resin polyamide resinmelt point ( r & amp ; b ) 245 ° - 275 ° f . density 1 . 095 grams per cc . particle size range 0 - 80 microns ( primarily 53 - 80 microns ) bulk density ( unpacked ) 380 - 420 grams per literbulk density ( packed ) 480 - 540 grams per litermoisture content less than 3 percent by weight______________________________________ the length of the apparatus is about 22 inches and its width is about 6 and three - quarters inches . the total length of the stroke of the shuttle assembly is about seven inches and the forward movement of the goods , from the point it is picked up from the stationary support wires to the point where it is replaced on the stationary support wires , is about four and a half inches . the total length of the distance between the cam followers is about 11 and seven - eighths inches . saw blades having serrated edges are used as the lifting and transporting members . the floor of the hopper for the powdered , particulate , thermoplastic material is a flat perforated metal plate having very closely spaced openings ( 400 per square inch ) having a diameter of 0 . 027 inches . the vibrator is a conventional , commercially available vibrator , 60 cycles , 110 volts , 2 amperes , and is securely attached to the hopper and causes the hopper to vibrate intermittantly and suddenly , in time and in synchronization with the intermittantly forwardly moved goods . the release paper is in the form of an endless sheet material and is reused in the operation . it has a width of about 41 / 2 inches and a total length of about 42 inches . the temperature of the powdered , particulate , thermoplastic materials at the time of the fusing and bonding operation is approximately 275 ° f . the time required for one complete cycle is about 4 seconds ( forward and backward movements ). such a cycle includes a two second dwell created by a suitable time delay device . the powdered , particulate , thermoplastic material is well adhered to the reverse surface of the cotton fabric oval which can easily be reheated and reactivated and permanently adhered to the shirt of the employee . the procedures set forth above are followed with the exception that the goods highly irregular , small monograms including several crossed tennis rackets and small openings . the overall measurements ( longest length and longest width ) are about three inches by three inches . the results are comparable to the results obtained with the cotton ovals previously described . the monogram with the thermoplastic materials adhered to the reverse side is easily applied to sports jackets and other articles of apparel by the addition of sufficient heat to reactivate the thermoplastic properties of the thermoplastic materials . the procedures of example i are followed substantially as described therein with the exception that the flat perforated metal plate in the hopper is replaced by a 40 mesh woven screen ( example iii ) and by a 50 mesh woven screen ( example iv ) having sieve openings of 420 microns and 297 microns , respectively . the results are generally comparable to the results of example i . the procedures of example i are followed substantially as described therein with the exception that the cam which is used to give the cam follower and the shuttle assembly the desired upward , horizontal , downward , and rearward movements are illustrated in fig3 - 8 ( example v ) and fig1 ( example vi ). the results obtained in these examples are generally comparable to the results obtained in example i . the product is substantially equally commercially acceptable . although several specific examples of the inventive concept have been described in particularity , the same should not be construed as limiting the invention to the specific materials and procedures mentioned therein but to include various other materials and procedures , as well as other equivalent features , as set forth in the claims appended hereto . it is understood that any suitable changes , modifications , and variations may be made without departing from the scope and the spirit of the broader aspects of the invention .	1
referring now to fig1 , a perspective view of a candle holder and cap according to aspects of the present disclosure is shown . the candle holder 100 comprises a container 102 . in the present embodiment , the container 102 comprises an outer wall 104 and an inner wall 106 . a space 107 is defined between the outer wall 104 and the inner wall 106 . in some embodiments , this space 107 will serve as an insulating barrier and , in other embodiments , may be used for decorative purposes , as will be described further below . in the present embodiment , the outer wall 104 and the inner wall 106 connect to the base 108 . in some embodiments , the outer and inner wall 104 , 106 , will be formed from separate pieces and attached to the base 108 . in other embodiments , the outer wall 104 and inner wall 106 may be formed integrally and then attached to the base 108 . in some embodiments , the walls 104 , 106 will be made from glass . in other embodiments , the walls 104 , 106 may comprise some other heat resistant and suitably translucent or transparent material ( such as , for example , heat resistant plastic ). in some embodiments , a substantially transparent wall design will be utilized to allow for lighting from a candle to shine through the walls and for allowing the candle to backlight decorative items , as will be described more fully below . the base 108 may provide an opening 110 such that the bottom of the container 102 is open . the base may be made from a metal or plastic or other resilient or durable material . in one embodiment , the walls 104 , 106 will be glued to the base 108 . the candle holder 100 in the present embodiment also comprises a lid 120 . the lid 120 has a top 122 which can be seen as being generally toroidal in shape . in the present embodiment , the top 122 is generally of an open disk shape with a width covering the distance between the outer wall 104 and the inner wall 106 . a lip 124 may be formed around the periphery of the top 122 to ensure that the lip 120 is centered on the container 102 when placed thereon . a set of hangers 126 extends generally downwardly from the top 122 and suspends a candle platform 128 . the candle platform 128 may also have a lip 130 around a periphery thereof to secure a candle . all of the components of the lid 120 may be metal or suitable heat resistant plastic . the hangers 126 may be a stiff wire that is capable of suspending the base 128 in a level and secure relationship with regard to the top 122 . referring now to fig2 , a perspective view of the candle holder of fig1 with the cap in place with a candle is shown . here , the lid 120 is seen in place on the container 102 . it can be seen that when the lid 120 is placed upon the container 102 , the platform 128 will be at approximately the same level as the base 108 of the container 102 . a candle 202 is shown resting on the platform 128 . it can be seen that to replace or remove the candle 202 , the user need only lift the lid 120 . this will allow easy access to the candle platform 128 . in this manner , if a candle becomes stuck or melted to the platform 128 , it may be easily removed for cleaning . it will also be appreciated that , because the walls 104 , 106 may be substantially transparent or translucent , any light from the candle 202 will be substantially unimpeded by the candle holder 100 . it can be seen that the walls 104 , 106 in conjunction with the space 107 therebetween will serve to insulate the user from any heat given off by the candle 202 . referring now to fig3 , a perspective view of the candle holder of fig1 with exemplary decorations is shown . in the present embodiment , a photograph 302 has been placed within the space 107 between the walls 104 , 106 . this may be done for decorative or backlighting purposes . the embodiment of fig3 also provides a shadow - type decoration 304 that may be backlit by the candle 202 , thereby casting pleasing or decorative shadows . although only two decorations are shown in fig3 , it is understood that the number and type of decorations is not meant to be limited by the present disclosure . it will also be appreciated that the design of the candle holder 100 with the lid 120 securely encapsulating the decorations 302 , 304 will keep the decorations 302 , 304 in relative safety . although generally cylindrical or circular walls 104 , 106 are employed in candle holder 100 , shown in fig1 - 3 , other shapes are possible . for example , the candle holder could have an oval cross section . in this way the candle holder would present a broader side when viewed from certain angles . similarly , square or rectangular cross sections could be employed . in other embodiments , other more complex cross sections could be molded and formed ( such star - shaped ). the corresponding tops and candle platforms of these embodiments would be formed to match the shape of the walls such that the candle holder would operate in substantially the same manner as described with respect to fig1 - 3 . thus , the present invention is well adapted to carry out the objectives and attain the ends and advantages mentioned above as well as those inherent therein . while presently preferred embodiments have been described for purposes of this disclosure , numerous changes and modifications will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art . such changes and modifications are encompassed within the spirit of this invention as defined by the claims .	8
referring to fig1 a carton blank 10 includes a central section 12 connected to intermediate sections 14 and 16 by score lines 18 and 20 , respectively . connected to the intermediate section 14 by score line 22 is end section 24 . similarly , end section 26 is connected to intermediate section 16 by score line 28 . the central section 12 is intended to become the top panel of a carton formed from the blank and a handle opening 30 is provided in the middle portion of the central section to facilitate lifting of the carton . intermediate sections 14 and 16 are intended to form the side panels of the carton and end sections 24 and 26 are designed to be glued together to form the bottom panel of the carton . although not shown in the drawing because they form no part of the invention , tear lines may be provided if desired in the intermediate sections to facilitate unloading of the cartons . the end panels of the carton are formed from flaps connected by score lines to the various sections of the blank . thus closure flaps 32 , connected to end section 26 by score lines 34 , and closure flaps 36 , connected to end section 24 by score lines 38 , would be folded in unison about their score lines 34 and 38 after the sections 24 and 26 were glued together . similarly , closure flaps 40 , connected to central section 12 by score lines 42 , would be folded about their score lines 42 at the same time as the closure flaps 32 and 36 . in addition , end panel flaps 44 and 46 are connected to intermediate sections 14 and 16 by score lines 48 and 50 , respectively . as can be seen in fig1 and in more detail in fig2 each end panel flap 44 contains two similar locking apertures 52 spaced from the unconnected outer edge 54 of the flap 44 . the outermost edge 56 of an aperture 52 is the locking edge of the aperture . located at the opposite or innermost edge of the aperture 52 is a holding tab 58 which is connected to the flap 44 by a score line 60 , the side edges of the holding tab 58 being formed by a slit 62 which is a continuation of the side edges 64 of the aperture 52 . the holding tab 58 is thus able to pivot about the score line 60 during the locking of the end panel flaps 44 and 46 , as explained in more detail hereinafter . referring now to fig1 and 3 , each end panel flap 46 contains two similar locking tabs 66 having toe portions 68 which extend outwardly from the unconnected outer edge 70 of the flap 46 . the outer edge 70 and the toe portions 68 of the locking tabs 66 are connected to the main body of the end panel flap 46 by fold line 72 , allowing the portions outwardly of the fold line 72 to be pivoted or folded about the fold line out of the plane of the end panel flap 46 . extending inwardly toward the fold line 50 is a heel portion 74 also capable of being folded out of the plane of the end panel flap 46 . fold lines 76 extend from the central portion of the leading edge 78 of the toe portion 68 diagonally to approximately the juncture of the toe portion 68 and the outer edge 70 of the end panel flap 46 . the functions of the various parts of the locking tab will be explained in more detail hereinafter . still referring to fig1 the various flaps described above are connected to each other by connecting webs which facilitate the end panel forming operation . webs 80 connect the flaps 36 and 44 , webs 82 connect the flaps 44 and 40 , webs 84 connect the flaps 40 and 46 , and webs 86 connect the flaps 46 and 32 . the webs are connected to the flaps along fold lines . in forming a package a carton blank , the end sections 24 and 26 of which have been glued together , is sent through the packaging machine . the machine opens the glued blank to form a sleeve or tube and the beverage cans are loaded into the sleeve through the open ends thereof . later , the closure flaps are folded in , bringing the end panel flaps into position for the locking tabs to be inserted into the locking apertures . when the carton has been fully formed it appears as in fig4 wherein the various panels and components bear like reference numerals to those used in connection with the blank of fig1 . it can be seen that the locking tabs 66 have been inserted into the apertures 52 and that the ends of the toe portions have been covered by the holding tabs 58 . the closure flaps 40 are visible at the edges of the end panel flaps 44 and 46 . referring now to fig5 a , the positions of the end panel flaps 44 and 46 at the initiation of the locking mechanism is illustrated . the outer edge portion of the end panel flap 46 , which carries the locking tabs 66 , overlaps the outer edge portion of the end panel flap 44 , which carries the locking apertures 52 . the locking tab 66 has been pivoted out of the plane of the flap 46 about the score line 72 and the heel portion 74 has been inserted through the outermost portion of the aperture 52 adjacent the locking edge 56 of the aperture . by pivoting the locking tab 66 about the score line 72 in a direction to move the tab back into the plane of the end panel flap 46 , the outer face of the heel portion 74 engages the locking edge 56 . continued pivoting movement brings the locking tab into the position shown in fig5 b , wherein the outer face of the heel portion engages or is about to engage the inner face of the flap 44 between the outermost edge 54 of the flap 44 and the locking edge 56 of the aperture 52 . at this point the toe portion 68 of the locking tab has contacted the outer face of the holding tab 58 . as shown in fig6 a , which corresponds to the position of elements shown in fig5 b , the side edges of the toe portion 68 of the locking tab 66 extend beyond the edges 64 of the aperture . the edges 64 thus form a barrier to the entry of the toe portion into the aperture . in addition , the holding tab 58 , which extends completely across the width of the aperture , extends up beyond the leading edge of the toe portion , also acting as a barrier to the entry of the toe portion of the locking tab into the locking aperture . continued pressure on the locking tab tending to pivot the tab even more about its fold line 72 in a direction to move the tab back into the plane of the end panel flap 46 causes the toe portions located outwardly of the diagonal fold lines 76 to be folded upwardly about the fold lines 76 , causing the effective width of the toe portion to be reduced . at the same time the holding tab 58 is pivoted down about the score line 60 . still more continued pressure on the tab will cause the toe portion to fold about its diagonal fold lines 76 even more , and the holding tab 58 to pivot down about its score line 60 even more , until the toe portion snaps through the side edges of the aperture and moves down over the free end of the holding tab . at that point the resiliency or memory of the material at the folds 76 and the score line 60 causes the toe portion to fold back in the opposite direction about the fold lines 76 and the holding tab to fold back in the opposite direction about the score line 60 . it should be understood that the various movements of the locking components described above are caused by mechanical elements of the packaging machine operating at very high speeds and are not done by hand . the machinery for causing such movements is well known in the art and does not form a part of this invention . referring now to fig5 c and 6b , which illustrate the final locked position of the locking tab in the associated aperture , it can be seen that the toe portion 68 of the locking tab 66 has been secured in place behind the portions of the panel flap 44 adjacent the aperture 52 . due to the action of the diagonal fold lines , the toe portion has been able to slide past the holding tab even though the holding tab extends at a constant height completely across the width of the aperture . the part of the toe portion adjacent the leading edge 78 has been completely covered by the holding tab 58 to prevent the locking tab from escaping out through the aperture . the result of this arrangement is to enable the engaged locking tabs and locking apertures to resist the shipping and handling stresses tending to withdraw the tabs from the apertures so as to retain the overlapping end panel flaps in interlocked condition . it should now be clear that the holding tab of the present invention is able to cover and hold in place the entire exposed width of the toe portion of the locking tab . this is made possible by the ability of the toe portion to fold about its diagonal fold lines so as to enable the toe portion to be inserted into the aperture despite the barrier presented by the holding tab extending out to the side edges of the aperture . because the diagonal fold lines are located in an area of the locking tab which permits the toe portions lying outwardly of the fold lines to fold back upon the locking tab to a much greater degree than would a longitudinally arranged fold line , the locking tab is able to squeeze through the small opening . it should be obvious that although a preferred embodiment of the invention has been disclosed , changes to certain of the details of the embodiment may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined in the claims .	1
[ 0037 ] fig1 a illustrates an internet - based variant of the invention , particularly suited to support large numbers of users from different organizations . an application server 5 comprised of data reader for cd or diskette or the like 7 , data storage device such as hard disk 8 , operating system ( not shown ), application software ( not shown ) and cpu 13 , is connected to the internet 20 via link 16 . preferably , the operating system will support the use of the application server by multiple users at the same time . an administrative terminal 14 is connected to the application server 5 via link 15 . user terminals 30 , 40 , and 50 are connected to the internet via links 31 , 41 , and 51 respectively , and would normally be comprised of a typical personal computer , with display , keyboard , mouse , cpu , and network interface . the details of application server hardware architecture , internet architecture , administrative and user terminals architecture , and link architecture are not specific to the invention and many existing alternatives are well known to those skilled in the art . it is well known in the art that an application server 5 can be advantageously spread across multiple cpus , to increase the capacity , speed and redundancy of the system . it is also well known in the art that an application server 5 can be “ mirrored ” to one or more additional locations , to increase the capacity , speed , and redundancy of the system . in typical use , a user at terminal 30 would access the application through a browser application such as microsoft ™&# 39 ; s internet explorerô or netscape ™&# 39 ; s navigatorô . the user would provide the browser application with a network address , which would cause a request to be made through the internet to locate the required application server 5 . the cpu 13 , under control of the application software and operating system would cause appropriate html and other internet standard protocol codes to be sent via the tcp ip protocol or another internet standard protocol back to the user , presenting the user with a user interface as exemplified in fig3 or fig4 depending on whether the user is acting in a managerial role , or an employee role . the user interface would cause the user to log in ( either explicitly , or implicitly through such techniques as internet “ cookies ”) and then provide the user with access to their data , with the methods provided by the invention . simultaneously additional users at terminals 40 and 50 may also be accessing data at the server , supported by the server &# 39 ; s use of the operating system . some aspects of the invention provide third party information to the user ; in this case a request from user at terminal 30 may be handled by application server 5 , which in turn may request data from a third party server 60 ( which is connected to the internet through link 61 ), and then forward that data back to the user terminal 30 with or without modification . while typical use would be through a network browser , it can be appreciated that a client - server architecture may also be a beneficial model , in which case the terminal 30 would be provided and would maintain a client software ( not shown ) for execution on that local terminal &# 39 ; s cpu ( not shown ), and that client software would exchange data with the application server 5 , eliminating the need for the transmission of user interface details . the client software can provide a similar user interface to that described in fig3 ( all parts ). it should be recognized that while user terminals are illustrated as pcs in fig1 a and 1 b , a full range of other user terminal devices ( pdas , tablet pcs , palm - top pcs , micro - browser equipped telephones , etc .) can be beneficially used within this architecture to access the features of the invention ( necessary gateways are simply added to the network backbone ). the recasting and segmenting of an application &# 39 ; s user interface for access on such devices is well within the knowledge of those skilled in the art , and indeed , may be done automatically by existing tools and software applications , and as such is not described further herein . it may be desirable to offer a user interface with limited features ( and not all of the features of this invention ) on a user terminal device with limited computing power , such as a pda . [ 0046 ] fig1 b illustrates an intranet based implementation of the invention . in this implementation a single organization of sufficient size would have an application server 5 which is located internally to the company , connected to local network 200 , serving users at user terminals 30 , 40 and 50 . some advantages of this arrangement are that the application server ( 5 ) is the property of the organization , and all data is maintained within the organization &# 39 ; s internal network . the application server ( 5 ) may request data from an internal server 600 ( which is connected to the intranet through a link 610 ) and then forward that data back to the user terminal 30 with or without modification . this implementation may also provide access to third party data servers 80 on the internet 70 , through a gateway 100 between the internal network 200 and the internet 70 . support for organization users remote to the local network 200 , but connected to the internet 70 , can also be provided through the same gateway 100 , by means of a user terminal 90 connected to the internet 70 by a link 91 . in an intranet based system supporting large numbers of user terminals , it becomes more likely that some of the data described in fig5 may be available on existing servers prior to the introduction of the invention ( e . g . personnel data , corporate organization structure data ). in this case , the application server 5 can run customized software to provide its features based on a combination of the application server &# 39 ; s data stored at its data storage device 8 , with pre - existing data stored on internal server 600 . the user utilizing a user terminal need not be aware that the data is coming from multiple data stores . a “ first time ” user of the invention , in the implementation described in fig1 a , would start by accessing on a user terminal the application software over the internet 20 using their internet browser . they would obtain access identification and a password to the application in exchange for payment , e . g . by credit card . in the case where a user is associated with other users within a larger organization , that larger organization may be billed directly , eliminating any requirement for an individual user to provide billing data . in the implementation described in fig1 b , a “ first time ” user would be assigned a userid and password by their organization , and direct payment would not be required . [ 0051 ] fig3 a illustrates an example login screen for the invention . in some environments , users may have already authenticated themselves , and may bypass this screen . users presented with a login screen would authenticate themselves by entering their email address ( or user name ) and password in an appropriate location on the login screen 310 , 312 , then pressing the login button 314 . upon accessing the system , already - authenticated users would be presented with a “ home ” page , offering navigation to other functions , a summary of their account status and significant information , such as pending messages from their manager or their employees or notifications “ alerts ” of possible issues . users presented with a login screen would be presented with a “ home ” page after they have been authenticated by the system . fig3 b illustrates an exemplary “ home ” page ; it offers primary navigational control through a left menu 316 , as well as overall controls and functions in a top menu 318 . fig3 b through fig3 gg all represent example user interface screens presented to user 11 ( in the organization chart of fig2 ), and in most cases , viewing the data of user 112 ( in the organization chart of fig2 ). any member of an organization , as depicted in example from in fig2 can be a user of the system . depending on their place in the organizational structure (“ management chain ”), they would be presented an appropriate user interface ( further discussed with reference to fig5 f ) and access to the data for their own subordinate employees . referring to fig2 as an example organizational structure , we will presume the initial user is user 1 in the figure . user 1 would be a manager to users 10 , 11 , and 12 , who can be referred to as user 1 &# 39 ; s subordinate employees . user 11 , for example , would act in a managerial role to users 111 , 112 , and 113 , who can be referred to as user 11 &# 39 ; s subordinate employees . user 11 would thus be a manager with respect to users 111 , 112 , and 113 , and a subordinate employee with respect to user 1 . user 1 would have three subordinate employees ( user 10 , 11 , 12 ) but many employees ; for example , users 111 , 112 , and 113 are not user l &# 39 ; s subordinate employee , they are still considered employees of user 1 . thus a user can also be another user &# 39 ; s subordinate employee . the chain of users and subordinate employees , as depicted in fig2 is known as the “ management chain ”. members above a particular user in the management chain linked to that user are referred to as that user &# 39 ; s manager ; members directly below linked are referred to as that user &# 39 ; s subordinate employee . when user 11 is using the system , he would have users 111 , 112 , and 113 shown in his view of his staff , a potential user interface for which is shown in fig3 c . this screen beneficially provides a display of or direct access to summary information about each of the user &# 39 ; s subordinate , including : an indication of whether that subordinate employee has added items to their discussion agenda , signified by a number in the “ new ” field representing the quantity of agenda items added by the person since the user last looked at the subordinate employee &# 39 ; s agenda / notes , and access to that subordinate employee &# 39 ; s discussion agenda , by selecting the number ; any potential warnings or issues , indicated in the “ alerts ” field , and accessible by selecting the alert indicator ; the subordinate employee &# 39 ; s current status , displayed and changeable by selecting the status indicator ; contact telephone numbers based on the subordinate employee &# 39 ; s current status , displayed in the telephone number field ; supplemental access to each subordinate employee &# 39 ; s ongoing discussion agenda , by selecting the person &# 39 ; s name ; note that the subordinate employee list in fig3 c may be advantageously sorted so that those employees with active alerts or new notes would be presented at the top of the list , to facilitate a quick scan of employees requiring attention where all employees can not be displayed simultaneously . all , or portions of , the subordinate employee list shown in fig3 c may also be advantageously presented within the framework of an information portal , where the portal has appropriately authenticated the accessing user &# 39 ; s rights to such information . the user can act in an employee mode by selecting his own data , for interacting with his manager , or can act in a manager mode for interacting with his subordinate employee &# 39 ; s data , through selections made in the hierarchical navigational menu . the status indication ( 320 ) at the top of the screen provides constant feedback as to whose data is being accessed . data defining the user &# 39 ; s employees could be entered by the user , using typical internet - based data entry forms ; or by an organizational administrator on behalf of the organization ; or via transfer of a file , e . g . a comma - separated - value format description of the data , imported or collated from other systems or lists ; or via a data connection to another system , e . g . a human resources information system — such a human resources information system may be connected as internal server 600 in fig1 b ; all through means well known to those skilled in the art . it should be noted that in a larger organization , with many layers of managers and employees , it would be possible to make use of this invention , starting top - down , with implicit definition of the organizational structure as each manager in turn filled in their employee &# 39 ; s data . [ 0067 ] fig5 c describes the elements of each user &# 39 ; s data structure which is used to display the subordinate employee list ; their name , number of items added to the agenda , active alerts , current status , phone numbers associated with current status , and any note associated with current status . [ 0068 ] fig3 d shows a user &# 39 ; s view of the alerts associated with a single subordinate employee ( the “ alerts screen ”). the alerts subject column lists the possible alert events ; the status column shows the current state of the data which would cause an alert ; the action column offers specific actions for dealing with any particular alert ; the alert trigger column shows the thresholds which would trigger an alert . triggered alerts are shown in a highly visible graphical treatment , e . g . a high - contrast high brightness colour , such as red . alerts can be “ deferred ” to a future date by the user , in which case they are shown highlighted in a less visible fashion , e . g . in bold - face text . the system advantageously provides direct access to the typical activities a user would conduct in the event of an alert , e . g . : deferring the alert , when it is likely to be resolved without other specific action by the user , until a specific date in the future ; sending an email to the subordinate employee regarding the situation which has triggered an alert ; adding a note to the subordinate employee &# 39 ; s ongoing discussion agenda for the purpose of discussing the situation leading to the triggering of an alert in the future ; resetting the alert where the situation is resolved , and the user wishes to be advised of the next alert . it should be noted that some classes of alerts require a user to specifically reset them , where some user action is likely warranted beyond the scope or knowledge of the invention ; however , where the invention can make advantageous use of its own data , it automatically resets the alert on behalf of the user . for example , if an alert is raised due to the user not having had a discussion with the subordinate employee in the prescribed interval , that alert is automatically reset when any note is added to that subordinate employee &# 39 ; s topics data structure . it should be noted that the ability to select one of or scroll through each of the user &# 39 ; s subordinate employees , or their own data , is easily supported in such contexts as this alerts screen , allowing a user to very quickly scan the status of all their subordinate employees . using the top menu , the user can directly select from their staff , displayed in a drop - down menu , or choose to cycle sequentially through their subordinate employees , by choosing “ next ” and “ previous ” controls , which result in the system selecting the next or previous subordinate employee from the list of that user &# 39 ; s subordinate employees . fig5 a represents a portion of a database defining the organizational structure of a group of users ( the same organizational structure shown in a more traditional format in fig2 ), and the list of which users should be displayed as subordinate employees of the current user would be identified in columns “ staff 1 ” through “ staff . . . ”. typical alerts and example thresholds are shown , but other metrics and alert thresholds can be defined , days tardy , customer complaints , low productivity , high productivity , etc ., can be manually entered by the user , the subordinate employee , or fed from a third party source , such as at server 600 in fig1 b . [ 0078 ] fig3 e shows further details of the user interfaces associated with the defer , and add to agenda screens for the alerts screen . the defer screen allows the user to specify the date to which the alert is to be deferred , and notifies the user of the current deferral date if there is one . the add to agenda screen allows the user to describe the subject of discussion for adding to the agenda , optionally to reset the alert if this alert requires manual resetting , and optionally choosing to identify this agenda item for sharing with the subordinate employee ( the ability to share or not a particular agenda item or note with a subordinate employee is further described in reference to fig3 h ). two versions of this screen are shown , highlighting the fact that some alerts are manually reset , some automatically . [ 0080 ] fig3 f shows a calendar screen which allows the user to view a calendar for a subordinate employee , describing the subordinate employee &# 39 ; s status for each day in a particular month ( and those days from prior and subsequent months which share a work week with the selected month ). access to any particular day &# 39 ; s details for the purpose of viewing or changing is available by selecting that day , which accesses the mechanism shown in fig3 g . [ 0081 ] fig3 g shows a calendar details screen which allows the user to view subordinate employee contact information for any given day , for example , any relevant notes for that day , and also in the event that an unusual calendar event has been overlaid onto the weekly default repeating calendar , the beginning and end days for that unusual calendar event . notes for unusual calendar events are also displayed at the bottom of fig3 f . mechanisms to choose and display months other than the current month are included on the display , as arrow keys to either side of the month and year display [ 0082 ] fig3 h illustrates the user interface for adding and managing discussion agenda items . the topic column lists the discussion topics ; it includes a “ general ” area , as well as user - defined discussion topics , shown in this example as “ customer svc response ”, “ dept . cost containment ”, “ s / w quality - x - ray ”, and “ testing knowledge ”. the screen offers the ability to add agenda items associated with any of the topics , and optionally to share those items with the subordinate employee , indicated by the checkbox underneath the folder icon associated with each agenda item . also offered is the ability to add a note to a discussion topic in the notes file , again , optionally shared with the subordinate employee . existing agenda items can be moved to the notes , e . g . after a discussion ; this advantageously minimizes the amount of data entry by the user . existing agenda items can also be simply deleted , where no note is required . the upper window in fig3 i shows the pop - up window associated with adding or moving a note . it allows a date to be associated with the note , defaulted to the current date ; text for the note , defaulted to the current agenda item ; an option to leave the original agenda item untouched , controlled by the “ leave on agenda ” tickbox ; options to tag the note , shown in this example with “ happy face ” and “ sad face ” icons ( for later use in collating notes , e . g . for the purpose of appraisal ), representing praise and criticism ; and an option to share the note with the employee , shown by the shared - folder icon , which modifies a read access field . referring back to fig3 h , discussion agenda items / notes added by the employee are also shown on this screen ( i . e . the item referring to extending a vacation in washington ), with a different graphical treatment ( i . e . font style and text colour ). this permits the user to clearly differentiate subordinate employee &# 39 ; s additions to the agenda from their own items . the lower portion of fig3 i shows the mechanism used for adding user - defined discussion topic ; it includes an option to share the topic with subordinate employees . the system allows for the user to selectively share specific data elements with individual subordinate employees ; fig5 b summarizes the elements of data for which such control is offered , i . e . : overall access to the data , controlled by login access . if the subordinate employee is not given login access , they are not shown any information at all . login access grants implicitly certain rights — the ability to add agenda items , the ability to add discussion topics , and the ability to add objective sets ; visibility of a discussion topic , controlled by the read access field associated with each topic . if a subordinate employee has no access to a particular discussion topic , they system does not display the discussion topic to that employee when they are accessing pages listing discussion topics . as a convenience to the user interface design , the system maintains the general topic as fixed , always with read access enabled . visibility of individual agenda items , controlled by the read access field associated with each agenda item . visibility to individual notes , controlled by the read access field associated with each agenda item . visibility of each objective set , controlled by the read access field associated with each objective set . ability to modify each objective set , controlled by the write access field associated with each objective set . visibility of each appraisal , controlled by the read access field associated with each appraisal . ability to modify the employee comments portion of each appraisal , controlled by the write access field associated with each appraisal . it will be clear to those skilled in the art that sharing controls can be modified in a variety of ways depending on specific requirements of the organization using the invention , adding additional controls or simplifying controls where appropriate . [ 0096 ] fig3 j illustrates an exemplary user interface providing a summary view of and controls for discussion topics , previously discussed with reference to the agenda function . the user is presented with a count of agenda items and notes associated with each discussion topic , and the date of the last change to any datum associated with the topic . the subordinate employee &# 39 ; s ability to view each discussion topic is also shown and controllable . [ 0097 ] fig3 k illustrates a specific set of notes , in this example , the “ customer svc response ” discussion topic &# 39 ; s notes . the features of a note have been discussed with reference to the agenda function . this exemplary user interface shows all of the added notes , offers the ability to add additional notes , delete notes , and change the sharing or tags associated with each note . fig5 d illustrates an exemplary data structure for the discussion topics , agenda items , and notes features of the invention . [ 0098 ] fig3 l illustrates the calendar view of discussion notes ; this allows a manager to quickly see the pattern of discussion across discussion topics over time , and to select the notes for any particular date , by selecting the date of interest , or for a particular discussion topic across all dates , by selecting the discussion topic of interest . selecting a date takes the user to a point in the user interface described in fig3 n ; selecting a discussion topic takes the user to the point in the user interface described in fig3 k . the presentation of information in fig3 l can be condensed , eliminating days in which no discussion occurred ; this is shown in fig3 m . [ 0099 ] fig3 n shows a consolidated view of notes on the employee &# 39 ; s discussion topics for a single day . the user can scroll through other meeting days with the buttons to either side of the date , shown near the top of the screen . the user can also advance immediately to the first discussion notes stored , or to the most recent discussion notes stored . if the user wishes to modify notes , or see the detailed notes for a particular topic , they can access that discussion topic by selecting the topic name , which takes them to the point in the user interface described in fig3 k . the user can return to the multi - day view by selecting the appropriate button on the user interface . in the event that a particular discussion topic becomes obsolete and is not required at all , it can be deleted completely from the subordinate employee &# 39 ; s database . older topics for which notes are advantageously maintained can be “ archived ”; archiving a note removes it from visibility within the database , but allows it to be accessed through an alternate user interface mechanism . this mechanism is not specified herein ; such techniques are well known to those skilled in the art . archival is advantageously permitted for a complete discussion topic , or for a particular subset of dates , allowing , for example , a particular calendar year &# 39 ; s notes to be maintained as a set . [ 0102 ] fig3 o illustrates the portion of the user interface used to summarize and maintain ( add , modify , delete , archive ) employee objective sets ( each set contains one or more individual objectives , advantageously collected into a set ). subordinate employee access to objective sets is controlled herein as well . selecting a particular objective set would take the user to the portion of the interface shown in fig3 p . [ 0103 ] fig3 p illustrates the portion of the user interface used for viewing and modifying an objective set . the user can add new objectives , edit objectives , and delete objectives . the invention allows for each created objective to be linked to an existing objective within the management chain ; the upper window in fig3 s shows the portion of the user interface used to add an objective , allowing for the objective to be titled , have appropriate dates stored , details stored , establishing that linkage to a manager &# 39 ; s objective , and advantageously creating a discussion topic associated with the objective . an objective which is not related to a manager &# 39 ; s objective is left “ independent ”. the means to create a discussion topic associated with an objective greatly facilitates the maintaining focus on an objective as the user continues with day - to - day management activities , as the discussion topic is visible on the agenda , and is not relegated to memory . further , the discussion topic allows for collection of notes associated with the objective , facilitating performance appraisals . from the user interface illustrated in fig3 p , the user can also view the relationship between the subordinate employee &# 39 ; s objectives and their management chain &# 39 ; s objectives ( ie . the objectives of the user , the user &# 39 ; s manager , and anyone above the user in the management chain ). a view of all the subordinate employee &# 39 ; s objectives &# 39 ; titles and their relationship to the management chain &# 39 ; s objectives &# 39 ; titles is shown in fig3 q , which is access through the “ show cascade view ” button shown on fig3 p . from this view , or from the view shown in fig3 p , the full text of a specific objective can be shown as it relates to the full text of the linked management chain &# 39 ; s objectives ; this “ full cascade ” view is shown in fig3 r . [ 0105 ] fig3 t shows the user interface that provides for appraisals . when a user adds a new appraisal , it is based upon existing objectives ; fig3 u illustrates the user interface for adding a new appraisal , which provides means for naming an appraisal , selecting the objective set ( s ) the appraisal is to be based on , and setting the sharing controls for the appraisal . [ 0106 ] fig3 v illustrates the user interface for viewing an appraisal , in summary form , listing each of the current objectives , an associated rating choice , and an overall rating . rating descriptions can be customized to use the terminology required by the organization using the invention . methods are provided to add additional objectives , in the event that the appraisal should cover tasks not originally described within the objective sets . methods are also provided to import an existing appraisal , which allows , for example , an end - of - the - year annual appraisal to include , without modification , a previously - completed mid - year appraisal for reference . a method to view the details of the appraisal is also provided , which would present the view shown in fig3 w . [ 0107 ] fig3 w describes an exemplary user interface for a detailed view of an appraisal ; it provides for viewing and modifying the details supporting the ratings for each of the objectives . the function “ import notes ” associated with each objective , allows the user / manager to scan , filter , and copy previously made notes to the appraisal which are relevant to the performance of the employee with respect to the objective . fig3 x shows the mechanism by which the user chooses which discussion topic &# 39 ; s notes to scan , and fig3 y shows the scan and select interface . the user can advantageously sort notes by tag ( in this case , the tags praise and criticism are shown ), or by date , and then select those notes which are considered to be relevant to the appraisal . once selected and confirmed , the user is returned to the point in the user interface shown in fig3 w , with the selected notes inserted into the supporting text for each objective . the notes can be further modified or added to as required . fig5 e describes an exemplary data structure for the objectives and appraisals features of the invention . it will be apparent to the reader that these elements of the invention will greatly facilitate accuracy and speed in collating information to complete an employee appraisal . [ 0109 ] fig3 z illustrates the user interface presenting a first portion of the subordinate employee &# 39 ; s personal profile : the basic information . this stores identification information , used in the application for communications , directory , and access , as well as providing information on the subordinate employee &# 39 ; s use of the system and current access status . the user interface provides a mechanism to reset the subordinate employee &# 39 ; s password in the event that they require this ; it is also apparent to those skilled in the art that a system administrator could do this , and a subordinate employee themselves may be able to reset their own password using an identity confirmation procedure . [ 0110 ] fig3 aa illustrates the user interface presenting a second portion of the subordinate employee &# 39 ; s personal profile : the home information . this stores information regarding the subordinate employee &# 39 ; s home addresses : physical , postal , and electronic mail . advantageously provided is means to connect the user to internet - based mapping software providing a road map showing the subordinate employee &# 39 ; s home and driving directions to it . [ 0111 ] fig3 bb illustrates the user interface presenting a third portion of the subordinate employee &# 39 ; s personal profile : the telephone contact information . this information allows all of the subordinate employee &# 39 ; s telephone numbers to be stored for reference by the user , as well as providing automatic associations between these telephone numbers and various calendar statuses . this permits the calendar status to be associated by default with specific telephone numbers , and thus the features on the staff page and directory which allow current telephone numbers to be displayed for each user . each calendar status may advantageously be associated with up to two telephone numbers . [ 0112 ] fig3 cc illustrates the user interface presenting a fourth portion of the subordinate employee &# 39 ; s personal profile , the calendar defaults . this information allows the calendar to automatically default to specific statuses for specific days , allowing subordinate employees who do not regularly work in the office monday - friday to store their personal default schedule . for example , a subordinate employee might work tuesday - saturday , or might work from home ( i . e . telecommute ) two days each week . this portion of the invention allows for the calendar to automatically reflect these default status patterns . [ 0113 ] fig3 dd illustrates the user interface presenting a fifth portion of the subordinate employee &# 39 ; s personal profile , the personal development information . this allows the user to store relevant information regarding the subordinate employee &# 39 ; s personal development plans , needs , etc ., so that the user can refresh their memory regarding this information as appropriate . [ 0114 ] fig3 ee illustrates the user interface presenting a sixth portion of the subordinate employee &# 39 ; s personal profile , the table of personal event dates . this feature allows the user to store key dates relevant to the subordinate employee , which can then be used to trigger alerts , discussed in reference to fig3 d . standard dates are pre - labeled ; other dates are labeled accordingly . dates can be automatically recurring , as in the case of birthdays and anniversaries , or non - recurring for other events . specific alert parameters can be set for each date , allowing the user to receive a reminder in advance of a date , on the date , or some period after the date . [ 0115 ] fig3 ff illustrates the user interface presenting the seventh portion of the subordinate employee &# 39 ; s personal profile , the family information . this information is used to remind the user about the subordinate employee &# 39 ; s family , facilitating work social interactions . the subordinate employee &# 39 ; s family names can be recorded , as well as other information which the user considers important . [ 0116 ] fig3 gg illustrates the user interface presenting the eighth portion of the subordinate employee &# 39 ; s personal profile , the miscellaneous information . this allows the user to store arbitrary information about the subordinate employee which may be important in understanding and building a rapport with the subordinate employee . arbitrary labels can be associated with arbitrary information , depending on the user &# 39 ; s knowledge and desire to store specific information . [ 0117 ] fig3 ( all parts ) show a manager &# 39 ; s view of the data . fig4 ( all parts ) shows some exemplary portions of the user interface for a subordinate employee to view their own data . subordinate employee accounts can be automatically set up and communicated to the subordinate employee via email , in both of the system architectures shown in fig1 a and 1 b , through the addition of an email component added to server 5 ( such components are well known to those skilled in the art ). it should be noted that most users are also subordinate employees , reporting to yet another user ( their manager ). the system provides these users the ability to access both their own data , as shared by their manager , and that of their subordinate employees , through the navigational mechanisms at the left of the screen . fig5 f summarizes the navigational tree for users 1 , 10 , and 101 illustrated in the organization chart of fig2 . user 1 has full manager access , but limited subordinate employee functions , as he does not exist in a subordinate employee role within the organization . the limited functions allow him to establish his own calendar and personal profile , for the purposes of the directory , and his own objectives , for the purposes of allowing those to be view and linked to by his subordinates . user 10 is both manager and subordinate employee , and is offered full subordinate employee and manager functions . user 101 is only a subordinate employee , with no managerial responsibility , and is offered only subordinate employee functions , with an appropriately simplified labeling in the navigation structure . all of fig4 is shown from the point of view of user 112 , acting as a subordinate employee within his relationship with user 11 . fig4 a shows the initial system view for the employee portion of user 11 &# 39 ; s data . [ 0120 ] fig4 b offers the subordinate employee a view of their calendar , and access to mechanisms to change it ( which are the same mechanisms used by the manager ). [ 0121 ] fig4 c shows a subordinate employee &# 39 ; s view of the agenda items for future discussion with their manager ( those that the manager has chosen to share with them ), and the mechanism the subordinate employee can use to provide notes to their manager for the agenda . note that the subordinate employee is not offered any views of the data of the other subordinate employees at his level of the management chain . [ 0122 ] fig4 d shows a subordinate employee &# 39 ; s view of the topics summary ; it is similar to the view of the manager , but does not list topics which are not shared , nor does it offer topic management functions ( e . g . delete ). [ 0123 ] fig4 e shows a subordinate employee &# 39 ; s view of a particular topic &# 39 ; s notes , showing only those notes which the manager has chosen to share with them . no ability to modify or manage notes is provided to the subordinate employee . [ 0124 ] fig4 f shows a subordinate employee &# 39 ; s view of his objectives summary , showing only those objective sets which the manager has chosen to share with them . ability to modify an objective set depends on whether the manager has given them such permission ( indicated by the checkbox under the “ write ” icon column ). subordinate employees are always given the ability to adjust the sharing of their own objectives further down the organization management chain . for example , user 112 has not chosen to share their objectives ( indicated by no selections in the share - 1 and share - all columns ). these columns would allow user 112 to share their objectives with their direct subordinate employees , or employees at all levels of the management chain , respectively . note that in fig4 f , one of the two objective sets has been “ signed off ” by both manager and subordinate employee . the other has not , and the subordinate employee is offered means to sign off that objective set . [ 0125 ] fig4 g shows a subordinate employee &# 39 ; s view of an objective set , which they do not have modification permission for . they are not presented with means to modify or add to the objective set . if they did have modification permission , their view would be identical to that of the manager &# 39 ; s , in fig3 p . [ 0126 ] fig4 h shows the subordinate employee &# 39 ; s view of a summary of their manager &# 39 ; s objective sets ( those which have been selected for sharing by their managers at all levels in the management chain ). as discussed in reference to fig4 f , each manager has the privilege of sharing ( or not ) their own objective sets with employees underneath them in the management chain , selectively to their subordinate employees , or to their employees at all levels . [ 0127 ] fig4 i shows the employee &# 39 ; s view of the details of a selected manager &# 39 ; s objective set . [ 0128 ] fig4 j shows the employee &# 39 ; s view of a summary of the appraisals which their manager has chosen to share with them . if the subordinate employee has permission to modify subordinate employee comments , an indication is shown under the “ write ” icon column . [ 0129 ] fig4 k shows the subordinate employee &# 39 ; s view of a summary of a specific appraisal . they have no means to modify the appraisal . [ 0130 ] fig4 l shows the subordinate employee &# 39 ; s view of the details of a specific appraisal . in this case , the subordinate employee has been given permission to modify the subordinate employee comments , and the subordinate employee comments field is editable , with means to save or cancel the changes provided . the subordinate employee can access the basic parts of their profile ( basic information , home information , telephone information , calendar information ), for the purpose of verifying and maintaining the data . each subordinate employee is also provided access to a directory preferences portion of their profile . [ 0132 ] fig4 m shows the user interface for a subordinate employee to modify their directory preferences . this screen allows the subordinate employee to determine whether they generally wish to share status , calendar , and specific telephone information with those in the organization who are not in their management chain . [ 0133 ] fig7 a is an example of a user interface for searching a directory , similar to many known in the art . [ 0134 ] fig7 b is an example of a user interface showing a complete directory ( all users retrieved ) for the upper 3 tiers in the management chain depicted in fig2 . in this case , the user interface is what user 1 would see in their directory . in addition to traditional directory information , the invention shows the status of the subordinate employee , current phone numbers , and a link to the user &# 39 ; s calendar , in those cases where the subordinate employee reports directly or indirectly to the person viewing the directory , as is the case for all directory entries in this example . status , status notes , and calendars can all be viewed only ( not changed ) within the framework of the directory . the directory also provides means for the user to view the organization structure , as shown in fig7 c . [ 0135 ] fig7 c shows the organization view , centered on user 12 , displayed by user 1 . user 1 has privileges to see the status , telephone numbers , and calendar of all users , so the selected user &# 39 ; s complete information is displayed at the top of the page . the organization view shows the selected user “ centered ”, with a different graphical treatment . it shows the selected user &# 39 ; s management chain to the top of the organization ( in this case , just user 1 ), and any staff reporting to the selected user ( in this case , users 121 , 122 , and 123 ). the organization can be “ browsed ” by selecting any of the displayed entries . for example , clicking on user 1 would show all of their reports ( user 10 , 11 , and 12 ); one could then continue to click on various displayed users , navigating up and down the organization . [ 0136 ] fig7 d shows a different directory view , in this case , one displayed for user 10 . the user can only see the status information for their own staff , and one additional individual , user 11 , who in this example has configured their directory preferences to allow for the sharing of their status and telephone number with other users . the framework and data structures of the invention allows additional specialized tools to be provided , such as an employee familiarity function , which can present to a user arbitrary random subordinate employees &# 39 ; pictures and information , allowing the using manager to become more familiar with employee faces and associate names with them . the employees could be selected from the organization as a whole or through some organizational subset or , for instance , limited to the user &# 39 ; s employees at all levels . this function can be added to a user homepage , as shown in fig3 a , or other equally appropriate parts of the user interface . [ 0138 ] fig6 a and 6 b describe the overall flow of the invention . at step 670 , the user logs in , with an interface equivalent to that described with reference to fig3 a . the user id and password are verified at step 601 , and if invalid , the user is informed of this at step 602 , and the application effectively terminates at step 603 ( usually by restarting and allowing the user to attempt a subsequent login ; in some cases , common security heuristics are used to block further attempts ). if valid , the invention determines if the user is a manager , at step 604 , and if so , calculates the alerts for the manager &# 39 ; s subordinate employees at step 605 so that they can be summarized and appropriately displayed for the manager . the invention then determines at step 606 ( from data exemplified in and described with reference to fig5 a ) if the manager is a subordinate employee themselves , and if not , presents at step 608 a version of the interface described in fig3 b with the navigation structure limited for this circumstance ( as described in fig5 f ). if the user is a manager and is also a subordinate employee themselves , an unlimited version of the navigation structure is provided , at step 609 . if the user is not a manager , the employee version of the navigation structure is presented , at step 607 . the invention allows for intra - page processing as part of the display step ( as is well known within web - based applications ), and generally awaits user input in the form of a request for navigation to a new part of the application , at step 610 . when a request for navigation is received , the application proceeds through steps 611 and 612 to step 613 , where any changes made in the current screen are saved if necessary ( thus eliminating any requirement for the user to save their data entry manually ). at step 614 , a determination is made to see if alerts need to be recalculated , due to actions in the current screen . if so , alerts are recalculated at step 615 . in either case , the application then proceeds to step 616 , where a determination is made to see if the navigation request made was to log out . if so , the application proceeds via step 618 back to step 670 , for a subsequent login . if the navigation request was not to logout , the requested page is now displayed and processed at step 617 . again , the application then handles intra - page processing and awaits a navigation request at step 619 , at which point it returns to step 613 . at steps 605 in fig6 a and 615 in fig6 b , alerts are calculated . fig6 c describes the overall process involved in this calculation . at step 651 , the invention determines if the current screen impacts alerts in any way ; it references a table such as that in fig5 g , listing the java server pages providing the screens , and where appropriate , an alert calculation function that is to be called if the particular page requires it . if the alert calculation function is “ null ”, no calculation is required or performed . if the function is not null , it is executed at step 652 . at step 653 , the invention determines if the time - based alerts are obsolete . a comparison of whether the current date ( at the time of the calculation ) is the same date as the last calculation date is made . this handles users who have not yet logged in this day , and users who have been logged in over the midnight hour . if the alerts are obsolete , all the alerts are recalculated at step 654 . the displaying of the alerts screen ( as shown in fig3 d ) is driven from a table such as that described in fig5 h . the table allows for the alert screen to be quickly built , and for summaries of alerts to be provided on the staff page and home / myself page for the manager . the alert name is used for display purposes . the id is used internally to allow for alerts to be referenced . the type is used in categorizing the alerts into the three categories displayed to the user , and in processing ; for example , “ eventonce ” alerts are completely deleted from the employee events section of the personal profile once they are reset , and “ eventrecur ” alerts are set to reoccur on the next calendar year . the auto reset determines whether or not the user is provided with a reset button ; in the example in fig3 d , the user can reset the active alert for the service anniversary , but not the deferred alert for an overdue vacation . the “ status value ” shows the current status of the alert ; the “ status units ” show how that is displayed ; a special entry , “ days delta ” indicates that the display depends on whether the status value is positive or negative . in the example fig3 d , the “ upcoming vacation ”, “ birthday ”, “ short term leave ” and “ objectives due ” alerts are all indicating a negative value , which is translated by the invention to “ days before ”. a positive value is shown for “ service anniversary ”, which represents and is displayed as “ days after ”. a zero value represents and would be displayed as “ days ”. the same logic is applied in the trigger units display , allowing for the alert to be triggered before or after an event . the “ status ” field indicates whether an alert is currently set , or deferred , or neither . if set , an alert is displayed in red on the alerts page , and if any alert is set , in red on the staff page . if deferred , an alert is displayed in boldface on the alerts page , and in boldface on the staff page . only set alerts are described on the manager &# 39 ; s “ home / myself ” page , shown in fig3 b . if an alert is deferred , the “ deferred on date ” and “ deferred to date ” are used to keep track of when the alert should be returned to the “ set ” status . the “ reset date ” is used when a manual reset is performed by the manager on one of the “ issue ” type alerts . this is used when calculating that alert ; instead of using the number of days in the alert trigger window , only those days between the reset date and the current date are used . this allows a manager who has seen an issue and expects it to resolve to reset the alert , yet be alerted if the condition reoccurs . the trigger value and trigger units are used in calculating alerts and in the alerts screen display . trigger values and trigger units can be adjusted by the manager through a user interface , as can whether each of the system - provided alerts are used or not , as controlled by “ alert enabled ”. unused alerts , e . g . alert ids 11 - 13 , are not shown in the display . alert id &# 39 ; s 10 - 13 are used for user - defined employee event alerts , and only one has been defined for this employee , leaving alert ids 11 - 13 unused . to this point , discussion of the invention has focussed on the accessing by one user ( e . g . manager ) of one user &# 39 ; s ( e . g . a subordinate employee ) data . it will be apparent to that it would be advantageous to perform certain tasks simultaneously for a plurality of users . for example , a manager might wish to create the same discussion topic for more than one person ; or the same agenda item , or the same set of objectives . in each case , the manager simply selects the set of employees for which the addition is to be made and defines or otherwise identifies the object to be added . at this point the invention merely adds the same record to the portions of the database associated with each of the selected individuals . this can be done both simply ( as copies ), or by reference . in the former case , each of the copies must be managed individually ; in the latter , means and methods can be provided to allow the referenced item to be managed directly , with changes being reflected within the views of the referenced object relevant to each of the selected users . it will also be apparent that for some purposes it may be advantageous to extract and present the data of multiple employees simultaneously . in most cases , this would be done as a management report . the invention &# 39 ; s architecture permits an almost infinite variety of such reports ; some examples are as follows : [ 0155 ] fig8 a illustrates a directory report , wherein the contact information of a number of employees is collated for reference , facilitating contacting employees when the manager cannot access the invention . [ 0156 ] fig8 b illustrates a family info report , wherein the family information of a number of employees is collated for reference . such information may , for example , be advantageously used when attending a social event . [ 0157 ] fig8 c illustrates a vacation planning report , wherein both historical and future vacation information from a number of employees &# 39 ; calendars is collated . simple analysis is also performed on the data , allowing the invention to highlight situations which should be drawn to the attention of the user , i . e . circumstances in which employees are overdue taking a vacation , and circumstances in which multiple employees have scheduled vacations for the same time period . [ 0158 ] fig8 d illustrates a vacation analysis report , wherein historical vacation information from a number of employees &# 39 ; calendars is collated . simple analysis is also performed on the data , allowing the invention to highlight situations which should be drawn to the attention of the user , i . e . circumstances in which employees are overdue taking a vacation . [ 0159 ] fig8 e illustrates an absence analysis report , wherein historical absence information from a number of employees calendars is collated . simple analysis is also performed on the data , allowing the invention to highlight situations which should be drawn to the attention of the user , i . e . circumstances in which absences are unexpectedly frequent . this format of report allows for absence patterns to be detected as well . [ 0160 ] fig3 , and 7 describe an exemplary user interface for the invention , as implemented in a typical web - based environment , showing traditional web - based navigation tools and data entry tools . clearly many other user interface alternatives exist and may be more appropriate as web technology matures or in the event that a client - server architecture is implemented . [ 0161 ] fig8 describes exemplary report formats for the invention , as implemented in a standard portable document format . clearly many other report formats exist . some or all of the functions offered in a web - based environment can be advantageously offered on smaller devices ( such as a personal digital assistant , e . g . the palm pda made by palm computing incorporated ), or on portable pen - based computers . this would permit the user / manager , or employee , to access and modify data when away from their usual work location , increasing the utility and availability of the invention . those skilled in the art will understand that a variety of modifications may be made to the preferred embodiments without departing from the spirit of the invention .	6
fig1 shows a portion of a building comprising retail premises 10 which comprises a merchandise area 12 containing aisles 14 where various articles of for - sale merchandise are stocked on shelves 16 . articles which customers wish to purchase are carried by the customers to a check - out area 18 where sales are consummated . check - out area 18 comprises check - out lanes 20 which may either be self - service or be served by an employee of the retailer . after a sale has been consummated , a customer can transport the purchased merchandise to an exit area 22 of the premises through which the customer can exit the building with his / her purchased merchandise . fig2 shows each check - out lane 20 to comprise a check - out counter 24 on which articles of merchandise to be purchased ( designated by the general reference m ) are placed . merchandise to be purchased may first be placed on an approach surface 26 which is ahead of a surface 28 onto or over which the merchandise is moved article - by - article while automated equipment causes the sale of each article to be registered , as will be more fully explained hereinafter . after the sale of an article has been registered , the article passes onto a powered conveyor 29 which conveys the article to an inclined ramp 30 along which it can slide , or roll if the ramp has rollers , onto a collection surface 31 where the customer can retrieve it after having paid for it . each article of merchandise contains a upc bar code which uniquely identifies the specific article . surface 28 contains one or more areas 32 which allow a scanner 34 to “ read ” the upc bar code on an article of merchandise when the article is placed on or moved past an area 32 . by making areas 32 optically transparent and using an optical scanner 34 behind the areas , a visible upc bar code on an article label , tag , or packaging , or on an article itself , can be read by scanner 34 to identify the article . with the article having been electronically identified , the electronic identity is processed by a computer - based register 36 which has access to a data bank comprising a correlation of sale price to bar code for each of various articles of merchandise stocked for sale to determine the article &# 39 ; s sale price from the data bank , and the sale price is then recorded in one or more appropriate ways , such as electronically in a suitable storage medium , or memory . the article is then placed on conveyor 29 for transport via ramp 30 to collection surface 31 . after all articles of merchandise have been processed in this manner , register 36 provides a total of the individual sale prices in a dollar or other currency amount which the customer then pays by any appropriate means of payment such as cash , credit , or debit . a sales receipt which lists articles purchased and the sale price of each , and the total amount of the transaction , which may include other charges such as tax , is printed and issued to the customer who can then collect the purchased merchandise from collection surface 31 and leave the building through an exit door 38 of exit area 22 . for securing “ for - sale ” merchandise against unauthorized removal from premises 10 , such as by theft or pilferage , each article of merchandise is secured by the presence of a passive security device which , upon attempted unauthorized removal of the secured article from the premises , will be detected when the secured article comes within a specified range of a detector 40 shown in fig1 at exit area 22 inside exit door 38 . detection of a passive security device by detector 40 immediately initiates some form or forms of security action . such forms of action include issuing an alarm via an alarm device or system 42 which may comprise one or more of sounding an audible alarm in the building , illuminating a visible alarm in the building , and transmitting a silent alarm to security or staff personnel on the premises and / or to a remote location . exit door 38 may also be locked closed . exit area 22 is also continuously monitored by a closed circuit television camera 44 and an associated video recording device 46 which records the exit area scene either continuously or at a sufficiently fast snap - shot rate , and which may also have audio recording capability . detector 40 comprises a detection transmitter which continuously transmits ( i . e . wirelessly broadcasts ) a detection signal into an approach to exit door 38 which is inside the building premises . the broadcast range does not extend to merchandise area 12 or to check - out area 18 . detector 40 also comprises a receiver for detecting receipt of a wireless return signal from a passive security device in response to the passive security device having received a detection signal from the transmitter . fig3 shows an article of merchandise m containing one or more visible upc bar codes 48 and one or more passive security devices 50 . fig3 should not be construed to imply the size , shape , or location of passive security device 50 , or the number of such passive security devices on articles , or where such passive security devices are placed on articles , because that is a function of the nature of each article and of the nature of the particular passive security device or devices used . the presence of a passive security device on any particular article of merchandise should be known only to authorized personnel , such as management and security staff of a retailer for example . the size and placement of a passive security device on any particular article of merchandise should render its presence unnoticeable to anyone , other than perhaps in some instances to authorized personnel having knowledge . a passive security device may take any of various specific forms , to be discussed in more detail later . a passive security device is essentially a miniature , disposable electronic circuit having an antenna , or antennas , which render the device capable of receiving an incident wireless signal or signals and of transmitting a return signal or signals in response to such an incident signal or signals . a passive security device which receives an incident signal of sufficient strength will transmit a return signal of sufficient strength to be detected by the receiver of detector 40 . the signal strengths are strong enough to provide detection of unpaid - for merchandise even when the person attempting to remove the merchandise from the premises does so in a concealed manner and / or uses some form of protective shielding . attempted removal of an unpaid - for article of merchandise through exit area 22 will result in a signal which is being broadcast by the detection transmitter of detector 40 causing the passive security device which secures the article to transmit a return signal which , upon detection by the receiver of detector 40 , causes some form or forms of security action to be initiated . so that a paid - for article of merchandise will not cause detector 40 to initiate security action when it comes within the broadcast range of the transmitter of detector 40 , each check - out counter 24 comprises a “ kill ” transmitter 52 shown in fig2 . kill transmitter 52 , which may also be referred to as an unsecuring transmitter because it unsecures a secured article to allow the article to be removed from the premises without giving an alarm , can transmit a wireless signal , referred to as a kill signal or alternately an unsecuring signal , which is capable of rendering a passive security device incapable of transmitting a return signal in response to an incident signal from the detection transmitter of detector 40 . in this way , the state of a passive security device is changed from a first , or “ live ”, state to a second , or “ killed ”, state . various ways of rendering a passive security device incapable of responding to an incident signal from the detection transmitter of detector 40 include causing an internal circuit change in the passive security device which changes a response characteristic of the passive security device , such as changing the frequency at which it would respond to a broadcast from the transmitter of detector 40 to a different frequency to which the receiver of detector 40 is not tuned , or overwhelming the internal circuit with enough energy to “ burn out ” one or more circuit elements needed for transmission of a return signal , thereby simply destroying the passive security device . upon register 36 having registered the sale price of an article in an appropriate storage medium or memory , the registration of the sale will cause kill transmitter 52 to transmit an unsecuring signal which “ kills ” the passive security device securing the article . the kill transmission broadcast is properly targeted to hit the passive security device securing an article whose sale has just been registered , but the broadcast range is not so far as to kill passive security devices on other articles which may be nearby waiting to be scanned . register 36 keeps a record of each kill by transmitter 52 in an appropriate storage medium or memory . fig2 shows kill transmitter 52 in a location where it transmits a wireless broadcast targeted toward a paid - for article on conveyor 29 . for assurance that the passive security device securing the article whose sale has just been registered has in fact been killed by kill transmitter 52 and is therefore no longer “ live ”, register 36 causes a “ kill confirmation ” transmitter 54 to confirm each kill after sale of the article has been registered and kill transmitter 52 has transmitted a kill signal intended to kill the passive security device on the article . kill confirmation transmitter 54 performs a kill confirmation by transmitting a wireless signal which would cause a “ live ” passive security device to respond by returning a non - confirmation signal to a receiver located either in kill confirmation transmitter 54 or in the immediate vicinity . the kill confirmation broadcast is properly targeted to hit the presumptively - killed passive security device of the article whose sale has just been registered , but the broadcast range is not so far as to cause “ live ” passive security devices on nearby other articles of merchandise to return signals . fig2 shows kill confirmation transmitter 54 in a location where it transmits a broadcast which is targeted toward a presumptively - killed article on ramp 30 . a kill confirmation may be recorded in register 36 in a suitable storage medium or memory in correlation with the registered paid - for sale price of an article of merchandise . some of the various forms of passive security device 50 comprise passive nano -, micro -, or pulse - technology circuits . such extremely small devices , whose sizes render them incapable of being seen by a person &# 39 ; s naked eye , lend themselves to placement in merchandise in a variety of ways . placement should be in a place where the circuit would be unlikely to be removed before an article leaves the secured premises . articles of wearing apparel can be secured by passive security devices placed in apparel parts which if removed or altered would damage the articles . they can be placed in sewn - in labels or tags which would be expected to not be removed prior to leaving secured premises . manufactured merchandise can use the manufacturing process to embed a passive security device directly in an article during its manufacturing process using processes such as laminating or pressing . fig3 shows a passive security device 50 placed underneath a label l which is adhered to packaging of the article . nano - technology allows nano - type passive security devices to be dispersed in printing ink or fabric dye which is applied to an article of merchandise , a label on an article , or packaging containing an article . placement of nano - type passive security devices in printing ink which is used to print upc bar codes on articles allows bar codes themselves to function as the passive security devices , thereby avoiding a separate securing process . one or more nano - type devices which are dispersed in printing ink will become embedded in the ink after the bar code has been printed and the ink has dried . a manufacturer of articles who incorporates passive security devices by placing them directly on the articles or else in packaging of the articles and then ships them to a wholesale or retail customer enables the customer to verify the presence of passive security devices upon receipt of shipment and count them by a detector to determine if the correct quantity of articles has been shipped . if a retailer of articles wishes to apply passive security devices , a hand tool applicator , like the one 56 shown in fig4 , can apply them at locations on articles of merchandise which the retailer chooses and are known only to the retailer . such an applicator can dispense ink containing nano - type passive security devices , labels containing passive security devices , or apply passive security devices directly by adhesive mounting or other similar techniques . fig2 also shows a removable medium , such as a cassette 58 , associated with register 36 . cassette 58 has a protocol known to a supplier , or licensor , of the check - out lane apparatus ( i . e ., scanner 34 , register 36 , kill transmitter 52 , and associated electronic data processing equipment ), but not to the user of the apparatus , for limiting the total dollar or other currency sales volume of articles of merchandise whose passive security devices are allowed to be killed by the apparatus . the intent is to provide an accounting control on the extent of use of the apparatus which will assure that a user prepays the supplier , or a licensor of the supplier , for use of the apparatus . once the sales volume of merchandise processed by the apparatus nears the prepaid limit , an alert can be given to enable the supplier or licensor to replenish the cassette , or exchange the cassette for a fresh one , upon user prepayment for continued use . instead of a cassette , use can be monitored remotely by the supplier or licensor who can allow continued use after user prepayment . if a user is creditworthy , the supplier or licensor can monitor use and invoice the user accordingly after the fact . by using this accounting procedure , it becomes unnecessary to involve a supplier of merchandise or a supplier of passive security devices in an accounting procedure . a supplier of merchandise who applies passive security devices to them could however be a secondary or alternate point of accounting . if the total sales volume were to near the prepaid limit , certain controls in the apparatus become effective to shut down scanner 34 , register 36 , kill transmitter 52 , and kill confirmation transmitter 54 , thereby rendering the corresponding check - out lane 20 inoperative until a fresh cassette containing a fresh prepayment currency amount is installed or the existing one is reloaded with a fresh prepayment currency amount . by preventing the registration of the sale of an article in this way , its passive security device remains “ live ”, preventing the secured article from being removed from the premises without triggering an alarm at the exit , or alternatively its removal can be authorized by the purchaser paying for it at another check - out lane which will kill the live passive security device . cassette 58 thereby provides a removable medium containing value which is progressively depleted in the amount of the sale price of each secured article as the sale price of each secured article is registered in the register . upon the amount of depletion of the value approaching some limit , such as the prepaid limit initially loaded into the cassette , the kill transmitter is prevented from transmitting a kill signal . to continue use of the kill transmitter , the cassette is removed from the system , and its value replenished only by a supplier or licensor of the system , such as by returning the cassette to such supplier or licensor . by requiring such removal before a cassette can be replenished with value , and by uniquely identifying each cassette , a supplier or licensor of the system can monitor system usage to assure user compliance with conditions of use specified by the supplier or licensor . the point at which the remaining value in cassette 58 will prevent kill transmitter 54 from transmitting a kill signal can be set in different ways . one way is by using historical sales data to set a value which is greater than the remaining value in the cassette and which is likely to be exceeded by the total sales price of merchandise purchased by the next customer . another way is to cause register to perform a “ pre - kill ” calculation by comparing the sale price of an article which has just been scanned to value remaining in the cassette . if the sale price of an article which has just been scanned exceeds the value remaining in the cassette , the register is prevented from registering the sale and the check - out lane is shut down . the ability to manufacture electronic passive security devices with different frequency response characteristics allows each of different secured premises to be assigned their own unique frequency , much as commercial radios stations are . by reserving frequencies in this way , only passive security devices associated with a particular secured premises are useful at those premises . fig5 shows several retail stores 60 , 62 , each of which has its own security system like the one shown in fig1 , with only the detectors 40 being shown in fig5 . the security system of store 60 operates at a different frequency than the one of store 62 . the supplier of the security system , or the licensor of the supplier , can assign a unique frequency to each user which can forestall or prevent unauthorized use of the apparatus and which can also avoid interference with other wireless communication functions , such as inventory control for example . a chain of stores having different geographical locations can be assigned a common frequency for use at all stores . attempts to defeat a security system can be made more difficult by using passive security devices which respond to coded wireless detection signals rather than just one particular frequency alone and / or which respond to multiple frequencies . these features may be incorporated into a single passive security device or may be provided by using several different passive security devices to secure a single article of merchandise . a person trying to defeat a system would therefore have to have knowledge not merely of a single frequency , but also knowledge of multiple frequencies and / or codes in order to kill whatever passive security devices are on an article . a passive security device may also have the capability to respond to a detection signal by a return signal which identifies the specific article in some way such as by its bar code information . this would require a unique passive security device for the specific article of merchandise stocked for sale . there may be instances where management or staff needs to remove from secured premises one or more secured articles which have not been sold . a separate kill transmitter under the control of management may be used to kill the passive security devices on such articles so that they can be removed without triggering an alarm . the security system shown in and described with reference to fig1 can provide conclusive proof of attempted theft . upon detector 40 issuing an alarm indicating that a person is carrying an unpaid - for article of merchandise into exit area 22 , the person can be stopped by store and / or security personnel and asked for a cash register receipt to prove the article has been paid for . in the absence of such proof , the article is then first transported out of range of the detection signal from detector 40 and then brought back into range , area , causing an alarm to once again be issued . these events are recorded on recorder 46 with witnesses present . this proves that the passive security device was live when the person first attempted to remove it from the premises . with witnesses still present , the article is then brought to an idle check - out counter 24 and processed as if it were being paid for . register 36 will cause kill transmitter 52 to unsecure the article by killing the passive security device . the article is then brought back to exit area 22 where it will not trigger an alarm . this scene is also recorded with witnesses present and proves a second time that the article was not paid for . certain prospective users of the system and method disclosed herein may already have an inventory control system in place using individual r . f . i . d . tags ( radio frequency identification tags ) applied to each article of merchandise to identify the particular article . an r . f . i . d . tag is a form of passive security device . those r . f . i . d . tags may also be used as passive security devices in the system and method disclosed herein to provide a combined inventory control and security system . the combined system registers entry of secured articles of merchandise for sale into inventory within the premises and distinguishes between authorized and attempted unauthorized removal of secured articles from the premises . the combined system comprises an inventory control sub - system for registering entry of articles for sale into the premises by scanning inventory control r . f . i . d . tags on the articles and causing each article whose r . f . i . d . tag has been scanned to be registered in an inventory data base , and a security sub - system for distinguishing between authorized and attempted unauthorized removal of articles registered in the inventory data base from the premises . the security sub - system comprises i ) a detector for wirelessly detecting attempted unauthorized removal of articles from the premises by detecting r . f . i . d . tags on the articles when their unauthorized removal is attempted , ii ) a register for registering an article for authorized removal from the premises by scanning its r . f . i . d . tag and for subtracting the article which has been registered for authorized removal from inventory in the inventory data base ; and iii ) an unsecuring transmitter controlled by the register for wirelessly transmitting to the r . f . i . d . tag on the article which has been registered for authorized removal , an unsecuring signal which unsecures the secured article by changing the r . f . i . d . tag from an article - securing state which renders the r . f . i . d . tag wirelessly detectable by the detector to a non - securing state which renders the r . f . i . d . tag wirelessly undetectable by the detector . while a presently preferred embodiment has been illustrated and described , it is to be appreciated that the invention may be practiced in various forms within the scope of the following claims .	6
the following description will typically be with reference to specific structural embodiments and methods . it is to be understood that there is no intention to limit the invention to the specifically disclosed embodiments and methods but that the invention may be practiced using other features , elements , methods and embodiments . preferred embodiments are described to illustrate the present invention , not to limit its scope , which is defined by the claims . those of ordinary skill in the art will recognize a variety of equivalent variations on the description that follows . like elements in various embodiments are commonly referred to with like reference numerals . the present invention can be carried out using wafer scale stacking or die scale stacking . in fig1 - 21 , the invention will generally be described in terms of die scale stacking . the additional advantages which accrue from carrying out the invention using wafer scale stacking are described in the description of the present invention with respect to fig2 - 25 . like reference numerals will be typically used when referring to like elements of dies and wafers . fig1 is a simplified enlarged cross - sectional view of an ic die 12 suitable for creating a 3d stacked multichip module as discussed below . die 12 of fig1 illustrates an electrical contact region 18 and schematically illustrates active device circuitry 20 for die 12 , both within a patterned conductor layer 22 . patterned conductor layer 22 includes a dielectric layer 26 overlying and supported by a substrate 28 of die 12 . substrate 28 is typically silicon . electrical contact region 18 includes a number of electrical conductors 24 , typically made of a suitable metal such as copper or tungsten . dielectric layer 26 is typically an oxide such as sio 2 . electrical conductors 24 and device circuitry 20 are , in this example , formed in dielectric layer 26 and are spaced apart from one another by the material of dielectric layer 26 . the active device circuitry 20 , which includes circuits for the mission function of the die , is preferably spaced apart from the electrical contact region 18 and thus does not underlie electrical contact region 18 . the active device circuitry 20 can comprise a flash memory circuit , another type memory circuit , an application specific circuit , a general purpose processor , a programmable logic device , combinations of circuit types as in a system of a chip device , and combinations of these and other types of circuits . in fig1 , active device circuitry 20 is illustrated as a relatively small element only for the purpose of the drawing . the relative size compared to the contact region 18 depends on the particular implementation . fig2 shows the die 12 of fig1 after a hard mask layer 30 has been deposited on the upper surface 32 of patterned conductor layer 22 of fig1 . hard mask layer 30 is an optional dielectric layer used for isolation and enhanced adhesion . a handling die 34 is mounted to hard mask layer 30 of die 12 . handling die 34 is preferably sufficiently thick and strong to help prevent damage to the underlying die 12 , and subsequently added die 12 , during the subsequent processing steps . handling die 34 is typically a bare si die . when wafer scale stacking is used , a handling wafer is mounted to wafer 12 . 1 , typically on a hard mask layer corresponding to hard mask layer 30 applied to wafer 12 . 1 . the handling wafer is preferably sufficiently thick and strong to help prevent damage to the underlying wafer 12 . 1 , and subsequently added wafers 12 . 1 , during the subsequent processing steps . the handling wafer is typically a bare si wafer . fig3 shows the structure of fig2 after a lower portion 36 , see fig2 , of the substrate 28 of the die 12 of fig2 has been removed to create an enhanced handling die 38 having a lower , bonding surface 40 on the remaining substrate 41 . this die thinning step can be undertaken because of the strength provided to the underlying die 12 by handling die 34 . during wafer scale operations , these operations would result in creation of an enhanced handling wafer corresponding to enhanced handling die 38 . fig4 shows the enhanced handling die 38 of fig3 mounted on top of a further die 42 . further die 42 is similar to the die 12 of fig1 but preferably includes hard mask layer 30 formed on upper surface 32 of patterned conductor layer 22 . lower surface 40 of enhanced handling die 38 is mounted to hard mask layer 30 of further die 42 . similarly , during wafer scale operations , the lower surface of the enhanced handling wafer is mounted to the hard mask layer of the further wafer . fig5 shows the structure of fig4 after the lower portion 36 , see fig4 , of the substrate 41 of each of the die 12 has been removed to create a stacked die 46 . fig6 shows the results of repeating the processing steps of fig4 and 5 using additional further die 42 to create a first 3d stacked die 48 . one advantage resulting from reducing the thickness of stacked die 46 is that the depth of the via that must be etched and then filled , see fig9 - 18 , is reduced . this simplifies manufacturing because increasing the depth of the via often requires increasing the diameter of the via . in practice , the vias may be tapered and the technology for filling the vias become limiting with large aspect ratios ( depth divided by the width of the via ). during wafer scale operations , a stacked wafer is created in a similar manner followed by creation of a first 3 - d stacked wafer . fig7 shows the first 3d stacked die 48 of fig6 after the removal of at least a portion of the handling die 34 of fig6 creating a second 3d stacked die 50 with an exposed surface 52 . fig8 shows the structure of fig7 after a dielectric material 54 has been deposited on the exposed surface 52 to create a third 3d stacked die 56 . likewise , during wafer scale operations , the second 3 - d stacked wafer and the third 3 - d stacked wafer 56 . 1 , see fig2 , are created . fig9 - 18 illustrate a sequence of steps creating electrical connectors 60 , shown as a part of stacked multichip module 61 in fig1 , in contact with electrical conductors 24 . electrical connectors 60 connect the landing pads 98 of electrical conductors 24 at the different levels to contact pads 62 . the different electrical connectors 60 are identified in fig1 as electrical connectors 60 . 0 through 60 . 7 with the left most being 60 . 0 . the locations for the electrical connectors 60 for contact with the corresponding electrical conductors 24 are labeled 0 through 7 in the figures . the position labeled gc identifies the location of ground connector 64 which typically electrically contacts electrical conductors 24 at each level . while only one electrical connector 60 is shown to contact an electrical conductor 24 at each level , in practice , many different electrical connectors 60 would be used to contact electrical conductors 24 at the same level . during wafer scale operations , the same basic processing steps are used on a third 3 - d stacked wafer 56 . 1 to create an array of stacked multichip modules 61 . fig9 shows the structure of fig8 after creating an initial - processing photoresist mask 57 on dielectric material 54 followed by etching through dielectric material 54 down to hard mask layer 30 . this creates openings 58 aligned with ground conductor location gc and electrical conductor locations 0 - 7 . a first photoresist mask 66 , shown in fig1 , is created on the structure of fig9 except for openings 58 at electrical conductor locations 1 , 3 , 5 and 7 . these openings , which are aligned with the electrical conductors 24 , are then etched one level through hard mask layer 30 , electrical conductors 24 at the first , topmost levels 68 , dielectric layer 26 and the silicon substrate 41 stopping just above electrical conductors 24 at the second level 70 . while electrical connectors 60 are shown in the figures to be aligned in a row , other layouts are possible . for example , electrical connectors 60 could be arranged in a number of parallel or transversely extending rows . for example , electrical contact region 18 of fig1 could include two or more rows of electrical connectors 60 . next , as shown in fig1 , first photoresist mask 66 is removed and then a second photoresist mask 72 is formed on the resulting structure of fig1 to cover ground conductor locations gc , electrical conductor locations 0 , 1 , 4 , 5 , and following location 7 . the etching of two levels proceeds as follows . the portions of the resulting structure underlying locations 2 and 6 are etched two levels through first and second levels 68 , 70 down to the electrical conductors 24 at those levels . the portions of the resulting structure underlying locations 3 and 7 are etched two levels through second and third levels 70 , 74 down to the electrical conductors 24 at those levels . doing so creates the structure shown in fig1 . next , second photoresist mask 72 is removed and a third photoresist mask 78 is formed to cover ground conductor location gc , electrical conductor locations 0 , 1 , 2 , 3 , and following location 7 . the exposed portions of the structure overlying locations 4 , 5 , 6 and 7 are then etched four levels , that is down to fifth level 80 , sixth level 82 , seventh level 84 and eighth level 86 at locations 4 , 5 , 6 and 7 , respectively , to create vias 77 in the structure of fig1 . third photoresist mask 78 is then removed followed by an isotropic etch of the exposed portions of substrates 41 at vias 77 to create recessed regions 88 . see fig1 . an isotropic etch of electrical conductors 24 at vias 77 is then conducted to create conductor recessed regions 90 along the vias 77 . these etching steps create modified vias 92 . fig1 shows the results of lining modified vias 92 with a dielectric material 94 , such as an oxide material 94 , thus filling in recessed regions 88 , 90 with the oxide material 94 . oxide material 94 could be , for example , sin . the resulting vias 96 are extended to open onto the portions of the underlying electrical conductors 24 acting as landing pads 98 . fig1 - 17 show processing steps used to form the electrical conductors 60 and ground conductor 64 shown in fig1 . in fig1 , a fourth photoresist mask 100 is shown covering everything except for ground conductor location gc . fig1 also shows the result of etching through first through seventh levels 68 , 70 , 74 , 76 , 80 , 82 , 84 and down to electrical conductor 24 at eighth level 86 creating a ground conductor via 102 . fig1 shows result of an isotropic etching of substrates 41 at ground conductor via 102 to create recessed regions 104 opening onto ground conductor via 102 . this is followed by the removal of fourth photoresist mask 100 . fig1 illustrates the result of depositing an electrically insulating material 106 , such as an organic material , for example a polymer , within recessed regions 104 . in addition , the exposed dielectric material at layers 26 is etched back to create an enlarged ground conductor via 108 . this causes an increase in the exposed sidewall contact surfaces of the electrical conductors 24 through which enlarged ground conductor via 108 passes . fig1 illustrates the structure of fig1 following filling resulting vias 96 and enlarged ground conductor via 108 with a metal or other suitable electrical conductor to create ground connector 64 and electrical connectors 60 . 0 - 60 . 7 . doing so also creates three - dimensional stacked multichip module 61 . multichip module 61 is shown with contact pads 62 captured between multichip module 61 and a structure 110 . the structure 110 could be , for example , a handling die or a die with active components , such as memory elements or logic devices , or a combination thereof , due to the flexibility provided by the technology . when structure 110 includes active components , structure 110 could be interconnected with stacked multichip module 61 through electrical connections to contact pads 62 and thus electrical connectors 60 . ground conductor 64 and electrical conductors 60 are lengths of substantially homogeneous electrically conductive material . by substantially homogeneous , it is meant herein that the conductors 60 lack physical boundaries between the levels . the conductors 60 are substantially homogeneous as used herein even if the conductive material used to form them includes multiple layers of different materials deposited in the vias , which may vary in relative concentration in each level as a result of the manufacturing process . this is in contrast to the electrical connectors formed by conventional tsv processes in which the electrical connectors within the individual via of each layer are separately formed and then are electrically connected to one another when the chips or wafers are stacked and bonded to one another , forming seams often with a separate conductive material joining the opposed electrode conductors . while the die 12 used to form first 3d stacked die 48 of fig6 could have electrical conductors 24 at different positions and patterns on the individual die , it may be preferred that the positions and patterns for electrical conductors for each die 12 be the same to facilitate manufacturing processes . in particular , it is typically desired that landing pads 98 at each level be aligned . the above - described process for creating electrical connectors 60 can be referred to as a binary process , based on 2 0 . . . 2 n - 1 with n being the number of etching steps . that is , first photoresist mask 66 , see fig1 , alternatingly covers 2 0 landing pads 98 and exposes 2 0 landing pads 98 ; second photoresist mask 72 , see fig1 , alternatingly covers 2 1 landing pads 98 and exposes 2 1 landing pads 98 ; third photoresist mask 78 , see fig1 , alternatingly covers 2 2 landing pads 98 and exposes 2 2 landing pads 98 ; and so on . using this binary process , n masks can be used to provide access to 2 n landing pads 98 for 2 n electrical conductors 24 at 2 n levels . thus , using 3 masks provides access to 8 landing pads 98 for 8 electrical conductors 24 at 8 levels . using 5 masks would provide access to 32 landing pads 98 for 32 electrical conductors 24 . the order of etching need not be in the order of n − 1 = 0 , 1 , 2 . . . . for example , the first etching step could be with n − 1 = 2 , the second could be with n − 1 = 0 , and the third could be with n − 1 = 1 . the result will be the same structure as shown in fig1 . during typical operations half of the contact openings are etched during each etching step . when the number of levels which can be etched is equal to or greater than the number of levels which are etched , such as when five photoresist masks are used to etch 29 contact openings to reach 29 different landing pads 98 , the masks will not all be used to etch to half of the contact openings , but rather will be used to etch to what will be referred to as effectively half of the contact openings . further information on techniques and methods for connecting electrical connectors 60 to landing pads 98 of electrical conductors 24 are disclosed in co - pending u . s . patent application ser . no . 13 / 049 , 303 , filed 16 mar . 2011 , entitled reduced number of mask for ic device with stacked contact levels ; and in u . s . patent application ser . no . 13 / 114 , 931 , filed 24 may 2011 , entitled multilayer connection structure and making method , the disclosures of which are incorporated by reference . these two applications have a common assignee with the present application . fig1 - 21 are simplified plan views of three examples of die 12 , each with one or more electrical contact region 18 and one or more regions of active device circuitry 20 . the die 12 may all be the same or they could be different . for example , logic die such as cpu or controllers , could be used with memory die . in the example of fig1 , active device circuitry 20 constitutes a major portion of die 12 while electrical contact region 18 is positioned along one edge of die 12 . in the example of fig1 , electrical contact region 18 is found at three different locations along three different sides of active device circuitry 20 . in fig2 , there are two regions of active device circuitry 20 separated , in this example , by a single electrical contact region 18 . it is expected that each die 12 will have many electrical contact regions like region 18 because one of the benefits of the stacked process is shorter connection path than with stacked chips using , for example , external bonding pads and connecting wires . it is expected that a minimum distance , such as 2 μm , be maintained between the one or more electrical contact regions 18 and active device circuitry 20 . such a minimum distance is likely to be required because of stresses induced by the process . therefore , in some embodiments , the devices in one or more levels can include a wide i / o structuring , including many connectors , such as a hundred or more , between the levels . in other embodiments , fewer connectors between the levels are used . an advantage of this invention is that it can be employed to create a three - dimensional , stacked multichip module , such as one including three - dimensional stacked memory devices , while drastically reducing the time and expense associated with the steps required to create conventional tsv stacked semiconductor devices . in addition , the invention reduces the required handling and processing of each die in comparison with conventional tsv procedures which can lead to improved yields . in addition to providing a thinner device , which is important for devices such as cell phones , the reduction in the thickness of the resulting stack of die 12 by the removal of lower portions 36 has several advantages . these advantages include reducing the length of the electrical connectors coupling electrical connectors 24 to one another and to landing pads 98 , thus reducing the resistance and associated heat loss , and increasing speed . the invention can be carried out using die scale stacking procedures , such as those discussed above , and can also be carried out using wafer scale stacking procedures which results in additional advantages discussed below . fig2 is a top plan view illustrating an integrated circuit wafer 120 with grid lines 122 indicating die regions 123 where individual die 12 will be created from wafer 120 . fig2 shows a simplified cross - sectional view of a typical die 12 , substantially identical to die 12 of fig1 , from location c - 7 on wafer 120 . in this example there are a total of 50 die 12 to be created from wafer 120 . for purposes of illustration , it is assumed that 5 of the die 12 are defective or bad die 124 as indicated by being crosshatched in fig2 . in this case 90 % of the die on wafer 120 would be good die 126 while 10 % of die 120 would be bad die 124 . fig2 illustrates an example in which four different ic wafers 120 each have 50 die regions 123 with 10 % of die regions 123 being bad . if the ic wafers 120 are individually diced , then the good die can be selected and stacked using a die scale stacking technique resulting in a 90 % yield for the stacked multichip modules 61 . however , the need to individually process each multichip module 61 using die scale stacking techniques makes the processing much more expensive than processing on a wafer scale in which all 50 stacked multichip modules 61 are processed in unison . ic wafers 120 of fig2 are stacked to produce the third 3 - d stacked wafer 56 . 1 of fig2 . stacked wafer 56 . 1 has 15 of the die regions 123 marked with either a 2 , indicating two out of the four stacked die are good die , or 3 , indicating three out of the four stacked die are good die . no marking indicates that all levels are good die . if the four different ic wafers 120 are stacked , bonded to one another , diced and then processed in a conventional manner , such as using wirebonding techniques or tsv , each stacked multichip module with even one bad die would cause that stacked multichip module to be rejected as defective because all of the die need to be good for the stacked multichip module to be good . in this example the yield would be only 70 % good stacked multichip modules , that is 35 out of 50 . this technique would , however , eliminate the processing expenses associated with die scale stacking and processing techniques discussed in the paragraph immediately above . with the present invention the stacked multi - die modules 61 which are partially defective can be segregated as non - perfect die . for example , if each die 12 is one core of a cpu , the non - perfect module 61 can be identified as a two core module 61 if there are two good die 12 or a three core module 61 if there are three good die 12 . similarly , if each die is a 1 gb memory die , the non - perfect modules 61 can be marked as 3 gb memory modules or 2 gb memory modules as the case may be . in this example there would be 35 good stacked multichip module 61 but also 5 non - perfect modules 61 with two good die 12 and 10 non - perfect modules 61 with three good die 12 . the interconnection technology described herein enables isolation of the defective die in the stack , because of the individual connectors reaching to a single landing pad on one level of the stack . during the manufacturing process to stack the die and make the connectors , the defective die can be isolated from operable die , in one approach , using masks for the formation of the connectors that are selected according to the number and locations of the defective die in each stack . being able to salvage the non - perfect module 61 helps to reduce cost over conventional wafer scale processing techniques . the above descriptions may have used terms such as above , below , top , bottom , over , under , et cetera . these terms may be used in the description and claims to aid understanding of the invention and not used in a limiting sense . while the present invention is disclosed by reference to the preferred embodiments and examples detailed above , it is to be understood that these examples are intended in an illustrative rather than in a limiting sense . it is contemplated that modifications and combinations will occur to those skilled in the art , which modifications and combinations will be within the spirit of the invention and the scope of the following claims . any and all patents , patent applications and printed publications referred to above are incorporated by reference .	7
while the present invention is susceptible of embodiment in various forms , there is shown in the drawings and will hereinafter be described a presently preferred embodiment with the understanding that the present disclosure is to be considered an exemplification of the invention and is not intended to limit the invention to the specific embodiment illustrated . it should be further understood that the title of this section of this specification , namely , “ detailed description of the invention ”, relates to a requirement of the united states patent office , and does not imply , nor should be inferred to limit the subject matter disclosed herein . referring now to the figures and in particular , to fig1 there is shown generally an automatic label printer applicator or label machine 10 . the machine 10 includes a frame or stand 12 and is positioned above objects ( not shown ) onto which labels l ( see , e . g ., fig1 ) are placed . the frame 12 has mounted thereto a supply or unwind roll 14 , a print head 16 , a tamp pad assembly 18 and a take - up or rewind roll 20 . a web indicated generally at w ( which includes a backing or liner strip n on which discrete labels l are adhered ) is fed from the supply roll 14 and traverses through the print head 16 , in which indicia are printed on the individual labels l . the labels l are then separated from the web w and are dispensed to a tamp pad 22 . a tamp pad cylinder 24 ( having the tamp pad 22 mounted thereto ) extends to apply the label l to the surface of the object . the liner n , after the labels l have been removed , is then wound onto the take - up or rewind roll 20 . the operation of the label machine 10 is controlled by a controller 25 mounted local to ( or on ) the machine 10 . in order to monitor the “ level ” of labels l remaining on the supply roll 14 , the machine 10 includes a supply roll level sensing assembly 26 . referring to fig3 and 6 , the sensing assembly 26 includes an optical slot sensor 28 and a series of slots or holes or openings 30 a , b , c . . . formed in the supply roll disk 32 . in a present arrangement , the holes are formed in the supply roll inner disk 32 , beyond the periphery of the web w wound on the roll 14 . the assembly 26 is configured to monitor the level or quantity of labels l on the supply roll 14 and to generate signals ( for indication ) corresponding to a label low supply , label out and “ early out ”. in the present assembly 26 , a single sensor 28 can be used to provide these three indicating functions . the assembly 26 utilizes the sensor 28 and holes 30 a , b , c . . . formed in the supply roll disk 32 in an encoder arrangement . in printing or advancing a label , the number of holes 30 a , b , c . . . moving passed the sensor 28 is counted . as the label l is fed from the machine 10 , the accumulated count , in conjunction with the label length , is maintained in memory in the controller 25 . the controller 25 calculates the diameter ( radius ) of the remaining label roll by use of the equation below : t = the number of transitions or holes counted in one revolution of the supply disk ; and t acc is the number of transitions counted when a label was printed . as the machine 10 begins printing a label l , the supply roll 14 ( and thus the disk 32 ) rotates . as the disk 32 turns , the sensor 28 counts the number of transitions or slots 30 a , b , c . . . if the supply roll 14 does not rotate , the system enters the “ early out ” condition . in this condition , the machine 10 is allowed to run down to the last few labels l without transporting the end of the liner n ( which includes an adhesive bonding material to secure the liner n to the core ) through the printer 16 . as will be recognized by those skilled in the art , it is undesirable to transport this portion of the liner n through the print head 16 as damage and / or premature wearing of the print head 16 may occur . once the supply roll 14 remains stationary for a predetermined period ( during which a preset number of labels l is printed ), the machine 10 enters “ label out ” status and shuts down . it has been found that a number of advantages are achieved using the present sensor assembly 26 arrangement . first , variable set positions for the supply roll 14 level can be established within the controller 25 merely by setting a predetermined supply roll 14 “ radius ”. for example , with a proper operator interface , set point positions or conditions can be established and “ set ” through operator accessible screens and the like . this permits the controller 25 to maintain the particular label and / or operating information within memory for ready recall and reprinting of like labels . in addition , the controller 25 can be configured to allow password only access to the set points within the control system . advantageously , the present sensor arrangement 26 uses a sensor 28 that does not require calibration . that is , the light sensor 28 and “ holes ” 30 a , b , c . . . within the disk 32 are set upon installation . no changes in the position of the sensor 28 relative to the holes 30 a , b , c . . . are required . as such , no field required changes or adjustments are necessary . in addition , such an arrangement is essentially impervious to environmental changes . that is , changes in humidity and / or temperature in the workplace environment have little to no impact on the overall operation of the sensor assembly 26 arrangement . as will be appreciated by those skilled in the art , no mechanical adjustments are required for setup . a senor block 34 is mounted to a base plate 36 and the encoder or supply roll disk 32 is permanently attached to a supply roll hub 38 . as such , once established at a fabrication plant , the machine 10 can essentially be installed and started up without adjustment or calibration . referring to fig1 and 4 , and continuing through the machine 10 , the web w traverses from the supply roll 14 over one or more guide rollers 40 and enters the print head 16 . as seen in fig4 in the print head 16 , the web w is aligned by one or more guides 42 or rollers 44 and passes through the printer 46 . indicia are printed on the label l in accordance with known methods , using known printing techniques . for example , indicia can be imprinted on the label l by transfer from a print ribbon . alternately , those skilled in the art will recognize the various types of contact and non - contact print devices that can be used . referring to fig2 and 4 , after exiting the printer 16 , the web w traverses to a separating blade 48 . at the separating blade 48 , the web w is rerouted ( i . e ., in a sharp angled turn , as indicated generally at 50 ) to begin separating the label l from the liner n . the liner n then traverses in a direction opposite that of the continued movement of the label l . essentially , the liner n is pulled away from the label l , and the label l traverses on to the tamp pad 22 . referring now to fig1 - 2 and 7 , the tamp pad 22 is part of the overall tamp assembly 18 . the tamp assembly 18 includes generally the tamp pad 22 and the tamp pad cylinder 24 . in a present embodiment , the cylinder 24 is a pneumatic cylinder . the tamp pad 22 ( which will be discussed in detail below ) is mounted to the cylinder 24 and moves with extension and retraction of the cylinder 24 between the label l applying or extended position and a label l receiving or home position ( fig2 ). these positions are the positions at which the label l is applied to the product surface and the position at which the label l is moved onto the tamp pad 22 after separation from the liner n . in a present arrangement , a dual action cylinder 24 is used . that is , air ( or a like compressed gas ) pressure is applied to one side 52 of a piston 54 in the cylinder 24 to extend the cylinder 24 and air pressure is applied to an opposing side 56 of the piston 54 to retract the cylinder 24 . compressed air supply lines 58 , 60 extend from a compressed air source ( not shown ) to inlets at the opposing sides 52 , 56 of the cylinder 24 to move the cylinder 24 between the extended and home positions . in a current embodiment of the label machine 10 , a pressure transducer 62 is positioned in the supply line 58 to the piston 54 for supplying air to move the piston 54 to the extended ( label l applying ) position . the transducer 62 , in conjunction with the controller 25 is used to monitor the varying pressure in the cylinder 24 body . the system is configured to recalibrate during each extension cycle to maintain an optimal threshold level . in this manner , changes in pressure from the pressure source or changes in the tamp cylinder 24 pressure set point are taken into consideration during each recalibration cycle . moreover cylinder 24 body wear and debris within the orifices ( not shown ) are likewise compensated for by measuring the pressure profile of the air filling the cylinder 24 . [ 0069 ] fig8 graphically illustrates one cycle of the piston 54 from the retracted position through the extended position . this figure is a plot of the pressure p as measured by the pressure transducer 62 along the ordinate of the plot ( y - axis ) and time ( t ) or extension ( e ) shown along the abscissa of the plot ( x - axis ). upon receipt of a signal from the controller 25 to apply a label l , a valve 64 is opened to apply pressure to the extension inlet port side 52 of the cylinder 24 , and the tamp pad 22 moves to the extended position . at this point in time , the cylinder 24 volume is small and the initial pressure inlet peaks ( as indicated at 66 ). the pressure initially spikes in that the cylinder 24 must be moved from the home position . as such , the rate of change of volume is less than the rate of change of pressure within the cylinder 24 . the peak pressure ( as at 66 ) measured by the transducer 62 is used to determine a maximum pressure or tamp pressure value setting for the system 10 . as the cylinder rod 68 begins to move at an increased rate ( in that the initial inertia of the system is overcome ), the pressure begins to drop ( as indicated at 70 ) within the cylinder 24 . it has been found that the pressure drops to a level ( as indicated at 72 ) that is equal to the rate of volume expansion or rate of air filling the space behind the rod plate 74 . the transducer 62 monitors and measures the lowest point of pressure ( as indicated at 76 ) for the system and provides a signal to the controller 25 for determining the optimal trigger threshold point for return . the cylinder 24 continues to extend as the pressure slowly begins to increase ( as indicated at 78 ). this is due to the velocity of the cylinder 24 reaching an essentially steady state , while air continues to be fed into the cylinder 24 . although the pressure increases , the increase is significantly small so as to not cause a triggering of the cylinder return . once the tamp pad 22 contacts the product surface , there is an abrupt increase or positive change in pressure ( as indicated at 80 ) in the cylinder 24 . because the volume of the cylinder 24 is fixed , it can no longer extend further . as a result , the pressure in the cylinder 24 increases beyond the trip point established by the proceeding events . upon reaching this point , the cylinder 24 is retracted to the home position by inlet of the retraction air ( through piston side 56 ), and the venting of the extension side 52 of the cylinder 24 . the present arrangement has a number of advantages over known tamp pad pressure return arrangements . first , a relatively inexpensive “ off the shelf ” pressure transducer 62 is used to monitor the pressure in the cylinder 24 . the transducer 62 generates signals that are used to provide input for automatic control and calibration of the tamp process . in addition , the process calibrates each cycle . in this manner , close control is maintained over the tamp process . moreover , the contact force , that is the force of the tamp pad 22 on the object surface is consistent regardless of fluctuations in inlet 58 pressure and user set point adjustments . in addition , as set forth above , the force is established regardless of environmental conditions ( e . g ., temperature and humidity fluctuations ). also , unlike many known tamp sensing arrangements , varying product distances can be accommodated by the present pressure sensing arrangement . that is , packages of different “ heights ” can have labels applied thereto using the present label machine 10 , because the point from which the tamp pad 22 returns is determined by sensing the pressure spike and trough and setting the return pressure accordingly . moreover , it has been found that the use of a pressure transducer 62 in the inlet line 58 does not adversely affect the throughput of the label machine 10 . that is , even though the transducer 62 may not react instantly , it has been found that the sensitivity of the transducer 62 does not adversely affect the speed of the packaging line . with respect to the tamp pad 22 , a pad in accordance with the present invention is illustrated in fig1 - 12 . the tamp pad 22 is configured to allow changing label sizes quickly and to allow use of a single pad with multiple size labels . the tamp pad 22 includes a rear mounting plate 84 having a mounting block 86 attached thereto . a vacuum inlet 88 , such as the illustrated vacuum elbow fitting is mounted to the rear mount plate 84 . an impact plate 90 is mounted to the rear mounting plate 84 . the impact plate 90 is that plate onto which the label l is transferred and is carried to the object surface for adhering to the object . the impact plate 90 is mounted to the rear mounting plate 84 by a plurality of fasteners 92 , such as the illustrated flat head machine screws . the impact plate 90 is configured having counter - bored openings ( as shown at 94 ) so that the screws 92 rest flush or below the surface 96 of the impact plate 90 . the impact plate 90 includes a first or leading end 98 ( which is that end closest to the print head 16 ) and a trailing end 100 ( which is that end farthest from the print head 16 ). a plurality of vacuum openings or through holes 102 a , b , c . . . are formed in the impact plate 90 at the leading end 98 ( the leading end series of openings ). the series of openings 102 extend along the width d of the plate 90 or in the direction transverse to the direction ( indicated by the arrow at 104 ) in which the labels l move on to the plate 90 . the trailing end 100 of the plate 90 includes a plurality of series of openings 106 a , b , c . . . . each of the series of openings 106 extends generally parallel to the leading end series of openings 102 . these openings 106 , like the leading end openings 102 , are transverse to the direction 104 of movement of the label l on to the pad 90 . it is through these openings 102 , 106 that vacuum is communicated to secure the non - adhesive side of the label l to the tamp pad 90 from the time that it is separated from the liner n until it is applied to the product or object surface . intermediate series of openings such as those indicated at 103 , 105 , 107 can also be formed in the pad 22 . the impact plate 90 includes a vacuum channel 108 formed in a rear surface 110 thereof . the vacuum channel 108 includes a main longitudinal channel 112 that is in communication with the vacuum inlet 88 on the mounting plate 90 . the longitudinal channel 112 extends essentially along the length l of the plate 90 from the leading end vacuum openings 102 to the trailing end vacuum openings 106 . there are no vacuum openings formed in the main longitudinal channel 112 . the leading and trailing end vacuum opening series 102 , 106 are in communication with sub - channels 114 , 116 , respectively , that extend from the main vacuum channel 112 . each sub - channel 114 , 116 essentially depends from the main vacuum channel 112 . a single series of vacuum openings ( e . g ., 102 a , b , c . . . ) is formed so as to communicate with a discrete sub - channel ( e . g ., 114 ). in this manner , the leading edge vacuum openings 102 are formed in a first sub - channel 114 and each series of trailing edge vacuum openings ( 103 , 105 , 107 and 106 ) is formed in a discrete trailing edge vacuum sub - channel ( 118 , 120 , 122 and 116 , respectively ). as will be recognized by those skilled in the art , when the vacuum openings 102 , 103 , 105 , 106 , 107 extend over an area that is greater than the size of the label l that is secured thereto , the vacuum tends to be drawn through the openings over which a portion of the label l does not lie . that is , the vacuum tends to be drawn through the path of least resistance which is those vacuum openings that are open to atmosphere , rather than those over which the label l lies . to this end , a present tamp pad 22 includes a plurality of blocking strips 124 that can be laid in each of the sub - channels 116 - 122 along the entire length of the sub - channel 116 - 122 or a portion of the sub - channel 116 - 122 . the strips 124 are configured so as to block or prevent communication of the vacuum from the main channel 112 into those vacuum openings lying along the blocked sub - channel . in this manner , a desired series of openings and / or portions of series of openings can be configured to remain open while other series and / or portions of series of openings can be blocked . in a present pad , the strips 124 are formed from a silicone rubber that is readily placed and held in a desired sub - channel 116 - 122 . this arrangement provides for free communication of the vacuum through those openings that correspond to a given label size . thus , if a small label is to be used with the tamp pad 22 , the impact plate 90 can be removed , strips 124 can be laid in the sub - channels that are outside of the label footprint ( e . g ., 116 - 120 as appropriate ) and the impact plate 90 can be remounted to the mounting plate 84 . thus , when a vacuum is drawn through the vacuum inlet 88 in the mounting block 86 , the vacuum is communicated only to those vacuum openings that correspond to a desired , particular label . this configuration permits reconfiguring a single tamp pad 22 for use with a variety of sizes of labels l by reconfiguring the layout of the blocking strips 124 . it has been found that a tamp pad 22 in accordance with the present invention permits the use of a variety of label sizes with a single tamp pad 22 . for example , as noted below , tamp pads 22 having the dimensions as shown in the first column can be used with labels l ranging from about the size shown in the second column ( smallest label l size ) to a label l size about as large as that shown in the third column ( largest label l size ). approximate approximate pad size smallest label size largest label size 2 ″ × 2 ″ pad 1 ″ × 1 ″ 2 ″ × 2 ″ 2 ″ × 4 ″ pad 1 ″ × 2 . 5 ″ 2 ″ × 4 ″ 2 ″ × 6 ″ pad 1 ″ × 4 . 5 ″ 2 ″ × 6 ″ 2 ″ × 8 ″ pad 1 ″ × 6 . 5 ″ 2 ″ × 8 ″ 2 ″ × 13 ″ pad 1 ″ × 8 . 5 ″ 2 ″ × 13 ″ 4 ″ × 2 ″ pad 2 . 5 ″ × 1 ″ 4 ″ × 2 ″ 4 ″ × 4 ″ pad 2 . 5 ″ × 2 . 5 ″ 4 ″ × 4 ″ 4 ″ × 6 ″ pad 2 . 5 ″ × 4 . 5 ″ 4 ″ × 6 ″ 4 ″ × 8 ″ pad 2 . 5 ″ × 6 . 5 ″ 4 ″ × 8 ″ 4 ″ × 13 ″ pad 2 . 5 ″ × 8 . 5 ″ 4 ″ × 13 ″ the tamp pad 22 is configured so that the blocking strips 124 are readily removed and / or replaced in the sub - channels 116 - 122 . to reconfigure the tamp pad 22 , the fasteners 92 or mounting screws that secure the impact plate 90 to the mounting plate 84 are removed . the strips 124 can then be inserted or removed in those sub - channels 116 - 122 or portions of sub - channels 114 - 122 that require blocking off for the particular label l size . at least a portion of the first sub - channel 114 always remains unblocked . however , if a label l width d is smaller than the maximum that can be accommodated for that particular pad 22 , a portion of the sub - channel 114 can be blocked . in addition , it has been found that the channel utilized for the particular label &# 39 ; s furthest length edge should also remain unblocked . it has been found that present configuration permits reducing the number of tamp pad combinations significantly . for example , in a present application , it has been found that the number of tamp pad combinations can be reduced from over 900 to about 10 . the present configuration also permits an end user to use the same pad 22 even if their label l size changes within a preset range . in addition , the user ( customer ) can readily reconfigure the tamp pad 22 with minimal downtime and without significant skilled labor . still another advantage of the present label machine relates to the rewind or take - up arrangement indicated generally at 130 . the rewind arrangement 130 , best seen in fig3 and 9 , is configured to facilitate creating sufficient tension for separating the label l from the liner n as well as to control the wind up of the waste liner n onto the rewind roll 20 . to this end , the rewind arrangement 130 includes the rewind roll 20 onto which the waste liner n is rolled . the roll 20 is driven by a motor 21 that is controlled by the overall machine controller 25 . in a present machine , a servomotor or stepper motor is used for the rewind assembly 130 to provide greater control over the rewind speed as discussed below . a present rewind assembly 130 includes a pivoting dancer arm 132 that controls the rewind tension and speed while at the same time reduces slack that may develop in the web w when the label feed begins and the rewind motor 21 starts . to this end , the rewind assembly 130 creates sufficient tension on the liner n to avoid telescoping of the liner waste roll 20 while at the same time creating sufficient ( but not too much ) tension in the liner n to prevent label l mis - feed and print stretching . as shown in fig9 the dancer arm 132 is mounted for pivoting about a pivot 134 located near the rewind roll 20 . the dancer arm 132 cooperates with an upper stop 136 and is biased toward the upper stop 136 position . in a present arrangement , a constant rate spring 138 ( fig3 ) biases the dancer arm 132 to the stop position . a roller 140 is positioned at about an end of the dancer arm 132 , over which roller 140 the liner n travels . a sensing assembly 142 cooperates with the dancer arm 132 . in a present arrangement , the sensing assembly 142 includes magnets 144 positioned on the arm 132 between the pivot 134 and the roller 140 and a magnet sensor 146 mounted to the label machine frame 12 . the dancer arm spring 138 is a fixed rate spring and thus sets the tension in the liner n in a non - linear fashion . in addition , as set forth above , the rewind roll 20 is controlled by a stepper or servomotor rather than a conventional induction motor . as such , movement of the rewind roll 20 is more closely controlled than would otherwise be possible with a convention induction motor . as will be appreciated by those skilled in the art , liner n tension increases as the rewind motor 21 turns . this in turn forces the dancer arm 132 to pivot , thus extending the spring 138 . as the magnets 144 ( mounted on the dancer arm 132 ) approach the magnet sensor 146 , the tension is at an optimal range for liner n take - up . however , if the motor 21 continues to turn the rewind roll 20 , tension in the liner n continues to increase and the liner n may eventually tear . in this manner , there is a balancing of motor 21 rotation and dancer arm 132 ( height ) to control the liner n tension . conversely , if the motor 21 stops , too much slack may be present in the liner n , and insufficient tension is produced for separating the labels l from the liner n . in order to establish the proper tension balance , the rewind motor 21 is controlled to apply a rotation distance proportional to the time elapsed from when the dancer arm 132 leaves the home position . if the dancer arm 132 slowly leaves the home position , the rewind motor 21 speed is increased to bring the arm 132 into position . conversely , an abrupt change in dancer arm 132 position results in a slow increase in rewind motor 21 speed . this arrangement prevents oscillation ( rapid increases and decreases in rewind motor 21 speed ) which could otherwise cause tension spikes in the liner n . in order to provide proper tension for initial peel of the label l from the liner n , the start of print is accomplished with an increase in rewind motor 21 speed for a predetermined period of time . in carrying this out , tension is increased briefly by forcing the dancer arm 132 beyond the set tension . continued feed then results in a relaxation of the dancer arm 132 moving toward the home position . this provides the required tension for the initial peel or separation of the label l from the liner n , without continuously over - tensioning the liner n . all patents referred to herein , are hereby incorporated herein by reference , whether or not specifically do so within the text of this disclosure . in the present disclosure , the words “ a ” or “ an ” are to be taken to include both the singular and the plural . conversely , any reference to plural items shall , where appropriate , include the singular . from the foregoing it will be observed that numerous modifications and variations can be effectuated without departing from the true spirit and scope of the novel concepts of the present invention . it is to be understood that no limitation with respect to the specific embodiments illustrated is intended or should be inferred . the disclosure is intended to cover all such modifications as fall within the scope of the invention .	1
with reference to fig3 the present invention is embodied in a merged read / write head 66 including a read element 68 and an integral write element 70 , both of which are built upon a substrate 72 . the read element 68 having been described with reference to the background of the invention , the present description will focus on the write element 70 , which embodies the subject matter of the present invention . the write element 70 includes first and second poles 74 , 76 , which together join to form a magnetic yoke 78 . the poles 74 , 76 join at one end to form a back - gap 80 , and are separated from one another everywhere else . opposite the back - gap , each pole 74 , 76 terminates in a pole tip 82 , 84 . opposite the back gap 80 , the poles 74 , 76 are separated by a write gap 88 . a layer of dielectric write gap material 89 fills the write gap and extends beyond the write gap into the interior of the yoke 78 . an electrically conductive coil 90 passes through the yoke 78 sitting atop the write gap material layer 89 . with continued reference to fig3 , the first pole 74 is constructed of a magnetic material having soft magnetic properties ( i . e . low magnetostriction ), preferably permalloy . such soft magnetic properties are necessary to avoid domain boundary movement and associated popcorn noise in the read element 68 . the first pole 74 includes a pedestal 92 , disposed opposite the back - gap 80 . the pedestal is constructed of a high magnetic moment material and functions to concentrate magnetic flux . while plated high magnetic moment materials do not generally exhibit soft magnetic properties , the pedestal is located far enough away from the read element 68 and is sufficiently small in size as compared with the rest of the first pole 74 so as to not generate undesirable popcorn noise . to further improve performance , the pedestal is preferably constructed of fexn nanocrystalline films with lamination layers of cozrcr , which has been found to exhibit excellent magnetic properties including high magnetic moment and relatively low magnetostriction . the fexn and the lamination layers are preferably sputter deposited onto a flat wafer that has been planarized using by chemical mechanical polishing ( cmp ). with continued reference to fig3 , a first insulation layer 94 covers the first pole , having a smooth flat upper surface that is flush with the smooth flat upper surface of the pedestal 92 . while this first insulation layer can be of many suitable materials having a high electrical resistance it is preferably constructed of al 2 o 3 . with reference still to fig3 , the write gap material layer 89 sits atop the smooth coplanar surfaces of the first insulation layer 94 and the pedestal 92 . the write gap material layer is preferably constructed of al 2 o 3 or alternatively of sio 2 . the coil 90 sits atop the write gap material layer 89 and is also covered by a second insulation layer 96 , which insulates the coil 90 from the second pole 76 as well as insulating the winds of the coil 90 from one another . the second insulation layer has smoothly rounded edges formed by a curing process that will be described in greater detail below . with continued reference to fig3 , the second pole 76 includes a high magnetic moment layer 98 . the remainder of the second pole 76 consists of a secondary layer 100 , constructed of a magnetic material such as plated ni — fe alloy , which can be readily electroplated and which exhibits good corrosion resistance . the high magnetic moment material layer 98 , which is preferably constructed of laminated fexn nanocrystalline films with lamination layers of co 90 zr 9 cr , improves performance of the head by facilitating magnetic flux flow through the second pole 76 , thereby resulting in a stronger fringing field at the write gap . the secondary layer 100 , which preferably makes up the bulk of the second pole 76 , provides a mask for etching the high magnetic moment material layer 98 as will be described in greater detail below . in order to minimize apex reflection during the photolithograpy process used to define the top pole , it is desirable that the edge of the coil insulation layer 96 be placed further from the abs than the pedestal edge , in which case the zero throat is defined by the pedestal . apex reflection is a major source of trackwidth variation during the fabrication of the top pole . by moving the coil insulation layer 96 away from the abs and plating the second pole 76 onto a flat surface in the area near the abs , the trackwidth can be more easily controlled . the high magnetic moment layer 98 is preferably on the order of 1 to a few times the thickness of the write gap 88 . in one embodiment the high magnetic moment layer 98 is roughly 0 . 5 um thick while the remainder of the second pole 76 is roughly 2 um thick and the pedestal is roughly 1 um thick . the throat height is preferably 3 – 10 times the thickness of the write gap 88 . in an alternate embodiment of the invention , not shown , the second pole includes a layer of laminated high magnetic moment material as discussed above , but the first pole includes no pedestal . in another embodiment , the first pole includes a pedestal constructed of laminated high magnetic moment material , but the second pole does not include a laminated high magnetic moment layer . such a construction could be useful where magnetic flux saturation is a problem . for example , if saturation were experienced in the pedestal of the first pole , then removing the high magnetic moment material from the second pole would decrease flux flow through the second pole , thereby preventing saturation at the pedestal . similarly , when saturation is experienced in the second pole , the design having a high magnetic moment layer in the second pole and no pedestal on the first pole would promote flux flow through the second pole while limiting flux flow through the first pole , thereby preventing saturation in the second pole . in still another embodiment of the invention , the high magnetic moment layer 98 of the second pole 76 can be constructed of laminated fexn nanocrystalline films with lamination layers of cobalt based amorphous ferro - magnetic alloy or alternatively of a non - magnetic dielectric material , while the pedestal is constructed of some other material such as a ni — fe alloy that can be electro - plated . alternatively , the pedestal can be constructed of fexn nanocrystalline films with lamination layers of a cobalt based amorphous ferromagnetic alloy or of a non - magnetic dielectric material , while the high magnetic moment layer of the second pole is some other plated high magnetic moment material such as nife55 . with reference now to fig4 , a process 400 is provided for constructing a write element of the present invention . the process begins with a step 402 of constructing the first pole 74 . the first pole is preferably constructed by patterning and electroplating permalloy according to lithographic techniques familiar to those skilled in the art , and then is planarized by a chemical mechanical polishing process . then , in a step 404 a layer of high magnetic moment ( high b sat ) material is sputter deposited onto the first pole . this sputtering process results in a layer of high b sat material that completely covers the first pole as well as surrounding structure . thereafter , in a step 406 the pedestal is patterned . a layer of photoresist is deposited so as to form a mask covering the area where the pedestal is to be formed . then , in step 408 , ion milling is performed to the sputtered high b sat material not covered by the photoresist mask , thus forming the pedestal 92 . the ion milling step leaves a tail of sputtered material tapering from the edge of the pedestal 92 . with further reference to fig4 , in a step 410 a first insulation layer 94 is deposited onto the first pole . this first insulation layer 94 is preferably constructed of al 2 o 3 and is deposited sufficiently thick to at least reach the thickness of the pedestal 92 and is preferably slightly thicker than the pedestal 92 . thereafter , in a step 412 a chemical mechanical polishing step is performed to planarize the first insulation layer 94 , generating a flat planar surface across the first insulation layer 94 and the top of the pedestal 92 . in a step 414 the write gap material layer 89 is deposited onto the smooth planar surface of the first insulation layer 94 and the pedestal 92 . the write gap material layer can be constructed of many suitable dielectric substances , but is preferably constructed of al 2 o 3 or alternatively of sio 2 . in a step 416 , the electrically conductive coil 90 is formed . the coil is preferably constructed of copper and is formed by methods that are familiar to those skilled in the art . these methods involve first depositing a seed layer of copper or some other suitable conductive material . the coil is then patterned and electroplated , and the seed layer removed by an etching process . with the coil thus formed , in a step 418 the second insulation layer 96 is formed . the second insulation layer is preferably constructed of a photoresist , which is spun onto the write gap material 89 and the coil 90 . the photoresist is patterned and exposed so that selective portions of the photoresist can be removed to provide vias for the back gap and the coil leads . then the photorsist photoresist is cured by exposure to high temperatures , hardening the photoresist and providing it with smoothly rounded edges . in order to improve properties of the sputtered layer , a thin layer of dielectric material can be added to the top of the photoresist material . with reference still to fig4 , the formation of the second pole will now be described . in a step 420 , a thin layer of high b sat material is sputter deposited onto the structure . as will be appreciated by those skilled in the art , sputter deposition will cover the entire exposed structure , including the second insulation layer 96 and the write gap material layer 89 . the high b sat material is preferably constructed of ferhn nanocrystalline films with lamination layers of cozrcr , however other high b sat at materials can also be used . then , in a step 422 the remainder of the second pole 76 is deposited . this step involves forming a mask and then electroplating the second pole . using such standard electroplating and photolithographic processes , the electroplated portion of the second pole 76 can be formed with the desired shape . the electroplated portion of the first pole is preferably constructed of a nife alloy suitable for electroplating . with the electroplated portion of the second pole acting as a mask , in a step 424 an etching process is conducted to remove the high b sat material that is not covered by the plated portion of the second pole 76 . this effectively results in a desired second pole 76 being primarily constructed of a magnetic material such as permalloy , and having a high b sat inner layer . the resulting pole structure includes a tail ( not shown ) of high b sat material that extends outward slightly from the edge of the pole 76 , beyond the edge of the plated portion . also , as previously discussed the ion milling step leaves some of the sputtered material re - deposited on the sidewalls of the second pole 76 . with continued reference to fig4 , in a step 426 , the pole tip of the second pole 76 is masked with photoresist . then , in a step 428 the structure is again ion milled to remove material from the uncovered side portions of the tip of the second pole 76 . thereafter , in a step 430 an etching process is performed to remove write gap material in the pole tip region at the sides of the second pole 76 . then , with the write gap material locally removed , in a step 432 , yet another ion mill is performed to remove material from the corners of the pedestal 92 leaving notches 102 in the pedestal 92 , which can be more clearly seen with reference to fig5 , which shows an abs view of the resulting pole trimmed pedestal . the notches 102 in the pedestal prevent magnetic flux from flowing through the sides of the yoke , thereby preventing side writing . as will be appreciated by those skilled in the art , the above process can be slightly modified to construct one of the earlier described alternate embodiments of the invention . for example , the write element 70 could be constructed without the pedestal by patterning the first insulation layer to terminate short of the abs plane 86 and eliminating the pedestal deposition process . in such a case the write gap material layer would simply slope down along the edge of the first insulation layer , and would sit atop the first pole 74 in the region of the write gap . alternatively , the write element 70 could be constructed with a pedestal 92 as described above , but with a second pole formed without a laminated high b sat layer . furthermore , high b sat layer of the second pole can be constructed of ferhn nanocrystalline films with lamination layers of cozrcr while the pedestal is constructed of some other magnetic material . similarly , the pedestal can be constructed of ferhn nanocrystalline films with lamination layers of cozrcr while the high b sat layer of the second pole is constructed of plated high b sat material such as nife55 . with reference now to fig5 , in an alternate embodiment of the invention , the pedestal can be constructed very thin with a tapered edge . making the pedestal thin advantageously simplifies the manufacturing process , and the tapered edge promotes flux flow into the pedestal , avoiding magnetic saturation in the pedestal . a method for constructing a write element having such pedestal is described in u . s . patent application ser . no . 09 / 602 , 536 , titled “ inductive write head incorporating a thin high moment pedestal ”, filed on 23 jun . 2000 , the entirety of which is incorporated herein by reference . while the present invention has been particularly shown and described with reference to the preferred embodiments , it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes in form and detail may be made without departing from the spirit , scope and teaching of the invention . accordingly , the disclosed invention is to be considered merely as illustrative and limited in scope only as specified in the appended claims .	8
the present invention will be described as below in more details with reference to the specific implementations and the accompanying drawings in the specification . however , the implementations of the present invention are not limited thereto . as shown in fig1 - 9 , this embodiment provides a double - folding device for softly - packaged lithium ion batteries , including a rack 1 , and a loaded - material positioning mechanism 2 , a primary folding mechanism 3 and a secondary folding mechanism 4 which are arranged on the rack 1 in turn . a bonding layer arrangement mechanism 5 is further provided between the primary folding mechanism 3 and the secondary folding mechanism 4 . a battery cell is primarily folded by the primary folding mechanism 3 after loaded by the loaded - material positioning mechanism 2 , and then passes through the bonding layer arrangement mechanism 5 . the bonding layer arrangement mechanism 5 dispenses a bonding layer 8 on a primarily folded edge 7 of the battery cell . after the battery cell passes through the secondary folding mechanism 4 , the bonding layer 8 bonds the primarily folded edge 7 with a battery cell body 6 . the bonding layer arrangement mechanism 5 is configured as a glue dropping mechanism . when the battery cell already subjected to a primary folding ( as shown in fig7 ) passes through this mechanism , the mechanism dispenses a free - flowing bonding layer 8 on the primarily folded edge 7 of the battery cell ( as shown in fig8 ). the glue dropping mechanism includes a bonding layer position closed - loop control system and a bonding layer material closed - loop control system . these two systems are cooperated with each other when in use to ensure that the bonding layer arrangement position and the bonding layer glue volume meet the requirements . the bonding layer position closed - loop control system includes a position monitoring mechanism 511 , a glue dropping position control mechanism 512 and a position adjusting mechanism 513 . the glue dropping position control mechanism 512 is connected to the position monitoring mechanism 511 and the position adjusting mechanism 513 , respectively . when in use , the position monitoring mechanism 511 first monitors the glue dispensing position and then feeds the glue dispensing position back to the glue dropping position control mechanism 512 . then , the glue dropping position control mechanism 512 compares a feedback signal with a preset signal ; and sends , if there is an offset , an instruction to control the position adjusting mechanism 513 to adjust the glue dispensing position , thereby enabling the glue dispensing position to meet the requirements . the position monitoring mechanism 511 is configured as a charge - coupled device image sensor ; the glue dropping position control mechanism 512 is configured as a programmable logic controller , a singlechip or a computer ; and the position adjusting mechanism 513 includes a first object stage 5131 and a first servo motor 5132 . the first object stage 5131 is driven by the first servo motor 5132 , and the first servo motor 5132 is connected to the glue dropping position control mechanism 512 . the bonding layer material closed - loop control system includes a glue volume monitoring mechanism 521 , a glue volume control mechanism 522 and a glue volume adjusting mechanism 523 . the glue volume control mechanism 522 is connected to the glue volume monitoring mechanism 521 and the glue volume adjusting mechanism 523 , respectively . when in use , the glue volume monitoring mechanism 521 first monitors the glue volume and then feeds the glue volume back to the glue volume control mechanism 522 . then , the glue volume control mechanism 522 compares a feedback signal with a preset signal ; and sends , if there is an offset , an instruction to the glue volume adjusting mechanism 523 to adjust the glue volume , thereby enabling the glue volume to meet the requirements . the structure of the glue volume monitoring mechanism 521 is the same as that of the position monitoring mechanism 511 . the glue volume monitoring mechanism 521 is configured as a charge - coupled device image sensor ; the glue volume control mechanism 522 is configured as a programmable logic controller , a singlechip or a computer ; and the glue volume adjusting mechanism 523 includes an electrically - controlled pressure regulating valve 5231 , a glue tank 5232 , a glue dropper 5233 and a constant temperature system . the glue tank 5232 is in communication with the glue dropper 5233 via a pipeline 5234 . the constant temperature system is connected to the glue tank 5232 . the electrically - controlled pressure regulating valve 5231 is connected to the glue tank 5232 and the glue volume control mechanism 522 , respectively . specifically , the constant temperature system may be a constant temperature material layer sheathed outside the glue tank 5232 . as shown in fig4 , the loaded - material positioning mechanism 2 includes centering and positioning push plates 21 , a clamping cylinder 22 and a clamp 23 . the centering and positioning push plates 21 are disposed on left and right sides of the clamp 23 , and the clamping cylinder 22 is provided above the clamp 23 . as shown in fig1 - 3 , the primary folding mechanism 3 includes an edge cutter 31 , a primary folding roller 32 and a folded - edge shaping mechanism 33 which are arranged in turn . the edge cutter 31 is near the loaded - material positioning mechanism 2 , and the folded - edge shaping mechanism 33 is arranged near the bonding layer arrangement mechanism 5 . when passing through the primary folding mechanism 3 , a well positioned battery cell is finely cut by the edge cutter 31 , subjected to a primary folding by the primary folding roller 32 , and then shaped by the folded - edge shaping mechanism 33 , so that the primarily folded edge 7 is closely fitted with the original seal edge . as shown in fig1 - 3 , the secondary folding mechanism 4 includes a secondary folding roller 41 , a hot - press shaping mechanism 42 and a cold - press shaping mechanism 43 which are arranged in turn . the secondary folding roller 41 is arranged near the bonding layer arrangement mechanism 5 . when the battery cell passes through the secondary folding mechanism 4 , the secondary folding roller 41 vertically bends a side edge of the battery cell , on which a bonding layer 8 has been arranged on the primarily folded edge 7 , and makes this side edge closely fitted with the side edge of the battery . the hot - press shaping mechanism 42 heats the primarily folded edge 7 , the bonding layer 8 and the side of the battery cell body 6 , which are closely fitted with each other . finally , the cold - press shaping mechanism 43 performs rapid annealing to maximize the viscidity of the bonding layer 8 , so that the primarily folded edge 7 and the side of the battery cell body 6 are closely bonded together by the bonding layer 8 . when in use , a battery cell to be processed is placed into the clamp 23 , and then positioned and clamped by the centering and positioning push plates 21 and the clamping cylinder 22 . subsequently , the well positioned battery cell passes through the edge cutter 31 , the primary folding roller 32 and the folded - edge shaping mechanism 33 in turn along with the clamp 23 . so far , the primary folding is completed . the primarily folded battery cell enters the first object stage 5131 of the glue dropping mechanism along with the clamp 23 . the position monitoring mechanism 511 first monitors the glue dispensing position and then feeds the glue dispensing position back to the glue dropping position control mechanism 512 . the glue dropping position control mechanism 512 compares the feedback signal with the preset signal ; sends , if there is an offset , an instruction to control the first servo motor 5132 , so that the first servo motor 5132 drives the first object state 5131 to a predetermined position ; and keeps , if there is no offset , the first object state 5131 unmoved . meanwhile , the glue volume monitoring mechanism 521 first monitors the glue volume and then feeds the glue volume back to the glue volume control mechanism 522 . then , the glue volume control mechanism 522 compares the feedback signal with a preset signal ; sends , if there is an offset , an instruction to the electrically - controlled pressure regulating valve 5231 , so as to make the glue inside the glue tank 5232 reach the glue dropper 5233 via the pipeline by adjusting the electrically - controlled pressure regulating valve 5231 and then to make a predetermined amount of glue dropped from the glue dropper 5233 ; and keeps , if there is no offset , the electrically - controlled pressure regulating valve 5231 not act , so that a free - flowing bonding layer 8 is arranged on the primarily folded edge 7 of the battery cell . the battery cell having the fluid bonding layer 8 arranged thereon passes through the secondary folding roller 41 , the hot - press shaping mechanism 42 and the cold - press shaping mechanism 43 in turn to complete a secondary folding . so far , a battery as shown in fig9 is obtained . the difference between this embodiment and embodiment 1 is that the bonding layer arrangement mechanism 5 is configured as an adhesive tape sticking mechanism , and this mechanism arranges a non - flowing bonding later 8 on the primarily folded edge 7 of the battery cell when the battery cell already subjected to the primary folding passes through this mechanism . as shown in fig1 , the adhesive tape sticking mechanism is a closed - loop control system and includes an adhesive tape sticking position monitoring mechanism , an adhesive tape sticking position control mechanism , an adhesive tape sticking position adjusting mechanism 53 , an adhesive tape unrolling device 55 for releasing an adhesive tape 57 , an adhesive tape attaching mechanism 55 and an adhesive tape rolling device 56 for winding the adhesive tape 57 . the adhesive tape sticking position control mechanism is connected to the adhesive tape sticking position monitoring mechanism and the adhesive tape sticking position adjusting mechanism 53 , respectively . one end of the adhesive tape 57 is disposed on the adhesive tape unrolling device 54 , while the other end thereof is rolled on the adhesive tape rolling device 56 after passing through the adhesive tape attaching mechanism 55 . the adhesive tape 57 disposed on the adhesive tape rolling device 56 is transferred to the primarily folded edge of the battery cell by the adhesive tape unrolling device 55 . the adhesive tape sticking position monitoring mechanism monitors an adhesive tape sticking position and then feeds the adhesive tape sticking position back to the adhesive tape sticking position control mechanism . the adhesive tape sticking position control mechanism compares a monitored signal with a preset signal , and then outputs , if the monitored signal does not meet the preset requirements , an instruction to the adhesive tape sticking position adjusting mechanism 53 to adjust the adhesive tape sticking position until the adhesive tape sticking position meets the requirements . the structures of the adhesive tape sticking position monitoring mechanism and the adhesive tape sticking position control mechanism are the same as those of the position monitoring mechanism 511 and the glue dropping position control mechanism 512 in embodiment 1 . the adhesive tape sticking position monitoring mechanism is configured as a charge - coupled device image sensor ; the adhesive tape sticking position control mechanism is configured as a programmable logic controller , a singlechip or a computer ; and the adhesive tape sticking position adjusting mechanism 53 includes a second object stage 531 and a second servo motor 532 . the second object stage 531 is driven by the second servo motor 532 , and the second servo motor 532 is connected to the adhesive tape sticking position control mechanism . the battery cell already subjected to the primary folding enters the second object state 531 of the glue dropping mechanism along with the clamp 23 . the adhesive tape sticking position monitoring mechanism first monitors the adhesive tape sticking position and then feeds the adhesive tape sticking position back to the adhesive tape sticking position control mechanism . the adhesive tape sticking position control mechanism compares the monitored signal with a preset signal ; sends , if there is an offset , an instruction to the second servo motor 532 , so that the second servo motor 532 drives the second object state 531 to a predetermined position ; keeps , if there is no offset , the second object state 531 unmoved , so that one non - fluid bonding layer 8 is arranged on the primarily folded edge 7 of the battery cell . t the remaining is the same as embodiment 1 and will not be repeated here . t for those skilled in the art , alterations and modifications may be made to the forgoing implementations in accordance with the disclosure and teaching of the specification . therefore , the present invention is not limited to the foregoing implementations , and any apparent improvements , replacements or variations made by those skilled in the art on the basis of the present invention shall fall into the protection scope of the present invention . in addition , although some particular terms have been used in the specification , these terms are used for purpose of description and not intended to form any limitation to the present invention .	8
statistical techniques are disclosed for identifying , in real time , the basic features of one or more individual signals that are embedded in a signal mixture including a plurality of independent signals . as shown in fig2 the mixture of signals may include fm ( frequency modulated ) signals such as first signal 101 , qam ( quadrature amplitude modulated ) signals such as second signal 103 , vsb ( vestigial sideband ) signals such as third signal 105 , ntsc ( north american television standards committee ) television signals , pal signals , secam signals , and / or amplitude - modulated signals such as fourth signal 107 . assume that a composite signal including a plurality of individual signals , such as first signal 101 , second signal 103 , third signal 105 , and fourth signal 107 , is placed onto a first end of a coaxial cable by an arbitrarily - determined configuration of transmitters and signal combiners . at the second end of the coaxial cable , it is desired to determine the characteristics of one or more of the individual signals on the coaxial cable so that a desired individual signal may be separated from the composite signal . such a task is rendered all the more difficult due to the fact that each of the signals includes a number of unknown parameters . in the case of a qam signal , the frequency of the carrier ( i . e ., the center frequency of the qam signal ) must be determined , as well as the baud rate , the overall bandwidth , and the nature of the qam constellation . the techniques disclosed herein determine the parameters of one or more individual signals of a composite signal by utilizing several concepts that are not well - understood in the prior art . first , open - loop carrier estimation of the parameters of any qam signal has to be performed in the context of analog double - sideband carrier modulation , even if this qam signal is the only signal present . in other words , the digital nature of a qam signal is not important or critical for purposes of identifying the parameters of a qam carrier . secondly , despite the fact that a qam signal includes time - varying information , it can be proved that the qam signal contains a significant band - limited double - sideband stationary component which may be extracted by direct autocorrelation / power measurements . third , the method of real - time autocorrelation measurements eliminates all independent types of interference incurred during the transmission process . fourth , the effects of multipath that may be present in each of a plurality of qam signals that comprise a given composite signal do not effect the carrier / bandwidth identification / equalization process . fifth , the duration of the measured autocorrelation function is well - defined , finite , and it is defined by the qam signal of minimal bandwidth in the signal composite , which , in one illustrative design specification , is equal to 1 . 5 microseconds ( 1 / 870 khz ). the five aforementioned concepts have been utilized to develop hardware configurations for systems that are equipped to characterize each of a plurality of individual signals from a composite signal . fig3 illustrates such a system designed according to a first embodiment disclosed herein , and fig5 a and 5b , taken together , illustrate a system designed according to a second embodiment disclosed herein . in practice , the hardware components of fig3 a , and 5b may be integrated into , and / or coupled to , modem 18 and / or customer premises equipment 20 ( fig1 ). referring now to fig3 signal source 201 provides a composite signal that includes a plurality of independent signals . examples of such signals were previously discussed in connection with fig1 and 2 . the composite signal is coupled to a complex to real / imaginary converter 203 , which separates the composite signal into a real part on signal line 205 , and an imaginary part on signal line 207 . the real part is processed by raised cosine filter 209 , and the imaginary part is processed by raised cosine filter 211 . after filtering , the real part of the composite signal is fed to a real input 213 of a real / imaginary to complex converter 219 , and the filtered imaginary part of the composite signal is fed to an imaginary input 215 of the real / imaginary to complex converter 219 . the output of the real / imaginary to complex converter 219 , representing a filtered , complex composite signal , is coupled to the input of a complex spectral shifter 221 , and the output of complex spectral shifter 221 is coupled to a complex to real / imaginary converter 225 . the imaginary output 229 of the complex to real / imaginary converter 225 is not used . the real output 227 of the complex to real / imaginary converter 225 is fed to the signal input of a real variable delay line 235 , and also to a first input of a signal multiplier 237 . an optional first signal storage buffer 231 may be used to store the real output 227 of the complex to real / imaginary converter 225 . real variable delay line 235 delays a real signal for a time duration determined by a time delay input signal present at a delay input 236 terminal . the output of the real variable delay line 235 is fed to a second input of multiplier 237 . therefore , the output of multiplier 237 represents an input signal multiplied by a delayed version of itself . the output of the multiplier 237 is coupled to a mean estimator 239 , and the output of the mean estimator 239 may be coupled to an optional third signal storage buffer 241 . the signal at the delay input 236 terminal of the real variable delay line 235 is provided by a counter 255 . a first clock 245 is coupled to a count up terminal of counter 255 such that , when clock 245 generates pulses , the count of counter 255 is incremented . a second clock 249 drives a first inverter 251 , a divide - by - 2000 divider 247 , and a second inverter 253 , arranged sequentially in the order described . the output of the second inverter 253 drives a hold terminal of counter 255 which , when activated , causes the counter 255 to hold its present count . the output of the counter can be stored in an optional second storage buffer 257 . in the hardware configuration of fig3 the complex to real / imaginary converter 203 , raised cosine filter 209 , raised cosine filter 211 , real / imaginary to complex converter 219 , complex spectral shifter 221 , and complex to real / imaginary converter 225 together perform the function of a qam ( quadrature amplitude modulation ) modulator and , hence , these components could , if desired , be replaced by a single functional block labelled &# 34 ; qam modulator &# 34 ;. such qam modulators are implemented , for example , on an integrated circuit chip . the hardware configuration of fig3 operates as follows . assume that signal source 201 represents the output of modem 18 ( fig1 ) coupled to customer premises equipment 20 . upon initial startup , the rf demodulation performed by modem 18 may provide a composite signal having only a portion of a qam signal included at the lowest frequency extreme , i . e ., at the lowest band edge , of the rf - demodulated signal . modem 18 demodulates signals by using a tuner mechanism that typically includes a mixer / oscillator stage for frequency - converting a composite input signal from a first frequency range to a second frequency range . however , note that modem 12 also includes a mixer / oscillator stage which , in the present example , modulates signals from head end 10 . this modulation process involves frequency - converting signals from the head end 10 from a third frequency range to a fourth frequency range . since the mixer / oscillator stage of modem 12 is not synchronized with the mixer / oscillator stage of modem 18 , any frequency discrepancy will cause the frequency spectrum of a given signal of the composite signal mix to be partially truncated . the frequency spectrum will be truncated at the lower band edge of the signal produced by modem 18 . automatic readjustment of the mixer / oscillator stage of modem 18 is then required to guarantee that all desired individual signals of the composite signal mix are fully contained within the available rf demodulation band of modem 18 . in order to properly adjust the mixer / oscillator of modem 18 , a power measurement is conducted at the lower band edge of the rf - demodulated signal produced by modem 18 . to obtain such a power measurement , mean estimator 239 measures the autocorrelation of a signal with a time - delayed version of that signal at a few frequency points , using real variable delay line 235 and multiplier 237 . this autocorrelation measurement effectively performs a discrete cosine transform ( dct ) on the signal generated by modem 18 ( fig1 ) and represented as signal source 201 . in practice , the maximum duration of the autocorrelation is typically about 1 . 5 usec , and a typical sampling rate on the order of 30 msamples / sec is used . these parameters require the computation of a very few points on a 45 - point dct . the result of the autocorrelation process , which may be stored in third signal storage buffer 241 , is then used by modem 18 . modem 18 adjusts a mixer / oscillator that is coupled to , and / or integrated into , the modem , to a proper frequency . the frequency is adjusted such that substantially the entire bandwidth of a specified individual signal is included at the lower band edge of the passband that is demodulated by modem 18 . once the frequency of the mixer / oscillator of modem 18 is properly adjusted so as to include substantially the entire bandwidth of a specified individual signal at the lower band edge of the demodulated passband , it is now necessary to identify the signal frequency domains for individual signals of the composite signal . these signal frequency domains specify , for example , the center carrier frequency of a given individual signal and the bandwidth of that signal . the real variable delay line 235 identifies the signal frequency domains for individual signals by performing autocorrelation measurements , at each of a plurality of time delays , in conjunction with multiplier 237 and mean estimator 239 . an example of an autocorrelation measurement is shown in fig4 a , as a function of amplitude over time . note that the amplitude of the autocorrelation function initially starts out at a peak value . the autocorrelation then swings back and forth , from negative to positive values . however , as time increases , the negative and positive excursions decrease in amplitude until , eventually , the autocorrelation approaches zero as time approaches infinity . the envelope of the autocorrelation function decreases gradually over time from its peak value to zero . fig4 b is a plot showing amplitude versus normalized frequency for an illustrative signal . in this context , the normalized frequency is defined as the actual frequency spectrum of a signal divided by the frequency at which this spectrum is sampled . the plot of fig4 b shows a signal with a normalized center frequency of 4 mhz and a bandwidth of about 2 mhz (+ and - 1 mhz ). at fig5 a and 5b together comprise a hardware block diagram of a system for characterizing each of a plurality of individual signals from a composite signal according to a second embodiment disclosed herein . note that the hardware components of fig5 a and 5b may be integrated into , and / or coupled to , modem 18 and / or customer premises equipment 20 ( fig1 ). referring now to fig5 a , signal source 201 provides a composite signal that includes a plurality of independent signals . examples of such signals were previously discussed in connection with fig1 , and 3 . the composite signal is coupled to a complex to real / imaginary converter 203 , which separates the composite signal into a real part on signal line 205 , and an imaginary part on signal line 207 . the real part is passed to a pole of a first switch 405 , and the imaginary part is passed to a pole of a second switch 407 . the states of the first and second switches 405 and 407 is controlled by a first counter 411 driven by a first clock 409 . the first switch 405 and the second switch 407 each have two states . when the first switch 405 is in a first state , the pole is connected to a first contact , and the pole is not connected to a second contact . when the first switch 405 is in a second state , the pole is connected to the second contact but not to the first contact . similarly , when the second switch 407 is in a first state , the pole is connected to a first contact , and the pole is not connected to a second contact . when the second switch 407 is in a second state , the pole is connected to the second contact but not to the first contact . in the example of fig5 a , when the first switch 405 is in the first state , the second switch 407 is also in the first state . when the first switch 405 is in the second state , the second switch 407 is also in the second state . when the first and second switches 405 , 407 are in the first state , the real and imaginary signals produced by the complex to real / imaginary converter 203 are processed by a first signal chain that includes a real / imaginary to complex converter 413 , a complex to real / imaginary converter 417 , a first pair of raised cosine filters 421 , 423 , a real / imaginary to complex converter 429 , a first complex spectral shifter 433 , and a complex to real / imaginary converter 437 . when the first and second switches 405 , 407 are in the second state , the real and imaginary signals produced by the complex to real / imaginary converter 203 are processed by a second signal chain that includes a real / imaginary to complex converter 415 , a complex to real / imaginary converter 419 , a second pair of raised cosine filters 425 , 427 , a real / imaginary to complex converter 431 , a second complex spectral shifter 435 , and a complex to real / imaginary converter 439 . the real outputs of complex to real / imaginary converter 437 and complex to real / imaginary converter 439 are summed by summer 441 . the imaginary outputs of the complex to real / imaginary converters 437 , 439 are not used . the output of summer 441 is fed to the signal input of a real variable delay line 445 , and also to a first input of a signal multiplier 447 . an optional first signal storage buffer 443 may be used to store the output of summer 441 . real variable delay line 445 delays a real signal for a time duration determined by a time delay input signal present at a delay input 446 terminal . the output of the real variable delay line 445 is fed to a second input of multiplier 447 . therefore , the output of multiplier 447 represents an input signal multiplied by a delayed version of itself . the output of the multiplier 447 is coupled to a mean estimator 449 , and the output of the mean estimator 449 may be coupled to an optional third signal storage buffer 451 . the signal at the delay input 446 terminal of the real variable delay line 445 is provided by a second counter 455 . a third clock 457 is coupled to a count up terminal of counter 455 such that , when third clock 457 generates pulses , the count of counter 455 is incremented . a second clock 459 drives a first inverter 461 , a divide - by - 2000 divider 463 , and a second inverter 465 , arranged sequentially in the order described . the output of the second inverter 465 drives a hold terminal of counter 455 which , when activated , causes the counter 455 to hold its present count . the output of the counter can be stored in an optional second storage buffer 459 . in the hardware configuration of fig5 a and 5b , the complex to real / imaginary converter 417 , raised cosine filters 421 , 423 , real / imaginary to complex converter 429 , complex spectral shifter 433 , and complex to real / imaginary converter 437 together perform the function of a first qam ( quadrature amplitude modulation ) modulator and , hence , these components could , if desired , be replaced by a single functional block labelled &# 34 ; first qam modulator &# 34 ;. similarly , the complex to real / imaginary converter 419 , raised cosine filters 425 , 427 , real / imaginary to complex converter 431 , complex spectral shifter 435 , and complex to real / imaginary converter 439 together perform the function of a second qam modulator and , hence , these components could , if desired , be replaced by a single functional block labelled &# 34 ; second qam modulator &# 34 ;. such qam modulators are implemented , for example , on an integrated circuit chip . fig6 a , 6b , and 6c show power spectra for the autocorrelation process implemented by the hardware configuration of fig5 a and 5b . magnitude in decibels is shown on the y - axis , and normalized frequency in mhz is shown on the x - axis . the spectra of fig6 a , 6b , and 6c may be observed at the output of mean estimator 449 ( fig5 b ). the plot of fig6 a , for a first signal , shows a broad peak at a normalized frequency of 6 mhz , indicating the presence of a first individual signal having a normalized carrier frequency of 6 mhz . the plot of fig6 b , for a second signal , shows a broad peak at a normalized frequency of 2 mhz , indicating the presence of a second individual signal having a normalized carrier frequency of 2 mhz . fig6 c is a plot of the composite signal , showing a first peak at 6 mhz , corresponding to the first signal , and a second peak at 2 mhz , corresponding to the second signal . fig7 a , 7b , and 7c are correlation functions for the autocorrelation process performed by the hardware configuration of fig5 a and 5b . the plot of fig7 a corresponds to the first signal as shown in fig6 a . as revealed in fig7 a , the first signal has a normalized carrier frequency of 6 mhz and a normalized baud rate of 4 mhz . the plot of fig7 b corresponds to the second signal as shown in fig6 b . fig7 b reveals that the normalized carrier frequency of the second signal is 2 mhz , and the normalized baud rate of the signal is 2 mhz . fig7 c is a composite plot of the autocorrelation function that corresponds to the composite power spectrum of fig6 c .	7
fig4 - 6 illustrate one preferred embodiment of slips assembly according to the present invention . however , that preferred embodiment will be better understood if certain principles are first described in connection with the simplified , diagrammatic views of fig1 - 3 . fig1 and 2 illustrate a very simple case . there is shown a portion of a length of drill pipe 10 to be supported by the slips assembly . pipe 10 is supported by being frictionally engaged by three slip bodies , one of which is shown at 12 . the slip bodies are surrounded by an outer body or bowl , a fragment of which is shown at 14 . the bowl 14 defines a longitudinal through opening 16 . the slip bodies 12 are symmetrically circumferentially spaced about the outer part of the opening 16 , and the pipe 10 extends through the center of the opening 16 , surrounded by the slip bodies . each slip body 12 has an inner side 12a provided with teeth for frictionally engaging the pipe 10 . although , for simplicity , the teeth are shown as integrally formed on the slip body 12 , they could be formed on a separate die carried on the slip body , as is well known in the art . the outer side of the slip body has a force transfer protuberance 12b . as may be seen by comparing fig1 and 2 , protuberance 12b is convexly curved in both longitudinal ( fig1 ) and transverse ( fig2 ) planes , and both curves reach a common apex at a point a . this apex a bears on the opposed inner side surface of the bowl 16 , and more specifically , on a camming surface 17 which is inclined downwardly and inwardly . the slip bodies 12 are free to move both radially and longitudinally with respect to the bowl 16 . accordingly , when the weight of the pipe 10 is let onto the assembly , it tends to take the slip bodies down , and the slip bodies are thereby cammed radially inwardly by the surface 17 , so that the grip on the pipe 10 is self - tightening . as shown in fig2 the curvature of protuberance 12b near its apex a in the transverse plane through a is on a shorter radius than that of the adjacent part of the bowl 14 . ( it can be seen that the radius of curvature of the adjacent part of the bowl is the same as a radius from the centerline of pipe 10 to apex a .) thus there is essentially point contact at a in that plane . in the longitudinal plane of fig1 there is of course point contact because the section of surface 17 is linear ( it can be said that surface 17 has a radius of curvature of infinite length ). because of the point contact between apex a and surface 17 , and because the slip body 12 is not constrained from doing so , the slip body 12 can pivot in both longitudinal and transverse planes . more specifically , body 12 can pivot in the transverse plane shown in fig2 about the longitudinal axis passing through point a perpendicular to the plane of the drawing . (&# 34 ; generally &# 34 ; longitudinal is used herein to mean that the axis or member has a significant vertical component of direction .) furthermore , since point or apex a and the longitudinal axis passing therethrough are circumferentially centered on the slip body ( with respect to the centerline of the assembly as a whole ), this pivoting can allow the inner side 12a , which is concavely curved to correspond to the external curvature of pipe 10 , to align itself perfectly with that curvature , so that it is not biting in more deeply at one end of the arc of side 12a than the other . the apex a is also approximately centered along the length of the slip body so that the tangential axis and radial force are also centered . each of the slip bodies in a given assembly can so pivot independently of the others , so that the entire set of slip bodies properly aligns , and this will occur even if the rotary table ( not shown ) on which the assembly is carried is not level , if surface 17 has worn more adjacent one of the slip bodies than the others , if the slip bodies themselves have worn unevenly , or if for any other reason , surfaces 12a would otherwise have been imperfectly mated to the external curve of pipe 10 . to perfect the alignment in the longitudinal plane shown in fig1 each slip body 12 can independently pivot in that longitudinal plane about a tangengential ( true tangent or parallel to tangent ) axis passing through point a perpendicular to the plane of the figure . advantageously , point a is approximately longitudinally centered along the length of protuberance 12b as shown . it will be appreciated that similar results could be obtained if the inclined camming surface were formed on the slip body , and the convexly curved protuberance providing the pivot point were formed on the bowl . it can also be appreciated that , if the device were not of the self - tightening type , e . g . if camming surface 17 were replaced by an hydraulic cylinder capable of applying sufficent gripping force to body 12 , and body 12 were still free to pivot about longitudinal and tangential axes , the same good alignment would be achieved . fig3 diagrammatically illustrates a slightly more complex embodiment in which a distinct force transfer member in the form of a wedge 18 is interposed between the bowl 14 &# 39 ; and the slip body 20 . the slip body 20 does not have the convexly curved protuberance of the first embodiment , but is provided with a downwardly and inwardly inclined camming surface 22 on its outer side . the wedge 18 has its inner side convexly curved in both longitudinal ( fig3 ) and transverse ( not shown ) planes so that it provides a transverse and longitudinal pivot point bearing on the camming surface 22 and allowing each slip body 20 to independently align with the pipe 10 as in the preceding embodiment . the outer side of wedge 18 is shaped to conform with the opposed camming surface 17 of the bowl 14 &# 39 ;. similar results could be achieved if the inner side of wedge 18 were shaped to conform with surface 22 , and the outer side convexly curved to provide point contact with surface 17 . it can be seen that wedge 18 will also transfer forces between camming surfaces 17 and 22 so that the camming surfaces are still cooperative , though indirectly , between bodies 14 and 20 . it can also be appreciated that , if some means , diagrammatically indicated by arrow f , is provided for urging the wedge 18 downwardly between the camming surfaces 17 and 22 , the inclination of the camming surfaces will cause the slip body 20 to be urged radially inwardly toward the pipe 10 . it can be appreciated that , if this is done with a relatively low force , i . e ., lower than that of the pipe 10 , before the weight of the pipe 10 is let onto the assembly , the slip bodies can be pre - aligned with the pipe ; they will in effect cam themselves into proper positions by virtue of contact with the pipe 10 and their independent pivotability . however , the low force of means f will allow this to happen without damage . also , pre - engagement with the pipe 10 will be ensured , so that the slip bodies will be urged down and tightened by the weight of the pipe . use of the wedge 18 also eliminates the need to directly lift the slip bodies to release them . rather , the wedge ( s ) can be retracted . as mentioned , the embodiments of fig1 - 3 are simplified and diagrammatically illustrated . in each of these embodiments , there would be sliding movement between the pivot point and the opposing surface , and this could lead to relatively fast wear of those sliding surfaces . fig4 - 6 illustrate a more detailed embodiment which provides the aforementioned advantages in terms of adjustability of the slip bodies , but with a substantial surface area for contact between each pair of abutting , relatively movable surfaces . certain parts of the slips assembly of fig4 - 6 which are well known in the art and do not form a part of the present invention have been omitted from or simplified in the drawings for clarity of illustration and efficiency of description . the bowl includes main body portion 24 resting on a base plate 26 . one or more locator pins 57 may be provided to position the apperatus with respect to the rotary table . as in the preceding embodiments , the body 24 and plate 26 define a central longitudinal through opening 28 for the pipe 10 . the bowl further includes a guide ring 30 mounted in body 24 and plate 26 near , and defining the lower portion of , opening 28 . the outer part of ring 30 is further supported by another ring 32 . the upper surface of ring 30 partially opposes the slip bodies , one of which is shown at 34 , to prevent them from falling out of the bowl , and its upper surface is inclined downwardly and inwardly as shown so as not to interfere with their movement . the upper portion of ring 30 also has lateral slots , one of which is shown at 40 , loosely receiving respective slip bodies so as to generally maintain their circumferential spacing without interfering with their necessary movements . with the exception of ring 30 , each of the otherwise annular parts of the bowl assembly , parts 24 , 26 , and 32 , have aligned lateral slots so that the apparatus can be initially placed about the pipe 10 , and subsequently removed , as is well known in the art . the slot 37 in main body portion 24 is selectively closed by links or gates 36 and 39 movably mounted to the body 24 by pins , one of which is shown at 38 . ring 30 does not have full - length lateral slots . rather , it is formed in two halves connected by a hinge 31 so that , if lifted out of the main body , it can be opened to allow it to be placed about the pipe . each slip body has a downwardly and inwardly inclined camming surface 41 on its outer side , and pipe gripping teeth on its inner side 42 , which is concavely curved to conform to the contour of the pipe 10 . generally opposed to the camming surface 40 of each slip body , there is a respective force transfer means in the form of a pivot member 44 . the outer side surface of member 44 is generally convexly hemispherical in shape , so that it is curved in both longitudinal and transverse planes . in general , the greater the thickness of slip body 34 , i . e . the greater the distance from the centerline to member 44 , the greater should be the radius of curvature of member 44 . this should help to avoid any possible toggling effect whereby one end of the slip body might be urged more tightly against the pipe than the other . in addition , the radially outmost point of the curved outer surface of member 44 , and thus the line of force application , is approximately centered along the length of slip body 34 . that is to say that it is aligned with the slip body somewhere along the centermost twenty - five percent ( 25 %) of the length of the slip body . in the transverse plane of fig5 the outermost point and the longitudinal axis are precisely centered . in a manner to be described more fully below , member 44 is mounted in the bowl for longitudinal and transverse pivotal movement with respect to the bowl . its inner side is shaped to . conform to or mate with the surface 41 and abuts that surface so that the aforementioned pivotal movement is transmitted to the slip body 34 . thus it provides the equivalent of the type of movement present in the preceding embodiments . however , its outer hemispherical side bears against a mating concave hemispherical surface in a mounting block 46 which is connected to main body 24 to form a part of the bowl . thus , while providing the same type of movement , it avoids the point contact which can quicken wear and also avoids high point loads . likewise , the inner side of member 44 , conforming to the shape of camming surface 41 , provides a large contact surface area on that side as well . the pivoting movement not only allows slip body 34 to align with pipe 10 , but keeps the inner side of member 44 aligned with and fully abutting surface 40 , so that the two serve as similarly inclined camming surfaces . referring now to fig5 and 6 , mounting block 46 fits into a recess 48 in the inner side of main body 24 of the bowl . mounting block 46 is connected to body 24 by screws 50 . the shank of each screw 50 has a small diameter portion 50a adjacent its tip , and a larger diameter portion 50b adjacent its head 50c , so that a shoulder is formed between portions 50a and 50b . body 24 has a threaded hole 52 for receipt of portion 50a , and block 46 has an unthreaded bore 54 for receipt of portion 50b . bore 54 is counterbored at 54a to receive the head 50c of the screw . it can be seen that , when screw 50 is threaded all the way in , so that the shoulder formed between portions 50a and 50b is bottomed against the radially inwardly facing surface of recess 48 , the head 50c of the screw is clearing the shoulder formed between the main portion of bore 54 and its counterbore 54b . thus , mounting block 46 has some radial reciprocating type play with respect to body 24 . a radial bore 56 extends through main body 24 , opening roughly centrally in the radially facing surface of recess 48 . a push rod 58 , longer than bore 56 , extends therethrough . an hydraulic or pneumatic cylinder 60 is mounted on the outside of body 24 by any suitable means , diagrammatically shown at 64 . the piston rod 62 protrudes , so that it can abut the protruding end of rod 58 . a spacer plate 63 is interposed between cylinder 60 and bowl 24 and has a central bore for receipt of the protruding ends of rods 62 and 58 . after the slip bodies have been lowered or roughly positioned in the well - known manner , by applying pressurized fluid to the outer side of the piston within cylinder 60 to move it inwardly with respect to the bowl , mounting block 46 can be pushed radially inwardly via rod 58 to the limit permitted by the clearance between screw head 50c and the facing shoulder in bore 54 , carrying member 44 and slip body 34 with it . this serves a similar function to that indicated by the arrow f in fig3 i . e . it sets the slip body 34 against the pipe 10 , preferably under low force , so that slip body 34 cams itself into alignment with the pipe 10 before the weight of the drill pipe is applied , and also so that frictional engagement between the slip body and the pipe is ensured . as mentioned , the setting force applicable by piston and cylinder assembly 60 is preferably low , i . e . it is substantially lower than the radially outward force which will be applied by the weight of the pipe via the camming surface 44 . thus , once the weight of the pipe is let down , it will override cylinder 60 . self - tightening will take over , and there will be no danger of slippage if power to cylinder 60 is lost . as mentioned , member 44 is mounted in block 46 for longitudinal and transverse pivotal movement . more specifically , a pivot pin 66 extends through aligned holes 68 and 70 in the mounting block 46 and member 44 , respectively . pin 66 has enlarged heads 66a at each end for tight fits in respective bores 68 . they may be press fit into bores 68 . however , the central portion of pin 66 which is received in the bore 70 is undersized with respect thereto . thus the pin 66 per se , having a substantial longitudinal component of direction , forms an axis about which member 44 can pivot in a transverse plane , such as the plane of fig5 . furthermore , due to the loose fit of pin 66 in bore 70 , member 44 can also pivot in a longitudinal plane , such as that of fig6 about a tangential axis c intersecting pin 66 about midway along its length . a soft , compressible sleeve 72 is interposed between pin 66 and bore 70 about midway . this helps in centering and stabilizing pin 66 , but is sufficiently soft and compressible that it does not interfere with the requisite pivotal movement . each of the other slip bodies in the assembly would be similarly associated with a respective pivot member such as 44 , in a respective mounting block , but it is unnecessary for the others to have respective piston and cylinder assemblies such as 60 . as is well known in the art , when it is desired to release the grip of the slip bodies , the pipe is lifted to relieve the slip bodies of its weight . then the slip bodies are pulled upwardly with respect to the bowl by some low force means such as one or more hydraulic or pneumatic cylinders . a separate such means may be provided for each slip body , as indicated diagrammatically at r . they may be activated by a common source of pressurized fluid so that they will act in unison . alternatively , a single such means may be provided , and the slip bodies may be connected and articulated for lateral spreading , in the well known manner . all of the preceding embodiments of the invention utilize a single pivot member to provide for both longitudinal and transverse pivoting of the respective slip body . fig7 and 8 diagrammatically illustrate an embodiment which is similar to that of fig4 - 6 , but employs a pair of pivot members for each slip body , one to provide longitudinal movement , and one to provide transverse movement . whereas the one pivot member provided in the embodiment of fig4 - 6 had a part spherical pivot surface , each of the two pivot members 82 and 84 in the embodiment of fig7 and 8 has a part cylindrical pivot surface , and these part cylindrically surfaces are oriented generally perpendicular to each other . one pivot member 86 is mounted in the bowl 82 . although shown in a simplified form , it will be understood by those skilled in the art that it could be mounted on a pivot pin , in turn mounted in a mounting block , in turn radially movable with respect to the bowl by a setting cylinder , all as in the embodiment of fig4 - 6 . as shown in fig8 it is the outer surface of member 86 , which abuts a mating surface in the bowl , which is curved , and it is curved in a transverse plane so that it has a longitudinal pivot axis , i . e . an axis having a substantial longitudinal component . the other pivot member 84 is mounted in the slip body 80 and has its inner surface convexly curved and bearing against a mating concave surface in the outer side of the slip body 80 . it could be so mounted by a pivot pin . it is curved in a longitudinal plane , so that it can pivot in that plane about a tangential axis . the abutting surfaces of the members 84 and 86 are complementarily configured to serve as camming surfaces for the slip body 80 . together they provide both longitudinal and transverse pivotal movement for the slip body 80 . the above embodiments have been described as incorporated in &# 34 ; slips &# 34 ; assemblies , i . e . assemblies located at the rotary tables of their respective drilling rigs . however , slip type assemblies which are identical in terms of those parts which form the present invention could be incorporated in &# 34 ; elevator &# 34 ; assemblies or other gripping devises . all of the embodiments shown are of the self - tightening type , i . e . they have camming surfaces responsive to the weight of the pipe . however , many of the principles of the invention could be applied to assemblies designed to grip only by virtue of a separately imposed force , e . g . from an hydraulic cylinder assembly . likewise , there are many other possible ways of pivotally mounting pivot members in bowls and / or slip bodies . numerous other modifications may suggest themselves to those of skill in the art . accordingly , it is intended that the scope of the invention be limited only by the claims .	4
an embodiment of the present invention will now be described with reference to fig1 to 3 . fig1 schematically shows a gas turbine . a gas turbine comprises a rotation axis with a rotor . the rotor comprises a shaft 107 . along the rotor a suction portion with a casing 109 , a compressor 101 , a combustion portion 151 , a turbine 105 and an exhaust portion with a casing 190 are located . the combustion portion 151 communicates with a hot gas flow channel which may have a circular cross section , for example . the turbine 105 comprises a number of turbine stages . each turbine stage comprises rings of turbine blades . in flow direction of the hot gas in the hot gas flow channel a ring of turbine guide vanes 117 is followed by a ring of turbine rotor blades 115 . the turbine guide vanes 117 are connected to an inner casing of a stator . the turbine rotor blades 115 are connected to the rotor . the rotor is connected to a generator , for example . during operation of the gas turbine air is sucked and compressed by means of the compressor 101 . the compressed air is led to the combustion portion 151 and is mixed with fuel . the mixture of air and fuel is then combusted . the resulting hot combustion gas flows through a hot gas flow channel to the turbine guide vanes 117 and the turbine rotor blades 115 and actuates the rotor . the rotation axis of the turbine is designated by reference numeral 102 . fig2 schematically shows part of a turbine in a sectional view . the axial direction is designated by reference numeral 50 , the radial direction is designated by reference numeral 51 and the tangential direction is designated by reference numeral 52 . in fig2 a vane 117 is connected to a number of carrier elements 6 , 7 , 8 , 9 . the vane 117 comprises a leading edge 4 and a trailing edge 5 . the flow direction of the driving medium , for example gas or steam is indicated by an arrow 1 . the vane 117 comprises a radially outer platform 2 and a radially inner platform 3 . the radially outer platform 2 comprises a leading edge side 45 corresponding to the leading edge 4 of the vane 117 and a trailing edge side 47 corresponding to the trailing edge 5 of the vane 117 . the radially inner platform 3 comprises a leading edge side 46 corresponding to the leading edge 4 of the vane 117 and a trailing edge side 48 corresponding to the trailing edge 5 of the vane 117 . by connecting the vane 117 to a number of carrier elements 6 , 7 , 8 , 9 a number of interfaces between the vane 117 and the carrier element 6 , 7 , 8 , 9 are established . the radially outer platform 2 comprises a first protrusion 41 which is located at the leading edge side 45 of the radially outer platform 2 and a second protrusion 43 which is located at the trailing edge side 47 of the radially outer platform 2 . the radially inner platform 3 comprises a first protrusion 42 at the leading edge side 46 and a second protrusion 44 at the trailing edge side 48 . a first interface is formed between a radially outer surface 31 of the first protrusion 41 of the radially outer platform 2 and a corresponding surface 21 of the carrier element 7 . this first interface is sealed by means of a first leaf seal 11 . a second interface is formed between a radially inner surface 32 of the first protrusion 42 of the radially inner platform 3 and a corresponding surface 22 of the carrier element 9 . this second interface is sealed by means of a second leaf seal 12 . a third interface is formed by a radially outer surface 33 of the second protrusion 43 of the radially outer platform 2 and a corresponding surface 23 of the carrier element 6 . this third interface is sealed by means of a third leaf seal 13 . a fourth interface is formed between a radially inner surface 34 of the second protrusion 44 of the radially inner platform 3 and a corresponding surface 24 of the carrier element 8 . this fourth interface is sealed by means of a fourth leaf seal 14 . the first leaf seal 11 can be connected to the carrier element 7 and / or to the radially outer platform 2 , preferably to the first protrusion 41 of the radially outer platform 2 , by means of retaining pins 15 . the second leaf seal 12 can be connected to the carrier element 9 and / or to the radially inner platform 3 , preferably to the first protrusion 42 of the radially inner platform 3 , by means of retaining pins 15 . the third leaf seal 13 can be connected to the carrier element 6 and / or to the radially outer platform 2 , preferably to the second protrusion 43 of the radially outer platform 2 , by means of retaining pins 15 . the fourth leaf seal 14 can be connected to the carrier element 8 and / or to the radially inner platform 3 , for example to the second protrusion 44 of the radially inner platform 3 , by means of retaining pins 15 . all leaf seals 11 , 12 , 13 , 14 can advantageously be sheetmetal leaf seals . preferably , the retaining pins or location pins 15 which are used for connecting the leaf seals 11 , 12 , 13 , 14 to the platforms 2 , 3 and / or to the carrier elements 6 , 7 , 8 , 9 , are constructed such that a free movement between the platforms 2 , 3 and the carrier elements 6 , 7 , 8 , 9 is possible . preferably , location pins with axial and tangential clearance are used . retaining pins or location pins 15 allow for relative movement between the vane 117 and the corresponding carrier elements 6 , 7 , 8 , 9 , whilst the sealing performance is maintained . generally , the carrier elements 6 , 7 , 8 , 9 can be part of carrier rings . for example , the carrier element 6 and / or the carrier element 7 can be part of a radially outer carrier ring . the carrier element 8 and / or the carrier element 9 can be part of a radially inner carrier ring . radially outside of the radially outer platform 2 a space 10 is formed under the radially outer platform 2 . radially inside of the radially inner platform 3 a space 20 is formed under the radially inner platform 3 . the leaf seals 11 , 12 , 13 , 14 effectively prevent a leakage of hot gases from a combustion chamber of the gas or steam turbine into the spaces 10 and 20 under the platforms 2 and 3 . at the same time a movement between the vane 117 and the carrier element 6 , 7 , 8 , 9 , for example due to vibrations , is possible , whilst the sealing function of the leaf seals 11 , 12 , 13 , 14 is maintained . fig3 schematically shows a leaf seal connected to a platform of a vane in a perspective view . in fig3 the trailing edge side 48 of the radially inner platform 3 is shown as an example . the leaf seal 14 is connected to the second protrusion 14 of the radially inner platform 3 by means of retaining pins or location pins 15 . additionally , a number of openings 17 are shown , which are located in an impingement plate 18 at the underside of the platform 3 . these openings 17 can be used for cooling the underside of the platform 3 and / or for cooling vane 117 . the leaf seal 14 further comprises a number of openings 16 . these openings 16 preferably have a smaller diameter than the openings 17 in the impingement plate at the underside of the platform 3 . the openings 16 of the leaf seal 14 can be used for supplying cooling air or any other cooling medium to the underside of the platform 3 . preferably , the leakage across one of the seals 11 , 12 , 13 , 14 can be allowed to be of a higher value in order to supply cooling air to the underside of the platform 3 . the arrangement shown in fig3 has the advantage that a sealing against leakage of hot combustion gasses is provided , whilst at the same time a cooling of the underside of the platform 3 can be performed . the other three leaf seals 11 , 12 , 13 can be constructed and connected in the same way as shown in fig3 .	5
there is provided by the present invention the multiple groundplane probe 40 shown in fig4 . this structure may be fabricated with a 3 - level - of - metal josephson technology process which may be , for example , an extension of the 2 - level process described in the article in appl . phys . lett ., 59 ( 20 ), november 1991 , by ketchen , et al ., which article is herein incorporated by reference . thus , and advantageously , the other components of the magnetometer , such as a squid can be manufactured at the same time as is the probe of the invention . the probe of the present invention minimizes lead pick - up area , and minimizes the distortion of the local field being measured . the present invention allows a & lt ; 1 μm 2 pick - up area with deep sub - μm feature size required for only one level and consists of a single - level pick - up loop 42 in combination with a progressively wider double ground - planed lead structure in regions 44 , 46 , 48 and 50 . cross sections through three different regions of this lead structure are shown in fig5 and 7 . the double ground - planed structures of fig5 ( section x -- x &# 39 ;) and 6 ( section y -- y &# 39 ;) give somewhat lower lead inductance ( by ≦ 2x ) and considerably lower effective pick - up area than a single groundplane structure . if a single groundplane lowers the pick - up area of the leads by a factor of k , the double groundplane will generally lower it by & gt ; k 2 . fig6 shows a totally enclosed strip line configuration with zero effective pick - up area and a low inductance . the narrow ground - planes near the pick - up loop ( fig5 ) minimizes the distortion of magnetic fields in the vicinity of the pick - up loop while immediately cutting down the lead pick - up area and inductance . after one or more widening steps the width is sufficient to implement the totally enclosed configuration . this wider structure is then far enough away that it does not significantly distort the field at the pick - up loop . typically the fabrication process begins with providing , by thermal oxidation , a layer 91 of sio 2 on a silicon substrate wafer 90 . typically , layer 91 is about 3000 å in thickness . next , using photolithographic techniques known in the art , the patterned first ( m1 ) niobium metal line structure 92 shown in fig5 ( for region 46 ) and 6 ( for region 50 ) is made . structure 92 is typically 2000 å in thickness . structure 92 constitutes the first , or bottom , groundplane which extends the lengths of regions 44 , 46 , 48 and 50 . next , a layer 93 of sio 2 of typical thickness of about 5000 å is sputtered over the surfaces of layers 91 and 92 . this is the first insulating layer ( i1 ). layer 93 is then planarized using techniques known in the art reducing its thickness to about 1500 å above layer 92 at the end of the planarization process . next , first vias are etched through layer 93 in regions 48 and 50 ( locations 94 in fig6 ), to expose metal 92 at the bottoms thereof . thereafter , again using photolithographic techniques , a second layer ( m2 ) of niobium metal about 2000 å thick is selectively patterned onto the surface of layer 93 to form the three coplanar lines 95a , 95b and 95c shown in fig6 and lines 95a and 95c shown in fig5 . metal lines 95a , 95b , and 95c will be in contact with metal layer 92 through the first vias . a second insulating ( i2 ) layer 96 of quartz ( sio 2 ) about 3000 å in thickness is next sputtered over the surface to cover the surface of layer 93 and conformally cover layer 95 . second vias are next etched through insulating layer 96 in regions 48 and 50 ( locations 97 in fig6 ) thereby exposing second metal layer 95 at the bottoms thereof . lastly , and again using photolithographic techniques , a third patterned layer ( m3 ) of niobium 98 about 5000 å in thickness is selectively formed on second quartz insulating layer 96 as shown in fig5 and 6 . layer 96 is in electrical contact with layer 95 through the second vias ( locations 97 in fig6 ). this is the second or top groundplane and like the first or bottom groundplane extends the length of segments 44 , 46 , 48 and 50 . a cross - section z -- z &# 39 ; through probe tip 42 in probe tip region 52 is shown in fig7 . it will be appreciated that the cross - section at location 44 of probe 40 is similar to that of fig5 except for dimensions , and that the cross - section at location 48 of probe 40 is similar to that of fig6 except for dimensions and except that line 95c terminates in section 48 . in the plan view of fig4 the width of the first and second groundplanes are seen increasing in step - wise fashion as the distance from tip 42 increases along the longitudinal axis 54 of probe 40 , but other geometric structures , such as tapers , are also within the contemplation of the invention . the top and bottom groundplane structures in region 44 terminate at a distance αw 1 from tip region 52 . fig8 shows the calculated attenuation factor k as a function of linewidth x for the simplified geometry shown in the inset of fig8 for various groundplane configurations of the present invention . the designator 2 - 1 - 1 - 1 - 2 implies a lead structure with two leads of width x , a space of width x and a groundplane overhang ( oh ) on each side of 2x . the superconductor in all cases was nb with a london penetration depth λ of 0 . 086 μm . the metal thicknesses t m1 and t m2 were all 0 . 15 μm except when x is & lt ; 0 . 15 μm , t m2 = x . the vertical separation , s , between metal layers was 0 . 15 μm in all cases . the degradation in attenuation ( k factor ) as x was decreased is a direct consequence of the less favorable aspect ratios and the constant value λ . the effectiveness of the two groundplane structures ( 2 gp ) as compared with the one groundplane structure ( 1gp ) is clearly illustrated by the two 1 - 1 - 1 - 1 - 1 curves . in general , k ( 2 gp )& gt ; k 2 ( 1 gp ). with reference to fig9 the most critical part of the design of the probe of the invention are the structures of pickup loop 42 , leads 95 ( m2 ) and groundplane structure 92 / 98 in the immediate vicinity of pickup loop 42 . the general situation is as shown in fig9 where b 1 , b 2 , b 3 and b 4 are the average magnetic fields applied perpendicular to the various areas and a 1 , a 2 , a 3 and a 4 are the effective pickup areas . fields in the plane of pickup loop 42 do not couple to the loop or groundplane structure . assuming a double groundplane structure and that the screening currents flowing in area w 2 xw 2 are dominated by the action of screening the field b 3 from that area and provided β ≳ 0 . 5 and the groundplane structure continues to widen to join the totally enclosed groundplane structure over a modest distance , the contribution from b 4 will be small enough to not consider further . the magnetic flux φ a applied to the magnetometer and the measured field b meas is then given by : ## equ1 ## the first term arises from the geometric pickup area of the loop . the second term arises from the pickup area of the ungroundplaned lead structure between the loop and the beginning of the groundplanes . the third term contains two separate components . the first of these arises from the geometric pickup area of the leads in this section ( 2x w 2 ) reduced by the groundplane screening factor k . the second is associated with the flux that is deflected by the groundplanes and ends up passing through the geometric pickup area of the leads between the pickup loop and the groundplane edge . calculations indicate that for w 2 ˜ 1 - 2 μm most of this deflected flux passes within a few 0 . 1 μm &# 39 ; s of the groundplane edge . by way of example , if x = 0 . 1 μm , w 1 = 0 . 1 μm , w 2 = 1 . 0 μm and α = 0 . 4 , then : as another example , consider the case x - 0 . 25 μm , w 2 = 1 . 25 μm and α = 0 . 5 . in this case , as a final case , with x = 0 . 5 μm , w 1 = 1 . 0 μm , w 2 = 1 . 5 μm and α = 0 , the result is : ## equ2 ## or approximately a 100 % increase in effective pickup area . it is thus possible to get pickup areas ≲ 1 μm 2 in size but in one level with the deep sub - μm definition required . the positive effects become increasingly more important as x increases . the arrangement shown in fig4 is clearly a magnetometer tip . in fig1 , the gradiometer version of this invention is shown . here , two small area pick - up loops 70 , 72 wound in opposite sense are positioned at the tip . the same groundplaned structure as with the magnetometer is used . well away from the tip , the necessary cross - over is incorporated and the lead structure reverts to the cross section of fig6 . the gradiometer configuration of fig1 gives improved noise / pick - up reduction and helps to further localize the response to the tip area . the design and operation of gradiometers are discussed , for example , in the paper by m . b . ketchen in j . appl . phys . 58 ( 11 ), december 1985 , which paper is herein incorporated by reference . as shown in fig1 , another novel probe of the invention incorporates a single turn excitation ( or field ) coil 100 circumscribing a single pickup loop 102 where field coil 100 is on the order of about 20 μm across and pickup coil 102 is on the order of about 10 μm across . this probe may be fabricated in the manner discussed above with respect to the magnetometer probe except that here , again through the use of photolithographic techniques , the lower groundplane terminates a distance away from excitation coil 100 in the vicinity of 104 . the top groundplane generally continues over excitation loop 100 but does not extend over pickup loop 102 . excitation coil 100 is formed of the same metal as the lower groundplane and is on the same level of metallization . in this arrangement , excitation coil 100 locally induces a magnetic moment in the underlying sample which in turn couples back to magnetometer pickup loop 102 . the direct coupling between field coil 100 and pickup loop 102 is cancelled out by incorporating in a series wired ( but opposite sense ) configuration an identical pickup loop 105 and field coil 106 located on the same chip far from active tip 108 as shown in fig1 . active tip 108 is then scanned over the surface under study while reference tip 110 remains far away from any material . a squid or other read out device is located at region 112 of chip 114 . input / output pads are located at 116 . examples of applications of this arrangement include use as a susceptibility microscope or for eddy current non - destructive testing on a microscopic length scale . in the presence of a uniformmagnetic field in the plane of the squid chip , this arrangement can also function as a scanning nuclear magnetic resonance ( nmr ) microscope . such devices made be integrated on a single substrate using the planar , thin film , 3 - level of metal technology discussed above . it will be apparent to those of working skill in the art that modifications of this invention may be practiced without departing from the essential scope of this invention such as , for example , the shape of the pickup coils may be varied and are not necessarily restricted to one loop or level and that use may be made of other high and low tc superconducting materials in place of the niomium metal used in conjunction with the foregoing description .	8
fig1 is a top perspective view of an inventive damping mechanism . the inventive damping mechanism is utilized in a belt tensioner , see fig1 . the belt tensioner engages a belt through a pulley journaled to a lever arm . the tensioner is used to apply a preload to the belt and to damp oscillatory movements of the belt . the damping mechanism damps oscillatory movements of a tensioner lever arm . the lever arm generally experiences a bi - directional or oscillatory motion caused by changes in the operating status of a belt drive , for example by load changes . damping is necessary to remove energy from the belt system , thereby ensuring proper operation of the tensioner in order to maximize belt life and operational efficiency . more particularly , an inventive damping mechanism is shown in fig1 . damping mechanism 100 comprises damping band 102 . damping band 102 is connected to an outer arcuate surface 104 of damping shoe 101 . spring , or biasing member , receiving portion 103 comprises a slot in damping shoe 101 . receiving portion 103 receives an end tang ( not shown , see 500 in fig1 ) of a coil spring . surface 105 engages a coil of a spring to provide support during operation . damping band 102 comprises a lubricated plastic such as nylon , pa and ppa , and their equivalents . fig2 is a cross - section view of an inventive damping mechanism at line 2 — 2 in fig1 . ring cut 106 extends about an outer perimeter of outer arcuate surface 104 . rim or protrusion 107 extends about a partial circumference of damping shoe 101 . ring cut 106 in combination with protrusion 107 serve to mechanically attach damping band 102 to damping shoe 101 . fig3 is a top perspective view of an alternate damping mechanism . inventive damping mechanism 200 comprises a first arcuate member 210 and a second arcuate member 220 . first arcuate member 210 has a spring receiving portion 211 into which a spring end tang may be inserted , see fig1 . a wall of the spring receiving portion has maximum thickness 211 a at the spring contact area . wall 211 a may be tapered from the contact area in one direction or in both directions as it extends in both directions . by comparison , a like wall of the previous art has uniform thickness . first arcuate member 210 comprises a damping band 213 attached to a damping shoe 212 . second arcuate member 220 comprises a damping band 215 attached to a damping shoe 214 . first arcuate member 210 is in pivotal contact with the second arcuate member 220 at a point of contact 216 . point of contact 216 comprises end 228 of damping shoe 212 and end 219 of damping shoe 214 . point of contact 216 may vary from a minimum radius to a maximum radius across a width w of each damping shoe with respect to a lever arm axis of rotation r — r , see fig1 . in order to achieve the desired asymmetric damping factor , point of contact 216 is located at a predetermined radial distance from a lever arm axis of rotation r — r . a minimum radius location for point of contact 216 , shown in fig3 , results in the highest asymmetric damping factor for the damping mechanism in operation in a tensioner . point of contact 216 may be disposed at an outer radius 288 which produces a reduced asymmetric damping factor as compared to the foregoing minimum radius location . in an alternate arrangement , end 218 of first arcuate member 210 is in contact with the second arcuate member end 217 . in this alternate embodiment , a spring ( not shown ) having a coil direction opposite that used for the embodiment in fig3 is used . therefore , by switching the point of contact from one end of the first arcuate member and second arcuate member to another end , either a left hand or right hand spring can be used . damping band 213 , 215 are made of frictional material such as plastics , phenolics and metallics . a working surface 230 , 231 of damping band 213 , 215 respectively is slideably engaged under pressure with a tensioner base or arm by operation of a spring , see fig1 and fig1 . a frictional damping force is generated when the damping band slides on the base or arm . damping shoes 212 , 213 are each made of structural material such as steel , molded plastic or equivalents thereof . each damping shoe can be manufactured by utilizing a powder metal process , a die cast process , injection molding or similar processes . materials that can be used include steel , aluminum ( for low load parts ), thermoplastics with various fillers , and equivalents thereof . damping band 215 of the second arcuate member has a material thickness less than the damping band 213 of the second portion . this has two advantages , first , increased spring hook - up size can be realized therefore a larger spring can be used . second , due to the fact of that the second portion 220 of the damping mechanism has higher load than the first portion 210 , a reduced thickness of the first damping band 213 will equalize durability life of both parts . fig4 is a cross - section view of an alternate damping mechanism at line 4 — 4 in fig3 . ring cut 221 extends about an outer perimeter of damping shoe 212 . protrusion 222 extends about a partial circumference of damping shoe 212 . ring cut 223 extends about an outer perimeter of damping shoe 214 . protrusion 224 extends about a partial circumference of damping shoe 214 . each ring cut 221 , 223 in combination with each protrusion 222 , 224 serve to mechanically attached each damping band 213 , 215 to each damping shoe 212 , 214 respectively . fig5 is a top perspective view of a locking mechanism on the damping shoe of an inventive damping mechanism . locking mechanism 300 joins damping shoe 101 to damping band 102 , see fig6 . locking mechanism 300 comprises a plurality of vertical grooves 110 on an arcuate outer engaging surface 111 of damping shoe 101 . ring cut 112 is included to a top edge of the arcuate outer surface 111 to enhance the interconnection of the damping band 102 to the damping shoe 101 . accordingly , lip portion 227 on damping band 102 engages over ring cut 112 . the disclosed multiple groove locking mechanism provides an improved , strong and uniform connection between the damping shoe and damping band . the connection distributes a frictional load imparted to the damping band 102 during operation , thereby extending an operational life over the prior art . fig6 is a top perspective view of a locking mechanism on the damping band of an inventive damping mechanism . the damping band portion of locking mechanism 300 comprises a plurality of spaced vertical ribs 120 on an arcuate inner engaging surface 121 of damping band 102 . ribs 120 of damping band 102 cooperatively engage grooves 110 of damping shoe 101 . protrusions 228 extend from a lower portion 229 of damping band 102 . protrusions 228 engage cooperating recesses or dimples 231 in a base of damping shoe 101 to further affix damping band 102 . the inventive locking mechanism significantly reduces weakening of the damping shoe , therefore , the inventive damping mechanism is much stronger than those in prior art . loading conditions on the damping shoe / damping band are also much improved due to an improved load distribution across the damping shoe realized by the force distributive nature of the locking mechanism . fig7 is a top perspective view of a prior art damping mechanism . prior art damping band db is connected to prior art damping shoe ds . tabs t mechanically connect the damping band db , see fig9 , to the damping shoe ds , see fig8 . fig8 is a top perspective view of a prior art damping mechanism damping shoe . damping shoe ds comprises slots s . slots s receive tabs t in order to mechanically connect damping band db to damping shoe ds , see fig9 . fig9 is a top perspective view of a prior art damping mechanism damping band . damping band db comprises tabs t . each of tabs t mechanically cooperate with corresponding slots s in order to connect damping band db to damping shoe ds . fig1 is a diagram of forces acting on a damping mechanism . the damping mechanism depicted is the embodiment described in fig3 and fig4 . forces f 1 are spring contact reaction forces caused by contact of spring end 500 with the spring receiving portion 211 . spring end 500 contacts the spring receiving portion 211 at two points , creating a pair of reaction forces f 1 . f 2 is a normal reaction force on the damping surface 230 . f 3 is a tangent friction force on the damping surface 230 . f 8 is a normal reaction force on the damping surface 231 . f 9 is a tangent friction force on the damping surface 231 . f 4 is the normal reaction force on damping mechanism arcuate member 220 imparted by a contact of damping shoe 214 with a lever arm 1030 , see fig1 . the asymmetric damping factor is a function of a difference in frictional forces f 3 and f 9 for a movement of the lever arm 1030 . in operation , a normal reaction force f 8 on damping surface 231 is larger than normal reaction force f 2 on damping surface 230 . more particularly , when the lever arm 1030 moves in the + a direction the vectors for the friction forces , f 3 and f 9 operate as shown in fig1 . as the lever arm moves in a direction − a , friction force vectors f 3 and f 9 reverse direction . the change of direction of frictional force vectors f 3 and f 9 causes a resultant force on each damping surface 230 , 231 to change . as a result , when lever arm moves in the − a direction , a normal reaction force on damping mechanism f 4 is larger than when the lever arm moves in direction + a . proportionally , the torque generated on the lever arm in reference to the lever arm axis of rotation r — r by the force f 4 is larger when the lever arm moves in the − a direction than when the lever arm moves in the direction + a . the value of the torque on the lever arm when the arm moves in the direction − a is larger than the value of torque generated by the pair of forces f 1 . the difference between the two values of torque is defined as the damping torque in the direction − a . the value of the torque on the lever arm when the arm moves in the direction + a is smaller than the value of torque generated by the pair of forces f 1 . the difference between the two values of torque is defined as the damping torque in the direction + a . the ratio between the value of the damping torque in the direction − a and the value of the damping torque in the direction + a represents the asymmetric damping factor . the asymmetric damping factor is adjustable depending upon the radial location of point of contact 216 described in fig3 and fig4 . the asymmetric damping factor will be increased as the point of contact 216 is placed radially closer to an axis of rotation of the lever arm 1030 . in the alternative , the asymmetric damping factor will be decreased as the point of contact 216 is placed radially farther from an axis of rotation of the lever arm 1030 . by radially moving point of contact 216 the asymmetric damping factor can be varied in the range of approximately 1 . 5 to 5 . fig1 is a cross - sectional view of forces acting on a tensioner at line 11 — 11 in fig1 . force f 7 is a normal reaction force acting on the arm at the damping mechanism contact point . force f 7 has the same magnitude as force f 4 acting on the damping mechanism . f 6 is a pivot bushing reaction force acting at the interface between bushing 1040 and lever arm 1030 . f 5 is a hub load caused by a load on a belt b , see fig1 . fig1 is a plan view of forces acting on a tensioner . depicted in fig1 is a plan view of the forces described in fig1 . fig1 is a diagram of the forces acting on a damping mechanism . the damping mechanism is that depicted in fig1 and fig2 . forces f 11 are spring contact reaction forces caused by contact of the end 500 with the spring receiving portion 103 . one can see that spring end 500 contacts the spring receiving portion at two points creating a pair of reaction forces f 11 . f 12 is a normal reaction force on the damping surface 109 . f 13 is a tangent friction force on the damping surface 109 . f 14 is the reaction force on damping mechanism portion 102 imparted by a contact with a lever arm 2030 , see fig1 . the asymmetric damping factor is realized by a difference in frictional force f 13 for a movement of the lever arm 2030 . more particularly , when lever arm 2030 moves in the + a direction , f 13 operates as shown in fig1 . as the lever arm moves in the − a direction , f 13 operates in the reverse direction . the change in direction in f 13 causes a resultant force on damping surface 109 to change . as a result when lever arm 2030 moves in the + a direction , a force f 14 on the damping mechanism is larger than when the lever arm moves in direction − a . proportionally , the torque generated on the lever arm in reference to the lever arm axis of rotation r — r by the force f 14 is larger when the lever arm moves in the + a direction than when the lever arm moves in the direction − a . the value of the torque on the lever arm when the arm moves in the direction + a is larger than the value of torque generated by the pair of spring forces f 11 . the difference between the two values of torque is defined as the damping torque in the direction + a . the value of the torque on the lever arm when the arm moves in the direction − a is smaller than the value of torque generated by the pair of spring forces f 11 . the difference between the two values of torque is defined as the damping torque in the direction − a . the ratio between the value of the damping torque in the direction + a and the value of the damping torque in the direction − a represents the asymmetric damping factor . fig1 is a cross - sectional view of forces acting on a tensioner at line 14 — 14 in fig1 . force f 17 is a normal reaction force acting on the damping mechanism contact point . f 16 is a pivot bushing reaction force acting at the interface between bushing 1040 and lever arm 1030 . f 15 is a hub load caused by a load on a belt b . fig1 is a plan view of the forces acting on a tensioner . depicted in fig1 is a plan view of the forces described in fig1 . fig1 is an exploded view of a tensioner having a damping mechanism . damping mechanism 200 engages lever arm 1030 at tab 1031 . biasing member or spring 1020 has one end connected to base 1010 and the other end connected to damping mechanism spring receiving portion 211 as described elsewhere in this specification . lever arm 1030 is pivotably connected to base 1010 through bushing 1040 . dust seal 1050 prevents foreign material from entering the tensioner during operation . pulley 1060 is journaled to lever arm 1030 through bearing 1070 . a belt ( not shown ) engages pulley surface 1061 . bearing 1070 is connected by a fastener such as bolt 1080 . damping mechanism surfaces 230 , 231 are in sliding engagement with an inner surface 1011 of tensioner base 1010 . tab 1031 engages damping shoe 212 during operation , thereby causing a movement of base inner surface 1011 across damping mechanism surface 230 . fig1 is an exploded view of a tensioner having a damping mechanism . damping mechanism 100 is engaged with lever arm 2030 at tab 2031 . biasing member or spring 2020 has one end connected to base 2010 and the other end connected to damping mechanism spring receiving portion 103 as described elsewhere in this specification . lever arm 2030 is pivotably connected to base 2010 through bushing 2040 . dust seal 2050 prevents foreign material from entering the tensioner during operation . pulley 2060 is journaled to lever arm 2030 through bearing 2070 . a belt ( not shown ) engages pulley surface 2061 . bearing 2070 is connected by a fastener such as bolt 2080 . damping mechanism surface 109 is in sliding engagement with an inner surface 2011 of tensioner base 2010 . tab 2031 engages damping mechanism 100 during operation , thereby causing a movement of base inner surface 2011 across damping mechanism surface 109 . although a single form of the invention has been described herein , it will be obvious to those skilled in the art that variations may be made in the construction and relation of parts without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention described herein .	5
the essential function of fig1 is to compare nrz modulation ( 110 ) with other types of modulation in order for the reader to better appreciate the simplicity and the low cost that result from its use in communication products . in particular , it can be compared to a second modulation mode known as the return to zero ( rz ) mode ( 120 ). in contrast to the nrz mode , at the time of the succession of a transmission of ‘ 1 ’ levels , the device emitting the light signals is turned on and then off in each bit period ( 100 ). this obviously results in a greater number of transitions ( 125 ) in the signal to be transmitted , which corresponds to a spreading of the transmitted energy over a wider range of frequencies , a phenomenon familiar to persons skilled in the art and which is shown clearly by the spectral analysis of such signals using appropriate measuring equipment . in other words , the propagation medium , in this instance the optical fiber , and the receiver must be able to transmit and receive modulation comprising components at higher frequencies , and therefore offer better performance , if the signals are not to be degraded . another type of modulation that is often used is two - phase or manchester code modulation ( 130 ). it comprises an even greater number of transitions since there is at least one transition in each ‘ 1 ’ or ‘ 0 ’ bit period . the spectral components of this modulation mode are therefore even more oriented toward high frequencies and the resulting drawbacks are more accentuated . thus , whenever possible , the nrz modulation mode is preferred , for its simplicity and its low cost of implementation . however , fig2 shows a problem of nrz modulation , in particular when a ‘ 0 ’ symbol ( 210 ) must be transmitted in a long series of ‘ 1 ’ symbols ( 220 ). because of the interaction between the symbols , especially beyond the electrical filter in the receiver , the turning off of the light emitter is not so sharp , which therefore makes detection of the isolated ‘ 0 ’ symbol by the remote receiver more difficult . in other words , the extinction rate of the signal after electrical filtering is degraded . the invention therefore proposes to improve nrz modulation from this point of view in order to widen its field of application , thereby avoiding the need to use other modulation modes , such as rz modulation , which although it achieves clear separation of ‘ 1 ’ symbols where the emitter is active , nevertheless has the drawbacks previously cited . fig3 a , 3 b , 3 c show how the signals transmitted must be modified in accordance with the invention to obtain a better extinction rate . fig3 a corresponds to the standard case of an nrz modulation signal in which the ‘ 0 ’ and ‘ 1 ’ holding times are equal , i . e . when the holding at 1 ratio is equal to 1 , the holding at 1 ratio being defined as follows : holding   at   1   ratio = 2 × holding   at   1   time bit   time - transition   time the transition ratio , representing the fraction of the bit time needed to change from one level to the other , and equal to 0 . 44 in fig3 a , is defined as follows : transition   ratio = transition   time bit   time the invention therefore induces a greater or lesser deformation of the holding time to maintain the signal at the ‘ 0 ’ level for longer and thereby to increase the extinction time of the optical transmission device . this is shown in fig3 b and 3c at different levels . thus fig3 b shows a signal with a holding at 1 ratio equal to 0 . 43 and fig3 c shows a situation in which the ratio is 0 . the advantage obtained must be quantified precisely by appropriate measurements carried out by persons skilled in the optical transmission art . thus fig4 shows the limit osnr yielding a floor error rate of 10 − 9 as a function of the equivalent noise band of the electrical filter in the receiver on detecting a signal modulated in the mode according to the invention at a bit rate of 10 gbit / s . for this figure the transition ratio is 0 . 3 . it is important for this value to be identical for both of the modulation modes compared because it shows well that in both cases the modulator has exactly the same speed . for a holding at 1 time equal to 0 . 5 the curve shows that the limit value of the osnr is 0 . 5 db lower than that obtained for a signal modulated in the conventional nrz mode ( holding at 1 time equal to 1 represented by the curve ). these curves are applicable for any bit rate provided that the ratio between the equivalent noise band and the base frequency of the bit rate is complied with . thus it is also possible to say that the modulation mode according to the invention facilitates optimizing opto - electronic receivers because they then have a greater tolerance to optical noise for a smaller equivalent noise band . the advantage obtained can also be assessed by a standard measurement of optical transmission quality . this factor is called the transmission quality factor or q factor . standard measuring instrumentation can in particular plot curves like those shown in fig5 in which the quality factor is expressed as a function of the holding at 1 ratio and as a function of the transition ratio . the optimum equivalent noise band is chosen for this figure , i . e . 5 ghz for a modulated signal at 10 gbit / s . fig5 shows clearly to persons skilled in the optical transmission art that there is an area in accordance with the invention in which the quality factor is improved , i . e . increased , compared to that obtained with standard nrz modulation , shown in the graph for the purposes of comparison . this is achieved for ranges of transition ratio and holding at 1 time which differ from those of the ordinary method and it is therefore advantageous to use them to improve transmission using nrz modulation . this area , determined by a holding at 1 ratio , is from 0 . 1 to 0 . 85 ( on the abscissa axis ), for a transition rate from 0 . 1 to 0 . 6 ( on the ordinate axis ). fig6 shows how the invention can be implemented generally , on the understanding that numerous variants that do not depart from the scope of the invention will be evident to the skilled person . the light emitter ( 610 ) is here an integrated laser modulator ( ilm ). this device receives a control signal ( 618 ) supplied by the electrical control unit ( 620 ) to shape the signal at the modulator input . according to the invention , this signal must have a small bandwidth , given the speed of transmission , in particular with a controlled transition time . this is preferably obtained by appropriate means such as an analog or digital electrical filter ( 625 ), for example a fifth order bessel filter for transforming in accordance with the principles of the invention the data signal ( 635 ) generated by upstream control logic . in this preferred embodiment of the invention , the ilm is characterized by a non - linear transfer function ( 630 ) and produces a resultant optical signal ( 640 ) having all the required characteristics , as discussed hereinabove . when nrz modulation is used in accordance with the above principles , these characteristics extend its use beyond its traditional fields of application . the system uncovered by the invention improves transmission quality on an optical fiber using the nrz modulation mode . although there are other modulation modes offering better performance , the nrz mode is the simplest to implement and therefore the most economic , and the mode of choice for large - scale use . the invention is very suitable for controlling light emitters in the form of lasers which must simply be turned off or on according to whether a ‘ 1 ’ or ‘ 0 ’ level must be transmitted . by shaping the optical signal appropriately , the invention compensates the intrinsic weakness of the nrz mode when it is necessary to transmit an isolated ‘ 0 ’ level in a series of ‘ 1 ’ levels and which therefore becomes more difficult to detect .	7
referring now to fig1 there is shown an agricultural harvesting machine 10 with a frame 12 that is supported by wheels 14 on the ground and can be coupled to a towing vehicle by means of a towbar 16 . baling rolls 18 surround a baling chamber 20 in which crop to be baled , which was taken up from the ground by a crop pick - up arrangement 22 , can be compressed into a bale . the baling chamber 20 extends through a forward , fixed housing part 24 and a rear housing part 26 , forming a discharge gate that can be raised for the ejection of a cylindrical bale . on each side of the crop pick - up arrangement 22 , a height gauge arrangement 28 is located , with which the crop pick - up arrangement 22 can be gauged at a certain height above the ground . the agricultural machine 10 described so far corresponds to a rotobaler of conventional configuration . indeed , the use of the height gauge arrangement 28 according to the invention is limited neither to a rotobaler of the type shown nor to a rotobaler at all . rather , other agricultural machines can be considered , for example , another baler , a self - loading forage box , a forage harvester , a combine , and the like . the crop pick - up arrangement 22 may be a pick - up as well as a cutter head , a corn head or the like , and can extend over the maximum width allowed for the transport on public roads . as can be seen , in particular in fig2 the crop pick - up arrangement 22 includes tines 30 circulating vertically in horizontally spaced rows that leave a spacing 32 between them that is covered by stripper vanes 34 . the tines 30 and the stripper vanes 34 are carried by a frame 36 to a rear side of which is fixed a pair of transversely spaced rear walls 38 that extend vertically beside walls of the frame 12 and contain a bearing 40 to which the frame 36 is coupled so as to pivot vertically . the bearing 40 is located above and to the rear of the frame 36 , but ahead of the support wheels 14 . the crop pick - up arrangement 22 can be repositioned in height by means of actuating arrangements , not shown , for example , linkages , rope pulls , hydraulic motors , etc ., in order to occupy thereby an upper transport position or to slide along the ground for crop pick - up . in the lower crop pick - up position , the crop pick - up arrangement 22 can float according to the surface of the ground . other than for the height gauge arrangement 28 , the crop pick - up arrangement 22 is of conventional configuration . the height gauge arrangement 28 includes a pivot arm assembly 42 , wheels 44 , skid shoes 46 , a pivot shaft 48 , and a bearing 50 . in the disclosed embodiment , the height gauge arrangement 22 is configured as an assembly that is attached to the underside of the crop pick - up arrangement 22 and extends almost or generally over its entire width . indeed , it would also be possible to configure it in each case with only one component ( pivot arm assembly 42 , wheel 44 , skid shoe 46 , pivot shaft 48 , and bearing 50 ) and to locate the narrower assembly at a location between opposite ends of the crop pickup arrangement 22 . while in the disclosed embodiment two wheels 44 and three skid shoes 46 are provided , fundamentally one wheel 44 and one skid shoe 46 would be adequate . on the other hand , more than two wheels 44 and three skid shoes 46 could be provided , as long as this is practical and technically useful . compared to the support wheels 14 , each wheel 44 is of a relatively small diameter and is used for supporting the pivot arm assembly 42 on the ground , when the skid shoes 46 encounter an obstacle . the wheels 44 are located to the rear of the pivot shaft 48 , or as seen in fig1 to the right of the shaft 48 . each wheel 44 is engaged , free to rotate in an end region of an arm 52 , whose other end region is retained radially to the pivot shaft 48 . the wheels 44 may be provided with solid or pneumatic tires . in a simple configuration , the arms 52 may be retained and fixed against rotation on the pivot shaft 48 . in the embodiment shown , however , they are supported in bearings on the shaft 48 , free to pivot . the skid shoes 46 also extend radially from the pivot shaft 48 and are connected to it , fixed against rotation . although the skid shoes 46 are shown , according to fig3 connected directly to the pivot shaft 48 , the description in the following nevertheless is based on the fact that only the forward region shows a skid shoe 46 that is connected by an arm 54 with the pivot shaft 48 or that extends to it . as seen in fig2 the right - hand skid shoe 46 is also configured in such a way that it fits between the tines 30 , and in the extreme case , can be brought into contact with the underside of the stripper vanes 34 , without colliding with the tines 30 . on the other hand , it would also be possible to releasably attach wider plates 55 to the underside of the skid shoes 46 , as shown at the middle and left - hand skid shoes 46 , which plates 55 extend outside of the operating region of the tines 30 . the plates 55 act to minimize the ground pressure . furthermore , the removable plates 55 have the advantage that they could easily be replaced in case of wear or damage . alternatively , the skid shoes 46 in themselves could be configured in the shape of a plate . in a further embodiment , in place of fixed skid surfaces , rolls , wheels or the like could also be used . at the end opposite the skid shoe 46 , each arm 54 extends beyond the pivot shaft 48 and forms a support arm 55 that extends in the form of a scissors to the arm 52 . the pivot shaft 48 is preferably provided with a non - circular profile , for example , hexagonal , and extends preferably over the entire width of the height gauge arrangement 28 . alternatively , each wheel 44 could be connected with one or several skid shoes 46 . the pivot shaft 48 engages , so as to - rotate , at the rear lower corner region of the crop pick - up arrangement 22 by means of the bearings 50 and is secured in the axial direction by means not shown . a spring 56 is provided between the shaft 48 and the frame 36 of the crop pick - up arrangement 22 , which constantly resists counterclockwise movement of the shaft 48 and hence , downward movement of the skid shoe 46 , so that particularly when the crop pick - up arrangement 22 is raised , the skid shoes 46 do not project downward and collide with an obstacle , without being able to evade it , while a contact of the wheel 44 , then located at the bottom and able to move upward , leaves it undamaged . while the spring 56 is shown in the drawing as a torsion spring , a multitude of other springs could also be used , for example , leaf springs , helical compression springs , helical extension springs or even gas springs or the like . the spring 56 is retained at one end by means of an eye ( not shown ) and a screw 57 received in a bore provided in the shaft 48 , and is in contact at its other end under a preload at the rear , lower edge of the frame 36 , which indeed could also be configured differently . the bearings 50 are configured in the usual manner as slide bearings , roller bearings or ball bearings that are fastened in bearing shells 51 on the underside of the frame 36 . the spring 56 or several springs 56 are particularly useful to retain the skid shoes 46 generally upward in addition to the pivoting moments about the pivot shaft 48 due to the weight of the associated masses upon very uneven ground . the arms 52 for the wheels 44 are formed more or less from a flat steel strip with high bending strength . the arms 54 for the skid shoes 46 are configured comparably to the arms 52 . if the arms 54 simultaneously form the skid shoes 46 , they can be configured in a “ j ”- shape , as is shown in fig3 so that they can slide along the ground on the outer bend of the “ j ” instead of on its edge . the arms 52 and 54 can extend on the pivot shaft 48 immediately alongside each other , or spaced to the side alongside each other . in another embodiment , they can also be combined and configured as a one - piece component . in the embodiment shown , their longitudinal axes extend at an angle between them of approximately 140 °. since the arm 52 of the wheel 44 is supported in bearings , free to move on the pivot shaft 48 , the relative position between the arms 52 and 54 is maintained by means of a very strong spring 60 configured as a helical compression spring that can engage with one end the support arm 55 and with its other end on the upper side of the arm 52 . a screw 62 extends through the spring 60 and is secured in the support arm 55 as well as in the arm 52 , and is used to retain the spring 60 in its place as well as to maintain the angular spread between the arms 52 and 54 at a minimum . accordingly , the spring 60 on the one hand and the screw 62 on the other hand provide the assurance that the two arms 52 and 54 can be repositioned relative to each other within a certain region under a preload . a depression 66 , which is semi - circular in side view , is provided on the upper side of the arm 52 in a location for receiving a stop 68 , carried by the frame 36 when the pivot arm assembly 42 pivots to an extreme counterclockwise position . the stop 68 can be configured as a screw , a pin , a welded part or the like and can be attached to the frame 36 rigidly or so that it can be repositioned . the depression 66 and the stop 68 are located on a circular arc about the center of the pivot shaft 48 . on the basis of the above description , the operation is as follows : during operation , the crop pick - up arrangement 22 and the height gauge arrangement 28 take the position shown in fig3 in which the pick - up devices 30 brush over the ground , and the skid shoes 46 , as well as the wheels 44 , touch the ground . if the crop pick - up arrangement 22 is moved to the left as seen in fig3 that is , forward , and if a skid shoe 46 makes contact with an obstacle 64 , then the crop pick - up arrangement 22 moves upward . thereupon , a pivoting movement of the pivot arm assembly 42 , together with the pivot shaft 48 , is performed in the clockwise direction . since the wheel 44 is located on the ground and held there by the action of the coil compression spring 60 , the crop pick - up arrangement 22 is raised in the region of the pivot shaft 48 . as soon as the obstacle has been overcome , the skid shoe 46 is lowered again ; and with it , the crop pick - up arrangement 22 is also lowered . in an embodiment in which the wheel 44 is offset to the side with respect to the skid shoe 46 , the wheel 44 will not also roll over the obstacle 64 and will not lead to a renewed raising of the crop pick - up arrangement 22 . having described the preferred embodiment , it will become apparent that various modifications can be made without departing from the scope of the invention as defined in the accompanying claims .	0
the thermoplastic elastomers of the invention may be prepared by compounding a crude polysulfide rubber with an alkali metal hydroxide and a curing agent . other conventional compounding ingredients may be included if desired . for example , a solid polysulfide copolymer derived from ethylene dichloride , and bis - 2 - chloroethyl formal , carbon black , stearic acid , a zinc chloride complex of mercaptobenzothiazole disulfide , diphenylguanidine , zinc oxide , and potassium hydroxide are compounded together and cured . the exact time and temperature of the compounding are not especially critical , the proportions of the ingredients , including the curing agent , are also not especially critical and those known to the art for the conventional compounding ingredients so as to give the desired physical properties may be employed , the catalytic amount of alkali metal hydroxide may be of any of the common alkali metal hydroxides , such as lithium , sodium , potassium or cesium hydroxides , and it may be employed in a concentration of from about 0 . 4 to about 5 . 0 preferably about 0 . 5 to 1 . 0 parts by weight of hydroxide to about 100 parts by weight of the polysulfide crude rubber . one skilled in the art will recognize that in addition to the ethylene dichloride , bis - 2 - chloroethyl formal polysulfide copolymer illustrated , it will be possible to employ any of the polysulfide rubbers commonly available or known in the literature . the typical polysulfide polymers which are usable are described by fettes and jorczak in industrial and engineering chemistry , vol . 42 , page 2217 ( 1950 ), and industrial and engineering chemistry , vol . 43 , page 324 ( 1951 ). the cure of the compounded crude polysulfide rubber - alkali metal hydroxide mixture may be accomplished in the usual fashion . the cure is normally performed with the addition of heat and the application of pressure . the exact heat and pressure are not particularly critical and will readily be selected by one skilled in the art based upon the type of polysulfide crude rubber employed , the conventional compounding ingredients employed and the desired final properties . it has however been found that the presence of water in excess of that normally found in the individual ingredients entering into the compounded uncured product will retard cure and lead to voids and blisters in the cured product . extrusion of the cured products may be accomplished using standard equipment suitable for the extrusion of other solid thermoplastic elastomers . standard extrusion dies may be employed and the temperatures and pressures employed will normally be well within the usual working ranges for this type of extrusion . the extruded products on cooling regain substantially the original properties of the original cured rubber and can be softened and re - extruded and hardened repeatedly without substantial loss of original properties . the following examples further illustrate the best mode contemplated by the inventor for the practice of his invention . polysulfide polymer based elastomers were compounded of the following ingredients by mixing at 150 ° c . : ______________________________________ parts by weight 1 2______________________________________polysulfide polymer crude rubber ( copolymer derived from ethylenedichloride and bis - 2 - chloroethylformal ) 100 100carbon black 60 60stearic acid 0 . 5 0 . 5zinc chloride complex of mercapto - benzothiazole disulfide 0 . 3 0 . 3diphenyl guanidine 0 . 1 0 . 1zinc oxide 10 10potassium hydroxide -- 0 . 5______________________________________ sheets pressed from these formulations for 40 min . at 300 ° f . and 2000 psi possessed the following properties : ______________________________________ 1 2______________________________________tensile , psi 1180 1290elongation , % 375 205100 % modulus 312 700duro &# 34 ; a &# 34 ; 67 77 % set ( 10 min .) 13 3tear pli 242 180______________________________________ samples of the cured elastomers were extruded through a 1 mm die having length to diameter ratio of 15 / 1 , at 20 minutes the pressures were 6300 psi for # 1 and 3700 psi for # 2 . the extrudate of # 2 was less kinky and regained its &# 34 ; snap &# 34 ; on cooling . polysulfide based elastomers were compounded of the following ingredients by mixing at 150 ° c . ______________________________________ parts by weight______________________________________polysulfide polymer crude rubber ( derived from bis - 2 - chloroethyl formaland 2 % trichoropropane , average slinkages s . sub . 2 . 25 , sh terminated ) 100carbon black 60zinc chloride complex of mercapto - benzothiazole disulfide 0 . 3diphenyl guanidine 0 . 1zinc peroxide 3 . 3potassium hydroxide 1 . 7______________________________________ sheets pressed from this formulation at 150 ° c . for 30 minutes at 2000 psi possessed the following properties : ______________________________________tensile , psi 780elongation , % 355modulus 100 % 268duro &# 34 ; a &# 34 ; 68 % set ( 10 min .) 6tear ( pli ) 207______________________________________ a sample of the cured elastomer was extruded as in example 1 at 15 minutes the pressure was 6800 psi . the extrudate regained its &# 34 ; snap &# 34 ; on cooling . polysulfide polymer based elastomers were compounded of the following ingredients by mixing at 150 ° c . ______________________________________ parts by weight 1 2 3 4______________________________________polysulfide polymer crude rubber ( as in example 2 ) 100 100 100 100carbon black 60 60 60 60zinc chloride complex of mercapto - benzothiazole disulfide 0 . 3 0 . 3 0 . 3 0 . 3diphenyl guanidine 0 . 1 0 . 1 0 . 1 0 . 1zinc peroxide 3 . 3 3 . 3 3 . 3 3 . 3zinc oxide -- 6 . 6 -- -- potassium hydroxide 3 . 3 3 . 3 1 . 7 2 . 5______________________________________ sheets pressed from these formulations at 150 ° c . and 2000 psi for 40 minutes possessed the following properties : ______________________________________tensile , psi 391 384 823 500elongation , % 443 382 423 387100 % mod . 136 180 268 218duro &# 34 ; a &# 34 ; 55 58 64 60 % set ( 10 min .) 27 19 10 22tear pli 857 818 219 143______________________________________ a sample of each cured elastomer was extruded as in example 1 at 15 minutes the pressure for # 1 was 4500 psi , the pressure for # 2 was 3700 psi , the pressure for # 3 and # 4 was 4700 psi . the extrudate of all 4 samples regained their &# 34 ; snap &# 34 ; on cooling .	1
in the electronic musical instrument shown in fig1 a keyboard 10 comprises an upper keyboard , a lower keyboard and a pedal keyboard ( not shown ) and a depressed key detecting and tone generation assigning circuit 11 which operates to detect depressed keys in the keyboard 10 for assigning the tone production as designated by the depressed keys to available tone generating channels . the number of the tone generating channels is 16 , for example , and the time slots of the respective channels are formed on a time division basis as shown in fig2 a . the width of one time slot corresponds to one period ( for example 1 μs ) of a main clock pulse φ . the depressed key detecting and tone generation assigning circuit 11 produces , on a time division basis , key codes assigned to respective channels , key on signals ko representing depressed keys , and other necessary information in synchronism with the given channel time . the circuit 11 also produces , on a time division basis , signals ue , le , pe representing a keyboard to which the key assigned to the given channel belongs . the depressed key detecting and tone generation assigning circuit 11 of the type described above is disclosed in the specification of u . s . pat . no . 3 , 882 , 751 , u . s . pat . no . 4 , 114 , 495 , u . s . pat . no . 4 , 148 , 017 , u . s . pat . no . 4 , 192 , 211 and u . s . patent applicaton ser . no . 940 , 381 filed sept . 7 , 1978 and assigned to the same assignee as the present case . each key code kc comprises a note code consisting of four bits : n 4 , n 3 , n 2 and n 1 that discriminate twelve notes within an octave in a musical scale and an octave code consisting usually of three bits ( but not specified herein as these are not significant in this invention ) that discriminate octaves . one example of the note code n 1 - n 4 is shown in the following table 1 . table 1______________________________________ bitnote n . sub . 4 n . sub . 3 n . sub . 2 n . sub . 1______________________________________c ♯ 0 0 0 1d 0 0 1 0d ♯ 0 0 0 1 1e 0 1 0 1f 0 1 1 0f ♯ 0 1 1 1g 1 0 0 1g ♯ 1 0 1 0a 1 0 1 1a ♯ 1 1 0 1b 1 1 1 0c 1 1 1 1______________________________________ the key code kc produced by the depressed key detecting and tone generation assigning circuit 11 is applied to a frequency information memory device 12 of a tone generator unit tg . the frequency information memory device 12 prestores frequency informations r , which are values ( phase increments per unit time ) corresponding to musical tone frequencies of respective keys , the frequencies being determined in an equally tempered scale , so that a frequency information corresponding to an applied key code is read out . these frequency informations are the same as the frequency numbers or frequency informations defined in u . s . pat . nos . 3 , 809 , 786 and 3 , 882 , 751 . a frequency information r produced by the frequency information memory device 12 is applied to an accumulator 14 via a frequency information controller 13 . the frequency information controller 13 is used to modify the values of frequency informations r corresponding to subordinate tones respectively of a chord , so that these have predetermined note interval relationships with respect to the root note of the chord . this root note is detected by a chord detector 15 . more particularly , it changes the frequency information r of each subordinate tone by such an amount that the interval relationship of each tone constituting the chord becomes of just intonation by taking the root note as the reference . the accumulator 14 operates to repeatedly add , with a predetermined regular time interval , the frequency informations ( r for the root tone and modified values rn for the subordinate tones ) of the tones assigned to the respective channels , thus advancing the phase of each designated musical tone waveform by the repeated additional operations . the output of the accumulator 14 sequentially reads out amplitude values at continuous sampling points of a musical tone waveform which has been stored in a musical tone waveform memory device 16 . a key - on signal ko produced by the depressed key detecting and tone generation assigning circuit 11 is applied to an envelope waveform generator 17 to cause it to produce an envelope waveform signal ev which controls the amplitude envelope of a musical tone waveform signal read out from the musical tone waveform memory device 16 . after being suitably controlled in its tone color , tone volume , etc ., the musical tone waveform signal produced by the memory device 16 is applied to a sound system ss . the chord detector 15 is supplied with note codes n 1 through n 4 among key codes sent out from the depressed key detecting and tone generation assigning circuit 11 for detecting a chord formed by the depressed keys of a predetermined keyboard ( for example the lower keyboard ) thus producing a signal rn representing the root note of the chord . in accordance with the root note signal , the frequency information controller 13 passes the frequency information r regarding the root note without any modification ( that is of the value for the equally tempered scale ), whereas it modifies the frequency information r of the notes other than the root note , that is the subordinate notes in a predetermined manner ( that is by the amounts to obtain a just intonation scale ) in accordance with the respective note intervals of the subordinate notes , so as to produce modified frequency informations rm . a switch 18 is provided to enable the frequency information controller 13 when desired . thus , when it is closed the frequency information controller 13 is rendered operative , whereas when it is opened the controller 13 is disenabled to cause it pass all frequency informations r without any modification . the detail of the frequency information controller 13 and the chord detector 15 will now be described with reference to fig3 . as shown in fig3 the chord detector 15 comprises a gate circuit 19 , a decoder 20 , a primary memory device 21 , a secondary memory device 22 and a chord root name encoder 23 . the gate circuit 19 is supplied with only the note code n 1 - n 4 among the key code , on a time division basis , from the depressed key detecting and tone generation assigning circuit 11 . a lower keyboard signal le representing channels to which depressed keys in the lower keyboard are assigned by the depressed key detecting and tone generation assigning circuit 11 is supplied to the control input terminal of the gate circuit 19 . accordingly the gate circuit 19 passes only the note codes regarding the lower keyboard . this is because , in this embodiment , the performance effect of the present invention is applied only to the lower keyboard . the note code n 1 - n 4 passing through the gate circuit 19 enter the decoder 20 which decodes the note code n 1 - n 4 having contents as shown in table 1 to produce a signal corresponding to the content of the input note code n 1 - n 4 on either one of twelve output lines 20c ♯- 20c respectively corresponding to twelve notes c ♯ through c . as above described , since the note codes n 1 - n 4 are produced , on a time division basis , in synchronism with respective channel times , output signals are produced on the output lines 20c ♯- 20c of the decoder 20 at different times . signals produced by the decoder 20 at different times are temporarily stored in the primary memory device 21 , pg , 9 and the signals temporarily stored therein are periodically cleared by the clock pulse sy c as well as periodically written into the secondary memory device 22 . the clock pulse sy c is a signal periodically produced in coincidence with the time slot of the first channel as shown in fig2 b . more particularly , the primary memory unit 21 comprises 12 parallelly connected set - reset type flip - flop circuits 21 - c ♯ through 21 - c corresponding to the twelve notes c ♯ through c , the set terminals s of respective flip - flop circuits 21 - c ♯ through 21 - c being respectively supplied with the signals on the output lines 20c ♯ through 20c . as a consequence , when signals &# 34 ; 1 &# 34 ; are produced on corresponding decoder output lines 20c ♯ through 20c , the corresponding ones among flip - flop circuits 21c ♯ through 21 - c are set . the clock pulse sy c are commonly applied to the reset input terminals r of respective flip - flop circuits 21 - c ♯ through 21 - c . as a consequence , while all channel times make one cycle corresponding to the notes of all depressed keys of the flower keyboard , signals stored in respective flip - flop circuits 21 - c ♯ through 21 - c are all cleared in the subsequent first channel time . however , since the clock pulse generated at the first channel time acts as a load instruction for the secondary memory device 22 the contents of the flip - flop circuits 21 - c ♯ through 21 - c are transferred and stored in the secondary memory device 22 immediately prior to the resetting of the flip - flop circuits . the secondary memory device 22 is provided with twelve parallel connected latch circuit elements corresponding to twelve notes c ♯ through c and the output signals of the flip - flop circuits 21 - c ♯ through 21 - c are applied to respective data inputs of the latch circuit elements , whereas clock pulse syc is supplied to the load control input of the secondary memory device 22 . the informations of the notes time - divisioned and multiplexed as above described are converted into parallel direct current ( continuous ) signals for respective tones via the decoder 20 , the primary and the secondary memory devices 21 and 22 . more particularly twelve outputs on lines 22c ♯ through 22c of the secondary memory device 22 respectively correspond to respective notes c ♯ through c thus producing continuous ( or dc ) signals &# 34 ; 1 &# 34 ; on the output lines 22c ♯ through 22c corresponding to the notes of the depressed keys of the lower keyboard . for example , where the keys corresponding to notes c , d and g are simultaneously depressed in the lower keyboard , the outputs 22c , 22d and 22g are all &# 34 ; 1 &# 34 ;. the outputs 22c ♯ through 22c from the secondary memory device 22 are applied to a chord root name encoder 23 which detects a chord in accordance with a state of combination of twelve input signals ( outputs 22c ♯- 22c ) from the secondary memory device 22 and corresponding to the notes c ♯ through c respectively , thus producing a signal rn representing the name of the root note of that chord . the root note signal rn is a 4 - bit data having the same encoded content as the note code n 1 - n 4 shown in table 1 . combinations of notes constituting respective chords are prestored in the chord root name encoder 23 so that a predetermined root note signal rn is read out from the chord root name encoder 23 in accordance with a combination of notes applied thereto . the root note signal rn read out from the chord root name encoder 23 is sent to the frequency information controller 13 . also the note code n 1 - n 4 of the tones of the lower keyboard passing through the gate circuit 19 in the chord detector 15 are applied to the frequency information controller 13 . the frequency information controller 13 comprises a root note assigning channel detector 24 , subordinate note assigning channel detectors 25 - 1 through 21 - 7 , a pitch correction data rom 26 , a pitch correction data selection gate circuit 27 , and a multiplier 28 . the root note assigning channel detector 24 operates to detect a channel which is assigned with a depressed key of the lower keyboard having the detected root note name , and comprises a coincidence detection circuit 240 . the subordinate note assigning channel detectors 25 - 1 through 25 - 7 operates to detect channel which are assigned with depressed keys of the lower keyboard corresponding to the respective subordinates notes or intervals and are constituted by a coincidence detection circuit 250 and a code converting circuit 251 . although the internal construction of only one subordinate note assigning channel detector 25 - 1 is shown , other detectors 25 - 2 through 25 - 7 also have the same construction . however , the contents of conversion of the code converter 251 of each of the detectors 25 - 1 through 25 - 7 are different from each other . the root note signal rn read out from the chord root name encoder 23 is applied to one input of the coincidence detector 240 of the root note assigning channel detector 24 and to the code converters 251 of each one of the subordinate tone assigning channel detectors 25 - 1 through 25 - 7 . the output of the code converter 251 is applied to one input of the coincidence detector 250 . to the other inputs of the coincidence detectors 240 and 250 of the detectors 24 , 25 - 1 through 25 - 7 are applied , on the time division basis , the note code n 1 through n 4 of the depressed keys of the lower keyboard selected by the gate circuit 19 . the coincidence detector 240 of the root note assigning channel detector 24 compares the root note represented by the root note signal rn with a note in the lower keyboard assigned to each channel . when a coincidence is obtained , the detector 240 produces a coincidence detection signal eq1 . thus , the coincidence detection signal eq1 becomes &# 34 ; 1 &# 34 ; in synchronism with a time divided time slot of a channel assigned to a key corresponding to the root note of the chord of keys of the keyboard now being depressed . in this manner , a root note assigning channel is detected . the subordinate note assigning channel detector 25 - 1 corresponds to the subordinate note of a major third musical interval ( 3 ) from the root note and its code converter 251 converts the note code ( n 1 - n 4 ) of the root note signal rn into a note code having a note name of a major third interval above the root note . the relationship among the input and the output codes of the code converter 251 for the major third is shown by the following table 2 . table 2______________________________________input rn c c ♯ d d ♯ e f f ♯ g g ♯ a a ♯ b______________________________________output e f f ♯ g g ♯ a a ♯ b c c ♯ d d ♯ code______________________________________ consequently , to one input of the coincidence detector 250 of the subordinate note assigning channel detector 25 - 1 is supplied a note code ( major third subordinate note ) having a pitch of the major third from the code converter 251 . accordingly , the coincidence detector 250 of the major third interval detector 25 - 1 produces a coincidence detection signal eq3 in synchronism with the time slot of the channel assigned to the depressed key of the lower keyboard which has a major third interval with respect to the root note signal rn . of course , when a key corresponding to the major third degree is not depressed , the coincidence detection signal eq3 is not produced at any time slots . the subordinate not assigning channel detector 25 - 2 corresponds to the chord constituent of the minor third interval ( 3 ♭) and a code converter , not shown , contained therein converts the note code of the root note signal rn into a note code having a minor third interval which respect to the note code of the signal rn . in the same manner as above described a coincidence detection signal eq3 ♭ is generated in synchronism with the time slot of the channel to which the depressed key of the lower keyboard having a minor third interval with respect to the root note is assigned . in the same manner , the subordinate note assigning channel detector 25 - 3 corresponds to a perfect fifth interval ( 5 ), the detector 25 - 4 to the diminished fifth interval ( 5 ♭), the detector 25 - 5 to the major seventh interval , detector 25 - 6 to the minor seventh interval ( 7 ♭) and the detector 25 - 7 to the major sixth interval ( 6 ) respectively , and the code converters , not shown , contained therein are constructed to convert the note code of the root note signal rn into note code respectiely having predetermined note interval relationships . coincidence signals eq5 , eq5 ♭, eq7 , eq7 ♭ and eq6 are respectively produced in synchronism with the time slots of the channels to which the respective chord constituents corresponding to the respective note intervals ( 5 , 5 ♭, 7 , 7 ♭ and 6 ) are assigned . the coincidence detection signals eq1 , eq3 , eq3 ♭, q5 , eq5 ♭, eq7 , eq7 ♭, and eq6 are applied to a pitch correction data selection gate unit 27 for selecting pitch correction data responding to respective note intervals from a pitch correction data rom 26 . the pitch correction data selection gate unit 27 comprises eight gate circuits 27 - 1 through 27 - 8 corresponding to the root note and other chord constituents . the pitch correction data are supplied from the pitch correction data rom 26 to the data input terminals of respective gate circuits 27 - 1 through 27 - 8 . the coincidence detection signal eq1 produced by the root note assigning channel detector 24 is applied to the gate control input of the gate circuit 27 - 1 corresponding to the root note via an or gate circuit 29 . the gate circuit 27 - 1 is opened when a signal applied to the gate control input from the or gate circuit 29 is &# 34 ; 1 &# 34 ; to produce the pitch correction data given by the pitch correction data rom 26 as its output . to the other inputs of the or gate circuit 29 are applied the output of the switch 18 and the output of a nor gate circuit 30 , which is supplied with the coincidence detection signals eq3 through eq6 produced by the subordinate note assigning channel detectors 25 - 1 through 25 - 7 . the gate control input terminals of the gate circuits 27 - 2 through 27 - 8 corresponding to the subordinate notes of respective note intervals ( 3 , 3 ♭, 5 , 5 ♭, 7 , 7 ♭ and 6 ) are respectively supplied with the coincidence detection signals eq3 , eq3 ♭, eq5 , eq5 ♭, eq7 , eq7 ♭ and eq6 , and the output of the switch 18 . only when all of the coincidence detection signals ( eq3 through eq6 ) and the inverted output of the switch 18 are &# 34 ; 1 &# 34 ;, the gate circuits 27 - 2 through 27 - 8 are opened to pass the pitch correction data from the pitch correction data rom 26 . when switch 18 is closed , the signal on its output line 32 becomes &# 34 ; 0 &# 34 ; whereas the output of the inverter 31 becomes &# 34 ; 1 &# 34 ; thereby satisfying one condition of the gate control inputs of the gate circuits 27 - 2 through 27 - 8 . under these conditions when a coincidence detection signal ( one of eq3 through eq6 ) is produced , a gate circuit ( one of 27 - 2 through 27 - 8 ) corresponding to the coincidence detection signal thus produced is enabled . to manifest the performance effect of this invention , it is necessary to close the switch 18 . the pitch correction data rom 26 prestores pitch correction data for respective subordinate notes which are necessary to make the note interval relationship between respective subordinate notes and the root note to be of just intonation scale , and applies the pitch correction data for the root note and the respective subordinate notes to the corresponding gate circuits 27 - 1 through 27 - 8 respectively . these pitch correction data are used to correct the note interval relationship based on a equally tempered scale to that based on a just intonation scale . the value of the pitch correction data produced by the pitch correction data rom 26 for the respective note degrees ( intervals above the root note ) and the cent differences between the equally tempered scale notes and the just intonation scale notes are shown in the following table 3 . table 3______________________________________ cent diff . between equally tempered pitch correction scale and justnote degree data from rom 26 intonation scale______________________________________unison 1 . 0000000 0 ( cent ) major third 0 . 9920136 - 14minor third 1 . 0092848 + 16perfect fifth 1 . 0011557 + 2diminished fifth 0 . 9942404 - 10major seventh 0 . 9930925 - 12minor seventh 0 . 9976921 - 4major sixth 0 . 9908006 - 16______________________________________ table 3 shows that the note of the major third degree can be produced in accordance with the just intonation scale relationship in case that the frequency of the tone in accordance with the equally tempered scale is corrected to a frequency 14 cent lower than the frequency of the tone in accordance with the equally tempered scale . pitch correction data are expressed by the frequency ratio of the modified frequency to not corrected frequency ( or no frequency change ). thus , the pitch correction data ( that is a frequency ratio ) determined by the following equation which represents the relationship between the frequency ratio fr and the cent value ## equ1 ## are calculated in accordance with the cent differences at respective note intervals and the calculated data are stored in the pitch correction data rom 26 in terms of binary numerals . the pitch correction data selected by the gate circuits 27 - 1 through 27 - 8 are applied to a multiplying input of a multiplier 26 through an or logic gate circuit 33 . to the multiplicand input of the multiplier 28 is applied a frequency information r read out from the frequency information memory device 12 . as above described , since the pitch correction data are represented by the frequency ratio between the frequency not modified ( or the frequency in accordance with the equally tempered scale ) and the modified frequency ( or the frequency in accordance with the just intonation scale ), the modified frequency information rm in accordance with the just intonation scale can be produced as a product obtained by multiplying the frequency inforation r in accordance with the equally tempered scale by the pitch correction data in the multiplier 28 . the operation of the electronic musical instrument will be described hereunder by taking a case as an example in which three keys c , e and g of the lower keyboard are depressed . as shown in fig2 c , where tones of keys c , e and g are assigned to the second , fourth and sixth channels , respectively , a lower keyboard signal le would be produced as shown in fig2 d . consequently , the gate circuit 19 is enabled only at the time slots of the second , fourth and sixth channels to select the note code n 1 - n 4 of the keys c , e and g at the time slots of respective channels . &# 34 ; 1 &# 34 ; is respectively stored in the three latch circuit elements corresponding to keys c , e and g of the secondary memory device 22 of the chord detector 15 , whereby outputs 22c , 22e and 22g are continuously maintained at &# 34 ; 1 &# 34 ;. based on the combination of notes c , e and g , a chord root name encoder detects that the chord is a c major chord so and produces a root note signal rn having a content &# 34 ; 1 1 1 1 &# 34 ; which represents note c is produced . in the coincidence detection circuit 240 of the root note assigning channel detector 24 , two input codes coincide with each other at the time slot of the second channel to which the c note of the lower keyboard is assigned thus producing a coincidence detection signal eq1 which is applied to the gate circuit 27 - 1 via the or gate circuit 29 , thus selecting a pitch correction data [ 1 ] produced by the pitch correction data rom 26 and relating to the root note by the gate circuit 27 - 1 . the pitch correction data [ 1 ] is supplied to the multiplier 28 at the second time slot of the second time channel and multiplied by the frequency information r of note c which is assigned to the second channel and applied to the multiplier at the same time . however , in the case of the root note , since the pitch correction data is [ 1 ], the frequency information r would not be changed by the multiplying operation . accordingly , the root tone is generated with the pitch of the equally tempered scale . the code converter 251 of the subordinate note assigning channel detector 25 - 1 corresponding to the major third interval converts the note code &# 34 ; 1 1 1 1 &# 34 ; of the root note signal pn into an e note code &# 34 ; 0 1 0 1 &# 34 ; of third interval with respect to the root note . consequently , in the coincidence detector 250 in the detector 25 - 1 the two inputs coincide with each other at the time slot of the fourth channel to which the e note is assigned to produce a coincidence detection signal eq3 which is used to select through the gate circuit 27 - 2 a pitch correction data [ 0 . 9920136 ] corresponding to the major third degree at the time slot of the fourth channel . at the same time the coincidence detection signal eq3 is multiplied with the frequency information of the e note assigned to the fourth channel and is supplied to the multiplier 28 at the same time . accordingly , the e note is produced at a frequency that satisfies the just intonation scale ( that is a frequency 14 cents lower than that of the same note in the equally tempered scale . the frequency ratio of the note of the major third degree to the root note is 2 4 / 12 in the equally tempered scale . if this frequency ratio is multiplied with the pitch correction data [ 0 . 9920136 ], a product [ about 1 . 249858 ] is obtained . and if this product is multiplied with 4 , then a value 5 would be obtained , with an error less than 1 cent being neglected . accordingly , the frequency ratio of the root note to the major third degree note thus produced by the modified frequency information would become 4 : 5 which is a simple integer ratio thereby providing the just intonation scale relationship . the code converter ( corresponding to converter 251 ) of the subordinate note assigning channel detector 25 - 3 corresponding to the perfect fifth degree converts the code &# 34 ; 1 1 1 1 &# 34 ; of the root note signal rn into the code &# 34 ; 1 0 0 1 &# 34 ; to indicate the g note which is the fifth degree note with respect to the root note c . accordingly , the detector 25 - 3 produces a coincidence signal eq5 at the time slot of the sixth channel assigned to the g note of the lower keyboard for supplying to the multiplier 25 a pitch correction data 1 . 0011559 corresponding to the perfect fifth interval . this data is multiplied with the frequency information r of the g note assigned to the same sixth channel . accordingly , the g note is produced at a frequency that satisfies the just intonation scale relationship , that is at a frequency 2 cents higher than that of the same note in the equally tempered scale . the frequency ratio of the note of the perfect fifth interval above the root is 2 7 / 12 in the equally tempered scale . if this ratio is multiplied with the pitch correction data 1 . 0011559 , the product becomes about 1 . 500038 . and if this product is multiplied with 4 and by neglecting an error less than 1 cent , the result would be 6 . thus , the ratio of the root note to the perfect fifth degree note produced by the modified frequency information rm becomes 4 : 6 which is a simple integer ratio thereby providing the just intonation scale relationship . as above described , a chord of c , e ang g are produced under a just intonation scale relationship . although not specifically described , with regard to another note intervals , ( 3 ♭, 5 ♭, 7 , 7 ♭ and 6 ), pitch correction data are set as shown in table 3 so as to satisfy the just intonation scale relationship . in the case of lower keyboard notes having degrees other than major third , minor third , perfect fifth , diminished fifth , major seventh , minor seventh major sixth and in the case in which it is impossible to generate a root note signal due to impossibility of detecting a chord , and at the time slots of the channels to which tones of keyboard other than the lower keyboard are assigned , no coincidence detection signal is produced by the detectors 25 - 1 through 25 - 7 . in this case , the output of the nor gate circuit 30 becomes &# 34 ; 1 &# 34 ; so as to enable the gate circuit 27 - 1 via or gate circuit 29 thereby selecting a pitch correction data [ 1 ] corresponding to the first degree ( unison ). thus , the frequency information is not changed at all and the musical tones are generated according to the equally tempered scale . when switch 18 is opened , a signal &# 34 ; 1 &# 34 ; is normally applied to the output line 32 so that the gate circuit 27 - 1 is normally opened via or gate circuit 29 . at the same time , the output of the inverter 31 becomes &# 34 ; 0 &# 34 ; thus disenabling the gate circuits 27 - 2 through 27 - 8 . consequently , a signal [ 1 ] is always applied to one input of the multiplier 28 so that the frequency information r would not be changed thereby producing musical tones according to the equally tempered scale . while in the frequency information controller 13 shown in the foregoing embodiment , the pitch correction data rom 26 constantly produces pitch correction data which are supplied to the pitch correction data selection gate unit 27 to select a predetermined pitch correction data in accordance with the coincidence detection signals eq1 through eq6 and a signal on a line 32 and then to supply the selected data to the multiplier 38 , it is also possible to directly address the pitch correction data rom 26 with the coincidence detection signal eq1 throuth eq6 and with the signal on the line 32 so as to read out a predetermined pitch correction data ( table 3 ) depending upon the state of these address signals and to apply the read out data to the multiplier 28 .	6
referring to the drawings for a better understanding of the function and structure of the invention , fig1 shows a typical webpage request process 10 when requesting pc 11 attempts to resolve a human readable name associated with an internet webpage utilizing the dns system 12 over the internet . a dns software application running on server connected to the pc 11 supplies dns name resolutions to the requesting pc 11 during the request . dns 12 working in tandem with the dns software application provides an internet protocol (“ ip ”) address enabling the requesting pc 11 to make a direct request for a resource present on a web server 15 via zone host dns server 13 . the zone host dns server 13 includes the authoritative information about a resource located on the web server 15 in the form of a “ zone file ” 14 . the zone file includes a records and cname records , as the case may be , and the ip address of the web server 15 is of the form 1 . 2 . 3 . 4 as shown . in a nominal web server scenario in which the web server is controlled by an organization having the organization &# 39 ; s website , an entity such as a large institution that owns its own host dns server and web server are likely to be physically located at the physical institution or entity &# 39 ; s location , and both may reside on a single server computer machine . most large institutions or entities need guaranteed sustainability of their web server at all times , and access to the associated webpages residing thereon in order to satisfy their mission requirements for their clients , customers , and third parties relying upon the information found on the web server . however , upon the occurrence of a natural disaster , such as a large hurricane like hurricane katrina in 2005 , the physical locations of the entity and the web server or a host computer server residing thereon may be compromised or even completely destroyed . in those situations in which a catastrophic system failure occurs , requesting pc 11 will be unable to obtain the necessary information residing on the entity web server until a rebuilding of a web server may be accomplished and power and system infrastructure restored to provide the information . the present system provides a system and method for monitoring and redirecting ( i . e . “ deflecting ”) a website inquiry to maintain continuous availability of the entity web server in the event of a catastrophic failure to the institution or entity &# 39 ; s computer systems or supporting infrastructure . referring now to fig2 it may be seen that intervening administration dns server ( s ) 21 is positioned within the dns resolution topology to allow for monitoring and control of web service to entity web server 15 to accomplish automatic 34 deflection of the website inquiry . a system 30 includes an administration dns server ( s ) 21 which monitors and controls the content of zone file 27 such that upon the occurrence of an automatic state change ( i . e . deflection to a pre - specified site ) the appropriate zone file is edited and published . such a state change request may be initiated via the web 22 in which various state site changes 36 - 37 may be requested . cname record 16 is inserted into zone file residing on host dns server 13 as shown , and will be propagated through various dns servers associated with providing authoritative information for the entity web server 15 . upon the editing and publication of the zone file 27 , the dns system propagates the information such that new inquiries for a resource residing on entity web server 15 are now redirected to web server 23 having an ip address of the form of 5 . 6 . 7 . 8 . the resource occurring on web server 23 likely contains emergency information , other vital information pertinent to the disaster , the status of the institution &# 39 ; s physical location , and the deflection state of the website may be selectively timed such that information may be provided before , during , and after the occurrence of the disaster . the deflection request may also be automatically initiated by a website intelligent monitor program 34 , as will be shown . prior to initiation of the deflection process via the herein described system 30 , a cname record 16 is created in the dns zone file present on the host dns server 13 . the cname record points to or “ canonizes ” the ip address of the human readable domain name for the entity web server 15 to an a record 27 located on the administration dns server that will control the deflection process . since the cname record present on zone file 16 points to the administration dns server 21 as an a record , zone file 27 may be edited on demand to change the ip address associated with the corresponding a record such that deflection will occur upon the publication and proper refreshing of associated dns servers with the zone file 27 . in other words , web server a record ( e . g ., ip address to 1 . 2 . 3 . 4 ) may be edited such that the a record of file 27 points to a different ip address ( i . e ., 5 . 6 . 7 . 8 ). with a record associated with ip address 1 . 2 . 3 . 4 , the interaction of zone file 16 with zone file 27 does not alter the dns resolution to a web resource , such as index . html or similar record located on entity web server 15 . but , the alteration of a record in file 27 to 5 . 6 . 7 . 8 causes a deflection to web server 23 thereby establishing upon demand a potential disaster response site available to supply information normally available on entity web server 15 . obviously , as already known in the art , all the information on entity web server 15 may be replicated or mirrored on web server 23 prior to the initiation of a deflection in order to maintain all the content previously available on entity web server 15 . other editing of key index files on web server 23 may establish whatever important messages are necessary for a disaster response system to properly present timely information pertaining to the institution disaster or infrastructure damage . the web based switch control 22 allows for the remote initiation of a deflection to web server 23 upon the collection of a primary 36 , secondary 37 , or additional alternate sites to which entity web server 15 should be deflected . as shown below , the website intelligent monitor 34 monitors in real - time the entity web server 15 status in such a manner as to implement the deflection automatically upon the occurrence of a suspension or prolonged interruption of services provided by entity web server 15 . the entire process is complicated by the expiration ( i . e . the “ expiry ”) of the administration dns server 21 &# 39 ; s authorization to transmit data about server 13 , and therefore the efficacy of zone file 27 in the event that server ( s ) 13 are destroyed and they can no longer issue a proper refresh command under the re - curser protocols for dns is limited . hence , it is important that a sufficient length of time ( i . e . the expiry must be sufficiently large ) such that the required refresh time would not occlude the time of destruction during which server 21 would lose it authorization . referring now to fig3 , initiation of the deflection process 50 is typically started with a web based form retrieved from server 21 and a user selecting one of a number of deflection states 36 - 37 as may be desired on an html presented screen . the screen serves as a control switch 22 to select different sites , but each of these sites may also be interpreted as a particular “ state ” in the deflection process because , within the parameters of a particular disaster encounter , there are usually a before state , a during state , and after states that represent the institution &# 39 ; s desire to communicate status and other information pertaining to the entity &# 39 ; s condition and the availability of its data via the web . hence , multiple states may be established for deflection purposes with each state associated with a time or other type of parameter which may be selected or switched on via web base control . the web based control or form 22 typically resides on the administration server 21 , but may reside anywhere that has effective communication with the administration server 21 . for example , the person with a notebook computer may be able to access , assuming the correct passwords are provided , the deflection switch 22 from any location on the planet , including the institution or entity &# 39 ; s primary physical location . the inventor &# 39 ; s anticipate that various types of self - explanatory selection criteria and boxes may be presented to a user desiring to deflect their current site , but for the purposes of the herein described invention the actual form style associated with the various states is unimportant for a complete understanding of the invention . upon the selection of a deflection state via a web form , a file is written on the administration dns server 21 at a known directory location ( e . g . drop - off ) which initiates 51 the generation of a deflection request 52 . the server checks periodically in the drop - off directory to see if a file or multiple files are present . it then processes 53 the files in the order of creation , oldest first . each file that is written to the drop - off directory includes a known set of information to allow for error detection and validation of the file creation . the information that is contained in the file is also written into a database on the server created . for example , the information in the file may be written to a database backend such as my sql . the actual creation of the file and entry into the appropriate database is effected by a “ post ” command via the http protocol from the originally presented webform 22 . data in the file created by the administration dns server 21 has the format shown below in table 1 . 0 . the request file includes information which is pre - populated by information already present in the database file on the server and associated with the user &# 39 ; s identification and selection action . the first line of the deflection request file includes , separated by colons , a request id “ 14 ,” client id “ 1 ”, and the state to which the user wishes to deflect his current website to . the second line comprises a unique identification string to allow for the execution of a checksum validation and for database correspondence verification once the data in the deflection request file is written to the database . the next line is left blank simply for syntax and file protocol verification and does not consist of any viable data . the last line is a validation string to allow for one - way encryption and of the deflection request file . the syntax of any deflection request file may vary depending upon the desired parameters to be received and interpreted by a deflection database , however the inventors have found that this format is simple and ensures integrity of request reception with a minimum of errors or unauthorized intrusions . in table format , the meaning of each line in the request file has the syntax shown in table 2 . 0 . the data structure in a my sql database does not have an obligatory format , however the inventors have found that the format of the database as shown in tables 3 . 0 and 4 . 0 are helpful in the validation process for each user deflection request . the tables 3 . 0 and 4 . 0 below correspond to the file creation structure which correlates with the deflection request action . returning now to fig3 , the deflection request file retrieved during step 53 is validated 54 to confirm an authentic deflection request . validation may be achieved in various ways as is known in the art , however the inventors for the present system utilize a numerical matching strategy to validate both database entry and the integrity of data in the deflection request based upon the confirmation of known data appearing on line 4 of the deflection request file . the control of the post back of information being written into a file directory on the server and the information contained in the file being written into my sql database is controlled by a php program running on the server ( see fig5 , top portion ). typically , the server attempts to retrieve a request file every few minutes or during a pre - selected interval , and to the extent that the directory is empty the system understands that a validation request is not present and takes no action . however , upon the occurrence of any file in the pre - selected drop - off directory then a deflection request initiates processing of that file , and after being stored in the database as discussed above , is deleted from the drop - off directory . in the event that the drop - off directory includes multiple files , all the files are picked up and processed , and then deleted from the directory . each deflection request is processed sequentially in chronological order in conformance with the file &# 39 ; s creation date . the deflection request file is then validated 54 by comparing the validation text string in the file with a text string present in the database on the server . since the validation string in the database provides one of the inputs directly into the file creation , a validation that the file has come from the server 21 may be made . essentially the validation process matches the validation request id to confirm that the request strings match . further , since the user is authenticated prior to being able to access the deflection webform , some information is already associated with the user and can also be written into the sql database as well . however as it will be seen later , a validation request may come from other than a human user who which present a user id and password . in the event that the validation process fails 56 a denial request message , logged in the database , and the administrators are alerted 57 . if the validation request is validated , the deflection request begins to be processed further 59 . initially , a particular state to which a deflection request applies is determined 61 . for example , if the undeflected website is being changed to a first or primary deflection state , information pertinent to the primary state 66 is retrieved . alternatively , secondary 63 or alternate 64 states are determined . as may be understood , an infinite amount of states may be retrieved and processed in order to provide a flexible state change methodology to the entity requesting deflections . so , for example , and as discussed previously , in the event of disaster , different deflections might be invoked associated with different website states to provide pre , during , and post disaster information for the entity that wishes to communicate its status . hence , primary , secondary , and additional alternate states may be invoked via a deflection request process at a time of choosing of the deflecting entity . the associated information for primary , secondary or alternate , states are stored within database 67 and retrieved for further processing in block 71 . block 71 implements the process request by altering the dns zone file 27 and publishing the zone file to the internet dns system . in particular , the a record associated with or corresponding to the cname record resident on the entity &# 39 ; s dns server 16 effects a cname deflection to the alternate website state . the implementation of the alterations to the dns zone file in step 71 is accomplished as indicated in fig4 , and are written in perl and / or bash program scripts an example of which is shown in table 5 . 0 below . standard out and standard error are redirected to the cron . log file as shown in fig4 , initially the zone file on the server computer 21 is located 81 and backed up 82 . once the zone file is read into a memory array and a parse function in perl is invoked 83 . upon the reading of the zone file the information in the zone file is read into a memory array . once the information is read into the memory array the targeted record which corresponds with the cname record associated with the deflection requesting entity , is located within a listing of all of the a records held by the memory array 84 . once the record is located , an update to the record proceeds 87 . however if the record is not located 85 , an error is issued and the deflection process is terminated 86 . the updating of the record 87 consists of altering the listed ip address to correspond with the ip address of the website corresponding to the selected state in the deflection request as recorded in the database . the serial number of the zone file is then updated 88 to correspond with the date and time change associated with the deflection request , thereby creating a unique serial number associated with each update to the zone file in response to a deflection request . the memory array holding the zone file is then written to the server hard drive 89 , and a reload command 111 executed to the administration dns server 21 as it applies to the zone file . an rndc command is then executed 112 via ssh for all slave servers 26 associated with administration dns servers 21 . it is critical that the time to live (“ ttl ”) of the zone file be set to a relatively small value on server 21 so that any changes to the zone file are propagated through the internet dns system quickly . this increases dns traffic to the server 21 , when other servers who might contact the deflected entity web server , however this promotes a rapid publication of the revised deflection ip address to prevent any transient unreachable states for the web server during a disaster deflection implementation . referring again to fig3 , after the zone file is updated in step 71 , an error processing loop is initiated 72 to confirm that the zone file dns changes have been implemented . net dns resolver commands are initiated to all of the servers under the authority of the server 21 . each server is queried using recursor queries and the response from the other servers is compared with the ip address now recorded in the altered a in the zone file 27 . it should be the same . in the event that the query is successful 73 , a three digit code is returned and the loop processing program interprets the code to as a failed or successful state change and the server identified that responded through a three bit identifier . if the state change is successful the administrators are alerted of the successful change 74 for that particular server , but if the state change is unsuccessful then a retry 76 is initiated and looped for a maximum of ten ( 10 ) attempts 78 . if ten attempts are unsuccessful in confirming a correct state change , then a failed deflection and alert is sent to the administrator 77 . it should be noted that should these error initiation attempts are sent to known ip addresses since all of the server ip addresses are known and the queries are sent directly to each server in succession . in other words , the dns system outside of zone of the administration servers 21 is not queried . since the current procedures incorporate a three bit interpretation , the determination of up to three servers might be interpreted as to whether or not any or all of the changes were successful and any at the server level for the servers within the zone of authority for servers 21 . additional bits may be incorporated to address additional servers within the zone of authority for servers 21 . a top level , envelope scripting representation for the processes shown in fig3 & amp ; 4 are shown in fig5 to assist in script replication . the actual perl programming steps may be found under table 6 . 0 below . a further innovation is provided in the herein described system through the use of an intelligent website monitor 34 ( see fig2 ). the entity website server is interrogated periodically in an intelligent manner to determine its operational state in the event that the web server becomes disrupted , as defined in association with known parameters , and the deflection process may be initiated by the intelligent monitor 34 . the processing steps pursuant to the intelligent monitor 34 are shown in fig6 . as shown , prior to initiation of the intelligent monitor process 90 , a signature file is uploaded 91 to entity web server 15 at a known directory location . the intelligent monitor then attempts to detect the existence of the signature file 92 on the entity web server 15 ( see fig2 ). if the presence of the file is verified 93 , the intelligent monitor determines from the existing database on the administration dns server 21 whether or not that site is supposed to currently be in an undeflected state 94 . if the entity web server site is in an undeflected state then counters associated with the process 90 in fig6 are reset to zero 103 and process 90 sleeps for 10 minutes . if the site is in a deflected state then counter 96 is incremented by 1 and the process 90 sleeps for 10 minutes 102 . in the event that the file is not present 93 then the state of the entity web server is again determined 95 and if its in an undeflected state then the counter is incremented 96 . if it is not in an undeflected state then the intelligent monitor initiates a sleep cycle for ten minutes 102 . as shown in the diagram , incrementing the counter 96 results in additional initiated actions depending upon the current counter state . for example , counter values 1 , 2 , 5 , 6 , all initiate sleep cycles 102 . conversely , counter values 3 and 7 alert 101 site administrators prior to initiating a state change and sleep for ten minutes 102 . a counter value of 4 results in a state change to a primary state for a deflected web server 97 and generates a deflection request 99 . the counter value of 8 initiates a state change to a secondary deflection state 98 and generates a corresponding deflection request 99 . as it may be seen , the intelligent monitor generally sleeps for specified periods of time , in this case ten minutes , during different portions of the monitoring process so that graduated and intelligent decisions may be made regarding the true status of the entity web server 15 and respond accordingly . referring now to fig7 , it may be seen that process 105 causes the issuance of plurality of text alert messages to a group or groups of recipients as selected pursuant to predetermined filtering criteria . process 105 is initiated 123 in response to one or more external triggers 110 to provide flexibility and security in alert issuance . each trigger 110 is associated with some temporal step associated with zone file alteration . for example , step 114 refers to initial processing step 59 of fig3 for the processing of a zone alteration request . the process request has already been validated pursuant to steps 51 - 56 to ensure that text alert issuance does not occur without proper validation . trigger 116 refers to the actual alteration step 71 for altering the zone file 14 after the alteration parameters ( i . e . the enumerated “ states ”) have been determined in steps 61 , 63 , 64 , and 66 . hence , the website state determination must occur prior to text alert processing . trigger 117 occurs only after a state change has been validated pursuant to step 74 , thereby providing greater integrity to the deflection occurrence prior to issuing a text alert message . while triggers 114 , 116 , and 117 are responsive to states associated with physical alteration to zone file 14 , trigger 118 alternatively occurs from actions resulting from a distinct intelligent monitoring process 90 monitoring the website state externally ( see fig6 ). in accordance with the presence of a signature file on a remotely monitored server , a zone alteration request will be generated 99 if a counter predetermined counter value is met to effect a state change to a monitored website ( e . g . steps 97 and 98 ). hence , trigger 118 occurs only upon the automatic initiation of a zone file modification request . other triggers 121 may be instituted in response to other predetermined events associated with website deflection , although the inventors prefer triggers 114 - 118 . it will be understood that step 123 may include additional decision logic ( not shown ) such that one or more triggers 114 - 121 must occur prior to initiation of a transmission process ( steps 124 - 129 ). for example , step 123 may include additional logic such that both a validated process request be received 114 and a confirmation of website change be received 117 prior to text alert initiation . alternatively , any trigger in 110 may occur for a text alert initiation . upon initiation of the process 123 from one or more , or a multiplicity , of triggers 110 , a determination as to whether a recipient filtering operation occurs 124 . if no filtering is to occur , a recipient list is selected from a predefined recipient list set and a set of destination phone numbers associated with each recipient in the list set is created 127 . a text message using sms is then broadcast 129 for each of the listed phone numbers created is in step 127 and sent . alternatively , a recipient list set may be created in real - time with each text alert message transmission initiation 123 using filtering parameters selected by a user . a large array of cellular device user information may be stored in database 134 having certain demographic information associated with each user . such demographic information may then be filtered 131 by specific demographic information and a unique recipient list created 132 and selected 126 for usage . for example , recipients who attend high schools in a certain selected counties of a state may be selected and placed into a recipient list , thereby transmitting a text alert to all high school students in the selected counties . by allowing for real - time filtering on demographic information from cooperative databases used by various cellular carriers , targeted audiences of alert messages may be reached via sms in response a single website or multiple website deflections pursuant to the processes shown in fig1 - 6 . applicant notes that a further developed variation of the above described system has already issued under u . s . pat . no . 7 , 720 , 998 , ( hereinafter the “&# 39 ; 998 ” system ) to foote . that &# 39 ; 998 system provides a means for a central authority to utilize parts of the herein described system to affect deflection of selected groups of websites , such deflection being restricted to affect only a portion of the information displayed to a remote user of the selected website . the above issuance of text alerts may also be implemented utilizing the &# 39 ; 998 system in which the alerts are issued responsive to the alteration of a zone file , such as file 28 controlled by administration server 26 in the &# 39 ; 998 patent , through mechanisms described above in triggers 110 of fig7 . to that end , the contents of the &# 39 ; 998 patent are incorporated herein by reference in its entirety . while i have shown my invention in one form , it will be obvious to those skilled in the art that it is not so limited but is susceptible of various changes and modifications without departing from the spirit thereof . for example , while the herein described systems would normally transmit text message alerts to human recipients , the inventors anticipate that machines capable of interpreting text messages shall also be placed into a recipient pool to initiate secondary processes by those recipient machines .	7
referring to fig1 and 2 , the aerosol medicament delivery apparatus 10 of the present invention is composed of a holding chamber 200 with first and second ends . at the first end of the holding chamber is a receptacle 300 for connection to a source of aerosol medication . for the purposes of the present invention , aerosol medicament or aerosol medication is intended to include finely divided solid or liquid materials that are carried by a gas for delivery to a subject &# 39 ; s respiratory tract , especially to the lungs . this includes nebulized materials . the medicament and carrier gas aerosol composition can be prepared prior to use if it exhibits sufficient physical and chemical stability , or it can be prepared in situ from sources of solid or liquid medicament materials ( either in pure form or combined with a suitable solid or liquid solvent , excipient or diluent ) and pressurized gas . at the second end is a mouthpiece member 100 for delivering aerosol medicament to a subject through a valve 150 . the mouthpiece member includes a housing 101 that defines a passage 102 through which aerosol medicament can be supplied to a subject and has an opening 103 that opens to the outside of the housing . the valve , discussed below , is of one - piece construction . during inhalation the valve permits the flow of aerosol medicament from the holding chamber to the subject , while blocking the inflow of outside air to the passage 102 through the sidewall of the housing of the mouthpiece member . during exhalation , the valve blocks the flow of exhaled air upstream in the direction of the holding chamber , and permits the exhaled air to be exhausted through the sidewall of the housing . in an exemplary embodiment , the housing 101 is composed of a delivery member 110 and an adaptor member 170 . the opening 103 may be defined , as it is in part in the exemplary embodiment , by a notch 186 in the adaptor member . the delivery member and adaptor member may be releasably connected by a quick release mechanism 182 . in the exemplary embodiment , the quick release mechanism is a flexible wall , upon which a positioning element 175 may be located . also , in the exemplary embodiment , the housing is transparent . this has the advantage that it allows for the subject to visually verify the operation of the valve , to ensure opening and closing during treatment . referring to fig3 , the delivery member 110 may include a subject side section 120 , a connecting ring 130 , and an adaptor side section 140 . in the exemplary embodiment , the subject side section of the delivery member of the mouthpiece is sized and shaped to fit a human mouth , e . g . having an oval shape . the subject end section is defined by a housing composed of a sidewall having a height 124 , and upon which may be provided at least one ridge 125 . positioning pins 141 may be provided on the adaptor side section of the delivery member . referring to fig4 , the adaptor side section 140 of the delivery member 110 in this exemplary embodiment has walls 142 arranged around an opening 145 . one or more openings , for example the illustrated notches 147 , is formed in the wall 142 and can define an exhaust opening from the delivery member for exhaled air . this opening is closed by the valve during inhalation , and the opening may be provided with an element to assist in seating a valve member , for example protrusion 146 . the end face 144 of the wall can be used as a surface for holding the valve in place when the apparatus is assembled , in cooperation with an opposed surface on the adaptor member . also , in this embodiment , the four positioning pins 141 extend from the end face of the wall 142 . referring to fig5 a and 5 b , the one - piece two - way valve system 150 allows for inhalation and exhalation with a single valve . the valve has a base 151 , a first valve element 152 , which has a duck - bill shape in this embodiment , and a second valve element 153 , which is shaped like a hinged flap 153 in this embodiment . in the exemplary embodiment , the valve is composed of a flexible material and there are two hinged flaps 153 . the two valve elements may be joined at or carried on a common base 151 . the base has a thickness 154 that is less than the height of the positioning pins of the mouthpiece , so that the pins may pass therethrough . there is an opening 155 in the base , which may be defined as the perimeter of contact between the duck - bill and the base . the exemplary embodiment has four positioning holes 156 placed near the perimeter of the base , each being sized to admit the matching positioning pins . thus , when the apparatus is assembled , the positioning pins of the mouthpiece penetrate the positioning holes of the valve base and the valve base forms a substantially airtight seal between the delivery member and the adaptor member . the duck - bill is a shape predominantly that of a wedge with a very narrow split across the apex of the wedge . the split is narrow enough that the two edges forming the ends of the duck - bill are substantially in contact when there is no external pressure on the duck - bill . the duck - bill has a span , a height , and a thickness . the height of the duck - bill is the vertical distance between the apex of the wedge where the split is located and the base . the span is the distance of the split across the thin edge of the wedge and the height . the span is sufficiently narrow that the apex of the duck bill will fit within the delivery member without contacting it . thus , the dead zone within the delivery member is minimized by the valve extending therein . the valve may be as wide as possible to provide for easier inhalation , but just narrower than the passage so that the duck - bill sides do not receive pressure and the lips of the duck - bill are not parted except by inhalation . dead space refers to the volume of the apparatus containing air which is rebreathed . dead space is inherent in any valve - based system enclosed within a mouthpiece or mask ; it is the space between the mouth of a subject and the valve . any subject has a limited volume of air that may be inhaled , and which then is exhaled . this is the subject &# 39 ; s tidal volume . the inhalation air will contain both oxygen and medicament . the exhalation air will contain carbon dioxide . in a sealed system , all inhalation air will come through the valve and will contain a preferable mixture of medicament laden air . however , this inhalation air will be combined with whatever gases remain sealed within the dead space on their way to being actually inhaled into the subject &# 39 ; s respiratory tract . similarly , when the subject exhales , all air must pass through this dead zone on the way out the exhaust portion of the valve system . because the subject will be incapable of forcing a complete vacuum within this sealed system , the dead space will contain gases that then will be re - inhaled during the next breathing cycle . given that the volume of the subject &# 39 ; s lungs is fixed , the larger the volume of the system &# 39 ; s dead space , the smaller the volume of medicament laden air the subject will receive with each breathing cycle . thus , the larger the volume of dead space , the less efficient the system because increasing dead space causes a buildup of carbon dioxide and rebreathing . rebreathing carbon dioxide can have an adverse effect on breathing rates and patterns , especially for small children who have very small tidal volumes . duck - bill valves are more efficient than diaphragm valves because the volume encompassed by the duck - bill is subtracted from space that otherwise would be dead space in a diaphragm - based system . the duck - bill is thin enough that the sides of the wedge will flex when the atmospheric pressure on the opposite side of the base from the duck - bill is greater than that above the duck - bill . this causes the edges of the duck - bill to part , letting air flow through the duck - bill in the direction from the base to mouthpiece . thus , in the present embodiment , air is permitted to flow through the mouthpiece to a subject during inhalation . the duck - bill closes automatically at the end of inhalation when the atmospheric pressure differential is removed . thus , the flow of exhaled air upstream of the valve to the holding chamber is prevented during exhalation . the exemplary embodiment of the present invention provides two hinged flaps 153 extending from on or near the perimeter of the base . each hinged flap 153 is sized so as to be able to cover a corresponding notch 147 when assembled . each flap is placed on the base at such a position and at such an angle that when the base is placed onto the positioning pins of the mouthpiece , the flap covers one of the notches 147 . the flap is hinged onto the base so that it may cover the notch 147 during inhalation , thereby preventing the flow of outside air into the interior of the housing through the opening in the sidewall of the housing . when the mouthpiece of the apparatus of the exemplary embodiment is assembled , the notch of the delivery member 147 and the aforementioned notch of the adaptor member 186 may be aligned radially , and the hinged outgas flap 153 is disposed between these notches . the flexible material forming each of the outgas flaps is sufficiently thin to allow an outgas flap to flex through at least a few degrees of flexibility when differences in relative atmospheric pressure caused by human breathing exert flexing pressure on said flap , thereby moving the flap away from the notch 147 during exhalation and allowing exhaled air to pass out of the mouthpiece through the notch 186 . referring to fig6 , the subject side section 120 of the delivery member may be formed by a sidewall 128 that is generally cylindrical in shape with an oval cross section . the exemplary embodiment has two side points 122 , opposite each other on the sidewall , and two lip points 123 , opposite each other on the sidewall . each lip point is equidistant between the two side points . there is a contact end 126 where the sidewall is joined to the connecting ring and a lip end 127 opposite the contact end . the upper opening of the sidewall 121 at the lip end is oval . there is a lower opening of the sidewall at the contact end , through which the tip of the duck - bill valve passes . ridges 125 may be provided for placement of the subject &# 39 ; s lips , or to aid in the placement of an adaptor mask on the outside of the delivery member . shaped correctly , a ridge 125 may be used to seal and mount such a mask with a tight pressure fit . these ridges are placed approximately halfway down the upper section , and are wedge shaped in the exemplary embodiment . specifically , they are formed by the upper and lower thickness measurements being equal at the side points and the lower thickness being greater than the upper thickness at the lip points . referring to fig4 and 6 , the connecting ring 130 between the adaptor side and subject side sections of the delivery member has an interior opening 135 , which may be equal in size to and substantially continuous with the opening of the sidewall of the subject side section . it has an exterior limit 131 that is greater than the interior opening , and a surface 132 where the connecting ring is joined to the subject side section . the surface 132 extends from the sidewall 128 outwards toward the exterior limit 131 where it joins with an exterior wall 133 . the exterior wall 133 may be substantially parallel to the sidewall 128 and extends from the top surface in a direction away from the lip end of the subject side section . the exterior wall has an interior surface and an exterior surface , the interior surface being closer to the interior opening of the connecting ring . in the exemplary embodiment , there are two contact openings 134 in the top surface , which are disposed approximately equidistantly around the circumference of the top surface . each contact hole is adapted to accept a portion of the adaptor member , to help hold the two members of the mouthpiece securely together . on the interior surface of the exterior wall , there may be provided two engaging members 136 , or catches , each being below a contact hole . they are wedge shaped and oriented with the thin end of the wedge towards the adaptor side for ease in connecting and resistance to disconnecting . in the exemplary embodiment , each has a width less than that of the corresponding contact opening above the catch , a length less than that of the distance between the top and bottom of the exterior wall of the connecting ring , and a height less than the length . referring back to fig3 and 4 , the width 143 of each section that makes up the wall 142 is approximately as wide as a contact opening in the top surface of the connecting ring . each wall section is disposed along the interior opening substantially adjacent to a contact opening , thus providing a limit to the flexing of the walls of the adaptor member , which is discussed below . in the exemplary embodiment , each wall section has two positioning pins 141 placed along the end face of the wall , extending in the same direction . they are placed near the edge of the wall sections , and can be placed as far apart from each other as the width of a contact opening in the surface of the connecting ring . due to their height , the sections of the wall 142 extend into the space of the adaptor member when the apparatus is assembled . protrusions 146 may be disposed on the perimeter of the opening forming the passage for exhalation air flow ( notches 147 ). these protrusions act as stop elements for the exhaust flap portions of the one - piece valve , limiting their travel in an inward direction . as will be seen in more detail below , when the subject inhales , these exhaust flaps are pressed by suction against the stop elements and form a seal so that the pressure of inhalation is fully directed towards drawing the medicament laden air from the holding chamber . referring to fig7 , the adaptor member 170 may be generally frustoconical in shape , thereby providing for the smooth change in diameter from the holding chamber to the delivery member . in the exemplary embodiment , it is both frustoconical and transparent . a transparent embodiment of the present invention has the additional advantage of allowing the subject to visually verify the presence of the medicament during delivery to the patient . the adaptor member may have a base end 171 , a conical midsection 172 , four wall sections , and a delivery side end 173 . the base end is adapted to cooperate with the edge of the holding chamber , for example forming an exterior wall extending from the end of the cone . the base end of the adaptor member also may have an inner wall 174 extending from the end of the cone . in the exemplary embodiment , each of these two walls having a height of at least 0 . 5 mm to define a groove for accepting the edge of the holding chamber . in this case , the walls are shaped and positioned such that , when the chamber is positioned between the inner and outer walls and a thin layer of adhesive is applied between the walls , a substantially airtight seal may be formed between the holder and the chamber . other systems for joining the adaptor member and holding chamber may be used , including permanent bonding or releasable connections . the releasable connection may not be needed when the delivery member is made of two readily - separated components that allow for easy cleaning and for replacement of the valve when necessary , as in the illustrated embodiment . referring to fig7 and 8 , the wall arising from the frustoconical midsection 172 of the adaptor member 170 may be divided into four sections , including two catch walls 176 and two vent walls 177 in the exemplary embodiment . these may be placed alternately around the delivery side end of the adaptor member . each catch wall 176 may have a catch opening 178 sized to admit one of the catches 136 of the connecting ring 130 of the delivery member 110 . a catch wall 176 is positioned on the adaptor member such that its opening 178 is adapted to fit a catch 136 when the two adaptor and delivery members are joined . the end 179 of the catch wall 176 may fit a contact opening 134 of the connecting ring 130 of the delivery member 110 . the catch walls 176 may be flexible , so that they may be bent by the subject applying pressure at the positioning points 175 to release the catch 136 from the opening 178 . this allows the two members of the exemplary housing 101 to be joined and separated in a quick - release fashion . each valve wall 177 in the exemplary embodiment is u shaped . that is , it is a wall on the long side of the oval opening with a notch 186 in it . other systems for connecting the adaptor member and delivery member can be used . in addition , the catch and opening could be reversed , i . e . the opening provided on the connecting ring and the catch provided on wall section of the adaptor member . the delivery side end of the conical adaptor member may have an opening 185 of substantially the same size as the opening 155 . an airtight seal may be formed between the opposing surfaces of the adaptor member and the delivery member by the valve . that is , the valve base 151 may have opposing surfaces arranged to meet those of the adaptor member and the delivery member and form an airtight seal when the apparatus is assembled . the exemplary embodiment &# 39 ; s adaptor member 170 has a rim 180 around the opening 185 with four positioning openings 181 in the rim , one for each pin 141 . thus , when the two members are joined , the four pins of the delivery member drop into these openings in the exemplary embodiment . referring to back fig1 and 7 , the cylindrical holding chamber 200 may be defined by a length of cylindrical tube that extends between the mouthpiece 100 and a source of aerosol medicament and includes the receptacle 300 accepting an outlet from a source of aerosol medicament such as a metered dose inhaler or the like . the tube wall 201 may be sized to fit between the inner wall 174 and the outer wall 171 of the base of the mouthpiece . in the exemplary embodiment , the holding chamber is made of a lightweight metal or alloy , such as aluminum or an alloy thereof . the use of such material reduces the risk of resistance to medicament flow by static attraction between the particles of medicament and the holding chamber wall . alternatively , the surface of a holding chamber of any material may be treated with an anti - electrostatic coating or process to achieve this advantage . in the exemplary embodiment using a metal tube , the tube is anodized which provides the advantage of sealing the micro - porosity of such a tube &# 39 ; s surface and stabilizing it against oxidation . referring to fig9 a and 9 b , the receptacle 300 may include a base with a lip 310 , an opening 350 for accepting a source of aerosol medicament in the base with a collar 370 extending into the chamber 200 , an air vent 320 , and a supporting wall 340 that surrounds the opening arising from the base into the chamber . the exemplary embodiment has four vents . the receptacle base is sized to fit within the tube of the holding chamber . it may be formed of a resilient and flexible material such that it may be removed from the chamber tube ( e . g ., for cleaning ) and replaced many times without loss of functionality , such as maintenance of structural integrity or the ability of the receptacle to form a substantially airtight seal with the tube , throughout the life of the apparatus . in the exemplary embodiment , the receptacle may be removed and replaced hundreds of times without ripping , tearing or otherwise harming the functionality of the apparatus . this removal resilience also applies to the removal and replacement of the source of aerosol medicament from the apparatus . the lip 310 of the receptacle fits around the perimeter of the base of the member so that the lip extends beyond the edge of the tube . the lip may be sized such that it forms a substantially airtight seal with the tube . other systems can be used to join the receptacle to the tube if desired . the opening 350 of the receptacle of the exemplary embodiment may be sized to accept several different types of aerosol medicament sources such as mdis . the collar 370 is sufficiently long and flexible to form a seal with the aerosol medicament source when one is admitted into the receptacle . the supporting wall 340 of the exemplary embodiment is provided with cyclone baffles 330 placed upon the outside of the wall ( relative to the opening ) and support ribs 360 radially placed upon the inside of the wall . the support ribs 360 extend from the wall towards the collar 370 . they are sized so that there is space for the collar to be pressed up against the ribs when a typical mdi is inserted into the opening . thus , an airtight seal may be formed around the source of the aerosol medicament . the support ribs of the exemplary embodiment provide support to the source of aerosol medicament by holding that source against the structure of the collar . the vents 320 allow outside air to be drawn into the holding chamber during inhalation . this helps to push the aerosol medicament to the subject during inhalation . each cyclone baffle 330 extends towards the base and is aligned with a vent 320 so that the point where the baffle reaches the base is just beyond the vent . the baffle thus covers the vent . the baffle may have a width sufficient to form a seal between the supporting wall and the tube wall of the chamber . by using the baffle to direct airflow coming through the vents , a rotational flow is imparted to the air entering the chamber through the vents . in the exemplary embodiment , the placement of the cyclone baffles above the vents and next to the wall of the holding chamber wall directs outside air to and along the wall of the holding chamber . this reduces the tendency for medicament to adhere to the wall of the holding chamber . although each of the four vents have been provided with a cyclone baffle in the present embodiment , this may not be necessary in all cases . the exemplary embodiment of the present invention is steam autoclavable either assembled or disassembled . this advantage arises from both the choice of materials used , as herein discussed , and the materials and methods of assembling the components of the invention , such as the quick release mechanism 182 and the use of high - temperature adhesive at the junction of adaptor member 170 and holding chamber 200 . further , the present invention is easily disassembled for cleaning and parts replacement by a non - technical person . while a detailed description of the present invention has been provided above , the invention is not limited thereto . modifications that do not depart from the scope and spirit of the invention will be apparent to those skilled in the art . the invention is defined by the claims that follow .	0
in brief overview and referring to fig1 one embodiment of the invention includes two coherent light sources 10 , 10 &# 39 ; separated by a distance d and located at a distance r from a detector 14 which is attached to the surface 18 whose deformation or displacement is to be measured . the two sources 10 , 10 &# 39 ; are herein collectively referred to as a fringe source or fringe generator and are contemplated to be held at a fixed distance apart . the output of the detector 14 is connected to a processor 16 . the two sources 10 , 10 &# 39 ; produce an interference pattern 22 at the location of the detector 14 . the interference pattern 22 consists of regions of varying light intensity ( only three periods shown for clarity ). the distance d between adjacent regions of equivalent intensity ( the distance of one period .) is described by the equation : where λ is the wavelength of the light emitted by the sources 10 , 10 &# 39 ;. as the surface 18 moves in the direction shown by arrow m , the detector 14 sweeps across the interference pattern . the detector 14 detects periodic light 26 , 26 &# 39 ;, 26 &# 34 ; and dark 28 , 28 &# 39 ; regions . if the amount of deformation or displacement is less than the spacing of the periods of the interference pattern , the detector 14 can determine the amount of deformation or displacement by determining the change in light intensity , as discussed in detail below . if the deformation or displacement exceeds one period , the number of light and dark periods or fringes can be detected and counted and the amount of deformation or displacement determined . as an example , for a wavelength λ of 0 . 5 μm , a source separation d of 1 . 4 mm and a distance r from sources 10 , 10 &# 39 ; to detector 14 of 20 m , the resulting fringe spacing is 10 mm . thus the deformation or displacement of the surface 18 would have to exceed 10 mm before fringe counting is necessary . although the apparatus is described in terms of the generation of an interference pattern , any device which is capable of projecting a pattern of periodic light and dark regions of accurately known spacing ( hereinafter referred to generally as a fringe pattern ) may be used as the source . for example a moire pattern generator may be used as the source . further , although the detector 14 is described above as being located on the surface 18 to be measured and the sources 10 , 10 &# 39 ; are located some distance from the detector 14 and the surface 18 , it is also possible to locate the sources 10 , 10 &# 39 ; on the surface 18 to be measured , and the detector 14 some distance from the surface 18 . yet further , it is also possible to locate both the source 10 , 10 &# 39 ; and detector 14 on different parts of the surface 18 . referring to fig2 an example of where this system may be used is in the determination of the deformation in a parabolic reflector 30 . in the embodiment shown , a multiplicity of detectors , generally 14 ( only two shown for clarity ), and fringe sources , generally 10 ( only four shown for clarity ), are used to measure the deformation of various portions of the surface 18 of the reflector 30 simultaneously . by receiving signal data from all the detectors , generally 14 , in response to the fringe pattern 22 , simultaneously , the deformation of the surface 18 of the reflector 30 may be mapped . referring to fig3 although the embodiment of the invention is described using two coherent light sources 10 , 10 &# 39 ;, a suitable source of coherent optical radiation may be obtained by using a transmissive plate interferometer 38 . one embodiment of such an interferometer includes a glass plate 40 oriented at an angle θ to a laser beam 44 emitted by a laser 48 . a portion 50 of the laser beam 44 is reflected by the surface 52 of the plate 40 , while a portion 58 penetrates the plate 40 and is reflected by the other surface 62 of the plate 40 . the result is that two coherent beams 50 , 52 are formed which are transmitted to the detector 14 . the two beams 50 , 52 are separated by a distance d which is given by the equation : ## equ1 ## where t is the thickness of the plate 40 and η is the index of refraction . additionally two light shields 64 , 64 &# 39 ; may be provided to prevent the formation of additional beams as the light is internally reflected within the glass plate . referring to fig3 a , an embodiment of a plurality of transmissive plate interferometers of fig3 located adjacent one another to produce a plurality of fringe patterns . in addition , the transmissive plates 38 may be oriented so as to project the light beams in different directions ( see fig3 b ). in another embodiment a laser beam is passed through a cylindrical lens to narrow the beam prior to the beam entering the transmissive plate . in this way beam energy is concentrated in one dimension across one or more detectors 14 . referring to fig4 although the embodiments described above have been discussed in terms of a single detector 14 , increased resolution and the avoidance of the intensity ambiguity may be achieved by using a plurality of detectors . the intensity ambiguity arises because generally a given intensity occurs twice during a cycle and so it is not easy to determine from where in the periodic cycle of intensity ( for example point i 2 or i 3 ) the signal is arising . by using a detector 70 having three parallel detecting elements 72 , 74 , 76 in the form of strips each separated from an adjacent strip by 1 / 4 d , and orienting the strips parallel to the fringes , the ambiguity may be removed . each strip 72 , 74 , 76 produces a signal ( i 1 , i 2 , and i 3 respectively ) proportional the intensity of optical radiation detected . the phase φ of the intensity cycle can be determined by the following relationship : thus the phase φ can be determined unambiguously within a range of 360 °. although this equation is strictly true only for strip widths of 0 , it is a good approximation if the strip width is much less than the fringe period . the amount of deformation or displacement z is then given by the equation : by using a multiple element detector , variations in the amplitude ( a ) of the intensity of the interference pattern caused by changes in the sources 10 , 10 &# 39 ; can be made to cancel out as can changes in the ambient light level or bias ( b ), as is seen from the equation defining φ . referring to fig4 a , it is also possible to create a detector whose strip elements are oriented perpendicular to the fringes . in such a case , each of the strip elements is masked so as to segment each strip into individual active areas . each of the masks are offset by 90 ° with regard to the period of the fringe and with respect to each other . such an arrangement thereby produces the same effect obtained by the three element detector described above , but with increased efficiency due to the larger overall active area . alternatively , a two dimensional charge couple device array may be used . because both of the beams which form the interference pattern travel over nearly the same optical path , temperature gradients and atmospheric effects which do not cause a bending of the optical beams have a minimal effect on the measurement . transverse temperature gradient ∂ t /∂ z , which causes a bending of the beam , affects the measurement of the deformation or displacement according to the equation : where δz is the error in the measurement , ∂ η /∂ t is the change in the index of refraction with temperature , and ∂ t /∂ z is the transverse temperature gradient . to understand the magnitude of the error in measurement , consider for example with a propagation path ( r ) of 20 m , a change in the index of refraction with temperature (∂ η /∂ t ) of 5 . 4 × 10 - 7 / f .° and a transverse gradient (∂ t /∂ z ) of 0 . 5 ° f / m . in such a case the error ( δz ) will be about 50 μm . in another embodiment , the detector is located adjacent to the source and the fringe pattern is projected onto a comer cube retroreflector located where the detector had been in the previous discussions . when the retroreflector receives the fringe pattern , the pattern is reflected back toward the detector which is adjacent the source . such an arrangement has the attribute of not requiring electrical connections at both the source and retroreflector locations . in yet another embodiment one or more detectors are illuminated by two widely separated independent fringe sources . in such a case , each fringe source may have a different wavelength each of which is selectable at the detector using an appropriate filter . this arrangement provides for a consistency check which is useful in the monitoring of fringe stability . it is envisioned that the sources and detectors can be attached to a flexible tape or line to aid in placing them on the surface to be measured . having described the preferred embodiments of the invention , it will now become apparent to one of skill in the art that other embodiments incorporating the concepts may be used . it is felt , therefore , that these embodiments should not be limited to the disclosed embodiments but rather should be limited only by the spirit and scope of the following claims .	6
referring to fig1 there is illustrated a vibration damper 5 embodying the invention and mounted on a span of electrical cable 60 at a point spaced from an insulator 7 and shoe 12 from which the cable is suspended . armor rod 61 covers the cable 60 at and near the point of suspension . the vibration damper includes two clamps 40 and 41 by which the damper is rigidly attached to the cable 60 and free vibratory inertial member 50 suspended therefrom by means of two springs 10 and 11 . each clamp and spring assembly constitutes a resilient support member . the vibration damper of fig1 possesses two interdependent modes of vibration characterized by two different resonance frequencies . in the embodiment of the invention illustrated , this interdependence is achieved in part by employing two springs 10 and 11 , connected between the inertial member 50 and clamps 40 and 41 respectively , having the same stiffness but arranged asymmetrically with respect to the center of gravity cg of the inertial member and in part by selecting the various parts to have characteristics such that the dynamic mass of the damper 5 , as viewed from the clamp , is high compared with the dynamic mass of the cable 60 at the resonance frequencies of the cable over a range of critical wind velocities . the critical wind velocities are those in the range of less than about 5 miles per hour up to about 15 miles per hour . the vibrations at the lower winds in this range create highest alternating stresses in suspended cables and may result in rapid cable fatigue and failure . vibrations in this wind speed range may also cause damage to suspension hardware . the damper 5 is illustrated in greater detail in fig2 . in this embodiment of the invention the inertial member 50 , as shown in fig2 is an elongated member having a predominantly cylindrical body with spherical , or rounded , ends . only the surface facing cable 60 is flat , thus providing rounded edges on all surfaces facing away from cable 60 , that is , those surfaces of the inertial member that are contrapositioned relative to the cable . this is an important feature in order to achieve superior corona extinction characteristics on high voltage cables . the longitudinal axis of the inertial member x -- x is that axis about which the moment of inertia of the inertial member is a minimum . for convenience , the end of inertial member 50 to which the midpoint between equally resilient springs 10 and 11 is closer is called the spring end 53 . likewise , the other end is called the mass end , or weight end . typically , the distance between springs 10 and 11 is greater than the length of either spring and is also greater than the distance between the flat surface of inertial member 50 and cable 60 . reinforcing rods 51 and 52 extend through the inertial member 50 as shown in fig2 and fig3 . these reinforcing rods extend along the direction of the longitudinal axis x -- x of the inertial member 50 . due to the relatively simple design of the inertial member 50 , it may be formed inexpensively from a non - metallic material , such as concrete . the placement of the lower reinforcing rod 51 is not critical . however , upper reinforcing rod 52 is placed within the range of about one - quarter inch to about one - half inch from the flat upper surface of the inertial member to help preclude cracking during manufacture . the cement used to form inertial member 50 possesses hardening characteristics which increase as a function of time after manufacture . thus , the likelihood of a crack occurring in the inertial member is reduced as a function of time . as indicated in fig2 and 3 , springs 10 and 11 and holders 13 and 14 are left - handed . the wire forming the springs is of circular cross - section and the helix of the spring is left - handed . the holders , or anchors , 13 and 14 , shown in fig5 are tubular members designed to be threaded into the lower ends of helical springs . the diameter of the exterior circumference of the holder is slightly greater than the inner diameter of the spring into which is is threaded . a left - handed helical groove of v - shape is formed in the exterior circumference of the holder with a pitch p which may be slightly different from the pitch p &# 39 ; of the spring , or the anchor , to which it attaches . in a practical embodiment of the invention , the anchor pitch p was 0 . 35 inch and the spring pitch p &# 39 ; was 0 . 37 inch . the resulting locking mechanism results from good frictional force of the spring on the anchors . this friction assures a secure connection even when the threaded grooves of the anchors have dimensions that are slightly less than the inside spring dimensions . this type of anchor , or holder , serves to prevent stress concentrations in the springs and to prolong spring life . the two threaded anchor bolts 17 and 18 are cast into the inertial member 50 with each anchor bolt positioned along the length of the inertial member 50 at the selected location for attachment of the springs 10 and 11 . the ends of each anchor bolt protrude from the upper surface of the inertial member as shown in fig3 and it is to these ends that the springs 10 and 11 are attached by means of holders , or anchors , 13 and 14 , lock washers 15 and 16 , and nuts 19 and 20 respectively , as shown in fig2 and 3 . holders 13 and 14 sit partially within holes 23 and 24 in inertial member 50 where they are seated on washers 25 and 26 , respectively . rubber tubular members 21 and 22 lie within interior portions of the springs 10 and 11 respectively , above the nuts 19 and 20 respectively . these rubber tubular members add mechanical loss to the damping function , thus smoothing out the damping characteristics . a suitable rubber for this purpose is neoprene rubber , such as closed cell neoprene rubber type r - 180 - v manufactured by rubatex corporation . in any event , it is best to use a material , such as neoprene , which has a temperature range of about - 30 ° f . to + 150 ° f . and which possesses an average density of about 10 pounds per cubic foot . instead of employing rubber to introduce a resistance component in the damping , other means may be employed for introducing such a component . thus , for example , coulomb friction may be employed for this purpose by utilizing mechanical elements which slide upon each other . likewise , dash pot arrangements may be employed for this purpose . however , viscous rubber - like members of the type described are particularly suitable since they are easy to install and retain their properties for many years . the springs 10 and 11 are connected to clamps 40 and 41 respectively which are threaded to receive and secure the springs . as shown in fig1 and 2 , each clamp is separately connected to the cable 60 thus providing two individual and independent rigid connections of the damper to the cable . as shown in fig3 and encapsulation , or coating , 28 covers the springs 10 and 11 , the rubber cylinders 21 and 22 , and the holders 13 and 14 . the coating 28 serves to prevent corrosion and to resist fatigue failure of the springs . the coating to some small extent also provides an additional resilience factor in the damper . a suitable covering material for this purpose is silicone rubber or butyl rubber . in any event , the most suitable material to use for this process is a material having rubber - like characteristics with a durometer hardness between about 40 and about 70 , such as dow corning type 1890 silicone rubber . as shown in fig3 a covering 27 has been applied to the inertial member 50 . a suitable covering is neoprene rubber , such as dupont hypalon . such a covering improves the appearance of the damper and serves to resist weather and ozone corrosion . suitable materials for the clamps 40 and 41 are cast aluminum alloy , cast iron , and cast magnesium alloy . stainless steel , music wire or other suitable spring steel material may be used for the springs 10 and 11 . in fig2 the axis r1 -- r1 of the spring 10 and the axis r2 -- r2 of spring 11 , are vertical and substantially parallel to each other and are also substantially perpendicular to the longitudinal axis x -- x of the inertial member 50 . the axis r1 -- r1 of spring 10 and the axis r2 -- r2 of spring 11 are substantially coplanar with the longitudinal axis x -- x of the inertial member 50 and the longitudinal axis of the cable 60 . it is also seen from fig3 that the axes r1 -- r1 and r2 -- r2 lie in a plane which passes through the center of the inertial member 50 . as shown in fig2 the distance l1 from the center of gravity cg of the inertial member 50 to the axis r1 -- r1 is substantially different from the distance l2 from the center of gravity cg of the inertial member 50 to the axis r2 -- r2 . the distances l1 and l2 represent the distances between the center of gravity cg of the inertial member 50 and the axes r1 -- r1 and r2 -- r2 respectively . as shown in fig2 the effect of the springs 10 and 11 is non - symmetrical with respect to a plane perpendicular to the longitudinal axis x -- x of the inertial member 50 and passing through the center of gravity cg of the inertial member . this non - symmetrical effect of the springs 10 and 11 accounts for the two resonance frequencies of this embodiment of the invention . the critical factor is neither the placement itself of the springs nor the relative stiffness itself of the springs . the critical factor is moment of stiffness , that is , the product of coefficient of stiffness of each spring and the distance of the spring from the center of gravity of the inertial member . when the moments of stiffness of the two springs are unequal , there are two interdependent modes of vibration in the vertical plane parallel to the longitudinal axis of the inertial member and passing through its center of gravity . but when the moments of stiffness of springs are equal , there will be two independent modes of vibration in the same plane . independence of vibration means that vibration may be experienced in one mode without vibration occurring in the other mode . for example , when the moments of stiffness for the springs in fig2 are equal , the inertial member may rotate about its center of gravity without any displacement in the vertical direction of the center of gravity . similarly , the inertial member may vibrate along a vertical axis passing through the center of gravity with no attendant rotation of the inertial member . dependence of vibration or interaction of two modes of vibration means that when the inertial member vibrates in one given mode , vibration in a second given mode will also necessarily occur . in the case where the moments of stiffness for the two springs are unequal , there will be dependence of interaction of two modes of vibration of the damper in a vertical plane parallel to the longitudinal axis of the inertial member passing through its center of gravity . in both modes of vibration there is a translational movement of the center of gravity along a vertical axis , and also a rotational movement of the inertial member about its own center of gravity . the two modes of dependent vibration are illustrated in fig1 a and 10b . both principal modes of vibration involve a vertical movement having a maximum displacement z and a rotation through an angle θ . as indicated in fig1 a , one of these principal modes of vibration includes a rotation through an angle θ 1 about an axis at a point q displaced from the inertial member 50 on or near the spring end 53 and a vertical movement with a maximum displacement z 1 . fig1 b shows a rotation θ 2 about an axis through point n which is on the inertial member and displaced from the center of gravity towards the other end or mass end of the inertial member , and a vertical movement having a maximum displacement z 2 . when the moments of stiffness of the springs with respect to the center of gravity of inertial member 50 are equal , the displacement of the point q from the cg becomes infinite while the displacement of the point n from the center of gravity becomes zero . as a result , the mode of vibration corresponding to that in fig1 a becomes a purely vertical vibration and the mode of vibration illustrated in fig1 b becomes a purely rotational vibration . the two modes are then independent of one another . however , nominally , when the moment of stiffness of springs 11 and 12 are not equal , the displacement of each point of rotation from the center of gravity becomes finite and non - zero and both principal modes of vibration include the combination of a vertical displacement and rotation through an angle as mentioned above . the frequency of vibration , or resonance frequency , of the damper is different for each of the two modes of vibration illustrated in fig1 . the absolute frequencies and relative frequencies of these two modes of vibration are important to the effectiveness of the damper in its function of attenuating the vibration of the suspended cable to which it is attached . a stretched cable under a constant tension load of t pounds is shown in fig9 . when the wind blows , the natural characteristic of this cable is to vibrate in a vertical plane . the cable will then have a deflection curve with any one of a number of specific wave shapes , such as that shown in fig9 . such a deflection curve is approximately sinusoidal . the cable vibrates up and down at a particular frequency and with a deflection amplitude a which depends primarily on the wind speed and the temperature of the cable and is exactly the same for each half cycle of vibration when a steady state condition is reached . at certain points g and h along the cable , the deflection of the cable is zero and the distance between these points is half the wavelength of the vibration . these points g and h are called nodal points , or nodes , and are points at which the cable is motionless so far as vertical displacement is concerned . the distances between nodal points is referred to as the loop length s . as shown in fig9 the maximum amplitude of deflection occurs half - way between nodal points or near the center of each loop length . it is well known in the art that the length of a loop is inversely proportional to the wind velocity for a given constant conductor tension , constant conductor weight per unit length , and constant conductor diameter . more specifically , the well known empirical relationship can be represented by the following equation : ## equ1 ## where d = the conductor diameter in inches w = the conductor weight per unit length in pounds per foot a very useful concept in the design of vibration dampers is that of mechanical impedance or dynamic mass . dynamic mass of a cable span is defined as the force applied to the cable at any point in a vertical direction divided by the acceleration of the cable at the same point in the vertical direction . the dynamic mass varies along the length of the cable and , at each point , it is a function of frequency . as the dynamic mass increases , the force required to produce a given acceleration increases . similarly , the greater the dynamic mass , the less the acceleration for a given force . since the maximum amplitude of displacement occurs at points halfway along the loop length , acceleration is largest at points of maximum displacement amplitude . these are points at which the dynamic mass or mechanical impedance of the cable is a minimum . conversely , at points on the cable near the nodal points , the acceleration is small and hence the dynamic mass of the cable at those points is relatively large . it is also useful to distinguish between mechanical impedance as defined above , wherein the vertical displacement is measured at the point of the cable at which the force is applied and a mechanical impedance wherein the vertical acceleration of the cable is measured at a point other than the point at which the force is applied . the former mechanical impedance is called a driving point mechanical impedance while the latter is called a transfer mechanical impedance . further shown in fig9 are locations along or near the cable relevant to measurements of the effectiveness of a damper . points 1 , 2 , 4 , and 5 indicate various points on the suspended cable . point 1 represents the point of application of an applied test force . point 2 represents the point on the cable at which the damper is to be connected . point 3 represents the equivalent point on the damper which is to be connected to the cable , the points 4 and 5 represent points on the cable at which measurements of acceleration would be made . the vibration amplitude is measured with accelerometers while maintaining sinusoidal motion resulting from the applied test force . the vibration amplitude of the cable at point 4 with the damper on the cable ( points 2 and 3 connected ) divided by the amplitude of the cable at point 4 without the damper on the cable ( points 2 and 3 disconnected ) is called the reflection vibration . the residual vibration is the vibration amplitude of the cable at point 5 with points 2 and 3 connected , divided by the vibration amplitude of the cable at point 5 with points 2 and 3 disconnected . the vibration attenuation at point 4 , v 4 , and the vibration attenuation at point 5 , v 5 , expressed in percent , can be calculated from the measurements and are given by the following equations : ## equ2 ## where a 4 &# 39 ; = the vibration amplitude at point 4 with the damper on the cable . a 4 = the vibration amplitude at point 4 without the damper on the cable . a 5 &# 39 ; = the vibration amplitude at point 5 with the damper on the cable . a 5 = the vibration amplitude at point 5 without the damper on the cable . all required data are taken at each frequency of interest while applying the identical value of test force with and without the damper on the cable . in effect , transfer impedances and transfer dynamic masses of the cable are being measured with and without the damper on the cable . the procedure for making such measurements is described in u . s . pat . no . 3 , 675 , 471 ( bouche , 1972 ). fig1 is a graph of residual vibration attenuation versus frequency and wind speed for the point on the cable two feet from the near suspension point ( point 5 in fig9 ). fig1 is a graph of reflection vibration attenuation , measured at a point three feet from the far end of the cable ( point 4 in fig9 ). the cable and damper used for these measurements have the characteristics indicated in table i . table i______________________________________cable parameters damper parameters______________________________________diameter 1 . 762 &# 34 ; length of mass 36 &# 34 ; length 145 &# 39 ; weight 36 lbstension 14 , 500 lbs spring separation 12 &# 34 ; weight / length 2 . 5 lbs / ft location of spring 5 &# 39 ; from end clamp suspension point______________________________________ the point dynamic mass of the damper is obtained by attaching the damper to a vibration shaker and measuring the ratio of the force at point 3 to the acceleration at point 3 and the phase angle difference between the sinusoidal force and acceleration . fig1 represents the dynamic mass of the embodiment of this invention depicted in fig2 and further having the specific physical properties of the damper unit ii as indicated in table ii . table ii indicates the more pertinent parameters of two damper units that have been constructed and tested . unit i is used on cables having a diameter of approximately 0 . 971 to 1 . 234 inches and unit ii is used on cables having a diameter of approximately 1 . 487 to 1 . 849 inches . table ii______________________________________damper damper damper spring springunit length weight separation stiffness______________________________________ i 24 &# 34 ; 20 lbs 8 &# 34 ; 500 lbs / in . ii 36 &# 34 ; 36 lbs 12 &# 34 ; 500 lbs / in . ______________________________________ as can be observed from fig1 , this damper has two resonances located at frequencies corresponding to the lower wind speeds . the lower resonance frequency corresponds to wind speeds slightly above 5 miles per hour , and the higher resonance frequency corresponds to wind speeds slightly lower than 15 miles per hour . it will be recalled that the critical wind speeds for high voltage lines lie in the range extending from 5 mph to 15 mph . the lower curve in fig1 represents the phase characteristic of the dynamic impedance of the damper as a function of frequency . the effectiveness of the cable damping is further improved if this phase characteristic is generally smooth in its variations as a function of frequency throughout the range of critical wind speeds . many tests were conducted to determine a practical means for improving damper performance to the extent described herein . the results showed the desirability of providing an elongated inertial member and an increased separation between springs . achievement of this increase in spring separation was clearly more economical when the springs were attached to separate points on the cable . however , this separation of attachment points provided the additional advantage of an increase in rotational coupling between the cable and the damper . this increase in coupling is caused by the exertion of separate and distinct forces by the vibrating cable on the damper at the widely separated points of attachment . additional improvements in damper effectiveness were achieved during testing . vibrations having frequencies in the critical wind speed range are further attenuated by the inclusion of tubular members composed of rubber - like material compressed within the helical springs 10 and 11 . these tubular members smooth out the phase characteristics of the damper , resulting in a more favorable mechanical impedance curve . it has also been found advantageous to attach the damper to the suspended cable with the spring end 53 of the damper pointed towards the near point of suspension . this orientation of the damper with respect to the cable maximizes the torque moment along the longitudinal axis x -- x of the inertial member . this results in a further increase in dynamic mass and a concomitant improvement in damper effectiveness . the damper is mounted at a position on the cable at which the cable would normally vibrate a substantial amount in a vertical direction as well as angularly about a horizontal axis . such a mounting position is effective if it is located between about 10 % and 20 % of the loop length of the cable corresponding to a minimum average critical wind speed . in the case of high tension cables having parameters as set forth in table ii , the damper there described is located 5 feet from the suspension at one end of the span . when so mounted , the damper produces adequate damping as illustrated in fig1 and 12 at both ends of the span as well as at intermediate points . in connection with installing a damper at a position related to such a typical loop length , it is to be borne in mind that the length of such a span would normally be many times the length of such loop . thus , for such a high tension cable , a typical span length would be 1 , 000 feet , and the length of a loop for a wind speed of about 5 mph would be about 23 feet . in the case of such a high voltage cable , the damper may be mounted directly on the cable 60 , while for a lower voltage cable having a smaller diameter and other characteristics that cause the typical loop length in the critical wind speed range to be less , the damper would often be mounted directly on the armor rod 61 as indicated in fig1 and 2 . if the vibration attenuation is approximately 75 % over a predominant portion of the range of critical wind speeds , the damper is acceptably effective . effectiveness of damping is increased if the two resonance frequencies of the damper occur near the range of critical wind speeds of 5 miles per hour to 15 miles per hour . it is well known in the art that these lower wind speeds are the most critical because they place the highest dynamic stresses on the ends of the cable at the points of attachment . however , the vibration attenuation above 75 % will increase by at least several orders of magnitude the number of vibration cycles prior to failure of the cable . moreover , conductor fatigue failures and damage to suspension hardware are minimized to the extent of being virtually eliminated . an indication of the effectiveness of dampers is the extent to which one damper will provide vibration attenuation at points along the span far from the damper including points near the opposite end of the cable . when the vibration attenuation provided by a single damper is 75 % or higher along the entire length of the cable during occurrence of the critical lower wind speeds , the desirable advantage of having to attach just one damper to a full span of suspended cable is achieved . the attenuation curve of fig1 indicates the presence of this advantage in the specimen tested . an alternate embodiment of this invention having a different arrangement of the resilient support members , that is a different arrangement of the springs and clamps , is illustrated in fig6 and 7 . couplings 100 and 101 each have a helically wound toroidal spring 102 and 103 respectively , arcuately nested along the inside surface of the c - shaped ends . springs 102 and 103 are secured to the respective couplings by t - shaped studs 104 , 105 , and 106 , and by end flanges 107 and 108 of the coupling as shown best in fig7 . each coupling has an elongated end or stem portion which is embedded in the free vibratory inertial member 50 . foot members 109 and 110 serve both as guideways for supporting rods 111 and 112 and to increase the retentional friction of coupling 100 to the inertial member 50 . cable 60 lies along the common toroidal axis , or axis of revolution y -- y of the toroid shapes formed by springs 102 and 103 , thus being resiliently but securely connected to the damper . each coupling has a lateral opening through which the cable 60 is forced and snapped snugly into place in sufficient compression of the spring to prevent slipping . t - shaped studs 104 , 105 , and 106 serve the additional purpose of limiting the travel of cable 60 relative to coupling 100 whenever the relative motion exceeds the available spring compression . a rubber - like material , such as dow corning silicone rubber type 1890 permeates the springs 102 and 103 and serves as a coating 113 surrounding the c - shaped end , spring and t - shaped studs . the coating is best illustrated in fig8 . a rubber - like material tubular member 114 lies inside the springs 102 and 103 as shown in fig7 and 8 . this member serves the same purpose as the tubular member of the embodiment shown in fig1 . the coating 113 and tubular member 114 add resilience to the spring and protect the coupling and spring from weather corrosion . the respective elongated ends and c - shaped ends are positioned to be parallel , the points of intersection of the couplings and the inertial member lying along a common line parallel to the longitudinal axis x -- x of the inertial member 50 . the lateral openings of the c - shaped ends are oppositely directed , thus facing opposed edges of the inertial member . this configuration permits easier installation by connecting the damper with a simple rotating motion about a vertical axis . a differently shaped coupling 100 &# 39 ; and retaining stud 104 &# 39 ; are shown in fig1 . this configuration of coupling and stud would permit better accommodation and retention of the spring 102 . an additional alternate embodiment of this invention , having resilient support members similar in appearance to those of the second embodiment , but having differently structured couplings 200 and 201 , is illustrated in fig1 , 16 , and 17 . unlike the couplings 100 and 101 of the embodiment of the invention illustrated in fig6 and 7 , the couplings 200 and 201 are removably attached to the freely suspended inertial member 50 . to provide this removable feature , each of the couplings 200 and 201 has a c - shaped end 202 and 203 respectively , and a foot member 204 and 205 respectively , each of which is flattened to provide a suitable surface for securing couplings 200 and 201 to the flat top - surface of the inertial member 50 . the foot members 204 and 205 are connected to the respective c - shaped ends 202 and 203 by means of leg members 224 and 225 respectively . each leg member extends tangentially from a location adjacent the midpoint of the c - shaped end . the respective leg and foot members of each coupling are together referred to herein as the respective stem portions of the couplings . the couplings 200 and 201 are secured by means of hexagonal nuts 206 and 207 to vertical mounting studs 208 and 209 respectively , each of which forms part of the inertial member . as seen best in fig1 and 17 , the vertical stud 208 is partially embedded in the concrete inertial member 50 with a threaded portion 222 extending through the top surface of the inertial member . the stud head 210 rests against a lower reinforcing rod 212 . a jam - nut 213 , which lies just below the upper surface of the inertial member 50 , rests against an upper reinforcing rod 211 . the vertical stud 208 extends through an aperture or bore hole 214 in foot member 204 . the foot member is secured to the vertical stud by means of a lock - washer 223 and hexagonal nut 206 . it will be observed that the cable 60 lies along the common toroidal axis or axis of revolution y -- y of the toroid shapes formed by the springs 216 and 226 , as in the second embodiment of the invention previously described . in the third embodiment of the invention , each coupling utilizes a single toroidal spring . for example , coupling 200 employs the spring 216 which is secured to the flanged opposing ends 218 and 227 respectively of the c - shaped portion of the coupling by means of a series of parallel grooves such as 219 . the spring 216 is further secured by t - shaped retention stud 221 which retains the spring against the inside surface of the c - shaped ends of the coupling . the toroidal spring 216 is filled with two cylindrical pieces of closed - cell neoprene cord 217 and 220 , each shaped to be compressed within and to conform to the inside surface of the spring . although not shown in the drawings , a neoprene adhesive may be applied to the inside surface of the c - shaped portion of the coupling to provide additional means for securing the pieces of neoprene cord and the toroidal spring within the coupling . fig1 illustrates in an enlarged scale , the relationship between the coupling 200 , and the vertical stud 208 ; and shows an additional view of the relationship between the cable , shown in phantom lines , and the spring 216 within the coupling 200 . as in the embodiment previously described , rubberlike material , such as dow corning silicone rubber type 1890 permeates springs 216 and 226 and serves as a coating surrounding the c - shaped ends , springs , t - shaped retention studs , and end flanges . the foot members 204 and 205 need not be coated . thus it can be seen that the third embodiment of the invention provides coupling means which may be separately transported to the final assembly or installation site and removably attached to the inertial member prior to installation of the damper onto the cable . this removable attachment feature provides a number of advantages not available in either of the first two embodiments of the invention . by way of example , the coupling members may be separately transported to the final assembly or installation site in a more convenient package and from different manufacturing locations . this permits the independent fabrication of the inertial member including the pouring of concrete at a final assembly location close to the installation site where the concrete may be purchased less expensively and transported at a lower cost . the third embodiment of the invention herein described provides an additional advantage regarding maintenance and repair of dampers by making it feasible to replace one or both clamps or the inertial member , any of which may have been damaged , without having to replace all three of these elements of the damper . from the foregoing explanation , it may readily be seen that this invention , though providing a simple and inexpensive damper , also provides a significant improvement over prior art dampers by serving to attenuate aeolian vibrations over the entire length of a span of suspended cable throughout the range of high stress inducing wind speeds even though a damper is installed at only one end of the span . this invention provides an even greater improvement in damping when two such dampers are employed on each cable span . it will be apparent from the foregoing that the invention is not limited to the specific embodiments described , but that many changes may be made in the design or materials of which the various parts of this invention are comprised without departing from the scope of the invention as defined in the accompanying claims .	8
an embodiment is shown in fig1 , which illustrates a block diagram of an image sensor with an included temperature sensor . basically , this system provides an image sensing system in which outputs can represent either the output of the image sensor , and / or at temperature of the image sensor , e . g . the temperature of the substrate on which the image sensor is formed . the system includes an improved temperature sensor circuit which determines the temperature of the substrate , e . g . the silicon . the system of fig1 shows an active pixel sensor , which may be formed using cmos circuitry for example . however , these techniques may also be applied to any other family or type of image sensor . an image sensor pixel array 100 , for example an image sensor array having “ m ” rows and “ n ” columns , is driven by a control signal generator 105 that generates control signals and clock pulses for the pixel array . the output of the pixel array 110 is provided in parallel form to a double sample and hold circuit 115 , that is , one which holds two values . sample and hold circuit 115 may carry out a correlated double sampling from the image sensor , to produce an output signal that is proportional to the difference between the value of each pixel prior to light integration , and the value of the pixel after the light integration is complete . the difference circuit 120 may determine the difference between the two signals . controlling element 105 may also produce the control signals for the difference circuit 120 . the output of difference circuit 120 is amplified by a gain circuit 125 , and output as an analog signal 130 . the final output signal may be this analog signal 130 . alternatively , an a / d converter 135 may be used to produce a digital output 140 indicative of the analog signal 130 . a second input to the double sample and hold circuit 115 comes from a temperature sensor 150 . the output 151 of the temperature sensor is also received by the sample and hold circuit 115 , and passes through the signal chain in the same way as the image sensor outputs . in this way , a signal which is directly proportional to temperature can be received from the temperature sensor 150 . this may be done , for example , during a time slot while the image readout is inactive . it may be done for example at the beginning of each image , or at the beginning or end of each one frame , or every few lines , or any other interval of pixels or time . in this way , changes in temperature which fluctuate on a relatively short time frame may be used as correction , as often as desired . in a typical implementation of an image sensor , such as the one described herein , a hotter chip provides a whiter image , or put another way , the black level of an image pixel has a higher voltage than the white level . increasing the temperature causes a correspondingly decreased pixel signal voltage . this is the typical case when a pixel photodiode is implemented in a p type silicon or p type diffusion well . in the opposite case , where an n type substrate or n type well is used to embed the photoreceptor , an increasing voltage may correspond to a higher temperature . a relationship between the temperature and the amount of compensation of image output may be stored . a so - called bandgap cell is shown in fig2 . this cell includes the temperature and voltage stabilized output labeled as v — ref . the output v — eb , q6 is a voltage drop away from the reference voltage , and has a linear and negative temperature coefficient relative to that reference voltage . in this system , a startup transient current input is required at the node labeled “ start ”. after reaching steady - state , the currents in transistors q 5 and q 6 eventually equalize . the fig2 circuit is based on the brokaw type bandgap reference circuit which is well - known . in fig2 , the two nmos transistors 200 , 202 share the same gate voltage by virtue of their common gate node 206 . the transistors 200 , 202 are matched to have the same or similar transconductance . therefore , the source potentials will be the same when they conduct the same current . the cmos transistors 210 , 212 form a current mirror keeps the source potential of the two nmos transistors 200 , 202 constant . the current mirror is also part of a closed looped amplifier which insures that the source potential of the nmos transistors will be kept low due to feedback . this loop should be kept stable . equal currents are hence forced through the two base p - n junctions of the diode - coupled transistors 220 , 222 . these transistors have different areas , with the area ratio between transistor 222 and 225 being 4 : 32 equals 1 : 8 . because of this area difference , there will be a difference in the p - n junction voltage drop across the junctions according to therefore , δ veb has a positive temperature coefficient proportional to absolute temperature . the v t is called the thermal voltage , k is boltzmann &# 39 ; s constant , t is absolute temperature in degrees kelvin and q is the charge of an electron . the p - n junctions have negative temperature coefficients of about 2 mv per degrees k . by balancing these two coefficients at a chosen temperature t = t θ , a close to 0 temperature coefficient can be obtained at that temperature . in order for the two currents in fig2 to be equal , the resistor r 6 must be greater than the resistor r 5 . the value δr is defined as the difference r 6 - r 5 . the two operating currents are then given by since r 6 = r 5 + δr , the output reference voltage will be : v — ref = v eb , q6 + δv eb +( r 5 / δr )· δ v eb v — ref = v eb , q6 =( 1 + r 5 / δr )· δ v eb ( 3 ) the operating currents and current densities of q 5 and q 6 may be selected to provide a negative temperature coefficient for the v eb determined in equation 3 . this can be balanced against the positive temperature term by the resistor ratio r 5 / δr and also by changing the area ratio between q 5 and q 6 . in this particular embodiment this ratio 1 : 8 . the last part of equation 3 also shows that the last term is independent of any common production tolerance in the absolute value of the resistors . however , the operating current will still vary around the target design value . there will be a logarithmic variation in the first term v eb , q6 over multiple process runs , and hence also in the output voltage . in most cases , this variation is acceptable . there is also an acceptable variation in the negative temperature coefficient of v eb , q6 . according to this finding , the present application uses the double sampling part of the analog signal processing chain of an image sensor to obtain the difference between the voltage v_ref and v eb , q6 , in order to output a signal directly proportional to the absolute temperature of the sensor as v — ptat =( 1 + r 5 / δr )· δ v eb =( 1 + r 5 / δr )·( kt / q )· ln ( a q6 / a q5 ) where a q6 / a q5 are respective emitter areas of q 6 and q 5 . this enables temperature measurement to be carried out independently of process variations according to a first order . however , there may be second order variations in the term δv eb . fig3 also shows a startup circuit for the bandgap cell shown in fig2 . in the fig3 cell , the start node 300 begins with a relatively low potential during startup . prior to start up , the gate potential of transistor m 14 is high so that the transistor does not conduct current . transistor m 11 is a relatively long transistor and can be used as a resistor . m 11 will hence always be conducting . this causes the transistor m 10 to conduct and provide the start up current . when the fig2 bandgap cell has started , this sets the gate potential of m 14 and therefore m 14 conducts current . that current is mirrored by the transistors m 12 , m 13 to pull down the source node of m 11 so that m 10 stops providing its start up current . the circuit also has two buffers and level shifters as shown in fig4 . the level shifters bring the two output voltages up to the normal voltage range used for the output of the pixel source followers . these level shifters also lower the output impedance of the bandgap cell . level shifting needs to be done using carefully matched transistor pairs and matched current sources for the source followers . accordingly , the bandgap cell has an inherent start current provided by the start current generating circuit thereby providing a temperature sensed output . although only a few embodiments have been disclosed in detail above , other modifications are possible .	7
fig1 shows a single mirror motion element ( 1 ). the full array requires one of these per mirror . the first part of the element is a frame ( 2 ) containing two grooves , top ( 3 ) and bottom ( 4 ). the center of the frame contains a hole ( 5 ), in which a rotating axle ( 6 ) is held . at one end of the rotating axle ( 6 ), an arm ( 7 ) is affixed to facilitate the rotation . a top extensible shaft ( 8 ) extends from the top groove ( 3 ) to the rotating axle ( 6 ). the extensible shaft ( 8 ) is designed for one end to slide horizontally through the top groove ( 3 ) and the other end to rotate freely around the rotating axle ( 6 ) without directly rotating it . likewise , a bottom extensible shaft ( 9 ) comprises one end that slides along the bottom groove ( 4 ), and the other end that rotates freely about the rotating axle ( 6 ). the top ( 8 ) and bottom ( 9 ) extensible shafts connect to the arm ( 7 ) via connecting rods ( 10 ). one end of each rod ( 10 ) is allowed to rotate freely where it is mounted to the extensible shafts ( 8 - 9 ). the other end of each rod ( 10 ) is constrained to pivot within a collar ( 11 ) which is free to slide along the arm ( 7 ). as the rods ( 10 ) slide , they cause the collar ( 11 ) and arm ( 7 )— and by extension , the rotating axle ( 6 )— to rotate in the hole ( 5 ). the rotating axle ( 6 ) will support a mirror ( 16 ), which will rotate with the axle ( 6 ), as is shown in fig5 . fig2 shows an alternate embodiment of single mirror motion element ( 1 ). the full array requires one of these per mirror . the first part of the element is a frame ( 2 ) containing two grooves , top ( 3 ) and bottom ( 4 ). the center of the frame contains a hole ( 5 ), in which a rotating axle ( 6 ) is held . at one end of the rotating axle ( 6 ), an arm ( 7 ) is affixed to facilitate the rotation . a top extensible shaft ( 8 ) extends from the top groove ( 3 ) to the rotating axle ( 6 ). the extensible shaft ( 8 ) is designed for one end to slide horizontally through the top groove ( 3 ) and the other end to rotate freely around the rotating axle ( 6 ) without directly rotating it . likewise , a bottom extensible shaft ( 9 ) comprises one end that slides along the bottom groove ( 4 ), and the other end that rotates freely about the rotating axle ( 6 ). the top ( 8 ) and bottom ( 9 ) extensible shafts support large bevel gears ( 28 ). each large bevel gear ( 28 ) is allowed to rotate freely where it is mounted to the extensible shafts ( 8 - 9 ). a small bevel gear ( 29 ) is allowed to rotate freely around arm ( 7 ). the toothed surface of the large bevel gear ( 28 ) meshes with the small bevel gear ( 29 ). as the large bevel gears ( 28 ) rotate , they cause the small bevel gear ( 29 ) on arm ( 7 )— and by extension , the rotating axle ( 6 )— to rotate in the hole ( 5 ). the single mirror motion element ( 1 ) described and shown in fig1 will be used for farther illustration , though the mirror motion element ( 1 ) of fig2 could be substituted with no alteration to farther description of mechanism motion . referring to fig3 , in fig3 a a detailed illustration of the control element ( 13 ) is shown . in fig3 b it is shown in context within the mirror control structure ( 12 ). the top ( 3 ) and bottom ( 4 ) grooves present in the mirror motion elements ( 1 ) extend through the control element ( 13 ). the top lattice ( 14 ) contains a top slide ( 17 ) at its top corner ; the top slide ( 17 ) fits in the top groove ( 3 ), and as it slides it translates the entire top lattice ( 14 ) from side to side . likewise , the bottom lattice ( 15 ) contains a bottom slide ( 18 ) at its bottom corner , which slides within the bottom groove ( 4 ) and translates the bottom lattice ( 15 ). vertical slides ( 19 - 20 ) span across the end of each lattice ( 14 - 15 ), causing expansion or contraction with the results described in the previous paragraph . looking further at fig3 a , a wide variety of configurations can be achieved using only the slides shown ( 17 - 20 ). first , the top slide ( 17 ) allows the array to track the sun throughout the day . the bottom slide ( 18 ) adjusts the x coordinate of the array &# 39 ; s focal point . the vertical slides ( 19 - 20 ) control the z coordinate of the focus . as a result , only four slides ( 17 - 20 ) will move or rotate all the mirrors in the array ; the number of mirrors that can be moved will be limited only by the manufacturing , specifically the weight and compliance of the moving parts . the slides themselves will be moved by any desired actuating means , including motors , hydraulics or pneumatics , cables , belts , chains , or other means ; there is no preferred mode , but the actuating means should be equivalent to one another for the purpose of this invention . referring now to fig3 b , the mirror control structure ( 12 ) is shown , which is comprised of multiple mirror motion elements ( 1 ) in addition to a control element ( 13 ). the control structure ( 12 ) may be manufactured as one piece ; alternatively , several mirror motion elements ( 1 ) may be produced separately and placed together sequentially with a control element ( 13 ) added . the control structure ( 12 ) further includes two expanding lattices , top ( 14 ) and bottom ( 15 ). the purpose of these is to slide the ends of the extensible shafts ( 8 - 9 ) along the grooves ( 4 - 5 ), causing the rotation described above . if an entire lattice ( 14 or 15 ) is moved , all the mirror motion elements ( 1 ) will be adjusted similarly , as required to maintain the focus . if a lattice ( 14 or 15 ) is made to expand or contract by using the vertical slides ( 19 or 20 ), the mirror motion elements ( 1 ) will be adjusted proportionally to their distance from the end of said lattice ( 14 or 15 ). as an alternative to the expanding lattice framework , it may be desirable , and would be comparably achieved , to replace the lattice with threaded rods or springs , as shown in fig3 c . a representative example of control motion is illustrated in fig4 . the control structure is shown first , in fig4 a , maintaining a position in which all mirror control elements are held in an original position ; level and at equal angles . it is seen that neither the top ( 17 ) nor bottom ( 18 ) slide , neither the top ( 19 ) nor bottom ( 20 ) vertical slide , has been displaced from the level and equal condition shown in fig4 a . in fig4 b , the control structure is shown again in a representative new position . it is seen in fig4 b that the top slide ( 17 ) has been displaced laterally , while the top vertical slide ( 19 ) has not been displaced from its original position . thus the upper portion of the control elements in this configuration is set to receive parallel light from a location laterally displaced from the controller . it is also seen in fig4 b that the bottom slide ( 18 ) and the bottom vertical slide ( 20 ) have both been displaced from the level and equal condition shown in fig4 a . in fig4 b it is seen that the bottom slide ( 18 ) has been displaced laterally , and the bottom vertical slide ( 20 ) vertically , from the original position . thus the lower portion of the control elements in this configuration is set to reflect light to a location slightly laterally displaced and vertically displaced from the controller . fig5 shows the mirror control structure ( 12 ) on the opposite side . the control element ( 13 ) is now on the left , with the mirror control elements ( 1 ) on the right . several of the rotating axles ( 6 ) are shown , each one attached to a mirror ( 16 ) attached . depending on the state of the control element ( 13 ), each rotating axle ( 6 ) may be rotated at a different angle . the result of this differential rotation is that the mirrors ( 16 ) are rotated differently as well , which is seen in the figure . in order to achieve the desired mirror configuration , the control element ( 13 ) is used to account for the angular position of the sun , as well as the horizontal and vertical distance to the desired focus . it is likely that the position of the focus will be the location of an energy collector , and may be set at installation , as well as whenever needed . the position of the sun will change throughout each day , and the adjustment for that parameter will undergo continual change , directed by the control element ( 13 ). looking now at fig6 , it is noted that the mirrors ( 16 ) will be systematically rotated so that light from the sun will reflect to a common focal point . as shown in the fig6 a - 6c , it is possible to program a range of ( x , z ) coordinates for the incident light as well as the reflected light . in the preferred embodiment , the incident light will come from the sun , very far away , and will arrive as parallel rays . this will be the standard operating mode , as shown in fig6 d - 6e , though the device is capable of focusing non - parallel light as seen in the other figures . looking at fig7 , it is further possible to create a 2 - dimensional array of mirrors ( 16 ), which will allow a 3 - dimensional focus adjustment and also provide a greater efficiency for energy collection or storage . the first consideration to this end is to use two mirror control structures ( 12 )— one for the x - direction and one for the y - direction . fig7 a shows a 2 - dimensional array of mirrors ( 16 ) rotated about 2 axes , which may be adjusted to focus in 3 dimensions . fig6 a also shows one embodiment , to arrange the control structures ( 12 ) at right angles . this embodiment would require support structures on the remaining 2 sides of the array ( not shown in the figure ). looking further at fig7 , some additional consideration is required to attach both control structures ( 12 ) to each mirror . fig7 b shows one of many solutions : a gimbal ( 21 ), which allows the mirror ( 16 ) to rotate about two axes . the gimbal ( 21 ) allows rotation using the following mechanism , which will be repeated along both axes . first , a rotating cross ( 22 ) will be attached to the rotating axle ( 6 ), as well as potentially to the rotating crosses ( 22 ) of adjacent gimbals ( 21 ), to rotate as the control structure ( 12 ) is adjusted . at opposite ends of each cross ( 22 ), a vertical beam ( 23 ) is attached to translate the rotational motion of the cross ( 22 ). the vertical shafts ( 23 ) then connect to cross - members ( 24 ) on the underside of each mirror ( 16 ), so that as the cross rotates , the mirror ( 16 ) rotates equally in the same direction . note that the cross - members ( 24 ), capable of swiveling such that the angle between the two is not fixed , are necessary such that rotation of one axis ( 22 a ) does not affect the accurate positioning of the other axis ( 22 b ) as the mirror ( 16 ) is inclined . by including the described mechanism in two directions , independent rotation is made possible in two axes . fig7 c shows an example of a gimbal ( 21 ) attached to the rotating axles ( 6 ) of two perpendicular control structures ( 12 ). looking now at fig8 , a solar collector facility is shown . the entire array ( 25 ), as described in detail above , is placed near an energy collector ( 26 ), such as a boiler or photovoltaic cell . as shown in the figure , one array ( 25 ) may be arranged around a collector . in this case , it is still considered a single array because it may be controlled by a single set of four inputs for each axis . however , it will be appreciated that alternative arrangements are possible , without changing the novelty of the invention . for example , the same arrangement of mirrors could possibly be separated into a plurality of arrays , whereby more inputs , controllers , motors , etc . are used to control the motion of the mirrors in different locations . furthermore , the invention as shown in fig8 can be expanded within a solar collecting facility , with multiple collectors . in this expansion , each collector may be used in conjunction with a single array , or with multiple arrays as well . in this embodiment , it is quite conceivable that the controller and the power may be shared by multiple arrays .	6
referring to fig1 of the drawings , the reference numeral 100 generally designates a hollow golf club head embodying features of the present invention . the hollow golf club head 100 generally comprises a face portion 110 , an integrated sole and wall portion 112 , and a crown portion 114 defining a body 116 with an interior cavity 118 . a hosel portion 124 is connected to and / or integrated into the body 116 for receiving a shaft ( not shown ). furthermore , a removable , port cover 120 , which is described in further detail below with reference to fig3 , provides access to the interior cavity 118 , thereby allowing the placement of weighting material , such as lead tape , into the interior cavity 118 . in the preferred embodiment , the hollow golf club head 100 comprises a two - piece golf club head . the first piece comprising the integrated sole and wall portion 112 and the face portion 110 , including the hosel portion 124 . the second piece comprises the crown portion 114 , which is welded or otherwise attached to the first piece . other embodiments , such as a three - piece golf club head , however , may be used as is known in the art . fig2 is a bottom view of the hollow golf club head 100 , further illustrating the positioning and sizing of the weighting - port cover 120 in the preferred embodiment . preferably , the weighting - port cover 120 is positioned on the bottom , i . e ., the sole , of the hollow golf club head 100 and away from the face portion 110 . therefore , the weighting - port cover 120 is preferably positioned such that the weighting - port cover 120 is not visible by a golfer when addressing a golf ball . furthermore , the placement of the weighting - port cover 120 away from the face portion 110 allows placement of weighting material about , or on , the interior side of the face portion 110 , and along the heal / toe portions of the hollow golf club head 100 , as will be described in greater detail below with reference to fig4 . the weighting port cover 120 is preferably attached to the body 116 via a plurality of flush - mounted bolts 122 , and , optionally , may be coated with a friction - reducing material , such as teflon . in order to reduce the friction , the possibility of the weighting - port cover to “ snag ” onto grass , thereby affecting the swing path , and the wear and tear , the weighting - port cover 120 is flush - mounted to the integrated sole and wall portion 112 by the plurality of flush - mounted bolts 122 . fig3 illustrates the hollow golf club head 100 with the weighting - port cover 120 removed . the body 116 preferably includes a recessed portion 310 configured for receiving an optional vibration - dampening ring 312 and the weighting - port cover 120 . the vibration - dampening ring 312 , such as a ring made from foam , rubber , and / or the like , allows the weighting - port cover 120 to be securely fastened , preventing a vibration / rattling noise that may occur as a result of swinging the club and / or striking a ball and sealing the interior cavity from exposure to outside elements , such as sand , water , and / or the like . the plurality of flush - mounted bolts 122 pass through the weighting - port cover 120 and screw into the recessed portion 310 of the body 116 . alternatively , other methods , such as a weighting - port cover that screws into the body 116 , latches , and / or the like , may be used . the preferred embodiment , however , allows for weighting = port cover 120 that is curved to match the contour of the body . fig4 illustrates a side view of the weighting - port cover 120 attached to the body 116 in accordance the one embodiment of the present invention depicted in fig3 . as one skilled in the art will appreciate , the recessed portion 310 allows a smooth contour to be formed by the integrated sole and wall portion 112 and the weighting - port cover 120 when assembled . in an alternative embodiment , however , the weighting - port cover 120 is recessed from the integrated sole and wall portion . fig5 illustrates the hollow golf club head 100 with the crown portion 114 separated from the integrated sole and wall portion 112 in order to illustrate potential placements of weighting material in accordance with embodiments of the present invention . the illustrated positions are presented for illustrative purposes only and , therefore , should not limit the present invention in any manner . furthermore , the positions may be used individually or in combination to further customize the location of the center of gravity . weight location 510 illustrates a low - front - center location , which is located on the integrated sole and wall portion 112 adjacent to the face portion 110 , that imparts less spin on the ball and a high trajectory , resulting in easier workability ( the ability to hit the ball from left to right and vice versa ) and more carry ( the distance the ball travels in the air ). weight location 512 illustrates a high - front - center location , which is located on the crown portion 114 adjacent to the face portion , that imparts less spin on the ball and a low trajectory , resulting in easier workability , less carry , and more rolling . weight location 514 illustrates a low - back - center location , which is located on the back - center of the integrated sole and wall portion 112 , that results in more forgiveness and a high trajectory . weight location 516 illustrates a high - back - center location , which is located on the back - center of the crown portion 114 , that results in more forgiveness and a low trajectory . weight location 518 illustrates a low - back - toe location , which is located on the back - center of the integrated sole and wall portion 112 along the toe , that results in more forgiveness and a high , fading trajectory . weight location 520 illustrates a high - back - toe location , which is located on the back - center of the crown portion 114 along the toe , that results in more forgiveness and a low , fading trajectory . weight location 522 illustrates a low - back - heel location , which is located on the back - center of the integrated sole and wall portion 112 along the heel , that results in more forgiveness and a high , drawing trajectory . weight location 524 illustrates a high - back - heel location , which is located on the back - center of the crown portion 114 along the heel , that results in more forgiveness and a low , drawing trajectory . weight location 526 illustrates a forward - center - center location , which is located on the center of the face portion 110 , that results in easier workability with a neutral trajectory . weight location 528 illustrates a back - center - center location , which is located in the vertical - center of the integrated sole and wall portion 112 , that results in neutrally forgiving club head . weight location 530 illustrates a low - center - center location , which is located on the center of the integrated sole and wall portion 112 , that results in a neutral side - spin with a high trajectory . note that this location is located on the weighting - port cover 120 for illustrative purposes only . as stated above , the weighting - port cover 120 may be located at any desired location , and a weight may be placed on the weighting - port cover 120 if so desired . weight location 532 illustrates a high - center - center location , which is located in the center of the crown portion 114 , that results in a neutral side - spin with a low trajectory . fig6 illustrates a driver golf club head embodying features of the present invention in which the weighting - port cover 120 is located on the crown portion 114 . fig7 illustrates a hollow , iron golf club head embodying features of the present invention in which a weighting - port cover 710 is provided . fig8 illustrates a hollow , putter golf club head embodying features of the present invention in which a weighting - port cover 810 is provided . it should be noted that the placement and size of the weighting port is shown for illustrative purposes only , and , therefore , should not limit the present invention in any manner . it is understood that the present invention can take many forms and embodiments . accordingly , several variations may be made in the foregoing without departing from the spirit or the scope of the invention . for example , the weighting port may be of a different shape and / or there may be a different method of accessing the interior of the club head , such as removing the sole of the club head , the back of the club head , or the like . having thus described the present invention by reference to certain of its preferred embodiments , it is noted that the embodiments disclosed are illustrative rather than limiting in nature and that a wide range of variations , modifications , changes , and substitutions are contemplated in the foregoing disclosure and , in some instances , some features of the present invention may be employed without a corresponding use of the other features . many such variations and modifications may be considered obvious and desirable by those skilled in the art based upon a review of the foregoing description of preferred embodiments . accordingly , it is appropriate that the appended claims be construed broadly and in a manner consistent with the scope of the invention .	0
throughout all the figures , same or corresponding elements may generally be indicated by same reference numerals . these depicted embodiments are to be understood as illustrative of the invention and not as limiting in any way . it should also be understood that the figures are not necessarily to scale and that the embodiments are sometimes illustrated by graphic symbols , phantom lines , diagrammatic representations and fragmentary views . in certain instances , details which are not necessary for an understanding of the present invention or which render other details difficult to perceive may have been omitted . turning now to the drawing , and in particular to fig1 , there is shown a perspective illustration of a control arm for a motor vehicle in accordance with the present invention , generally designated by reference numeral 1 . the control arm 1 is configured in the form of an a - arm and includes a single - shell base body 2 having a substantially flat bottom 3 which is formed with lateral legs 4 . in the example shown here , the lateral legs 4 are bent inwards for orientation in orthogonal relationship to the bottom 3 so as to extend approximately at a right angle to the bottom 3 . the bottom 3 has an installation opening 5 and stiffening embossments 6 for reinforcement . plural bearings 7 are arranged on the base body 2 and implemented for example as a bearing pin 8 , a bearing eyelet 9 , and a ball - and - socket joint 10 , respectively . of course , other types of bearings may also be applicable as well . a recess 11 is formed between the bearing eyelet 9 and the ball - and - socket joint 10 in the respective lateral leg 4 extending there between . the recess 11 extends substantially orthogonal to a pivot axis 12 established by the bearing eyelet 9 and the bearing pin 8 . the pivot axis 12 can be oriented in the motor vehicle in a direction of the vehicle longitudinal axis or vehicle transverse axis . fig2 shows an enlarged detailed view of the control arm 1 in an area of the recess 11 . as can be seen , the recess 11 has a rounded edge 14 in a transition zone 13 to the lateral leg 4 . the recess 11 is surrounded by a marginal area r which lies in the lateral leg 4 . the marginal area r may also be sized to continue into the bottom 3 of the base body 2 . fig3 shows an enlarged detailed view of a variation of a control arm 1 having a collared recess 11 , with a collar 15 being oriented in a direction to the control arm 1 . the recess 11 has a toroidal geometry and is defined by a radius 16 which may vary over a length thereof , in particular in the terminal transition zones 17 to the lateral legs 4 . the terminal transition zones 17 have an upper rounded edge 18 on the lateral leg 4 . the collar 15 extends into an interior space 19 of the control arm 1 . while the invention has been illustrated and described in connection with currently preferred embodiments shown and described in detail , 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 and scope of the present invention . the embodiments were chosen and described in order to explain the principles of the invention and practical application to thereby enable a person skilled in the art to best utilize the invention and various embodiments with various modifications as are suited to the particular use contemplated .	1
referring to fig1 a typical data processing system is shown which may function as the computer controlled display terminal used in implementing the tree views of the present invention . a central processing unit ( cpu ), such as one of the pc microprocessors available from international business machines corporation , is provided and interconnected to various other components by system bus 12 . an operating system 41 runs on cpu 10 , provides control and is used to coordinate the function of the various components of fig1 . operating system 41 may be one of the commercially available operating systems such as dos or the os / 2 operating system available from international business machines corporation ( os / 2 is a trademark of international business machines corporation ); microsoft windows 95 ™ or windows nt ™, as well as unix and aix operating systems . a programming application for presenting tree views of action queues and modifying such queues in accordance with the present invention , application 40 to be subsequently described in detail , runs in conjunction with operating system 41 and provides output calls to the operating system 41 which implements the various functions to be performed by the application 40 . a read only memory ( rom ) 16 is connected to cpu 10 via bus 12 and includes the basic input / output system ( bios ) that controls the basic computer functions . random access memory ( ram ) 14 , i / o adapter 18 and communications adapter 34 are also interconnected to system bus 12 . it should be noted that software components including the operating system 41 and the application 40 are loaded into ram 14 which is the computer system &# 39 ; s main memory . i / o adapter 18 may be a small computer system adapter that communicates with the disk storage device 20 , i . e . a hard drive . communications adapter 34 interconnects bus 12 with an outside network enabling the data processing system to communicate with other such systems , particularly when the operations controlled by the interfaces of the present invention are in a network environment or when the controlled operations are in communications systems . i / o devices are also connected to system bus 12 via user interface adapter 22 and display adapter 36 . keyboard 24 , trackball 32 , mouse 26 and speaker 28 are all interconnected to bus 12 through user interface adapter 22 . it is through such input devices that the user interactive functions involved in the displays of the present invention may be implemented . display adapter 36 includes a frame buffer 39 which is a storage device that holds a representation of each pixel on the display screen 38 . images may be stored in frame buffer 39 for display on monitor 38 through various components such as a digital to analog converter ( not shown ) and the like . by using the aforementioned i / o devices , a user is capable of inputting information to the system through the keyboard 24 , trackball 32 or mouse 26 and receiving output information from the system via speaker 28 and display 38 . in the illustrative embodiment , which will be subsequently described , the tree of action queues interfaces will be shown with respect to the control of high throughput printers such as electrophotographic or laser printers . a local printer system 44 may be accessed and controlled via printer adapter 43 while , as previously mentioned , networked printers may communicate via communications adapter 34 . there will now be described a simple illustration of the present invention with respect to the display screens of fig2 through 10 . when the screen images are described , it will be understood that these may be rendered by storing an image and text creation programs , such as those in any conventional window operating system in the ram 14 of the system of fig1 . the operating system is diagrammatically shown in fig1 as operating system 41 . the display screens of fig2 through 10 are presented to the viewer on display monitor 38 of fig1 . in accordance with conventional techniques , the user may control the screen interactively through a conventional i / o device such as mouse 26 of fig1 which operates through user interface 22 to call upon programs in ram 14 cooperating with the operating system 41 to create the images in frame buffer 39 of display adapter 36 to control the display on monitor 38 . the display screen of fig2 shows a tree 50 of levels in region 52 of a display screen . also shown is menu bar 51 . in the example being described , the tree will pertain to levels of items in to be processed during printer operations . thus , the items may be awaiting various printing related actions to be applied to them . in fig3 queue 1 is expanded to show the next lower level , a queue of printer jobs 53 : job1 through job4 . in order to make a modification of actions to be applied , jobs representation 72 has been selected by the operator , which has resulted in an expanded view 70 of all four jobs in the job queue giving details of actions to be carried out . for purposes of this example , let us assume that after reviewing this information , the operator wishes to modify actions applied to all of the documents which are child items under job3 . these child items ( documents ) are not shown in this screen but may be seen hereinafter , as in fig6 a as group 62 of doc1 through doc3 . thus , the operator selects job3 , 71 which is shown highlighted in fig3 . this commences the operation to modify all of doc1 through doc3 as follows . first , the operator selects job modification 55 from menu bar 51 in fig4 . this drops menu 56 from which the operator selects the &# 34 ; change media &# 34 ; process . this results in the dialog box 57 of fig5 appearing on which the operator scrolls until the item in scroll window 58 is &# 34 ; legal &# 34 ;, which indicates that the action modification is the change in media from letter to legal paper . the operator then confirms the change by pressing the ok button 59 . this results in the display screen of fig6 which indicates that in job3 all of the child documents have had the actions to be applied to them modified so that they will be printed on legal paper . this will be clearer with respect to fig6 a which shows the group of child documents : doc1 through doc3 with the medium modified in all so that legal paper will be used . the group of child items or documents in fig6 a has been brought up by the operator pointing and clicking on job3 which is shown highlighted 61 to indicate its section for display of the child documents in the queue 62 . thus , the operator , by designating job3 , which represents its child documents , doc1 through doc3 for change to legal paper has modified doc1 through doc3 to be printed on legal paper . however , job3 itself has not been modified , it remains unchanged in queue1 . now commencing with fig7 there will be described a procedure whereby an individual child item may be modified as to the actions to be applied to it without modifying other child items in the group from its parent . one of the child documents in the group represented by job1 is to be individually modified . the operator selects job1 which is shown highlighted 63 . this brings up document group 64 . doc1 is selected by the operator and thus highlighted 65 which indicates that it is to be changed . then , fig8 the &# 34 ; documents &# 34 ; item 66 is selected from menu bar 51 , menu 67 drops down and &# 34 ; change media &# 34 ; is selected . this results in the dialog box 68 of fig9 appearing on which the operator scrolls until the item in scroll window 73 is &# 34 ; legal &# 34 ;, which indicates that the action modification is the change in media from letter to legal paper for doc1 . the operator then confirms the change by pressing the ok button 74 . this results in the display screen of fig1 which indicates that doc1 has had its paper changed from letter to legal while other child items , doc2 and doc3 remain with letter paper . now with reference to fig1 we will describe a process implemented by a program according to the present invention . the started 90 program is continuous and involves the development of the display screen interfaces previously described with respect to fig2 through 10 . in the flowchart of fig1 , a basic tree interface is set up , step 91 , wherein the items at tree nodes represent items involved in the operations being controlled . in the present example , these would be printer operation control interfaces . of course , appropriate conventional linkages are set up between the actual real - time items involved in the operations and representations of the items displayed on a screen whether these representations be text or icons , step 92 . then a process is set up whereby the operator may designate modifications at parent level modifications in the actions to be applied to child items of that parent and to have such modifications applied to all of the child items , step 93 , without any corresponding modification to the parent . these are the modifications described with respect to fig3 through 6a . then , step 94 , a process is set up by which the operator may elect to change actions applied to only a child item individually . this type of modification has been described with respect to fig7 through 10 . next , step 95 , a set up is made whereby the modifications made by the processes of steps 93 and 94 are reflected in the displayed tree ; in this connection , modifications made by the process of step 93 are reflected in fig6 a , while modifications made by the process of step 94 are reflected in fig1 . now that the basic program has been described and illustrated , there will be described , with respect to fig1 , a flow of a simple operation showing how the program could be run . first , step 80 , the basic trees of items used , fig2 through 10 , and described in steps 91 and 92 of fig1 are set up . next , step 81 , a determination is made as to whether the operator has designated an item at a parent level in order to make an overall action modification in the child items represented by this parent . if yes , then , step 82 , an appropriate set of screen interfaces for this modification are provided , e . g . the interfaces of fig4 and 5 . the modifications are recorded in the system for all of the child items represented by the parent , step 83 , and the changes are shown on the display , step 84 , e . g . the changes shown in fig6 and 6a . then , step 85 , a determination is made as to whether the operator has selected a modification to be made in just one of the individual child items represented by a parent , e . g . the individual child item change selected in the screen of fig7 . step 85 also would have been done directly if the decision from step 81 had been no . if the decision from step 85 is yes , then , step 86 , an appropriate set of screen interfaces for this modification are provided , e . g . the interfaces of fig8 and 9 . the modifications are recorded in the system for the individual child item , step 87 , and the changes are shown on the display , step 88 , e . g . the changes shown in fig1 . the process flow then returns to decision step 81 via branch &# 34 ; a &# 34 ;, and a further determination is awaited on additional action modifications to be designated by the operator . step 81 would have been returned to directly if the decision from step 85 had been no . while the present invention has been described using trees of items in printer operations as the illustrative example , the invention is equally applicable to the management and control of a wide variety of operations including the management of directories / folders and files / documents . for example , the present invention would allow all documents in a folder to be printed by specifying a print operation / action at the folder level . likewise , all documents could be deleted by specifying , at the folder level , a deletion of all documents without deleting the folder itself . other properties of the documents ( e . g . format , font , etc .) could also be changed at the folder / directory level . the invention is equally applicable to the management of industrial , chemical , and manufacturing production operations including the manufacturing of integrated circuits , as well as automated tool and die production . the use trees of action items could be a very significant implement in all such operations . in addition , queues of items are very extensively used in all aspects of communications including the distribution of programs , documents and information packets of all varieties over the internet , and the present invention could be of value in modifying items in such communications operations . although certain preferred embodiments have been shown and described , it will be understood that many changes and modifications may be made therein without departing from the scope and intent of the appended claims . for example , although the invention has been described with reference to modification of properties , the invention is also applicable to actions to be taken on child items which could be designated at the parent level . such actions may involve the printing , deleting , etc . of documents , for example .	8
the present invention includes a plug system that is insertable into a pipeline from a fitting , through a pipeline wall aperture . preferably , the pipeline has a straight longitudinal axis and circular cross - section . the pipeline can further have at least one aperture positioned normal to the flow of product in the pipeline . in a preferred embodiment , the pipeline is adapted to receive a pig . a plug of the plug system can include a body portion in communication with the circumferential outer surface of the pipe . further , the plug can have a first cylindrical portion , or a large cylindrical portion , having a diameter that is greater than the diameter of the aperture . additionally , the plug can have a second cylindrical portion , or a small cylindrical portion , having a diameter less than the aperture diameter . the plug of the plug system enables a pig to flow freely through the pipeline , and pass the aperture ( s ) without interference . the materials described hereinafter as making up the various elements of the invention are intended to be illustrative and not restrictive . many suitable materials that would perform the same or a similar function as the materials described herein are intended to be embraced within the scope of the invention . such other materials not described herein can include , but are not limited to , for example , materials that are developed after the time of the development of the invention . referring now to the figures , wherein like reference numerals represent like parts throughout the several views , fig1 is a vertical cross - sectional view illustrating a pipeline stopping fitting , shown positioned on a pipe . a pipe or pipeline 100 preferably has a straight longitudinal axis and a circular cross section , wherein product or media , e . g ., gas or liquid , normally can flow in the direction shown by the arrow . if it is desired to stop such a flow of the product through the pipe 100 or through a particular section thereof , a plugger ( not illustrated ) can be employed from the stopping fitting 105 and be preliminarily installed on the pipe 100 . the stopping fitting 105 can be attached to the pipe 100 using a conventional method such as mechanical joint , welding , and the like . in order to have access into the pipe 100 , or insert objects into the pipe 100 , at least one aperture 110 in a wall of the pipeline 100 can be created . the axis of the aperture 110 is perpendicular to the product flow ( as illustrated by the arrow in fig1 ). in an exemplary embodiment , a second aperture 115 in a wall of the pipeline 100 can also be created . the aperture 110 enables the plugger ( not illustrated ) to be inserted into the pipe 100 from the fitting 105 . the apertures 110 and 115 can be formed by conventional well - known methods , including , for example , a circular cutter capable of removing the coupons from the pipe 100 . one skilled in the art will recognize there are other methods of removing coupons from the pipe 100 to form apertures in pipelines that can be used . in an exemplary embodiment , the apertures 110 and 115 are preferably on diametrically opposing sides of the pipe 100 . the existence of the apertures 110 and 115 require that , after repair work is completed , a sealing member must be installed across the aperture ; otherwise , product can leak from the pipe 100 . in an exemplary embodiment , the completion plug 120 having a rubber o - ring 125 is installed in the stopping fitting 105 to restrict flow of product from the pipe 100 . a pig 200 can be inserted into the pipe . then , the pig 200 can be fed through the pipe 100 via product flow to perform a number of functions , including , but not limited to : cleaning , displacement , batching , and internal pipe inspections . unfortunately , the pig 200 can be damaged by sharp edges of the apertures 110 and 115 , or can become trapped in / around the apertures 110 and 115 . fig2 is a cross - sectional view illustrating the pipe 100 having the pipeline fitting 105 with a piggable plug system 235 inserted in the pipeline 100 , in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention . the plug system 235 includes the plug 130 and retaining assembly 225 . preferably , the plug system 235 can be inserted into the pipe 100 via the fitting 105 through the aperture 110 . fig2 , however , illustrates the pipe having two apertures 110 and 115 . accordingly , the plug system 235 can block both apertures 110 and 115 . the retaining assembly 225 of the plug system 235 fits within the fitting 105 . the retaining assembly 225 can include a spring 135 , having a top 135 t and a bottom 135 b , and a bearing 140 . the spring 135 can be compressed between the completion plug 120 at its top and plug 130 at its bottom to retain the plug 130 in place in the pipe 100 . fig1 is a close up illustration of the plug system 235 , showing the retaining system 225 in communication with the plug 130 . the plug 130 can have a round boss 220 at its top , which can be housed by the bottom 135 b of the spring 135 for the spring positioning and retaining . the compressed spring 135 forces the plug 130 to remain stationary within the pipe 100 . as a result , the spring 135 protects the plug 130 from axial displacement . the bearing 140 can be housed by the top 135 t of the spring 135 . the bearing 140 reduces friction between the completion plug 120 and the spring 135 during the completion plug installation in the fitting 105 , thus protecting plug 130 from rotation . in fig3 - 6 , the plug 130 is illustrated in a close up view . the plug 130 can have a cylindrical portion 145 with the diameter slightly smaller than the diameters of the apertures 110 and 115 . the plug 130 further includes two partial cylindrical portions 150 with the diameter being slightly larger than the diameter of the aperture 110 , which , after plug 130 is inserted in the pipe 100 , can be located above the aperture 110 . the larger cylindrical portions 150 further can have arch - shaped undercuts 160 ( see fig3 and 4 ), located 180 degrees apart , to aid in plug 130 orientation and stability during and after its insertion in the pipe 100 . further , the insertable plug 130 includes a circular opening 155 , as illustrating fig4 , with a diameter approximately the size of the inner diameter of pipe 100 . an axis of the opening 155 is approximately perpendicular to the axis of the cylindrical portions 145 and 150 of the plug 130 . fig4 also illustrates the location of the cylindrical portions 145 and 150 , and arch - shaped undercuts 160 , in relation to the opening 155 . the arch - shaped undercuts 160 and the large cylindrical portions 150 can be positioned above the opening 155 . a line connecting the centers of the arch - shaped undercuts 160 can be positioned parallel to the axis of the circular opening 155 . after insertion of the plug system 235 in the pipeline 100 ( see fig2 ), the arch - shaped undercuts 160 , interacting with the circumferential outer surface of the pipe 100 , can coincide with the axis of the circular opening 155 and the longitudinal axis of the pipe 100 . as a result , a pig can pass through the fitting 105 along with product flow . an opening 165 at the top of the plug 130 and a threaded hole 170 at its bottom , as shown in fig5 - 6 , can be included to enable connection of the plug 130 insertion and extraction tools . fig7 illustrates a vertical cross - sectional view of the pipeline 100 with a fitting 175 having a bottom outlet and a branch 180 connected to this outlet . fig7 is similar to fig1 , except a different type of fitting is shown , and the branch 180 is added to the bottom of the pipeline 100 . the aperture 115 , thus , opens to the branch 180 . fig8 depicts a vertical cross - sectional view illustrating the pipeline 100 having the bottom outlet fitting 175 installed and the plug system 235 inserted into the pipeline 100 , in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention . as it shown in fig9 - 12 , the plug 130 can include a plurality of slots 190 , which can connect circular opening 165 to an external space surrounding the plug 130 through the top 195 and bottom 205 surfaces of the plug 130 , thus allowing product to flow from the pipe 100 into the branch 180 . the plug 130 of the plug system 235 can be fabricated from a wide range of materials such as metals , rubbers , plastics , etc . in an exemplary embodiment , the plug 130 can be fabricated from a material having low mechanical properties . common law mechanical properties materials that can be used to fabricate the plug 130 include rubber , polyurethane , plastic , and the like . to increase integrity and rigidity of the plug 130 the reinforcing inserts can be placed inside its body . fig1 illustrates a sectional view of the insertable plug 130 having the reinforcing inserts 210 and 215 , taken from the line a - a in fig3 . fig1 is a close - up of a sectional view from the line c - c in fig1 , illustrating the reinforcing insert 210 inside the plug 130 . in a preferred embodiment , the inserts 210 and 215 can be positioned perpendicularly to an axis of the opening 155 approximately in its middle reinforcing the plug at its weakest section . one skilled in the art would appreciate that the reinforcing inserts 210 and 215 can be positioned at other locations to aid in reinforcing the plug 130 . one skilled in the art would also appreciate that the material used for the reinforcing insert 210 or 215 can be of the material including reinforcing characteristics for the plug 130 . referring now to fig2 , a plug system 255 is illustrated for the pipeline 100 having only one aperture 110 . the plug system 255 includes a plug 240 and a retaining assembly 225 . fig1 - 19 relate to fig3 - 6 illustrating the plug 240 of a plug system 255 , wherein the pipeline 100 includes only one aperture 110 , in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention . like the plug 130 of the plug system 235 , intended for an insertion in the pipeline having the top 110 and bottom 115 apertures ( see fig2 - 6 ), the plug 240 of the plug system 255 can include cylindrical portions 150 with the diameter greater than the diameter of the aperture 110 . further , like the plug 130 , the plug 240 can include the cylindrical portion 145 with the diameter slightly less than the diameter of the aperture 110 , the arch - shaped undercuts 160 , and the threaded hole 170 for connection of the plug 240 insertion and retracting tools . the plug 240 , however , can include the half - cylindrical opening 245 instead of the full cylindrical opening 155 in the plug 130 . while the plug 130 preferably covers the whole inside circumferential surface of the pipe 100 in an area around the apertures 110 and 115 , the plug 240 need only cover inside surface of the pipe 100 , preferably above the pipe centerline . moreover , because of these differences in the shapes of the plugs 130 and 240 , the threaded hole 170 for connection of the plug 240 insertion and retracting tools can be located at the top of the plug 240 , more particularly , inside the round boss 220 . the assembly of both plug systems 235 and 255 , intended for the insertion in the pipe 100 with one or two apertures can have the same insertion process . the plug 130 or 240 can be assembled with the spring 135 and the bearing 140 outside the fitting 105 . the completion plug 120 with the o - ring 125 can be removed from the fitting 105 ( the machines and procedures used for the completion plug removal and re - installation , as well as for the plug system insertion are not discussed in this invention ). after this , the plug system 235 can be connected to the insertion tool and inserted into the pipe 100 . before insertion , the plug system 235 must be oriented relatively the pipe 100 to ensure that the axis of the opening 155 or 245 is parallel to the longitudinal axis of the pipe 100 . in summary , the pig 200 placed into the pipe 100 would conventionally catch a corner of the aperture 110 or 115 and cause the pig 200 to clog product flow , and / or damage the pig 200 . the plug systems 235 and 255 enable the pig 200 inserted into the pipeline 100 to flow freely through the fitting 105 , past the apertures 110 and 115 , and eliminate pigging hazards . while the invention has been disclosed in its preferred forms , it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that many modifications , additions , and deletions can be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention and its equivalents , as set forth in the following claims .	5
a vehicle shield constructed in accordance with the present invention may be used to protect a number of immobile objects . it is particularly well - suited for use with a stored vehicle in a garage , storage space or similar type environment . hence while a preferred vehicle shield will now be described in conjunction with a motorcycle and automobile , it is to be understood that the invention is in no way so limited . referring now to fig1 , a foldable , stowable protective barrier , i . e ., vehicle shield 10 , constructed according to the first embodiment of the present invention is shown . the vehicle shield 10 is constructed from a single sheet of a lightweight yet slightly rigid material . the shield includes a number of flexible connections , i . e ., hinges , 12 created during the manufacture of the shield 10 by any number of well known methods . the hinges 12 serve to subdivide the shield 10 into a number of individual panels 14 . the panels 14 can be angled with respect to one another so that the shield 10 can be erected in a variety of configurations . one such configuration is shown in fig1 but it can be appreciated that many other configurations are possible . in a preferred embodiment , the shield 10 is constructed of a unitary piece of corrugated cardboard measuring eight feet in length and thirty inches in height . the shield 10 is subdivided by fifteen hinges 12 into sixteen panels 14 of equal size each measuring approximately six inches wide and thirty inches high . in another preferred embodiment , the shield 10 measures twelve feet in length and thirty - six inches in height . the shield is subdivided by seventeen hinges 12 into eighteen panels 14 of equal size each measuring approximately eight inches wide and thirty - six inches high . it will be appreciated that the number and size of the individual panels 14 can be modified as required by the intended application . in the first embodiment , the flexible connection 12 is a living hinge . as utilized herein , the term “ living hinge ” is meant to define a hinge formed in and integral with , a relatively resilient material by rendering a portion of the material more flexible as for example by perforations , tempering , embossing or forming a thinner region therein . hinges of this type are well known to those of skill in the art and are utilized in a variety of applications . a living hinge may be bent multiple times without breakage or fracture of the hinge material . the vehicle shield 10 is formed with two side edges 16 , a top edge 18 and a bottom edge 20 . the shield 10 preferably includes at least one , but preferably four , stabilizer foot 22 integrally formed within the panels 14 . each stabilizer foot 22 has a first side 24 hingedly connected to the surrounding panel 14 , a top side 26 and second side 28 releasably attached to the surrounding panel 14 , by scoring , cutting , forming perforations 30 or similar means , and a bottom side 32 that is also part of the bottom edge 20 of the vehicle shield 10 . in alternate embodiment , stabilizer feet can be formed as separate pieces and affixed to the bottom 20 of the shield 10 as needed . a joining tab 34 is provided to connect the shield 10 to an additional shield 10 , as shown in fig4 . apertures , or slots , 36 are formed in the upper portion of a number of the panels 14 . the number of slots 36 depends on the number of panels 14 though preferably one slot 36 is provided on every other panel 14 . the slots 36 are located at approximately the same height as the tab 34 to facilitate joining shields 10 together as explained in further detail below and shown in fig5 a and 5b . alternatively , other joining techniques , such as clamping or an adhesive , could be used to join a shield 10 to itself or to another shield 10 . the vehicle shield 10 of the first embodiment can be made from any number of materials that are durable enough to last yet will also prevent an adjacent car door or similar impacting object from scratching or denting the protected vehicle . examples of suitable materials include foam board , double walled plastic , corrugated thermoplastic , corrugated cardboard and cardboard panels . the choice of materials will affect various characteristics of the shield 10 including weight , durability , effectiveness and price . for example , a low - priced , low - quality material , such as corrugated cardboard , could be used to make an inexpensive and temporary shield while a material such as foam board could be used to make a more permanent and durable shield . alternatively , a thicker shield of any material would provide better protection but weigh more than a thinner shield constructed of the same material . in operation , the shield 10 prevents dents , scratches and other marks to stored motorcycles , automobiles and other vehicles . the shield 10 can be positioned to stand alone , as shown in fig1 , with the aid of stabilizer feet 22 . alternatively , as shown in fig2 , the shield 10 can be connected to additional shields 10 via the joining tab 34 and a slot 36 to completely surround a vehicle such as a motorcycle 38 . for example , in fig3 , three shields 10 are joined together to form a protective barrier 40 placed adjacent to a car 42 . depending on the length of the car 42 , the length of the barrier 40 can be adjusted by increasing or decreasing the number of overlapping panels 14 between shields 10 . in that case , the tabs 34 are inserted into any of the different slot 36 to shorten or lengthen the barrier 40 . the stabilizer feet 22 may not always be needed but do provide greater stability . for example , in fig3 , the stabilizer feet 22 are not necessarily needed to keep the shield 10 standing upright , but when used will ensure that the shield 10 does not tip over in the direction away from the car 42 . fig5 a - b details the process for linking a shield 10 to itself or to another shield 10 . the tab 34 is first pulled slightly away from the panel 14 . one of the shields 10 is then moved closer to the other shield 10 until the leading edge 44 of tab 34 is brought into contact with the slot 36 . because the tab 34 is formed from the panel 14 , it can be pushed outwards in either direction from the shield 10 . the panel 14 with the tab 34 must be lifted up slightly to permit the tab 34 to be fully inserted through the slot 36 . after insertion , the panel 14 and tab 34 move downward , either by gravity or an applied force . the two shields 10 are locked together as the trailing edge 46 of tab 34 is no longer adjacent to the slot 36 and therefore cannot be pulled back through the slot 36 . the tab 34 can be disengaged from the joined shield 10 by lifting upwards on the panel 14 containing the tab 34 and pulling the entire assembly away from the slot 36 . fig6 shows a folded vehicle shield 10 . it can be folded up when not in use or when on display in a retail setting . prior to folding the shield 10 , the tab 34 and stabilizer feet 22 can be placed back into their respective panels 14 and held there with a fiction fit . a velcro ® strap could be provided to ensure that the shield 10 remains folded when not in use . additionally , corporate branding , e . g ., trademarks of motorcycle manufacturers , can be printed or otherwise affixed on the shield 10 . turning now to fig7 - 8 , the motorcycle of fig1 is shown in conjunction with an alternative vehicle shield 110 . the vehicle shield 110 of this embodiment is preferably constructed from an inexpensive and flexible material . the shield 110 shown in fig7 is constructed from corrugated cardboard or plastic having corrugations 112 bonded to a single side wall 114 . similar impact - absorbing material is sold in rolls and used as protective packaging material in mailing and shipping applications . in a preferred embodiment , the shield 110 has a thickness of five millimeters ( 5 mm ) or greater . alternatively , the shield 110 may be constructed from any suitable foamed or padded material flexible enough to completely surround a vehicle without forming permanent kinks or bends . in operation , the shield 110 is wrapped completely around a vehicle , e . g ., motorcycle 38 , to protect against impacts from all horizontal directions . a first end 116 is overlapped by a second end 118 to form an overlapping portion 120 . the two ends 116 , 118 can be joined in any number of well known methods for joining two similar materials together . this includes , but is not limited to , tape , pressure - sensitive adhesives , clamps , and the like . a joining means may not be needed if the overlapping portion 120 is sufficiently large . when not in use , the shield 110 can be easily rolled up into a compact roll for storage . when protection is needed , the shield 110 is quickly and easily wrapped around the motorcycle 38 . as one skilled in the art will fully appreciate , the heretofore description of a vehicle shield has applications beyond the disclosed applications . it is appreciated that the present invention is equivalently applicable with any device providing inexpensive protection for stored items . description of a vehicle shield just illustrates the preferred embodiment in which the present invention may be implemented . the present invention has been described in terms of the preferred embodiment , and it is recognized that equivalents , alternatives , and modifications , aside from those expressly stated , are possible and within the scope of the appending claims . various other embodiments including variations in size , materials , shape , form , function and manner of operation are considered to be within the scope of the present invention .	4
the invention employs a distributed database for the recording of the assigned drive letters , having database fragments distributed across multiple drives and media within the unused portions of disk space located after mbr &# 39 ; s and ebr &# 39 ; s . in each fragment , a drive letter assignment or logical volume assignment for that particular piece of media is stored . because the space used to store the database fragment is inaccessible by typical application programs , this method is transparent to programs which view the disk as a traditionally formatted disk . a special database manager , or logical drive manager , can access the database fragments on all disks , and assign each disk and partition the preferred drive letter assignment . as disks are inserted and removed from the drive during runtime , the special database manager can appropriately update the drive letter assignments and resolve any conflicts that may arise . the invention is preferably implemented using shadow partition tables . a traditional partition table is stored in each mbr or ebr on a disk , as described supra , and contains entries which describe partitions . each entry which is in use will contain , among other things , the starting and ending points for the partition as well as the size of the partition . for each traditional partition table on a disk there is a shadow partition table . therefore , one shadow partition table exists for each mbr or ebr on a disk . the shadow partition table for an mbr or ebr is located in one of the unused sectors in the track ( preferably the last sector of the track ) containing that mbr or ebr . the shadow partition table for an mbr or ebr has the same number of entries as the traditional partition table in the mbr or ebr , but its entries will contain drive letter assignment information in addition to partition information . table 2 represents the basic information that needs to be stored in each entry in the shadow partition table . each entry in the shadow partition table must contain a partition definition and the drive letter which is assigned to the partition being defined . there are multiple well - known ways to define partitions , but all known ways are essentially equivalent . the table does not actually have to include an entry “ first , second , etc .” ( note *); this is included for reference only . the starting point of the partition and the size of the partition is used to define a partition . the first item in table 2 is the logical block address ( lba ) of the first sector of the partition . this defines the starting point of the partition . the second item is the size of the partition . taken together , these two values define a partition . the last item in a shadow partition table entry is the drive letter assigned to the partition defined in the entry . when an entry in a shadow partition table is not being used , all of its fields will be set to 0 . the basic method for managing shadow partition tables is to mirror the method by which traditional partition tables are managed . thus , if an mbr or ebr is created , its corresponding shadow partition table is immediately created . if an mbr or ebr is deleted , then its corresponding shadow partition table is deleted as well . if an entry is created or deleted in a traditional partition table , a corresponding entry is created or deleted in the corresponding shadow partition table . every partition in the system is defined by a single traditional partition table entry and a single shadow partition table entry . at this point , it is important to understand how an entry in a traditional partition table is associated with an entry in the corresponding shadow partition table . since there is no default or fixed ordering convention for the entries in a traditional partition table , and since the order of entries in a traditional partition table does not affect the partitioning of the disk , the position of an entry in the traditional partition table cannot be relied upon to associate an entry in the traditional partition table with an entry in the shadow partition table . instead , traditional partition table entries and shadow partition table entries must be associated based upon the partitions they define . therefore , the process for managing the association between partition definitions in traditional partition tables and definitions in the shadow partition tables must directly compare the partition which is defined by the entries . for a given traditional partition table entry , the corresponding shadow partition table must be searched for an entry which defines the same partition including starting lba and length . if such an entry is found , then that entry is the corresponding shadow partition table entry . fig5 illustrates the essential logic of the process to manage the sticky drive letter assignments . starting ( 51 ) when a new drive is detected during the computer power - up sequence , or when a new removable media such as a cd - rom is detected as having been installed , the drive is searched for an existing mbr and / or ebr ( s ) to determine if it is already formatted ( 52 ). if it is not already partitioned , the user or operator of the computer can be prompted for an option to partition the drive ( 53 ). if chosen , the partitions of the mbr and / or ebr ( s ) are created in the normal manner ( 54 ), thereby also creating the unused space following the mbr and ebr ( s ). the user or operator can then be prompted ( 55 ) to create or assign sticky drive letters to the partitions , and if chosen , one or more shadow partition tables are created and stored in the unused disk space ( 56 ) in the manner described already . in summary , a partition table is contained in an mbr or ebr . the shadow partition table corresponding to an mbr or ebr is located in the unused sectors which follow the mbr or ebr . given an entry in the partition table contained in an mbr or ebr , the corresponding entry in the corresponding shadow partition table is the entry which defines the same partition . for a given partition in the system , there is a single entry in a traditional partition table that defines that partition , and there will be a single corresponding entry in a shadow partition table that defines the same partition . the drive letter assigned to that partition is stored in the shadow partition table entry which defines it , thereby completing the association of the preferred drive letter assignment with a partition in a way which physically travels with the medium ( such as a removable disk ), in a manner consistent with backwards compatibility for prior art partition table management . as shown in fig5 if the drive is already partitioned ( 52 ), the process of searching for shadow partition table ( s ) and associating corresponding entries with the mbr and ebr ( s ) as described already is invoked ( 58 ). if no shadow partition tables are found , the user may be prompted to optionally created the sticky drive letters ( 55 ). if sticky drive letters already exist ( i . e . shadow partition tables already exist ), the operating system is notified of the preferred drive letters for the partitions , and the process is ended ( 57 ). it will be understood from the foregoing description that various modifications and changes may be made in the preferred embodiment of the present invention without departing from its true spirit . it is intended that this description is for purposes of illustration only and should not be construed in a limiting sense . the scope of this invention should be limited only by the language of the following claims .	6
the description in this application is in particular directed to trichostatin a as a non - limiting example and is never intended to limit the scope of the invention . trichostatin a or derivatives thereof are disclosed to be useful as an antifibrotic agent for the treatment fibrosis . pharmaceutical formulations and use of compounds of trichostatin a are also disclosed . trichostatin a is an antifungal agent originally isolated from streptomyces hygroscopicus by tsuji et al . ( j . antibiot 29 : 1 - 6 , 1976 ). trichostatin a is also useful as an anticancer ( cancer res 47 : 3688 - 3691 , 1987 ) and an antiprotozoal agent ( j . antibiot 41 : 461 - 468 , 1988 ). in the course of experiments we discovered that trichostatin a has a strong antifibrotic effect on hepatic stellate cells which are the major connective tissue producing cells in the liver . trichostatin a can be brought in the form of pharmaceutically acceptable salts . as such pharmaceutically acceptable salts may be used so long as they do not adversely affect the desired pharmacological effects of the compounds . the selection and the production can be made by those skilled in the art . for instance , as a pharmaceutically acceptable salt , and alkali metal salt such as sodium salt or a potassium salt , an alkaline earth metal salt such as calcium salt or a magnesium salt , a salt with an organic base such as an ammonium salt , or a salt with an organic base such as a triethylamine salt or an ethanolamine salt , may be used . subjects to be treated by the present invention include both humans and animals . the antifibrotic agent of the present invention may be administered orally or non - orally . in the case of oral administration , it may be administered in the form of soft and hard capsules , tablets , granules , powders , solutions , suspensions or the like . in the case of non - oral administration , they may be administered in the form of ointments or injection solution , drip infusion formulations , suppositories whereby continuous membrane absorption can be maintained in the form of solid , viscous liquid , or suspension . the selection of the method for preparation of these formulations and the vehicles , disintegrators or suspending agents , can be readily made by those skilled in the art . the antifibrotic agent of the present invention may contain a further substance having antifibrotic activities , in addition to trichostatin a or its pharmaceutically acceptable salts . the amount of the active ingredients in the composition of the present invention may vary depending on the formulation , but is usually from 0 . 1 to 50 % by weight irrespective of the manner of administration . the dose is determined taking into consideration the age , sex , and symptom of the disease of the subject , the desired therapeutic effect , the period for administration , etc . however , preferably a daily dose of the active ingredient is from 0 . 05 to 100 mg for an adult . the following examples are provided to illustrate the present invention , and should not be construed as limiting thereof . trichostatin a 7 -[ 4 -( dimethylamino ) phenyl ]- n - hydroxy - 4 , 6 - dimethyl - 7 - oxo - 2 , 4 - heptadienamide was prepared from the culture broth of streptmyces platensis no . 145 . sodium butyrate was purchased from sigma ( st . louis , mo ., usa ). stock solutions of trichostatin a were prepared in ethanol ( 2 mg / ml ), stored at - 20 ° c ., and diluted as required for each experiment . the final concentration of ethanol in the medium was 0 . 0016 %. stock solutions of sodium butyrate ( 100 mmol / l ) were prepared in distilled water , and diluted as required . effect of trichostatin a and sodium butyrate on the synthesis of collagens type i and iii , and smooth muscle α - actin by hepatic stellate cells the antifibrotic activity of trichostatin a and sodium butyrate were tested using cultures of hepatic stellate cells . stellate cells were isolated from adult wistar rats ( 400 - 550 g ) by enzymatic digestion of the liver with collagenase / pronase / dnaase followed by density gradient centrifugation on nicodenz ( nycomed , oslo , norway ). after isolation cells were suspended in dulbecco &# 39 ; s modified eagle &# 39 ; s medium supplemented with 10 % fetal calf serum , 100 u / ml penicillin , and 100 μg / ml streptomycin , and cultured at 37 ° c . in a humidified atmosphere with 5 % co 2 and 95 % air . at day 3 cells were exposed to trichostatin a ( 1 - 100 nmol / l ) for 24 h . during the subsequent 24 h cells were metabolically labeled with 25 μci / ml of trans 35s - label ( specific activity of 35 s - methionine & gt ; 1 , 000 ci / mmol , icn biomedicals , costa mesa calif .) while exposure to the compounds was continued . after labelling medium was collected , and subjected to immunoprecipitation using antibodies against collagens type i and iii and smooth muscle α - actin . the precipitates were fractionated by sds - page and radioactivity of specific bands were measured by the phosphorimaging technology . for the effect at mrna level , cells were exposed to 100 nmol / l trichostatin a for 24 h . rna was then extracted and analyzed by northern hybridization analysis . table 1 and 2 show the results which were expressed as percentage value relative to the control culture , respectively for trichostatin a and sodium butyrate . note the dose - dependent suppression of collagens type i and iii synthesis by trichostatin a . also , note the strong suppression of smooth muscle α - actin , an activation marker of stellate cells . table 1______________________________________results for trichostatin a 100 nm 10 nm 1 nm______________________________________collagen i 37 . 9 ± 5 . 6 68 . 9 ± 4 . 7 91 . 7 ± 9 . 5collagen iii 30 . 1 ± 9 . 6 73 . 2 ± 20 . 9 71 . 9 ± 21 . 0sm α - actin 15 . 5 ± 7 . 4 54 . 4 ± 5 . 3 87 . 6 ± 0 . 3______________________________________ sodium butyrate suppressed smooth muscle α - actin less effectively , with 50 % reduction at a concentration of 1 mmol / l . inhibition of collagen type iii and smooth muscle α - actin synthesis indicated that trichostatin a was more potent than butyrate by 5 orders of magnitude . table 2______________________________________results for sodium butyrate 10 . sup .- 3 m 10 . sup .- 4 m 10 . sup .- 5 m______________________________________collagen i 107 . 8 ± 9 . 8 127 . 9 ± 16 . 2 92 . 8 ± 11 . 7collagen iii 67 . 9 ± 19 . 1 90 . 6 ± 42 . 2 109 . 4 ± 31 . 1sm α - actin 50 . 0 ± 19 . 9 91 . 6 ± 23 . 4 97 . 9 ± 24 . 4______________________________________ effect of trichostatin a on the gene expression of collagens type i and iii , and smooth muscle α - actin by hepatic stellate cells hepatic stellate cells were isolated and cultured as described in example 1 . cells were exposed to 100 nmol / l trichostatin a for 24 h . rna was then extracted and analyzed by northern hybridization analysis . at day 3 cells were exposed to 100 nmol / l trichostatin a or 1 mmol / l sodium butyrate for 24 h . total rna was extracted by the method of chomczynski and sacchi . northern hybridization was performed using p - labeled cdna probes for rat procollagen α 1 ( i ) ( 1 . 6 kb pst i fragment ), rat procollagen α 1 ( iii ) ( 0 . 5 kb hind iii / ecori fragment ), and glyceraldehyde - 3 - phosphate dehydrogenase ( gapdh ) ( 0 . 5 kb xbai / hindiii fragment ). for smooth muscle α - actin , a crna probe corresponding to the 5 &# 39 ;- untranslated region of mouse smooth muscle α - actin mrna was used as described previously . the results were quantitated by phosphor - imaging and corrected for gapdh . the results at the mrna level are shown in table 3 . collagen type iii and smooth muscle α - actin mrna levels were suppressed to a similar extent as at the protein level . on the other hand , only modest tendency for suppression was observed for collagen type i , suggesting that the suppression of collagen type i was mainly post - translational . table 3______________________________________ 100 nm______________________________________collagen i 79 . 3 ± 13 . 5collagen iii 39 . 0 ± 13 . 5sm α - actin 20 . 6 ± 15 . 4______________________________________ effect of trichostatin a and sodium butyrate on the cell proliferation of hepatic stellate cells finally , the applicant examined the effects of trichostatin a and sodium butyrate on proliferation of stellate cells , since high proliferative activity is one of the major features of myofibroblastic differentiation . cells were cultured in triplicate or quadruplicate in 24 well plates ( costar ). cells at day 2 were exposed to 0 . 01 - 1 mmol / l sodium butyrate or 1 - 100 nmol / l trichostatin a for the 4 subsequent days . culture medium and test compounds were replaced every day . at day 6 cells were trypsinized and counted in a hemocytometer . trichostatin a showed at 100 nmol / l a strong suppressive effect on proliferation . table 4 summarizes these cell - count results . table 4______________________________________cell - count results______________________________________ 10 . sup .- 7 m 10 . sup .- 8 m 10 . sup .- 9 mcontrol trichostatin a trichostatin a trichostatin a______________________________________23 . 7 ± 1 . 9 16 . 2 ± 1 . 0 22 . 0 ± 3 . 0 22 . 9 ± 1 . 0______________________________________ 10 . sup .- 3 m 10 . sup .- 4 m 10 . sup .- 5 mcontrol butyrate butyrate butyrate______________________________________23 . 9 ± 2 . 0 20 . 4 ± 0 . 2 22 . 2 ± 0 . 7 21 . 1 ± 2 . 0______________________________________ finally cells were cultured in triplicate or quadruplicate in 24 well plates . at day 4 cells were exposed tot 0 . 01 - 1 mmol / l sodium butyrate or 1 - 100 nmol / l trichostatin a for 24 h . subsequently , medium was changed and cells were further incubated for 20 h with the same concentrations of sodium butyrate or trichostatin a in the presence of 10 μci / ml [ 3 h ]- thymidine ( specific activity 25 ci / mmol , 10 μci / ml ). radioactivity incorporated into the 2 % perchloric acid / 95 % ethanol / insoluble fraction was measured by scintillation counting . parallel cultures incubated with [ 3 h ]- thymidine in the presence of 10 mmol / l hydroxyurea provided the baseline value , which was subtracted from each measurement . final data were normalized for cell number which was determined by trypsinization of parallel wells . table 5 shows the results expressed in cpm / cell . table 5______________________________________ [. sup . 3 h ]- thymidine incorporation______________________________________ 10 . sup .- 7 m 10 . sup .- 8 m 10 . sup .- 9 mcontrol trichostatin a trichostatin a trichostatin a______________________________________10 . 0 ± 0 . 8 1 . 3 ± 0 9 . 9 ± 0 . 4 9 . 6 ± 0 . 4______________________________________ 10 . sup .- 3 m 10 . sup .- 4 m 10 . sup .- 5 mcontrol butyrate butyrate butyrate______________________________________9 . 9 ± 0 . 4 6 . 2 ± 0 . 2 9 . 5 ± 0 . 3 9 . 5 ± 0 . 2______________________________________ skin fibroblasts were obtained from male wistar rats ( 300 - 400 g ) by the explant tehnique as described previously . all rats were fed ad libitum , and received humane care in compliance with the institution &# 39 ; s guidelines for the care and use of laboratory animals in research . cells were grown in dulbecco &# 39 ; s modified eagle &# 39 ; s medium with 10 % fetal calf serum , and cultured at 37 ° c . in a humidified atmosphere with 5 % co 2 and 95 % air . when the culture became confluent , cells were trypsinized and replated into 75 cm 2 culture flasks in a split ratio of 1 : 4 . experiments were performed using confluent cells between passage 5 and 9 . preliminary experiments have shown that under these conditions , skin fibroblasts had acquired the myofibroblast phenotype at the time of experiments , as evidenced by their large size , prominent stress fibers , and expression of smooth muscle α - actin . confluent cultures of skin fibroblasts were exposed to 1 , 10 and 100 nmol / l trichostatin a for 24 h . for the tgf - β 1 experiment , cells were exposed to 5 ng / ml of human recombinant tgf - β 1 ( calbiochem ) and / or 100 nmol / l trichostatin a for 24 h . after the initial 24 h exposure of these compounds , cells were metabolically labeled for 24 h with 50 μci / ml of trans 35 s - label ( specific activity of 35 s - methionine & gt ; 1 , 000 ci / mmol , icn biomedicals , costa mesa , calif .) in the presence of vitamin c ( 50 μg / ml ) ( merck ) and β - aminopropionitrile ( 64 μg / ml ) ( sigma ), while exposure to trichostatin a and / or tgf - β 1 was continued . labeled media or cell layers were separately harvested and stored at - 70 ° c . protein synthesis was measured by trichloroacetic acid ( tca ) precipitation . equal counts ( 10 6 cpm ) of labeled media or cell lysates were subjected to immunoprecipitation . immunoprecipitation was performed using antibodies against collagen type i ( southern biotechnology , birmingham , ala . ), type iii ( gift by prof . dr . d . schuffan , freie univ . berlin , deutschland ) or smooth muscle α - actin ( clone 1a4 , sigma ). after immunoprecipitation , proteins were separated by sds - page , gels were immersed in amplify ( amersham , little charfort , uk ) and dried , exposed to preflashed autoradiography film ( hyperfilm - mp , amersham ) or quantitatively analyzed by phosphor - imaging ( molecular imager , gs - 525 , biorad , usa ). confluent cultures of fibroblasts were exposed to 100 nmol / l trichostatin a and / or 5 ng / ml tgf - β 1 for 24 h . total rna was extracted by the method of chomczynski and sacchi . northern hybridization was performed as described , using 32 p - labeled cdna probes for rat procollagen α 1 ( i ) ( 1 . 6 kb pst i fragment ), rat procollagen α 1 ( iii ) ( 0 . 5 kb hind iii / ecori fragment ), and gapdh ( glyceraldehyde - 3 - phosphate dehydrogenase ) ( 0 . 5 kb xbai / hindiii fragment ). for smooth muscle α - actin mrna was used as described previously . the results were quantitated by phosphor - imaging and corrected for gapdh . the ratios of protein or mrna levels of treated vs . controls were calculated for each experimental condition and expressed as means ± standard deviation . for the protein study , correction was made for the difference , if any , in the trichloroacetic acid - precipitable counts . the number of experiments used to calculate a mean value was at least 3 . the effect was considered statistically significant , when 1 . 0 did not belong to the 95 % confidence interval of the treated / control ratio . then we metabolically labeled endogenously produced protein with 35 s - methionine , and immunoprecipitated collagen type i and iii using specific antibodies . the immunoprecipitated proteins were separated on sds - page and quantified by phosphor - imaging . we found that at 100 nmol / l , 10 nmol / l , and 1 nmol / l trichostatin a inhibited synthesis of collagen type i by 30 %, 44 %, and 17 %, respectively ( table 6 , row 2 ). synthesis of collagen type iii was inhibited by 41 %, 49 %, and 10 % at the same concentrations of trichostatin a ( table 6 , row 3 ). thus , both collagen type i and iii were inhibited by trichostatin a ( p & lt ; 0 . 05 for 100 nmol / l and p & lt ; 0 . 01 for 10 nmol / l ), with the maximal effect obtained at 10 nmol / l . synthesis of smooth muscle α - actin , a marker for myofibroblast differentiation , was also inhibited by 37 ± 18 %, 36 ± 8 %, respectively , following exposure to 100 nmol / l and 10 nmol / l trichostatin a ( table 6 , row 4 ). these inhibitory effects of trichostatin a was selective , since over all protein synthesis as measured by tca - precipitable counts was not affected . next we explored whether trichostatin a affected the fibrogenic actions of tgf - β 1 in skin fibroblasts . for this purpose , cells were exposed to tfg - β 1 ( 5 ng / ml ) alone , trichostatin a ( 100 ng / ml ) alone , or combination of tfg - β 1 ( 5 ng / ml ) and trichostatin a ( 100 nmol / l ). collagen type i and iii , and smooth muscle α - actin were again immunoprecipitated , separated on sds - page and quantified by phosphor - imaging . as shown in table 7 , exposure to tgf - β 1 stimulated synthesis of collagen type i and iii 3 . 4 and 4 . 7 fold , respectively . although stimulation occurred in every preparation of skin fibroblasts , the magnitude of stimulation varied from culture to culture ranging from 1 . 8 to 5 . 9 fold for collagen type i and from 2 . 5 to 8 . 0 fold for collagen type iii . tgf - β 1 , had a modest stimulating effect ( 1 . 8 fold increase ) on the synthesis of smooth muscle α - actin . strikingly , the stimulating effect of tgfβ 1 was largely abolished , when tgf - β 1 and trichostatin 1 were added simultaneously . finally , we explored at which level trichostatin a exerted its inhibitory effect on the collagen synthesis by skin fibroblasts . for this purpose we again exposed skin fibroblasts to trichostatin a and / or tgf - β1 . after 24 hour exposure , total rna was extracted and subjected to northern hybridization analysis . the radioactivity was measured , corrected for gapdh , and expressed as a ratio to the value of the control culture . as shown in table 8 , tgf - β 1 ( 5ng / ml ) increased gene expression of collagens type i , and iii , and smooth muscle α - actin 2 . 3 fold , 2 . 5 fold and 1 . 7 fold , respectively . trichostatin a alone ( 100 nmol / l ) had a modest suppressive effect on the mrna levels of collagens type i and iii and smooth muscle α - actin . these data suggest that suppressive effect of trichostatin a occurs both at the transcriptional and posttranslational level . the results of the above mentioned examples are summurized in table 6 , 7 and 8 . table 6______________________________________the effect of different concentrations of tsa at the proteinlevel . results are expressed as percentage of control value 100 nm 10 nm 1 nm______________________________________collagen i 70 +/- 13 % 56 +/- 11 % 83 +/- 11 % collagen iii 59 +/- 18 % 51 +/- 11 % 90 +/- 14 % α - sma 63 +/- 8 % 64 +/- 8 % 86 +/- 23 % ______________________________________ table 7______________________________________the effect of tsa on inducing effect of tgf - β atthe protein level tgf - β tgf - β + tsa tsa______________________________________collagen i 347 ± 185 % 121 ± 39 % 70 ± 13 % collagen iii 476 ± 273 % 86 ± 35 % 59 ± 18 % sma 175 ± 196 % 67 ± 6 % 63 ± 8 % ______________________________________ table 8______________________________________the effect of tsa on the inducing effect of tgf - βat the mrna level tgf - β tgf - β + tsa tsa______________________________________collagen i 231 ± 89 % 132 ± 49 % 84 ± 14 % collagen iii 253 ± 94 % 180 ± 51 % 74 ± 10 % sma 171 ± 61 % 114 ± 24 % 85 ± 16 % ______________________________________ the results in this application indicate that histone deacetylase inhibitors provide a novel therapeutic potential in the treatment of fibro - proliferative diseases . in conclusion , we have demonstrated that two unrelated histone deacetylase inhibitors are active antifibronics compounds as two well known experimental models of fibrosis , i . e . hepatic fibrosis and skin fibrosis . the invention further relates to a method for the treatment of humans or animals afflicted with fibrosis , comprising administering to said subject an effective amount of a histone deacetylase inhibitor in particular trichostatin a or a pharmaceutically acceptable salt thereof and optionally a suitable excipient .	0
via the terminal 1 , the horizontal deflection circuit is connected to the supply circuit of the television set . the supply current flows across the storage inductance 21 into the deflection circuit . the voltage applied to the terminal 1 is a dc voltage which is either already stabilized in a correspondingly designed supply circuit , with respect to any occurring mains voltage variations , or else by stabilizing circuit means contained in the horizontal deflection circuit itself . such arrangements , for example , are already known for the assignee &# 39 ; s u . s . pat . no . 3 , 895 , 256 and allowed application ser . no . 401 , 519 filed sept . 27 , 1973 . to the storage inductance 21 there are connected the commutating switch 3 , the commutating inductance 4 and the commutating capacitor 51 . these circuit elements constitute the so - called commutating stage of the horizontal deflection circuit . the capacitors 52 and 53 , as well as the line sweep switch 6 substantially form the stage of the horizontal deflection circuit controlling the line sweep . this stage controlling the line sweep , as may be taken from fig1 is followed by the deflection stage substantially consisting of the capacitor 7 and of the deflecting coil 8 , as well as by the high - tension transformer comprising the various winding 91 , 92 and 93 . the complete mode of operation of this horizontal deflection circuit will not be described in detail herein , as not being necessary for understanding the invention , and because of being described in detail , on the other hand , in the known prior art publications . the storage inductance 21 carries a secondary winding 22 via which , as is well known , energy is transformer - coupled out for supplying the audio output stage . the voltage applied to the secondary winding 22 is an ac voltage with the frequency thereof corresponding to the line frequency . the ac voltage is applied to the input terminal 15 of the audio output stage via a first rectifier arrangement 13 which , in this case , consists of a rectifier and of a capacitor and acts as a point contact diode rectifier . the energy required for the audio output stage , is not constant but varies in dependence upon the volume of the sound information to be reproduced . owing to the finite internal resistance of the supply source including the storage inductance 21 and 22 , load variations at the secondary coil 22 also have effects on the horizontal deflection circuit , i . e . in such a way that the picture width of the television picture varies in the rhythm of the sound volume variations . as already indicated hereinbefore , an increased power consumption at the secondary winding 22 has the effect of increasing the picture width . in conventional circuits , for avoiding this disturbance , stabilizing circuit means are inserted in the circuit connected to the secondary winding , with these means acting in such a way that the loading will always become equally high , i . e . substantially as high as required by the sound volume to be expected , otherwise the consumed energy is converted as a power loss into heat . in cases where the energy consumption at the winding 22 or in the subsequently following commutating stage ( 3 , 4 , 51 ) causes an enlargement of the picture width , the same energy consumption in the stage controlling the line sweep , in this case , e . g . at the terminal 90 , or in a subsequently arranged stage , such as at the terminals 94 or 95 of the high - tension transformer , is noticed as a reduction of the picture width . by making use of these effects , the invention proposes that a second rectifier arrangement 12 designed in analogy to the one ( 13 ) already described , is connected to the terminal 15 . via this rectifier arrangement 12 energy is now taken from the horizontal deflection circuit also at one of the terminals 90 , 94 or 95 , for being supplied to the audio output stage . it is left to the person skilled in the art to decide at what point the energy is to be taken off , e . g . either at one of the terminals 90 , 94 or 95 as shown by way of example , or elsewhere . as shown , a resistor 14 is inserted into the connection between the second rectifier arrangement 12 and the terminal 15 . by correspondingly selecting the resistance value of the resistor 14 , it is achieved in a simple way that the extent of the picture width variation which is dependent upon the point of energy consumption , is exactly adjusted in such a way that the two opposite influences will just compensate each other , thus causing the picture width to remain unaffected in the end , as intended . as may be taken from the aforementioned patents , and as not shown herein , the line - frequency alternating current in the horizontal deflection circuit and , consequently , the induced ac voltage at the secondary winding has an asymmetrical shape , i . e . both halfwaves of the ac voltage have different shapes of curves . moreover , if the regulation of the energy required in the horizontal deflection circuit , is effected by circuit elements in the deflection circuit itself , as is the case in the previously mentioned patents of the assignee , then , for example , during a control operation , the amplitude is changed in the one halfwave of the ac voltage as applied to the secondary winding , and in the opposite polarity halfwave there is changed the width , with the amplitude remaining constant within a certain control range . when choosing the polarity of the point contact diode rectifiers in the arrangements 12 and 13 in such a way as to be rendered conductive during the halfwave having the constant amplitude , this will offer the considerable advantage that a constant dc voltage will be obtainable at the terminal 15 .	7
the active components of the present pharmaceutical composition are present in the toothpaste vehicle in the following ranges of quantities : in the pharmaceutical compositions of the invention , the bicarbonate , fluoride , and zinc salts that can be used to provide the bicarbonate , fluoride and zinc ions are the pharmaceutically acceptable salts which are compatible with the ingredients of the toothpaste vehicle . in the pharmaceutical composition of this invention , the zinc salts that could be used to supply all or part of the zinc ion , are the chloride , citrate , acetate , lactate , salicylate , and , in general , glycerol soluble , pharmaceutically acceptable zinc salts . the preferred salt is zinc chloride . in the pharmaceutical compositions of this invention , the bicarbonates that could be used to supply all or part of the bicarbonate ion are sodium bicarbonate and potassium bicarbonate . the preferred salt is sodium bicarbonate . in the pharmaceutical composition of this invention , the fluoride salts that could be used to supply all or part of the fluoride ion are pharmaceutically acceptable fluorides such as sodium fluoride , and the like . the active components are incorporated into a suitable toothpaste vehicle containing polishing agents , thickening agents , sudsing agents , humectants , flavoring agents , and sweetening agents . these agents are standard pharmaceutical tools used in these preparations and are not an essential aspect of this invention . therefore , the amount of these additive materials used can be varied . any suitable water insoluble polishing agent can be employed in the compositions of this invention , such as , for example , dicalcium phosphate , aluminum hydroxide , calcium carbonate , calcium polymetaphosphate , dicalcium orthophosphate dihydrate , sodium polymetaphosphate and mixtures thereof . if a thickening agent is required , cellulose derivatives such as , for example , sodium carboxumethylcellulose and sodium carboxymethylhydroxyethyl cellulose or natural gums such as gum arabic or gum tragacanth may be employed . exemplary of sudsing agents which may be employed are , for example , sodium lauryl sulfate , sodium n - lauroyl sarcosinate , sulfonated monoglycerides of fatty acids having from 10 to 18 carbon atoms such as , for example , sodium monoglyceride sulfonates or mixtures thereof . among the specific compounds which may be employed as humectants are sorbitol , glycerine , polyhydric alcohols of like nature or mixtures thereof . as examples of compounds that may be used as flavoring agents are clove oil , menthol , peppermint oil , spearmint oil , wintergreen oil , sassafras oil and anise oil . sweetening agents would include compounds such as , for example , saccharin , dextrose , and sodium cyclamate . the following examples together with the accompanying drawing further serve to illustrate the pharmaceutical toothpaste compositions of this invention . a pharmaceutical toothpaste composition suitable for treatment of gingivitis is formulated from the following ingredients in two separate portions , including a flavor portion , which are then admixed to form the final composition . ______________________________________ first portion % byphase ingredient weight______________________________________a glycerine 96 % 5 . 00a carboxymethylcellulose 7mf 1 . 00b sorbitol 70 % 15 . 00c deionized water 23 . 05c zinc chloride 0 . 25c sodium benzoate 0 . 10c sodium saccharine 0 . 25c sodium fluoride 0 . 22c sodium chloride 5 . 00c srf 1 . 23c sodium bicarbonate 20 . 00d syloid b - 30 13 . 00d sicosil 63m 4 . 00e titanium dioxide # 3328 1 . 00e sorbitol 70 % 2 . 00f sorbitol 70 % 5 . 00f sodium lauryl sulfate 2 . 40f flavor 1 . 50______________________________________ the flavor portion which is a component of phase f above is composed of the following ingredients which are weighed and placed into a suitable stainless steel container fitted with a mixer . the mixer is then started and the mixing is continued until all of the menthol crystals have dissolved . ______________________________________ % byingredient weight______________________________________cinamic aldehyde 8 . 20menthol , racemic crystals 49 . 30methyl salycilate 20 . 50peppermint oil 4 . 10spearmint oil 4 . 10clove oil 13 . 80______________________________________ 1 . in an appropriate vessel equipped with adequate mixers weigh in glycerine . 4 . in another vessel , dissolve ingredients of phase c in order in deionized water . maintain heat at 50 ° to 70 ° c . for a few minutes . cool to room temperature . add to first vessel . 5 . to a kettle with vacuum draw at least 28 inches of vacuum . mix under vacuum for 5 minutes . 6 . break vacuum and add dry powders of phase d to batch one at a time under agitation . 8 . break vacuum . in a separate vessel , disperse titanium dioxide in sorbitol . add to batch under agitation . 9 . dissolve sodium lauryl sulfate , flavor , and color in sorbitol ( phase f ). add to batch . this embodiment of the pharmaceutical composition of the invention will be described with respect to a toothpaste tube or package in which the srf is separated from the other active ingredients until the time of use . fig1 is a vertical central sectional elevation of a dispensing end of a tube useful in packaging the pharmaceutical composition of the present invention . referring to fig 1 , collapsible dispensing tube 11 has a side wall 13 lined on the inside surface and a shoulder portion 15 terminating in a neck 17 onto which is pressed and held firmly in place a blending fitting 19 , preferably made of synthetic organic polymeric plastic materials , such as nylon or other suitable moldable and form - retaining polymer , preferably of the thermoplastic type . blending fitting 19 includes a longitudinally extending tubular portion 21 , the wall 22 of which is shown tapered and containing internal ribs 23 . wall 22 determines a longitudinal passageway 25 . a plurality ( usually from 2 to 6 but even single passageways may be employed ) of transverse passageways 27 , located near the joinder of the shoulder and neck portions of the tube , passes through wall 22 . the blending fitting includes an externally threaded outer portion 29 and a dispensing opening 31 , which is a continuation of passageway 25 . a sealing cap 33 may be screwed onto threaded portion 29 of the blending fitting to prevent unintentional discharge of contents from tube 11 . as is illustrated in fig1 initially a first portion of srf in a suitable vehicle at a ph of about 5 designated 35 is filled into the tube , as is fully described in u . s . pat . no . 4 , 098 , 435 , to the level or interface indicated by numeral 37 . preferably then , an &# 34 ; insulating &# 34 ; or protective intermediate layer of non - reactive material 39 is applied and then the second portion of the dentifrice , identified by numeral 41 , containing the balance of the periodontal toothpaste ingredients set forth in example 2 is filled into the tube while the tube is maintained in inverted position , as illustrated . upon application of pressure to the tube , streams of the first portion of the dentifrice containing srf pass through openings 27 into passageway 25 , forming stripes or &# 34 ; inlays &# 34 ; in the surface of the second portion of the dentifrice in such passageway . entry of the first portion into the second portion is facilitated by the presence of the &# 34 ; upstream &# 34 ; ribs 23 and a correct and uniform proportion of first dentifrice portion to second dentifrice portion is obtained . because of the location of the tranverse openings 27 , essentially all of the product can be discharged and the dispensed product is of substantially uniform composition throughout dispensing . ideally , the portion of dispensing passage 31 &# 34 ; downstream &# 34 ; ( upon dispensing ) of transverse openings 27 will be as short as is feasible so as to minimize contacting of any reactive portions of the dentifrice with each other during storage for any appreciable time between uses . the material of construction of the tube is preferably a conventional polymeric plastic with polymeric plastic cap and blending fitting . the dentifrice and the different portions thereof , the various compositions of which will be described later , will normally be extrudable through the dispensing opening . the number of openings through the dispensing passageway walls will be chosen to regulate the desired proportions of the dentifrices to be discharged . the formulation of the toothpaste of example 2 is as set forth below . ______________________________________ % byphase ingredient weight______________________________________a glycerine 96 % 5 . 00a cmc 7mf 1 . 00b sorbitol 70 % 15 . 00c deionized water 24 . 28c zinc chloride 0 . 25c sodium benzoate 0 . 10c sodium saccharine 0 . 25c sodium fluoride 0 . 22c sodium chloride 5 . 00c sodium bicarbonate 20 . 00d syloid b - 30 13 . 00d sicosil 63m 4 . 00e titanium dioxide # 3328 1 . 00e sorbitol 70 % 2 . 00f sorbitol 70 % 5 . 00f sodium lauryl sulfate 2 . 40f flavor 1 . 50 srf concentrate crude * ______________________________________ * adjust concentration of srf to 3000 units / ounce of product . the flavor component present to the extent of 1 . 50 % by weight contains the ingredients and is produced by the procedure of example 1 . the preparation of the first portion of the toothpaste containing the srf is as follows : mix the srf with one - third of the sorbitol 70 % set forth above for phase b and one - fifth of the glycerine 96 % set forth above for phase b . this first portion at a ph of about 5 , is first added to the tube of example 1 and designated 35 . a small amount of sorbitol 70 %, i . e . one - fifth of the amount set forth above for phase f , is added to the tube to separate the srf first portion from the higher ph second portion . the second portion containing the balance of the ingredients is prepared using the procedure described in example 1 and then added to the tube and sealed . the preparation of another embodiment of the periodontal toothpaste of the invention is described below using the following ingredients . ______________________________________ % w / wingredient q . s . adjust to______________________________________part ipurified water deionized 100 . 000sodium benzoate , nf ( preservative ) 0 . 100sodium saccharin , usp 0 . 250sodium fluoride , usp 0 . 220sodium chloride , usp 10 . 000zinc chloride granular , usp 0 . 250srf concentrate crude * sorbitol solution , usp 22 . 000sodium bicarbonate , usp 15 . 000part iiglycerin 99 percent , usp 3 . 000cmc 7mf 1 . 000part iiiglycerin 99 percent , usp 2 . 000part ivsyloid b - 30 ( silica gel hsg - 750 ) 13 . 000sicosil 63m 4 . 000titanium dioxide ansb div sun 1 . 000sodium lauryl sulfate , nf 2 . 400part vperiodontal toothpaste - flavor mix 1 . 500______________________________________ * adjust concentration of srf to 3000 units / oz . of product . sodium benzoate , sodium saccharin , sodium fluoride , sodium chloride , zinc chloride and srf were placed in a suitable container and mixed for 5 minutes . sorbitol solution was added and stirring continued for an additional 5 minutes . to the mixture was added the sodium bicarbonate and the resulting mixture heated to 60 ° c . with stirring and maintained at that temperature for 10 minutes . the mixture was cooled to 25 ° c . and deaerated . concurrently the glycerin was placed in a separate suitable container equipped with a stirrer . the carboxymethylcellulose was added with stirring until evenly dispersed . the carboxymethylcellulose dispersion was transferred to the mixture of part i with the aid of vacuum . to this was added the glycerin of part iii with the aid of rinsing water . the mixture was deaerated and mixed 30 minutes . the viscosity and ph was checked . to this mixture was added a blended mixture of the syloid , sicosil , titanium dioxide and sodium lauryl sulfate . the resulting mixture was deareated . to the deareated mixture was added the flavor mix of part v with the aid of rinsing water . the resulting mixture was stirred for an additional 20 minutes and packaged in toothpaste tubes . the flavor component contains the same ingredients and is produced by the same method as in example 1 . ______________________________________ % byphase ingredient weight______________________________________a glycerine 96 % 5 . 00a cmc 7mf 1 . 00b sorbitol 70 % 15 . 00c deionized water 22 . 61c zinc chloride 0 . 25c sodium benzoate 0 . 10c sodium saccharine 0 . 25c sodium fluoride 0 . 22c sodium chloride 5 . 00c srf 1 . 37c sodium bicarbonate 20 . 00d syloid b - 30 13 . 00d sicosil 63m 4 . 00e titanium dioxide # 3328 1 . 00e sorbitol 70 % 2 . 00f sorbitol 70 % 5 . 00f sodium lauryl sulfate 2 . 40f flavor 1 . 50g d & amp ; c red # 33 ( 1 %) 0 . 30______________________________________ the components are formulated into a toothpaste by the procedure of example 1 . the flavor component present to the extent of 0 . 30 % by weight contains the ingredients and is produced by the procedure of example 1 . the method in accordance with this invention , to treat gingivitis or to induce an anti - gingivitis effect , comprises administering to the oral cavity of an animal organism , preferably humans , suffering from gingivitis , an amount sufficient to retard and treat said gingivitis . the preferred method is by brushing the toothpaste formulation onto the teeth and gums , and rinsing out . the procedure is used three times per day until results conform to the dentist &# 39 ; s treatment desires . in general , the pharmaceutical preparation of the present invention attacks gram - negative and gram - positive bacteria , both the aerobic and anaerobic spirochetes , large virus and certain protozoa , in addition to exercising an antifungal activity for oral infections caused by candida albicans . it acts as a protective for irritated and inflamed mucous membranes and as an oral lavage , and assists in the removal of tenacious mucus . the antimicrobial activity of the toothpaste of example 3 was determined against various organisms in an agar diffusion assay according to the following procedure : 1 . a 24 hour culture of each organism was diluted 1 - 1000 in sterile saline ( 1 - 100 for c . albicans ). 2 . 0 . 1 ml of this dilution was streaked onto the surface of 3 trypticase soy agar plates . 3 . one 8 mm well was dug into each plate with a cork borer . 5 . the plates were incubated for 24 hours at 35c and then the zones of inhibition were measured in mm . table 1______________________________________zone of inhibitation against various organisms fortoothpaste of example 3 ( in millimeters ) organism well # 1 well # 2 well # 3 average______________________________________c . albicans 50 50 47 49strep . mutans 42 44 44 43 . 3ps . aeruginosa 23 21 20 21 . 3______________________________________ ______________________________________ grams______________________________________gelatin ( finely powdered ) 47srf 3000 units per oz . of productmineral oil 47 . 5polyethylene ( mol . wt . 21 , 000 ) 2 . 5______________________________________ as a night time adjunct to the above brushing treatment of gingivitis the active ingredient , srf , may be formulated in a vehicle suitable for topical application to the gingavae . said formulation is a viscous pharmaceutical composition essentially comprising srf and an intimate admixture of particulate gelatin with mineral oil containing dispersed therein polyethylene having a molecular weight of at least 3 , 500 in an amount equal to approximately 0 . 25 % to 50 % of the combined weight of polyethylene and mineral oil , the srf preferably representing about 3000 units per oz . of the composition . ( a ) a polyethylene - mineral oil dispersion is prepared as described in u . s . pat . no . 2 , 628 , 187 . ( b ) the srf is blended with an equal weight of the dispersion of ( a ) in a planetary type mixer and then the material is passed through a roller mill . to 2 gm . of milled material is added 2 gm . of the dispersion ( a ) with mixing in a planetary type mixer until homogeneous . again add ( a ) in an amount equal to that in the planetary mixer and mix until homogeneous . continue this geometric addition process until the dispersion ( a ) has been completely utilized . ( c ) the gelatin is introduced into the bowl of a planetary type mixer , covered with ( b ) and blended until homogeneous . it is thus seen that i have provided a dentifrice which is eminently satisfactory to accomplish all of the aforesaid stated objectives .	0
the particulars shown herein are by way of example and for purposes of illustrative discussion of the embodiments of the present invention only and are presented in the cause of providing what is believed to be the most useful and readily understood description of the principles and conceptual aspects of the present invention . in this regard , no attempt is made to show structural details of the present invention in more detail than is necessary for the fundamental understanding of the present invention , the description is taken with the drawings making apparent to those skilled in the art how the forms of the present invention may be embodied in practice . the embodiments of the present invention will be described hereinafter with reference to the drawings . fig4 is a perspective view illustrating an entire configuration of an image measuring system according to an embodiment of the present invention . this system includes a non - contact image measuring device 1 , a computer system 2 that drives and controls the image measuring device 1 and performs necessary data processing , and a printer 3 that prints a measured result . the image measuring device 1 is configured as follows . in other words , a measuring stage 13 is attached on a mount 11 on which a measuring object ( hereinafter , referred to as work piece ) is placed . the measuring stage 13 is driven in a y - axis direction ( front - back direction of the drawing ) by a not - shown y - axis driving mechanism . support arms 14 and 15 , which extend upward , are fixed at a center of both sides ( edges ) of the mount 11 . an x - axis guide 16 is attached to connect upper end portions of the support arms 14 and 15 . an imaging unit 17 is supported by the x - axis guide 16 . the imaging unit 17 is driven in an x - axis direction ( horizontal direction in the drawing ) along the x - axis guide 16 by a not - shown x - axis driving mechanism . a ccd camera 18 is mounted at a lower end of the imaging unit 17 so as to face the measuring stage 13 . further , in the imaging unit 17 , in addition to not - shown illuminating device and focusing mechanism , a not - shown z - axis driving mechanism is provided that moves the position of the ccd camera 18 in a z - axis direction ( vertical direction in the drawing ). the computer system 2 is configured to include a computer body 21 , a keyboard 22 , a joystick box 23 , a mouse 24 and a display device ( e . g ., crt ) 25 . the computer body 21 implements each of the functions , for example , shown in fig5 , in cooperation with a predetermined program stored therein . in other words , the computer body 21 includes a stage moving processor 31 , an illumination adjusting processor 32 and a miscellaneous measuring condition adjusting processor 33 , to control the image measuring device 1 based on the input commands from an input device , including the keyboard 22 , the joystick box 23 , the mouse 24 , and so on . the stage moving processor 31 controls the xyz - axis driving mechanisms of the image measuring device 1 based on a stage moving command input from the input device , and moves the position of the ccd camera 18 with respect to the measuring stage 13 . in the standard measuring mode , the illumination adjusting processor 32 causes the illuminating apparatus of the image measuring device 1 to repeatedly perform pulse lighting at predetermined cycles as shown in fig3 a , and adjusts the pulse width of the pulse lighting based on an illumination adjusting command input from the input device . in the non - stop measuring mode , the illumination adjusting processor 32 performs stroboscopic illumination of a preset duration at a designated measuring position , as shown in fig3 d . the miscellaneous measuring condition adjusting processor 33 adjusts other measuring conditions , including a lens magnification , a focusing adjustment , and so on , based on an input miscellaneous measuring condition adjusting command . a parameter acquirer 34 acquires the stage position , the pulse width information of the stroboscopic illumination , and the other measuring condition information adjusted by each of the processors 31 - 33 , based on a predetermined command input by the input device . the parameters acquired by the parameter acquirer 34 are stored in a parameter memory 35 . a part program generator 36 generates a part program for measurement , by utilizing the parameters stored in the parameter memory 35 . the generated part program is stored in a part program memory 37 . a part program processor 38 reads a necessary part program from the part program memory 37 and performs the same . the part program processor 38 appropriately drives the stage moving processor 31 , the illumination adjusting processor 32 , the miscellaneous measuring condition adjusting processor 33 , an image acquirer 42 , and an image processor 43 , in accordance with a variety of commands described in the part program . the image information imaged by the ccd camera 18 is sequentially stored in an image memory 41 . the image information stored in the image memory 41 is sequentially displayed by the display device 25 , and is captured as a static image by the image acquirer 42 based on the part program . the image processor 43 performs image processing for an image measurement , including measuring tool setting , edge detection and coordinate detection , and so on , on the image information acquired by the image acquirer 42 . next , a measuring operation of the image measuring system configured as noted above is described , according to the embodiment of the present invention . fig6 is a flowchart illustrating an image measuring process in the standard measuring mode . as shown in fig6 , during the image measuring in the standard measuring mode , the measurement is performed as follows . in other words , moving / stopping of the measuring stage , illumination setting , image acquiring and image processing are sequentially performed for each measuring element . after the measurement of the position is completed , the system moves to the next measuring position and performs similar processing . thus , during the image measuring in the standard measuring mode , the measurement is completed at each element ( for example , point measurement 1 , point measurement 2 , . . . ). on the other hand , during the non - stop measuring mode , as shown in fig7 , a measuring process is divided into a non - stop image acquisition and image processing . in the non - stop image acquisition , while the relative position between the measuring stage 13 and the ccd camera 18 moves along a measuring path that passes each measuring position , the stroboscopic illumination and image acquisition ( and storing ) are performed at moment of passing by the measuring position , continuously at all measuring positions . when all image acquisitions are completed , the stage is stopped and image processing is performed . in the image processing , the acquired and temporarily stored image information is read one by one , and image processing , such as edge detection , is performed continuously for all measuring positions . in the non - stop measuring mode , unlike the standard measuring mode , it is not necessary to confirm that the stage has stopped at each measuring position . accordingly , the measuring operation can be accelerated . in the first embodiment of the present invention , the illumination control device 50 includes a light amount control circuit 52 , a pulse lighting circuit 54 , a continuous lighting circuit 56 and a gate circuit 58 , as shown in fig8 . the illumination control device 50 drives the high - brightness led 60 based on a command from the illumination adjusting processor 32 of the computer system 2 , which is a upper level controller . the pulse lighting circuit 54 performs pulse lighting of the high - brightness led 60 . the continuous lighting circuit 56 and the gate circuit 58 together perform stroboscopic lighting of the same high - brightness led 60 . the light amount control circuit 52 receives a pulse lighting command and a stroboscopic lighting command from the illumination adjusting processor 32 , supplies to the pulse lighting circuit 54 a control signal , including a pulse width , a cycle length , an output voltage / current , etc ., which is required by the pulse lighting circuit 54 during the pulse lighting . the light amount control circuit 52 also supplies , to the continuous lighting circuit 56 and the gate circuit 58 , a control signal , including a stroboscopic lighting time , a lighting interval , an output voltage / current , etc ., which is required by the continuous lighting circuit 56 and the gate circuit 58 during the stroboscopic lighting . further , the light amount control circuit 52 switches the driving power supplied to the high - brightness led 60 , depending on the purpose of the led illumination , by turning on one of the pulse lighting circuit 54 and the pair of the continuous lighting circuit 56 and the gate circuit 58 , and turning off the other , based on a command from the illumination adjusting processor 32 . according to this embodiment , the pulse lighting circuit 54 , which is optimized for the pulse lighting , is provided separately and independently from the continuous lighting circuit 56 , which is optimized for the continuous lighting . therefore , it is possible to perform optimum lighting for each of them . next , fig9 shows the illumination control device 50 according a second embodiment of the present invention . in this embodiment , a lighting cycle changing circuit 70 is provided at an output side of the continuous lighting circuit 56 , which is common to the pulse lighting and the stroboscopic lighting . thus , the pulse lighting and the stroboscopic lighting are performed by changing the lighting cycle of the lighting cycle changing circuit 70 based on an output of the light amount control circuit 52 . according to this embodiment , it is not necessary to provide the pulse lighting circuit separately and independently from the stroboscopic lighting circuit . accordingly , the configuration is simple and inexpensive . further , according to this embodiment , the gate circuit 58 is provided in the illumination control device 50 to perform stroboscopic light emission . however , when a static image is acquired by a shutter of the ccd camera 18 , the gate circuit 58 may be omitted , and the continuous lighting circuit 56 causes the high - brightness led 60 light continuously during the non - stop measuring mode . it is noted that the foregoing examples have been provided merely for the purpose of explanation and are in no way to be construed as limiting of the present invention . while the present invention has been described with reference to exemplary embodiments , it is understood that the words which have been used herein are words of description and illustration , rather than words of limitation . changes may be made , within the purview of the appended claims , as presently stated and as amended , without departing from the scope and spirit of the present invention in its aspects . although the present invention has been described herein with reference to particular structures , materials and embodiments , the present invention is not intended to be limited to the particulars disclosed herein ; rather , the present invention extends to all functionally equivalent structures , methods and uses , such as are within the scope of the appended claims . the present invention is not limited to the above described embodiments , and various variations and modifications may be possible without departing from the scope of the present invention .	7
fig1 illustrates one embodiment of the present invention including parison or injection mold 10 , having two mold cavities 10a and 10b each having outer walls 11 which are adapted to form the outer surface of the parisons , and each having an end wall 12 shaped to form the end wall of the parisons . the embodiment of two mold cavities in fig1 is chosen for ease of representation and obviously a greater number of these may be employed depending upon requirements . the parison mold 10 is temperature controlled , such as by cooling channels 13 contained therein which are connected to appropriate heat transfer sources ( not shown ) wherein such temperature control may be arranged in several zones to obtain different temperatures in different regions of the parisons side and end walls . the end walls 12 have injection openings 14 registering with runners 15 which in turn register with an injection nozzle 16 through which the organic plastic material is injected into the mold cavities in a known manner . the formation of the parisons in accordance with the embodiment illustrated takes place after first cores 17 , neck mold 18 and mold 10 are brought into engagement by suitable mechanical means , such as the motive means shown schematically parison mold 10 is stationary , while cores 17 and neck mold 18 are axially reciprocable in the direction of the arrows into and out of engagement with mold 10 and mold cavities 10a and 10b . it should be understood that the present invention is not limited thereto , as reciprocable parison molds and stationary cores and / or neck molds are encompassed therein . upon completion of injection through nozzle 16 , parisons 19 are formed . side walls 20 and ends 21 of cores 17 , walls 11 and 12 of parison die 10 , and the neck mold 18 constitute die cavities in which the parisons are formed . cores 17 may be temperature controlled in one or more zones , such as by internal heat exchange circuits known in the art contained therein , which are connected to an appropriate heat transfer source ( not shown ). cores 17 are carried by platen 22 . the assembly further includes a neck mold 18 in which the neck of the parisons are formed and which may if desired remain engaged with the parisons after core 17 is disengaged from the parison mold , which neck mold may be independently temperature controlled . the neck mold may process threads 23 for defining a threaded opening in the final molded object . the neck mold 18 may be split and opened into sections by suitable mechanical means such as the motive means shown schematically , to simplify release of the parisons , or if the configuration of the neck permits , may be of one - piece construction and , thus , separable from the parisons as a unit . parisons 19 which are formed in mold 10 by injection molding are at a temperature substantially above that required for orientation . the temperature of the parisons is preferably rapidly adjusted so that an average temperature close to the one suitable for orientation is obtained without inordinate delay . in the interest of a rapid operating cycle , it is particularly advantageous to first rapidly alter the heat content of parisons 19 by heat exchange with cores 17 and mold 10 to approach the heat content desired for subsequent operations , even if at the cost of an unequal distribution of temperature in said parisons . this must be followed by substantially equalizing the temperature distribution across the wall thicknesses by causing them subsequently to reside in a suitable environment capable of influencing their temperature , such as tempering molds and at times cores , or other environments known in the art , to avoid a layer - wise pattern of properties in the finished articles corresponding to the known relationship between such properties and the deformation temperatures . this procedure is described in more detail in my u . s . pat . no . 4 , 151 , 248 referred to hereinabove . thus , for example , as described in said patent , one can form parisons 19 by injection molding , rapidly cool said parisons by heat exchange with cores 17 and mold 10 which will result in a rapid cycle , but will also produce said unequal temperature distribution , followed by substantially equalizing the cross - sectional temperature distribution of said parisons in tempering molds , all in a controlled manner , to impose thereon the temperature profile desired for orientation . naturally , the parisons remain in the tempering molds , at times supplemented by additional molds like the initial tempering molds into which the parisons may be sequentially transferred , until the necessary desired temperature distribution is obtained . the foregoing provides the considerable advantages of enabling the attainment of a predetermined temperature profile of the parison resulting in optimum conditions for orientation without excessive dwell time in the molds . the parison mold is freed for further use while the tempering molds complete the conditioning of the parison , resulting in an expeditious processing cycle . however , the operating cycle may still be subject to delays attendant upon the holding time required in the injection mold , since , as long as the injection mold is being occupied by the newly injected parison , the injection mold is not free to form a further parison and cycle delays may result . this is particularly pronounced with relatively thick parisons since longer injection mold delays are then involved . in accordance with copending application ser . no . 288 , 950 , the procedure of which may readily be used in the present invention and the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference , the parison is prematurely removed from the injection mold and transferred to a holding station for completion of the cooling step normally completed in the injection mold . in accordance with said copending application , the parison is kept in the chilled environment of the injection mold until its inside temperature drops below that which corresponds to the highest rate of crystallization of the given material . the parison is removed from the chilled environment at that time and transferred into the holding station or first tempering mold fast enough , i . e ., within that length of time during which little or no crystallization can occur according to the crystallization rate applicable to the inside of the preform , whereby said first tempering mold is held at a temperature that is substantially lower than that of the parison inside . the parison is now removed from the injection mold and transferred into the holding mold . after a dwell which equals that in the injection mold plus the time of transfer , the parison is removed from the said mold and placed into a tempering mold at the same time that the next - made parison is transferred into the holding mold . the parison is kept in the tempering mold long enough to equalize the temperature between its skins and its inside and then transferred into a blow mold for conversion into the bottle shape . if the time available to cool the parison in one holding mold does not suffice , a second holding mold may continue the cooling function and the tempering mold may then follow for equalization of the parison temperature . additional tempering molds may of course be added if necessary . how many continuing cooling and equalization steps , and therefore cooling and tempering molds are required depends on the thickness of the parison , all other variables of the molding process being equal , in order to maintain the same operating cycle of the apparatus regardless of the parison thickness . referring to fig1 after the formation of parisons 19 in the assembly consisting of mold 10 , cores 17 and neck mold 18 , the parisons are preferably left therein for the shortest possible time consistent with the foregoing to cool in contact with the said elements of said assembly , each of which is preferably temperature controlled , preferably independently of each other , in order to enable rapid and indeed premature removal from the injection mold as aforesaid in accordance with the preferred embodiment . the temperatures of some of the said elements may be so controlled as to cool portions of the parisons to a low temperature well below that suitable for orientation . the parisons may be removed from the injection mold before the average temperature is substantially equal to the desired orientation temperature , naturally , with an unequal temperature distribution resulting in the parisons , or allowed to remain in the injection mold until the average temperature is substantially equal to the desired orientation temperature . the parisons are then transferred to the first tempering mold , which may be a holding mold . passages 27 may be provided within core 17 communicating with an outside source of pressure fluid ( not shown ) and may terminate at a valve - like , closeable portion of the core . core 17 and mold 10 are cooled , as indicated hereinabove , to provide cooling of the adjacent parison surfaces and to assure rapid removal of heat from the parisons . separation of cores 17 from parison 19 without damage to it may be facilitated by air - pressure stripping of the parison from the core while leaving the neck mold engaged therewith , as described in my aforesaid u . s . pat . no . 4 , 242 , 300 . the parisons may be left in mold 10 during such separation in order to prevent damage by the air pressure so introduced . core 17 and neck mold 18 ( or the neck mold alone ) with parison 19 engaged thereon are then separated from mold 10 , first tempering mold 28 , which may be a holding mold , is aligned with the parisons by any desired motive means capable of providing relative lateral movement , and the parisons placed in the mold 28 . mold 28 has temperature controlled cooling elements 13 &# 39 ; as mold 10 and two mold cavities 28a and 28b . also , mold 28 is preferably otherwise similar to mold 10 , as having outer walls 11 &# 39 ; and end wall 12 &# 39 ; and conforming to the shape of parisons 19 . by transfer of parisons 19 into mold 28 the injection mold is freed for the formation of further parisons . as indicated hereinabove , only a single tempering mold may be employed if desired depending upon the tempering characteristics desired ; however , in the specific embodiment shown in fig1 two tempering molds are employed . after a first holding period in molds 28 , the parisons are transferred to second tempering molds 29 by suitable means for continued tempering , for example , by grippers such as shown in copending u . s . pat . application ser . no . 163 , 196 , now u . s . pat . no . 4 , 351 , 631 , and additional cores shown schematically at 30 which may if desired include internal fluid passageways 31 . in the illustrative embodiment shown , gripper 30 removes parisons 19 from mold 28 , mold 28 moves into alignment with core 17 , and parisons 19 are aligned with molds 29 by lateral movement of grippers 30 , said molds 29 containing heating or cooling elements 13 &# 34 ;, and two mold cavities 29a and 29b , and the parisons are placed in molds 29 by grippers 30 . parisons 19 are thus removed from molds 28 and molds 28 are thereby rendered capable to receive the next parisons from mold 10 while parisons 10 are placed in mold 29 . the parisons , fully tempered , are then transferred from molds 29 to a tempered parison storage facility which may be molds 40 or any storage facility capable of maintaining the tempered condition . molds 40 contain two mold cavities 40a and 40b and may if desired be tempering molds containing heating elements 13 &# 39 ;&# 34 ; similar to molds 28 and 29 . alternatively , as indicated above , molds 40 may be simply holding molds . the transfer occurs by means of grippers 32 , which may contain fluid passageways 33 , which removes the parisons from molds 29 , aligns the parisons with molds 40 by lateral movement of grippers 32 , and places same into molds 40 . it should be understood that additional tempering molds may by employed if prolonged tempering is required , as shown in my copending u . s . pat . application ser . no . 120 , 266 , the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference . in accordance with the preferred procedure of said copending application , a plurality of tempering molds are provided and the parisons are transferred from tempering mold to tempering mold for completion of the tempering cycle without delaying the cycle by waiting for tempering to be completed in a single tempering mold . if desired , parisons 19 may be placed in better conformance with molds 28 and 29 by the exertion of fluid pressure within the parisons . grippers 30 and 32 are carried by common platen 34 since they operate on a common cycle , although separate carrying means may be provided . core 41 is carried by platen 42 and may be provided with temperature control means . since axial stretching of the parisons is desired , core 41 includes a stretch and blow assembly which comprises a mandrel extension 43 which is reciprocable as indicated by the arrow to axially extend the parison 19 and at the same time admit pressure fluid inside the parison through passageway 44 . an actuating means is shown which comprises a push rod 45 which engages extension 43 , and which is connected to a piston 46 housed within a cylinder 47 which may , for example , be responsive to hydraulic pressure exerted by a pump , now shown . by controlling the flow of fluid into cylinder 47 , the speed of piston 46 and therefore of the movable portion of core 41 may be controlled to stretch the parison at the speed best suited for the temperature of the parison . such actuating means is merely illustrative of one manner of operation , as other actuating means known in the art can be employed herein . if a highly oriented article is not desired , the axial extension operation may be dispensed with . after the final holding sequence , the parisons are separated from mold 40 as by retaining it on core 41 by means of grippers 47 , if necessary . in the embodiment shown in the drawing , core 41 is situated in spaced relationship to cores 17 , 30 and 32 and molds 40 are situated in spaced relationship to molds 10 , 28 and 29 and a finish or blow mold 50 , to enable simultaneous performance of the plural functions . alternative alignments , as by means of neck molds , may be used , so long as the concurrent pursuit of the injection holding cycle , tempering and final forming processes with separate parisons may be accomplished . an ejection core 51 optionally containing fluid passageway 52 may be used to remove the fully expanded article 48 from mold 50 . the ability to concurrently conduct the various operations outlined herein comprises one of the notable advantages of the invention . the simultaneous formation , holding , transfer , tempering , final expansion and finished article removal is envisioned in accordance with the present invention . as shown in fig1 there are less blow molds than the number of mold cavities in each group of tempering or holding molds . in the embodiment illustrated in fig1 there is a single blow mold 50 , while each group of tempering or holding molds contain two mold cavities . therefore , the number of means for transferring parisons 19 from molds 40 to molds 50 should correspond to the number of blow molds , in this case a single blow mold is shown so that a single means for transferring parisons 19 is provided . naturally , if there are move blow molds there would be correspondingly more tempering or holding molds and an appropriate number of transferring means . also , in the embodiment shown stretch - blow core 41 is shown as the means for transferring the parisons ; however , naturally , a separate transfer means may be provided and the stretch - blow core maintained above blow mold 50 , or other obvious variations provided . thus , in the embodiment shown stretch - blow core 41 transfers a parison 19 from cavity 40b into blow mold 50 by axial , lateral and axial movement as shown in the arrows in fig1 . as indicated hereinabove , a core or article removal plug 51 may be provided for removing the finished article and may be positioned in lateral , spaced relationship to core 41 . therefore , when core 41 engages parison in mold 40b , the removal plug engages the finished article 48 in mold 50 . as shown by the arrows , the core 41 and plug 51 are axially and laterally reciprocable so that cores 41 and 51 simultaneously transfer their respective articles by a combination of axial , lateral and axial movements . if desired , core 51 may be carried by common platen 42 or separate platen 52 . parison 19 is then received in mold 50 , which may be split for convenience , with its temperature having been adjusted as described hereinabove . parison 19 is usually axially extended to the bottom of mold 50 by advancement of the movable portion of mandrel 43 by means of push rod 45 at a predetermined rate . thus , the present invention may controllably guide the parison longitudinally while final blowing occurs and thereby produce orientation in the axial direction as well as the orientation produced by blowing . it can be seen that the temperature of the parison preparatory to stretching and blowing may be properly and conveniently controlled by the respective tempering environments , and also by cores if desired . while stretching occurs , passageway 44 is kept open to provide pressure equalization in the inside of the parison with the atmosphere to prevent collapse of the parison due to the vacuum created inside same as its inside volume increases during stretching . the parison is fully expanded to conform to the configuration of finishing mold 50 , to form the final object 48 , which in the embodiment illustrated herein is an open - ended container . naturally , a wide variety of shapes may be prepared as the commercially known shapes which may be a bottle , a jar or a cup - shape . full expansion is accomplished by supplying fluid under pressure through passageway 44 into the interior of parison 19 , or at times and at various rates into the interior of the parison while it is being extended . in the embodiment illustrated herein , finishing or blow mold 50 is longitudinally split into two sections labeled 50a and 50b , which may reciprocate in and out of communication by an actuating means , not shown , such as for example a hydraulic cylinder . thus , sections 50a , and 50b may be parted by an amount sufficient to permit removal of article 48 by core 51 . after a first parison 19 is removed from mold 40b by core 41 , molds 40 reciprocate laterally so that mold 40a with an additional parison 19 contained therein occupies the position previously occupied by mold 40b and mold 40b occupies the position shown in dashed lines in fig1 . therefore , upon return of core 41 to the position shown in fig1 a further parison 19 in mold 40a will be located immediately beneath core 41 for transfer to blow mold 50 by means of core 41 in the same manner discussed hereinabove . thus , a single blow mold is utilized for two holding or tempering molds . naturally , the cycle time for transferring parisons 19 from mold 40 to mold 50 will be such that two parisons 19 are transferred from mold 40 to mold 50 in a time period corresponding to the transfer time from molds 28 to 29 and from molds 29 to 40 . thus , after the second parison has been transferred from mold 40 to mold 50 , mold 40 reciprocates laterally to the original position shown in solid lines in fig1 so that mold 40 is ready to receive two additional parisons 19 from mold 29 in the manner described hereinabove . naturally , other variations within the scope of the present invention may be readily utilized . fig2 and 3 represent schematic representations of alternate embodiments of the present invention showing views of the tempered parison storage facility and the final blow station . in accordance with the embodiment of fig2 storage facility 140 contains eight mold cavities and blow molds 150 contain four blow mold cavities . thus , it can be seen that the number of blow molds for final expansion in spaced relationship to the tempered parison storage facility is provided in an amount less than the number of mold cavities in said facility . four stretch - blow cores 141 are shown above the mold cavities in facility 140 in a manner similar to fig1 . cores 141 transfer four parisons from facility 149 to molds 150 in a manner similar to fig1 by axial , lateral and axial movement , facility 140 is laterally moved so that a second set of mold cavities occupies the position previously occupied by the first mold cavities and the cycle repeats . in the embodiment shown in fig3 tempered parison storage facility 240 is provided with eight mold cavities in a manner after fig2 and blow molds 250 are also similarly provided with four mold cavities . however , it can be seen that facility 240 is stationary and stretch - blow cores 241 first transfer a group of four parisons to blow molds 250 and subsequently move into alignment with a second group of parisons in said facility as shown in dashed lines in fig3 so that the second group of parisons may be transferred to the blow molds . thus , alignment of the respective groups of parisons in fig3 is accomplished by relative movement of the transfer means rather than the storage facility . it is clear in accordance with the present invention that a greatly improved operating cycle is obtained . the components of the process and apparatus of the present invention are simple , convenient and expeditious and effectively operate in a versatile way with utilization of considerably fewer blow molds than would ordinarily be employed . this invention may be embodied in other forms or carried out in other ways without departing from the spirit or essential characteristics thereof . the present embodiment is therefore to be considered as in all respects illustrative and not restrictive , the scope of the invention being indicated by the appended claims , and all changes which come within the meaning and range of equivalency are intended to be embraced therein .	1
a general description of the problem will first be presented , together with a sketch of the underlying theory , outlining the starting assumptions , but passing quickly to the practical conclusions of the theory . the work of the inventors is based on the bayesian model - based seismic inversion program , delivery , developed by the inventors ( gunning and glinsky , 2004 ). markov chain monte carlo ( mcmc ) and / or metropolis methods may also be used . in this layer - based model , a useful prior constraint that makes the inversion problem less multimodal is to focus the inversion on the correct seismic reflection for each sand or shale layer . this is done by imposing gaussian prior distributions on the layer reflection times , gross thicknesses , and n / g values . these constraints are made as weak as possible , but strong enough to prevent a seismic “ loop skip ”, or trapping in undesirable secondary local minima . this “ lion taming ” of the objective function is demonstrated by fig1 ( a ) and 1 ( b ), which show the effect of the prior constraint on the bias of the posterior distribution . fig1 ( a ) shows different prior probability distributions , and fig1 ( b ) shows resulting posterior probability distributions . in fig1 ( a ), curve c shows the probability of the model seismic being consistent with the observed seismic as a function of the gross thickness of the sand . the side lobes correspond to the sand becoming thick enough that the reflector would correspond to the top of another sand . the solutions that correspond to these sidelobes are not reasonable solutions and need to be excluded . this is done by imposing the gaussian constraint on gross thickness , shown by curve b . unfortunately the resulting compound probability , shown as b × c in fig1 ( b ), has a maximum biased away from the desired local maximum of curve c . what we would like to do is impose a prior constraint similar to curve a ( fig1 ( a )) with a flat top . this type of nonlinear prior constraint is not used , however since it breaks the linearity of the inversion , and seriously inflates the numerical demands of the inversion . to harness both the computational advantages of the gaussian prior ( curve b ), and the unbiased character of curve a , the inventors implemented an iterative inversion . this iterative inversion is shown schematically in fig2 . we start with the normal gaussian constraint on reflection times , gross thicknesses , and n / g and do the bayesian inversion . it should be noted that the input constraints may relate to any relevant properties , for example seismic arrival times , layer thicknesses , net sand to gross sand ratio , sand porosity , or other sand and shale properties such as compressional velocities , shear velocities and density . the properties being iterated are illustrated in step 20 , where μ is the mean of a property being iterated and σ is the standard deviation in step 22 , the inversion is carried out , for example using the delivery tool mentioned above , to produce the posterior estimates shown in step 24 , where μ ′ is the posterior mean and σ ′ is the posterior standard deviation . the resulting posterior estimates of the mean times , gross thicknesses , and n / g are then used ( step 26 ) as the mean of the prior constraints for the next bayesian inversion . in other words , step 22 is repeated using the modified means , but the standard deviations used in the inversion remain unchanged . this process is then repeated , and stopped when there is little difference between the prior and posterior means of the three properties ( step 28 ). the prior and posterior means may be compared after each inversion to determine whether the difference between the prior and posterior means is within a predetermined threshold , and the process stopped when this is found to be the case . in order for this process to work the mapping of the prior to the posterior means must be a compact mapping whose fixed point has an effective constraint which will not bias the solution , as shown by curve a in fig1 ( a ). by linearizing the solution about the optimum point ( see appendix ), and by separating the prior constraint into the parts that will be iteratively updated and those which will not ; it can be proved that a fixed point exists and that the convergence is linear . the fixed point is the solution to the problem with the prior gaussian constraints removed on the updated parts . this is exactly what is needed . a condition on the convergence is that the linearized problem is not rank deficient , that is , it is well posed . this will be true as long as the sensitivity matrix for all the parameters being iterated is “ full rank ”. this means that care should be taken in the choice of the properties that are iterated — the inversion should be significantly decreasing the standard deviations of those properties and they should not be linearly dependent upon each other . to demonstrate and verify the unbiased result of the described iterative inversion , a simple wedge model was constructed . it consists of three layers : a laminated reservoir sand between two shales . fig3 shows the wedge model and the synthetic seismic . the wiggle trace is reflection coefficient data with a positive amplitude , shaded black , representing a reflection from a hard reflector over a soft reflector . the wedge starts at zero gross thickness and linearly increases to a thickness of 22 m . the sand is softer than the shale , and has a n / g of 40 %. the end member sand has a porosity of 27 . 4 %, a density of 2 . 2 gm / cc , and a compressional velocity of 2970 m / s . the shale has a density of 2 . 41 gm / cc , and a compressional velocity of 3070 m / s . convolving a ricker wavelet with the contrast in the acoustic impedance forms the synthetic seismic . the frequency of the wavelet was chosen to have a tuning thickness of 14 m . the n / g standard deviation for the reservoir layer was 0 . 2 . uncertainties for the end member properties were 87 m / s , 142 m / s and 1 . 7 % for the sand compressional velocity , shear velocity and porosity , respectively ; and 138 m / s , 70 m / s , and 0 . 035 gm / cc for the shale compressional velocity , shear velocity and density , respectively . time uncertainties of 10 ms were assumed for the two seismic reflectors . two series of inversions were done : the first starting with a model that always had 5 m more sand than the model used to construct the seismic , the second starting with a model that always had 5 m less sand . a noise level of about half the size of the reflector was assumed . the gross thickness was iterated for each series of inversions until the solution converged . the result is shown in fig4 , in which the case starting with a positive bias of 5 m is shown by the green curves , and the case starting with a negative bias of 5 m is shown by the red curves . the initial model and two iterations are shown for each case , and a representative standard deviation of the solutions is shown by the error bar . the answer and fixed point solution is shown as the thin black line . the posterior uncertainty in the gross thickness was about three times the size of the initial bias . the solutions obviously converged to the unbiased solution . it was noted that the convergence was made quite rapid ( within one to two iterations ) for noise level merely 50 % of that displayed in fig3 . the methodology was then applied to the glenridding prospect , which lies beneath the stybarrow field , influencing the business decision to drill . this stybarrow field is located in production license wa - 32 - l , some 135 km west of onslow offshore western australia . the water depth at the location is approximately 800 m . the field lies near the southern margin of the exmouth sub - basin within the larger carnarvon basin ( see fig5 ). oil is trapped in the early cretaceous , berriasian age turbidite and debris flow sandstones deposited on a relatively shallow passive margin slope . the stybarrow structure comprises a ne to sw trending tilted fault block forming a terrace within the westward plunging ningaloo arch ( see fig6 , which also shows the locations of the four appraisal wells ). the intersection of sw to ne and e to w trending normal faults establishes an elongate , triangular trap forming structural closure to the southwest . the structure dips from the sw to the ne at about 5 degrees . top , base and bounding fault seals are provided by claystones and siltstones of the overlying muiron member of the barrow group and mudstones of the underlying dupuy formation . a seismic dip cross section through the middle of this field , along the line 60 in fig6 , is shown in fig7 ( a ) and 7 ( b ). seismic reflection data is shown as black wiggles . a positive amplitude is shaded black and represents a reflection from an acoustically hard rock over a soft . the colored background is a sparse spike inversion . values are normalized and expressed in relative percent reflectivity . red is acoustically soft , blue is hard . note the main sand that is currently under development ( the macedon standstone ) and the location of the four appraisal wells . the seismic data was recently reprocessed in a way that increased the bandwidth , and fig7 ( a ) shows the old data , while fig7 ( b ) shows the new , higher bandwidth , data . fig8 shows the spectral signal to noise ratio determined by comparison to the well log synthetic seismic . the signal is the peak amplitude of the main sand reflector , and the posted signal to noise ratios are the peak reflection amplitude of the main sand divided by the noise level estimated by the stochastic wavelet derivation ( gunning and glinsky , 2006 ). this reprocessing highlighted a small , but possibly economic “ a sand ” called the glenridding prospect , that has not yet been penetrated , approximately 50 m below the main macedon sand ( see fig7 ( a )). given the limited aerial extent of this near field prospect , it would need to have a thickness of at least 4 m to economically breakeven . in order to drill this target , it needs to be proven that there is a 90 % probability of having at least 4 m of sand . to answer this question a bayesian model based inversion was done at the proposed well location shown in fig7 ( b ). a model was constructed as shown in fig9 ( a ), which shows the mean model of n / g , before inversion , using the old data . the black wiggle shaded black is the seismic reflection data , and the red wiggle is the synthetic seismic of an average model ( as determined by the seismic chi squared value ). the model has twelve layers , five of which are sands . it was built from an interpretation of the top and base of the main ( macedon ) sand , and the top of the glenridding “ a sand ”. small uncertainty was assumed for the position of these interpreted horizons ( 6 ms ), and a larger uncertainty for the other horizons ( 8 ms ). the uncertainty in the n / g was assumed to be 30 % with a initial mean of 85 % for all sands . more details on how this inversion was done can be found in glinsky et al . 2005 . the first inversion was done using the old data . the seismic specialists doing the inversion decided to make a pessimistic assumption for the initial thickness of the “ a sand ”— they assumed that it had zero thickness and had the inversion prove otherwise . because the noise level was about the size of the seismic reflection this was a reasonable possibility . the resulting estimate of the net sand shown in fig1 does not meet the criteria for drilling the well . the asset team members challenged this result suggesting an optimistic assumption that there is a sand of tuning thickness unless proven otherwise . this was also a reasonable possibility . the resulting estimate also shown in fig1 does meet the criteria for drilling the well . who was right ? finding the answer to this question was the inspiration for the inventors &# 39 ; development of the iterative inversion . the unbiased answer from the iterative inversion using both the old and the new data is shown in fig1 . the results shown in fig1 represent the different estimates of net sand for the “ a sand ”, with the error bars representing the standard deviation . the “ old , pessimistic ” case is using the old data with an initial n / g of 85 % and an initial gross thickness of 3 m . the “ old , optimistic ” case is using the old data with an initial n / g of 85 % and an initial gross thickness of 16 m . the “ old , unbiased ” case is using the old data with an initial n / g of 85 % and an initial gross thickness of 8 m , using the iterative inversion , and the “ new , unbiased ” case is for the iterative inversion using the new data with an initial n / g of 50 % and an initial gross thickness of 22 m . the unbiased solution using the old data is obviously a compromise between the optimistic and pessimistic solutions and unfortunately does not meet the criteria for drilling the well . fortunately the resolution provided by the new data increases the estimate of the net sand enough to meet the criteria for drilling the well . note that the new , unbiased result is consistent with the old , unbiased result ( i . e ., the new mean lies within the uncertainty of the old data ), but it is not consistent with the old , pessimistic result . let us now examine the results in more detail so that we can better understand them . start with the mean models shown in fig9 . fig9 ( b ) and 9 ( c ) show the models of n / g after inversion . fig9 ( b ) shows the results using the old data , where the initial n / g was 85 %, and initial gross thickness was 8 m . fig9 ( c ) shows the results using the new data , where the initial n / g was 50 %, and initial gross thickness was 22 m both the inversions using the old and the new data increase the n / g and gross thickness of the main sand . there is no change to the n / g of the “ a sand ” using the old data and a very modest increase to the net sand . this is because this sand is not resolved . the new data is able to resolve this sand . it dramatically increases the thickness , but significantly decreases the n / g with an increase in the net sand . it also increases the n / g of the main sand . fig1 shows the match of the model synthetic seismic to the actual seismic ( thick red line ) for the initial model , before inversion , using the old data ( fig1 ( a )), the model after inversion , using the old data ( fig1 ( b )), and the model after inversion , using the new data ( fig1 ( c )) note the better match using the new data due to the better signal to noise ratio ( snr ). a very instructive perspective on the inversion results is obtained by examining all of the possible models that fit the data to within the snr . fig1 ( a ), 12 ( b ) and 12 ( c ) show the ensemble of n / g models for the three cases shown in fig1 ( a ), 11 ( b ) and 11 ( c ), respectively . notice the reduction in the uncertainty in the location of the top and base of the main and “ a ” sands with the new data . there is also less scatter in the n / g of both sands using the new data . the existence of the fixed point and the convergence can be seen in fig1 and 14 . they show the change in the net sand and n / g , respectively , for the “ a sand ” as the prior mean values are changed . the error bars represent the standard deviation . fig1 shows the change in net sand as a function of the initial gross sand thickness , using an initial n / g of 85 %, and fig1 shows the change in n / g as a function of the initial n / g , using an initial gross thickness of 22 m the value indicated as unbiased in each case is the value of the prior gross sand thickness , and prior n / g , respectively , that results in no change of the posterior mean value when compared to the prior mean value . note that for values less than this fixed point ( labeled “ unbiased ”) the inversion increases the value . the greater the distance from the fixed point , the larger the change . the opposite is true for values greater than the fixed point — the inversion decreases the value . the bottom line results are shown in fig1 , where the cumulative probability distribution functions are shown for the net sand in the “ a sand ” using the old data ( fig1 ( a )) and the new data ( fig1 ( b )). note that there is only a 65 % probability of having at least 4 m of sand using the old data , and that probability is increased to 90 % using the new data . the described iterative inversion is an important and particularly advantageous refinement to bayesian inversion when looking at marginal sands whose seismic reflection amplitude is near the noise level . for high noise levels , the data is whispering to you through the bayesian inversion , but it is being overwhelmed by the heavy - handed sophomoric prior constraint imposed to eliminate unreasonable models . the iteration amplifies the whisper allowing convergence to the unbiased , predictive result free of the influence of the initial constraints . increasing the bandwidth of the seismic data also is advantageous if these sands are poorly resolved . “ bayesian linearized avo inversion ” by arild buland and henning omre ( geophysics , 68 : 185 - 198 , 2003 ), “ seismic reservoir prediction using bayesian integration of rock physics and markov random fields : a north sea example ” by jo eidsvik et al . ( the leading edge 21 : 290 - 294 , 2002 ), “ stochastic reservoir characterization using prestack seismic data ” by jo eidsvik et al . ( geophysics 69 : 978 - 993 , 2004 ), “ delivery : an open source model - based bayesian seismic inversion program ” by gunning and glinsky ( computers and geosciences 30 : 619 - 636 , 2004 ), “ stybarrow oil field — from seismic to production , the integrated story so far ” by ementon et al . ( spe asia pacific oil and gas conference , expanded abstracts , # 88574 , 2004 ), “ integration of uncertain subsurface information into multiple reservoir simulation models ” by glinsky et al . ( the leading edge 24 : 990 - 998 , 2005 ), “ delivery - extractor : a new open source wavelet extraction and well tie program ” by gunning and glinsky ( computers and geosciences 32 : 681 - 695 , 2006 ), “ inverse problem theory , methods for data fitting and model parameter estimation ” by a . tarantola , ( elsevier , amsterdam , 1987 ), “ matrix computations ” by golub and van loan ( john hopkins university press , baltimore , 1996 ). in this section , the existence of a fixed point in the iterative inversion scheme is demonstrated . the algorithm has the property that the fixed point has an effectively “ flat ” prior in the iterated parameters . the convergence to the fixed point is linear . important criteria for choice of the parameters to iterate are derived , in order to guarantee convergence . we start with the linear approximation to the forward model valid near the optimum solution . the solution is given by ( see equations 36 and 37 from gunning and glinsky , 2004 ) { tilde over ( m )} =( { tilde over ( x )} t { tilde over ( x )}+ c m − 1 ) − 1 ( { tilde over ( x )} t d + c m − 1 m 0 ) ( 1 ) where d are the scaled seismic data residuals , { tilde over ( x )} is the scaled linearization of the forward seismic model , c m is the covariance matrix of prior probability distribution of the model , and m 0 is the prior estimate of the mean model . suppose that for the next iteration we use m 0 ←( i t { tilde over ( m )} +( i − i t ) m 0 ), ( 2 ) where i t is a matrix that selects a subvector to update ( e . g ., the time parameters ). so in general { tilde over ( m )} ∞ =( i −{ tilde over ( c )} m { tilde over ( c )} m − 1 i t ) − 1 { tilde over ( c )} m ( { tilde over ( x )} t d + c m − 1 ( i − i t ) m 0 ). ( 4 ) and is stable if the eigenvalues , λ , of the matrix q p defined by q p ={ tilde over ( c )} m c m − 1 i t =( { tilde over ( x )} t { tilde over ( x )}+ c m − 1 ) − 1 c m − 1 i t = qi t ( 5 ) satisfy \| λ \|& lt ; 1 . this is true if the submatrix of { tilde over ( x )} corresponding to the “ selected ” subvector is full - rank . { tilde over ( m )} ∞ =( { tilde over ( x )} t { tilde over ( x )}+ c m − 1 ( i − i t )) − 1 ( { tilde over ( x )} t d + c m − 1 ( i − i t ) m 0 ) ( 6 ) this is the standard bayes formula with c m , new − 1 ← c m − 1 ( i − i t ), which is equivalent to using a new prior distribution with flat priors on the selected subvector . for example , if which satisfies e k + 1 = o ( e k ) with a fixed coefficient less than one that is dominated by the largest eigenvalue of q p . the latter is less than one if the full - rank criterion { tilde over ( x )} of the submatrix holds . the conclusion is that successive iteration with replacements of a selected subvector converges to a fixed point equal to the single bayes update with infinitely flat prior on the selected subvector . this convergence is guaranteed provided that at least one measurement responds to each subvector parameter , and sufficiently independently that full - rank of the sensitivity applies . the convergence is linear .	6
an exemplary embodiment of an image sensor mounting system according to the invention is described with reference to the assembly drawing of fig1 . in this embodiment , a plate 10 is provided for back mounting an image sensor 12 . in a simplified form of this mounting scheme , plate 10 is provided by a substantially rigid planar member comprising insulating material , image sensor 12 is mounted to plate 10 by any suitable means such as gluing or taping , and the resulting assembly comprising a plate and sensor 10 and 12 is mounted to an optical reader component frame 14 by inserting plate into a pocket 16 which may be defined , as is shown , by a pair of pins 18 and wall sections 20 . plate 10 is sized to a length 1 p such that the edges of plate 10 extend beyond the edges of sensor 12 when sensor is attached to plate 10 to the end that a pocket 16 can hold an image sensor in a secure position by applying lateral holding forces to plate 10 without supplying lateral forces to the top glass , or bottom planar members of image sensor 12 . component frame 14 in the example provided is an optical assembly component frame . optical assembly frames of optical readers are typically comprised of molded plastic and are typically adapted to carry various optical system components of an optical reader . in addition to carrying an image sensor 12 , an optical assembly frame of an optical reader may carry such components as mirrors , lenses , and illumination sources , such as leds . in most optical readers , an optical assembly component frame 14 is installed on a printed circuit board , e . g . circuit board 15 which , in addition to carrying frame 14 , carries most , if not all , of the electrical components of the optical reader . the mounting scheme described is advantageous over the prior art because it increases the security with which image sensor 12 is held in pocket 16 and furthermore , increases the precision with which a pixel plane to fixed point distance can be controlled . while the total thickness , t , of stacked up image sensor 12 cannot be tightly controlled , the thickness t p of plate 10 can be tightly controlled . accordingly , pockets 16 of several like designed optical assembly frames will apply relatively consistent holding forces to image sensors disposed therein . the mounting system increases the precision with which pixel plane to fixed point distance , d , is controlled because it reduces the number of manufacturing tolerances which contribute to the distance , d , the distance between any fixed point , p p , on the plane of a pixel array 12 and a fixed point , p s , away from the pixel plane . in a prior art mounting system described with reference to fig6 , and 8 , the pixel plane to fixed point distance , d , is a function of the total thickness , t , of an image sensor 10 , which is a function of the highly variable top planar member to bottom planar member spacing , s . because a pixel plane of an image sensor 10 is disposed flush on a bottom planar member , it is seen that pixel plane to fixed point distance , d , in the mounting system of fig1 is influenced only by the bottom plate thickness t b , and the mounting plate thickness t p , both of which can be tightly controlled . additional features can be incorporated in the mounting system thus far described for further improving the operation of the mounting system . one enhancement to the mounting system thus far generally described is to form in mounting plate 10 first and second cutout sections 26 and 28 . cutout sections 26 and 28 defined by side walls 30 are sized to a length 1 c approximately the same length or slightly longer than lead frames 114 so that edges of lead frames 114 are benched on walls 30 when image sensor 10 is mounted on mounting plate 10 . cutout sections 26 and 28 provide the function of stabilizing the position of an image sensor on mounting plate 10 so as to prevent sliding or twisting of image sensor 12 on plate 10 . another enhancement to the mounting system generally described relates to a mounting scheme for mounting an image sensor 12 to mounting plate 10 . it has been mentioned herein that sensor 12 can be secured to plate 10 using any conventional securing means , such as adhesives , glues , double sided tapes , etc . however , such schemes for attachment have the potential drawback in that they add thickness to an assembly including an image sensor and a back plate . in the image sensor to plate mounting scheme of fig1 the mounting is accomplished without use of any thickness - adding material . as seen in fig1 pins 32 will extend outwardly beyond the back surface 34 of plate 10 when sensor 12 is pressed flush against plate 10 . a flex strip 38 which includes two strips 40 and 42 of pin receptacles for providing electrical connection between sensor leads 12 and certain electrical connectors of reader ( normally on pcb ), a distance away from sensor 12 may be attached to image sensor 12 such that first row of pines 32 are received in a first row of receptacles 40 and a second row of pins 32 are received in a second row of receptacles 42 of flex strip 39 . pins 32 can be soldered onto receptacles 40 and 42 such that the compression force of flex strip 38 impinging on mounting plate 10 to bias plate 10 against sensor 12 is sufficient to hold sensor 12 securely on plate 10 without additional securing forces supplied by glues , tape , or other adhesive material . in the mounting system of fig1 plate 10 may further include side wall formations 31 which are received in complementary formations of pocket 16 . in particular , the mounting system can be configured such that bottom surface 31 ′ of formation 30 is received on a complementary surface of pocket 16 . furthermore , when plate 10 is installed in pocket 16 , at least one screw 33 can be received in at least one hole 29 formed in pocket 16 , at least one screw 33 can be received in at least one hole 29 formed in pocket 16 in such a location that screw head 33 h or associated washer 33 w applies a vertical holding force to a received image sensor 12 . in the particular embodiment shown , a cutaway section defined by walls 35 is provided so that plate 10 does not interfere with the receiving light optics in the particular optical system in the example provided . a variation on the mounting schemes described thus far is described with reference to fig4 a through fig5 . in the schemes described thus far , image sensor 12 is mounted to a plate 10 which , in turn , is received in a pocket 16 in an optical assembly frame 14 of a bar code reader . in the mounting scheme described with reference to fig4 a , 4 b , and 5 , the mounting pocket 16 of optical assembly frame 14 is deleted , and optical assembly frame 14 instead is furnished with a back plate 48 integral with frame 14 which provides essentially the same function as mounting plate 10 . certain figures of an optical system which may be incorporated in a frame of the type shown in fig4 b and fig5 are described in detail in copending applications entitled “ optical assembly for barcode scanner ,” ser . no . 09 / 111 , 476 and “ adjustable illumination system for a barcode scanner ,” serial no . 09 / 111 , 583 concurrently herewith , incorporated by reference herein , and assigned to the assignee of the present invention . in this mounting scheme , image sensor 12 is mounted directly to back plate 48 in essentially the same manner that sensor 12 is mounted to mounting plate 10 in the general scheme described previously . in mounting sensor 12 to back plate 48 then sensor 12 is pressed against surface 50 of back plate 48 . frame 14 includes elongated aperture 52 defined by bottom edge of back plate 48 to accommodate bottom pins 32 b of lead frame 114 when sensor 10 is mounted against back plate 48 . securing material such as glues , tapes , or other adhesives may be provided to aid in the securing of an image sensor 12 against back plate 48 . in the alternative , image sensor 12 may be secured to back plate 48 as described previously by a compression force supplied by flex strip 38 , which when soldered , works to bias image sensor 12 against plate 48 . cutout section 56 and aperture 52 can be sized to have lengths 1 c approximately equal to the respective lengths of lead frames 114 so that side wall 30 of aperture 52 and of cutaway section 56 operate to bench lead frames 114 and to thereby prevent sliding or twisting of image sensor 12 when image sensor 12 is mounted on back plate 48 . it will be seen that a back plate of the invention can be provided by virtually any substantially planar rigid surface integrated onto a mounted component frame . while the present invention has been particularly shown and described with reference to the preferred mode as illustrated in the drawing , it will be understood by one skilled in the art that various changes in detail may be effected therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the claims .	7
referring now to the drawings , the activated carbon air purifier is designated by the numeral &# 34 ; 10 &# 34 ;. this includes two major assemblies including the air purifier cabinet assembly 12 and an adsorber media carrier assembly 14 . the air purifier cabinet assembly 12 includes a peripheral frame 16 having a pair of side channel members 18 and 20 and a channel member 22 connecting the ends of members 18 and 20 together . the opposite ends of the channel members 18 and 20 are connected by straps 22 and 24 to provide an entrance opening 25 for the insertion of the adsorber media carrier assembly 14 . a cover 27 closes the opening 25 . thumb screws 29 secures the cover to frame 16 . the cabinet assembly 12 is provided with a rectangular frame 28 at the front side 30 of the cabinet assembly 12 and a similar rectangular frame 32 at the rear side 34 of the cabinet 12 . the front and rear sides of the cabinet assembly 12 are open to permit air flow through the cabinet 12 . the cabinet assembly 12 is made from various metal channels and angle members to provide the desired configuration . the elements are connected by welding or by riveting as is well known in the art . the adsorber carrier assembly 14 has a frame 40 which includes a pair of channels 42 , 44 . each channel has a base 46 and a pair of flanges 48 , 50 . the flanges 48 and 50 of one channel member 42 extend in an opposite direction from the corresponding flanges 48 and 50 of the other channel member 44 . opposite end portions of channel members 42 , 44 are provided with four holes 52 for fastening purposes as will subsequently appear . the channel members 42 , 44 are made from metal . the frame 40 of the adsorber carrier assembly 14 further includes a pair of tube carrying members 60 and 62 which are made from plastic material such as nylon or other suitable material . tube carrying members 60 and 62 are each provided with end flanges 64 having four openings 66 . the openings 66 are spaced apart from one another in the same arrangement or pattern as the openings 52 provided in the members 42 and 44 . tube carrying member 62 is provided with a front wall 68 , a back wall 70 and a bottom or connecting wall 72 . the bottom or connecting wall 72 is provided with two rows of tubular supports 74 which are spaced apart vertically and horizontally as shown in fig2 . the centers of the tubular supports 74 are staggered . thus one row 76 of tubular support 74 are provided alone one of the walls 68 while the other row 78 of tubular support 74 are provided along the other wall 70 as shown in fig6 . the tube carrying member 62 as viewed in fig6 illustrate the staggered relationship between the tubular supports 74 provided in rows 76 and 78 . the bottom wall 72 is surrounded by the side walls 68 , 70 and end walls 71 , 73 which form a continuous or generally rectangular trough 80 as best shown in fig6 . the trough 80 has a height of approximately 7 / 8 inch with the bottom wall 72 having therein openings 82 , one for each of the tubular sockets 74 . the tube carrying member 60 is also provided with the same number of staggered tubular sockets 74 as the tube carrying member 62 as shown in fig3 . in fig6 each row 76 , 78 of each of the tube carrying members 60 , 62 has , as an example , nine tubular supports 74 . the corresponding tubular sockets 74 of each tube carrying member 60 / 62 is provided with one end 92 of an adsorber tube 90 . the ends 92 of each adsorber tube 90 are received in a pair of aligned tubular sockets 74 . the tubular adsorber tubes 90 are made from woven wire cloth having a mesh rating of 30 to 40 mesh . the tubes 90 , as shown in fig5 and 6 , are arranged vertically apart in two rows 76 , 78 with the tubes 90 in one row being located behind the spaces of the tubes 90 in the other row . when the tubes 90 are viewed from the front or the back of the air purifier 10 they appear to present a continuous wire mesh screen so that air entering the air purifier 10 will strike and impinge upon one of the tubes 90 in either row 76 or 78 . the trough 80 is used to fill the tubes 90 with activated carbon . the activated carbon is placed in the trough 80 and the person uses a brush or his or her fingers to introduce the activated carbon particles into the tubes 90 through the entrance openings 82 until the tubes are filled . once all the tubes 90 are filled a seal or gasket 100 is placed in the trough 80 over three mounting studs 102 . thereafter a cover 104 is placed in the trough 80 against the seal 100 and secured to the studs 102 by means of the threaded nuts 106 . the other tube carrying member 60 is also provided with a continuous trough 108 in which is located a spring weighing scale 112 . the spring weighing scale 112 includes an inner cylinder 114 and an outer cylinder 116 . a coiled spring 118 having ends 120 and 122 is located within the inner cylinder 114 . the inner cylinder 114 has an opening 121 to which extends a pivot rod or mounting 124 . the pivot mounting 124 is carried by a pair of laterally spaced apart lugs 126 which are secured to the base or bottom 128 of the tube carrying member 60 . the outer cylinder 116 has an opening 130 through which extends a handle 132 . when the spring weighing scale 112 is not in use , the cylinders 114 , 116 are collapsed and are held against the base 130 of the tube carrying member 60 . when it is required to use the weighing device 112 , the handle 132 is removed from the lugs 134 and the weighing device 112 is pivoted about the pivot rod 126 and is moved to the dotted position as shown in fig7 . the spring end 122 is wrapped around the pivot rod 124 while the other end 120 of the spring 118 is wrapped around the handle 132 . the inner cylinder 114 is provided with a graduated scale 136 as shown in fig1 which permits the carrier assembly 14 to be weighed in the manner shown in fig1 . the weighing takes place before and after use of the carrier assembly 14 . the weighing before use establishes the weight of carrier assembly before the adsorbant is exposed to contaminant . the weighing after use establishes the weight of the carrier assembly and the adsorbed contaminant . using subtraction , the weight of the contaminant and the remaining capacity of the adsorption media can be determined . fig8 - 13 inclusive illustrate the steps for the care and maintenance of the activated carbon air purifier 10 . as shown in fig8 the air purifier 10 is removed from the furnace 140 by initially removing the thumb screws 29 and removing the cover 27 . thereafter the media carrier assembly 14 is slid out of the cabinet assembly 12 . the media carrier assembly 14 is then placed on the floor adjacent to furnace 140 and the carrier lid or cover 104 and foam seal 100 are removed from the trough 80 as shown in fig9 . the activated carbon adsorption media should be changed immediately after the heating season and after the cooling season . thus , in order to empty the media carrier assembly 14 , the assembly 14 is tuned up - side down thereby dumping the used activated carbon particles into a plastic trash bag 142 . it may be necessary to lightly tap the carrier 14 in order to loosen the carbon from all of the adsorber tubes 90 . thereafter it is necessary to refurnish the media carrier 14 with activated carbon . the carrier 14 is placed on the floor as shown in fig1 and carbon is directed from the bag 144 into the trough 80 . the carbon particles are moved into the unfilled tubes 90 using a brush or the person &# 39 ; s fingers . it may be necessary to gently tap the carrier 14 on the top in order to settle the carbon into the tubes 90 to fill same . once all of the tubes 90 have been filled with fresh carbon , the foam seal 100 , lid 104 and thumb nuts 106 are replaced . as an optional feature of this invention , the scale mechanism 112 is used to weigh the carrier assembly 14 as shown in fig1 . the weight is recorded . thereafter the media assembly 14 is reinstalled into the air purifier cabinet assembly 12 as shown in fig1 . fig1 shows a furnace 150 with a carbon air purifier 10 in the entrance duct 152 , with an outlet duct 153 leading from the furnace 150 . fig1 is similar to fig1 with the exception that a particulate filter 154 is located adjacent to and upstream from the carbon air purifier 10 in the entrance duct 152 . the carbon air purifier 10 and particulate filter 154 work in combination to remove the various contaminants . fig1 illustrates a furnace 160 having a carbon air purifier 10 and a particular filter 154 upstream with a pair of transition ducts 166 , 168 provided . the air purifier 10 of the present invention is designed for installation in the return air duct of any forced air heating and cooling system and for use in systems up to 2 , 000 cfm . for higher air flows , additional units may be required . when the activated carbon air purifier 10 is used with a high efficiency particulate air cleaner of the type illustrated in fig1 - 19 inclusive , it is recommended that the air purifier 10 be mounted downstream of the particulate filter to prevent the carbon columns from becoming clogged with household dust . the present invention has the advantage of being able to easily replace the screen adsorber tubes 90 in the event of damage . in addition , the use of the trough 80 facilitates the carbon filling procedure . also , the use of i - sections and channel sections provide requisite strength for the media carrier assembly 14 . the use of studs and thumb nuts allow the replacement of the activated carbon without the use of special tools .	1
light actuated optical switches are used to construct and , or , and nor logic gates . light signals coming into the logic gates are processed so that the output of the logic gates conforms to the needed specification for each kind of gate . the light signals are all that are used to operate the logic gates , and no external battery is required using light actuated optical switches , the logic gates will have dimensions that will fit within semiconductor logic design dimensions . computers will be able to be made that function on light signals instead of electrical signals . transistors of transistor based logic gates switch in 10e − 9 seconds , and this limits the speed of transistor based logic gates . light can travel three microns in 10e − 14 seconds . logic gates based on light actuated switches can be much faster than transistor based logic gates . an optical switch includes a signal channel and a piezoelectric element that is adjacent to the signal channel . the piezoelectric element changes shape in response to an activation light and the piezoelectric element is configured relative to the signal channel such that the change in shape of the piezoelectric element causes a change in a dimension of the signal channel . for example , the change in shape of the piezoelectric element causes a dimension of the signal channel to be reduced far enough that a signal light is no longer able to pass through the signal channel . using this phenomenon , the state of the optical switch is controlled by controlling the application of the activation light to the piezoelectric element . in an embodiment , the optical switch allows a signal light to pass through the signal channel when the activation light is not applied to the piezoelectric element and blocks the signal light from passing through the signal channel when the activation light is applied to the piezoelectric element . because the shape of the piezoelectric element determines whether or not light passes through the signal channel , the function of the optical switch depends on the ability of the piezoelectric element to change shape . in accordance with an embodiment of the invention , the piezoelectric element has at least two layers of piezoelectric material with each layer having different piezoelectric characteristics . the piezoelectric characteristics of the layers are selected to enhance the performance of the piezoelectric element and ultimately to enhance the performance of the optical switch . in an embodiment , the piezoelectric characteristics of the layers are selected to produce a piezoelectric element that exhibits sufficient shape change in response to an activation light to block a signal light from passing through a signal channel . fig1 a depicts an optical switch 100 that includes a signal channel 102 and a piezoelectric element 104 and that is controlled by an activation light . the signal channel guides the transmission of light within a confined area along a defined path . the signal channel is formed by a light guiding structure , or combination of structures , which can guide light within a confined area along a defined path . structures that can form the signal channel include , for example , an optical fiber , substrates such as lithium niobate or other transparent piezoelectric materials that include a signal channel , an optical waveguide , and a chamber for holding a compressible material . in the embodiment of fig1 a , the signal channel is formed by a monolithic light guiding element . the piezoelectric element 104 is formed of piezoelectric material . examples of piezoelectric material that can be used to form the piezoelectric element include crystalline piezoelectric material such as quartz ( sio 2 ), lithium niobate ( linbo 3 ), lead zirconate ( pbzro 3 ), lead titanate ( pbtio 3 ), and lead zirconate titanate . examples of piezoelectric materials that can be oriented in a magnetic field are lead zirconate and lead titanate or lead zicronate titanate . quartz and lithium niobate are examples of transparent piezoelectric materials . the piezoelectric element 104 has at least two layers 106 and 108 of piezoelectric material having different piezoelectric characteristics . the different piezoelectric characteristics of the different layers may include , for example : 1 ) different degrees of expansion and / or shrinkage in response to the same electrical field ; 2 ) different responses to the same electrical field , for example , one of the layers expands in response to an electrical field having a first orientation and the other layer expands in response to an electrical field having a second orientation that is perpendicular to the first orientation ; 3 ) different polarities ; 4 ) different strains ; 5 ) different hysteresis ; 6 ) different capacitances ; 7 ) different impedances ; 8 ) different resistivities ; 9 ) different thermal histories ; and 10 ) different electromagnetic histories . the piezoelectric characteristics of a piezoelectric material are a function of , for example : 1 ) the type of piezoelectric material ; 2 ) the crystal orientation of the piezoelectric material ; 3 ) doping levels within the piezoelectric material ; 4 ) the density of the piezoelectric material ; 5 ) the void density of the piezoelectric material ; 6 ) the chemical constituency of the piezoelectric material ; 7 ) the thermal history of the piezoelectric material ; 8 ) the electromagnetic history of the piezoelectric material . the desired piezoelectric characteristic of each layer of piezoelectric material can be achieved by , for example , manipulating one or more of the above - identified parameters . in an embodiment , layers of piezoelectric material that exhibit different degrees of expansion and / or shrinkage in response to the same electrical field are integrated into a piezoelectric element to cause the piezoelectric element to change shape or bend in response to the activation light . for example , if two adjacent layers of a piezoelectric element , which are adhered to each other into a monolithic element , expand different amounts in response to the same activation light , the piezoelectric element will bend . in an embodiment , the piezoelectric element includes at least two layers of piezoelectric material , having different piezoelectric characteristics , which are formed as a monolithic element . for example , the piezoelectric element is formed by building layers of piezoelectric material on top of each other using semiconductor processing techniques , e . g ., crystal growth , deposition , sputtering , ion implantation , etc . in an embodiment , the layers of the piezoelectric element have different crystal orientations so that the two layers respond differently to the same electrical field . for example , the two layers have crystal orientations that are perpendicular to each other . in another embodiment , at least one of the layers of the piezoelectric element is made of an organic material . using a piezoelectric element with layers of piezoelectric material having different piezoelectric characteristics , the response of the piezoelectric element can be selected to optimize on / off switching . for example , the piezoelectric characteristics of the layers can be selected to : 1 ) maximize the shape change of the piezoelectric element in response to the activation light ; 2 ) minimize hysteresis ; 3 ) reduce the amount of power required to change the shape of the piezoelectric element ; and 4 ) reduce the amount of heat generated by the switching technique . operation of the optical switch 100 depicted in fig1 a is now described with reference to fig1 a and 1b . fig1 a illustrates the piezoelectric element 104 in a non - activated state . in the non - activated state , the shape of the piezoelectric element is unchanged from its normal state , where the normal state of the piezoelectric element is the state of the element in the absence of an activation light . in the embodiment of fig1 a , the piezoelectric element is basically flat in the non - activated state . the flat shape of the piezoelectric element allows a signal light 110 to pass through the signal channel 104 as indicated by the signal light entering and exiting the signal channel . fig1 b illustrates the piezoelectric element 104 in an activated state that results from the application of an activation light 112 to the piezoelectric element . in the embodiment of fig1 b , the activation light is applied to the piezoelectric element by directing the activation light into the signal channel 102 in parallel with the signal light 110 . the activation light supplies an electrical field that effects the piezoelectric material . in the activated state , the shape of the piezoelectric element changes shape enough that the signal light is blocked from passing through the signal channel . the blocking of the signal light is indicated by the lack of the signal light exiting the signal channel . once the activation light is removed from the signal channel , the piezoelectric element returns to its normal shape and the signal light is able once again to pass through the signal channel . as described above , activation of the piezoelectric element 104 in response to the activation light 112 causes the shape of the piezoelectric element to change , thereby causing at least one dimension of the signal channel 102 to change . fig2 a is a cross - sectional view of the signal channel and the piezoelectric element of fig1 a when the piezoelectric element is in a non - activated state . fig2 b is a cross - sectional view of the signal channel and the piezoelectric element of fig1 b when the piezoelectric element is in an activated state . in the activated state , the piezoelectric element extends into the signal channel and reduces at least one dimension of the signal channel . as illustrated in fig2 a and 2b , the cross - sectional area of the signal channel is smaller in the activated state ( fig2 b ) than it is in the non - activated state ( fig2 a ). as seen in the embodiment of fig1 a - 2b , there is still an opening in the signal channel 102 even when the piezoelectric element 104 is in the activated state . although there is still an opening in the signal channel even when the piezoelectric element is in the activated state , the opening in the signal channel is small enough that the signal light 110 is blocked from passing through the signal channel . the ability of a signal light to pass through the signal channel is a function of the dimensions of the signal channel and of the wavelength of the signal light . in general , light having a shorter wavelength is able to pass through a signal channel with a smaller dimension than light having a longer wavelength . fig3 depicts a graph of optical signal attenuation vs . a dimension of a signal channel . as illustrated in fig3 , the optical signal attenuation changes rapidly once the signal channel dimension reaches a certain dimension , referred to herein as the cutoff dimension . for example , at a dimension smaller than the cutoff dimension ( e . g ., about 5 angstroms ), the attenuation rapidly rises and at a dimension larger than the cutoff dimension , the attenuation rapidly falls . the sharp response to a change in the signal channel dimension around the cutoff dimension , as indicated in fig3 , enables fast on / off switching by toggling the activation light such that a dimension of the signal channel switches between being larger or smaller than the cutoff dimension . as described above , the state of the optical switch 100 is activated by applying an activation light 112 to the piezoelectric element 104 . activation light can be applied to the piezoelectric element using different techniques . some exemplary techniques for applying activation light to the piezoelectric element are described with reference to fig4 a - 5b . fig4 a and 4b illustrate a technique for changing the state of optical switch 100 that involves applying an activation light 112 having a shorter wavelength than the signal light 110 . referring to fig4 a , the optical switch 100 is in an on state when no activation light is applied to the piezoelectric element 104 and the signal light 110 passes through the signal channel 102 . as illustrated in fig4 b , activation light 112 is applied to the piezoelectric element 104 to change the state of the optical switch 100 from on to off . in the off state , the activation light 112 causes the piezoelectric element 104 to change shape and block the passage of the signal light 110 through the signal channel 102 . in this example , the activation light 112 has a shorter wavelength than the signal light 110 . in particular , the wavelength of the activation light 112 is short enough that the activation light 112 is still able to pass through the signal channel even when the optical switch 100 is in an off state . fig4 b illustrates the case in which the activation light 112 , which has a shorter wavelength than the signal light 110 , is able to pass through the signal channel 102 even when the optical switch 100 is in the off state . fig5 a and 5b illustrate a technique for changing the state of an optical switch 100 in which applying the activation light involves providing two light signals 112 a and 112 b , which are out of phase with each other , to the piezoelectric element 104 and then removing one of the light signals , light signal 112 a in the illustrated embodiment , leaving the remaining light signal , light signal 112 b in the illustrated embodiment , as the activation light . in this embodiment , the two signals 112 a and 112 b are out of phase with each other such that their electrical fields effectively cancel each other out ( e . g ., 180 degrees out of phase ). because the two out of phase signals cancel each other out , while the two out of phase signals are simultaneously applied to the piezoelectric element 104 , the piezoelectric element 104 is not activated . once one of the light signals is removed , the electrical field of the remaining light signal is no longer canceled out and the remaining light signal activates the piezoelectric element . fig5 a illustrates the signal light 110 and both components of the out of phase light signals 112 a and 112 b passing through the signal channel 102 . as described above , the piezoelectric element 104 is not activated in this case because the two out of phase light signals cancel each other out . in fig5 b , one of the out of phase light signals 112 a is removed , leaving the remaining light signal 112 b as the activation light . the activation light activates the piezoelectric element 104 and blocks the passage of the signal light 110 ( and the activation light in this case ) through the signal channel . in another embodiment , the power of one of the two light signals can be increased above the other light signal to overcome the canceling effect thereby providing the activation light . another technique for optimizing the performance of a light activated optical switch is to enhance the electrical field that is applied to the piezoelectric element in response to the activation light . in accordance with an embodiment of the invention , at least one conductive layer is located adjacent to the piezoelectric element of a light activated optical switch to enhance the electrical field that is applied to the piezoelectric element in response to the activation light . the conductive layer has free electrons or electron holes that are drawn to and collect at a surface adjacent to the piezoelectric element when the activation light is applied to the piezoelectric element . the collection of free electrons near the piezoelectric element enhances the electrical field that is applied to the piezoelectric element in response to the activation light . the enhanced electrical field can be used to enhance the performance of the piezoelectric element and ultimately to enhance the performance of the optical switch . for example , the enhanced electrical field contributed from the adjacent conductive layer enables the piezoelectric element to be activated with lower power and / or quicker than is possible when there is not a conductive layer adjacent to the piezoelectric element . without the conductive layer the electric field of the activation light alone activates the piezoelectric element . when a conductive layer is used , the conductive layer supplies charges that are gathered or dispersed by the electric field of the activation light . the electric field of the gathered charges adds to the electric field of the activation light . in this case , the piezoelectric element is acted upon by the electric field of the activation light and the electric field of the gathered charges . in the case of dispersed charges , matter is composed of positive and negative charges so when one is dispersed the other is expressed . in this case the electric field of the expressed charges adds to the electric field of the activation light and the effect on the piezoelectric element is enhanced . electrons move in metal conductors , but positive holes can move in a semiconductor . fig6 a depicts an embodiment of a light activated optical switch 120 that includes a signal channel 122 , a piezoelectric element 124 , and a conductive layer 126 adjacent to the piezoelectric element 124 . the signal channel 122 and piezoelectric element 124 are similar to those described above , although the piezoelectric element 124 does not necessarily include different layers of piezoelectric material having different piezoelectric characteristics . the conductive layer 126 is a highly conductive material such as lead , tungsten , other metals , silicon doped with boron , silicon doped with arsenic , doped gallium arsenide , and / or other semiconductor materials . in an embodiment , the conductive layer 126 is adhered to a surface of the piezoelectric element 124 . for example , the conductive layer 126 may be deposited on a major surface of the piezoelectric element 124 using a metal deposition technique . in an alternative embodiment , the conductive layer 126 is formed of a semiconductor material with positive or negative charges that move instead of only negative charges . operation of the optical switch 120 depicted in fig6 a is now described with reference to fig6 a and 6b . fig6 a illustrates the piezoelectric element 124 in a non - activated state . in the non - activated state , the shape of the piezoelectric element 124 is unchanged from its normal state , where the normal state of the piezoelectric element 124 is the state of the element in the absence of an activation light . in the embodiment of fig6 a , the piezoelectric element 124 is basically flat in the non - activated state . the flat shape of the piezoelectric element allows a signal light 128 to pass through the signal channel 122 as indicated by the signal light 128 entering and exiting the signal channel 122 . fig6 b illustrates the piezoelectric element 124 in an activated state that results from the application of an activation light 129 to the piezoelectric element 124 . in the embodiment of fig6 b , the activation light 129 is applied to the piezoelectric element 124 by directing the activation light 129 into the signal channel 122 in parallel with the signal light 128 . when the activation light 129 is applied to the piezoelectric element , free electrons are drawn to the surface of the conductive layer 126 that is nearest the piezoelectric element 124 . in the activated state , the shape of the piezoelectric element 124 changes shape enough that the signal light 128 is blocked from passing through the signal channel 122 . the blocking of the signal light 128 is indicated by the lack of the signal light 128 exiting the signal channel 122 . the additional electrons near the piezoelectric material , which are associated with the conductive layer 126 , cause an increase in the electric field that is applied to the piezoelectric material of piezoelectric element 124 . the increase in the electrical field that is associated with the conductive layer 126 provides benefits that include , for example , increasing the magnitude of the change in shape of the piezoelectric element 124 , increasing the speed at which the piezoelectric element 124 changes shape , and / or reducing the amount of activation light required to achieve the desired shape change . fig7 illustrates the action of an electrical field 130 of the activation light 129 on the electrons of the conductive layer 126 of fig6 a and 6b . in fig7 , surface 132 is the surface of the conductive layer 126 nearest the activation light 129 and the surface 134 is the surface of the conductive layer 126 farthest from the activation light 129 . the comb - like structure in fig7 represents the electrical field under the influence of the conductive layer 126 . each tooth 136 of the comb - like structure represents a portion of the electrical field and some of the teeth have wide extensions 138 at their ends . these wide extensions 138 represent the larger field that is contributed by the charges that move in the conductive layer 126 that is adjacent to the piezoelectric element 124 . the charges that move in response to the electric field of the activation light 129 are represented by dashed lines 140 . when the electric field is negative the charges in the conductive layer 126 are driven away from the near surface 132 of the conductive layer and enhance the negative field . when the electric field is positive the charges in the conductive layer come to the near surface 132 of the conductive layer and enhance the electric field . if the conductive layer 126 is not present , no charges would move because piezoelectric materials are not conductors but dielectric materials . referring to fig7 , if the conductive layer 126 was removed leaving only a piezoelectric element ( not shown ), the teeth 136 on the comb like structure would have no extensions 138 on them . fig8 depicts an optical switch system 150 that includes a light activated optical switch 152 as described above with reference to fig1 a - 7 . the optical switch system 150 of fig8 also includes an activation light system 154 , which includes an activation light source 156 and an activation light controller 158 . the optical switch system 150 is optically connected to a signal light source 160 to receive a signal light 161 . in the embodiment of fig8 , the signal light 161 is provided to the optical switch 152 via a signal light path 162 and an activation light 163 is provided to the optical switch 152 via an activation light path 164 and the signal light path 162 . the signal light 161 and activation light 163 are combined at a coupler 166 . the output of the optical switch 152 goes through an output path 168 . the activation light system 154 controls the application of activation light 163 to the piezoelectric element ( not shown ) of the optical switch 152 . in the embodiment of fig8 , the activation light source 156 is a light source such as a light emitting diode ( led ) or a laser that generates an activation light with the desired characteristics , e . g ., the desired wavelength , intensity , phase of the activation light in relation to the other light in the signal channel , and polarization , and the activation light controller 158 controls the transmission of the activation light 163 from the activation light system . in an embodiment , the intensity of the activation light 163 must be great enough to sufficiently change the shape of the piezoelectric element of the optical switch 152 and in an embodiment , the intensity of the activation light 163 is greater than the intensity of the signal light 161 . the wavelength of the activation light 163 can be shorter or longer than the wavelength of the signal light 161 . as described above , if the wavelength of the activation light 163 is short enough , the activation light 163 may pass through the signal channel even when the piezoelectric element is activated and the signal light 163 is blocked . the activation light system 154 can be configured to provide the activation light 163 to the optical switch 152 in many different ways . for example , in one embodiment , the activation light 163 is switched on and off by a second light activated optical switch , in another embodiment the angle of a mirror is changed to provide the activation light 163 , in another embodiment , an led or laser is turned on / off , and in other embodiments , other switches may be employed to control the activation light 163 . the signal light source 160 generates the signal light 161 that is switched on and off by the optical switch 152 ( i . e ., allowed to pass through the optical switch 152 and blocked from passing through the optical switch 152 ). in an embodiment , the signal light source 160 is an optical transmitter that transmits digital data by modulating an optical signal ( e . g ., frequency or amplitude modulation ). in an embodiment , the signal light 161 that is output by the signal light source 160 is an optical signal that communicates digital data in some way ( e . g ., amplitude or frequency modulation , logic , etc .) while the activation light 163 that is output by the activation light source 156 does not communicate digital data . for example , the signal light 161 may carry digital data in a modulated light format while the activation light 163 is not modulated to carry digital data . in operation , the signal light 161 is provided to the optical switch 152 via the signal light source 160 and the application of the activation light 163 to the piezoelectric element of the optical switch 152 is controlled by the activation light system 154 . in one embodiment , the signal light 161 passes through the optical switch 152 when the activation light system 154 does not provide an activation light 163 to the optical switch 152 and is blocked from passing through the optical switch 152 when the activation light system 154 does provide an activation light 163 to the optical switch 152 . in the optical switches described with reference to fig1 a - 6b , the signal light and activation light are transmitted in the same signal channel . various techniques can be used to combine the signal light and the activation light into the same signal channel . fig9 depicts an embodiment of an optical switch 152 and an optical coupler 166 that is used to couple the signal light 161 and the activation light 163 into the same signal channel 122 . in the embodiment of fig9 , the signal light 161 travels in signal light path 162 , such as a signal fiber , and the activation light 163 travels in activation light path 164 , such as an activation fiber . the signal light 161 and activation light 163 are coupled into the signal channel 122 by the optical coupler 166 . it is appreciated that , although in the illustrated embodiment of fig9 an optical coupler is shown , other suitable techniques for coupling the signal light 161 and the activation light 163 into the same signal channel 122 can be used . fig1 a - 10e depict different embodiments of the light activated optical switches described above with reference to fig1 a - 9 . fig1 a depicts an embodiment of a light activated optical switch 170 in which the piezoelectric element 172 has more than two layers 174 of piezoelectric material with different piezoelectric characteristics . in the illustrated embodiment of fig1 , the piezoelectric element 172 has four layers 174 of piezoelectric material . in one embodiment , the different layers 174 of piezoelectric material each have a different piezoelectric characteristic and in another embodiment , the different layers of piezoelectric material have alternating piezoelectric characteristics . it should be understood that the number and arrangement of piezoelectric layers 174 can include many different variations . fig1 b depicts an embodiment of a light activated optical switch 176 in which a conductive layer 178 is sandwiched between two layers 180 of a piezoelectric element 182 . this embodiment allows the piezoelectric element 182 to be oriented by placing charges on the conductive layer 178 and causes the change in shape of each layer 180 of the piezoelectric element 182 to be enhanced because of the proximity of the piezoelectric layers 180 to the conductive layer 178 . fig1 c depicts an embodiment of a light activated optical switch 184 in which multiple conductive layers 185 are sandwiched between multiple different layers 186 of the piezoelectric element 187 . in this example , the conductive layers 185 are alternately adhered between different layers 186 of the piezoelectric element 187 . the multiple layers 185 of conductive material between the piezoelectric layers 186 allow each layer 186 of piezoelectric material to be polarized individually to different orientations by applying a charge to the conductive layers 185 . this enables the action of the piezoelectric layers 186 working against each other to accentuate the change in shape of the piezoelectric element 187 . in general , the multiple conductive layers allow the hysteresis of the piezoelectric element to be managed . the multiple conductive layers allow a reduction in the temperature that the piezoelectric element must be raised to in order to change the orientation of the piezoelectric material . the multiple conductive layers allow the change in shape of the piezoelectric element to be enhanced . the multiple conductive layers allow the management of many mechanical , electrical , thermal , and other physical characteristics of the optical switch to be managed to make the optical switch easier to be constructed , maintained , and used . in an embodiment , the different layers of piezoelectric material and the conductive layers are formed in a monolithic stack structure . the monolithic stack structure can be formed , for example , using known semiconductor processing techniques , e . g ., crystal growth , metal deposition , sputtering , ion implantation , etc . in some cases , the hysteresis of a piezoelectric element can limit how quickly a light activated optical switch , which is made with a piezoelectric element , can be changed from one state to another . in an embodiment , a 3000 angstroms thick layer of lead zirconate titonate ( pzt ) is deposited on a substrate . the layer of pzt has a given percentage of lead and a given percentage of zirconium and titanium . next , a 3000 angstrom layer of pzt is deposited on the first layer , with this layer having more lead and zirconium while reducing the percentage of titanium on top of that . using these layers , the hysteresis that the resulting piezoelectric element displays is reduced in comparison to a piezoelectric element that does not include similar layers . if more alternating layers are deposited to build up a piezoelectric element , a quickly responding piezoelectric element can be fabricated . if all of this is deposited upon a conductive layer , the electric field of the activation light is enhanced to make a light activated optical switch that responds even faster . fig1 d depicts an embodiment of a light activated optical switch 188 that includes a multilayer piezoelectric element 189 on one side of the signal channel 190 and conductive layers 191 on two sides of signal channel 190 . the response of the switch is enhanced by a multiplicity of conductive layers 191 . fig1 e depicts an embodiment of a light activated optical switch 192 that includes a multilayer piezoelectric element 194 and a conductive layer 196 on two sides of a signal channel 198 . in an embodiment , fig1 e represents a cross - sectional view of an optical fiber that includes a piezoelectric element and a conductive layer formed in a band entirely around the circumference of the optical fiber . in this embodiment , the fiber is a compressible material . fig1 a depicts an embodiment of a light activated optical switch 200 that includes a signal channel 202 , a piezoelectric element 204 , and a conductive layer 206 , where a portion of the signal channel includes a chamber 208 that is filled with a compressible material . the compressible material may be , for example , a gas such as argon or nitrogen or a material such as a petroleum distillate or a silicon rubber . the chamber 208 filled with the compressible material is adjacent to the piezoelectric element 204 such that the piezoelectric element 204 can expand into the chamber 208 when activated by an activation light . in an embodiment , the piezoelectric element 204 forms a portion of the chamber 208 . in an embodiment , at least a portion of the chamber 204 is formed by a transparent material . operation of the optical switch 200 depicted in fig1 a is now described with reference to fig1 a and 11b . fig1 a illustrates the piezoelectric element 204 in a non - activated state . in the non - activated state , the shape of the piezoelectric element 204 is unchanged from its normal state , where the normal state of the piezoelectric element 204 is the state of the element in the absence of an activation light . in the embodiment of fig1 a , the piezoelectric element 204 is basically flat in the non - activated state and does not protrude into the chamber 208 . the flat shape of the piezoelectric element 204 allows a signal light 210 to pass through the signal channel 202 ( including the chamber 208 ) as indicated by the signal light 210 entering and exiting the signal channel 202 . fig1 b illustrates the piezoelectric element 204 in an activated state that results from the application of an activation light 212 to the piezoelectric element 204 . in the embodiment of fig1 b , the activation light 212 is applied to the piezoelectric element 204 by directing the activation light 212 into the signal channel 202 in parallel with the signal light 210 . when the activation light 212 is applied to the piezoelectric element 204 , the piezoelectric element 204 protrudes into the chamber 208 , thereby compressing the compressible material within the chamber . in the activated state , the shape of the piezoelectric element 204 changes enough that the signal light 210 is blocked from passing through the signal channel 202 . the blocking of the signal light 210 is indicated by the lack of the signal light 210 exiting the signal channel 202 . when the activation light 212 is removed from the signal channel 202 , the piezoelectric element 204 returns to its normal state allowing the signal light 210 to pass . in the absence of the activation light 212 , the pressure of the compressed material within the chamber 208 helps to return the piezoelectric element 204 to its normal state . fig1 a depicts an embodiment of a light activated optical switch 220 that includes a signal channel 222 , a piezoelectric element 224 , and a conductive layer 226 adjacent to the piezoelectric element in which the signal channel 222 is an optical fiber and the piezoelectric element 224 and conductive layer 226 are formed in a band entirely around the circumference of the optical fiber . fig1 a illustrates the piezoelectric element 224 in a non - activated state . in the non - activated state , the shape of the piezoelectric element 224 is unchanged from its normal state , where the normal state of the piezoelectric element 224 is the state of the element in the absence of an activation light . in the embodiment of fig1 a , the piezoelectric element 224 is basically flat in the non - activated state . the flat shape of the piezoelectric element 224 allows a signal light 230 to pass through the signal channel 222 as indicated by the signal light 230 entering and exiting the signal channel 222 . fig1 b illustrates the piezoelectric element 224 in an activated state that results from the application of an activation light 232 to the piezoelectric element 224 . in the embodiment of fig1 b , the activation light 232 is applied to the piezoelectric element 224 by directing the activation light 232 into the signal channel 222 in parallel with the signal light 230 . in the activated state , the shape of the piezoelectric element 224 changes enough that the signal light 230 is blocked from passing through the signal channel 222 . for example , the change in shape of the piezoelectric element 224 has the effect of squeezing the optical fiber like a belt to choke the passage of the signal light 230 . the blocking of the signal light 230 is indicated by the lack of the signal light 230 exiting the signal channel 222 . once the activation light 232 is removed from the signal channel 222 , the piezoelectric element 224 returns to its normal shape and the signal light 230 is able once again to pass through the signal channel 222 . fig1 a depicts an embodiment of a light activated optical switch 240 that includes a signal channel 242 , a piezoelectric element 244 , and a conductive layer 246 adjacent to the piezoelectric element 244 in which the piezoelectric element 244 is made of a transparent material and forms at least a portion of the signal channel 242 . fig1 a illustrates the piezoelectric element 244 in a non - activated state . in the non - activated state , the shape of the piezoelectric element 244 is unchanged from its normal state , where the normal state of the piezoelectric element 244 is the state of the element in the absence of an activation light . in the embodiment of fig1 a , the piezoelectric element 244 is basically flat in the non - activated state . the flat shape of the piezoelectric element 244 allows a signal light 250 to pass through the signal channel 242 as indicated by the signal light 250 entering and exiting the signal channel 242 . fig1 b illustrates the piezoelectric element 244 in an activated state that results from the application of an activation light 252 to the piezoelectric element . in the embodiment of fig1 b , the activation light 252 is applied to the piezoelectric element 244 by directing the activation light 252 into the signal channel 242 in parallel with the signal light 250 . in the activated state , the shape of the piezoelectric element 244 changes enough that the signal light 250 is blocked from passing through the signal channel 242 . for example , the change in shape of the piezoelectric element 244 has the effect of squeezing the signal channel 242 like a belt to choke the passage of the signal light 250 . the blocking of the signal light 250 is indicated by the lack of the signal light 250 exiting the signal channel 242 . once the activation light 252 is removed from the signal channel 242 , the piezoelectric element 244 returns to its normal shape and the signal light 250 is able once again to pass through the signal channel 242 . in an embodiment , the piezoelectric element and the signal channel are configured relative to each other such that application of the activation light changes the state of the optical switch from off ( light is blocked ) to on ( light passes through the signal channel ) instead of from on to off . some piezoelectric materials have a crystal orientation that must be aligned with the electric field that will cause it to change shape . other piezoelectric materials can be heated up in a magnetic field and oriented to respond in the desired direction to the electric field that will be applied . in constructing a light activated optical switch , the orientation of the crystal or the magnetic orientation of the piezoelectric material should be directed to have the maximum shape change at right angles ( that is perpendicular ) to the direction of the signal light in the signal channel . in an embodiment , the electric field that triggers the switching is at right angles ( that is perpendicular ) to the path of the light in the light channel . a description of a desired interaction follows . the electric field in volts needed to activate a light activated optical switch is calculated using the power in watts of the light in the channel . the poynting vector equation which is written e =( 2μ o c p ) 1 / 2 is used to make this calculation . where μ o is 4 pi × 10e − 7 weber / amp - meter , c is 3 × 10e + 8 meters / second , e is the electric field in volts , and p is power in watts . using this relation , it is found that the voltage developed by a 150 - milliwatt signal in a fourth of a micron channel is 10 volts . in an embodiment , this voltage is employed to activate a light triggered optical switch to turn on or off the switch ( e . g ., allow the signal light to pass through the signal channel or to block the signal light from passing through the signal channel ). an example of the size change that 10 volts could cause is as follows : in a channel that is 2065 angstroms in height , 10 volts will change that size by 40 angstroms when lead zicronate titonate is used . lead zicronate titonate has a piezoelectric strain coefficient of 3 . 90 times 10e − 10 meters / volt . 818 nm light ( 8180 angstroms ), commonly used for fiber optics , will be able to travel in a channel just bigger than 2045 angstroms and will not travel down a channel smaller . when the 2065 angstroms channel changes to 2014 angstroms , the signal light will be blocked . light of 8056 angstroms wavelength or shorter could still pass through the signal channel . the light activated optical switch can be turned on or off at a rate in 10e − 11 seconds or faster . it makes use of effects that the electric and magnet fields of the light have on the medium through which the light travels . the equation for the attenuation ( a ) of the signal inside a wave - guide , which will give the decibels of attenuation per mile of travel for the signal is as follows : a =( k / a 3 / 2 )(( 1 / 2 )( f / f o ) 3 / 2 +( f / f o ) − 1 / 2 )/(( f / f o ) 2 − 1 ) − 1 / 2 eq . ( 1 ) the k is a constant for the material that the walls of the channel are made of ; the value of k is 821 . 3 for lead . since in an embodiment , only one wall of the optical switch is mostly lead , the optical switch may not follow exactly the graph of fig3 , but the graph is given for illustrative purposes . the lower case “ a ” in the equation is the length of a side of the wave - guide . the frequency ( f ) of the signal being considered is in ratio against the cutoff frequency ( f o ) in the channel . this equation is for the te 0 , 1 mode of wave propagation . in an embodiment , the sizes of the waveguides are chosen so that this is the only mode possible . as this relation is studied for shrinking waveguide dimensions for a given signal , the attenuation increases as the size of the signal channel shrinks and proceeds to infinity as the cutoff frequency is reached . this equation is on page 263 of radio engineers &# 39 ; handbook written by frederick terman , and published by mcgraw - hill book company , inc , 1943 . reference is now made to fig1 a , which illustrates an optical switch 300 that includes a signal channel 302 and a plurality of piezoelectric elements which are preferably unevenly spaced along the length of the signal channel 302 . in the illustrated embodiment three generally rectangular piezoelectric elements 304 , 305 and 306 are distributed along the length of the signal channel 302 with non - uniform spacing therebetween . the shape of the piezoelectric elements 304 , 305 and 306 is controlled by an activation light . the signal channel 302 guides the transmission of light within a confined area along a defined path . the signal channel 302 is formed by a light guiding structure , or combination of structures , which can guide light within a confined area along a defined path . structures that can form the signal channel include , for example , an optical fiber , substrates such as lithium niobate or other transparent piezoelectric materials that include a signal channel , an optical waveguide , and a chamber for holding a compressible material . in the embodiment of fig1 a , the signal channel 302 is preferably formed by a monolithic light guiding element . the piezoelectric elements 304 , 305 and 306 are preferably formed of piezoelectric material . examples of piezoelectric material that can be used to form the piezoelectric elements include crystalline piezoelectric material such as quartz ( sio 2 ), lithium niobate ( linbo 3 ), lead zirconate ( pbzro 3 ), lead titanate ( pbtio 3 ), and lead zirconate titanate . examples of piezoelectric materials that can be oriented in a magnetic field are lead zirconate and lead titanate or lead zicronate titantae . quartz and lithium niobate are examples of transparent piezoelectric materials . the piezoelectric elements 304 , 305 and 306 preferably each include at least two layers 307 and 308 of piezoelectric material having different piezoelectric characteristics . the different piezoelectric characteristics of the different layers 307 and 308 may include , for example : 1 ) different degrees of expansion and / or shrinkage in response to the same electrical field ; 2 ) different responses to the same electrical field , for example , one of the layers expands in response to an electrical field having a first orientation and the other layer expands in response to an electrical field having a second orientation that is perpendicular to the first orientation ; 3 ) different polarities ; 4 ) different strains ; 5 ) different hysteresis ; 6 ) different capacitances ; 7 ) different impedances ; 8 ) different resistivities ; 9 ) different thermal histories ; and 10 ) different electromagnetic histories . operation of the optical switch 300 depicted in fig1 a is now described with additional reference to fig1 b . fig1 a illustrates the piezoelectric elements 304 , 305 and 306 in a non - activated state . in the non - activated state , the shape of the piezoelectric elements 304 , 305 and 306 is unchanged from its normal state , where the normal state of the piezoelectric elements 304 , 305 and 306 is the state of the element in the absence of an activation light . in the embodiment of fig1 a , the piezoelectric elements 304 , 305 and 306 are basically flat in the non - activated state . the flat shape of the piezoelectric elements 304 , 305 and 306 allows a signal light 310 to pass through the signal channel 302 as indicated by the signal light 310 entering and exiting the signal channel 302 . fig1 b illustrates the piezoelectric elements 304 , 305 and 306 in an activated state that results from the application of an activation light 312 to the piezoelectric elements 304 , 305 and 306 . in the embodiment of fig1 b , the activation light 312 is applied to the piezoelectric elements 304 , 305 and 306 by directing the activation light 312 into the signal channel 302 in parallel with the signal light 310 . the activation light 312 supplies an electrical field that effects the piezoelectric material . in the activated state , the shape of the piezoelectric elements 304 , 305 and 306 changes enough so that the signal light 310 is blocked from passing through the signal channel 302 . the blocking of the signal light 310 is indicated by the lack of the signal light 310 exiting the signal channel 302 . once the activation light 312 is removed from the signal channel 302 , the piezoelectric elements 304 , 305 and 306 return to normal shape and the signal light 310 is able once again to pass through the signal channel 302 . as described above , activation of the piezoelectric elements 304 , 305 and 306 in response to the activation light 312 causes the shape of the piezoelectric elements 304 , 305 and 306 to change , thereby causing at least one dimension of the signal channel 302 to change . fig1 a is a cross - sectional view of the signal channel 302 and the piezoelectric element 305 of fig1 a when the piezoelectric element 305 is in a non - activated state . fig1 b is a cross - sectional view of the signal channel 302 and the piezoelectric element 305 of fig1 b when the piezoelectric element 305 is in an activated state . in the activated state , the piezoelectric element 305 extends into the signal channel 302 and reduces at least one dimension of the signal channel 302 . as illustrated in fig1 a and 15b , the cross - sectional area of the signal channel 302 is smaller in the activated state ( fig1 b ) than it is in the non - activated state ( fig1 a ). as seen in the embodiment of fig1 a - 15b , there is still an opening in the signal channel 302 even when the piezoelectric elements 304 , 305 and 306 are in the activated state . although there is still an opening in the signal channel 302 even when the piezoelectric elements 304 , 305 and 306 are in the activated state , the opening in the signal channel 302 is small enough that the signal light 310 is blocked from passing through the signal channel 302 . the ability of a signal light 310 to pass through the signal channel 302 is a function of the dimensions of the signal channel 302 and of the wavelength of the signal light 310 . in general , light having a shorter wavelength is able to pass through a signal channel 302 having a smaller dimension than light having a longer wavelength . reference is now made to fig1 a which illustrates an optical switch 400 that includes a signal channel 402 and a plurality of piezoelectric elements which are preferably unevenly spaced along the length of the signal channel 402 . in the illustrated embodiment , four generally circular cylindrical piezoelectric elements 404 , 405 , 406 and 407 are distributed along the length of the signal channel 402 with non - uniform spacing therebetween . the shape of the piezoelectric elements 404 , 405 , 406 and 407 is controlled by an activation light . the signal channel 402 guides the transmission of light within a confined area along a defined path . the signal channel is formed by a light guiding structure , or combination of structures , which can guide light within a confined area along a defined path . structures that can form the signal channel include , for example , an optical fiber , substrates such as lithium niobate or other transparent piezoelectric materials that include a signal channel , an optical waveguide , and a chamber for holding a compressible material . in the embodiment of fig1 a , the signal channel 402 is preferably formed by a monolithic light guiding element . the piezoelectric elements 404 , 405 , 406 and 407 are preferably formed of piezoelectric material . examples of piezoelectric material that can be used to form the piezoelectric element include crystalline piezoelectric material such as quartz ( sio 2 ), lithium niobate ( linbo 3 ), lead zirconate ( pbzro 3 ), lead titanate ( pbtio 3 ), and lead zirconate titanate . examples of piezoelectric materials that can be oriented in a magnetic field are lead zirconate and lead titanate or lead zicronate titantae . quartz and lithium niobate are examples of transparent piezoelectric materials . the piezoelectric elements 404 , 405 , 406 and 407 preferably each include at least two layers 408 and 409 of piezoelectric material having different piezoelectric characteristics . the different piezoelectric characteristics of the different layers may include , for example : 1 ) different degrees of expansion and / or shrinkage in response to the same electrical field ; 2 ) different responses to the same electrical field , for example , one of the layers expands in response to an electrical field having a first orientation and the other layer expands in response to an electrical field having a second orientation that is perpendicular to the first orientation ; 3 ) different polarities ; 4 ) different strains ; 5 ) different hysteresis ; 6 ) different capacitances ; 7 ) different impedances ; 8 ) different resistivities ; 9 ) different thermal histories ; and 10 ) different electromagnetic histories . operation of the optical switch 400 depicted in fig1 a is now described with additional reference to fig1 b . fig1 a illustrates the piezoelectric elements 404 , 405 , 406 and 407 in a non - activated state . in the non - activated state , the shape of the piezoelectric elements 404 , 405 , 406 and 407 is unchanged from its normal state , where the normal state of the piezoelectric elements 404 , 405 , 406 and 407 is the state of the element in the absence of an activation light . in the embodiment of fig1 a , the piezoelectric elements 404 , 405 , 406 and 407 are basically flat in the non - activated state . the flat shape of the piezoelectric elements 404 , 405 , 406 and 407 allows a signal light 410 to pass through the signal channel 402 as indicated by the signal light 410 entering and exiting the signal channel 402 . fig1 b illustrates the piezoelectric elements 404 , 405 , 406 and 407 in an activated state that results from the application of an activation light 412 to the piezoelectric elements 404 , 405 , 406 and 407 . in the embodiment of fig1 b , the activation light 412 is applied to the piezoelectric elements 404 , 405 , 406 and 407 by directing the activation light 412 into the signal channel 402 in parallel with the signal light 410 . the activation light 412 supplies an electrical field that effects the piezoelectric material . in the activated state , the shape of the piezoelectric elements 404 , 405 , 406 and 407 changes enough so that the signal light 410 is blocked from passing through the signal channel 402 . the blocking of the signal light 410 is indicated by the lack of the signal light 410 exiting the signal channel 402 . once the activation light 412 is removed from the signal channel 402 , the piezoelectric elements 404 , 405 , 406 and 407 return to normal shape and the signal light 410 is able once again to pass through the signal channel 402 . as described above , activation of the piezoelectric elements 404 , 405 , 406 and 407 in response to the activation light 412 causes the shape of the piezoelectric elements 404 , 405 , 406 and 407 to change , thereby causing at least one dimension of the signal channel 402 to change . fig1 a is a cross - sectional view of the signal channel 402 and the piezoelectric element 406 of fig1 a when the piezoelectric element 406 is in a non - activated state . fig1 b is a cross - sectional view of the signal channel 402 and the piezoelectric element 406 of fig1 b when the piezoelectric element 406 is in an activated state . in the activated state , the piezoelectric element 406 extends into the signal channel 402 and reduces at least one dimension of the signal channel 402 . as illustrated in fig1 a and 17b , the cross - sectional area of the signal channel 402 is smaller in the activated state ( fig1 b ) than it is in the non - activated state ( fig1 a ). as seen in the embodiment of fig1 a - 17b , there is still an opening in the signal channel 402 even when the piezoelectric elements 404 , 405 , 406 and 407 are in the activated state . although there is still an opening in the signal channel 402 even when the piezoelectric elements 404 , 405 , 406 and 407 are in the activated state , the opening in the signal channel 402 is small enough that the signal light 410 is blocked from passing through the signal channel 402 . the ability of a signal light 410 to pass through the signal channel 402 is a function of the dimensions of the signal channel 402 and of the wavelength of the signal light 410 . in general , light having a shorter wavelength is able to pass through a signal channel having a smaller dimension than light having a longer wavelength . reference is now made to fig1 a , which illustrates an optical switch 500 that includes a signal channel 502 and a plurality of piezoelectric element which are preferably unevenly spaced along the length of the signal channel 502 . in the illustrated embodiment three generally oval cylindrical piezoelectric elements 504 , 505 and 506 are distributed along the length of the signal channel 502 with non - uniform spacing therebetween . the shape of the piezoelectric elements 504 , 505 and 506 is controlled by an activation light . the signal channel 502 guides the transmission of light within a confined area along a defined path . the signal channel 502 is formed by a light guiding structure , or combination of structures , which can guide light within a confined area along a defined path . structures that can form the signal channel include , for example , an optical fiber , substrates such as lithium niobate or other transparent piezoelectric materials that include a signal channel , an optical waveguide , and a chamber for holding a compressible material . in the embodiment of fig1 a , the signal channel 502 is preferably formed by a monolithic light guiding element . the piezoelectric elements 504 , 505 and 506 are preferably formed of piezoelectric material . examples of piezoelectric material that can be used to form the piezoelectric element include crystalline piezoelectric material such as quartz ( sio 2 ), lithium niobate ( linbo 3 ), lead zirconate ( pbzro 3 ), lead titanate ( pbtio 3 ), and lead zirconate titanate . examples of piezoelectric materials that can be oriented in a magnetic field are lead zirconate and lead titanate or lead zicronate titantae . quartz and lithium niobate are examples of transparent piezoelectric materials . the piezoelectric element 504 , 505 and 506 preferably each include at least two layers 507 and 508 of piezoelectric material having different piezoelectric characteristics . the different piezoelectric characteristics of the different layers 507 and 508 may include , for example : 1 ) different degrees of expansion and / or shrinkage in response to the same electrical field ; 2 ) different responses to the same electrical field , for example , one of the layers expands in response to an electrical field having a first orientation and the other layer expands in response to an electrical field having a second orientation that is perpendicular to the first orientation ; 3 ) different polarities ; 4 ) different strains ; 5 ) different hysteresis ; 6 ) different capacitances ; 7 ) different impedances ; 8 ) different resistivities ; 9 ) different thermal histories ; and 10 ) different electromagnetic histories . the piezoelectric characteristics of a piezoelectric material are a function of , for example : 1 ) the type of piezoelectric material ; 2 ) the crystal orientation of the piezoelectric material ; 3 ) doping levels within the piezoelectric material ; 4 ) the density of the piezoelectric material ; 5 ) the void density of the piezoelectric material ; 6 ) the chemical constituency of the piezoelectric material ; 7 ) the thermal history of the piezoelectric material ; 8 ) the electromagnetic history of the piezoelectric material . the desired piezoelectric characteristic of each layer of piezoelectric material can be achieved by , for example , manipulating one or more of the above - identified parameters . preferably , layers of piezoelectric material that exhibit different degrees of expansion and / or shrinkage in response to the same electrical field are integrated into a piezoelectric element to cause the piezoelectric element to change shape or bend in response to the activation light . for example , if two adjacent layers of a piezoelectric element , which are adhered to each other into a monolithic element , expand different amounts in response to the same activation light , the piezoelectric element will bend . in an embodiment , the piezoelectric element includes at least two layers of piezoelectric material , having different piezoelectric characteristics , which are formed as a monolithic element . for example , the piezoelectric element is formed by building layers of piezoelectric material on top of each other using semiconductor processing techniques , e . g ., crystal growth , deposition , sputtering , ion implantation , etc . in an embodiment , the layers of the piezoelectric element have different crystal orientations so that the two layers respond differently to the same electrical field . for example , the two layers have crystal orientations that are perpendicular to each other . in another embodiment , at least one of the layers of the piezoelectric element is made of an organic material . by using a piezoelectric element with layers of piezoelectric material having different piezoelectric characteristics , the response of the piezoelectric element can be selected to optimize on / off switching . for example , the piezoelectric characteristics of the layers can be selected to : 1 ) maximize the shape change of the piezoelectric element in response to the activation light ; 2 ) minimize hysteresis ; 3 ) reduce the amount of power required to change the shape of the piezoelectric element ; and 4 ) reduce the amount of heat generated by the switching technique . operation of the optical switch 500 depicted in fig1 a is now described with additional reference to fig1 b . fig1 a illustrates the piezoelectric elements 504 , 505 and 506 in a non - activated state . in the non - activated state , the shape of the piezoelectric elements 504 , 505 and 506 is unchanged from its normal state , where the normal state of the piezoelectric elements 504 , 505 and 506 is the state of the element in the absence of an activation light . in the embodiment of fig1 a , the piezoelectric elements 504 , 505 and 506 are basically flat in the non - activated state . the flat shape of the piezoelectric elements 504 , 505 and 506 allows a signal light 510 to pass through the signal channel 502 as indicated by the signal light 510 entering and exiting the signal channel 502 . fig1 b illustrates the piezoelectric elements 504 , 505 and 506 in an activated state that results from the application of an activation light 512 to the piezoelectric elements 504 , 505 and 506 . in the embodiment of fig1 b , the activation light 512 is applied to the piezoelectric elements 504 , 505 and 506 by directing the activation light 512 into the signal channel 502 in parallel with the signal light 510 . the activation light 512 supplies an electrical field that effects the piezoelectric material . in the activated state , the shape of the piezoelectric elements 504 , 505 and 506 change enough so that the signal light 510 is blocked from passing through the signal channel 502 . the blocking of the signal light 510 is indicated by the lack of the signal light 510 exiting the signal channel 502 . once the activation light 512 is removed from the signal channel 502 , the piezoelectric elements 504 , 505 and 506 return to normal shape and the signal light 510 is able once again to pass through the signal channel 502 . as described above , activation of the piezoelectric elements 504 , 505 and 506 in response to the activation light 512 causes the shape of the piezoelectric elements 504 , 505 and 506 to change , thereby causing at least one dimension of the signal channel 502 to change . fig1 a is a cross - sectional view of the signal channel 502 and the piezoelectric element 505 of fig1 a when the piezoelectric element 505 is in a non - activated state . fig1 b is a cross - sectional view of the signal channel 502 and the piezoelectric element 505 of fig1 b when the piezoelectric element 505 is in an activated state . in the activated state , the piezoelectric element 505 extends into the signal channel 502 and reduces at least one dimension of the signal channel 502 . as illustrated in fig1 a and 19b , the cross - sectional area of the signal channel 502 is smaller in the activated state ( fig1 b ) than it is in the non - activated state ( fig1 a ). as seen in the embodiment of fig1 a - 19b , there is still an opening in the signal channel 502 even when the piezoelectric elements 504 , 505 and 506 are in the activated state . although there is still an opening in the signal channel 502 even when the piezoelectric elements 504 , 505 and 506 are in the activated state , the opening in the signal channel 502 is small enough that the signal light 510 is blocked from passing through the signal channel 502 . the ability of a signal light 510 to pass through the signal channel 502 is a function of the dimensions of the signal channel 502 and of the wavelength of the signal light 510 . in general , light having a shorter wavelength is able to pass through a signal channel having a smaller dimension than light having a longer wavelength . it is appreciated that all computer logic can be done with three logic gates . these are the and , or , and nor logic gates . these handle digital signals in specific ways that are described using a truth table . the truth table gives the signal that will be output from the gate when specified signals are input into the gate . table 1 is a truth table for the logical and gate . the ones in the a and b input columns indicate that a digital signal pulse is entering the gate . the inputs can come in on the a input or the b input . only when an input signal is found on both the a input and b input does an output pulse result from the and gate . table 2 is a truth table for the logical or gate . when an input signal is found on either the a input and b input or both an output pulse results from the or gate . table 3 is a truth table for the logical nor gate . only when an input signal is not found on both the a input and b input does an output pulse result from the nor gate . a nor gate is often explained as an or gate with a not gate on its output . the logical not gate takes a signal and transforms it into its opposite . when there is a signal coming in , no signal is sent out , and when no signal is coming in , then a signal is sent out . in present computer circuits , three transistors may be used to make a logical and or a logical or gate for electrical digital signals . in present computer circuits , four transistors may be used to make a logical nor gate . transistors switch in 10e − 9 seconds . this determines how fast a computer can be made to function . present computers function on the flow of electronic digital signals not light signals . light signals are also called optical or photonic signals . the present invention includes and , or and nor logic gates based upon fiber optical switches that are actuated by light and not actuated by an electrical signal or transistor circuit . they require no battery , and if the correct switch is chosen , the gates can be made small enough for semiconductor size constraints . one example of a light activated optical switch is disclosed in u . s . pat . no . 7 , 072 , 536 , which incorporated by reference herein . although one example of a light activated optical switch is identified , the logic gates can be formed using other type of light actuated optical switches . in an embodiment of the present invention , the light that carries the digital information for the logic is a 1500 nm wavelength signal as in commonly used in present fiber optic channels . this signal can be changed into a 750 nm signal by using a periodically poled lithium niobate ( ppln ) crystal that will double the frequency of the input signal . this frequency doubling makes the wavelength of the signal half of the original wavelength . the change to half of the wavelength is merely an example , as is ppln . other wave lengths and means could be used . with a different configuration ppln crystals can also produce 1500 nm wavelength light out of 750 nm light . generally a ppln element functions only for specific wavelengths and not for others at the same time . during these conversions , power is lost , but optical amplifiers can be used to boost the signal back up to necessary levels . for the present disclosure , the power boosting that is needed , will be included in the frequency doubling function . light can be in a fiber optic channel with light that is 180 degrees out of phase , and the electric field of the light will not be expressed . the light that is 180 degrees out of phase with it cancels the power of the light . reference is now made to fig2 , which is a schematic of a logical not gate 600 for fiber optic systems . in fig2 , an optical channel 601 , such as an optical fiber , brings in a 1500 nm signal that is needed by the logic gate 600 . an optical channel 603 , such as an optical fiber , that brings in the 1500 nm signal that will be changed by the logical not gate 600 . a wavelength reducer 605 doubles the frequency of the incoming signal so that it will be converted to a 750 nm signal , and it has incorporated in it any optical amplification function needed to prepare the signal to be useful after the frequency conversion is accomplished . optical channel 601 joins with the output of wavelength reducer 605 and enters optical switch 607 . optical switch 607 is a light activated optical switch as described above . optical switch 607 will allow the 1500 nm signal to be output until a 750 nm signal comes from the wavelength reducer 605 . when a 750 nm signal comes from wavelength reducer 605 , no signal is output from optical switch 607 . optical channel 609 provides the output signal from the logical not gate 600 . an output signal is only provided when no signal is input on optical channel 603 , thus providing a logical not gate . reference is now made to fig2 , which is a schematic of a logical and gate 610 . an optical channel 611 , such as an optical fiber , supplies a higher frequency wave length signal to an optical switch 612 to actuate switch 612 . optical channel 611 joins with the other fiber optic channels to enter optical switch 612 after the phase of the light in optical channel 611 is matched to the light entering a first logical input provided to the logical and gate 610 along an optical channel 614 , by phase matcher 616 . optical channel 614 divides , with half of the light going into a wavelength reducer 618 , then to phase matcher 616 and then joins with other optical channels to provide inputs to the optical switch 612 . the other half of the light in optical channel 614 is input directly into optical switch 612 . a second logical input is provided to the logical and gate 610 along an optical channel 620 . optical channel 620 divides , with half of the light going into a wavelength reducer 622 , then to phase matcher 624 and then joins with other optical channels to provide inputs to the optical switch 612 . the other half of the light in optical channel 614 is input directly into optical switch 612 . an optical channel 626 joins with the other fiber optic channels to provide inputs to optical switch 612 after the phase of the light in optical channel 626 is matched to the light of second logical input on optical channel 620 by phase matcher 624 . the output of the logical and gate 610 is provided along optical channel 628 , and provides and functionality as shown in table 1 . a phase shifter 629 is provided so that inputs from optical channels 614 and 620 will be mutually out of phase by 180 degrees . thus , optical switch 612 will open and provide an output signal when light is input along both optical channels 614 and 620 and will be closed and no output signal will be provided when light is only input on one of channels 614 and 620 . it is appreciated that no output signal will be provided when there is no light input on either of channels 614 and 620 . thus , the present invention provides a logical and gate wherein digital signal lights coming into the first and second data inputs are divided into two channels one of which the wavelength is shortened and the phase is matched to switch activation signals . additionally , a logical and gate is provided where in the activation light that is phase matched to the shortened wavelength signal that goes into the optical switch and only opens to let a data signal out of the gate when a data signal is received into both inputs thereby satisfying the requirements of a logical and gate . reference is now made to fig2 , which is a schematic illustration of a logical and gate 630 that uses two light activated optical switches 632 and 634 to handle the digital light signal data . a first logical input signal of 1500 nm light is provided to the logical and gate 630 along an optical channel 636 and a second logical input signal of 1500 nm light is provided to the logical and gate 630 along an optical channel 638 . a first optical channel 640 , such as an optical fiber , supplies an actuation signal of 1500 nm light to optical switch 632 and a second optical channel 642 supplies an actuation signal of 1500 nm light to optical switch 634 . a first and second wavelength reducer 642 and 646 double the frequency of the 1500 nm light so that it becomes 750 nm light . the power is also boosted up to the level needed to activate a light activated optical switch after the frequency is doubled . optical switches have been designed to activate with an activation light power of 150 milliwatts . one half of the digital light signal output by wavelength reducers 642 and 646 along an optical channel 647 is provided to a light absorber 648 the other half of the light signal output from wavelength reducers 642 and 646 joins with the optical signal input on optical channel 640 , which is needed to make the logical and gate 630 work . optical switch 632 will allow the 1500 nm signal on optical channel 640 to pass through it until a 750 nm signal strong enough to close it is input to an optical channel 650 . this will occur when a 1500 nm signal comes in to the gate on optical channels 636 and 638 . an optical channel 652 provides the output signal from switch 632 to a wavelength reducer 654 . wavelength reducer 654 doubles the frequency of the 1500 min signal output by optical switch 632 along optical channel 652 . optical channel 642 provides a 1500 nm signal into the logical and gate 630 and joins it with the output of wavelength reducer 654 . optical switch 634 will allow the 1500 nm signal from optical channel 642 to exit the switch as long as no signal is output from optical switch 632 via wavelength reducer 654 . when there is only a signal entering on one of optical channels 636 and 638 , the 750 nm signal input into optical switch 632 is not sufficient to make switch 632 close and stop the flow of 1500 nm light from optical channel 640 . when a signal is provided on both optical channels 636 and 638 , the signal is sufficient to turn off the 1500 nm signal from optical channel 640 . as long as the signal from optical channel 640 is output from switch 632 there will be no signal provided from optical switch 634 . only when a 1500 nm signal is provided on both optical channels 636 and 638 does the source light from optical channel 640 get turned off by optical switch 632 and only then is the input provided by optical channel 642 output from switch 634 , thus providing a logical and gate , with an output of 1500 nm light only when a 1500 nm signal is provided on both optical channels 636 and 638 . this logical and gate operates as in table 1 . it is appreciated that the change to half of the wavelength is provided merely as an example . other wave lengths and means could be used . thus , the present invention provides a logical and gate wherein the wavelength of the two input signals are immediately shortened and divided to provide light for the activation of optical switches . also provided is a logical and gate wherein light with the wavelength shortened actuates a switch once a data signal enter both inputs of the gate that sends a data wavelength signal that is supplied to a second optical switch . the wavelength of the output signal is increased to be an actuating signal for second optical switch assuring that a data signal only leaves the logical and gate when two inputs come into the two data ports of the gate there by satisfying the requirements of an logical and gate . reference is now made to fig2 , which is a schematic illustration of a logical or gate 700 . a first logical input signal of 1500 nm light is provided to the logical or gate 700 along an optical channel 702 and a second logical input signal of 1500 nm light is provided to the logical and gate 700 along an optical channel 704 . an optical channel 706 provides a source of 750 nm light that feeds an optical switch 708 . optical switch 708 will remain closed and no output 1500 nm signal will be provided unless the 750 nm signal from optical channel 706 is canceled . a first and second wavelength reducer 710 and 712 double the frequency of the 1500 mm signals provided along optical channels 702 and 704 so they become 750 nm signals . an optical amplifier integrated into the device boosts the power lost in the change of the frequency up again to a useful level . optical channel 714 carries the 750 nm signal output from wavelength reducer 710 to a phase matcher 716 . the phase matcher 716 makes the phase of the 750 nm signal from along optical channel 714 to be in phase with the source signal of 750 nm light along optical channel 706 . an optical channel 718 provides the output from wavelength reducer 712 to a phase matcher 720 . the phase matcher 720 makes the phase of the signal along optical channel 718 to be in phase with the source signal of 750 nm light along optical channel 706 . optical channels 722 and 724 provide half of the light from the phase matchers 716 and 720 , respectively , to light absorbers 726 and 728 . phase shifters 730 are half wave length paths that put the signals from optical channels 702 and 704 180 degrees out of phase with the light along optical channel ; 706 that they have been specifically phase matched with . when they mix with the light along optical channel 706 they will cancel half of it out . an optical channel 732 carries the 750 nm source light from phase matcher 720 , and joins it with the signals from phase shifters 730 and an optical channel 740 , which is a source of 1500 nm light that will flow out of switch 708 until a signal of sufficient power comes from optical channel 706 to shut it off . the signal is output from switch 708 along an optical channel 742 , thus providing a logical or gate . as long as the source of 750 nm light from optical channel 706 is fed into switch 708 no signal from source of 1500 nm light from optical channel 740 will be allowed to come out of the logical or gate , but if a signal comes into either optical channel 702 or 704 then the light from optical channel 706 will be canceled to half power and a 1500 nm signal will be allowed to come out of the logical or gate . in addition , if a signal is provided on both optical channels 702 and 704 they will be of sufficient power together to totally cancel the source of 750 nm light from optical channel 706 , resulting in an output signal being provided by the logical or gate 700 . the last paragraph explained how the logical or gate disclosed herein fulfills the requirements of the logical or gate truth table seen in table 2 . when a signal is provided along optical channel 702 or 704 or both then a 1500 nm signal comes out of the logical or gate 700 . by providing a logical not gate , as described in fig2 , on the output of a logical or gate , described in fig2 , a logical nor gate is made , which will function as the truth table shone in table 3 . reference is now made to fig2 , which is an alternative logical or gate 800 . lines 802 and 804 are optical channels or fibers that provide the optical digital signals a and b coming into the gate . these are 1500 nm light signals . lines 806 and 807 are sources of 1500 nm light for the function of the logical or gate . wavelength reducers 808 and 810 are frequency doublers that also boost the power of the light to levels that can activate a light activated optical switch after the frequency is doubled . line 812 is a network of optical channels or fibers that carry the signals a and b from wavelength reducers 808 and 810 and combine with the signal from line 806 and carry all this into power limiter 814 . power limiter 814 allows power levels to pass on that are below a certain maximum . lines numbered 818 are optical channels or fibers that carry signals from power limiter 814 to switch 816 to wavelength reducer 820 . switch 816 is a light activated optical switch . wavelength reducer 820 doubles the frequency of the signal coming out of switch 816 . switch 830 is a light activated optical switch . line 807 is an optical channel or fiber that brings a 1500 nm signal to combine with the output of wavelength reducer 820 and carry it on to switch 830 . as long as there is a signal from wavelength reducer 820 no signal will come out of switch 830 . when a 1500 nm signal enters from line 802 ( the a signal ) it is converted to 750 nm light in reducer 808 and passes through power limiter 814 unchanged and turns off the 1500 nm signal from line 806 in switch 816 . so , no signal goes on to turn off the signal from line 807 and the or gate sends out a signal . when a signal comes from line 804 ( the b signal ) passing through reducer 810 ( doubling the frequency ), power limiter 814 to switch 816 , and no signal from 806 goes on to turn off switch 830 . this allows a signal to go from line 807 out of the gate through switch 830 . if signals come from both lines 802 and 804 , then the double output of the reducers 808 and 810 is limited by limiter 814 to be appropriate for shutting off the signal from line 806 in switch 816 . this will allow the signal from line 807 to exit the logical or gate . when a signal comes in to a or b or both then a 1500 nm signal comes out of the logical or gate . this then functions as truth table in table 2 proscribes , which describes the function of a logical , or gate . a logic gate providing or functionality and wherein the at least one optical switch includes first and second optical switches and wherein the signal light has a wavelength greater than that of the activation light , the logic gate also including first and second logic inputs receiving signal light inputs , a first wavelength modifier operative to decrease the wavelength of the light along the first light input to the wavelength of the activation light ; a second wavelength modifier operative to decrease the wavelength of the light along the second light input to the wavelength of the activation light ; first and second light conduits supplying wavelength modified light from the first and second wavelength modifiers ; a power limiter receiving light from the first wavelength modifier and second wavelength modifier via the respective first and second light conduits and being operative to maintain light output therefrom at a predetermined power level ; a third light conduit supplying power limited light from the power limiter to the first optical switch ; a third wavelength modifier receiving signal light from the first optical switch and being operative to decrease the wavelength of the light to the wavelength of the activation light ; and a fourth light conduit supplying light from the third wavelength modifier to the second optical switch . reference is now made to fig2 , which is a schematic of a logical or gate 900 . optical channel 902 provides a first input to the logical gate 900 . optical channel is a fiber optic channel that carries the light signal into the logic gate where it is divided in half . half of the light is taken to a frequency increasing device numbered 905 . from frequency increasing device 905 the light proceeds through a half wave path numbered 906 that makes the light from 905 out of phase with the light it will meet from frequency increasing device 908 . the light from the half wave path 906 then combines with the light of the logic gate to inter optical switch 910 . the other half of the light from line 902 , which is logical input a joins with the other light of the logic gate to enter optical switch 910 . line 904 is input b to the logic gate . line 904 is a fiber optic channel that carries the light signal into the logic gate where it is divided in half . half of the light is taken into a frequency increasing device numbered 908 . the light from frequency increasing device numbered 908 then combines with the other light in the logic gate to inter the optical switch numbered 910 . the other half of the light from line 904 joins with the other light of the logic device to inter optical switch 910 . line 912 is the output of the logical or device . a logic gate providing or functionality and wherein the at least one optical switch includes a single optical switch and wherein the signal light has a wavelength greater than that of the activation light , the logic gate also including first and second logic inputs receiving signal light , a first light conduit receiving a first portion of the signal light received at the first logic input , a second light conduit receiving a second portion of the signal light received at the first logic input , a third light conduit receiving a first portion of the signal light received at the second logic input , a fourth light conduit receiving a second portion of the signal light received at the second logic input , a first wavelength modifier operative to decrease the wavelength of the light along the second light conduit to the wavelength of the activation light , a second wavelength modifier operative to decrease the wavelength of the light along the fourth light conduit to the wavelength of the activation light and a phase shifter operative to cause wavelength modified light from the first wavelength modifier to be out of phase by 180 degrees with respect to the light from the second wavelength modifier , the optical switch receiving light from the first and third light conduits , the second wavelength modifier and the phase shifter . a logical nor gate that functions as the truth table in table 3 shows is made by putting the logical not gate of fig2 on the output of the logical or gate of fig2 or 25 . although some examples of logic gates , which utilize light activated optical switches , are described , other embodiments of and , or , nor and not logic gates can be produced using light activated optical switches . it will be appreciated by persons skilled in the art that the present invention is not limited by what has been particularly shown and described hereinabove . rather the invention includes both combinations and subcombinations of various features described hereinabove as well as modifications thereof which would occur to persons skilled in the art upon reading the foregoing description and which are not in the prior art .	6
fig1 a shows a measuring apparatus 10 for measurement of a filling level of a liquid surface 20 , for example in a container , in a simplified way . the measuring apparatus 10 comprises a measurement arm 12 with a first region 14 and a second region 16 . the second region 16 of the measurement arm 12 protrudes towards the liquid surface 20 in this case . for this purpose , for example a float element 18 can be mounted on the remote end of the second region 16 of the measurement arm 12 , which produces a coupling between the level of the liquid surface 20 and a deflection movement of the second region 16 of the measurement arm 12 . in the event of a change of the liquid surface 20 , a displacement of the float element 18 is produced that triggers an angular displacement of the second region 16 of the measurement arm 12 . the first region 14 of the measurement arm encloses an angle , for example of 90 °, with the second region 16 of the measurement arm 12 in this case . in this way , a rotary movement of the first region 14 of the measurement arm 12 occurs in the event of an angular displacement of the second region 16 of the measurement arm 12 . the first region 14 of the measurement arm 12 is rotatably supported in a first bearing 22 . the measurement arm 12 comprises a magnet element 24 on its end in its first region 14 . the magnet element 24 is rotationally fixedly connected to the end of the first region 14 of the measurement arm 12 , so that a rotary movement of the magnet element 24 occurs during a rotational displacement of the measurement arm 12 . said rotation of the magnet element 24 is detected by a magnetically sensitive element 26 from change of the magnetic field in the surroundings of the magnet element 24 caused hereby . the magnetically sensitive element 26 produces electrical signals 27 during this , which can be processed by a connected analysis unit ( not shown ) for example . the magnetically sensitive sensor 26 is fixedly connected to a housing 28 in this case . in the example shown here , the housing 28 comprises a first side 30 of the housing 28 , which is opposite a second side 32 of the housing 28 . the housing 28 forms an intermediate space 34 or a chamber with its first side 30 and its second side 32 . the magnet element 24 as well as the magnetically sensitive element 26 are disposed in the intermediate space 34 . the housing 28 comprises a stable , rigid shape in its design and owing to its material . this is used for a supporting function or a holding function , in order to enable a defined spatial arrangement of the significant components of the measuring apparatus 10 . the first bearing 22 is disposed on the first side 30 of the housing 28 , so that the first region 14 of the measurement arm 12 is rotatably supported . in this way the end of the first region 14 of the measurement arm 12 , on which the magnet element 24 is mounted , is disposed in the intermediate space 34 . a second end of the first region 14 of the measurement arm 12 , which is connected to the second region 16 of the measurement arm 12 , is located outside of the intermediate space 34 . with this design , without the further elements mentioned below the supporting forces that occur would only be absorbed by the first bearing 22 . this would possibly result in disadvantageous friction or wear events in the first bearing 22 . therefore , a second bearing 36 that is spatially separate from the first bearing 22 is disposed on the second side 32 of the housing 28 . said second bearing 36 forms a common rotation axis 38 with the first bearing 22 . in order to enable a so - called end of shaft arrangement of the magnet element 24 on the measurement arm 12 , a connecting piece 40 is provided to take up the supporting forces , being rotationally fixedly connected to the first region 14 of the measurement arm 12 at a first end 42 of the connecting piece 40 . the connecting piece 40 is supported at a second end 44 in the second bearing 36 . in the example represented here , the connecting piece 40 is designed to be curved or u - shaped in order to spatially circumvent the region of the magnet element 24 and of the magnetically sensitive element 26 and to enable a second bearing point that is spatially separate from the first bearing 22 by means of supporting the second end 44 of the connecting piece 40 in the second bearing 36 . the advantageous force distribution of the supporting forces of the measurement arm 12 on the housing 28 can be enabled hereby . smaller leverage forces act transversely to the rotation axis 38 owing to the spatial separation of the two bearings 22 , 36 . this can improve the operating life as well as the play or tolerances of the bearings 22 , 36 . in the example shown here , the second end 44 of the connecting piece 40 comprises an end region that extends along the rotation axis 38 and is supported in the bearing 36 . owing to said design , a gap 46 between the magnet element 24 and the magnetically sensitive element 26 that is advantageous for accurate measurement can be enabled . this can increase the accuracy of the measurement results . an example of a measuring apparatus 10 is shown in fig1 b , which shows an alternative design variant of the measuring apparatus 10 according to the invention . the measuring apparatus 10 represented in said example is similar in its implementation to the example represented in fig1 a . in contrast to the exemplary embodiment that is shown in fig1 a , the connecting piece 40 is supported on a casing surface in the bearing 36 . furthermore , in the example that is shown in fig1 b , the connecting piece 40 is connected at its first end 42 to the first region 14 of the measurement arm 12 outside of the housing 28 and outside of the intermediate space 34 . the axes of the first bearing 22 and of the second bearing 36 lie on the common rotation axis 38 in this case . fig2 shows a further exemplary embodiment of a measuring apparatus for the measurement of a filling level of a container . a measurement arm 12 has a shape that is angled by 90 ° and is disposed in a first bearing 22 on a first side 30 of a housing 28 . a magnet element 24 is enclosed by a connecting piece 40 and is supported thereby . this can be achieved by casting or gluing the magnet element 24 in the connecting piece 40 for example . one end of the first region 14 of the measurement arm 12 is rotationally fixedly connected to the connecting piece 40 in the region of the intermediate space 34 between the first side 30 of the housing and the second side 32 of the housing . owing to the respective rotationally fixed connection of the measurement arm 12 to the connecting piece 40 as well as the likewise rotationally fixed connection of the connecting piece 40 to the magnet element 24 , an intermediate space is enabled between the end of the first region 14 of the measurement arm 12 and the magnet element 24 . this can have advantageous effects owing to the resulting reduced magnetic interactions between the mainly metallic measurement arm 12 and the magnet element 24 . the connecting piece 40 comprises an approximately u - shaped form and is supported at its second end 44 in a second bearing 36 on the outside of the second side 32 of the housing 28 . in this way , a gap 46 is produced between the magnet element 24 and the second side 32 of the housing . a magnetically sensitive element 26 is disposed on or in the second side 32 of the housing 28 in the vicinity of and at the level of the rotation axis 38 . the magnetically sensitive element 26 can be a sensor based on the hall effect here for example . for example , a centre point of the magnetically sensitive element 26 lies opposite a magnetic centre point of the magnet element 24 on the rotation axis 38 . the connecting piece 40 comprises a third segment 50 that is connected to the measurement arm 12 in the example shown here and can for example comprise the stabilizing element 48 . a second segment 54 is used to support the connecting piece 40 on the second bearing 36 . a first segment 52 of the connecting piece 40 protrudes into the intermediate space 34 . the connecting piece 40 comprises a recess 56 in the region of the first bearing 22 . in this case the recess 56 is dimensioned so that it encloses the bearing 22 at a distance . in addition , in the example shown here a stabilizing element 48 is provided that rotationally fixedly connects the connecting piece 40 to the first region 14 of the measurement arm 12 and in its further extent additionally connects the first region 14 of the measurement arm 12 to the second region 16 of the measurement arm by means of a separate spatial connection . in this way , bending and / or torsion of the measurement arm 12 caused by the displacement of the measurement arm 12 can be reduced , in particular in the vicinity of the first region 14 of the measurement arm 12 . in one example , the housing 28 consists of a plastic . in a further example , the bearing surface of the first bearing 22 and / or of the second bearing 36 comprises a metal . for example , for this purpose metal casings can be mounted in the interior of the bearing in order for example to be able to use different materials for the bearing surfaces and the housing 28 . in one example , the second bearing 36 comprises a metal on its bearing surfaces on the housing side and the connecting piece 40 is made of a plastic , for example in the region of the bearing . in a further example , the connecting piece 40 comprises a different material in the region of the first bearing 22 and / or in the region of the second bearing 36 from the material in the remaining region of the connecting piece 40 . this can be advantageous in order to achieve smaller tolerances and greater durability in the region of the bearing owing to harder materials for example . in addition , it is to be noted that “ comprising ” does not exclude other elements or steps and “ a ” or “ one ” does not exclude any number . further , it is to be noted that features or steps that are described with reference to one of the above exemplary embodiments can also be used in combination with other features or steps of other exemplary embodiments described above . reference characters in the claims are not to be considered as limiting .	6
fig1 is a perspective view of a duralock scrubber attachment showing the removable portion 50 from a mop head holder . the removable portion 50 has a mounting back plate 53 having a pair of fingers 51 that extend into the mop head holder and a hole where the mop handle passes through the holding ring 62 . the back plate has a rigid plate structure 57 that maintains a parallel relationship with the mop handle . one or more flexible joints 58 connect the back plate 53 to a brush , pad or securing plate 59 . the securing plate 59 has a plurality of apertures 170 . the brush or scrubber securing plate 59 bends or flexes on the flexible joint 58 . stiffening ribs 52 on the scrubber securing plate 59 are for structural purposes . in this embodiment , a replaceable scrubber plate 93 supports an abrasive surface 91 . in other embodiments , the scrubber plate 93 bristles or other surfaces . the replaceable scrubber plate 93 has a plurality of projections 157 that engage into the apertures 170 in the plate 59 . fig2 is a plan view of the mop handle and mop head holder in an assembled orientation and fig3 is a plan view of the mop handle and mop head holder in an unassembled orientation . the entire mopping apparatus 35 has a handle portion 30 that is removable from the lower section . the mop handle 30 has a coupling 31 with a key 34 that maintains the proper orientation of the handle to the mop head holder 20 . the shaft 30 of the handle extends through the coupling 31 where the lower portion of the handle 32 secures into the mop head holder at 23 . the mop head holder portion 20 has a threaded coupling 21 that secures in the coupling 31 in the handle . the mop head holder has sockets 22 where the fingers 51 ( shown in fig1 ) engage for securing . the lower portion of the handle 32 fits through the threaded coupling 21 , then through the holding ring 62 ( shown in fig1 ), and then into the mop head holder at 23 to secure the mop head holder and the duralock scrubber attachment . a release lever 24 may be incorporated to remove the mop 80 from the handle . fig4 is the duralock scrubber attachment on the mop handle being used in a first orientation and fig5 is the duralock scrubber attachment on the mop handle being used in a second orientation . in both figures , the flexible joint 58 is shown bending with the mop strands 80 to use the brush 85 as shown in fig5 or to keep the brush 85 away from the surface 99 , in fig4 . in fig5 , the tilted position for floor scrubbing by bristle group 85 engages with surface 99 . note that handle 30 can be tilted substantially horizontally or vertically . connection plate section 53 allows the removable connection between the duralock that connects to the mop head holder 20 . because this is an interchangeable / replaceable component , a cleaning person can switch between a duralock brush 85 and a different duralock attachment of a different scrubbing material . the head mop strands 80 also engage the surface 99 . the scrubber securing plate 59 supports the brush bristles 85 in a flat structure . the duralock scrubber attachment is shown secured to the lower mop handle 32 through the threaded coupling 21 , then through the holding ring 62 into the mop head holder 23 with fingers 51 engaged in the mop head holder sockets 22 . the backing plate 59 includes a plurality of structural ribs 52 that are engaged with the mop head . fig6 is a side perspective view of the duralock scrubber attachment and fig7 is an opposite side perspective view of the duralock scrubber attachment showing the pad / bristles or other scrubbing material securing side . the replaceable scrubber plate 93 has a plurality of projections 157 that engage into the apertures 170 in the plate 59 . the removable portion 50 has a mounting back plate 53 having a pair of fingers 51 that extend into the mop head holder 20 and a holding ring 62 where the mop handle passes the holding ring . the back plate 53 has a rigid plate structure that maintains a parallel relationship with the mop handle . one or more flexible joints 58 connect the back plate 53 to a scrubber securing plate 59 . the scrubber securing plate 59 bends or flexes on the flexible joint 58 . in this embodiment , the scrubber plate 59 has no flexible joints . in other embodiments , the scrubber securing plate 59 may be comprised of multiple flexible joints . stiffening ribs 52 on the scrubber securing plate 59 are for structural purposes . the underside 92 of the scrubber securing plate 59 is where scrubbing materials would be glued , fused , staple set or otherwise attached or where a plate 154 containing scrubbing elements ( as in fig8 ) would be connected . the apertures 170 of the plate 154 are visible extending through the removable portion 50 . fig8 is a side view of an embodiment where the scrubbing materials , either abrasive pads or bristles or the like are glued , fused , staple set or otherwise attached to a plate , which is then attached removably to the scrubber securing plate 59 . the apertures 170 in scrubber securing plate 59 receive projections 157 carried by a plate 164 a . the bristle 85 plate 164 a is attached to scrubber securing plate 59 , wherein projections 157 extend through apertures 170 in scrubber securing plate 59 . while a particular connection between the mop head holder and the duralock element is shown , and described , the components can take various other configurations for securing the components and the connection features can be placed on either side of the mop head holder . further , while one flexible joint is shown on the duralock replaceable scrubbing element , it is contemplated that more than one flexible joint can be incorporated into the plate 59 and the flexible joint described as 58 . fig9 is an exploded view of the duralock scraper attachments 40 and 70 . the attachments include the head unit 70 that secures to the mop handle . the mop handle passes through hole 63 . the removable portion 70 has a mounting back plate having a pair of fingers 51 that extend into the mop head holder and a hole 62 where the mop handle passes through the holding ring . the back plate 70 has a rigid plate structure that maintains a parallel relationship with the mop handle . the back plate 70 has an outer rim or wall 71 with a recessed pocket 72 . within the pocket 72 is a plurality of retention features 73 or hooks . the pocket 72 and the retention features secure a variety of interchangeable components . in this figure , the interchangeable component is a floor scraper 40 . the floor scraper 40 has a face 44 with an outer wall 41 that fits within the recessed pocket 72 . the scraper 40 has an angled surface that bends through radius 45 . the bend places the scraper at an optimal angle . the floor scraper 40 terminates at an edge 39 that engages on a floor surface to remove gum or other debris that has attached to a floor . the floor scraper 40 has complementary securing features 43 that engage in the securing features in the back plate 70 . the top securing features 43 exist on a tab 42 that flexes to lock into the back plate 70 . a finger tab 46 allows for bending the tab 42 to remove the floor scraper 40 from the back plate 70 . the floor scraper 40 is preferably made of plastic or metal . fig1 is a perspective view of the duralock mounting back plate 70 or head unit and fig1 is an alternate perspective view of the duralock mounting base 70 . from these figures the recess pocket 72 is shown with the structural rim or lip 71 extending around the recessed pocket 72 . the structural rim 62 that supports the mop pole through the hole 63 is shown in both figures . the pair of fingers 51 or protrusions are shown extending from the back plate . in fig1 , the securing hooks 73 are visible , and in fig1 , the opening 74 that forms the hooks is visible . fig1 is perspective view of the duralock scraper 40 . the floor scraper 40 has a face 49 with an outer wall 41 . the scraper 40 has an angled surface that bends through radius 45 . the bend places the scraper at an optimal angle . the floor scraper 40 terminates at an edge 39 that engages on a floor surface to remove gum or other debris that has attached to a floor . the floor scraper 40 has complementary securing features 43 that engage in the securing features in the back plate . the top securing features 43 exist on a tab 42 that flexes to lock into the back plate . a finger tab 46 allows for bending the tab 42 to remove the floor scraper 40 from the back plate . elevated tabs 47 have securing locks 48 that temporally locks the floor scraper 40 on the back plate . the floor scraper 40 has structural ribs 54 to help the scraper to maintain a rigid scraping edge 39 to remove gum or other stuck debris from a floor . fig1 is as assembled view of the duralock scraper attachment installed in the mounting base with a mop handle 32 that extends through the hole in the holding ring 62 . this view of the scraper 39 shows additional structural ribs 56 to reduce bending on the support structure of the scraper . this figure shows that the tab 46 is lifted 55 to bend the locking tabs out of the way and allow the scraper to be removed from the back plate . this allows a worker to install , replace and remove the scraper . the scraper provides minimal interference of the mop . from the figures in this disclosure provide for providing a duralock scrubber attachment 50 that is securable to a mop handle 32 having a mop head holding section which has a hole 63 where the mop handle 32 passes . the duralock scrubber attachment 50 has one or more fingers 51 in the back plate 53 that is configured to engage in sockets 22 of the mop head holder and a hole 63 whereby the mop handle 32 passes . the duralock scrubber attachment 50 has at least one flexible joint 58 between the back plate 53 and the one or more engaging fingers 51 and a scrubber securing plate 52 . the backing securing plate 52 supports a replaceable scrubber plate 93 wherein scrubbing materials are attached or wherein another plate containing scrubbing materials is attached . the scrubbing element is provided as a floor scrubber , and the replaceable scrubber plate 93 has locking feature 157 that temporally secures the replaceable scrubber plate 93 to the backing plate 59 . the locking feature is a plurality of apertures 170 in the backing plate 52 . the locking feature is a plurality of protrusions 157 in the replaceable scrubber plate 93 . the floor scrubber 93 is selected from a group consisting of bristles 85 , pads 91 or other abrasive materials . the bristles 85 have supporting portions fused to a base 154 defined by the device . the scrubber defines projecting floor scrubbing 85 elements . the flexible joint 85 is a living hinge . the flexing joint is positioned ( as shown in fig5 ) to support the replaceable scrubber plate 59 by the mop handle 30 . fig4 shows that the flexible joint 58 flexes above the mop head . the backing plate 59 includes a plurality of structural ribs 52 that are engaged with the mop head . the duralock scraping attachment has interchangeable surface scraping capability , that includes a scraping attachment 40 that can be secured to a mop handle 32 having a mop head holding section 70 which has a hole 63 where the mop handle 32 passes . the mop head holding section 70 has one or more fingers 51 in the back plate 72 configured to engage in sockets 22 of the mop head holder and a hole 63 whereby the mop handle 32 passes . the scraping attachment 40 has a securing head unit that extends from the hole 63 . the securing head 70 supports a replaceable scraping element 40 that is removably secured to the securing head 70 . the scraping element 40 provides a floor scraper in the form of a plate attached by a flexing bend 45 that extends away from the mop head . the back plate 70 has a recess 72 . the backing plate 70 has a supporting rib structure 71 that extends around the recess 72 . the supporting structure rib 71 has a plurality of securing hooks 73 . the replaceable scaping element 40 has a plurality of complimentary locks 48 that temporarily retain the replaceable scraping element 40 in the securing head 70 . the replaceable scraping element 40 has a back plate 44 and an outer rim 41 , and the outer rim 41 engages into the supporting rib structure 71 of the backing plate 70 . the replaceable scraping element 40 has a flexible tab 46 that is articulated 55 to release the replaceable scraping element 40 from the backing plate 70 . the replaceable scraping element 40 has a scraping edge 39 that flairs from the securing head 70 . the replaceable scraping element 40 has a plurality of structural ribs 54 , 56 that extend through the flexing bend 45 . the replaceable scraping element is made of plastic or metal . fig1 shows an alternate embodiment of the duralock scrubber attachment on the mounting base . it should be understood that the connection between the back plate 70 can be applied to other quick disconnect and replaceable brushes , scrubbers and other attachments like the embodiment of the flexible attachment 50 b , in this figure , with the replaceable scrubber plate 93 that has been previously shown and described . thus , specific embodiments of a replaceable scrubbing and scaping element attachable to a mop handle have been disclosed . it should be apparent , however , to those skilled in the art that many more modifications besides those described are possible without departing from the inventive concepts herein . the inventive subject matter , therefore , is not to be restricted except in the spirit of the appended claims .	0
referring to the drawings and initially to fig9 there is shown diagrammatically a system for cutting a substantially horizontal passage into a coal seam 100 . fig9 shows a vertical bore 101 extending through the coal seam . a whipstock apparatus 104 is positioned in the bore and in a pre - formed cavity 105 . whipstock apparatus 104 has a main body 106 sized to allow the whipstock to be inserted into the bore . an extendible arm 107 is attached to the main body portion , and the arm can be hydraulically erected to adopt a horizontal orientation ( other angles are also possible ). the fluid drilling apparatus 108 which is the subject of the current application can be housed in the arm 107 , such that when the arm is erected , the apparatus can start cutting a bore in the coal seam . the flexible hose 109 is pulled along by the apparatus , with the hose passing through the whipstock , up the bore and which can be unrolled from a drum 110 on the surface . the flexibility of the hose 109 allows it to pass through a quite tight radius , which in turn allows the whipstock to be compact . once the fluid drilling apparatus has cut a desired length of bore , it can be wound back into the arm 107 , the arm can be retracted , and the whipstock containing the drilling apparatus can be raised to the surface . the system finds particular use in forming long methane drainage bores in coal . fig1 shows a detail of the whipstock apparatus 104 . the erectable arm 107 has fluid cutting nozzles 111 to cut a slot in the bore as the arm is erected . it should be appreciated that the fluid drilling system is not limited to use with a whipstock , and can be used alone or with other apparatus . referring to fig1 there is illustrated a fluid cutting apparatus 10 . apparatus 10 is formed from a number of separate but interconnectable sub members . the leading sub member 11 comprises a protective housing . the protective housing has a rear substantially hollow tubular portion 12 and a forward cage portion 13 . inside housing 11 is located a woma fr47 or like type of self - rotating high pressure nozzle assembly 40 which is available commercially ( see fig4 and 7 ). the nozzle assembly is fitted to a boss 40 a and comprises a spindle 40 b on which a spinning nozzle 40 c sits . nozzle 40 c has forwardly extending cutting jets 41 and side reaming jets 42 . jets 41 , 42 operate at pressures of between 10000 - 15000 psi . nozzle 40 c is attached to spindle via a pin 40 d which is captured in an annular groove 40 e in the spindle . cage portion 13 allows the cutting jets and the reaming jets to cut a passageway through solid material ( such as a coal seam ), with the cage portion protecting the nozzle against damage and stalling . in fig3 cage portion 13 has a step 14 which is positioned immediately behind the reaming nozzles of the woma unit . step 14 aims the reaming jets onto protrusions on the borehole wall which catch on the step and prevent the nozzle from advancing . the reaming jets are then able to remove the protrusions and hence will allow the drilling apparatus 10 to advance fig2 illustrates a different type of cage portion 13 a without the step . immediately behind housing 11 is an intermediate sub member 16 which is substantially hollow and can contain sensors , guidance systems and the like . in addition , the sub member is cylindrical in shape , thereby providing a symmetry to the nozzle which assists in drilling straighter holes . the cylindrical shape also effectively reduces the annulus between the nozzle and the borehole wall through which the water and coal cuttings have to pass . high pressure water passes through internal pipe 43 and to the woma fr47 nozzle . if the borehole diameter gets too small , then this water and cuttings cannot escape past the nozzle fast enough . this leads to an increase in pressure in front of the nozzle to a level at which the nozzle is pushed back against the force of the retro jets . this effectively allows the cutting and reaming jets another opportunity to cut the borehole and increase its diameter . in this manner a more consistent borehole diameter is achieved . connected to member 16 is a rear retro jet sub member 19 which is more clearly illustrated in fig5 . retro jet sub member 19 has four retro jets 20 - 23 evenly spaced about a tail end of the member . each retro jet comprises a channel machined or otherwise formed into the sub member 19 . a nozzle ( not shown ) is positioned in a corresponding socket 24 inside the retro jet sub member 19 and adjacent the channel . the socket and therefore nozzle is in fluid communication with the interior of retro jet submember 19 through channels 25 . the nozzles are angled at an optimum 5 ° to the horizontal to clear the attached trailing flexible hose and to provide a good forward thrust to the apparatus . water passes through the nozzles at 1000 - 20000 psi . a proportion of high pressure fluid passing into retro jet sub member 19 will therefore pass out through nozzles positioned in the sockets 24 to provide a forward thrust to the drilling apparatus 10 . a flexible drilling string ( not shown ) is attached at the rear portion 26 of retro jet sub member 19 . high pressure fluid can pass through the flexible drill string and into and along cutting apparatus 10 . the drill string functions as a conduit for the high pressure fluid but is too flexible to provide any meaningful forward thrust to the fluid cutter . the flexibility makes the drill string ideal for passing through tight curves , for instance with a whipstock , and surfactants are not required . in use , high pressure fluid such as water is passed through the flexible drill string and passes into and through the apparatus 10 . the high pressure fluid powers the woma self - rotating nozzle and also the retro jets . in a further form , a guidance system for steering the nozzle through the coal seam can be incorporated into the apparatus . the guidance system is designed to provide a continuous and real time indication of the nozzles attitude and position allowing an operator to steer the nozzle by computer control on the surface . the guidance system consists of the following components : a survey instrument which determines the location of the nozzle in 3 - d space , a single core wireline to transmit information between the nozzle and the surface a computer and display monitor which calculate and display information relating to the nozzles trajectory , and a steering mechanism located on the nozzle to control the direction of advancement hence maintain a desired trajectory . the survey instrumentation may consist of a tri - axial array of fluxgate magnetometers and accelerometers . the magnetometers are used to determine the azimuth which the nozzle is pointing relative to magnetic north . the accelerometers are used to determine the inclination of the nozzle along its longitudinal axis , and the clock face orientation of the nozzle . the output from the magnetometers and accelerometers is collected and processed by a processing chip located in the body of the nozzle . this information is then transmitted to the surface in binary form along the single core wireline . the wireline will be either built into the high pressure hose braiding , attached to the outside of the hose or threaded through the centre of the hose . on the surface the wireline unit is connected to a computer which downloads the signal from the nozzle , processes the information and calculates the azimuth , inclination and clock face orientation of the nozzle in real time . this information is then displayed on a computer monitor allowing the operator to view the nozzles trajectory and compare this with the desired trajectory . if the nozzle is deviating from the desired trajectory by a significant amount then the operator can activate the nozzle steering mechanism by using the computer keyboard . the operator enters in the desired change in direction . the computer determines how best to effect the change in direction and a signal is sent down the wireline to the processing chip in the nozzle . the chip activates the steering mechanism and the borehole trajectory is changed . the steering mechanism consists of a slip ring 30 ( see fig6 ) which is mounted in a circumferential groove located behind the retro jets . a protrusion in the form of a plate 31 designed to deflect a retro jet towards the borehole wall is mounted on the slip ring . an actuator stepping motor inside the assembly is used to rotate the slip ring such that the deflector plate is positioned behind the appropriate jet for the desired directional change . the forces generated by deflecting the appropriate retro jet steer the nozzle towards the desired direction . referring to fig8 there is shown a variation in the cutting assembly . the cutting assembly 50 again includes a forward cage portion 51 , an intermediate body 52 and a retro jet unit 53 , the retro jet unit 53 and the forward cage 51 being substantially the same as described above . intermediate body 52 contains four internal stud bars 54 - 57 which extend longitudinally along and inside intermediate body 52 . the stud bars form a support for additional components such as electronic surveying instrumentation . the instrumentation is moulded into epoxy resin and sealed in a canister for protection . the instrument package is mounted in such a manner that it slides onto the four stud bars . the drilling head boss 59 is the cap to the canister and allows attachment of the fr47 nozzle or the like to the assembly . the arrangement is tensioned using nuts which are screwed into the stud bar and the tensioning also seals the assembly together using nylon or similar bushes . step cage 51 can then be located over the fr47 nozzle . in this arrangement , the internal water pipe 60 is placed to one side along internal body 52 to provide room for the instrument package . the flexible hose which is attached to the cutting apparatus is a high pressure flexible hose which is sufficiently flexible to allow it to be withdrawn from the bore hole . the hose is also sufficiently flexible to allow it to be deviated by a whipstock . the flexible hose is not designed to act as a pusher to the cutting apparatus , the cutting apparatus being self - advancing via the retro jets . thus , the flexible hose is different to coiled tubing which can be bent past its elastic limit ( for instance past a whipstock ), but cannot be retrieved without difficulty and is usually cut - off electrochemically . in the embodiment , the hose is formed from an inner core being polyoxymethylene and polyamide . four spiral layers of high tensile steel wire are wrapped around the inner core to provide pressure reinforcement . the outer core is a polyamide . the flexible hose is available commercially under the polyflex high pressure hose ™. in a further form the steering mechanism uses side “ thruster ” jets to change the direction of the borehole . these jets are activated by solenoid controlled high pressure valves . in examples , fifty - four non - deflected holes and seven holes with the drill string being deflected through a 0 . 3 m radius were drilled with the high pressure waterjet drilling nozzle according to the invention . various pump pressures , cage types and nozzle orifice sizes were trialled to determine the optimum operating parameters for the nozzle . on the basis of the results of trials , an optimum combination for drilling is a pump pressure of 115 mpa , a fluid flow rate of 234 liters per minute , and 1 . 0 mm and 1 . 2 mm diameter cutting and reaming jets on the woma fr47 self - rotating nozzle and 1 . 2 mm diameter orifice for the retro jets . a stepped cage shielding the fr47 nozzle creates a smoother borehole and more consistent borehole diameter . an example of this nozzle combination was a borehole which penetrated one hundred and ninety - four meters in a total time of 42 minutes when drilling a non - deflected borehole . a further example was a borehole that penetrated one hundred and ninety - two meters in a total time of 97 minutes with the drill string negotiating an ultra - short - radius turn of 0 . 3 m . note there is no requirement to stop drilling to couple drill strings with this system . in both the above cases , drilling was ceased because these were the limit of available drill string at that time . the hole diameter was about 110 mm . it is apparent that drilling rates are 10 times that of the known system which uses the weight of the drill string to advance the fluid cutter . it should be appreciated that various other changes and modifications may be made to the embodiment described without departing from the spirit or scope of the invention .	4
fig1 is a schematic view of an exemplary embodiment of a drug cartridge 1 prior to priming . the cartridge 1 comprises a cylindrical body 1 . 1 having a closed front wall 1 . 2 with an opening or septum to which a tubing 2 can be removably fitted and an open rear end 1 . 3 . a stopper 3 is slidably disposed within the cylindrical body 1 . 1 . a cavity for storing a medicament , e . g . insulin , is thus defined within the cylindrical body 1 . 1 between the closed front wall 1 . 2 and the stopper 3 . the stopper 3 fluid tightly seals this cavity and displaces the medicament from the cavity when being moved towards the closed front wall 1 . 2 . in an exemplary embodiment , an end of the tubing 2 opposite the one fitted to the opening of the closed front wall 1 . 2 is equipped with a cannula 4 or other infusion member adapted to be inserted into an injection site such as a user &# 39 ; s skin . in an exemplary embodiment , the cylindrical body 1 . 1 comprises or consists of glass . in other embodiments , the cylindrical body 1 . 1 may comprise or consist of plastics or another suitable material . in an exemplary embodiment , in an initial state , the stopper 3 of the pre - filled cartridge 1 is partially disposed within the body 1 . 1 such that the stopper 3 protrudes from the rear end 1 . 3 of the body 1 . 1 by an extension e . in order to prime the cartridge 1 , the rear end 1 . 3 of the cartridge 1 with the protruding stopper 3 may be pushed against a surface , e . g . a desk . a break - loose force between the stopper 3 and an inner wall of the cylindrical body 1 . 1 is thus overcome , i . e . the cartridge 1 is primed , and the stopper 3 is moved within the body 1 . 1 until the stopper 3 is flush with the rear end . fig2 is a schematic view of the drug cartridge 1 after priming . if the cartridge 1 is then inserted into a drug delivery device ( not illustrated ) the stopper 3 may be moved much easier as the break - loose force increases over a long storage time . in an exemplary embodiment , the extension e of the stopper 3 is such that when the cartridge 1 is being pushed against the surface until the rear end 1 . 3 abuts the surface , the stopper 3 is moved within the body 1 . 1 towards the front wall 1 . 2 by such a distance that a predetermined volume v of medicament is displaced from the cartridge 1 sufficient to fill the tubing 2 and the cannula 4 , which a user may have attached to the cartridge 1 prior to this , thereby displacing air from the tubing 2 and the cannula 4 . the volume v of medicament to be displaced for priming depends on the internal volume of the tubing 2 and the cannula 4 . a movement d of the stopper 2 required to displace this volume v is given by wherein b is an internal diameter of the body 1 . 1 of the cartridge 1 . the extension e of the stopper 3 may be such that a somewhat larger movement d of the stopper 3 is caused in order to account for filling tolerances of different cartridges 1 which may result in varying initial positions of the stopper 3 in different cartridges 1 . in an exemplary embodiment , the predetermined volume v of medicament to be displaced for priming may be 1 ml . the term “ drug ” or “ medicament ”, as used herein , means a pharmaceutical formulation containing at least one pharmaceutically active compound , wherein in one embodiment the pharmaceutically active compound has a molecular weight up to 1500 da and / or is a peptide , a protein , a polysaccharide , a vaccine , a dna , a rna , an enzyme , an antibody or a fragment thereof , a hormone or an oligonucleotide , or a mixture of the above - mentioned pharmaceutically active compound , wherein in a further embodiment the pharmaceutically active compound is useful for the treatment and / or prophylaxis of diabetes mellitus or complications associated with diabetes mellitus such as diabetic retinopathy , thromboembolism disorders such as deep vein or pulmonary thromboembolism , acute coronary syndrome ( acs ), angina , myocardial infarction , cancer , macular degeneration , inflammation , hay fever , atherosclerosis and / or rheumatoid arthritis , wherein in a further embodiment the pharmaceutically active compound comprises at least one peptide for the treatment and / or prophylaxis of diabetes mellitus or complications associated with diabetes mellitus such as diabetic retinopathy , wherein in a further embodiment the pharmaceutically active compound comprises at least one human insulin or a human insulin analogue or derivative , glucagon - like peptide ( glp - 1 ) or an analogue or derivative thereof , or exendin - 3 or exendin - 4 or an analogue or derivative of exendin - 3 or exendin - 4 . insulin analogues are for example gly ( a21 ), arg ( b31 ), arg ( b32 ) human insulin ; lys ( b3 ), glu ( b29 ) human insulin ; lys ( b28 ), pro ( b29 ) human insulin ; asp ( b28 ) human insulin ; human insulin , wherein proline in position b28 is replaced by asp , lys , leu , val or ala and wherein in position b29 lys may be replaced by pro ; ala ( b26 ) human insulin ; des ( b28 - b30 ) human insulin ; des ( b27 ) human insulin and des ( b30 ) human insulin . insulin derivates are for example b29 - n - myristoyl - des ( b30 ) human insulin ; b29 - n - palmitoyl - des ( b30 ) human insulin ; b29 - n - myristoyl human insulin ; b29 - n - palmitoyl human insulin ; b28 - n - myristoyl lysb28prob29 human insulin ; b28 - n - palmitoyl - lysb28prob29 human insulin ; b30 - n - myristoyl - thrb29lysb30 human insulin ; b30 - n - palmitoyl - thrb29lysb30 human insulin ; b29 - n -( n - palmitoyl - y - glutamyl )- des ( b30 ) human insulin ; b29 - n -( n - lithocholyl - y - glutamyl )- des ( b30 ) human insulin ; b29 - n -( ω - carboxyheptadecanoyl )- des ( b30 ) human insulin and b29 - n -( ω - carboxyheptadecanoyl ) human insulin . exendin - 4 for example means exendin - 4 ( 1 - 39 ), a peptide of the sequence h - his - gly - glu - gly - thr - phe - thr - ser - asp - leu - ser - lys - gln - met - glu - glu - glu - ala - val - arg - leu - phe - ile - glu - trp - leu - lys - asn - gly - gly - pro - ser - ser - gly - ala - pro - pro - pro - ser - nh2 . exendin - 4 derivatives are , for example , selected from the following list of compounds : wherein the group - lys6 - nh2 may be bound to the c - terminus of the exendin - 4 derivative ; or a pharmaceutically acceptable salt or solvate of any one of the afore - mentioned exendin - 4 derivative . hormones are for example hypophysis hormones or hypothalamus hormones or regulatory active peptides and their antagonists as listed in rote liste , ed . 2008 , chapter 50 , such as gonadotropine ( follitropin , lutropin , choriongonadotropin , menotropin ), somatropine ( somatropin ), desmopressin , terlipressin , gonadorelin , triptorelin , leuprorelin , buserelin , nafarelin , goserelin . a polysaccharide is for example a glucosaminoglycane , a hyaluronic acid , a heparin , a low molecular weight heparin or an ultra - low molecular weight heparin or a derivative thereof , or a sulphated , e . g . a poly - sulphated form of the above - mentioned polysaccharides , and / or a pharmaceutically acceptable salt thereof . an example of a pharmaceutically acceptable salt of a poly - sulphated low molecular weight heparin is enoxaparin sodium . antibodies are globular plasma proteins (˜ 150 kda ) that are also known as immunoglobulins which share a basic structure . as they have sugar chains added to amino acid residues , they are glycoproteins . the basic functional unit of each antibody is an immunoglobulin ( ig ) monomer ( containing only one ig unit ); secreted antibodies can also be dimeric with two ig units as with iga , tetrameric with four ig units like teleost fish igm , or pentameric with five ig units , like mammalian igm . the ig monomer is a “ y ”- shaped molecule that consists of four polypeptide chains ; two identical heavy chains and two identical light chains connected by disulfide bonds between cysteine residues . each heavy chain is about 440 amino acids long ; each light chain is about 220 amino acids long . heavy and light chains each contain intrachain disulfide bonds , which stabilize their folding . each chain is composed of structural domains called ig domains . these domains contain about 70 - 110 amino acids and are classified into different categories ( for example , variable or v , and constant or c ) according to their size and function . they have a characteristic immunoglobulin fold in which two β sheets create a “ sandwich ” shape , held together by interactions between conserved cysteines and other charged amino acids . there are five types of mammalian ig heavy chain denoted by α , δ , ε , γ , and μ . the type of heavy chain present defines the isotype of antibody ; these chains are found in iga , igd , ige , igg , and igm antibodies , respectively . distinct heavy chains differ in size and composition ; α and γ contain approximately 450 amino acids and δ approximately 500 amino acids , while μ and ε have approximately 550 amino acids . each heavy chain has two regions , the constant region ( ch ) and the variable region ( vh ). in one species , the constant region is essentially identical in all antibodies of the same isotype , but differs in antibodies of different isotypes . heavy chains γ , α and δ have a constant region composed of three tandem ig domains , and a hinge region for added flexibility ; heavy chains μ and e have a constant region composed of four immunoglobulin domains . the variable region of the heavy chain differs in antibodies produced by different b cells , but is the same for all antibodies produced by a single b cell or b cell clone . the variable region of each heavy chain is approximately 110 amino acids long and is composed of a single ig domain . in mammals , there are two types of immunoglobulin light chain denoted by λ and κ . a light chain has two successive domains : one constant domain ( cl ) and one variable domain ( vl ). the approximate length of a light chain is 211 to 217 amino acids . each antibody contains two light chains that are always identical ; only one type of light chain , κ or λ , is present per antibody in mammals . although the general structure of all antibodies is very similar , the unique property of a given antibody is determined by the variable ( v ) regions , as detailed above . more specifically , variable loops , three on the light ( vl ) and three on the heavy ( vh ) chain , are responsible for binding to the antigen , i . e . for its antigen specificity . these loops are referred to as the complementarity determining regions ( cdrs ). because cdrs from both vh and vl domains contribute to the antigen - binding site , it is the combination of the heavy and the light chains , and not either alone , that determines the final antigen specificity . an “ antibody fragment ” contains at least one antigen binding fragment as defined above , and exhibits essentially the same function and specificity as the complete antibody of which the fragment is derived from . limited proteolytic digestion with papain cleaves the ig prototype into three fragments . two identical amino terminal fragments , each containing one entire l chain and about half an h chain , are the antigen binding fragments ( fab ). the third fragment , similar in size but containing the carboxyl terminal half of both heavy chains with their interchain disulfide bond , is the crystalizable fragment ( fc ). the fc contains carbohydrates , complement - binding , and fcr - binding sites . limited pepsin digestion yields a single f ( ab ′) 2 fragment containing both fab pieces and the hinge region , including the h - h interchain disulfide bond . f ( ab ′) 2 is divalent for antigen binding . the disulfide bond of f ( ab ′) 2 may be cleaved in order to obtain fab ′. moreover , the variable regions of the heavy and light chains can be fused together to form a single chain variable fragment ( scfv ). pharmaceutically acceptable salts are for example acid addition salts and basic salts . acid addition salts are e . g . hcl or hbr salts . basic salts are e . g . salts having a cation selected from alkali or alkaline , e . g . na +, or k +, or ca2 +, or an ammonium ion n +( r1 )( r2 )( r3 )( r4 ), wherein r1 to r4 independently of each other mean : hydrogen , an optionally substituted c1 - c6 - alkyl group , an optionally substituted c2 - c6 - alkenyl group , an optionally substituted c6 - c10 - aryl group , or an optionally substituted c6 - c10 - heteroaryl group . further examples of pharmaceutically acceptable salts are described in “ remington &# 39 ; s pharmaceutical sciences ” 17 . ed . alfonso r . gennaro ( ed . ), mark publishing company , easton , pa ., u . s . a ., 1985 and in encyclopedia of pharmaceutical technology . those of skill in the art will understand that modifications ( additions and / or removals ) of various components of the apparatuses , methods and / or systems and embodiments described herein may be made without departing from the full scope and spirit of the present invention , which encompass such modifications and any and all equivalents thereof .	0
fig3 shows steps of a line detection algorithm in accordance with a preferred embodiment . at step 302 , a spatial scale parameter σ and a filter kernel size n k are selected in manner similar to that of step 202 of fig2 . however , in a line detection system according to a preferred embodiment , it is possible to make these factors larger than with the prior art system of fig2 while not increasing the computational intensity of the algorithm . alternatively , in a line detection system according to a preferred embodiment , these factors may remain the same as with the prior art system of fig2 and the computational intensity of the algorithm will be reduced . as a further alternative , in a line detection system according to a preferred embodiment , it is possible to detect lines using a greater number of different spatial scales of interest σ while not increasing the computational intensity of the algorithm . at step 304 , the digital mammogram image i is convolved with a two - dimensional single - peaked filter f having dimensions n k × n k to form a filtered image array i f as shown in eq . ( 5 ): by single - peaked filter , it is meant that the filter f is a function with a single maximum point or single maximum region . examples of such a filter include the gaussian , but may also include other filter kernels such as a butterworth filter , an inverted triangle or parabola , or a flat “ pillbox ” function . it has been found , however , that a gaussian filter is the most preferable . the size of the single - peaked filter f is dictated by the spatial scale parameter σ . for example , where a gaussian filter is used , σ is the standard deviation of the gaussian , and where a flat pillbox function is used , σ corresponds to the radius of the pillbox . in subsequent steps it is assumed that a gaussian filter is used , although the algorithm may be adapted by one skilled in the art to use other filters . at step 306 , the filtered image array i f is then separately convolved with second order directional derivative operators . in accordance with a preferred embodiment , it is computationally advantageous to compute four directional derivatives at 0 , 45 , 90 , and 135 degrees by convolving filtered image array i f with second order directional derivative operators d 2 ( 0 ), d 2 ( 45 ), d 2 ( 90 ), and d 2 ( 135 ) to produce the line operator function w σ ( 0 ), w σ ( 45 ), w σ ( 90 ), and w σ ( 135 ), respectively , as shown in eqs . ( 6a )-( 6d ). advantageously , because the particular directions of 0 , 45 , 90 , and 135 degrees are chosen , these directional derivative operators are permitted to consist of the small 3 × 3 kernels shown in eqs . ( 7a )-( 7d ): d 2  ( 0 ) = 0 0 0 - 1 2 - 1 0 0 0 ( 7a ) d 2  ( 45 ) = 0 0 - 1 0 2 0 - 1 0 0 ( 7b ) d 2  ( 90 ) = 0 - 1 0 0 2 0 0 - 1 0 ( 7c ) d 2  ( 135 ) = - 1 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 - 1 ( 7d ) the above 3 × 3 second order directional derivative operators are preferred , as they result in fewer computations than larger second order directional derivative operators while still providing a good estimate of the second order directional derivative when convolved with the filtered image array i f . however , the scope of the preferred embodiments is not necessarily so limited , it being understood that larger operators for estimating the second order directional derivatives may be used if a larger number of computations is determined to be acceptable . for a minimal number of computations in accordance with a preferred embodiment , however , 3 × 3 kernels are used . subsequent steps are based on an estimation function w σ ( θ ) that can be formed from the arrays w σ ( 0 ), w σ ( 45 ), w σ ( 90 ), and w σ ( 135 ) by adapting the formulas in koenderink , supra , for four estimators spaced at intervals of 45 degrees . the resulting formula is shown below in eq . ( 8 ). w σ ( θ )= ¼ {( 1 + 2 cos ( 2θ )) w σ ( 0 )+( 1 + 2 sin )( 2θ )) w σ ( 45 )+( 1 − 2 cos )( 2θ )) w σ ( 90 )+( 1 − 2 sin )( 2θ )) w σ ( 135 )} ( 8 ) it has been found that the extrema of the estimation function w σ ( θ ) with respect to θ , denoted θ min , max at a given pixel ( i , j ) is given by eq . ( 9 ): θ min , max = ½ [ arc tan {( w σ ( 45 )− w σ ( 135 ))/( w σ ( 0 )− w σ ( 90 ))}± π ] ( 9 ) at step 308 , the expression of eq . ( 9 ) is computed for each pixel . of the two solutions to equation ( 4 ), the direction θ max is then selected as the solution that yields the larger magnitude for w σ ( θ ) at that pixel , denoted as the line intensity w σ ( θ max ). thus , at step 308 , an array θ max ( i , j ) is formed that constitutes the direction image corresponding to the digital mammogram image i . as an outcome of this process , a corresponding two - dimensional array of line intensities corresponding to the maximum direction θ max at each pixel is formed , denoted as the line intensity function w σ ( θ max ). at step 310 , a line image array l ( i , j ) is formed using information derived from the line intensity function w σ ( θ max ) that was inherently generated during step 308 . the line image array l ( i , j ) is formed from the line intensity function w σ ( θ max ) using known methods such as a simple thresholding process or a modified thresholding process based on a histogram of the line intensity function w σ ( θ max ). with the completion of the line image array l ( i , j ) and the direction image array θ max ( i , j ), the line detection process is complete . fig4 illustrates unique computational steps corresponding to the step 306 of fig3 . at step 306 , the filtered image array i f is convolved with the second order directional derivative operators d 2 ( 0 ), d 2 ( 45 ), d 2 ( 90 ), and d 2 ( 135 ) shown in eq . ( 7 ). an advantage of the use of the small 3 × 3 kernels d 2 ( 0 ), d 2 ( 45 ), d 2 ( 90 ), and d 2 ( 135 ) evidences itself in the convolution operations corresponding to step 306 . in particular , because each of the directional derivative operators has only 3 nonzero elements − 1 , 2 , and − 1 , general multiplies are not necessary at all in step 306 , as the multiplication by 2 just corresponds to a single left bitwise register shift and the multiplications by − 1 are simply sign inversions . indeed , each convolution operation of eq . ( 6 ) can be simply carried out at each pixel by a single bitwise left register shift followed by two subtractions of neighboring pixel values from the shifted result . thus , at step 402 each pixel in the filtered image array i f is doubled to produce the doubled filtered image array 2i f . this can be achieved through a multiplication by 2 or , as discussed above , a single bitwise left register shift . at step 404 , at each pixel ( i , j ) in the array 2i f , the value of i f ( i − 1 , j ) is subtracted , and at step 406 , the value of i f ( i + 1 , j ) is subtracted , the result being equal to the desired convolution result i f * d 2 ( 0 ) at pixel ( i , j ). similarly , at step 408 , at each pixel ( i , j ) in the array 2i f , the value of i f ( i − 1 , j − 1 ) is subtracted , and at step 410 , the value of i f ( i + 1 , j + 1 ) is subtracted , the result being equal to the desired convolution result i f * d 2 ( 45 ) at pixel ( i , j ). similarly , at step 412 , at each pixel ( i , j ) in the array 2i f , the value of i f ( i , j − 1 ) is subtracted , and at step 414 , the value of i f ( i , j + 1 ) is subtracted , the result being equal to the desired convolution result i f * d 2 ( 90 ) at pixel ( i , j ). finally , at step 416 , at each pixel ( i , j ) in the array 2i f , the value of i f ( i + 1 , j − 1 ) is subtracted , and at step 418 , the value of i f ( i − 1 , j + 1 ) is subtracted , the result being equal to the desired convolution result i f * d 2 ( 135 ) at pixel ( i , j ). the steps 406 - 418 are preferably carried out in the parallel fashion shown in fig4 but can generally be carried out in any order . thus , it is to be appreciated that in the embodiment of fig3 and 4 a line detection algorithm is executed using four line operator functions w σ ( 0 ), w σ ( 45 ), w σ ( 90 ), and w σ ( 135 ) while at the same time using fewer computations than the karssemeijer algorithm of fig2 which uses only three line operator functions w σ ( 0 ), w σ ( 60 ), w σ ( 120 ). in accordance with a preferred embodiment , the algorithm of fig3 and 4 takes advantage of the interchangeability of the derivative and convolution operations while also taking advantage of the finding that second order directional derivative operators in each of the four directions 0 , 45 , 90 , and 135 degrees may be implemented using small 3 × 3 kernels each having only three nonzero elements − 1 , 2 , and − 1 . in the karssemeijer algorithm of fig2 there are three convolutions of the m × n digital mammogram image i with the n k × n k kernels , requiring approximately 3 ·( n k ) 2 · m · n multiplications and adds to derive the three line estimator functions w σ ( 0 ), w σ ( 60 ), and w σ ( 120 ). however , in the embodiment of fig3 and 4 , the computation of the four line estimator functions w σ ( 0 ), w σ ( 45 ), w σ ( 90 ), and w σ ( 135 ) requires a first convolution requiring ( n k ) 2 · m · n multiplications , followed by m · n doubling operations and 8 · m · n subtractions , which is a very significant computational advantage . the remaining portions of the different algorithms take approximately the same amount of computations once the line estimator functions are computed . for illustrative purposes in comparing the algorithm of fig3 and 4 with the prior art karssemeijer algorithm of fig2 let us assume that the operations of addition , subtraction , and register - shifting operation take 10 clock cycles each , while the process of multiplication takes 30 clock cycles . let us further assume that an exemplary digital mammogram of m × n = 1000 × 1250 is used and that n k is 11 . for comparison purposes , it is most useful to look at the operations associated with the required convolutions , as they require the majority of computational time . for this set of parameters , the karssemeijer algorithm would require 3 ( 11 ) 2 ( 1000 )( 1250 )( 30 + 10 )= 18 . 2 billion clock cycles to compute the three line estimator functions w σ ( 0 ), w σ ( 60 ), and w σ ( 120 ). in contrast , the algorithm of fig3 and 4 would require only ( 11 ) 2 ( 1000 )( 1250 )( 30 + 10 )+( 1250 )( 1000 )( 10 )+ 8 ( 1250 )( 1000 )( 10 )= 6 . 2 billion clock cycles to generate the four line operator functions w σ ( 0 ), w σ ( 45 ), w σ ( 90 ), and w σ ( 135 ), a significant computational advantage . fig5 shows steps of a line detection algorithm in accordance with another preferred embodiment . it has been found that the algorithm of fig3 and 4 can be made even more computationally efficient where the single - peaked filter kernel f is selected to be separable . generally speaking , a separable kernel can be expressed as a convolution of two kernels of lesser dimensions , such as one - dimensional kernels . thus , the n k × n k filter kernel f ( i , j ) is separable where it can be formed as a convolution of an n k × 1 kernel f x ( i ) and a 1 × n k kernel f y ( j ), i . e ., f ( i , j )= f x ( i )* f y ( j ). as known in the art , an n k × 1 kernel is analogous to a row vector of length n k while a 1 × n k kernel is analogous to a column vector of length n k . although a variety of single - peaked functions are within the scope of the preferred embodiments , the most optimal function has been found to be the gaussian function of eq . ( 1 ), supra . for purposes of the embodiment of fig5 and without limiting the scope of the preferred embodiments , the filter kernel notation f will be replaced by the notation g to indicate that a gaussian filter is being used : g = ( 1 / 2   π   σ 2 )   exp   ( - x 2 / 2   σ 2 )   exp   ( - y 2 / 2   σ 2 ) = g x * g y ( 10 ) g x = [ g x , 0   g x , 1   g x , 2   ⋯   g x , n   k - 1 ] ( 11 ) g y = [ g y , 0 g y , 1 g y , 2 ⋮ g y , n   k - 1 ] ( 12 ) at step 502 , the parameters σ and n k are selected in a manner similar to step 302 of fig3 . it is preferable for n k to be selected as an odd number , so that a one - dimensional gaussian kernel of length n k may be symmetric about its central element . at step 504 , the m × n digital mammogram image i is convolved with the gaussian n k × 1 kernel g x to produce an intermediate array i x : in accordance with a preferred embodiment , the sigma of the one - dimensional gaussian kernel g x is the spatial scale parameter σ selected at step 502 . the intermediate array i x resulting from step 504 is a two - dimensional array having dimensions of approximately ( m + 2n k )× n . at step 506 , the intermediate array i x is convolved with the gaussian 1 × n k kernel g y to produce a gaussian - filtered image array i g : in accordance with a preferred embodiment , the sigma of the one - dimensional gaussian kernel g y is also the spatial scale parameter σ selected at step 502 . the filtered image array i g resulting from step 506 is a two - dimensional array having dimensions of approximately ( m + 2n k )×( n + 2n k ). advantageously , because of the separability property of the two - dimensional gaussian , the filtered image array i g resulting from step 506 is identical to the result of a complete two - dimensional convolution of an n k × n k gaussian kernel and the digital mammogram image i . however , the number of multiplications and additions is reduced to 2 · n k · m · n instead of ( n k ) 2 · m · n . even more advantageously , in the situation where n k is selected to be an odd number and the one - dimensional gaussian kernels are therefore symmetric about a central element , the number of multiplications is reduced even further . this computational reduction can be achieved because , if n k is odd , then the component one dimensional kernels g x and g y are each symmetric about a central peak element . because of this relation , the image values corresponding to symmetric kernel locations can be added prior to multiplication by those kernel values , thereby reducing by half the number of required multiplications during the computations of eqs . ( 13 ) and ( 14 ). accordingly , in a preferred embodiment in which n k is selected to be an odd number , the number of multiplications associated with the required convolutions is approximately n k · m · n and the number of additions is approximately 2 · n k · m · n . in addition to the computational savings over the embodiment of fig3 and 4 due to filter separability , it has also been found that the algorithm of fig3 and 4 may be made even more efficient by taking advantage of the special symmetry of the spatial derivative operators at 0 , 45 , 90 , and 135 in performing operations corresponding to steps 306 - 310 . in particular , it has been found that for each pixel ( i , j ), the solution for the direction image θ max and the line intensity function w σ ( θ max ) can be simplified to the following formulas of eqs . ( 15 )-( 16 ): w σ ( θ max )= ½ ( l +( a 2 + d 2 )) ( 15 ) l = w σ ( 0 )+ w σ ( 90 )= i g * d 2 ( 0 )+ i g * d 2 ( 90 )= i g [ d 2 ( 0 )+ d 2 ( 90 )] ( 17 ) as known in the art , the array l is the result of the convolution of i g with a laplacian operator . furthermore , the array a in eqs . ( 15 ) and ( 16 ) is defined as follows : a = w σ ( 0 )− w σ ( 90 )= i g d 2 ( 0 )− i g * d 2 ( 90 )= i g [ d 2 ( 0 )− d 2 ( 90 )] ( 19 ) finally , the array d in eqs . ( 15 ) and ( 16 ) is defined as follows : d = w σ ( 45 )− w σ ( 135 )= i g d 2 ( 45 )− i g * d 2 ( 135 )= i g *[ d 2 ( 45 )− d 2 ( 135 )] ( 21 ) accordingly , at step 508 the convolution of eq . ( 20 ) is performed on the filtered image array i g that results from the previous step 506 to produce the array a . at step 510 , the convolution of eq . ( 22 ) is performed on the filtered image array i g to produce the array d , and at step 512 , the convolution of eq . ( 18 ) is performed to produce the array l . since they are independent of each other , the steps 508 - 512 may be performed in parallel or in any order . at step 514 , the line intensity function w σ ( θ max ) is formed directly from the arrays l , a , and d in accordance with eq . ( 15 ). subsequent to step 514 , at step 516 the line image array l ( i , j ) is formed from the line intensity function w σ ( θ max ) using known methods such as a simple thresholding process or a modified thresholding process based on a histogram of the line intensity function w σ ( θ max ). finally , at step 518 , the direction image array θ max ( i , j ) is formed from the arrays d and a in accordance with eq . ( 16 ). advantageously , according to the preferred embodiment of fig5 the step 518 of computing the direction image array θ max ( i , j ) and the steps 514 - 516 of generating the line image array l ( i , j ) may be performed independently of each other and in any order . stated another way , according to the preferred embodiment of fig5 it is not necessary to actually compute the elements of the direction image θ max ( i , j ) in order to evaluate the line intensity estimator function w σ ( θ max ) at any pixel . this is in contrast to the algorithms described in fig2 and fig3 and 4 , where it is first necessary to compute the direction image θ max ( i , j ) in order to be able to evaluate the line intensity estimator function w σ ( θ ) at the maximum angle θ max . it is readily apparent that in the preferred embodiment of fig5 steps 512 , 514 , and 516 may be omitted altogether if downstream medical image processing algorithms only require knowledge of the direction image array θ max ( i , j ). alternatively , the step 518 may be omitted altogether if downstream medical image processing algorithms only require knowledge of the line image array l ( i , j ). thus , computational independence of the direction image array θ max ( i , j ) and the line image array l ( i , j ) in the preferred embodiment of fig5 allows for increased computational efficiency when only one or the other of the direction image array θ max ( i , j ) and the line image array l ( i , j ) is required by downstream algorithms . the preferred embodiment of fig5 is even less computationally complex than the algorithm of fig3 and 4 . in particular , to generate the filtered image array i g there is required only approximately n k · m · n multiplications and 2 · n k · m · n additions . to generate the array a from the filtered image array i g , there is required 2 · m · n additions and m · n subtractions . likewise , to generate the array d from the filtered image array i g , there is required 2 · m · n additions and m · n subtractions . finally , to generate l from the filtered image array i g , there is required m · n bitwise left register shift of two positions ( corresponding to a multiplication by 4 ), followed by 4 · m · n subtractions . accordingly , to generate the arrays a , d , and l from the digital mammogram image i , there is required only 2 · n k · m · n multiplications , 2 · n k · m · n additions , 4 · m · n additions , 4 · m · n subtractions , and m · n bitwise register shifts . for illustrative purposes in comparing the algorithms , let us again assume the operational parameters assumed previously : that addition , subtraction , and register - shifting operation take 10 clock cycles each ; that multiplication takes 30 clock cycles ; that m × n = 1000 × 1250 ; and that n k is 11 . as computed previously , the karssemeijer algorithm would require 18 . 2 billion clock cycles to compute the three line estimator functions w σ ( 0 ), w σ ( 60 ), and w σ ( 120 ), while the algorithm of fig3 and 4 would require about 6 . 2 billion clock cycles to generate the four line operator functions w σ ( 0 ), w σ ( 45 ), w σ ( 90 ), and w σ ( 135 ), a significant computational advantage . however , using the results of the previous paragraph , the algorithm of fig5 would require only ( 11 )( 1000 )( 1250 )( 30 )+ 2 ( 11 )( 1000 )( 1250 )( 10 )+( 4 )( 1000 )( 1250 )( 10 )+( 4 )( 1000 )( 1250 )( 10 )+( 1000 )( 1250 )( 10 )= 0 . 8 billion clock cycles to produce the arrays a , d , and l . for the preferred embodiment of fig5 the reduction in computation becomes even more dramatic as the scale of interest ( reflected by the size of the kernel size n k ) grows larger , because the number of computations only increases linearly with n k . it is to be appreciated that the above numerical example is a rough estimate and is for illustrative purposes only to clarify the features and advantages of the present invention , and is not intended to limit the scope of the preferred embodiments . optionally , in the preferred embodiment of fig3 - 5 , a plurality of spatial scale values σ1 , σ2 , . . . , σn may be selected at step 302 or 502 . the remainder of the steps of the embodiments of fig3 - 5 are then separately carried out for each of the spatial scale values σ1 , σ2 , . . . , σn . for a given pixel ( i , j ), the value of the direction image array θ max ( i , j ) is selected to correspond to the largest value among w σ1 ( θ max1 ), w σ2 ( θ max2 ), . . . , w σn ( θ maxn ). the line image array l ( i , j ) is formed by thresholding an array corresponding to largest value among w σ1 ( θ max1 ), w σ2 ( θ max2 ), . . . w σn ( θ maxn ) at each pixel . as another option , which may be used separately or in combination with the above option of using multiple spatial scale values , a plurality of filter kernel sizes n k1 , n k2 , . . . , n σn may be selected at step 302 or 502 . the remainder of the steps of the embodiments of fig3 - 5 are then separately carried out for each of the filter kernel sizes n k1 , n k2 , . . . , n kn . for a given pixel ( i , j ), the value of the direction image array θ max ( i , j ) is selected to correspond to the largest one of the different w σ ( θ max ) values yielded for the different values of filter kernel size n k . the line image array l ( i , j ) is formed by thresholding an array corresponding to largest value among the different w σ ( θ max ) values yielded by the different values of filter kernel size n k . by way of example and not by way of limitation , it has been found that with reference to the previously disclosed system for detecting lines in fibrous breast tissue in a 1000 × 1250 digital mammogram at 200 micron resolution , results are good when the pair of combinations ( n k = 11 , σ = 1 . 5 ) and ( n k = 7 , σ = 0 . 9 ) are used . the preferred embodiments disclosed in fig3 - 5 require a corrective algorithm to normalize the responses of certain portions of the algorithms associated with directional second order derivatives in diagonal directions . in particular , the responses of eqs . ( 6b ), ( 6d ), and ( 22 ) require normalization because the filtered image is being sampled at more widely displaced points , resulting in a response that is too large by a constant factor . in the preferred algorithms that use a gaussian filter g at step 304 of fig3 or steps 504 - 506 of fig5 a constant correction factor “ p ” is determined as shown in eqs . ( 23 )-( 25 ): p = sqrt { σ ( k a ( i , j )) 2 / σ ( k d ( i , j )) 2 } ( 23 ) in the general case where the digital mammogram image i is convolved with a single - peaked filter f at step 304 of fig3 or steps 504 - 506 of fig5 the constant correction factor p is determined by using f instead of g in eqs . ( 24 ) and ( 25 ). importantly , the constant correction factor p does not actually affect the number of computations in the convolutions of eqs . ( 6b ), ( 6d ), and ( 22 ), but rather is incorporated into later parts of the algorithm . in particular , in the algorithm of fig3 the constant correction factor p is incorporated by substituting , for each instance of w σ ( 45 ) and w σ ( 135 ) in eqs . ( 8 ) and ( 9 ), and step 308 , the quantities pw σ ( 45 ) and pw σ ( 135 ), respectively . in the algorithm of fig5 the constant correction factor p is incorporated by substituting , for each instance of d in eqs . ( 15 ) and ( 16 ), and steps 514 and 518 , the quantity pd . accordingly , the computational efficiency of the preferred embodiments is maintained in terms of the reduced number and complexity of required convolutions . a computational simplification in the implementation of the constant correction factor p is found where the size of the spatial scale parameter σ corresponds to a relatively large number of pixels , e . g . on the order of 11 pixels or greater . in this situation the constant correction factor p approaches the value of ½ , the sampling distance going up by a factor of 2 and the magnitude of the second derivative estimate going up by the square of the sampling distance . in such case , multiplication by the constant correction factor p is achieved by a simple bitwise right register shift . as disclosed above , a method and system for line detection in medical images according to the preferred embodiments contains several advantages . the preferred embodiments share the homogeneity , isotropy , and other desirable scale - space properties associated with the karssemeijer method . however , as described above , the preferred embodiments significantly reduce the number of required computations . indeed , for one of the preferred embodiments , running time increases only linearly with the scale of interest , thus typically requiring an order of magnitude fewer operations in order to produce equivalent results . for applications in which processing time is a constraint , this makes the use of higher resolution images in order to improve line detection accuracy more practical . while preferred embodiments of the invention have been described , these descriptions are merely illustrative and are not intended to limit the present invention . for example , although the component kernels of the separable single - peaked filter function are described above as one - dimensional kernels , the selection of appropriate two - dimensional kernels as component kernels of the single - peaked filter function can also result in computational efficiencies , where one of the dimensions is smaller than the initial size of the single - peaked filter function . as another example , although the embodiments of the invention described above were in the context of medical imaging systems , those skilled in the art will recognize that the disclosed methods and structures are readily adaptable for broader image processing applications . examples include the fields of optical sensing , robotics , vehicular guidance and control systems , synthetic vision , or generally any system requiring the generation of line images or direction images from an input image .	6
it is to be understood that the figures and descriptions of the present invention have been simplified to illustrate elements that are relevant for a clear understanding of the present invention , while eliminating , for the purpose of clarity , many other elements found in typical mechanical lifting devices , systems and methods . those of ordinary skill in the art will thus recognize that other elements and / or steps are desirable and / or required in implementing the present invention . however , because such elements and steps are well known in the art , and because they do not facilitate a better understanding of the present invention , a discussion of such elements and steps is not provided herein . the disclosure herein is directed to all such variations and modifications to such elements and methods known to those skilled in the art . furthermore , the embodiments identified and illustrated herein are for exemplary purposes only , and are not meant to be exclusive or limited in their description of the present invention . the present invention is and includes a device capable of assisting an elderly , disabled , or infirm person ( hereinafter “ elderly person ”) to rise from a lying or substantially lying position , at or near floor level , to at least a sitting position without lifting assistance , or with only minimal assistance , from another person . in particularly preferred embodiments , the device may be , at its lowest or substantially most compressed position , low enough to be accessible to a person lying at or near floor level who may have very limited mobility due to age , a disability , or an infirmity . the device may be self - powered and / or supplied with power sufficient to allow the device to expand , rise or otherwise decompress in order to lift a quantity of weight equivalent to at least an average person were that person to lie on the device . the device may preferably rise to at least the level of a chair , so as to assist the lying person in reaching at least a sitting position . the device may additionally provide a secondary mode , and / or an optional aspect of the device , for moving / assisting / repositioning / transferring the person once in the seated position to a standing position using the device . as illustrated in fig1 a and 1b , an exemplary embodiment of the device 10 may include a substantially stable base 12 , a convertible upper frame 14 , and at least one lift mechanism / actuator 16 for actuating the upper frame atop the base . at the low or compressed position ( fig1 a illustrates an early stage decompressed position , and fig1 b illustrates a later stage decompressed position ), the 10 device is preferably flat enough and low enough to allow a disabled person lying at the floor level to roll onto the device . in a preferred embodiment , the device may include a controller 20 , such that when the person rolls onto the device and is faced upward , the person can actuate controller 20 to cause the actuation of at least a portion of the upper frame 14 away from the base 12 , whereby the previously flat upper frame may ultimately be mechanically converted into at least a chair shape so as to assist the person on the device to a seated position . as such , the present invention provides a device 10 that operates at or substantially at floor level , and that allows a person placed at floor level who is not critically injured to rise to at least a seating position . the device 10 so provided is user - friendly , at least in that it is reachable to a person on the floor and simple to use by use of controller 20 , and the device preferably provide the necessary weight support and construction of base 12 , upper frame 14 , and actuator 16 to safely lift the person to a seated position . moreover , the device may , in certain embodiments , store flat and minimize the risk of injury to professional staff , emergency medical personnel , or the like . further , the device of the present invention may lower ambulance and other healthcare costs , and may lower aid service costs , response times , independent living or private resident needs , and the like . yet further , the present device expands available therapies for the injured , disabled or infirm , at least in that therapies can be performed at floor level , without need of having the therapist lower or lift the injured , disabled or infirm party down to , or up from , the floor level during therapy . the patient is thereby enabled to self - lower to the floor , such as for exercise and the like . as such , the present invent may be for use by the elderly , the permanently disabled , the temporarily disabled , the infirm , the wounded ( such as amputees ), and the like . more particularly , and with respect to the exemplary embodiment of fig1 a and 1b , the device may include the aforementioned base 12 , the actuator 16 and the actuatable upper frame 14 . more particularly , the upper frame may include , by way of non - limiting example , a series of knuckles , slide bolts , hinge bolts , or hinges , hinges , or the like 26 , and / or one or more scissor hinges , mechanical slides , or the like 28 . for example , upon actuation of upper frame 14 , one or more of the hinge bolts 26 may rotate through a rotational circumferential pursuant to the actuation by actuator 16 , and one or more of the scissor hinges 28 may correspondingly , such as pursuant to actuation of the one or more hinge bolts 26 , slide from a first position to a second position . thereby , upon actuation by the actuator 16 , the knuckles 26 and slides 28 of the upper frame 14 may operate to slowly , safely and substantially linearly bring the upper frame from a flat or compressed position to generate at least a seated position for a person initially at floor level and lying upon the upper frame . the one or more actuators 16 may be any actuator known to those skilled in the art capable of actuating the upper frame , with the weight of the person thereupon , from a substantially flat position to at least a seated position . in an exemplary embodiment , the actuator is comprised of a single actuator / motor , although those skilled in the art will appreciate that multiple actuators may be used . in the illustrated embodiment , the actuator is a motorized extending arm that is extended outwardly from a base unit of the actuator towards a lower portion of the upper frame , or from the left to the right in the provided illustration of fig1 a and 1b , such that a hinge bolt 26 between the lower most portion 14 a of the upper frame and the seat portion 14 b of the upper frame is partially rotated , which rotation , in conjunction with a scissor hinge 28 and hinge bolt 26 at the seat portion 14 b of the upper frame at a location opposite the lower most portion of the upper frame , causes the lower portion of the seat portion 14 b to rise from the base 12 , and thus causes that portion of the lower most portion 14 a of the upper frame closest to the seat portion 14 b to also rise at an increasing angle from the base 12 . in the illustrated embodiment , once the maximum actuation of the hinge bolt in the seat portion 14 b at the location opposite the lower most portion 14 b of the upper frame has occurred , the force of the actuator 16 against the lower most portion 14 a will cause the seat portion 14 b in its entirety to begin to rise from the base , which , if there is a stop in the hinge bolt rotation provided in the seat portion hinge bolt 26 associated with the scissor hinge 28 , will cause the backrest portion 14 c of the upper frame to begin to rise as the seat portion 14 b rises , at least partially due to the force of the continued action of the actuator 16 . thereby , following substantially complete actuation of the actuator from left to right in the illustration , the upper frame will have reached a position such that the back - rest portion 14 c of the upper frame is substantially perpendicular to the base 12 of the device , the seat portion 14 b of the upper frame is at least substantially parallel to the base 12 of the device , and the lower most portion 14 a of the upper frame is at least substantially perpendicular to the base 12 of the device . as such , it is anticipated that , by countermovement of the backrest portion and the lower most portion , the center of gravity and balance - point may remain substantially located at or about the seat portion . accordingly , those skilled in the art will appreciate , in light of the discussion herein with respect to the upper frame , that hinges , scissor hinges , mechanical slides , or the like , other than those particularly illustrated in fig1 a and 1b , may be mechanically employed in accordance with the disclosure herein without varying from the spirit and scope hereof . further , those skilled in the art will appreciate that the actuation by the exemplary single actuator discussed with respect to fig1 a and 1b is also merely illustrative , and that any manner of actuation of the upper frame may be performed wherein , preferably , a slight angle is first imparted at approximately the knee location of the person placed on the upper frame , whereafter the seat may be slightly lifted , and whereafter the angle between the shoulders and the midsection of the person on the device may be slowly and substantially linearly decreased , as is the angle formed by the upper and lower leg at the back of the knee of the person on the device . further , those skilled in the art will appreciate , in light of the discussion herein , that , after actuation to a seated position , a portion of the seat frame may further assist the person from the seated position to a standing position , correspondent to further actuation of the one or more actuators . such assistance of the person from the seated position to the standing position may occur only upon further actuating of the controller 20 by the person initially laying on the device or the person &# 39 ; s attendant , by way of non - limiting example . the base 12 in the illustrative diagram of fig1 a and 1b may preferably be sufficiently stable so as to support the upper frame 14 and actuator 16 during actuation and with the weight of a person atop the base . as such , while the base 12 may have wheels and / or casters on its underside , such as to allow for the device to be moved in and out from underneath , for example , furniture , or the base 12 may have a track associated with its underside to allow the base to be moved in and out from underneath , for example , furniture , the track or the wheels are preferably mechanically overridden , such as by a locking mechanism , extendable leg portions , suction cups , or the like , ( hereinafter “ locking mechanism ” 40 ), such that the base 12 becomes fully stable immediately upon or soon after activation of the controller 20 instructing actuation of the device 10 . the base 12 may be constructed to allow easy portability and / or movement , such as in embodiments comprising a lightweight base formed of a plastic or the like , or the base may be formed of heavier material such as to impart additional structural integrity and / or stability to increase the stationary nature of the device , such as wherein the device is formed of heavier weighted metals . further , the base 12 may provide a power source location 42 for the power provided to the one or more actuators and or to the one or more tracks that may slide the device 10 from underneath , for example , furniture . for example , the base may provide a location for a battery 42 , along with one or more electrical inputs to allow charging of the battery such as from a wall socket . likewise , the base may simply provide an electrical input for use with a household plug , for example . those skilled in the art will appreciate that a variety of optional components may be provided in conjunction with those discussed above . for example , the one or more actuators may cause , as the seat rises of the upper frame , a “ cradle ” effect , such as whereby wings ( not shown ) on the left most and right - most portion of the seat portion 14 b may be angled or otherwise extended upwardly during actuation such that the bottom of a person resting on the seat is cradled to provide additional stability as the upper frame rises . further , a seat - belt ( not shown ) may be provided on the seat portion , particularly in non - residential and / or institutional embodiments , to provide further safety measures for device 10 . yet further , handles ( not shown ) may be provided , such as on the seat portion 14 b , in order to further stabilize the person while laying or seated on the upper frame . further , the construction of aspects of the device 10 , and the portions thereof , may vary , and the appearance of the device may vary in accordingly with its construction . for example , padding may or may not be available , particularly in conjunction with the seat portion 14 b and the back - rest portion 14 c of the upper frame . moreover , as mentioned above the upper frame 14 may be lightweight , strong , durable , and capable of a low profile in a compressed state , irrespective of the weight and preferred low profile of the base 12 . additionally , the device , and particularly the control indicated by the aforementioned controller 20 , may be configurable , such wherein the device 10 is controlled so as to raise only to a seated position , or to a standing position , wherein the rate of rise of the upper frame from the base may be varied , or the like . the configurable nature of the present invention may vary in accordingly with the actuation methodology employed , such as in accordance with the use of linear motion , scissor hinges , a worm screw actuator , or the like . thus , as discussed in the illustrative embodiments with respect to fig1 a and 1b , it may be preferable to minimize the profile and / or usable floor footprint of the device 10 . this may be further accomplished by creating a bendable back - rest , an ultra - thin but sturdy upper frame , or by like methodologies . this may further be accomplished through additional and alternative embodiments of the device , such as embodiments that are not stored under furniture . for example , fig2 illustrates device 10 that may be wall 110 adjacent and / or wall - mounted , whereby stability may be imparted to the upper frame 14 by an independent base 12 , or wherein the device may be baseless and instead use a wall mount extension base 112 , or other embodiments that provide stability that will be apparent to those skilled in the art in light of the discussion herein . as illustrated in fig2 , one or more actuators may be placed within or on the wall - mount , whereby actuation of the one or more actuators 16 may raise the upper frame 14 as discussed herein above with respect to fig1 a and 1b . in an exemplary embodiment of fig2 , a single actuator 16 may raise the wall - mount base 112 , wherein the wall - mount base 112 may provide an extended base portion underneath the seat portion 14 b of the upper frame 14 . further , as the single actuator 16 acts to lift the seat portion 14 b , an extended arm 116 behind the back - rest portion 14 c may have , extending therefrom into mechanical association with the actuator , a chain , slide , or rope portion 118 , wherein the upward actuation of the base extension 112 by the actuator 16 may actuate extended arm 116 along the slide or like wall - mounted guide , the chain 118 , wherein this actuation pulls the back - rest portion 14 c forward and upward as the seat portion 14 b of the upper frame is raised . fig3 illustrates with greater particularity a die lift 112 system in accordance with exemplary embodiments , such as that of fig2 . in the exemplary embodiment of fig3 ( and / or in the wall mount embodiment of fig2 ), those skilled in the art will appreciate that the illustrated lifting mechanism may be , for example , recessed into a wall or a furniture cabinet in order to obtain the space savings that may be similarly provided by sliding the device of the exemplary embodiment of fig1 a and 1b under a piece of furniture . in an exemplary lift such as that shown in fig3 , the sides of the device can be minimized in order to achieve greater floor area space savings , such that the wall adjacent portion of the lift may extend , for example , approximately 16 inches upward along the wall , and the wall mount portion may be , for example , approximately 13 . 5 inches wide such that it may fit in a recess between wall studs in a typical household wall . of course , those skilled in the art will further appreciate that , in alternative embodiments , casters or similar devices , such as in conjunction with mechanical slides , may be placed at the base of , for example , backrest portion 14 c and lower most portion 14 a , such as at the point ( s ) where the assist device meets base 12 . thereby the frame , for example , may be lifted off the floor , such as by insertion of the casters through slots in base 12 against a floor . further , the extension of such casters may allow for mobility of the base , even with the device in the seated position atop the base . for example , in an additional alternative embodiment of a raised seat atop a base and as illustrated in fig4 , the patient transfer device may be fitted to , or perform as , a specialized wheelchair . as shown , the wheelchair may be designed atop a “ c ”- type frame 502 having an open front portion 504 . such a frame may permit entry over or under a bed , bench , or desk 506 , by way of non - limiting example , such as to allow the person within the wheelchair to mount or dismount between the device and an adjoining surface with no , or minimal , assistance , or to approach a chair or other seating device , such as a toilet . in operation , and as illustrated in fig5 a , 5 b and 5 c and in the top views of fig6 a , 6 b , 6 c and 6 d , the wheelchair may approach a target substantially directly with the open portion of the c - frame most proximate to the target . thereafter , the device may be activated so as to swivel , rotate , or the like , as needed in order to effectively align the body of the person in the wheelchair at a suitable angle to dismount onto , or be suspended over , the target . in the illustrated example , the device is rotated 90 degrees about the c - frame . the wheelchair may then be activated to change position as necessary , such as from sitting to a prone position if the user is to dismount onto a bed , for example . upon reaching the proper rotation and position with respect to the target , the open portion of the c - frame may enter the target area , such as to suspend a prone person above the target , or to place the seated person over a toilet bowl . needless to say , a user of the wheelchair may change the elevation of the seat portion 14 , and / or the height of the c - frame , as is necessary to accommodate the height of the target . the user may then transfer to the target as needed , such as with no or minimal assistance from a third party . to the extent the user has left the chair and dismounted to the target , the chair may back away from the target but maintain a proximate position to allow for reboarding of the user from the target back onto the wheelchair . of course , as referenced above , in certain embodiments , such as wherein a toilet is the target , the user may not dismount from the wheelchair . by way of more particular example , the wheelchair may approach the toilet , and the chair atop the c - frame may rotate 180 degrees from a position wherein the user is facing the open portion of the c - frame . thereby , the wheelchair may be positioned such that , upon advancing , at the direction of the user , in the direction of the opening of the c - frame , the seat portion of the chair straddles the toilet seat to permit toileting by the user . of course , those skilled in the art will appreciate , that , in such an embodiment , the c - frame on which the wheelchair resides will preferably not have cross - members , or the like , that would bar straddling of a toilet . further , in such embodiments , it may be preferred that the seat portion of the wheelchair be hollowed at its center , such as in an oval shape sufficient to accommodate toileting of the user atop the seat portion of the wheelchair . moreover , the seat portion may be at least partially constituted of a large diameter “ lazy susan ”- type rotator / bearing having a hollow center , or , by way of additional example , may be constituted of a flat seat surface upon a series of ball bearings . in each such embodiment , it is preferred that any opening in the seat portion pass through the underlying device that enables rotation , to thereby enable toileting of the user . fig7 is a flow diagram illustrative of an exemplary method of using device 10 in accordance with the present invention . in the illustrated method 400 , at step 402 a floor level lift system is provided . at step 404 , a user instruction is received to actuate the floor level system . at optional step 406 , the actuation instruction may not be executed until confirmation , such as via electrical sensing , that the user is properly on the device . the device may be mechanically raised via the actuation at step 408 . the actuation may be completed to place the user in a seated position at step 410 , or responsive to a secondary user input received at step 412 , the actuation may continue to raise the user from the seated position to an at least substantially standing position . needless to say , upon departing of the person from physical association with the device , the device may be returned , such as by reverse actuation of the actuator , to its original , compressed position at step 414 . those of ordinary skill in the art will recognize that many modifications and variations of the present invention may be implemented without departing from the spirit or scope of the invention . thus , it is intended that the present invention cover the modification and variations of this invention provided they come within the scope of the appended claims and their equivalents .	0
hereinafter , the present invention will be described more specifically by way of example . however , the present invention is not limited by the following examples . the materials in the following composition were mixed and stirred , and then the ph was adjusted to 8 with a 10 % aqueous solution of lithium hydroxide . then , the mixture was filtrated with a membrane filter having an average pore size of 0 . 1 μm , and thus a recording liquid ( ink 1 ) was obtained . a recording liquid ( ink 2 ) was obtained in the same manner as in example 1 except that the following composition was used and the ph was adjusted to 7 . 5 with lithium hydroxide . a recording liquid ( ink 3 ) was obtained in the same manner as in example 1 except that the following composition was used and the ph was adjusted to 8 . a recording liquid ( ink 4 ) was obtained in the same manner as in example 1 except that the following composition was used and the ph was adjusted to 9 . first , carbon black was dispersed with a bead mill in the following formulation for pigment dispersing liquid 1 . the obtained pigment dispersing liquid 1 was mixed with other materials in the following formulation and the mixture was stirred , and then the ph was adjusted to 8 with a 10 % aqueous solution of lithium hydroxide . then , the mixture was filtrated with a membrane filter having an average pore size of 0 . 8 μm , and thus a recording liquid ( ink 5 ) was obtained . a pigment dispersing liquid 2 was prepared in the same manner as in example 5 except that the following composition was used , and a recording liquid ( ink 6 ) was obtained with this pigment dispersing liquid 2 . a pigment dispersing liquid 3 was prepared in the same manner as in example 5 except that the following composition was used , and a recording liquid ( ink 7 ) was obtained with this pigment dispersing liquid 3 . a pigment dispersing liquid 4 was prepared in the same manner as in example 5 except that the following composition was used , and a recording liquid ( ink 8 ) was obtained with this pigment dispersing liquid 4 a pigment dispersing liquid 5 was prepared in the same manner as in example 5 except that the following composition was used , and a recording liquid ( ink 9 ) was obtained with this pigment dispersing liquid 5 . a pigment dispersing liquid 6 was prepared in the same manner as in example 5 except that the following composition was used , and a recording liquid ( ink 10 ) was obtained with this pigment dispersing liquid 6 . a pigment dispersing liquid 7 was prepared in the same manner as in example 5 except that the following composition was used , and a recording liquid ( ink 11 ) was obtained with this pigment dispersing liquid 7 . a pigment dispersing liquid 8 was prepared in the same manner as in example 5 except that the following composition was used , and a recording liquid ( ink 12 ) was obtained with this pigment dispersing liquid 8 . a pigment dispersing liquid 9 was prepared in the same manner as in example 5 except that the following composition was used , and a recording liquid ( ink 13 ) was obtained with this pigment dispersing liquid 9 . a recording liquid ( ink 14 ) was obtained in the same manner as in example 1 except that the following composition was used . ( solid content of 16 . 4 wt . %, average particle size of 128 nm ) a recording liquid ( ink 15 ) was obtained in the same manner as in example 1 except that the following composition was used . ( solid content of 16 . 4 wt . %, average particle size of 128 nm ) a recording liquid ( ink 16 ) was obtained in the same manner as in example 1 except that the following composition was used . ( solid content of 18 wt . %, average particle size of 132 nm ) a recording liquid ( ink 17 ) was obtained in the same manner as in example 1 except that the following composition was used . ( solid content of 18 wt . %, average particle size of 132 nm ) a pigment dispersing liquid 10 was prepared in the same manner as in example 5 except that the following composition was used , and a recording liquid ( ink 18 ) was obtained with this pigment dispersing liquid 10 . a pigment dispersing liquid 11 was prepared in the same manner as in example 5 except that the following composition was used , and a recording liquid ( ink 19 ) was obtained with this pigment dispersing liquid 11 . a recording liquid ( ink 20 ) was obtained in the same manner as in example 1 except that the following composition was used , and the ph was adjusted to 8 with sodium hydroxide . a recording liquid ( ink 21 ) was obtained in the same manner as in example 1 except that the following composition was used , and the ph was adjusted to 7 . 5 with sodium hydroxide . a recording liquid ( ink 22 ) was obtained in the same manner as in example 1 except that the following composition was used , and the ph was adjusted to 8 with sodium hydroxide . a recording liquid ( ink 23 ) was obtained in the same manner as in example 1 except that the following composition was used , and the ph was adjusted to 9 with sodium hydroxide . a pigment dispersing liquid 12 was prepared in the same manner as in example 5 except that the following composition was used , and a recording liquid ( ink 24 ) was obtained with this pigment dispersing liquid 12 . a pigment dispersing liquid 13 was prepared in the same manner as in example 5 except that the following composition was used , and a recording liquid ( ink 25 ) was obtained with this pigment dispersing liquid 13 . a pigment dispersing liquid 14 was prepared in the same manner as in example 5 except that the following composition was used , and a recording liquid ( ink 26 ) was obtained with this pigment dispersing liquid 14 . a pigment dispersing liquid 15 was prepared in the same manner as in example 5 except that the following composition was used , and a recording liquid ( ink 27 ) was obtained with this pigment dispersing liquid 15 . a pigment dispersing liquid 16 was prepared in the same manner as in example 5 except that the following composition was used , and a recording liquid ( ink 28 ) was obtained with this pigment dispersing liquid 16 . a pigment dispersing liquid 17 was prepared in the same manner as in example 5 except that the following composition was used , and a recording liquid ( ink 29 ) was obtained with this pigment dispersing liquid 17 . a pigment dispersing liquid 18 was prepared in the same manner as in example 5 except that the following composition was used , and a recording liquid ( ink 30 ) was obtained with this pigment dispersing liquid 18 . a pigment dispersing liquid 19 was prepared in the same manner as in example 5 except that the following composition was used , and a recording liquid ( ink 31 ) was obtained with this pigment dispersing liquid 19 . a pigment dispersing liquid 20 was prepared in the same manner as in example 5 except that the following composition was used , and a recording liquid ( ink 32 ) was obtained with this pigment dispersing liquid 20 . a recording liquid ( ink 33 ) was obtained in the same manner as in example 1 except that the following composition was used . ( solid content of 16 . 4 wt . %, average particle size of 128 nm ) a recording liquid ( ink 34 ) was obtained in the same manner as in example 1 except that the following composition was used . ( solid content of 16 . 4 wt . %, average particle size of 128 nm ) a recording liquid ( ink 35 ) was obtained in the same manner as in example 1 except that the following composition was used . ( solid content of 18 wt . %, average particle size of 132 nm ) example 36 a recording liquid ( ink 36 ) was obtained in the same manner as in example 1 except that the following composition was used . ( solid content of 18 wt . %, average particle size of 132 nm ) a pigment dispersing liquid 21 was prepared in the same manner as in example 5 except that the following composition was used , and a recording liquid ( ink 37 ) was obtained with this pigment dispersing liquid 21 . a pigment dispersing liquid 22 was prepared in the same manner as in example 5 except that the following composition was used , and a recording liquid ( ink 38 ) was obtained with this pigment dispersing liquid 22 . a recording liquid ( ink 39 ) was prepared in the same manner as in example 5 except that 2 - ethyl - 1 , 3 - hexanediol was replaced by an equal amount of ion exchanged water . a recording liquid ( ink 40 ) was prepared in the same manner as in example 25 except that 2 , 2 , 4 - trimethyl - 1 , 3 - pentanediol was replaced by an equal amount of ion exchanged water . a recording liquid ( ink 41 ) was prepared in the same manner as in example 5 except that instead of 2 - ethyl - 1 , 3 - hexanediol , the compound ( 1 )- 1 was further added such that the amount thereof was 2 wt . %, and the remaining amount was for ion exchanged water . a recording liquid ( ink 42 ) was prepared in the same manner as in example 6 except that 2 , 2 , 4 - trimethyl - 1 , 3 - pentanediol was replaced by an equal amount of diethylene glycol monobutyl ether . a recording liquid ( ink 43 ) was prepared in the same manner as in example 10 except that 2 - ethyl - 1 , 3 - hexanediol was replaced by an equal amount of diethylene glycol monobutyl ether . a recording liquid ( ink 44 ) was prepared in the same manner as in example 14 except that 2 - ethyl - 1 , 3 - hexanediol was replaced by 10 wt . % of diethylene glycol monobutyl ether . a recording liquid ( ink 45 ) was prepared in the same manner as in example 24 except that 2 - ethyl - 1 , 3 - hexanediol was replaced by an equal amount of 2 - ethyl - 2 - methyl - 1 , 3 - propanediol . a recording liquid ( ink 46 ) was prepared in the same manner as in example 12 except that 2 , 2 , 4 - trimethyl - 1 , 3 - pentanediol was replaced by an equal amount of 2 , 2 - diethyl - 1 , 3 - propanediol . a recording liquid ( ink 47 ) was prepared in the same manner as in example 7 except that 2 - ethyl - 1 , 3 - hexanediol was replaced by an equal amount of 3 , 3 - dimethyl - 1 , 2 - butanediol . a recording liquid ( ink 48 ) was prepared in the same manner as in example 23 except that 2 , 2 , 4 - trimethyl - 1 , 3 - pentanediol was replaced by an equal amount of 2 , 4 - dimethyl - 2 , 4 - pentanediol . a recording liquid ( ink 49 ) was prepared in the same manner as in example 21 except that 2 , 2 , 4 - trimethyl - 1 , 3 - pentanediol was replaced by an equal amount of 2 , 5 - dimethyl - 2 , 5 - hexanediol . a recording liquid ( ink 50 ) was prepared in the same manner as in example 31 except that 2 , 2 , 4 - trimethyl - 1 , 3 - pentanediol was replaced by an equal amount of 2 - methyl - 2 - propyl - 1 , 3 - propanediol . a recording liquid ( ink 51 ) was prepared in the same manner as in example 33 except that 2 - ethyl - 1 , 3 - hexanediol and the compound ( 2 )- 5 were replaced by 1 , 7 - heptanediol in an amount equal to the total amount thereof . a recording liquid ( ink 52 ) was prepared in the same manner as in example 37 except that 2 - ethyl - 1 , 3 - hexanediol was replaced by an equal amount of 2 , 6 - heptanediol . a recording liquid ( ink 53 ) was prepared in the same manner as in example 2 except that 2 , 2 , 4 - trimethyl - 1 , 3 - pentanediol was replaced by an equal amount of 3 , 3 - dimethyl - 1 , 5 - pentanediol . a recording liquid ( ink 54 ) was prepared in the same manner as in example 8 except that 2 , 2 , 4 - trimethyl - 1 , 3 - pentanediol was replaced by an equal amount of 3 - ethyl - 1 , 3 - pentanediol . a recording liquid ( ink 55 ) was prepared in the same manner as in example 17 except that 2 , 2 , 4 - trimethyl - 1 , 3 - pentanediol was replaced by an equal amount of 2 , 4 - dimethyl - 1 , 5 - pentanediol . a recording liquid ( ink 56 ) was prepared in the same manner as in example 21 except that 2 , 2 , 4 - trimethyl - 1 , 3 - pentanediol was replaced by an equal amount of 1 , 6 - heptanediol . a recording liquid ( ink 57 ) was prepared in the same manner as in example 2 except that 2 - ethyl - 1 , 3 - hexanediol was replaced by an equal amount of 2 , 7 - octanediol . a recording liquid ( ink 58 ) was prepared in the same manner as in example 30 except that 2 - ethyl - 1 , 3 - hexanediol and 2 , 2 , 4 - trimethyl - 1 , 3 - pentanediol were replaced by 1 , 9 - nonanediol in an amount equal to the total amount thereof a recording liquid ( ink 59 ) was prepared in the same manner as in example 9 except that 2 - ethyl - 1 , 3 - hexanediol was replaced by an equal amount of 1 , 1 , 3 , 3 - tetramethyl - 1 , 3 - propanediol . a recording liquid ( ink 60 ) was prepared in the same manner as in example 1 except that 2 - ethyl - 1 , 3 - hexanediol was replaced by an equal amount of 1 , 10 - decanediol . a recording liquid ( ink 61 ) was prepared in the same manner as in example 37 except that 2 - ethyl - 1 , 3 - hexanediol was replaced by an equal amount of 3 , 8 - decanediol . a recording liquid ( ink 62 ) was prepared in the same manner as in example 6 except that 2 , 2 , 4 - trimethyl - 1 , 3 - pentanediol was replaced by an equal amount of 1 , 8 - octanediol . a recording liquid ( ink 63 ) was prepared in the same manner as in example 14 except that 2 - ethyl - 1 , 3 - hexanediol was replaced by an equal amount of 2 , 4 , 6 - trimethyl - 1 , 7 - heptanediol . a recording liquid ( ink 64 ) was prepared in the same manner as in example 4 except that the compound ( 1 )- 5 was replaced by 6 wt . % of a compound represented by formula ( 4 ). the materials in the following composition were mixed and stirred , and then the ph was adjusted to 8 with a 10 % aqueous solution of lithium hydroxide . then , the mixture was filtrated with a membrane filter having an average pore size of 0 . 1 μm , and thus a recording liquid ( ink 65 ) was obtained . a recording liquid ( ink 66 ) was prepared in the same manner as in example 5 except that the compounds ( 1 )- 1 and ( 1 )- 3 were replaced by ion exchanged water in an amount equal to the total amount thereof . a recording liquid ( ink 67 ) was prepared in the same manner as in example 5 except that the compounds ( 1 )- 1 and ( 1 )- 3 were replaced by 2 - ethyl - 1 , 3 - hexanediol in an amount equal to the total amount thereof . a recording liquid ( ink 68 ) was prepared in the same manner as in example 15 except that the compound ( 1 )- 1 was replaced by an equal amount of 2 , 2 , 4 - trimethyl - 1 , 3 - pentanediol . a recording liquid ( ink 69 ) was prepared in the same manner as in example 21 except that instead of 2 , 2 , 4 - trimethyl - 1 , 3 - pentanediol , the compound ( 2 )- 1 was further added such that the amount thereof was 3 wt . %, and the remaining amount was for ion exchanged water . next , the following tests were conducted with respect to the inks obtained in the examples and the comparative examples . the recording apparatuses ( a ), ( b ), and ( c ) as described below were used . evaluation recording apparatus ( a ) inkjet printer with a piezo system having a plurality of nozzles , each of which ejects in an amount of 23 pl per droplet , and has a dot density of droplets on plain paper of 600 dpi as the maximum dot density . evaluation recording apparatus ( b ) inkjet printer with a thermal system having a plurality of nozzles , each of which ejects in an amount of 4 pl per droplet from each nozzle , and has a dot density of droplets on plain paper of 1200 dpi as the maximum dot density . evaluation recording apparatus ( c ) inkjet printer with a piezo system having 48 nozzles with a 360 dpi pitch that can control the ejection amount per droplet to either 4 pl , 7 pl , or 11 pl , and has a dot density of droplets on plain paper of 720 dpi as the maximum dot density . letters are printed on my paper ( a sizing degree of 12 s and an air permeability of 16 s ) manufactured by nbs ricoh co ., ltd as the recording medium , and after drying , the bleeding of the images , the tone , and the density were observed visually and measured with a reflection type color spectrophotometer / calorimeter / densitometer ( manufactured by x - rite ) for integrated evaluation . a paper filter was pressed onto printed solid images on the recording media at a pressure of 0 . 1 kg / cm 2 and the time until ink was no longer transferred to the paper filter was measured . s : dried in 3 or more and not more than 20 seconds solid images are formed on the recording media such that the density with each ink color measured by a reflection type color spectrophotometer / calorimeter / densitometer ( manufactured by x - rite ) is 1 . 0 . these images are visually observed from the back face for evaluation . vg : the boundary between the solid images and white portions is completely indistinct and no problem is caused when letters are printed on both faces . g : the boundary between the solid images and white portions is almost indistinct and no problem is caused when letters are printed on both faces . s : the coloring agent of the solid images does not penetrate to the back , but the boundary between the solid images and white portions is slightly indistinct and no problem is caused when letters are printed on both faces . p : the coloring agent of the solid images penetrates to the back , and images cannot be printed on both faces . the images formed with each ink on the recording media were rubbed with fingers , cloth , an eraser , and a marking pen 30 seconds after printing , and how the images look was observed visually for evaluation . vg : the recording medium is uniformly colored with ink even when observing enlarged images . g : the recording medium is uniformly colored with ink as long as images are observed visually . s : the recording medium is non - uniformly colored with ink even when images are observed visually . p : the recording medium is colored with ink so non - uniformly that portions without color can be recognized on the surface of the medium at visual observation . the ink was stored at 60 ° c . for 7 days while being set to an inkjet printer . then , evaluation was performed based on the cleaning operation of a conventionally known inkjet printer . letters were printed on the following media using the ink obtained in example 14 for evaluation . example 39 : xerox paper r ( sizing degree 8s , air permeability 20s ) manufactured by xerox corporation example 40 : reflex ( sizing degree 25s , air permeability 4s ) manufactured by australian paper ( australia ) example 41 : nbs copying and printing paper 90k ( sizing degree 60s , air permeability 68s ) manufactured by nbs ricoh co ., ltd example 42 : pb paper ( sizing degree 21s , air permeability 8s ) manufactured by canon inc . example 43 : nbs copying and printing paper 45k ( sizing degree 11s , air permeability 45s ) manufactured by nbs ricoh co ., ltd . example 44 : yamayuri ( sizing degree 12s , air permeability 21s ) manufactured by honshu seishi kabushiki kaisha example 45 : shigen ppc paper type s ( sizing degree 22s , air permeability 13s ) manufactured by ricoh co ., ltd . example 46 : xerox p - paper ( sizing degree 24s , air permeability 19s ) manufactured by xerox corporation example 47 : multiace ( sizing degree 25s , air permeability 17s ) manufactured by xerox corporation example 48 : xerox 4024 paper ( sizing degree 32s , air permeability 21s ) manufactured by xerox corporation letters were printed on the following media using the ink obtained in example 24 for evaluation example 49 : xerox paper r ( sizing degree 8s , air permeability 20s ) manufactured by xerox corporation example 50 : reflex ( sizing degree 25s , air permeability 4s ) manufactured by australian paper ( australia ) example 51 : nbs copying and printing paper 90k ( sizing degree 60s , air permeability 68s ) manufactured by nbs ricoh co ., ltd . example 52 : pb paper ( sizing degree 21s , air permeability 8s ) manufactured by canon inc . example 53 : nbs copying and printing paper 45k ( sizing degree 11s , air permeability 45s ) manufactured by nbs ricoh co ., ltd . example 54 : yamayuri ( sizing degree 12s , air permeability 21s ) manufactured by honshu seishi kabushiki kaisha example 55 : shigen ppc paper type s ( sizing degree 22s , air permeability 13s ) manufactured by ricoh co ., ltd . example 56 : xerox p - paper ( sizing degree 24s , air permeability 19s ) manufactured by xerox corporation example 57 : multiace ( sizing degree 25s , air permeability 17s ) manufactured by xerox corporation example : 58 xerox 4024 paper ( sizing degree 32s , air permeability 21s ) manufactured by xerox corporation the present invention provides a recording liquid having high permeability , and excellent ejection and jet stability and storage stability , and provides a recording liquid cartridge containing this recording liquid . using this recording liquid cartridge , a recording method and a recording apparatus that can form images having high image density , high - speed properties , and excellent quality with hardly penetrating to the back under high safety can be provided . thus , the contribution of the present invention to the recording field is significant . the invention may be embodied in other forms without departing from the spirit or essential characteristics thereof . the embodiments disclosed in this application are to be considered in all respects as illustrative and not limiting . the scope of the invention is 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 intended to be embraced therein .	2
the invention disclosed herein is embodied in three rim designs which are illustrated in fig5 and 7 . the inventive concept is to make the rim more of a truss type construction than prior art . fig5 shows a single &# 34 ; hole &# 34 ; ( e . g ., annular space ) design optimized for the xt140 high strength aluminum / lithium alloy material . this embodiment represents the easiest section to produce , however , it sacrifices some on weight and stiffness . this embodiment is referred to hereafter as design # 1 . fig6 and 7 are two variations of a preferred three &# 34 ; hole &# 34 ; ( e . g ., three annular spaces ) rim embodiment . these are clearly more of a lightweight truss configuration than prior art . these embodiments are somewhat more difficult to manufacture but provide more efficient sections with lower weight and higher stiffness possibilities than the embodiment shown in fig5 ( design # 1 ). the section embodiment in fig6 hereafter referred to as design # 2 , is optimized for xt140 high strength aluminum / lithium alloy . the section in fig7 hereafter referred to as design # 3 , is optimized for a medium strength aluminum alloy such as 6061 - t6 . each embodiment is made by conventional processes , namely , extruding the metal through an extrusion die having the desired open cross - sectional area ( fig5 or 7 ) cutting to length , shaping the extrusion into an annulus and joining the ends by fusion welding and then heat treating ( see fig9 ). fig5 shows the key areas making up the section for the first embodiment and the discussion . area ( a ) is the lip of the rim section that interfaces with the tire bead ( tb ). the interior part of the lip has basically the same shape as prior art designs to insure that this design will be compatible with existing tires on the market . this disclosure makes no claims concerning this area of the lip . however , other parts of the lip have been increased slightly , over prior art designs , to improve the overall bending stiffness of the section . areas ( b ), ( c ) and ( e ) serve three basic functions for the rim . first , these areas serve as a primary load transfer path for the tire bead , casing and rim pressure loads . second , they provide the bearing surface for caliper brake pads . third , the geometry of area ( b ) positions the bead of the tire further outboard from the rim center - line , compared to prior art design ( for current competition rims ), to achieve greater lateral stability for the tire during hard cornering and side skidding maneuvers . area ( b ) is angled outboard ( by approximatley 18 . 8 degrees , fig5 ) rather than vertical , to reduce weight in the bottom part of the rim section . a vertical member would require the base of the section to be widened to accommodate the same opening at the lip . a vertical member would also have to resist increased bending loading from the tire air pressure or more accurately the tire casing tension . the tire casing pulls the tire bead on each side upwards and outward . the larger the tire section is , and the higher the air pressure used , the larger this force is . the sidewall of the rim has to resist this as a cantilever bending stress . the invention uses an angled rim ( approximately 18 . 8 degrees , see fig5 ) sidewall which is more nearly in line with the pulling direction of the tire casing , resulting in significantly reduced cantilever bending stress in the sidewall . the traditional vertical or nearly vertical rim sidewall is more perpendicular to the pulling direction of the tire casing and thus experiences increased loading , resulting in shorter life or a heavier design . areas ( b ) and ( c ) are designed as variable thickness &# 34 ; beams &# 34 ; to structurally tie the tire bead ( tb ) to the torque tube &# 34 ; box &# 34 ; section of the rim ( d - c &# 39 ;- e &# 39 ;- f &# 39 ;- g &# 39 ;- h - g - f - e - c ). the thickness profiles for areas ( b ) and ( c ) are optimized to provide the minimum section possible for handling the expected tire loads . these areas are optimized for both strength and stiffness . extra material is added to these areas ( including area e ) to allow the wearing away of material by the brake pads , without detrimentally effecting the safety of the structure . areas ( c ) and ( e ) are provided with generous interior fillets to reduce local stresses and the possibility of fatigue cracking in the region . area ( d ) serves principally as a simple tension web and an inner air pressure reacting member . this member structurally ties areas ( c ) and ( c &# 39 ;), helping to relieve areas ( e ), ( f ), ( g ) and ( h ) from high bending stresses . area ( d ) also supports the pressure from the inner tube and helps to form a closed torque box section ( d - c &# 39 ;- e &# 39 ;- f &# 39 ;- g &# 39 ;- h - g - f - e - c ). this box section provides the torsional rigidity of the rim section . unlike prior art designs ( see fig2 and 3 ), area ( d ) is designed to be flat rather than concave . this increases the lateral stiffness of the section , reduces weight and also improves the torsion stiffness of the box section . areas ( e ) and ( f ) also form a part of the torque box previously mentioned . these areas include generous interior filets to reduce local stresses and the possibility of fatigue cracking . the thickness profile in this region has been optimized to reduce weight . the areas ( e ) and ( f ) are designed to transfer the load from the spokes to the base of the cantilever loaded side walls as directly as possible , while retaining adequate braking contact , angle and stiffness . this improves rim rigidity and increases strength over the less direct shapes illustrated in figs . ( 2 ), ( 3 ) and ( 4 ). area ( g - h - g &# 39 ;) supports the spoke loads and contributes to the overall bending stiffness of the section . spoke reinforcement ridges are provided by areas g and g &# 39 ; to locally reinforce the spoke holes ( sh ). these ridges prevent the formation of radial fatigue cracks around the spoke holes from excessive flexing in this area . they also are in contact with the spoke nipple heads on each side of the spoke nipple , providing larger contact area than prior art designs , and distributing the spoke tension loads more uniformly to the rim ( close to the spoke hole ). area ( e - f - g - f &# 39 ;- e &# 39 ;) is under great stress from the spoke loads . the traditional rim design has been a generally rectangular box section rim . the spoke is attached through one of the long sides of the box . the manufacturer either uses a double ferrule to tie the upper and lower rim surfaces together , or uses a much heavier wall on the lower surface . the trouble is that a tension load pulling perpendicular to a flat surface easily deforms and strains that surface . the most common form of fatigue failure in these conventional rims consists of longitudinal cracks developing adjacent to the spoke holes . the invention takes on a nearly triangular or &# 34 ; v &# 34 ; shape . the idea is to stress the rim walls in tension within the plane of the walls , instead of bending them out of plane . the walls are much stronger in this condition and , therefore , do not have to be made nearly as heavy . the spoke area needs reinforcement due to the spoke hole stresses . because of this , a heavier wall straight section is provided at the base ( g ). section ( e ) needs to be shaped , for braking surface function , however , section ( f ) proceeds directly upward to the lower portion of the braking surface from the edge of the spoke nipple , thus allowing it to be light weight and yet retain high strength and rigidity . there are road rims made with a fundamentally triangular or &# 34 ; v &# 34 ; shaped lower sections . these have principally been designed for aerodynamics . in most cases they are not as light as the best traditional road rims . they also do not incorporate the straight section ( d ) or angled sidewalls ( b ). these aerodynamic road rims demonstrate improved stiffness and durability over the standard rim sections . the typical fatigue failure in these consists of lateral cracks originating at the spoke hole due to bending flexure of the whole rim section . fig6 and 7 describe two 3 - hole rim design concepts . the two sections are basically the same except for local thickness variations in certain areas . the concept shown in fig6 is a minimum weight design , optimized for high strength xt140 aluminum / lithium alloy . the concept shown in fig7 is a slightly heavier design , optimized for a medium strength aluminum alloy . since the two embodiments are so similar , this discussion applies to both . either fig6 or fig7 may be referred to for this discussion . for this rim design , three torque &# 34 ; tube &# 34 ; regions are formed within the section . these regions , identified as c - e - h - g - f - d , c &# 39 ;- d &# 39 ;- f &# 39 ;- g &# 39 ;- h &# 39 ;- e &# 39 ; and i - h &# 39 ;- g &# 39 ;- f &# 39 ;- j &# 39 ;- k &# 39 ;- l - k - j - f - g - h are highly resistant to torsion . these built - in torque tubes contribute significantly to the torsional rigidity of the entire section . the internal fillets of these torque tubes are provided with generous radiuses to reduce the local stresses and the possibility of fatigue cracking . area ( a ) denotes the rim lip which interfaces with the tire bead ( tb ). the interior part of the lip is configured basically the same as prior art designs to assure that the rim section will be compatible with existing tires on the market . this disclosure make no claims for this area of the lip . however , other parts of the lip have been increased slightly , over prior art designs , to increase the overall bending stiffness of the rim . areas ( b ), ( c ) and ( e ) of the section provide the same basic functions with the same advantages as described above for design # 1 , namely : 1 ) primary load transfer path for the tire - bead and rim - pressure loads . 3 ) geometry of area ( b ) positions the bead of the tire further outboard from the rim center - line to achieve greater tire stability . 4 ) geometry of area ( b ) reduces the stress levels in the sidewall due to tire casing forces . areas ( b ) and ( c ) are designed as a variable thickness &# 34 ; beam &# 34 ; to structurally tie the tire bead ( tb ) to the first or upper torque tube ( c - e - h - g - f - d ) of the rim . the thickness profiles for areas ( b ) and ( c ) are optimized to provide the minimum section possible to handle the expected loads while minimizing lateral displacements . extra material is added to these areas , including area ( d ), to allow for material wear ( from braking ) without detrimentally effecting the structure . area ( c ) is provided with a generous interior fillet to reduce local stresses in the region and the possibility of fatigue cracking . area ( i ) serves primarily as a simple tension web , connecting the two upper torque tubes . this relieves area l from high bending stresses . area ( i ) also supports the pressure from the inner tube and helps to form the larger torque tube section . unlike prior art designs ( see fig2 and 3 ), area l is designed to be flat rather than arched . this increases the lateral stiffness and structural integrity of the section while reducing mass . area ( k - l - k &# 39 ;) supports the spoke loads . spoke ridges are provided at areas ( k ) and ( k &# 39 ;) for local reinforcement . this material helps to reduce the stresses in the vicinity of the spoke hole ( sh ). spoke nipple access holes snac are provided , one access hold for each spoke connection . the rims disclosed herein were evaluated using the finite element modeling method . this is a mathematical procedure for evaluating complex structures on a computer . this method is widely used in industry today . the objective of the analysis reported herein was to a ) evaluate the structural performance of the disclosed rim designs and b ) compare their performance to several leading , prior art rim designs considered to be the nearest competition . the finite element analysis ( fea ) method breaks the material continuum of a structure into a finite number of mathematical elements . these elements may be two or three dimensional beams , plates and shells or three dimensional solids . the deformation characteristics of these elements are defined in terms of their nodal displacements ( nodes are the connecting points of the finite elements ) and the forces externally applied to these nodes . by defining the material properties , the geometry of the finite element system , the locations and magnitudes of the applied forces and the boundary conditions of the structure , the displacement and stress distribution within the material continuum can be calculated . fig8 shows a typical model used for evaluating the rim designs discussed herein . the model represents a segment of the actual rim ( 45 degree arc ) with appropriate boundary conditions to simulate the effects of the remaining portion of the structure . the model takes advantage of symmetry to reduce the computer run time . the model contains approximately 6000 solid elements to represent the material continuum . externally applied loads include the tire bead load , spoke pre - load and the tire pressure load ( not shown in fig8 ). since this study was to be a comparative study , a common loading condition was set up for each rim evaluation . this loading condition consisted of the following : the results of the finite element analysis were obtained in terms of maximum nodal displacement and maximum vonmises stress . table 1 summarizes the results . table 1______________________________________summary of fea resultsdesign section vonmises nodei . d . area ( in 2 ) stress ( psi ) displacement ( in ) ______________________________________design # 1 0 . 139858 30 , 900 0 . 012056design # 2 0 . 131418 33 , 200 0 . 011707design # 3 0 . 139287 36 , 000 0 . 010909ref # 1 0 . 147887 38 , 900 0 . 016679ref # 2 0 . 121509 62 , 200 0 . 025287______________________________________ these results along with the weight properties of the rim section were used to rank the different rim designs . the following ranking parameters were used : the peak vonmises stress parameter was obtained directly from the fea results . this parameter represents the equivalent &# 34 ; tension stress &# 34 ; for a bi - axial stress field and can be compared to the yield and fatigue properties of the rim material under consideration . table 2 ranks the rim designs based upon the calculated peak vonmises stress values . the ranking goes from the lowest stress ( best ) to the highest ( worst ). table 2______________________________________design ranking based on vonmises stress peak vonmisesrank design i . d . stress ( psi ) ______________________________________1 design # 1 30 , 9002 design # 2 33 , 2003 design # 3 36 , 8004 reference # 1 38 , 9005 reference # 2 62 , 200______________________________________ the specific stiffness ratio is a factor that is derived to represent the efficiency of the section . the factor is calculated from , table 3 ranks the designs based upon the above rank value parameter . the ranking is from the highest rank value ( best ) to the lowest ( worst ). table 3______________________________________section efficiencyrank design rank value______________________________________1 design # 2 2 . 21902 design # 1 2 . 02473 design # 3 2 . 02204 ref # 1 1 . 24565 ref # 2 1 . 0000______________________________________ table 4 ranks the designs based upon the section weight . this can be calculated from the following : the ranking in table 4 goes from the lightest section ( best ) to the heaviest section ( worst ). the material density values assumed in the calculations were 0 . 1 lb / in 3 for medium strength aluminum alloy and 0 . 09 lb / in 3 for the high strength aluminum / lithium alloy . table 4______________________________________section weightrank design section wt . ( lbm / in ) ______________________________________1 design # 2 0 . 011832 ref # 2 0 . 012153 design # 1 0 . 012594 design # 3 0 . 013935 ref # 1 0 . 01479______________________________________ the results of the finite element analysis show that the rim designs encompassed by this invention are significantly more efficient than the referenced , prior art designs . the disclosed rim section designs provide lower stress levels and higher stiffness values than the reference rim designs , for the same loading conditions . these designs accomplish this at nearly the same section weight as the lightest prior art rim design currently on the market . additional improvement to the disclosed design is possible by moving item d ( fig5 ) and item i ( fig6 ) up higher in the section . this will , in effect , reduce the cantilever action of the sides of the rim , making them stiffer and stronger . this will also increase the bottom cavity size of the rim thereby increasing its torsional stiffness . however , experience has shown that this will make changing the tire more difficult and hence is a less preferred embodiment and a trade - off that must be considered . the invention as depicted allows for easier tire changing than prior art designs . a foldable or wire bead type tire casing of the appropriate size can be installed by hand using no tire levers or other implements .	1
the invention provides compositions including crosslinked lipase crystals that are unexpectedly active following exposure to harsh conditions associated with the upper gastrointestinal tract . these conditions include the acidic environment ( i . e ., the low ph ) of the stomach and high levels of proteases present in the gastrointestinal tract . in preferred embodiments , the compositions are provided in long - lasting compositions that pass through the highly acidic gastric environment of the stomach and allow for delivery of the enzymes in the composition to the intestines of a subject . the amylase and protease components can be provided in crystalline or amorphous , non - crystalline forms . the latter enzymes degrade carbohydrates and proteins present in the intestinal regions . because of the enhanced stability of the crosslinked lipase crystals , the pharmaceutical compositions of the invention have a higher specific activities in the gastrointestinal tract . as a result , they can be administered in lower amounts per dose , and can be administered fewer times over the course of a treatment regimen , at lower doses , and in fewer administrations . the invention provides a composition that includes a lipase crystal , a protease and an amylase . the lipase crystal is preferably present in the composition as a crosslinked crystal . in general , any lipase can be used in the composition , as long as it can be provided in a crosslinked crystalline form that resists proteolytic degradation and is stable in low ph . in various embodiments , the lipase is provided as a crosslinked crystal that is stable at a ph less than 7 , 6 , 5 , 4 . 5 , 4 , 3 . 5 , 3 . 0 , 2 . 5 , 2 . 0 , 1 . 5 or less . the lipase can be isolated from a prokaryotic or a eukaryotic cell . preferably the lipase is from a non - fungal organism . a preferred source of the lipase is a pseudomonas bacterium . if desired , the lipase can be isolated from a cell which expresses a recombinant form of the lipase . lipase crystals are grown by methods known in the art , e . g . by the controlled precipitation of protein out of aqueous solution , or aqueous solution containing organic solvents , as described in , for example , u . s . pat . no . 5 , 618 , 710 . for example , lipase crystals can be produced by combining the lipase protein to be crystallized with an appropriate aqueous solvent or aqueous solvent containing appropriate precipitating agents , such as salts or organic agents . the solvent is combined with the lipase at a temperature determined experimentally to be appropriate for the induction of crystallization and acceptable for the maintenance of protein stability and activity . the solvent can optionally include co - solutes , such as divalent cations , co - factors or chaotropes , as well as buffer species to control ph . the need for and concentrations of co - solutes are determined experimentally to facilitate crystallization . in an industrial scale process , the controlled precipitation leading to crystallization can best be carried out by the simple combination of protein , precipitant , co - solutes , and optionally buffers in a batch process . alternative laboratory crystallization methods , such as dialysis or vapor diffusion can also be adapted . for example , mcpherson ( methods enzymol . 114 : 112 ( 1985 )), and gilliland ( j . crystal growth 90 : 51 - 59 ( 1988 )) include a comprehensive list of suitable conditions in reviews of the crystallization literature . occasionally , incompatibility between the cross - linking reagent and the crystallization medium might require exchanging the crystals into a more suitable solvent system . once crystals are grown in a suitable medium , they can be cross - linked . cross - linking results in stabilization of the crystal lattice by introducing covalent links between the constituent enzyme molecules in the crystal . this makes possible the transfer of enzyme into an alternate reaction environment that might otherwise be incompatible with the existence of the crystal lattice , or even with the existence of intact undenatured protein . the cross - linking interactions prevent the constituent enzyme molecules in the crystal from going back into solution , effectively insolubilizing or immobilizing the enzyme molecules into microcrystalline structures . the macroscopic , immobilized , insolubilized crystals can be readily separated from e . g ., feedstock containing product or unreacted substrate by simple procedures known in the art , e . g . filtration and / or decantation . cross - linking can be achieved by a wide variety of reagents , e . g ., glutaraldehyde . cross - linking with glutaraldehyde forms strong covalent bonds between primarily lysine amino acid residues within and between the enzyme molecules in the crystal lattice that constitute the crystal . the crosslinking agent can be a multifunctional crosslinking reagent . crosslinking agents are described in , for example , the 1999 edition of the pierce chemical company catalog . examples of suitable crosslinking agents include glutareldehyde , succinaldehyde , octanedialdehyde and glyoxal . additional multifunctional crosslinking agents include halo - triazines , e . g ., cyanuric chloride ; halo - pyrimidines , e . g ., 2 , 4 , 6 - trichlorolbromopyrimidine ; anhydrides or halides of aliphatic or aromatic mono - or di - carboxylic acids , e . g ., maleic anhydride , ( meth ) acryloyl chloride , chloroacetyl chloride ; n - methylol compounds , e . g ., n - methylol - chloro acetamide ; di - isocyanates or di - isothiocyanates , e . g ., phenylene - 1 , 4 - di - isocyanate and aziridines . other crosslinking agents include epoxides , such as , for example , di - epoxides , tri - epoxides and tetra - epoxides . such multifunctional crosslinking agents may also be used , at the same time ( in parallel ) or in sequence , with reversible crosslinking agents , such as dimethyl 3 , 3 ′- dithiobispropionimidate . hcl -( dtbp , pierce ), and dithiobis ( succinimidylpropionate ) ( dsp , pierce ). formulations and compositions including crystals according to this invention may be crosslinked for additional stability . this allows for the use of such crystals , crystal formulations and compositions in areas of ph extremes , such as the gastrointestinal tract of humans and animals . for example , lipase crystals , may be crosslinked using one of a variety of crosslinkers , including , but not limited to , dimethyl 3 , 3 ′- dithiobispropionimidate . hcl ( dtbp ), dithiobis ( succinimidylpropionate ) ( dsp ), bis maleimidohexane ( bmh ), bis [ sulfosuccinimidyl ] suberate ( bs ), 1 , 5 - difluoro - 2 , 4 - dinitrobenzene ( dfdnb ), dimethylsuberimidate . 2hcl ( dms ), disuccinimidyl glutarate ( dsg ), disulfosuccinimidyl tartarate ( sulfo - dst ), 1 - ethyl - 3 -[ 3 - dimethylaminopropyl ] carbodiimide hydrochloride ( edc ), ethylene glycolbis [ sulfosuccinimidylsuccinate ]( sulfo - egs ), n -[ g - maleimidobutyryloxy ] succinimide ester ( gmbs ), n - hydroxysulfosuccinimidyl - 4 - azidobenzoate ( sulfo - hsab ), sulfosuccinimidyl - 6 -[ a - methyl - a -( 2 - pyridyldithio ) toluamido ] hexanoate ( sulfo - lc - smpt ), bis -[ b -( 4 - azidosalicylamido ) ethyl ] disulfide ( based ) and glutaraldehyde ( ga ). in some embodiments , the lipase crystal is provided as a crystal in a powder form . the powder form can be produced , for example , by lyophilization or spray - drying . lyophilization , or freeze - drying , allows water to be separated from the composition , producing a crystal which can be stored at non - refrigerated ( room ) temperatures for extended periods of time , and which can be easily reconstituted in aqueous , organic , or mixed aqueous - organic solvents of choice without the formation of amorphous suspensions and with minimal risk of denaturation . carpenter , et al ., pharm . res ., 14 : 969 ( 1997 ). lyophilization may be performed as in u . s . pat . no . 5 , 618 , 710 , or by any other method known in the art . for example , the protein crystal is first frozen and then placed in a high vacuum where the crystalline water sublimes , leaving a protein crystal behind which contains only the tightly bound water molecules . because the cross - linked lipases described herein are stable against proteases , the preparations can be formulated in water and provided as aqueous slurry formulations , which is a preferred mode of administering lipases , especially to a pediatric subject . the catalytic activity of crystallized lipase can be measured using any method known in the art . for example , lipase activity can be determined spectrophotometrically as described in example 6 of u . s . pat . no . 5 , 618 , 710 . lipase activity can be determined by monitoring hydrolysis of the substrate p - nitrophenyl acetate . substrate cleavage is monitored by increasing absorbance at 400 nm , with an initial substrate concentration of 0 . 005 % and starting enzyme concentration of 1 . 5 × 10 − 8 m . lipase enzyme is added to a 5 ml reaction volume containing substrate in 0 . 2 m tris ph 7 . 0 at room temperature . crystalline lipase is removed from the reaction mixture by centrifugation prior to measuring absorbance . alternatively , lipase activity can be measured in vitro by hydrolysis of olive oil as describe in examples 2 - 4 of u . s . pat . no . 5 , 614 , 189 . lipase activity can also be measured in vivo . for example , a small volume ( about 3 ml ) of olive oil or corn oil can be labeled with 99 tc -( v ) thiocyanate , and crystalline lipase can be labeled with 111 in . the labeled fat is mixed with an animal food on to which is sprinkled the labeled crystalline lipase . scintigraphic images of the proximal and distal stomach and small intestine are obtained until & lt ; 5 % of the activity remains in the stomach . emptying curves for each of the isotopes ( e . g ., percent retention in the stomach over time ) and amounts of isotopes entering the proximal , middle , and distal small bowel from the respective regions of interest are determined . preferably , the composition includes a crosslinked crystalline lipase that has a high specific activity . a high specific activity lipase activity is typically one that shows a specific activity to triolein ( olive oil ) at greater than 500 , 1000 , 4000 , 5000 , 6000 , 7000 , 8000 , or 9000 or more units / mg protein . a preferred lipase is also stable for an extended period of time in a harsh environment found in gastrointestinal regions , e . g ., gastric , duodenal and intestinal regions . for example , the lipase is preferably stable for at least one hour in acidic ph , e . g ., an environment in which the ph is less than 7 , 6 , 5 , 4 . 5 , 4 , 3 . 5 , 3 . 0 , 2 . 5 , 2 . 0 , 1 . 5 or less . alternatively , or in addition , the crosslinked crystalline lipase crystal in the composition is heat resistant . for example , in various embodiments , the crosslinked crystalline lipase in various embodiments is stable for at least one hour at 30 ° c ., 35 ° c ., 37 ° c ., 40 ° c ., 42 ° c . or even 45 ° c . preferably , the composition is stable in the harsh environment , e . g ., the acidic environments or high temperature environments , or both , for at least 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 , or 12 or more hours . by “ stable ” is meant that the lipase crystal is more active than the soluble form of the lipase for the given condition and time . thus , a stable lipase crystal retains a higher percentage of its initial activity than the corresponding soluble form of the lipase . in some embodiments , the lipase crystal is more active than the non - cross - linked crystalline form of the lipase . in some embodiments , the lipase crystal retains at least 50 % of its activity after exposure to the given conditions and time . in some embodiments , the lipase retains 60 %, 65 %, 75 %, 85 %, 90 %, or more of its activity . the composition is preferably also provided with a protease . any protease known in the art can be use in the composition . preferred proteases are trypsin , bromelain , papain , fungal proteases , or a combination of these proteases . the composition is preferably also provided with an amylase or with both a protease and an amylase . the amylase can be from any suitable prokaryotic or eukaryotic host . preferred amylases include those from bacillus or aspergillus species . additionally , either the protease , amylase , or both , may be provided in the crystalline form or in a lyophilized form . while the protease , amylase , or both , can be provided in the lyophilized form , in preferred embodiments these are present in non - crystalline , i . e ., amorphous , forms . if desired , additional components can be present in the composition . these components can include , e . g ., an esterase . pharmaceutical compositions containing acid - stable crosslinked lipase crystals , a protease , and an amylase also included in the invention is a pharmaceutical composition which includes an acid stable , proteolytic - resistant lipase , a protease and an amylase . preferably , the lipase is provided in a crystalline form , e . g ., a crosslinked crystalline form . the term “ pharmaceutically acceptable ” means approved by a regulatory agency of the federal or a state government or listed in the u . s . pharmacopoeia or other generally recognized pharmacopoeia for use in animals and , more particularly , in humans . the term “ carrier ” refers to a diluent , adjuvant , excipient , or vehicle with which the therapeutic is administered . typical excipients , include sugars and biocompatible polymers . examples of excipients are described in the handbook of pharmaceutical excipients , published jointly by the american pharmaceutical association and the pharmaceutical society of great britain . representative excipients include sucrose , trehalose , lacitol , gelatin , hydroxypropyl - β - cyclodextrin , methoxypolyethylene glycol , and polyethylene glycol . if the composition is to be provided in capsule or tablet form , a diluent may be included . typical diluents include , e . g ., calcium carbonate , dibasic calcium phosphate , tribasic calcium phosphate , calcium sulfate , microcrystalline cellulose , powdered cellulose , dextrates , dextrin , dextrose excipient , fructose , kaolin , lactose , mannitol , sorbitol , starch , pregelatinized starch , sucrose , compressible sugar , confectionery sugar . preferably , the pharmaceutical composition is formulated for oral delivery . in some embodiments , the lipase , protease , and amylase composition is present in the pharmaceutical composition in association with a polymeric carrier . in one embodiment , a slow release composition containing a cross linked crystal lipase is formed . the formulation of crosslinked lipase crystals , lyophilized amylase , lyophilized protease and a polymeric carrier allows for an acid - resistant controlled release capsule that results in delivery of the enzymes in effective amounts and at low doses to the intestine , e . g ., the distal bowel , following oral ingestion . furthermore , lipase crystals encapsulated within polymeric carriers to form microspheres can be dried by lyophilization . a polymeric carrier can include , e . g ., polymers used for encapsulation of protein crystals for delivery of proteins , including controlled release biological delivery . such polymers include biocompatible and biodegradable polymers . preferably , the polymeric carrier is a biodegradable polymer . biodegradable polymers are polymers that degrade by hydrolysis or solubilization . degradation can be heterogeneous , i . e ., occurring primarily at the particle surface , or homogenous , i . e ., degrading evenly throughout the polymer matrix , or a combination of such processes . the polymeric carrier may be a single polymer type or it may be composed of a mixture of polymer types . to protect the lipase , protease , and amylase from the harsh environment of the gastrointestinal tract , the composition is preferably encapsulated within a matrix of the polymeric carrier . microspheres are produced when protein crystals are encapsulated in at least one polymeric carrier to form microspheres by virtue of encapsulation within the matrix of the polymeric carrier to preserve their native and biologically active tertiary structure . the crystals can be encapsulated using various biocompatible and / or biodegradable polymers having unique properties which are suitable for delivery to different biological environments or for effecting specific functions . the rate of dissolution and , therefore , delivery of active protein is determined by the particular encapsulation technique , polymer composition , polymer crosslinking , polymer thickness , polymer solubility , protein crystal geometry and degree and , if any , of protein crystal crosslinking . the crystal ( s ) may be encapsulated using a variety of polymeric carriers having unique properties suitable for delivery to different and specific environments or for effecting specific functions . the rate of dissolution of the compositions and , therefore , delivery of the active protein can be modulated by varying crystal size , polymer composition , polymer crosslinking , crystal crosslinking , polymer thickness , polymer hydrophobicity , polymer crystallinity or polymer solubility . in some embodiments , the pharmaceutical composition is provided as a controlled release composition . for example , the composition can be one in which at least 25 %, 50 %, 75 %, 80 %, 85 %, 90 %, or even 95 % or more of the composition remains encapsulated within the matrix following exposure of the polymeric carrier to an acidic environment for an extended period of time , e . g , an acidic environment having a ph less than 7 , 6 , 5 , 4 . 5 , 4 , 3 . 5 , 3 . 0 , 2 . 5 , 2 . 0 , 1 . 5 , or less for at least one hour . in some embodiments , the composition is retained in the acidic conditions for 2 , 3 , 4 , 6 , 10 , 12 , or 24 or more hours . in various embodiments , the pharmaceutical composition is administered to a subject prior to , simultaneous with , or following ingestion of food by the subject . the subject to which the composition is administered preprandially , prandially , or postprandially can be , e . g ., a human , dog , cat , mouse , rat , horse , cow , or other mammal . also included in the invention are methods for treating or preventing gastrointestinal disorders in a mammal . according to this method , a therapeutically effective to amount of a crosslinked crystalline lipase , protease , amylase composition is administered to a subject in need of treatment . the subject to can be e . g ., a human , dog , cat , mouse , rat , horse , cow , or other mammal . preferably , the composition is administered orally , e . g ., at mealtime . for example , the composition can be administered just before , just after , or while eating . the compositions of the invention can be used to treat or prevent , for example , pancreatitis , pancreatic insufficiency , fat malabsorption , low lipase secretion , and gastrointestinal complications associated with cystic fibrosis . the methods of this invention can be also be used to treat any condition characterized by inadequate amounts of or ineffective lipase . such conditions include steatorrhea , essential fatty acid deficiency , failure to thrive , and fat - soluble vitamin deficiency . the effectiveness of the method of treatment can be assessed by measuring and comparing the coefficient of fat absorption ( cfa ) in healthy individuals with that of the subject being treated according to the methods of this invention . for example , a healthy mammal has a cfa greater than 90 %. subjects suffering from a gastrointestinal disorder characterized by pancreatic deficiency , pancreatitis , fat malabsorption or low lipase secretion , will typically have a cfa of less than 60 %. preferably , the methods of this invention are employed to increase the cfa of a subject in need of treatment to at least 60 %. more preferably , the cfa is increased to greater than 80 %. most preferably , the cfa is increased to greater than 85 %. an alternative means for measuring the efficacy of treatment of a subject according to the methods of this invention is by performing a 72 hour stool test . for example , effective treatment according to the invention decreases stool fat content in an adult human subject to less than 7 grams a day . the invention will be further illustrated in the following non - limiting examples . the activity of burkholderia cepacia lipase was determined by titrating the released fatty acids from olive oil against sodium hydroxide as described by u . s . pharmacopeia ( assay for lipase activity in pancreatin , u . s . pat . no . 24 , 2000 , 1254 - 1255 ). the lipase activity in usp units was calculated by comparison to the activity of the standard , using the lipase activity stated on the label of usp pancreatin lipase rs . one usp unit of lipase activity is the amount of enzyme that liberates 1 . 0μ eq of acid per minute at ph 9 . 0 and 37 ° c . under the conditions of the assay for lipase activity . lipase activity was measured using an olive oil assay . lipase supernatant sample were assessed for activity against olive oil in ph 7 . 7 buffer . the assay was carried out titrimetrically using slight modifications to the procedure described in pharmaceutical enzymes — properties and assay methods , ruyssen and lauwers , ( eds . ), scientific publishing company , ghent , belgium ( 1978 ). 1 . olive oil emulsion : 16 . 5 gm of gum arabic ( sigma ) was dissolved in 180 ml of water and 20 ml of olive oil ( sigma ) and emulsified using a quick prep mixer for 3 minutes . 5 . mix : 40 ml of solution a was combined with 20 ml of solution b and 100 ml of h 2 o ; the substrate was prepared by adding 50 ml of olive oil emulsion ( solution 1 ) to 40 ml of mix ( solution 5 ) and 10 ml of 0 . 5 % albumin ( solution 6 ). the lipase substrate solution ( solution 7 ) was warmed to 37 ° c . in a water bath . first , 20 ml of substrate was added to a reaction vessel and the ph was adjusted to 7 . 7 using 0 . 05 m naoh ( solution 2 ) and equilibrated to 37 ° c . with stirring . the reaction was initiated by adding enzyme . the reaction progress was monitored by titrating the mixture of enzyme and substrate with 0 . 05 m naoh to maintain the ph at 7 . 7 . the specific activity ( μmoles / min / mg protein ) was equal to the initial rate × 1000 × concentration of the titrant / the amount of enzyme . the zero point was determined by running the reaction without enzyme , i . e ., using buffer in the place of enzyme in the reaction mixture . the initial rate was equal to base consumption in ml / time in min . the blank was a sample without enzyme , i . e ., buffer was used instead of enzyme in the reaction mixture . the activity of proteases was determined by using casein as a substrate in a procedure as described by u . s . pharmacopeia ( assay for protease activity in pancreatin , u . s . pat . no . 24 , 2000 , 1254 - 1255 ). the protease activity in usp units was calculated by comparison to the activity of the standard , using the protease activity stated on the label is of usp pancreatin amylase and protease rs . one usp unit of protease activity is the amount of enzyme that hydrolyzes casein at an initial rate such that an amount of peptide ( that is not precipitated by trichloroacetic acid ) is liberated per minute that gives the same absorbance at 280 nm as 15 nmol of tyrosine under the conditions of the assay for protease activity . the activity of amylases was determined using starch as substrate as described by u . s . pharmacopeia ( assay for amylase activity in pancreatin , u . s . pat . no . 24 , 2000 , 1254 - 1255 ). the amylase activity in usp units was calculated by comparison to the activity of the standard , using the amylase activity stated on the label of usp pancreatin amylase and protease rs . one usp unit of amylase activity is the amount of enzyme that decomposes starch at an initial rate such that 0 . 16 meq of glycosidic linkage is hydrolyzed per minute under the conditions of the assay for amylase activity . the lipase from burkholderia cepacia ( lipase ps 3000 - amano ) (“ lps ”, 150 gm ) was dissolved in 1000 ml distilled deionized water and dialyzed against water overnight with three changes . to the protein , tert - butanol was added to a final concentration of 25 % and 1m sodium acetate buffer was added to a final concentration of 10 mm , followed by centrifugation to remove the precipitate that had formed after 1 hour . the crystals of lipase started forming in 15 min . crystallization was then allowed to proceed for 16 hrs before harvesting . more than 95 % yield ( based on activity ) was obtained by this procedure . the crystals were rod shaped and fairly uniform in size ( approximately 10 - 15 μm in length ) and shape when observed under light microscope , and as measured by a coulter ls particle size analyzer . crosslinking of lipase crystals was carried out using 2 mm bis ( sulfosuccinimidyl ) suberate bs (“ bs ”) in mother liquor ( 25 % tert - butanol at ph 8 . 5 in 50 mm phosphate buffer ). crosslinking was carried out at 4 ° c . overnight ( 16 hrs ) with tumbling . after 16 hours , the slurry was centrifuged at 3000 rpm and the supernatant was discarded . the crosslinking was terminated by washing off excess reagent with mother liquor in the presence of 10 mm tris . hcl to inactivate the any unreactive cross - linker . finally , the cross - linked burkholderia cepacia enzyme complex ( clec - bc ) was washed thoroughly with 10 mm sodium acetate buffer , ph 4 . 5 and stored at 4 ° c . the crystal integrity of the formulations was monitored by inspection under a light microscope and by coulter counter analysis for particle size measurement . the rod shape of the crystals and their size remained unchanged after crosslinking . the fourier transform infrared ( ftir ) spectra of soluble , crosslinked , and noncrosslinked lipase crystals were collected on a nicolet model 550 magna series spectrometer as described by dong et al . in biochemistry 31 : 9364 - 70 ( 1992 ) and in j . pharm . sci . : 84 : 415 - 24 ( 1995 ). the noncrosslinked lipase crystal slurry and clec - bc slurry samples ( about 5 to 10 mg / ml each ) were placed on a zinc selenide crystal of ark esp . the spectra were collected and processed using grams 32 from galactic software for the determination of relative areas of the individual components of secondary structure using second derivative and curve - fitting program under the amide i region ( 1600 - 1700 cm − 1 ). both noncrosslinked soluble lipase and clec - bc gave identical spectra without any major changes in secondary structure . the activity of cross - linked enzyme burkholderia cepacia (“ bc ”) crystals was examined . clec - bc crosslinked with bis ( sulfosuccinimidyl ) suberate ( bs ) is active . the clec - bc crosslinked with bs was approximately ˜ 50 % active when compared to noncrosslinked soluble lipase ( table 1 ). the activities of the soluble lipase and the crosslinked lipase were compared using both the usp method ( example i ) and olive oil - release ( example 2 ) method . the activity of the clec - bc was determined at various ph levels using end point titration . the activities were determined at ph 2 . 0 , ph 4 . 5 , ph 5 . 5 , ph 6 . 5 , ph 7 . 7 and ph 9 . 0 . the samples were titrated using ph stat for 15 min at the above - mentioned ph levels and then the ph of each sample was immediately raised to ph 7 . 7 , except for the ph 9 . 0 sample , which was measured as it was . in the cases where the ph was raised to 7 . 7 , the controls were run immediately without incubation for 15 minutes . clec - bc crosslinked with bis ( sulfosuccinimidyl ) suberate - bs was active at various ph levels tested . the clec - bc showed activity at various ph ranges . with the exception of ph 2 . 0 , at which only 25 % activity was observed , clec - bc showed high activity at all ph levels tested . the stability of clec - bc over time was examined . stability of the clec - bc was determined at different ph levels at 37 ° c . for 5 hours . the clecs were suspended in ph 2 . 0 ( glycine . hcl buffer ), ph 3 . 0 ( glycine . hcl buffer ), ph 4 . 0 ( acetate buffer ), ph 5 . 0 ( acetate buffer ), ph 6 . 0 ( phosphate buffer ), ph 7 . 0 ( phosphate buffer ), ph 8 . 0 ( phosphate buffer ), ph 9 . 0 ( carbonate bicarbonate buffer ), and ph 10 . 0 ( carbonate bicarbonate buffer ) separately for 5 hrs at 37 ° c . stability of the clecs was determined by estimating the activities of the clecs at time zero and at the end of 5 hours . stability of soluble bc enzyme was also examined at ph 2 . 0 over a time period of five hours . activity was measured as a percentage of starting activity . clec - bc was found to be stable at all ph values tested during the time range examined . the solubility of a bc - clec formulation was determined under acidic conditions using 10 mm glycine . hcl buffer , ph 2 . 0 . the clecs were washed with 10 mm glycine . hcl buffer , ph 2 . 0 , and suspended in the same buffer with tumbling at 37 ° c . for 5 hr . the crystal dissolution was examined by passing an aliquot through a 0 . 22 um filter . protein ( bradford &# 39 ; s method ) and lipolytic activity ( lipase assay using olive oil ) were determined in the filtrate ( soluble clec ) which gave the amount of crystals solubilized . for determining the activity of the crystals ( clec ), the soluble enzyme activity was subtracted from the total activity in the sample ( activity before filtration ). no significant leaching from clec - bc was observed at ph 2 . 0 . the solubility of the clec formulation was determined under acidic conditions using 10 mm glycine . hcl buffer , ph 2 . 0 . the clecs were washed with 10 mm glycine . hcl buffer , ph 2 . 0 , and suspended in the same buffer with tumbling at 37 ° c . for 5 hr . only 0 . 44 % leaching was observed over a period of 5 hours . stability against proteolytic degradation was assessed by incubating the clec with various proteases , such as pepsin ( which is present in the stomach ), and trypsin or chymotrypsin ( which are present in the duodenum ). in addition , protease bromelain was tested because it had been selected to be included in a combination therapy to substitute for protease in the pancreatic extract . each clec was incubated at 37 ° c . under gentle agitation in a solution of either 10 mm glycine . hcl buffer , ph 2 . 0 for pepsin or 10 mm phosphate buffer for trypsin / chymotrypsin , ph 7 . 0 or 10 mm acetate buffer , ph 5 . 5 for bromelain with a clec to protease ratio of 10 : 1 ( w / w ). aliquots were taken at every hour and measured for the residual lipolytic activity using olive oil as substrate . clec - bc showed high stability against pepsin treatment for 5 hours , without any loss of activity or crystal lattice . under similar conditions , the soluble lipase lost about 58 % activity . clec - bc showed no loss in activity after 5 hours incubation with trypsin , while soluble enzyme lost about 36 % activity in 4 hr under similar conditions . with chymotrypsin , clec - bc showed only 28 % loss in activity for 5 hours , while soluble lipase lost 82 % of activity in 5 hours at ph 7 . 0 . in addition , both clec - bc and soluble lipase were stable to proteolytic degradation by bromelain . efficacy and bioavailability studies were performed to demonstrate that administration of particles ( 5 - 20 μm diameter ) of clec - bc will correct steatorrhea in canines with pancreatic insufficiency . reduction of steatorrhea with clec - lipase is related to survival of lipolytic activity . slowing of gastric emptying , which occurs with high fat meals , enhances the mixing of the lipase with fat that leads to efficient fat digestion and absorption . for the studies , female mongrel dogs weighing between 18 - 21 kg were used . dogs were first anesthetized with an intravenous injection of thiopental sodium and then underwent endotracheal intubation . anesthesia was maintained by halothane gas . after celiotomy , both the minor and major pancreatic ducts were individually ligated , and all other tissue connections between the duodenum and the head of the pancreas were transected . during the balance studies , the dogs were fed two meals a day . with the first meal of the study , a carmine red marker was given . after appearance of carmine red in stool , a 72 - hour stool collection was started . fecal consistency ( grade 1 : well - formed , grade 2 : mushy or loose , grade 3 : watery ) and frequency were recorded and a fecal score was calculated by multiplying fecal consistency and frequency . the 72 - hour stool was analyzed for total weight , carbohydrate , fat , and protein . between studies , the dogs were maintained as described below for at least 3 - 7 days before beginning another fecal balance study . each dog ingested a high fat meal containing 850 kcal comprised of 21 , 43 and 36 % of calories , respectively , as carbohydrate , fat and protein . the basic meal was hill &# 39 ; s canned dog food ( hill &# 39 ; s pet products , topeka , kans .). it contained chicken , meat by - product , rice , ground corn , liver , animal fat , whole egg , turkey , soybean meal and cracked pearled barley . the meal was supplemented with 46 - g promod powder and minerals . a high fat meal ( high fat , high protein , and low carbohydrate ) was used . in addition , this meal was associated with the best coordination between solid meal emptying and lipase delivery to the duodenum . suzuki et al ., gastroenterology 12 : 2048 - 55 ( 1997 ); cornell , experiments with mixtures new york : wiley , ( 1981 ); boivin et al ., gastroenterology 99 : 1763 - 1771 ( 1990 ). to adjust the mineral content so that the mineral requirement per day was nearly equal among the meals , 1 . 7 g na3 ( c6h507 ) and 2 . 0g kcl was added to the meal . overall content of mineral was as follows : ca - 2088 mg , na - 170 mg , k - 2108 mg , cl - 1869 mg , p - 1699 mg , mg - 180 mg . between studies , dogs were fed canned dog food ( hill &# 39 ; s prescription diet , canine i / d , hill &# 39 ; s pet products , topeka , kans .). each can contained 580 kcal , comprised of 48 % carbohydrate , 27 % fat and 25 % protein as percentage of calories , 15 g of fat as triglyceride , diglyceride , monoglyceride and fatty acid , 1 g of cholesterol and 1 g of cholesterol ester , and 0 . 5 g of phospholipid . dogs were fed two cans in the morning and one can in the afternoon . ten grams of porcine pancreatin powder ( viokase , ah robins company , richmond , va .) were given with the morning meal and 7 g with the afternoon meal . this dose of pancreatic enzymes maintains the body weight of pancreatic insufficient dogs within 10 % of preoperative values . dogs were weighed weekly . fasting blood glucose levels were measured weekly . the results are presented in fig1 , and 3 . clec - bc was administered at doses of 150 , 000 units (“ thera clec - bc ” ( 1 )” in fig1 - 3 ); 30 , 000 units (“ thera clec - bc ” ( 2 ) in fig1 - 3 ), or ( 7 , 500 units “ thera clec - bc ” ( 3 ) in fig1 - 3 ). fig1 shows the effect of various doses of clec - bc on mean coefficient of fat absorption ( cfa ). post - operative mean cfa levels in untreated dogs was reduced to about 60 % of pre - operative levels . for all doses tested , addition of clec - bc restored percent cfa to about 90 % of pre - operative levels . [ 0100 ] fig2 shows the effect of various doses of clec - bc on mean stool fat . in untreated post - operative dogs , mean stool fat increased from barely detectable levels to 40 grams / 24 hours . addition of clec - bc to post - operative dogs decreased mean stool fat to about 10 grams / 24 hours for all doses tested . [ 0101 ] fig3 shows the effect of various doses of clec - bc on mean coefficient of protein absorption ( cpa ) in four dogs . mean cpa decreased from about 95 % absorption in pre - operative dogs to about 40 % in post - operative dogs . addition of clec - bc did not significantly affect mean cpa . clec - bc achieved reductions in cfa comparable to those observed using viokase ® and creon ®, two agents used to treat pancreatic exocrine insufficiency . however , clec - bc differed from the agents in the amount of dose required to correct steatorrhea in dogs . similar effects were achieved by using only 6 - 113 mg clec - bc vs . 1 - 4 g viokase ® and 0 . 5 - 1 . 0 g of creon ®. it can be seen from fig3 clec - bc did not increase cpa over its postoperative , untreated level . in vivo assay of bioavailability of a composition including clec - bc bromelain , and amylase the bioavailability of a composition including clec - bc , bromelain , and amylase in correcting pancreatic azotorrhea was examined . efficacy was compared to efficacy of addition of the lipases viokase ® and creon ®. the coefficient of protein absorption ( cpa ) following addition of the agents was measured by 72 - hr fecal balance studies immediately before and after the operation resulting in pancreatic insufficiency , and 3 weeks after the operation with the doses of the following products : viokase ® 8 , 4 and 2 tablets ( 240 , 000 120 , 000 and 60 , 000 usp protease units ); creon - 20 ® 2 and 1 capsules ( 150 , 000 and 75 , 000 usp of protease ); clec - total consisting of clec - bc ( 150 , 000 usp ; 113 . 5 mg ), bromelain ( 150 , 000 usp ; 214 mg ) and bacillus amylase ( 150 , 000 usp ; 71 . 9 mg ). the enzyme activity of these preparations is shown in table 2 . during these studies , dogs ingested a diet comprised of 43 % fat , 36 % protein and 21 % carbohydrate as a percentage of calories ( 1700 kcal / d ). the coefficient of fat absorption was & gt ; 88 % with all treatments ( fig4 ). the coefficient of protein absorption ( cpa ) was directly correlated ( r = 0 . 86 ) with the amount of protease in the preparations . the cpa increased from 59 % with the lowest protease dose to 79 % with the highest protease dose . the cpa with bromelain ( 69 %; 150 , 000 usp protease ) was similar to the cpa of 2 capsules of creon ® ( 63 %; 150 , 000 usp units ) and to the cpa of 4 tablets of viokase ® ( 72 %; 120 , 000 usp protease units ) ( fig6 and 7 ). it was noted that the actual proteolytic activities of the viokase ® and creon ® were at least 35 % higher than their stated activities . indeed , the actual protease activity of viokase ® was 46 , 248 usp units per tablet vs the 30 , 000 usp units per tablet claimed for viokase ®, and 100 , 519 usp units per capsule vs the 75 , 000 usp units per capsule claimed for creon ®. these results demonstrate that a composition containing clec - bc , bromelain , and amylase is at least as effective on a per unit basis as porcine proteases in reducing protein malabsorption ( fig6 and 7 ). in addition , the results show that a small amount ( 114 mg ) of clec - bc in clec - total corrects steatorrhea in dogs at least as well as 8 tablets of viokase ® (˜ 4 μm ) or 2 capsules of creson (˜ 1 μm ) ( fig4 ).	0
the following description of the preferred embodiment ( s ) is merely exemplary in nature and is in no way intended to limit the invention , its application , or uses . fig1 depicts a t - fitting 10 having a throat 12 having an aperture with male threads 14 on the outside . a wall 16 is presented in cross section to indicate the anticipated installed position of the t - fitting 10 . fig2 is a cutaway version of an adjustable slip joint coupling having a female thread on its internal diameter . female coupling 20 is comprised of an unthreaded extension 22 providing length that can be varied for adjustment . the threaded internal diameter 24 comprises a female portion dimensioned to threadingly engage male portion 14 of the t - fixture or other fixtures . a seal abutment 26 separating the threaded portion 24 and non - threaded portion 22 is provided for seating of a seal ( not shown ) in order to apply a water tight seal between an end of the fixture exit pipe , such as a p - trap pipe , and the male portion of the t or other fixture . the outer diameter of the adjustable slip joint coupling 20 may include a marker 28 just behind the location of the lip 26 on the internal diameter . this marker will indicate to a plumber that portion of the non - threaded length 22 of the coupling that is the extension which may be cut for adjustment . in operation , the female slip joint coupling 20 will be measured by the plumber and cut with any of a variety of standard pipe cutters at any selectable place in the unthreaded portion 22 of the coupling . the plumber may cut through a standard thickness of the coupling wall , as indicated on the top portion of fig2 . alternatively , the female coupling 20 may be fabricated such that preconfigured thin or weak portions of the coupling wall be included , such as notches or grooves on outside diameter 30 , on an inside diameter 34 , or hollow portions within the thickness of the coupling wall 32 . for hollow portions 32 and internal diameter thin portions 34 , one may alternatively include markers on the outside diameter indicating where these positions are . alternatively , pieces could be screwed or glued together , using joining interfaces such as those shown in fig5 . having measured and cut the adjustable female slip joint coupling 20 to an appropriate length , the fixture exit pipe or p - trap pipe is inserted through female slip joint coupling 20 , through a standard seal and then into throat 12 of t - fitting 10 . the plumber then slides the female slip joint coupling 20 along the p - trap pipe until it engages male threads 14 on throat 12 , whereupon the plumber screws the coupling in . having adjusted the female coupling 22 an appropriate length , any escutcheon or other fixture provided will appropriately fit over end portion 36 of female coupling 20 , thereby providing an esthetically acceptable finish . fig4 shows a double throated t - fitting , each throat 112 having male threads 114 . fig5 shows a double threaded 90 fitting , which may also have the male threads of the present invention , 214 . a single 90 having a male thread 214 is indicated on the right hand side of fig4 in a profile corresponding to the phantom line in that figure . the adjustable slip joint female threaded coupling of the present invention may mate with any of the depicted single throat t - fixture , double throat t - fixture , single throat 90 or double throat 90 . either or both of the fittings herein described may be made of any material , including cast iron , steel , plastic , and particularly polyvinylchloride ( pvc ). fig5 shows an alternate system wherein the adjustable female slip joint couplings 320 are each at a different length . the female threaded portions 324 and lips 326 are the same as depicted in fig2 . however , the unthreaded portion 322 is a different length for each of the depicted examples . accordingly , in operation , the system of the present invention would include a plumber having various lengths of female threaded slip joint couplings in his tool box . when presented with a mismatched dimension for joining a fixture exit pipe with the wall pipe fitting when the wall pipe fitting is behind the wall , the plumber may choose the length of female threaded coupling 320 best suited for the dimensions at hand and proceed to fit the fixture with that selected coupling . this invention eliminates one and sometimes two pieces normally needed for installation of plumbing fixture to wall pipe . it eliminates the need to carry a saw , pvc cleaner and pvc glue when setting fixtures and saves labor and material . fig7 is a perspective view of the double y fixture of the present invention . double y fixture 410 is comprised of a main pipe 412 having an output aperture 414 at a first end and a plug aperture 416 at an opposite end . the double y 410 also has two side pipes 418 a and 418 b each having an input aperture 420 a and 420 b . the input apertures are connected through a p trap to the sink drains ( not shown ). the input aperture end 420 of side pipes 418 , has an angled or beveled interior surface 422 a and 422 b . these surfaces are dimensioned to receive and maintain a sealing abutment with a slip joint ring . each of the plug and input apertures are threaded . in the depicted embodiment , the side pipes 418 have male threads 424 a and 424 b . in the depicted embodiment , plug aperture 416 includes a female thread 426 . threading each of the side pipe and plug ends of the main pipe , eliminates the need for adapting fittings as was required by the prior art . main pipe 412 may be adjusted in length . the three embodiments are depicted in fig7 . a simple straight main pipe 412 and exit aperture 414 are shown . an adjustment could be made with conventional means such as cutting with a tube cutter or sawing to length . the main pipe 412 could then be glued with a conventional coupling . fig8 , the cutaway side view , shows a further embodiment . it is anticipated that main pipe 412 may be threaded 428 at end 414 or not . the invention may comprise a series of y shaped couplings each having a different dimension 440 in order to accommodate different distances between a wall fixture and the sink outlets . in assembly then , the plumber would simply select the appropriate length , screw fit the main pipe 412 to the wall fixture with a slip joint , then screw fit the p - traps with slip joints at ends 420 . in the embodiment depicted in fig8 , the main pipe 412 may also be adjustable in dimension 440 in that weak portions are prefabricated into the wall of main pipe 412 in order to accommodate cutting to length . the weak portions may be an internal indentation in the wall 432 , an internal hole in the wall 434 , or an external indentation 436 . in assembly , the plumber would cut the main pipe 412 along one of the weak points in order to adjust dimension 440 for installation accommodating various distances from the wall fixture to the sink outlet . the outside of the main pipe 412 may have markers corresponding to the weak points to indicate to the plumber where to cut . as various modifications could be made to the exemplary embodiments , as described above with reference to the corresponding illustrations , without departing from the scope of the invention , it is intended that all matter contained in the foregoing description and shown in the accompanying drawings shall be interpreted as illustrative rather than limiting . thus , the breadth and scope of the present invention should not be limited by any of the above - described exemplary embodiments , but should be defined only in accordance with the following claims appended hereto and their equivalents .	5
according to the invention a protective layer 7 ( fig1 ) for protecting a component 1 , 120 , 130 , 138 , 155 ( fig1 , 4 , 5 , 6 ) against corrosion and oxidation at a high temperature comprises the following elements ( data in wt %): 0 . 3 % to 0 . 5 % yttrium and / or at least one equivalent metal from the group comprising scandium and the rare earth elements , and the remainder nickel . the alloy may also comprise further elements . preferably , however , the alloy consists of nickel , cobalt , chromium , aluminum , yttrium and rhenium . the advantageous effect of the element rhenium is thereby utilized while preventing the brittle phase formation . it is to be noted that the levels of the individual elements are specially adapted with a view to their effects , which are to be considered in combination with the element rhenium . if the levels are set so that no chromium - rhenium precipitates are formed , no brittle phases are advantageously created during use of the protective layer so that the longterm behavior is improved and extended . this is achieved not only by a low chromium content but also , taking into account the effect of aluminum on the phase formation , by accurately setting the aluminum content . the low choice of from 11 % to 13 % cobalt surprisingly improves the thermal and mechanical properties of the protective layer 7 significantly and superproportionally . this narrowly selected range of cobalt suppresses particularly well the creation and further formation of the γ ′ phase of the alloy , which normally leads to a peak in the thermal expansion coefficient of the alloy . during strong heating of the component with the protective layer 7 ( startup of the turbine ) or other temperature fluctuations , this peak would otherwise cause high mechanical stresses ( thermal mismatch ) between a protective layer 7 and a substrate 4 ( fig1 ) of the component 1 , 120 , 130 , 138 , 155 . this is at least drastically reduced by the cobalt content selected according to the invention . in conjunction with the reduction of the brittle phases , which have a detrimental effect especially under high mechanical properties , the mechanical properties are improved by the reduction of the mechanical stresses through the selected cobalt content . together with good corrosion resistance , the protective layer has particularly good resistance against oxidation and is also distinguished by particularly good ductility properties , so that it is particularly qualified for use in a gas turbine with a further increase in the intake temperature . during operation , embrittlement scarcely takes place since the layer comprises hardly any chromium - rhenium precipitates which are embrittled in the course of use . the superalloy comprises no chromium - rhenium precipitates , or at most 6 vol % thereof . it is particularly favorable to set the level of rhenium at 2 %, the chromium content at 21 %, the aluminum content at 11 %, the cobalt content at 12 % and the yttrium content at 0 . 4 %. certain variations are encountered owing to industrial mass production , so that yttrium contents of from 0 . 2 % to 0 . 3 % or from 0 . 4 % to 0 . 6 % are also used and likewise exhibit good properties . the trace elements in the powder to be sprayed and therefore in the protective layer 7 , which form precipitates and therefore represent embrittlements , play a likewise important role . the powders are for example applied by plasma spraying ( aps , lpps , vps , . . . ). other methods may likewise be envisaged ( pvd , cvd , cold gas spraying , . . . ). the sum of the trace elements in the protective layer 7 is in particular & lt ; 0 . 5 % in total and is advantageously distributed as follows between the individual elements : carbon & lt ; 250 ppm , oxygen & lt ; 400 ppm , nitrogen & lt ; 100 ppm and hydrogen & lt ; 50 ppm . in the case of this component 1 , the protective layer 7 is advantageously applied onto a substrate 4 made of a nickel - based or cobalt - based superalloy . the compositions of the superalloys listed in fig3 are suitable as the substrate 4 , in particular the alloys which form a ds or sx structure . the thickness of the protective layer 7 on the component 1 is preferably set to a value of between 100 μm and 300 μm . the protective layer 7 is particularly suitable for protecting a component against corrosion and oxidation while the component is being exposed to an exhaust gas at a material temperature of about 950 ° c ., or even about 1100 ° c . in aircraft turbines . the protective layer 7 according to the invention is therefore particularly qualified for protecting a component 1 , 120 , 130 , 138 , 155 of a gas turbine 100 , in particular a guide vane 130 , rotor blade 120 or other components , which are exposed to hot gas before or in the turbine of the gas turbine 100 . the protective layer 7 may be used as an overlay ( the protective layer is the outer layer ) or as a bondcoat ( the protective layer is an interlayer and adhesion promoter layer ). further layers , in particular ceramic thermal barrier layers 10 ( fig1 ) may be applied onto this protective layer 7 . the layer system 1 consists of a substrate 4 . the substrate 4 may be metallic and / or ceramic . particularly in the case of turbine components , for example turbine rotor blades 120 ( fig6 ) or guide vanes 130 ( fig4 , 6 ), combustion chamber linings 155 ( fig5 ) and other housing parts 138 of a steam or gas turbine 100 ( fig4 ), the substrate 4 consists of a nickel - or cobalt - based superalloy . the protective layer 7 according to the invention is placed on the substrate 4 . this protective layer 7 is preferably applied by lpps ( low pressure plasma spraying ) or by cold gas spraying . the protective layer 7 may be applied onto newly produced components 1 and refurbished components 1 . refurbishment means that components 1 are optionally separated from layers ( thermal barrier layer ) after their use and corrosion and oxidation products are removed , for example by an acid treatment ( acid stripping ). it may sometimes also be necessary to repair cracks . such a component may subsequently be recoated , since the substrate 4 is very expensive . fig2 shows experimental results of loading specimens which were subjected to cyclic loads , i . e . experimental results for a specimen ( application ) having a composition according to the present application ( claim 2 ) and experimental results for a layer according to the prior art ( prior art ) which comprises a composition according to u . s . pat . nos . 5 , 154 , 885 , 5 , 273 , 712 or u . s . pat . no . 5 , 268 , 238 . the layers were applied onto a substrate with the designation pwa 1484 ( pratt & amp ; whitney alloy ). the specimens were exposed to a particular cyclic mechanical load ( vibration loading ) and cyclic thermal loading ( tmf tests ). the tests were carried out under strain control with 0 . 50 % strain . the horizontally measured crack length is plotted in fig2 against the number of cycles . it can be seen clearly that the layer according to the prior art already has cracks after 750 cycles , and they grow very much more rapidly than in a layer according to the application . in the layer according to the application cracks only occur below 1000 cycles , and furthermore they are still very much smaller than those of the layer according to the prior art . the crack growth over the number of cycles is also much less . this demonstrates the superiority of the protective layer 7 according to the invention . fig4 shows by way of example a gas turbine 100 in a longitudinal partial section . the gas turbine 100 internally comprises a rotor 103 , or turbine rotor , mounted so that it can rotate about a rotation axis 102 . successively along the rotor 103 , there are an intake manifold 104 , a compressor 105 , an e . g . toroidal combustion chamber 110 , in particular a ring combustion chamber 106 , having a plurality of burners 107 arranged coaxially , a turbine 108 and the exhaust manifold 109 . the ring combustion chamber 106 communicates with an e . g . annular hot gas channel 111 . there , for example four successively connected turbine stages 112 form the turbine 108 . each turbine stage 112 is formed by two blade rings . as seen in the flow direction of a working medium 113 , a row 125 formed by rotor blades 120 follows in the hot gas channel 111 of a guide vane row 115 . the guide vanes 130 are fastened on an inner housing 138 of a stator 143 , while the rotor blades 120 of a row 125 are fastened on the rotor 103 for example by means of a turbine disk 133 . coupled to the rotor 103 , there is a generator or a work engine ( not shown ). during operation of the gas turbine 100 , air 135 is taken in by the compressor 105 through the intake manifold 104 and compressed . the compressed air provided at the turbine - side end of the compressor 105 is delivered to the burners 107 and mixed there with a fuel . the mixture is then burnt to form the working medium 113 in the combustion chamber 110 . from there , the working medium 113 flows along the hot gas channel 111 past the guide vanes 130 and the rotor blades 120 . at the rotor blades 120 , the working medium 113 expands by imparting momentum , so that the rotor blades 120 drive the rotor 103 and the work engine coupled to it . during operation of the gas turbine 100 , the components exposed to the hot working medium 113 experience thermal loads . apart from the heat shield blocks lining the ring combustion chamber 106 , the guide vanes 130 and rotor blades 120 of the first turbine stage 112 , as seen in the flow direction of the working medium 113 , are thermally loaded most greatly . in order to withstand the temperatures prevailing there , they are cooled by means of a coolant . the substrates may likewise comprise a directional structure , i . e . they are monocrystalline ( sx structure ) or comprise only longitudinally directed grains ( ds ). for example , superalloys such as those known from ep 1 204 776 , ep 1 306 454 , ep 1 319 729 , wo 99 / 67435 or wo 00 / 44949 are used . these documents are part of the disclosure in respect of the composition of the superalloys and their advantages . the blades and vanes 120 , 130 comprise protective layers 7 according to the invention against corrosion and corrosion and / or a thermal barrier layer . the thermal barrier layer consists for example of zro 2 , y 2 o 3 — zro 2 , i . e . it is non - stabilized or partially or fully stabilized by yttrium oxide and / or calcium oxide and / or magnesium oxide . columnar grains are generated in the thermal barrier layer by suitable coating methods , for example electron beam deposition ( eb - pvd ). the guide vanes 130 comprise a guide vane root ( not shown here ) facing the inner housing 138 of the turbine 108 , and a guide vane head lying opposite the guide vane root . the guide vane head faces the rotor 103 and is fastened on a fastening ring 140 of the stator 143 . fig5 shows a combustion chamber 110 of a gas turbine , which may comprise a layer system 1 . the combustion chamber 110 is designed for example as a so - called ring combustion chamber , in which a multiplicity of burners 102 arranged in the circumferential direction around the turbine shaft 103 open into a common combustion chamber space . to this end , the combustion chamber 110 in its entirety is designed as an annular structure which is positioned around the turbine shaft 103 . in order to achieve a comparatively high efficiency , the combustion chamber 110 is designed for a relatively high temperature of the working medium m , i . e . about 1000 ° c . to 1600 ° c . in order to permit a comparatively long operating time even under these operating parameters which are unfavorable for the materials , the combustion chamber wall 153 is provided with an inner lining formed by heat shield elements 155 on its side facing the working medium m . each heat shield element 155 is equipped with a particularly heat - resistant protective layer on the working medium side , or is made of refractory material and comprises the protective layer 7 according to fig1 . owing to the high temperatures inside the combustion chamber 110 , a cooling system is also provided for the heat shield elements 155 or their holding elements . the materials of the combustion chamber wall and its coatings may be similar to the turbine blades and vanes 120 , 130 . the combustion chamber 110 is in particular designed in order to detect losses of the heat shield elements 155 . to this end , a number of temperature sensors 158 are positioned between the combustion chamber wall 153 and the heat shield elements 155 . fig6 shows in perspective view a blade 120 , 130 which comprises a layer system 1 having the protective layer 7 according to the invention . the blades 120 , 130 extend along a longitudinal axis 121 . in succession along the longitudinal axis 121 , the blades 120 , 130 comprise a fastening region 400 , a blade platform 403 adjacent thereto and a blade surface region 406 . in particular , the protective layer 7 or a layer system 1 according to fig1 is formed in the blade surface region 406 . a blade root 183 , which is used for fastening the rotor blades 120 , 130 on the shaft , is formed in the fastening region 400 . the blade root 183 is designed as a hammerhead . other designs are possible , for example as a firtree or dovetail root . in conventional blades 120 , 130 , for example , solid metallic materials are used in all regions 400 , 403 , 406 of the rotor blade 120 , 130 . the rotor blades 120 , 130 may in this case be manufactured by a casting method , by a forging method , by a machining method or combinations thereof .	8
fig1 shows the positive polarity portion of the quantizing characteristic of a compressed signal in the μ - law pcm coding with μ = 255 . in the illustrated case , the whole characteristic including the positive and negative portions is approximated by a broken line having fifteen line segments or chords . that is , in the illustrated quantizing characteristic of a compressed signal , each of the positive and the negative portions is divided into eight line segments i - viii , each segment being divided into 16 steps except for the first segment which is divided into 151 / 2 steps according to the quantization of the mid - tread mode . further , in every two adjacent segments , the analog value corresponding to each step in one segment distant from the origin is twice as large as that corresponding to each step in the other segment . in a pcm encoder , an analog voice signal is converted to a digital code having 8 bits ( b 1 - b 8 ) in accordance with the above quantizing characteristic . in this case , the first bit ( b 1 ) is used to indicate the polarity of the signal , the second to the fourth bits ( b 2 - b 4 ) are used to specify in binary representation one of the segments i - viii , and the fifth to the eighth bits ( b 5 - b 8 ) are used to specify one of the steps in the segment specified by the b 2 to b 4 bits . the pcm decoder according to this invention has a capacitor array circuit including eight capacitors c 0 - c 7 whose capacitances are proportionally binary - weighted and a resistor string circuit including a plurality of series resistors each having a resistance of r , 2r or 3r , for deriving different voltages by dividing a reference voltage . a voltage corresponding to the lower four bits b 5 - b 8 of a received data block is produced by the resistor string circuit . the voltage produced by the resistor string circuit and the reference voltage are applied to selected capacitors , respectively , in the capacitor array circuit determined according to the contents of the second to the fourth bits b 2 - b 4 of the received data block thereby producing an analog voltage corresponding to the received data block from the capacitor array circuit . in this case , the resistor string circuit is provided with two groups of intermediate taps to produce voltages according to the characteristic a shown in fig2 for the data derived from the non - signalling frames and voltages according to the characteristic b in fig2 for the data derived from the signalling frames . now , the circuit in an embodiment of this invention , shown in fig3 will be described with the aid of fig4 showing the waveforms of the signals appearing at various points in the circuit . the pcm decoder shown in fig3 generally comprises four circuit sections . the first circuit section 1 comprises an 8 - bit serial - input / parallel - output shift register 11 and an 8 - bit parallel - input / parallel - output register 12 . pcm bit signals applied to the terminal 102 are serially taken in the shift register 11 in response to a clock pulse signal received at the terminal 101 . the contents of the shift register 11 are then parallely transferred to the register 12 in response to a latch pulse received at the terminal 103 , and delivered as a parallel signal of 8 bits from the register 12 . in this case , the logic levels of the 2nd to 8th bits ( b 2 - b 8 ) in the output of the register 12 are inverted . the second circuit section 2 serves to control the turn - on and - off of analog switches connected to the capacitor array circuit in the third circuit section 3 and of analog switches connected to the resistor string circuit in the fourth circuit section 4 in accordance with the output of the first circuit section 1 . more particularly , in the second circuit section 2 , a circuit 21 delivers on - off control signals sy 01 - sy 81 to control the analog switches y 01 , y 02 , y 03 ,- y 07 in third circuit section 3 according to the logical information corresponding to the 2nd to 4th bits b 2 - b 4 in the output of the register 12 and a reset signal 201 which makes valid the logical outputs from the register 12 for a suitable period of time sufficient to have the logic circuits 21 and 24 performing their logical processes . a circuit 22 is a four - to - sixteen line decoder which receives 4 - bit logical information corresponding to the 5th to 8th bits b 5 - b 8 of the output of the register 12 and delivers a signal at one of 16 output lines corresponding to the decimal value represented by the 4 - bit logical information . the circuit 23 serves to generate a signalling selection information ( sig ) 203 upon receiving a signalling frame signal applied to the terminal 202 . as shown by waveform 202 in fig4 the signalling frame signal is a pulse which rises shortly before the eighth bit of the sixth frame of the pcm signal is received and falls shortly before the eighth bit of the twelfth frame of the pcm signal is received . the circuit 23 comprises , as shown in fig7 a first shift register 231 which is conditioned under the presence of the signalling frame signal 202 to produce a high level at its output q in synchronism with a pulse 210 produced with the eighth bit in each of the frames and under the absence of the signalling frame signal 202 to produce a low level at its output q in synchronism with such a pulse 210 , a second shift register 232 which is conditioned under the presence of the high level output q of the first shift register 231 to produce a high level at its output q in synchronism with the pulse 210 and under the presence of the low level output q to produce a low level at its output q in synchronism with the pulse 210 , and an exclusive or gate 233 which produces a pulse ( sig ) 203 under the condition of exclusive or of the high level outputs q of the first and second shift registers 231 and 232 . as mentioned before , the signalling frame signal 202 rises shortly before the eighth bit of the sixth frame and falls shortly before the eighth bit of the twelfth frame and hence the sig pulse is produced at each of the 6th and 12th frames . the logic circuit 24 is rendered operative with the reset signal 201 to deliver signals sx 0 - sx 30 for on - off control of the analog switches x 0 - x 30 in the fourth circuit section 4 according to the outputs of the circuits 22 and 23 . the third circuit section 3 , which delivers an analog voltage , comprises a capacitor array having a group of binary - weighted capacitors c 0 - c 7 having capacitances in ratio of 2 0 : 2 1 : 2 2 : . . . : 2 7 , respectively , and a buffer amplifier a 1 . one end of each of these capacitors c 0 - c 7 is connected with the input terminal of the buffer amplifier a 1 through an output line 301 while the other ends of these capacitors are connected respectively through a first group of switches y 01 - y 71 with a first common line 302 and through a third group of switches y 03 - y 73 with a third common line 304 . also , the other ends of the capacitors c 0 - c 6 are connected through a second group of switches y 02 - y 62 with a second common line 303 . the first common line 302 is at the ground potential , while the output line 301 is grounded when the switch y 81 is closed . the second common line 303 is connected through switches s 1 and s 2 with terminals 306 and 307 to which the positive and negative reference voltages (+ v ref ) and (- v ref ) are applied , respectively , and these switches s 1 and s 2 are on - off controlled by the first bit ( polarity bit ) output b 1 or b 1 of the pcm signal delivered by the register 12 . the fourth circuit section 4 comprises a resistor string circuit 401 having 23 intermediate taps , and which circuit has its one end connected with the second common line 303 of the third circuit section 3 and the other end grounded , and a group of 24 switches x 0 - x 30 . the input end of the switch x 0 is connected with the ground potential , while the input ends of the remaining switches x 1 - x 30 are connected with the intermediate taps , respectively . the output ends of these 24 switches are connected in common with the third common line 304 of the third circuit section 3 and these switches are classified into two groups according to the usage thereof . first group comprises switches x 2n for providing voltages 2n / 33 v ref where n = 0 - 15 and the second group comprises switches x 4m + 1 for providing voltages 4m + 1 / 33 v ref , where m = 0 - 7 , where the potential v ref is a positive or negative potential given at the non - grounded end of the register string circuit 401 having a total resistance of 33r through the second common line 303 . the first group of switches are used for non - signalling periods , that is , for decoding the pcm signal in the non - signaling frames , i . e . the 1st to 5th frames and the 7th to 11th frames , while the second group of switches are used for signalling period , that is , for decoding the pcm signal in the 6th and 12th frames . the on - off operation of these switches is controlled by the logic output signals sx 0 - sx 30 of the logic circuit 24 . the modes of on - off control are shown in a logic table in fig5 . when the rest signal 201 in fig4 is at the low level , the switch x 0 is turned on for both signalling and non - signalling periods , irrespective of the logic information b5 - b8 so that an output having an analog level of ov is delivered onto the third common line 304 . when the reset signal 201 is at the high level only one switch selected according to the logic information of b5 - b8 is turned on . for example , where [ b5 , b6 , b7 , b8 ]=[ 0100 ] or [ 0101 ], the output voltage to the common line 304 is 8 or 10 , respectively , for the non - signalling period , while both 9 for the signalling period . on the other hand , the on - off of the switches in the third circuit section 3 is controlled by the logic output signals sy 01 - sy 81 of the logic circuit 21 according to the logic table shown in fig6 . namely , in the reset state , all the first switches y n1 ( n = 0 - 8 ) are turned on irrespective of the logic information of b2 - b4 . when the reset state is canceled , and the logic information stands , for example , [ b2 , b3 , b4 ]= [ 101 ], the switches y 20 , y 21 , y 22 , y 32 , y 42 , y 53 , y 61 and y 71 are turned on and all the other switches are turned off . with the above described circuit configuration , the fourth circuit section 4 delivers , according to the logic information of b5 - b8 , onto the common line 304 a voltage of 2n / 33 v ref ( n = 0 - 15 ) for the non - signalling period and a voltage of 4m + 1 / 33 v ref ( m = 0 - 7 ) for the signalling period . moreover , the third circuit section 3 can produce , according to the logic information of b2 - b4 , at the output terminal 305 a voltage of ## equ1 ## v ref , where k = 0 - 7 and n = 0 - 15 , for the non - signalling period and a voltage of ## equ2 ## v ref , where k = 0 - 7 and m = 0 - 7 , for the signalling period . according to the above described decoder embodying this invention , the precision of the analog voltage delivered is determined depending on the relative accuracy of capacitances of the capacitors c 0 - c 7 and the relative accuracy of tap intervals of the resistor string circuit . since such relative accuracy depends only on the accuracy in dimensions on plane of an ic pattern , an analog voltage having a sufficiently high precision can be obtained .	7
the following detailed description is merely illustrative in nature and is not intended to limit the invention or the application and uses of the invention . furthermore , there is no intention to be bound by any express or implied theory presented in the preceding technical field , background , brief summary or the following detailed description . the invention may be described herein in terms of functional and / or logical block components and various processing steps . it should be appreciated that such block components may be realized by any number of hardware , software , and / or firmware components configured to perform the specified functions . for example , an embodiment of the invention may employ various integrated circuit components , e . g ., radio - frequency ( rf ) devices , memory elements , digital signal processing elements , logic elements , look - up tables , or the like , which may carry out a variety of functions under the control of one or more microprocessors or other control devices . in addition , those skilled in the art will appreciate that the present invention may be practiced in conjunction with any number of data transmission protocols and that the system described herein is merely one exemplary application for the invention . for the sake of brevity , conventional techniques related to signal processing , data transmission , signaling , network control , the 802 . 11 family of specifications , and other functional aspects of wlan systems ( and the individual operating components of the system ) may not be described in detail herein . furthermore , the connecting lines shown in the various figures contained herein are intended to represent example functional relationships and / or physical couplings between the various elements . it should be noted that many alternative or additional functional relationships or physical connections may be present in a practical embodiment . without loss of generality , in the illustrated embodiment , many of the functions usually provided by a traditional access point ( e . g ., network management , wireless configuration , and the like ) are concentrated in a corresponding wireless switch . it will be appreciated that the present invention is not so limited , and that the methods and systems described herein may be used in conjunction with traditional access points or any other device that communicates via multiple rf channels . referring to fig1 , which depicts the architecture of an example site , one or more switching devices 110 ( alternatively referred to as “ wireless switches ,” “ ws ,” or simply “ switches ”) are coupled to a network 104 ( e . g ., an ethernet network coupled to one or more other networks or devices , indicated by network cloud 102 ). one or more wireless access ports 120 ( alternatively referred to as “ access ports ” or “ aps ”) are configured to wirelessly connect to one or more mobile units 130 ( or “ mus ”). aps 120 are suitably connected to corresponding switches 110 via communication lines 106 ( e . g ., conventional ethernet lines ). any number of additional and / or intervening switches , routers , servers and other network components may also be present in the system . a server and / or console system 103 ( generally referred to as a “ mobile services platform ” or simply “ msp ”) communicates with the various wlan components via network 104 . as described below , msp 103 assists with , among other things , monitoring and modeling the wlan components using a hierarchical organizational scheme . in this regard , msp 103 may include any suitable combination of hardware , software , displays , cpu &# 39 ; s , consoles , servers , databases , and the like . the term “ console ” as used herein refers to any console ( e . g ., user interface , computer , etc .) associated with msp 103 . a particular ap 120 may have a number of associated mus 130 . for example , in the illustrated topology , mus 130 ( a ), 130 ( b ), and 130 ( c ) are associated with ap 120 ( a ), while mu 130 ( e ) is associated with ap 120 ( c ). furthermore , one or more aps 120 may be connected to a single switch 110 . thus , as illustrated , ap 120 ( a ) and ap 120 ( b ) are connected to ws 110 ( a ), and ap 120 ( c ) is connected to ws 110 ( b ). each ws 110 determines the destination of packets it receives over network 104 and routes that packet to the appropriate ap 120 if the destination is an mu 130 with which the ap is associated . each ws 110 therefore maintains a routing list of mus 130 and their associated aps 130 . these lists are generated using a suitable packet handling process as is known in the art . thus , each ap 120 acts primarily as a conduit , sending / receiving rf transmissions via mus 130 , and sending / receiving packets via a network protocol with ws 110 . in accordance with the present invention , the console of msp 103 enables modeling and management of a site ( and the various aps , mus , and wss of a site ) through an easy - to - navigate tree hierarchy structure . a console associated with msp 103 displays multiple views , wherein the trees are enhanced to include sites in the hierarchy . msp 103 allows uploading of the list of sites into an associated server and automatic organization of the sites in a hierarchical fashion , such that management of these sites becomes more meaningful as compared to “ flat ” organizations . a “ site ” as used herein refers to any store , warehouse , or other location that contains a set of network and mobile devices . thus , the term “ site ” is not meant to limit the range of possible applications . furthermore , the network topology and components shown in fig1 are not meant to limit the range of components and architectures with which the present invention may be employed . the methods and systems of the present invention may be used in conjunction with any suitable wlan structure . in one embodiment , the sites are organized based on the geographical notations , based on ip address notations , or any other notation meaningful to the user . fig2 depicts a flat structure 200 in accordance with the prior art , in which site network components are listed merely by site number . that is , a parent node 202 includes a simple , one - dimensional list of sites 204 . in contrast , fig3 depicts a hierarchical structure ( or “ tree ”) of nodes in which the sites are arranged geographically as described above . fig4 shows a further expanded view in which individual devices and ids ( i . e ., the “ leaves ” of the tree ) are displayed . this organization may be specified using a text - based configuration file , or through any suitable user interface . a “ tree structure ,” as that term is used in the art , is a set of linked nodes , where each node has zero or more “ child nodes ” below it in the hierarchy . a node that has a child is called the child &# 39 ; s “ parent node ,” and the topmost node is the “ root node .” nodes at the bottom level , and which do not have any children , are called “ leaf nodes .” accordingly , referring to fig3 , a tree structure 300 includes a root node 302 (“ all devices ”), which has a number of child nodes 304 — e . g ., “ warehouse1 ,” “ bellevue , wash ,” “ factory ,” “ us ,” etc . these child nodes are geographical in that they refer to separate physical sites . in this example , “ us ” node 308 includes two child nodes , 310 (“ east ”) and 320 (“ west ”), each of which includes various child nodes . “ east ” node 310 includes “ ny ” node 312 , which includes a number of site nodes 314 “ site1a — 21 ”-“ site1a — 29 ”. similarly , “ west ” node 320 includes various regional nodes 322 , 324 , and 326 (“ ca ,” “ lv ,” and “ nv ,” respectively ). fig6 depicts a tree structure that has been expanded such that its leaf nodes are displayed . in this illustration , the root node 302 includes various child nodes , such as “ network operations center ” 304 , which includes progressively lower hierarchy nodes “ mobile device ” 402 , “ mc50 ” 404 , and “ 00 : 0b : 6c : 2a : c7 : f1 ,” which corresponds to a particular mac address of a networked device . it will be appreciated that the text associated with the various nodes are shown for example purposes , and that the invention is not so limited . as shown in fig6 , the various nodes may be displayed and organized in any manner desired by the user . for example , the sites may be viewed by “ device type ” as shown , or using any other criterion . in one embodiment , the hierarchy of the tree is built based on pattern matching of text strings used to name the various network components , which is configurable based on user needs . that is , once the sites are organized , the console allows for easy site management by applying policies to each of the sites . in one embodiment , for example , the default pattern is “.”— i . e ., when a site name is provided as , for example , “ us . west . ca ”, the system creates a node called “ us ”, which contains a child node called “ west ”, which in turn contains a child node called “ ca ”. similarly , if there is another site called “ us . west . nv ,” then the “ nv ” is created under the same node , “ west .” the default pattern can preferably be changed to any string that the customer prefers , e . g ., in accordance with java &# 39 ; s regular expression syntax . in one embodiment , the system further allows creation of “ deeper ” trees in reverse order . for example , if there are two sites called “ store1 . symbol . com ” and “ store2 . symbol . com ”, instead of creating nodes “ store1 → symbol → com ” and “ store2 → symbol → com ”, the system constructs the nodes in reverse order — i . e ., “ com ” contains child node “ symbol ”, which contains child nodes “ store1 ” and “ store2 .” thus , in accordance with the present invention , hierarchical organization creates a “ deeper ” tree and gives the user more control . using a suitable user interface , the user can expand and contract the tree to view just the node ( s ) that contain the site or sites of interest at any given time . this is done by the user through any networked computer or component that has access to msp 103 . as a result , the present invention substantially reduces the quantity and complexity of the content and dramatically improves the responsiveness of the console . while at least one example embodiment has been presented in the foregoing detailed description , it should be appreciated that a vast number of variations exist . it should also be appreciated that the example embodiment or embodiments described herein are not intended to limit the scope , applicability , or configuration of the invention in any way . rather , the foregoing detailed description will provide those skilled in the art with a convenient road map for implementing the described embodiment or embodiments . it should be understood that various changes can be made in the function and arrangement of elements without departing from the scope of the invention and the legal equivalents thereof .	7
preferred embodiments of the present invention will now be described referring to the accompanying drawings . fig1 is a block diagram of an internal combustion engine in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention . an internal combustion engine ( hereinafter referred to as an “ engine ”) 1 is an inline 4 - cylinder type of engine ( only one cylinder is shown in fig1 ) which can operate in accordance of two types of combustion , that is , a type of homogeneous charge compression ignition combustion ( hereinafter referred to as “ hcci combustion ”) and another type of spark ignition combustion ( hereinafter referred to as “ si combustion ”). the engine 1 has a piston 1 a and a cylinder 1 b . a combustion chamber 1 c is formed between the piston and the cylinder head . a spark plug 18 is attached in the combustion chamber 1 c . the spark plug 18 is ignited in accordance with a signal from an electronic control unit ( hereinafter referred to as an “ ecu ”) 5 when an si combustion is performed . the structure of the ecu 5 will be described later . in each cylinder of the engine 1 , there are provided an air intake valve 17 for controlling an air intake from an air intake pipe 2 into the combustion chamber 1 c and an exhaust valve 19 for controlling an emission from the combustion chamber 1 c into an exhaust pipe 14 . the air intake valve 17 and the exhaust valve 19 are preferably solenoid valves and are driven in accordance with signals from the ecu 5 . the ecu 5 changes a timing for opening and closing the intake valve 17 and the exhaust valve 19 based on an engine rotational speed , an intake air temperature , an engine water temperature and so on which are detected by various sensors so as to achieve an optimal valve timing corresponding to the operating condition . an amount of internal emission gas re - circulation ( egr ) is adjusted by the control of the intake valve 17 and the exhaust valve 19 , so that the combustion temperature can be adjusted and a density of nox contained in the exhaust gas can be decreased . in a passage of the intake pipe 2 , there is disposed a throttle valve ( that is , a dbw ( drive - by - wire ) throttle valve ) 3 for adjusting a flow amount of the air passing through inside the intake pipe . the throttle valve 3 is connected to an actuator ( not shown ) for controlling an opening θ th . the actuator is electrically connected to the ecu 5 to control the throttle valve opening θth , in other words , the intake air amount , in accordance with a signal from the ecu 5 . the throttle valve 3 is set to an opening degree corresponding to an opening of an accelerator pedal when the engine 1 is in the si operation whereas it is almost fully opened when the engine 1 is in the hcci operation . an intake air pressure sensor 8 and an intake air temperature sensor 9 are disposed downstream of the throttle valve 3 of the air intake pipe 2 to detect an air - intake - pipe internal pressure pb and an intake air temperature ta respectively . signals of the pressure pb and the temperature ta are sent to the ecu 5 . an accelerator opening sensor 21 for detecting a depression amount of an accelerator pedal is additionally provided to detect an accelerator pedal opening acc . the detected signal is sent to the ecu 5 . besides , a fuel injection valve 6 is , for each cylinder , provided in an air intake pipe 2 . each fuel injection valve 6 is connected to a fuel pump ( not shown ). an amount of fuel supply to the engine 1 is determined by controlling a fuel injection time tout of the fuel injection valve 6 in accordance with a driving signal from the ecu 5 . a crank angle sensor is attached to a crankshaft ( not shown ) of the engine 1 . the crank angle sensor outputs a tdc signal , which is a pulse signal , in accordance with a rotation of the crankshaft . the tdc signal is a pulse signal that is generated in a predetermined timing around a position of a top dead center at an intake stroke starting time of the piston in each cylinder . one pulse is output for every 180 - degree rotation of the crankshaft . a rotational speed sensor 13 is also attached to the engine 1 to detect an engine rotational speed ne . the detected signal is sent to the ecu 5 . an exhaust temperature sensor 20 is disposed in the exhaust pipe 14 to detect an exhaust temperature tex . the detected temperature is converted to a corresponding signal , which is then sent to the ecu 5 . the exhaust gas passes through the exhaust pipe 14 and then flows into an exhaust gas purification device 15 . the exhaust gas purification device 15 includes a nox adsorption catalyst ( lnc ) and / or the like . an air - fuel ratio sensor ( hereinafter referred to as a “ laf sensor ”) 16 is disposed upstream of the exhaust gas purification device 15 to generate a level of output that is in proportion to a wide range of the exhaust air - fuel ratio . the output of this sensor is sent to the ecu 5 . the ecu 5 includes a microcomputer having a cpu 5 a for performing various control programs , a memory 5 b including a ram for temporarily storing programs and data required at a run time and providing a working space for calculations and a rom for storing programs and data . the ecu 5 also includes an input interface 5 c for processing input signals from various sensors and an output interface 5 d for sending control signals to each section . the ecu 5 calculates a required torque pmecmd based on the inputs from each sensor . the required torque pmecmd is obtained by first calculating a target driving force based on an accelerator pedal stroke and a vehicle speed and then adjusting the calculated target driving force in consideration of a shift position , a gear ratio , a torque converter efficiency and so on . a related technique in this respect is described , for example , in the japanese patent application unexamined publication ( kokai ) no . 10 - 196424 . subsequently , the ecu 5 calculates a basic fuel injection amount corresponding to the required torque and then determines a timing for injecting the fuel . furthermore , the ecu 5 determines the operating condition of the engine 1 based on the inputs from each sensor to calculate an ignition timing of the spark plug 18 , an opening θth of the intake air throttle valve 3 and so on in accordance with the control programs stored in the rom and the other factors . the ecu 5 outputs a driving signal corresponding to the calculation result through the output interface 5 d so as to control the throttle valve 3 , the fuel injection valve 6 , the spark plug 18 , the air intake valve 17 , the exhaust valve 19 and so on . through this control operation , the combustion type of the engine 1 can be switched between the hcci combustion and the si combustion as well as between the 4 - cycle and the 2 - cycle . the operating condition is determined by searching a map stored in the rom within the ecu 5 based on the rotational speed ne of the engine 1 and the requested torque pmecmd . the operating condition is determined depending on whether the engine 1 is either in an operation range for performing the hcci combustion ( this range will be hereinafter referred to as a “ hcci operation range ”) or in an operation range for performing the si combustion ( this range will be hereinafter referred to as a “ si operation range ”). basically , a range in which the engine rotational speed ne is higher and the engine load is higher is regarded as the hcci combustion range whereas in such situation as a cold - start time , a low - load operation time and a high - load operation time , the range is regarded as the si combustion range because there may occur such problems of misfiring and / or knocking ( fig4 ). however , it is desirable to expand the hcci operation range because the fuel economy in the hcci combustion is generally better than the si combustion . now , referring to fig2 and fig3 , the following will describe how the hcci operation range can be expanded by switching between a 4 - cycle hcci combustion and a 2 - cycle hcci combustion . in general , the hcci combustion is easy to be ignited in a higher load condition where a fuel amount is richer , but it is not easily ignited in a lower load condition where the fuel amount is rather less . therefore , in a lower load condition , it is required to utilize such heat as is available from the internal egr and / or the like in order to increase the gas temperature in the cylinder before each compression stroke . fig2 shows a relation between the engine load and the temperature in the cylinder in the hcci combustion . a line “ b ” represents a minimum temperature in the cylinder before a compression stroke ( cycle ). the minimum temperature is the temperature required for carrying out the hcci combustion . in fig2 , assuming that the intake air temperature ta is constant , as the load in the horizontal axis is gradually decreased ( in a direction indicated by an arrow “ a ”), a point d is eventually encountered at which the internal egr gas needs to be utilized to raise the temperature in the cylinder to a level required for the combustion stroke , which cannot be achieved only with the intake air . an egr gas ratio required for attaining a target gas temperature in the cylinder increases as the engine load decreases because the temperature of the internal egr also decreases proportionally ( in a direction indicated by an arrow “ c ”). the required egr gas ratio can be represented by a /( a + b ) ( a and b are shown in fig2 ). a point e shows a limit for the egr gas ratio . however , the range in which the 4 - cycle hcci operation is actually allowed is limited to a range indicated by a block arrow carrying a phrase “ 4 - cycle hcci ” in fig2 because a certain amount of fresh air is required in order to achieve the combustion and there is an actual limit in the rate of the egr gas that can be practically introduced . it should be noted that the egr temperature in the 4 - cycle hcci combustion is relatively low in comparison with the 2 - cycle hcci combustion because there are two strokes from an exhaust stroke to a compression stroke in the 4 - cycle hcci combustion . in other words , in the 2 - cycle hcci combustion , it is possible to use the egr gas having a higher temperature in order to raise the temperature in the cylinder ( refer to a line d ). accordingly , in case of the 2 - cycle hcci combustion , an amount of the egr gas for obtaining the equivalent temperature in the cylinder is relatively small in comparison with the 4 - cycle hcci combustion . the required rate of the egr gas for the 2 - cycle hcci combustion can be represented by a /( a + c ) ( a and c are shown in fig2 ). similarly , there is a limit for allowing the 2 - cycle hcci combustion for the same reason as for the 4 - cycle hcci combustion . a point f in fig2 represents such limit . besides , the range for allowing for the 2 - cycle hcci operation is actually limited to a range indicated by a block arrow carrying a phrase “ 2 - cycle hcci ” in fig2 . thus , it is possible to expand the range for allowing the hcci operation by switching to the 2 - cycle hcci combustion . fig3 shows a relation of an engine load with a fresh air amount in the hcci combustion . in the hcci combustion , a fuel amount and a generated torque are proportional each other . therefore , when the air fuel ratio is constant , the fresh air amount is directly proportional to the engine load as shown in lines “ a ” and “ b ” in fig3 . in a point a in fig4 , the hcci combustion can be performed with the air fuel ratio of 30 and the fresh air of 100 % ( egr of 0 %). however , when a lower load operation is tried while the air fuel ratio is kept unchanged ( in a direction indicated by an arrow c in fig3 ), there may occur a misfiring because , only with the fresh air , it is difficult to obtain the required gas temperature in the cylinder before the compression stroke . therefore , as the engine load becomes lower , the egr gas amount needs to be increased proportionally . a line “ d ” in fig3 indicates the fresh air amount in such situation . however , although such increase of the egr gas amount allows the operation on the side of the lower load , it becomes impossible to perform the 4 - cycle hcci combustion when the air fuel ratio becomes equal to or less than 14 . 7 ( point b ). this is caused by shortage of oxygen . therefore , the operation is switched over to the 2 - cycle hcci combustion in the point b . then , the egr gas of a higher temperature can be used , so that the amount of the egr gas to be introduced into the cylinder can be reduced and the fresh air amount for satisfying the ignition condition can be secured . thus , the range for allowing the hcci operation can be expanded . fig4 is an exemplary map to be used for determining a 4 - cycle hcci operation range , a 2 - cycle hcci operation range and an si operation range . a boundary of the 4 - cycle hcci operation range and the 2 - cycle hcci operation range is shown by a dotted line in fig4 because this boundary is variable in accordance with the operating conditions . besides , a boundary of the si operation range and the hcci operation range is also variable in accordance with the air fuel ratio , the exhaust temperature and the intake air temperature although this boundary is not shown in fig4 . referring to a flowchart in fig5 , one embodiment of a process for determining a switchover between the 4 - cycle hcci operation and the 2 - cycle hcci operation will now be described . in step s 31 , it is determined whether or not the operating condition is in the hcci operation range . the operating condition is represented , for example , by an engine rotational speed ne and a requested torque pmecmd . the values of ne and pmecmd are used to search the map of fig4 in order to determine whether or not the operating condition is in the hcci operation range ( in other words , whether it is in the “ 4 - cycle hcci operation range ” or in the “ 2 - cycle hcci operation range ” shown in fig4 ). when the current operating condition is not in the hcci operation range , the engine 1 performs the 4 - cycle si operation ( s 41 ). when the operating condition is in the hcci operation range , it is determined whether or not a temperature calculated by adding an allowance α to the current intake air temperature ta is less than a target temperature in the cylinder tempcyl required for performing the hcci combustion ( s 32 ). the target temperature in the cylinder tempcyl is determined based on the engine rotational speed ne and the requested torque pmecmd . when ta + α is less than the target temperature in the cylinder tempcyl , the 4 - cycle si operation is performed ( s 41 ) because it is not possible to raise the temperature in the cylinder up to tempcyl . when ta + α exceeds the target temperature in the cylinder tempcyl , it is determined whether the current operating condition is either in the 4 - cycle hcci operation range or in the 2 - cycle hcci operation range shown in fig4 ( s 33 ). when the current operating condition is in the 4 - cycle hcci operation range , the 4 - cycle hcci operation is carried out ( s 40 ). when the current operating condition is in the 2 - cycle hcci operation range , it is further determined whether or not the engine is currently performing the 2 - cycle hcci operation ( s 34 ). this determination is performed in order to set a hysteresis at the switching time between the 2 - cycle hcci operation and the 4 - cycle hcci operation as will be described below . at first , it is determined whether or not the air fuel ratio a / f exceeds a given value af_h 2 ( s 35 ). when the air fuel ratio a / f exceeds the given value af_h 2 ( lean ), the 4 - cycle hcci operation is carried out because it is regarded that the oxygen amount is sufficient to perform the 4 - cycle hcci operation with the current air fuel ratio ( s 40 ). when the air fuel ratio a / f is no more than the given value af_h 2 ( rich ), it is further determined whether or not the actual exhaust gas temperature tex exceeds a value calculated by adding an allowance β 2 to the target temperature in the cylinder tempcyl ( s 36 ). the exhaust gas temperature tex is detected by the exhaust gas temperature sensor 20 . alternatively , it may be estimated from the operating condition of the engine . when the decision of s 36 is yes , the 4 - cycle hcci operation is carried out ( s 40 ) because it is regarded that the temperature in the cylinder is enough to perform the 4 - cycle hcci operation . when the decision of s 36 is no , the 2 - cycle hcci operation is carried out ( s 37 ). when it is determined in step s 34 that the 2 - cycle hcci operation is not currently performed ( that is , the 4 - cycle hcci operation is being performed ), it is determined whether or not the air fuel ratio a / f exceeds the given value af_h 2 ( s 38 ). when the air fuel ratio a / f is no more than the given value af_h ( rich ), the operation is switched to the 2 - cycle hcci ( s 37 ). when the air fuel ratio a / f exceeds the given value af_h 2 ( lean ), it is further determined whether or not the actual exhaust gas temperature tex exceeds a value calculated by adding an allowance β to the target temperature in the cylinder tempcyl ( s 39 ). when the decision of step s 39 is no , the operation is switched to the 2 - cycle hcci ( s 37 ) because the temperature in the cylinder is regarded to be not so high to perform the 4 - cycle hcci operation . when the decision of s 39 is yes , the 4 - cycle hcci operation is continued ( s 40 ). the above - referenced allowances β and β 2 are defined in consideration of heat radiation or the like until the actual combustion starts . these allowances may be determined through an experiment and / or a simulation . β and β 2 may have the same value . according to the above - described switching process between the 4 - cycle hcci operation and the 2 - cycle hcci operation , it is possible to expand the hcci operation range more than conventional approaches . in one embodiment , the determination of switching between the 4 - cycle hcci operation and the 2 - cycle hcci operation may be made based on only the operating conditions ( for example , the engine rotational speed and the requested torque ). however , in this case , even when the engine rotational speed ne and the requested torque pmecmd are kept unchanged , the air fuel ratio and the exhaust gas temperature may exhibit some variation due to variations of the engine and the fuel . therefore , the respective operation - switching points need to be set on the safer side , which is resulted in making the 4 - cycle operation range narrower . accordingly , as described above with reference to the flowchart of fig5 , it is preferable to switch between the 4 - cycle hcci operation and the 2 - cycle hcci operation in consideration of such additional factors as the air fuel ratio ( s 35 and s 38 ), the intake air temperature ( s 32 ) and the exhaust temperature ( s 36 and s 39 ). in such way , it is possible to expand the range for the 4 - cycle hcci operation that is regarded to be rather excellent in terms of fuel economy , emission and product property . fig6 shows a fuel injection timing and a valve opening timing for the intake valve and the exhaust valve ( a ) during the 4 - cycle hcci operation and ( b ) during the 2 - cycle hcci operation . when the 4 - cycle hcci operation or the 2 - cycle hcci operation is determined to be performed , the ecu 5 sends a signal to the fuel injection valve 6 as well as the intake valve 17 and the exhaust valve 19 so that the fuel injection and the intake / exhaust can be performed in the timing as shown in fig6 . fig7 shows a relation of the valve timing with the internal egr amount in such strokes as hatched in fig6 . the magnitude of the egr amount can be controlled by changing the valve closing timing for the exhaust valve or the valve opening timing for the intake valve in the respective directions as illustrated in fig7 . accordingly , it is possible to adjust the temperature in the cylinder so as to become equal to the intake air temperature before the compression stroke as described above with reference to fig2 . in case of the 4 - cycle combustion , all of the combusted gas is , usually ( that is , egr = 0 ), exhausted by opening the exhaust valve at the exhaust stroke . the internal egr amount is controlled by adjusting the exhaust valve closing timing or the intake valve opening timing so as to remain a part of the combusted gas within the cylinder without exhausting all of the gas . more specifically , the egr amount is increased when each valve timing is changed toward a direction indicated by an arrow c in fig7 ( a ) whereas the egr amount is decreased when each valve timing is changed toward a direction indicated by an arrow d in fig7 ( a ). a valve lift amount may be set to be variable instead of or in addition to the change of the valve timing . in case of the 2 - cycle combustion , usually , the exhaust valve is opened to start the emission at the almost half of the expansion / exhaust stroke and immediately thereafter the air intake valve is opened because the cylinder pressure decreases . because the combusted gas flows toward the exhaust valve and the piston moves downward , the fresh air flows in from the air intake valve side . such movement continues even when the intake / compression starts , and resultantly the fresh air pushes out the exhaust gas ( a part of the fresh air is exhausted together ). gas exchange is suspended halfway by closing the intake valve and the exhaust valve in an earlier timing , so that the egr amount can be increased . in other words , the egr amount is increased when each valve timing is changed toward the direction indicated by an arrow c in fig7 ( b ) whereas the egr amount is decreased when each valve timing is changed toward the direction indicated by an arrow d in fig7 ( b ). the technology for switching between 4 - cycle hcci operation and the 2 - cycle hcci operation has been described above , but there may happen a problem about the output torque at the time of switching the operation between the 4 - cycle and the 2 - cycle . for example , when the operation is changed from the 4 - cycle to the 2 - cycle with the engine rotational speed being kept unchanged , the number of the ignitions of the engine in the 2 - cycle becomes two times as much as the 4 - cycle and accordingly the output torque also becomes twice . in order to achieve a smooth operation even when the operation is switched over between the 4 - cycle and the 2 - cycle , it is required to avoid an abrupt change in the torque . fig8 shows a flowchart of techniques for avoiding the abrupt change in the output torque . two embodiments will be described below . fig8 ( a ) shows one of the techniques , which doubles a pulley ratio when the vehicle is a type of cvt ( continuously variable transmission ) and doubles a gear ratio when the vehicle is a type of mt ( manual transmission ) or at ( automatic transmission ). in step s 51 , it is determined whether or not the operation is in the 2 - cycle operation condition . when it is determined that the operation is not in the 2 - cycle operation condition , the pulley ratio or the gear ratio is set to a value for the 4 - cycle operation in step s 53 . when it is determined that the operation is in the 2 - cycle operation condition , the pulley ratio or the gear ratio is set to a value for the 2 - cycle operation in step s 52 . the pulley ratio or the gear ratio for the 2 - cycle operation is almost two times as much as for the 4 - cycle . fig8 ( b ) shows another technique , which reduces the number of the cylinders in half without changing the gear ratio . for example , when the vehicle is a 6 - cylinder type , three cylinders are stopped to operate at the 2 - cycle operation time and the remaining three cylinders continue to operate . in step s 61 , it is determined whether or not the operation is in the 2 - cycle operating condition . when it is determined that the operation is not in the 2 - cycle operating condition , all of the cylinders are set to operate in step s 63 . when it is determined that the operation is in the 2 - cycle operating condition , a half of the cylinders are set to stop to operate	5
fig1 and 2 show an automatic transmission in section for four - wheel drive of a front transversal engine part - time type according to a first embodiment of the present invention . an automatic transmission 100 comprises a fluidic torque converter 200 , transmission 300 , transfer 400 for four - wheel drive and hydraulic control device ( not shown ) fixedly provided in an oil pan under the transmission 300 . the transmission 300 comprises an under - drive transmission 300a of three - forward and one - reverse range including a first planetary gear u1 , second planetary gear u2 , two multi - plate clutches c1 and c2 to be operated by a hydraulic servo , band brake b1 , two multi - plate brakes b2 and b3 , one - way clutch f1 and one - way brake f2 , and an auxillary transmission 300b including a third planetary gear u3 , multi - plate clutch c3 to be operated by a hydraulic servo , multi - plate brake b4 and one - way brake f3 . a transmission case 110 of the automatic transmission 100 is constituted of plural separate members which are tightly fixed to each other . the torque converter 200 is accommodated in a transmission case 120 opened at its right portion ( on a right - hand side in the drawing ), and is provided with a front cover 201 to be rotated by receiving a drive force of a crank shaft 1 as an output shaft of an engine ( not shown ), an annular plate - like rear cover 202 welded to an inner circumference of the front cover 201 , a pump impeller 203 , installed to an inner wall on an inner circumferential surface of the rear cover 202 , a turbine runner 204 arranged in opposition to the pump impeller 203 , a turbine shell 205 for retaining the turbine runner 204 , a stator 208 supported through a one - way clutch 206 to a fixed shaft 207 connected to the transmission case 110 for increasing a torque capacity when an input rotational speed is low , and a direct connecting clutch ( lockup clutch ) 209 arranged between the front cover 201 and the turbine shell 205 for allowing simultaneous rotation of the front cover 201 and the turbine shell 205 . an internal gear oil pump 150 having an external teeth gear 150a and an internal teeth gear 150b therein is provided between a cylindrical transmission case 130 extending at a left portion ( on a left - hand side in the drawing ) of the torque converter case 120 and the torque converter housing 120 . an oil pump body 152 having a cylindrical portion 151 rightwardly projecting at an inner circumference thereof is fixed to a right portion of the transmission case 130 housing the transmission 300 . an extension member 210 connected to an inner circumferential end of the rear cover 202 is engaged by spline through an inner circumference of the cylindrical portion 151 with an inner circumference of the external teeth gear 150a . an oil pump cover 154 having a rearwardly projecting cylindrical front support 153 coaxial with the cylindrical portion 151 is fixed to a left portion of the oil pump body 152 . thusly , the oil pump body 152 and the oil pump cover 154 form a partition wall 155 between the torque converter case 120 and the transmission case 130 . there are defined an under - drive mechanism chamber 130a housing the under - drive transmission 300a in an upper half space of the transmission case 130 and an auxiliary transmission mechanism chamber 130b housing the auxiliary transmission 300b in a lower half space thereof . at a left portion of the under - drive mechanism chamber 130a , there is provided a fixing member 157 made of aluminium alloy which member having a rightwardly projecting cylindrical center support 156 and supporting an output gear 13 , thus defining an output gear housing 141 of the transmission between the fixing member 157 and a rear cover 140 bolted from the left of the transmission case 130 . the rear cover 140 is formed with a rightwardly projected cylindrical rear support coaxial with the front support 153 . at a right central portion of the cylindrical auxiliary transmission mechanism chamber 130b provided in parallel relation with the cylindrical under - drive mechanism chamber 130a , a hole - like front support 158 is mounted to the torque converter case 120 . at a left portion of the auxiliary transmission mechanism chamber 130b , a fixing member 159 having a rightwardly projecting cylindrical inner member 159a is fixed to the transmission case 130 by a bolt . the fixed shaft 207 of the one - way clutch 206 for supporting the stator 208 of the torque converter 200 is fitted inside of the front support 153 , and an input shaft 11 of the transmission 300 as an output shaft of the torque converter 200 is rotatably supported inside of the fixed shaft 207 . the input shaft 11 is formed with a large diametrical left end portion 11a leftwardly projecting from the front support 153 , and the left end portion 11a is formed with a leftward hole 11b at a center thereof . a first intermediate transmitting shaft 12 arranged in a serial manner with respect to the input shaft 11 is rotatably mounted to a left portion of the input shaft 11 . the first intermediate transmitting shaft 12 is in sliding contact with the hole 10b at a right end portion thereof , and is engaged by spline with an inner hole 13b of a central cylindrical portion 13a of the output gear 13 at a left end thereof . the cylindrical portion 13a of the output gear 13 is supported by ball bearings 101 and 102 for allowing smooth rotation of the output gear 13 which bearings are provided between the center support 156 and the rear support 142 of the fixing member 157 and the cylindrical portion 13a of the output gear 13 . a sun gear shaft 14 is rotatably engaged through a bearing with an outside of a right end of the first intermediate transmitting shaft 12 . an input gear 15 of the auxiliary transmission 300b to be meshed with the output gear 13 is supported through a roller bearing 103 to the inner member 159a at a central cylindrical portion 15a thereof . a second intermediate transmitting shaft 16 centrally passing through the auxiliary transmission mechanism chamber 130b is engaged by spline at a left end portion thereof with the inner hole 15b . the second intermediate transmitting shaft 16 is formed with a flange - like projection 16a at an intermediate portion thereof , and is rotatably supported through a roller bearing 104 to the hole - like front support 158 at a right end portion thereof . there is formed between the roller bearing 104 and the flange - like projection 16a on the second intermediate transmitting shaft 16 an output gear 17a of a double - shaft automatic transmission ( a multi - range transmission comprising the under - drive transmission 300a and the auxiliary transmission 300b ) through a pair of tapered roller bearings 106 installed under adjusted prepressure with a spring member 105 interposed and a nut 16b fastened at one end , and an output shaft 17 of the transmission 300 is supported . an output gear 17a of the output shaft 17 is meshed with a drive gear wheel 501 of the transfer 400 . a cylindrical sun gear shaft 18 is rotatably supported through a bushing between the flange - like projection 16a on the second intermediate transmitting shaft 16 and the inner member 159a . a cylindrical outer member 19 is rotatably supported through a bushing on the outside of the inner member 159a . an outside of a left end of the sun gear shft 18 is engaged by spline with an inside of a right end of the outer member 19 . in the under - drive mechanism chamber 130a , at the right side thereof , a first hydraulic servo drum 20 opened at its left portion is rotatably engaged with the front support 153 , and an annular piston 21 is fitted between inner and outer circumferential walls thereof to form a hydraulic servo c - 2 of the clutch c2 . a return spring 22 is mounted to the inner wall side of the servo drum , while the clutch c2 is mounted to the inside of the outer wall thereof . on the left side of the first hydraulic servo drum 20 , a second hydraulic servo drum 24 opened at its left portion and having an annular projection 23 at its right portion is fixed to the left end portion 11a of the input shaft 11 , and an annular piston 25 is fitted between the left end portion 11a and an outer wall of the servo drum to form a hydraulic servo c - 1 of the clutch c1 . a return spring 26 is mounted on the inner circumferential side of the servo drum , while the clutch c1 is mounted to the inside of the outer wall thereof . further , the clutch c2 is mounted to the outer circumference of the annular projection 23 , and both the first and second hydraulic servo drums 20 and 24 are connected through the clutch c2 with each other . on the left side of the second hydraulic servo drum 24 , the first planetary gear u1 is provided , and a ring gear r1 is connected through the clutch c1 to the second hydraulic servo drum 24 . a carrier p1 is engaged by spline with a right end portion of the first intermediate transmitting shaft 12 , and a sun gear s1 is integrally formed with the sun gear shaft 14 . a connecting drum 27 so molded as to cover the first and second hydraulic servo drums 20 and 24 and the first planetary gear u1 in a minimum space is fixed to the outside of the first hydraulic servo drum 20 at a right end thereof , and is connected to the sun gear shaft 14 at a left end thereof on the left side of the first planetary gear u1 . further , the band brake b1 is provided on the outer circumferential side of the servo drum . in an excess space 27a outside of the connecting drum 27 outside of the first planetary gear u1 , an annular third hydraulic servo drum 28 opened at its left portion is fixed , and a piston 29 is fitted to form a hydraulic servo b - 2 of the brake b2 . the brake b2 , an outer race 31 of the one - way brake f2 and the multi - plate brake b3 are engaged in this order from the right with a spline groove 30 formed on the inside of the transmission case 130 on the left side of the hydraulic servo b - 2 . a piston 32 is fitted in an annular hole defined between the outer circumference of the center support 156 of the fixing member 157 and the torque converter 200 to form a hydraulic servo b - 3 of the mutli - plate brake b3 . a return spring 33 of the hydraulic servo b - 3 is supported by a flange plate 34 mounted at the right end of the center support 156 . the one - way clutch f1 including the sun gear shaft 14 as an inner race is provided inside of the multi - plate brake b2 , and an outer race 35 is connected with an inner circumference of the multi - plate brake b2 . the second planetary gear u2 is provided on the left side of the one - way clutch f1 . in the second planetary gear u2 , a sun gear s2 is integrally formed with the sun gear shaft 14 . a carrier p2 is connected with an inner race 35a of the one - way brake f2 and with the multi - plate brake b3 . a ring gear r2 is connected with the first intermediate transmitting shaft 12 . in the third planetary gear u3 provided on the left side of the output shaft 17 , a ring gear r3 is connected through a flange plate 37 to the projection 16a of the second intermediate transmitting shaft 16 . a carrier p3 is connected through an output drum 39 having an annular projection 38 to be connected with the clutch c3 to a connecting sleeve 40 as an input section . a sun gear s3 is formed on a sun gear shaft 18 . on the left side of the third planetary gear u3 , a fourth hydraulic servo drum 41 opened at its right portion is fixed to the outer member 19 rotatably mounted through a bearing to the outer circumference of the inner member 159a of the fixing member 159 . an annular piston 42 is fitted between an outer wall of the servo drum 41 and the outer member 19 to form a hydraulic servo c - 3 of the clutch c3 . a return spring 43 is installed on the outer member 19 side , and the clutch c3 is mounted inside of the outer wall . the servo drum 41 is connected through the clutch c3 to the carrier p3 . the one - way brake f3 including an inner race of the outer member 19 is provided on the left side of the fourth hydraulic servo drum 41 . on the left side of the servo drum , the brake b4 is provided between the outer member 19 and the transmission case 130 . a piston 44 is fitted between the outer circumference of the inner member 159a of the fixing member 159 and the transmission case 130 to form a hydraulic servo b - 4 of the brake b4 . a return spring 45 is fitted in a groove formed on the outer circumferential side of the brake b4 . the outer member 19 is rotated by receiving power through the carrier p3 of the third planetary gear u3 , the output drum 39 and the clutch c3 . the transmission 300 is designed to effect engagement or release of each clutch and brake by hydraulic pressure selectively outputted from the hydraulic control device ( not shown ) to each hydraulic servo of frictional engagement devices according to running conditions of a vehicle such as a vehicular speed and a throttle opening degree , thereby obtaining four forward ranges and one reverse range . there will be shown in table 1 an example of operation and transmission range of each clutch , brake , one - way clutch and one - way brake . ( table 1 ) ______________________________________clutch brake owcrange c . sub . 1 c . sub . 2 c . sub . 3 b . sub . 1 b . sub . 2 b . sub . 3 b . sub . 4 f . sub . 1 f . sub . 2 f . sub . 3______________________________________p x x x x x x e f f fr x e x x x e e f f fn x x x x x x e f f f1 e x x x x x e f l ( l ) 2 e x x x e x e l f ( l ) 3 e e x x e x e f f ( l ) 4 e e e x e x x f f fs1 e x x x x x e f l ( l ) 2 e x x e e x e ( l ) f ( l ) 3 e e x x e x e f f ( l )( 3 ) e e x x e x e f f ( l ) l1 e x x x x e e f ( l ) ( l ) 2 e x x e e x e ( l ) f ( l )( 1 ) e x x x x e e f ( l ) ( l ) ______________________________________ in table 1 , e represents that the corresponding clutch and brake are engaged , and x represents that the corresponding clutch and brake are released . l represents that the corresponding one - way clutch is engaged under engine drive condition , but such engagement is not necessarily needed because of the fact that power transmission is ensured by the clutch or brake arranged in parallel to the one - way clutch ( lock condition ). ( l ) represents that the corresponding one - way clutch is engaged only under engine drive condition , but is not engaged under engine brake condition . further , f represents that the corresponding one - way clutch is free . the transfer 400 comprises a drive gear wheel 410 meshing with the output gear 17a of the output shaft 17 of the transmission 300 and receiving power from the output shaft 17 , a differential gear case 420 fastened to the drive gear wheel 410 by a bolt 411 and having a bevel gear type front differential gear 510 of a front wheel transmission mechanism 500 for driving front wheels and a hydraulic clutch mechanism 600 for selecting front - wheel drive and four - wheel drive , which mechanism acts to transmit and cut off power to a rear wheel side output member 430 for converting a rotating direction and transmitting power to a rear wheel side , and rear wheel propeller mechanism 700 connected by spline with the rear wheel side output member 430 for transmitting power to the rear wheel side . the differential gear case 420 comprises a left case 422 rotatably supported through a tapered roller bearing 421 on an inner circumference of a rightwardly projecting sleeve - like portion 131 coaxial with the front wheel transmitting mechanism 500 of the transmission case 130 , and a right case 424 rotatably supported through a tapered roller bearing 423 on an inner circumference of a transfer case 160 housing a right portion of the differential gear case 420 fixed to the right portion of the transmission case 130 . the differential gear case 420 is fastened by the bolt 411 together with the drive gear wheel 410 . the front wheel transmitting mechanism 500 includes a front differential gear 510 comprising a front differential case 513 composed of a left differential case 511 integrally formed with the left differential case 422 of the differential gear case 420 and a right differential case 512 bolted to the left differential case 511 , a differential pinion shaft 514 supported to the front differential case 513 , a differential pinion 515 rotatably supported to the differential pinion shaft 514 , a differential left side gear 516 meshed with the differential pinion 515 at the left and a differential right side gear 517 meshed with the differential pinion 515 at the right . a front left wheel propeller shaft 501 for transmitting power to a front left wheel is connected by spline with an inner circumference of the differential left side gear 516 , while a front right wheel propeller shaft 502 for transmitting power to a front right wheel is connected by spline with an inner circumference of the differential right side gear 517 . the hydraulic clutch mechanism 600 comprises a multi - plate clutch c4 meshed with an inner spline 601 formed at an inner position of the front differential gear 510 of the right case 424 of the differential gear case 420 and with an outer spline 602 formed at a position of the rear wheel side output member 430 corresponding to the inner position of the inner spline 601 , a piston 604 air - tightly fitted in an annular hole 603 defined at a position of the left case 422 on the transmission 300 side of the multi - plate clutch c4 so as to urge the multi - plate clutch c4 , a hydraulic servo c - 4 provided between the annular hole 603 and the piston 604 for driving the piston 604 by supplying and discharging a hydraulic oil , a clutch push plate 605 provided between the multi - plate clutch c4 and the piston 604 and having a fulcrum 605a projecting to the piston 604 side , and a lever type return spring 607 abutting against the piston 604 at its inner position , abutting against the fulcrum 605a of the clutch push plate 605 at its intermediate outer position , and being stopped by a snap ring 606 at its outer position . supply / discharge control of the hydraulic oil to the hydraulic servo c - 4 is effected by a hydraulic control device provided at a lower portion of the transmission 300 . a hydraulic oil supply means for supplying the hydraulic oil from the hydraulic control device to the hydraulic servo c - 4 is formed by an oil passage ( not shown ) in the transmission case 130 from the hydraulic control device , an oil passage 608 in the sleeve - like portion 131 from the oil passage in the transmission case 130 , an oil passage 609 in the sleeve - like portion 131 for communicating the oil passage 608 with an outer circumference of the sleeve - like portion 131 , and an oil passage 610 in the left case 422 for communicating the oil passage 609 with the hydraulic servo c - 4 . the multi - plate clutch c4 is engaged by supplying the hydraulic oil to the hydraulic servo c - 4 thereby to transmit an output of the output shaft 17 of the transmission 300 through the drive gear wheel 410 , the differential gear case 420 and the multi - plate clutch c4 to the rear wheel side output member 430 . such engagement of the multi - plate clutch c4 is released by discharging the hydraulic oil of the hydraulic servo c - 4 , and the power transmitted to the right case 424 is not transmitted to the rear wheel side output member 430 . the rear wheel propeller mechanism 700 comprises a gear wheel shaft 701 having a front right wheel propeller shaft 502 of the front wheel transmitting mechanism 500 on its inner circumference and connected by spline at the left end of its outer circumference with the right end of the inner circumference of the rear wheel side output member 430 , a gear wheel 702 engaged by spline with the outer circumference of the right portion of the gear wheel shaft 701 , and a pinion 705 meshed with the gear wheel 702 and integrally formed with a rear wheel propeller shaft 704 connected by spline with the outer circumference of a rear portion of a sleeve yoke 703 for transmitting power to the rear wheel side . the gear wheel shaft 701 is rotatably supported at its intermediate portion through a tapered roller bearing 706 to the inner circumference of a gear wheel case 170 fixed to the right side of the transfer case 160 . a propeller shaft support case 180 is designed to rotatably support the front right wheel propeller shaft 502 fastened through a ball bearing 503 to the right side of the gear wheel case 170 . the gear wheel shaft 701 is rotatably supported at its right portion through a tapered roller bearing 707 and the gear wheel 702 . the tapered roller bearing 707 is provided on the inner circumference of a cylindrical boss portion 181 of the support case 180 which is leftwardly projected and is coaxial with the front right wheel propeller shaft 502 . the rear wheel propeller shaft 704 is rotatably supported through tapered roller bearings 708 and 709 to the inner circumference of a pinion case 190 fastened to the rear portion of the gear wheel case 170 . thus , the power transmitted to the rear wheel side output member 430 is transmitted through the gear wheel shaft 701 , gear wheel 702 , pinion 705 , rear wheel propeller shaft 704 and sleeve yoke 703 to a rear drive wheel side . as is mentioned above , a friction area of the multi - plate clutch is enlarged by providing the same at the outer circumferential position of the differential gear , thereby increasing a clutch capacity and allowing suitable application to a vehicle having a large cylinder capacity . further , an axial dimension of the transfer may be shortened by providing the multi - plate clutch at the outer circumferential position of the differential gear . since the hydraulic friction clutch is provided in the differential gear case , the transfer may be made compact thereby to improve installation of the same in a vehicle ( hydraulic servo ) of the hydraulic friction clutch is provided on the hydraulic control device side of the friction engagement member ( multi - plate clutch ), the oil passages for supplying / discharging the hydraulic oil may be shortened thereby to simplify the hydraulic oil supply means . furthermore , as the lever type return spring is used for the friction engagement means , a large engagement torque capacity may be obtained in a small space . fig3 is a sectional view of a transfer of the automatic transmission in a second preferred embodiment of the present invention . the transfer 400a comprises a drive gear wheel 410a meshing with the output gear 17a of the output shaft 17 of the transmission 300 and receiving power from the output shaft 17 , a differential gear case 420a fastened to the drive gear wheel 410a by a bolt 411a and having a bevel gear type front differential gear 510a of a front wheel transmission mechanism 500a for driving front wheels and a hydraulic clutch mechanism 600a for selecting rear - wheel drive and four - wheel drive , which mechanism acts to transmit and cut off power to a front wheel side , and rear wheel propeller mechanism 700a connected by spline with the differential gear case 420a . the differential gear case 420a comprises a left case 422a rotatably supported through a tapered roller bearing 421a on an inner circumference of a rightwardly projecting sleeve - like portion 131a coaxial with the front wheel transmitting mechanism 500a of the transmission case 130 , and a right case 424a rotatably supported through a tapered roller bearing 423a on an inner circumference of a transfer case 160a housing a right portion of the differential gear case 420a fixed to the right portion of the transmission case 130 . the differential gear case 420a is fastened by the bolt 411a together with the drive gear wheel 410a . the front wheel transmitting mechanism 500a includes a front differential gear 510a comprising a front differential case 513a composed of a left differential case 511a rotatably arranged in the differential gear case 420a and a right differential case 512a bolted to the left differential case 511a as a front wheel side output member receiving a power from the differential case 420a through the hydraulic clutch mechanism 600a , a differential pinion shaft 514a supported to the front differential case 513a , a differential pinion 515a rotatably supported to the differential pinion shaft 514a , a differential left side gear 516a meshed with the differential pinion 515a at the left and a differential right side gear 517a meshed with the differential pinion 515a at the right . a front left wheel propeller shaft 501a for transmitting power to a front left wheel is connected by spline with an inner circumference of the differential left side gear 516a , while a front right wheel propeller shaft 502a for transmitting power to a front right wheel is connected by spline with an inner circumference of the differential right side gear 517a . the hydraulic clutch mechanism 600a comprises a multi - plate clutch c4a meshed with an inner spline 601a formed at an inner position of the front differential gear 510a of the right case 424a of the differential gear case 420a and with an outer spline 602a formed at a position of the rear wheel side output member 430a corresponding to the inner position of the inner spline 601a formed on an outer circumference of the right differential case 512a , a piston 604a air - tightly fitted in an annular hole 603a defined at a position of the left case 422a on the transmission 300 side of the multi - plate clutch c4a so as to urge the multi - plate clutch c4a , a hydraulic servo c - 4a provided between the annular hole 603a and the piston 604a for driving the piston 604a by supplying and discharging a hydraulic oil , a clutch push plate 605a provided between the multi - plate clutch c4a and the piston 604a and having a fulcrum 605aa projecting to the piston 604a side , and a lever type return spring 607a abutting against the piston 604a at its inner position , abutting against the fulcrum 605aa of the clutch push plate 605a at its intermediate outer position , and being stopped by a snap ring 606a at its outer position . supply / discharge control of the hydraulic oil to the hydraulic servo c - 4a is effected by a hydraulic control device provided at a lower portion of the transmission 300 . a hydraulic oil supply means for supplying the hydraulic oil from the hydraulic control device to the hydraulic servo c - 4a is formed by an oil passage ( not shown ) in the transmission case 130 from the hydraulic control device , an oil passage 608a in the sleeve - like portion 131a from the oil passage in the transmission case 130 , an oil passage 609a in the sleeve - like portion 131a for communicating the oil passage 608a with an outer circumference of the sleeve - like portion 131a , and an oil passage 610a in the left case 422a for communicating the oil passage 609a with the hydraulic servo c - 4a . the multi - plate clutch c4a is engaged by supplying the hydraulic oil to the hydraulic servo c - 4a thereby to transmit an output of the output shaft 17 of the transmission 300 through the drive gear wheel 410a , the differential gear case 420a and the multi - plate clutch c4a to the right differential case 512a of the front differential case 513a . such engagement of the multi - plate clutch c4a is released by discharging the hydraulic oil of the hydraulic servo c - 4a , and the power transmitted to the right case 424a is not transmitted to the rear wheel side output member 430a . the rear wheel propeller mechanism 700a comprises a gear wheel shaft 701a as a rear wheel side output member having a front right wheel propeller shaft 502a of the front wheel transmitting mechanism 500a on its inner circumference and connected by spline at the left end of its outer circumference with the right end of the inner circumference of the differential gear case 420a , a gear wheel 702a engaged by spline with the outer circumference of the right portion of the gear wheel shaft 701a , and a pinion 705a meshed with the gear wheel 702a and integrally formed with a rear wheel propeller shaft 704a connected by spline with the outer circumference of a rear portion of a sleeve yoke 703a for transmitting power to the rear wheel side . the gear wheel shaft 701a is rotatably supported at its intermediate portion through a tapered roller bearing 706a to the inner circumference of a gear wheel case 170a fixed to the right side of the transfer case 160a . a propeller shaft support case 180a is designed to rotatably support the front right wheel propeller shaft 502a fastened through a ball bearing 503a to the right side of the gear wheel case 170a . the gear wheel shaft 701a is rotatably supported at its right portion through a tapered roller bearing 707a and the gear wheel 702a . the tapered roller bearing 707a is provided on the inner circumference of a cylindrical boss portion 181a of the support case 180a which is leftwardly projected and is coaxial with the front right wheel propeller shaft 502a . the rear wheel propeller shaft 704a is rotatably supported through tapered roller bearings 708a and 709a to the inner circumference of a pinion case 190a fastened to the rear portion of the gear wheel case 170a . thus , the power normally transmitted to the differential gear case 420a is transmitted through the gear wheel shaft 701a , gear wheel 702a , pinion 705a , rear wheel propeller shaft 704a and sleeve yoke 703a to a rear drive wheel side . fig4 is a sectional view of a transfer of the automatic transmission in a third preferred embodiment of the present invention . the transfer 400b comprises a drive gear wheel 410b meshing with the output gear 17a of the output shaft 17 of the transmission 300 and receiving power from the output shaft 17 , a differential gear case 420b fastened to the drive gear wheel 410b by a bolt 411b and having a bevel gear type front differential gear 510b of a front wheel transmission mechanism 500b for driving front wheels and a hydraulic clutch mechanism 600b for selecting rear - wheel drive and four - wheel drive , which mechanism acts to transmit and cut off power to a front wheel side , and rear wheel propeller mechanism 700b connected by spline with the differential gear case 420b . the differential gear case 420b comprises a left case 422b rotatably supported through a tapered roller bearing 421b on an inner circumference of a rightwardly projecting sleeve - like portion 131b coaxial with the front wheel transmitting mechanism 500b of the transmission case 130 , and a right case 424b rotatably supported through a tapered roller bearing 423b on an inner circumference of a transfer case 160b housing a right portion of the differential gear case 420b fixed to the right portion of the transmission case 130 . the differential gear case 420b is fastened by the bolt 411b together with the drive gear wheel 410b . the front wheel transmitting mechanism 500b includes a front differential gear 510b comprising a front differential case 513b composed of a left differential case 511b as a front wheel side output member receiving a power from the differential gear case 420b through the hydraulic clutch mechanism 600b , rotatably arranged in the differential gear case 420b and a right differential case 512b bolted to the left differential case 511b , a differential pinion shaft 514b supported to the front differential case 513b , a differential pinion 515b rotatably supported to the differential pinion shaft 514b , a differential left side gear 516b meshed with the differential pinion 515b at the left and a differential right side gear 517b meshed with the differential pinion 515b at the right . a front left wheel propeller shaft 501b for transmitting power to a front left wheel is connected by spline with an inner circumference of the differential left side gear 516b , while a front right wheel propeller shaft 502b for transmitting power to a front right wheel is connected by spline with an inner circumference of the differential right side gear 517b . the hydraulic clutch mechanism 600b comprises a multi - plate clutch c4b meshed with an inner spline 601b formed on an inner circumference of a side position , that is , on the transmission 300 side , of the front differential gear 510b of the right case 424b of the differential gear case 420b and with an outer spline 602b formed at a position of the rear wheel side output member 430b corresponding to the inner position of the inner spline 601b , a piston 604b air - tightly fitted in an annular hole 603b defined at a position of the left case 422b on the transmission 300 side of the multi - plate clutch c4b so as to urge the multi - plate clutch c4b , a hydraulic servo c - 4b provided between the annular hole 603b and the piston 604b for driving the piston 604b by supplying and discharging a hydraulic oil , a clutch push plate 605b provided between the multi - plate clutch c4b and the piston 604b and having a fulcrum 605ab projecting to the piston 604b side , and a lever type return spring 607b abutting against the piston 604b at its inner position , abutting against the fulcrum 605ab of the clutch push plate 605b at its intermediate outer position , and being stopped by an outer circumferential groove 606b formed on an inner circumference of a connected portion between the left case 422b and the right case 424b . supply / discharge control of the hydraulic oil to the hydraulic servo c - 4b is effected by a hydraulic control device provided at a lower portion of the transmission 300 . a hydraulic oil supply means for supplying the hydraulic oil from the hydraulic control device to the hydraulic servo c - 4b is formed by an oil passage ( not shown ) in the transmission case 130 from the hydraulic control device , an oil passage 608b in the sleeve - like portion 131b from the oil passage in the transmission case 130 , an oil passage 609b in the sleeve - like portion 131b for communicating the oil passage 608b with an outer circumference of the sleeve - like portion 131b , and an oil passage 610b in the left case 422b for communicating the oil passage 609b with the hydraulic servo c - 4b . the multi - plate clutch c4b is engaged by supplying the hydraulic oil to the hydraulic servo c - 4b thereby to transmit an output of the output shaft 17 of the transmission 300 through the drive gear wheel 410b , the differential gear case 420b and the multi - plate clutch c4b to the rear wheel side output member 430b . such engagement of the multi - plate clutch c4b is released by discharging the hydraulic oil of the hydraulic servo c - 4b , and the power transmitted to the right case 424b is not transmitted to the left differential case 511b of the front differential case 513b . the rear wheel propeller mechanism 700b comprises a gear wheel shaft 701b as a rear wheel side output member having a front right wheel propeller shaft 502b of the front wheel transmitting mechanism 500b on its inner circumference and connected by spline at the left end of its outer circumference with the right end of the inner circumference of the differential gear case 420b , a gear wheel 702b engaged by spline with the outer circumference of the right portion of the gear wheel shaft 701b , and a pinion 705b meshed with the gear wheel 702b and integrally formed with a rear wheel propeller shaft 704b connected by spline with the outer circumference of a rear portion of a sleeve yoke 703b for transmitting power to the rear wheel side . the gear wheel shaft 701b is rotatably supported at its intermediate portion through a tapered roller bearing 706b to the inner circumference of a gear wheel case 170b fixed to the right side of the transfer case 160b . a propeller shaft support case 180b is designed to rotatably support the front right wheel propeller shaft 502b fastened through a ball bearing 503b to the right side of the gear wheel case 170b . the gear wheel shaft 701b is rotatably supported at its right portion through a tapered roller bearing 707b and the gear wheel 702b . the tapered roller bearing 707b is provided on the inner circumference of a cylindrical boss portion 181b of the support case 180b which is leftwardly projected and is coaxial with the front right wheel propeller shaft 502b . the rear wheel propeller shaft 704b is rotatably supported through tapered roller bearings 708b and 709b to the inner circumference of a pinion case 190b fastened to the rear portion of the gear wheel case 170b . thus , the power normally transmitted to the differential gear case 420b is transmitted through the gear wheel shaft 701b , gear wheel 702b , pinion 705b , rear wheel propeller shaft 704b and sleeve yoke 703b to a rear drive wheel side . according to the above - mentioned embodiments , as the multi - plate clutch is provided on a side position of the differential gear , a distance among the output shaft of the transmission , the output shaft of the engine and the output shaft of the differential gear ( the front left wheel propeller shaft 501b and the front right wheel propeller shaft 502b in the preferred embodiment ) may be reduced thereby to make the transfer compact and improve installability to the vehicle . fig5 is a schematic illustration of a transfer in a fourth preferred embodiment of the present invention . the transfer 400c comprises a drive gear wheel 410c meshing with the output gear 17a of the output shaft 17 of the transmission 300 and receiving power from the output shaft 17 , a differential gear case 420c connected to the drive gear wheel 410c by a bolt 411c and having a bevel gear type front differential gear 510c of a front wheel transmission mechanism 500c for driving front wheels and a hydraulic clutch mechanism 600c for selecting two - wheel drive and four - wheel drive , which mechanism acts to transmit and cut off power to a rear wheel side output member 430c for transmitting power to a rear wheel side , and rear wheel propeller mechanism 700c connected with the rear wheel side output member 430c for transmitting power to the rear wheel side . the front wheel transmitting mechanism 500c includes a front differential gear 510c comprising a front differential case 513c composed of a left differential case 511c connected to the differential gear case 420c and a right differential case 512c bolted to the left differential case 511c , a differential pinion shaft 514c supported to the front differential case 513c , a differential pinion 515c rotatably supported to the differential pinion shaft 514c , a differential left side gear 516c meshed with the differential pinion 515c at the left and a differential right side gear 517c meshed with the differential pinion 515c at the right . a front left wheel propeller shaft 501c for transmitting power to a front left wheel is connected with an inner circumference of the differential left side gear 516c , while a front right wheel propeller shaft 502c for transmitting power to a front right wheel is connected with an inner circumference of the differential right side gear 517c . the hydraulic clutch mechanism 600c comprises a multi - plate clutch c4c meshed with a side position , that is , the transmission 3003 side of the front differential gear 510c of the differential gear case 420c and with an outer circumference of the rear wheel side output member 430c on the transmission side from the front differential gear 510c , and a push means 620c provided in the differential gear case 420c on the transmission 300 side of the multi - plate clutch c4c for engaging and disengaging the multi - plate clutch c4c . an output from the output shaft 17 of the transmission 300 is transmitted through the drive gear wheel 410c , the differential gear case 420c and the multi - plate clutch c4c to the rear wheel side output member 430c by driving the push means 620c and thereby engaging the multi - plate clutch c4c , and a power transmitted to the differential gear case 420c is not transmitted to the rear wheel side output member 430c by disengaging the multi - plate clutch c4c . the rear wheel propeller mechanism 700c comprises a gear wheel shaft 701c having a front right wheel propeller shaft 502c of the front wheel transmitting mechanism 500c on its inner circumference and connected to the rear wheel side output member 430c , a gear wheel 702c provided at the right end of the gear wheel shaft 701c , and a pinion 705c meshed with the gear wheel 702c and connected to a rear wheel propeller shaft 704c for transmitting a power to the rear wheel side . the power transmitted to the rear wheel side output member 430c is transmitted through the gear wheel shaft 701c , the gear wheel 702c , the pinion 705c and the rear wheel propeller shaft 704c to a rear drive wheel side . the present disclosure relates to subject matter contained in japanese patent application no . 267784 / 1984 ( filed dec . 19th , 1984 ) which is incorporated herein by reference . it will be understood that the above description of the present invention is susceptible to various modifications , changes and adaptations , and the same are intended to be comprehended within the meaning and range of equivalents of the appended claims .	8
this description sets forth an exemplary embodiment with reference to the accompanying figures . this exemplary embodiment is not limiting , and variations are encompassed by embodiments . as mentioned above , embodiments reduce or eliminate the need to realign and recalibrate the vertical axis and primary and , when present , additional measurement sensors . as seen , for example , in fig1 , embodiments of a breakaway and crash detection system 1 can include a stage 2 that supports a mounting or fixturing plate 10 on which a fixturing device 11 , such as a rotary module , can be arranged to hold and / or manipulate an object to be inspected . while the fixturing device 11 used with embodiments is shown in the fig . as a rotary module , embodiments can be used with other such fixturing devices as appropriate . the breakaway system includes a kinematic mounting arrangement , preferably including three tooling balls 12 . as is known in the art , tooling balls are high - precision hardened steel balls . in embodiments , the tooling balls 12 are attached to one of the mounting or fixturing plate 10 and the stage 2 . as seen in fig1 , the tooling balls 12 are preferably mounted in the fixturing plate via posts that can include , for example , threads . the tooling balls 12 rest in features 14 , 15 , 16 mounted or formed on the stage 2 to form the kinematic mount , which supports the fixturing plate 10 via the tooling balls 12 . since the stage 2 of embodiments can be made from materials not suitable for repeatable repositioning of the fixturing plate 10 , embodiments provide hardened pads in which the respective features 14 , 15 , 16 receiving the balls 12 are formed . the pads can be made from hardened , ground steel , for example , or any other suitable material . at least two of the pads preferably include features that engage their respective tooling balls 12 and prevent motion of the firing plate in at least one direction to constrain the fixturing plate 10 against translation in the plane of the stage 2 . for example , embodiments employ a vee cone 14 that prevents motion of one tooling ball 12 in the plane of the stage 2 , a vee groove 15 that prevents motion of its tooling ball 12 along a specific axis in the plane of the stage 2 , and a flat 16 that prevents rotation of the fixturing plate 10 about the axis defined by the other two tooling balls 12 . however , the arrangement allows , and induces , vertical motion of the plate 10 — motion perpendicular to the plane of the stage 2 — should the plate 10 collide with something or should something else collide with the plate . thus , in embodiments , the three tooling balls 12 preferably engage with a vee cone 14 , a vee groove 15 , and a flat 16 , respectively . the tooling balls 12 and vee cones 14 , vee grooves 15 , and flats 16 are typically made from hardened , ground steel to preserve their dimensional accuracy and geometry . such a system firmly holds the first , fixturing plate 10 to the second plate or stage 2 in a particular alignment even after repeated reseating of the balls 12 in their respective features 14 , 15 , 16 , which is how the alignment of embodiments is preserved . to prevent unintentional vertical translation of the plate 10 beyond what gravity provides , a biasing or preload arrangement 20 can be included . in embodiments , the biasing arrangement 20 includes a plurality of adjustable preload devices 21 , preferably mounted near the tooling balls 12 . an example of a preload device 21 suited for use with embodiments includes a housing 22 that supports one or more springs 23 , the springs 23 being connected to a wall 24 of the housing at one respective end and a pull bar 25 at the other respective end . the pull bar 25 in turn retains an end of a cable 26 that extends over a bushing 27 and down through the housing 22 , through the fixturing plate 10 , and toward the stage 2 to which it is connected . embodiments employ a loop of cable 26 that has left and right legs , the ends attached to the springs 23 , and the extremity of the loop being hooked about an attachment point 28 in the stage 2 . a screw 29 extending through the preload device housing 22 and into the pull bar 25 allows adjustment of a preload induced by the device . as seen in fig1 , embodiments can include three substantially equally spaced such adjustable preload devices 21 on the first , fixturing plate 10 . once installed and adjusted , the preload devices 21 bias the fixturing plate 10 and stage 2 together so that more force is required to induce vertical motion of the fixturing plate 10 that would result in breakaway of the fixturing plate 10 from the stage 2 . this prevents unintentional breakaway should a sudden motion or high - mass rotation of the fixturing device 11 cause the fixturing plate 10 to jump . a larger mass or higher center of gravity may require a higher preload and a smaller mass or lower center of gravity a lower preload . when used with a rotary module as the fixturing device 11 , for example , the mass of the module moves through an arc and may require a higher fixturing preload than other types of fixturing devices . the adjustable preload devices 21 provide the ability to accommodate these requirements and can also aid in returning the unit to its original mounting should breakaway occur . as seen in the accompanying fig ., the breakaway system of embodiments is preferably placed low on the horizontal axis of the machine to reduce the accumulation of small errors accruing during re - alignment , particularly with respect to the vertical axis . such small errors are generally amplified as the focal distance or working distance of the sensor is increased . in operation , the fixturing plate 10 breaks away from the solid horizontal axis of motion in embodiments when a collision occurs . the breakaway arrangement of embodiments substantially eliminates the release and re - align problem of prior art devices with respect to the optical system , probes , sensors , and any other position - sensitive components rigidly mounted to the vertical axis . this preserves the accuracy and repeatability of the optics , sensors , probes and axis of motion . embodiments preferably further include a crash detection system 30 that comprises at least one proximity sensor 31 capable of sensing small variations in vertical movement , preferably as little as 0 . 0005 ″ ( 12 μm ). the at least one sensor 31 is connected to a proximity controller 32 that stops motion in the horizontal direction in a small amount of travel , preferably as little as 0 . 002 ″ of travel , if the sensor 31 senses movement of the fixturing plate 10 . in particular , embodiments preferably include three displacement sensors very near or adjacent the tooling balls 12 on the fixturing plate 10 and connected to the proximity controller 32 , as seen in fig1 . embodiments contemplate the use of various types of position / displacement sensors . for example , proximity , reed , laser , capacitance , and / or force sensors can all be applied . in addition , any other type of position / displacement sensor could be employed as long as it meets the requirements of the system 30 . the proximity controller ( s ) 32 can be mounted on a support 33 attached to the fixturing plate 10 , though a remote controller 32 could also be employed . as shown , the controller mount 33 includes a plate 34 attached to the fixturing plate 10 with screws 35 or the like , but the mount 33 could instead be formed as part of the fixturing plate 10 . in embodiments , the breakaway / crash detection unit can include a mechanical stiffener 40 , such as the rail shown in fig1 , to prevent axial twist of the breakaway unit during operation of the fixturing device 11 , such as during rotation of a primary rotary under maximum loading conditions . the fixturing plate 10 is preferably kept to a minimum thickness to prevent loss of vertical measurement capability in such an arrangement . including the stiffener 40 affords a high measurement volume to stiffness ratio , which reduces errors that can accumulate in the five axes of motion of the unit . the high ratio also reduces the effect of compounding errors in the final measurement results . it will be appreciated that various of the above - disclosed and other features and functions , or alternatives thereof , may be desirably combined into many other different systems or applications . also that various presently unforeseen or unanticipated alternatives , modifications , variations or improvements therein may be subsequently made by those skilled in the art which are also intended to be encompassed by the following claims .	6
fig2 illustrates the principle of a han cell according to the prior art which is based on the flexo - electric effect . in the han cell , the lc molecules 6 which are situated near one surface 7 are aligned parallel to the surface 7 , and those which are situated near the other surface 8 are aligned perpendicular to the surface 8 . if the liquid crystal molecules 6 have a suitable shape , then this molecule orientation will cause flexo - electric polarisation . the direction of rotation of the optical axis of a liquid crystal molecule 6 will then depend on the sign of the applied voltage v . fig2 a shows a sectional view ( top ) and a perspective side view ( bottom ) which illustrate a detail of a han cell where the electrode arrangement 4 is not activated . fig2 b shows the same han cell of fig2 a again . a first active operational situation is shown on the left , where p — flexo and the optical axis of the liquid crystal layer 5 are turned clockwise . a second active operational situation is shown on the right of fig2 b , where p flexo and the optical axis of the liquid crystal layer 5 are turned counter - clockwise . fig2 c shows a han cell which is known in the prior art , where a first operational situation is illustrated on the left and a second operational situation is illustrated on the right . in this han cell , the electrode arrangement 4 is disposed on the first substrate 2 , and the first surface 7 is made such that the longitudinal axes of the liquid crystal molecules 6 which are situated next to the first surface 7 are substantially aligned parallel to the surface 7 . consequently , the in - plane electric field which is generated by the electrode arrangement 4 and which serves for aligning the liquid crystal molecules 6 immediately affects the part of the han cell at which the liquid crystal molecules 6 to be aligned are situated , namely the part which is adjacent to the first surface 7 of the first substrate 2 , and thus the liquid crystal molecules 6 which are substantially aligned parallel to the first surface 7 . fig3 shows a han cell with ips - style electrode arrangement according to the prior art . negative and positive voltages alternate across the electrode arrangement . consequently , the direction of rotation of the optical axis also alternates . since only the absolute value of the rotation angle is relevant for amplitude modulation , an amplitude - modulating pixel can be operated with such an arrangement . in contrast , phase modulation depends on the sign of the voltage . an electrode arrangement as shown in fig3 is thus not suitable for a phase - modulating pixel . the upper part of fig4 is a perspective view which shows a detail of a phase modulator 1 according to this invention . the phase modulator 1 comprises a first substrate 2 , a second substrate 3 and an electrode arrangement 4 . a layer of liquid crystal molecules ( not shown in fig4 ) is disposed between the first substrate 2 and the second substrate 3 . the lower part of fig4 is a sectional view which shows schematically a second substrate 3 with the electrode arrangement 4 . the first substrate is omitted here . the drawing further shows the field lines which will occur if the electrode arrangement 4 is activated . the electrode arrangement 4 is of a striped design . the electrode arrangement 4 is preferably controlled such that different voltages are applied to the individual electrodes of the electrode arrangement 4 . these different voltages are designated v 1 to v 6 in fig4 . in a phase - modulating pixel of a phase modulator 1 according to this invention , a constant voltage gradient must be applied across the pixel . in other words , v 6 − v 5 = v 5 − v 4 = . . . = v 2 − v 1 = δv . in a phase deflector , the stripe electrodes are controlled individually . fig5 shows an lc - based polarisation grating according to the prior art . the lc molecules 6 are aligned in - plane and rotate by 180 degrees in the plane over one grating period . fig5 ( a ) is a front view which shows a detail of the polarisation grating , i . e . seen in the direction in which an observer looks at a display with such polarisation grating that is disposed parallel to the display surface . fig5 ( b ) is a sectional view that shows a detail of the polarisation grating of fig5 ( a ). a is the grating period of the polarisation grating . fig6 a is a schematic perspective three - dimensional view that illustrates a further embodiment of the present invention , namely a detail of a phase modulator 1 according to this invention which provides a polarisation grating which is based on the han mode . the simple drawing only shows the first substrate 2 , the second substrate 3 — with the respective surfaces 7 , 8 — and the liquid crystal layer 5 with the liquid crystal molecules 6 . although the liquid crystal molecules 6 in fig6 a are shown in the form of symmetrical ellipsoids , the liquid crystal molecules 6 in fact have a banana shape or pear shape which causes the flexo - electric effect . anyway , the liquid crystal molecules 6 which are situated next to the surface 7 of the first substrate are aligned substantially parallel to the surface 7 because the surface 7 is designed accordingly . further , the liquid crystal molecules 6 which are situated next to the surface 8 of the second substrate 3 are aligned substantially perpendicular to the surface 8 because the surface 8 is designed accordingly . the electrode arrangement is not shown in fig6 a . fig6 b is a sectional view which illustrates a detail of a further embodiment of a phase modulator 1 according to this invention . in this embodiment of the phase modulator according to this invention , the first surface 7 of the first substrate 2 is made in the form of a layer . the surface 7 , which is adjacent to the liquid crystal layer 5 with the liquid crystal molecules 6 , is made such that the liquid crystal molecules 6 which are situated next to the surface 7 are aligned substantially parallel to the surface 7 . the electrode arrangement 4 with substantially stripe - shaped electrodes is disposed on the substrate 2 and embedded by the surface 7 layer material . the second substrate 3 has a surface 8 in the form of a layer which is made such that the liquid crystal molecules 6 which are situated next to it are aligned substantially perpendicular to the surface 8 . the phase modulator 1 of fig6 b has an activated electrode arrangement 4 which is controlled such that a polarisation filter with a grating period of 16 μm is formed , of which only one half is shown here . the different greyscale values of the liquid crystal layer 5 illustrate the actual electric field strength . further , equipotential lines of the actual electric field strength are shown . fig6 c is a sectional view that illustrates a further embodiment of a detail of a phase modulator 1 which provides a polarisation grating which is based on the han mode . according to the han configuration , the lc molecules 6 are aligned in - plane , i . e . parallel , to one surface layer or surface 7 but out - of - plane , i . e . substantially perpendicular , to the other surface layer or surface 8 . it is the projection of the liquid crystal molecule 6 into the plane or first surface 7 that is rotated by 180 degrees in the polarisation grating over a grating period , while the angle of the liquid crystal molecule 6 by which they are turned out of the plane remains about constant . the borderline cases are a mere in - plane rotation near the upper substrate 2 , and a mere rotation of the liquid crystal molecules 6 around their own axis near the lower substrate 3 , because they are aligned perpendicular to the surface 7 there . fig7 is a schematic view which shows a detail of a pixel of a light modulator according to this invention , where the pixel is a part of the light modulator of a display and where it is looked at in a direction in which an observer would watch the light modulator or display . to make things clearer , the same cell or pixel is turned by 90 degrees below ( the lower substrate 2 with the electrode e 2 is on the right - hand side ). in the upper view , the liquid crystal molecule 6 at the bottom is situated next to the substrate which is closer to the observer , and it points out of the drawing plane . the liquid crystal molecule 6 at the top is situated next to the substrate which is further away from the observer , and it lies in the drawing plane . to realise the same rotation angle in the drawing plane , a positive voltage v 1 is required between the electrodes e 1 and e 2 , and a positive voltage v 1 is required again between the electrodes e 2 and e 3 . this means that the voltage 2 × v 1 is applied to the electrode e 3 . fig8 is an arrangement with a structured alignment layer a 1 and a 2 on the side where the liquid crystal molecules 6 are substantially aligned parallel to the surface 7 . the upper part of the drawing shows the same molecule alignment as described above between electrodes e 1 and e 2 . however , between electrodes e 2 and e 3 the molecules are aligned the other way round , namely vertically on top and horizontally at the bottom . this means that an opposing direction of rotation will occur if the same voltage is applied . if a voltage of 0 v is applied to electrode e 1 , a voltage v 1 is applied to electrode e 2 and a voltage of 0 v is applied again to electrode e 3 , then the sign of the voltage between two electrodes alternates , but the direction of rotation remains the same . further electrodes can continue to be supplied with the voltages v 1 and 0 v alternately . this embodiment preferably only requires two comb - shaped electrodes , and it is not necessary to control individual electrodes of a pixel individually . fig7 ′ and 8 ′ are three - dimensional views which show the same details of the light modulators shown in the upper parts of fig7 and 8 , where the liquid crystal molecules 6 are drawn in a greatly magnified manner and with an idealised three - dimensional shape . fig9 schematically shows front views , each of which illustrating a detail of a further embodiment of a phase modulator according to this invention . the diagrams illustrate the use of a phase offset that is introduced between subsequent frames , in particular in a han phase deflector . the orientation of the liquid crystal molecules 6 which are situated near the substrate where the liquid crystal molecules 6 have a plane orientation is shown schematically only . fig9 ( b ) shows that the grating period of fig9 ( a ) is maintained after a phase offset , but that the applied voltages are modified such that no dc voltage effects can occur . the drawing shows over the electrodes the relative voltages which are applied between two neighbouring electrodes and below the electrodes the absolute voltages which are applied to the individual electrodes . the relative voltage changes between positive and negative for most electrodes , and for some it also changes between zero and positive or negative . in this example , the phase offset between the two frames is π , which corresponds to a change in the in - plane rotation angle of the liquid crystal molecules 6 of 90 degrees . generally , more than two frames can be given different phase offsets in order to reduce the resultant temporal average voltages further , for example following a sequence of 0 , π / 2 , π , 3π / 2 . accordingly , the phase values which are written to the phase modulator for a certain frame differ from the phase values which are written to the phase modulator for the subsequent frame by a phase offset such that the voltage difference between neighbouring in - plane electrodes varies . fig1 ( a ) and 10 ( b ) are schematic front views , each of which illustrating a detail of a further embodiment of a phase modulator according to this invention . they show schematically the orientation of the liquid crystal molecules 6 which are situated near the substrate with planar orientation of a phase deflector . the signs of all applied voltages were changed between the diagrams in fig1 ( a ) and 10 ( b ). this results in a distribution of orientations of the liquid crystals from which a refractive index distribution of the light which interacts with the phase modulator is derived . this refractive index distribution has the effect of a polarisation grating with same grating period but opposing direction of rotation of the circular polarised light . for light of the same entry polarisation , this polarisation grating would correspond with a phase profile with different sign and deflect light in a different direction . however , if the polarisation of the incident light is changed too between the two operational situations shown in fig1 ( a ) and 10 ( b ), e . g . from counter - clockwise circular to clockwise circular ( indicated by arrows ), then the orientation of the liquid crystal molecules 6 in fig1 ( b ) results in the same phase profile for the changed polarisation than the orientation of the liquid crystal molecules 6 in fig1 ( a ) for the initial polarisation . it is an advantageous aspect of this embodiment that the temporal average of the applied voltages becomes zero already after two frames . the embodiments shown are all phase deflectors . however , the concepts explained can be applied likewise in particular to transmissive and reflective light modulators . the polarisation - switching element can for example be realised in the form of an on / off - switchable λ / 2 plate on lc basis with plane ( non - pixelated ) electrodes . in other words , the voltages which are applied to the electrodes of the electrode arrangement of the phase modulator according to this invention during two subsequent frames are subject to a change of sign . during one of multiple frames , the light which interacts with the phase modulator is brought to a first polarisation state with a polarisation - switching element . during the subsequent frame , the light which interacts with the phase modulator is brought to a second polarisation state . finally , it is noticed that the embodiments described above shall solely be understood to illustrate the claimed teaching , but that the claimed teaching is not limited to these embodiments .	6
an essential aspect of our approach to analysing the structure of a network is to define a measure of centrality for each node in the network . there are in fact many different measures of centrality , most of them coming from social science [ 10 ]. our aim has been to find a measure of centrality which implies well - connectedness . furthermore , we want a notion of well - connectedness which is not purely local . that is , we want a definition of well - connectedness ( centrality ) for node i which tells us something about the neighbourhood of node i . we reason that this kind of centrality can be useful for defining well connected clusters in the network , and , based on that , for understanding spreading on the same network . our strategy is to choose eigenvector centrality [ 11 ] as a useful measure of well - connectedness . eigenvector centrality ( evc ) has the desirable property that — since it depends on the properties of the neighbourhood of a node , and not just of the node itself — it is rather ‘ smooth ’ over the graph ( or network ; we use these terms interchangeably ). this is in contrast to the related quantity degree centrality , which simply counts the links leaving a node and so is completely local . let us elaborate on this difference . we start with degree centrality . it measures the ‘ importance ’ or connectedness of a node simply by counting the node &# 39 ; s neighbours . hence the degree centrality of node i is its node degree k i . clearly this quantity is completely local : a given node may have a very high degree centrality , and yet all of its neighbours may have a very low degree centrality — there is no correlation between this quantity from one node to its neighbours . eigenvector centrality is seemingly ( at least , in words ) only a slight modification . to find a node &# 39 ; s evc , one ( again ) counts the node &# 39 ; s neighbours . but weighting the count by the centrality ( evc ) of the neighbours . that is : it &# 39 ; s not just how many people you know , but who you know that matters . mathematically we express this by here e i is the evc of node i , and j = nn ( i ) means only sum over the nearest neighbours of i . this definition is clearly circular — my centrality depends on that of my neighbours , but theirs depends also on mine . however equation ( 1 ) is readily solved to find the evc , as long as one includes the constant ( const ) in the weighted sum . furthermore , assuming only that the graph is connected and the links are symmetric , we know that the evc values will all be positive ( although they can be ‘ practically zero ’ for very peripheral nodes ). thus we see that the evc depends not only on how many neighbours a node has , but also on longer - ranged questions such as how many neighbours a node &# 39 ; s neighbours have , etc . in fact , in principle , the evc of a node depends on the whole graph . more relevant for our purposes , however are two things : ( i ) the evc clearly does measure well - connectedness in some kind of non - local fashion , and ( ii ) because of ( i ), the evc values of nodes on any given path through the network cannot vary randomly and arbitrarily . that is , eq . ( 1 ) forces the evc of any node to be positively coupled to the evc of that node &# 39 ; s neighbours . we like to rephrase this as follows : the evc is ‘ smooth ’ as one moves over the graph . ( more mathematical arguments for this ‘ smoothness ’ are given in [ 1 ]). the smoothness of the evc allows one to think in terms of the ‘ topography ’ of the graph . that is , if a node has high evc , its neighbourhood ( from smoothness ) will also have a somewhat high evc - so that one can imagine evc as a smoothly varying ‘ height ’, with mountains , valleys , mountaintops , etc . we caution the reader that all standard notions of topography assume that the rippling ‘ surface ’ which the topography describes is continuous ( and typically two - dimensional , such as the earth &# 39 ; s surface ). a graph , on the other hand , is not continuous ; nor does it ( in general ) have a clean correspondence with discrete versions of a d - dimensional space for any d . hence one must use topographic ideas with care . nevertheless we will appeal often topographic ideas as aids to the intuition . our definitions will be inspired by this intuition , but still mathematically precise , and appropriate to the realities of a discrete network . first we define a ‘ mountaintop ’. this is a point that is higher than all its neighbouring points - a definition which can be applied unchanged to the case of a discrete network . that is , if a node &# 39 ; s evc is higher than that of any of its neighbours ( so that it is a local maximum of the evc ), we call that node a centre . next , we know that there must be a mountain for each mountaintop . we will call these mountains regions ; and they are important entities in our analysis . that is , each node which is not a centre must either belong to some centre &# 39 ; s mountain ( region ), or lie on a ‘ border ’ between regions . in fact , our preferred definition of region membership has essentially no nodes on borders between regions . thus our definition of regions promises to give us just what we wanted : a way to break up the network into well connected clusters ( the regions ). here is our preferred definition for region membership : all those nodes for which a steepest - ascent path terminates at the same local maximum of the evc belong to the same region . that is , a given node can find which region it belongs to by finding its highest neighbour , and asking that highest neighbour to find its highest neighbour , and so on , until the steepest - ascent path terminates at a local maximum of the evc ( i . e ., at a centre ). all nodes on that path belong to the region of that centre . also , every node will belong to only one centre , barring the unlikely event that a node has two or more highest neighbours having exactly the same evc , but belonging to differing regions . finally we discuss the idea of ‘ valleys ’ between regions . roughly speaking , a valley is defined topographically by belonging to neither mountainside that it runs between . hence , with our definition of region membership , essentially no nodes lie in the valleys . nevertheless it is useful to think about the ‘ space ’ between mountains — it is after all this ‘ space ’ that connects the regions , and thus plays an important role in spreading . this ‘ valley space ’ is however typically composed only of inter - region links . we call these inter - region links bridging links . ( and any node which lies precisely on the border may be termed a bridging node .) fig1 offers a pictorial view of these ideas . we show a simple graph with 16 nodes . we draw topographic contours of equal height ( evc ). the two centres , and the mountains ( regions ) associated with each , are clearly visible in the figure . the figure suggests strongly that the two regions , as defined by our analysis , are better connected internally than they are to one another . furthermore , from the figure , it is intuitively plausible that spreading ( e . g ., of a virus ) will occur more readily within a region than between regions . hence , fig1 expresses pictorially the two aims we seek to achieve by using evc : ( i ) find the well connected clusters , and ( ii ) understand spreading . in order to understand spreading from a network perspective , we would like somehow to evaluate the nodes in a network in terms of their “ spreading power ”. that is , we know that some nodes play an important role in spreading , while others play a less important role . one need only imagine the extreme case of a star : the centre of the star is absolutely crucial for spreading of infection over the star ; while the leaf nodes are entirely unimportant , having only the one aspect ( common to every node in any network ) that they can be infected . clearly , the case of the star topology has an obvious answer to the question of which nodes have an important role in spreading ( have high spreading power ). the question is then , how can one generate equally meaningful answers for general and complex topologies , for which the answer is not at all obvious ? in this section we will propose and develop a qualitative answer to this question . our basic assumption ( a ) is simple , and may be expressed in a single sentence : eigenvector centrality ( evc ) is a good measure of spreading power . ( a ) we have tested this idea , via both simulations and theory [ 2 ]. now we will give qualitative arguments which support assumption ( a ); we will then go on to explore the implications of this assumption . we will see that we can develop a fairly detailed picture of how epidemic spreading occurs over a network , based on ( a ) and our structural analysis — in short , based on the ideas embodied in fig1 . first we recall that , because a node &# 39 ; s evc depends on that of its neighbours , the evc values over a network may be thought of as ‘ smoothly varying ’ over the network . that is , a node with very high evc cannot be surrounded by nodes with very low evc . of course , it is true that evc tends to be positively correlated with a simpler measure of centrality , namely the node degree . in fact , one might say that the principal difference between the two measures is that evc is constrained by its definition to be smooth , while node degree centrality is not [ 12 ]. this difference can however be nontrivial . for instance , a node with high degree , surrounded by many leaf nodes , and linked only tenuously to the bulk of a large and well - connected network , will have a low evc , in spite of its high degree . the point is that evc is sensitive to properties of neighbourhoods , while node degree is not . thus , in short , there are no isolated nodes with high evc . that is , a node with high evc is embedded in a neighbourhood with high evc . ( there can however be relatively isolated nodes with low evc , as this situation is self - consistent . low - evc nodes can be isolated in the sense of having very few neighbours ; but it is still the case that their neighbours will not have very much higher evc .) now if we take our basic assumption ( a ) to be true , then there are no isolated nodes with high spreading power . instead , there are neighbourhoods with high spreading power . we then suppose that an infection has reached a node with modest spreading power . suppose further that this node is not a local maximum of evc ; instead , it will have a neighbour or neighbours of even higher spreading power . the same comment applies to these neighbours , until one reaches the local maximum of evc / spreading power . now , given that there are neighbourhoods , we can discuss spreading in terms of neighbourhoods rather than in terms of single nodes . it follows from the meaning of spreading power that a neighbourhood characterized by high spreading power will have more rapid spreading than one characterized by low spreading power . furthermore , we note that these different types of neighbourhoods ( high and low ) are smoothly joined by areas of intermediate spreading power ( and speed ). it follows from all this that , if an infection starts in a neighbourhood of low spreading power , it will tend to spread to a neighbourhood of higher spreading power . that is : spreading is faster towards neighbourhoods of high spreading power , because spreading is faster in such neighbourhoods . then , upon reaching the neighbourhood of the nearest local maximum of spreading power , the infection rate will also reach a maximum ( with respect to time ). finally , as the high neighbourhood saturates , the infection moves back ‘ downhill ’, spreading out in all ‘ directions ’ from the nearly saturated high neighbourhood , and saturating low neighbourhoods . we note that this discussion fits naturally with our topographic picture of network topology . putting the previous paragraph in this language , then , we get the following : infection of a hillside will tend to move uphill , while the infection rate grows with height . the top of the mountain , once reached , is rapidly infected ; and the infected top then efficiently infects all of the remaining adjoining hillsides . finally , and at a lower rate , the foot of the mountain is saturated . fig2 expresses these ideas pictorially . the figure shows our two - region example of fig1 , but viewed from the ‘ side ’— as if each node truly has a height . the initial infection occurs at the black node in the left region . it then spreads primarily uphill , with the rate of spreading increasing with increasing ‘ height ’ (= evc , which tells us , by our assumption , the spreading power ). the spreading of the infection reaches a maximum rate when the most central nodes in the region are reached ; it then ‘ takes off ’, and infects the rest of the region . we see that this qualitative picture addresses nicely the various stages of the classic s curve of innovation diffusion [ 13 ]. the early , flat part of the s is the early infection of a low area ; during this period , the infection moves uphill , but slowly . the s curve begins to take off as the infection reaches the higher part of the mountain . then there is a period of rapid growth while the top of the mountain is saturated , along with the neighbouring hillsides . finally , the infection rate slows down again , as the remaining uninfected low - lying areas become infected . we again summarize these ideas with a figure . fig3 shows a typical s curve for infection , in the case ( as we study in this paper ) that immunity is not possible . above this s curve , we plot the expected centrality of the newly infected nodes over time . according to our arguments above , relatively few nodes are infected before the most central node is reached — even as the centrality of the infection front is steadily rising . the takeoff of the infection then roughly coincides with the infection of the most central neighbourhood . hence , the part of fig3 to the left of the dashed line corresponds to the left half of fig2 ; similarly , the right - hand parts of the two figures correspond . one might object that this picture is too simple , in the following sense . our picture gives an s curve for a single mountain . yet we know that a network is often composed of several regions ( mountains ). the question is then , why should such multi - region networks exhibit a single s curve ? our answer here is that such networks need not necessarily exhibit a single s curve . that is , our arguments predict that each region — defined around a local maximum of the evc — will have a single s curve . then — assuming that each node belongs to a single region , as occurs with our preferred rule for region membership — the cumulative infection / infection curve for the whole network is simply the sum of the infection curves for each region . these latter single - region curves will be s curves . thus , depending on the relative timing of these various single - region curves , the network as a whole may , or may not , exhibit a single s curve . for example , if the initial infection is from a peripheral node which is close to only one region , then that region may take off well before neighbouring regions . on the other hand , if the initial infection is in a valley which adjoins several mountains , then they may all exhibit takeoff roughly simultaneously — with the result being a sum of roughly synchronized s curves , hence a single s curve . let us now summarize and enumerate the predictions we take from this qualitative picture . a . each region has an s curve . b . the number of takeoff / plateau occurrences in the cumulative curve for the whole network may be more than one ; but it will not be more than the number of regions in the network . c . for each region — assuming ( which will be typical ) that the initial infection is not a very central node — growth will at first be slow . d . for each region ( same assumption ) initial growth will be towards higher evc . e . for each region , when the infection reaches the neighborhood of high centrality , growth “ takes off ”. f . an observable consequence of ( e ) is then that , for each region , the most central node will be infected at , or after , the takeoff — but not before . g . for each region , the final stage of growth ( saturation ) will be characterized by low centrality . in [ 2 ] we have developed a mathematical theory for the qualitative ideas expressed here . we have focused on two aspects there , which we will simply summarize here . the first problem is to try to quantify and make precise our assumption ( a ). since ( a ) relates two quantities - spreading power and evc — and the latter is precisely defined , the task is then to define the former , and then to seek a relation between the two . such a relation is intuitively reasonable . a node which is connected to many well - connected nodes should have higher spreading power , and higher evc , than a node which is connected to equally many , but poorly connected , nodes . we have offered a precise definition of spreading power in [ 2 ]. our reasoning has two steps : first we define an ‘ infection coefficient ’ c ( i , j ) between any pair of nodes i and j . this is simply a weighted sum of all non - self - retracing paths between i and j , with lower weight given to longer paths . thus many short paths between two nodes gives them a high infection coefficient . our definition is symmetric , so that c ( i , j )= c ( j , i ). next we define the spreading power of node i to be simply the sum over all other nodes j of its infection coefficient c ( i , j ) with respect to j . as long as the graph is connected , every node will have a nonzero c ( i , j ) with every other , thus contributing to the sum . hence each node has the same number of terms in the sum ; but the nodes with many large infection coefficients will of course get a higher spreading power . we then show in [ 2 ] that one can make a strong connection between this definition of spreading power and the evc , if one can ignore the restriction to non - self - retracing paths in the definition . we restrict the sum to non - self - retracing paths because self - retracing paths do not contribute to infection in the si case . this restriction makes the obtaining of analytical results harder . we have given in [ 2 ] exact equations for the propagation of an infection , for arbitrary starting node , in the si case . these equations are stochastic — expressed in terms of probabilities — due to the probabilistic model for spreading over links . they are not generally solvable , even in the deterministic case when p = 1 . the problem in the latter case is again the need to exclude non - self - retracing paths . however we have performed an expansion in powers of p for the time evolution of the infection probability vector . this expansion shows that the dominant terms are those obtained by naively applying the adjacency matrix ( i . e ., ignoring self - retracing paths because they are longer , hence higher order in p ). the connection to evc is then made : naively applying the adjacency matrix gives weights ( infection probabilities ) which approach a distribution proportional to the evc . hence we get some confirmation for our claim that , in the initial stages of an infection , the front moves towards higher evc . in this section we go beyond the problem of analysis , and address the problem of design of networks [ 14 ]. our ideas have some clear implications for design — both towards the aim of preventing the spreading of harmful information ( such as viruses ) and towards the aim of helping spreading — in each case , by modifying the topology of a given network . we frame our ideas in terms of our topographic picture . now we suppose that we wish to design , or modify the design of , a network , so as to improve its efficiency with respect to spreading . it is reasonable , based on our picture , to assume that a single region is the optimal topology for efficient spreading . hence we include , in the present invention , four ideas which are expected to improve information flow in a network , by modifying a given ( multi - region ) network topology to make it more like a single region : 1 . one can add more bridge links between the regions . links between nodes with high evc in each region are expected to be most effective . see fig4 . 2 . as an extreme case of 1 , one can connect the centres of the regions . see fig5 . 3 . one can connect a subset of nodes from different regions by a relaying star node . see fig1 b . 4 . one can connect all , or some , of the centre nodes by a relaying star node . see fig1 b . idea 2 is a “ greedy ” version of idea 1 . in fact , the greediest version of idea 2 is to connect all centres to all , thus forming a complete sub - graph among the centres . a complete subgraph among 5 centres is shown in fig1 a . an alternative to this design is to insert a new star node ( shown in white in fig1 b ), which is connected to all the centre nodes by just one link to each . in some situations , where physically laying down new links is costly in terms of scarce resources , and adding new nodes is feasible , this star design can be more attractive than the complete sub - graph option . when n centres are to be connected , the star design adds just n new links and one new node , whereas the complete subgraph will add n ( n − 1 )/ 2 new links . combinations of these two approaches are also possible ; one subset of the centres can be connected as a complete subgraph , whereas a star node can connect another subset . however , such greedy approaches may in practice be difficult or impossible . there remain then the general ideas 1 and 3 of building more bridges between the regions . here we see however no reason for not taking the greediest practical version of this idea . that is : build the bridges between nodes of high centrality on both sides - preferably , as high as possible . our analysis strongly suggests that this is the best strategy for modifying topology so as to help spreading . choosing subsets of nodes of high evc score in each region , and then combining these subsets , can also be done , as shown in fig1 a . again , in cases where one wants to minimize the number of new links added to the network , adding a new star node in between the two subsets of nodes can be a viable solution . this is shown in fig1 b . connecting all the nodes in one subset with all the nodes in the other subset will require k * g new links , where k and g are the number of nodes in each subset . in the star - node approach the number of added links can be considerably less : only k + g . hence , the advantage of the relaying star - node approach should be clear . we note that the greediest strategy is almost guaranteed to give a single - region topology ( and therefore efficient information spreading ) as a result . our reasoning is simple . first , the existing centres cannot all be centres after they are all connected one to another - because two adjacent nodes cannot both be local maxima of the evc ( or of anything else ). therefore , either new centres turn up among the remaining nodes as a result of the topology modification , or only one centre survives the modification . in the latter case we have one region . the former case , we argue , is unlikely : we note that the evc of the existing centres is ( plausibly ) strengthened ( raised ) by the modification more than the evc of other nodes . that is , we believe that connecting existing centres in a complete sub - graph will ‘ lift them up ’ with respect to the other nodes , as well as bringing them closer together . if this ‘ lifting ’ idea is correct , then we end up with a single centre and a single region . now we address the problem of designing , or redesigning , a network topology so as to hinder spreading . here the problem is more complicated than in the helping case . the reason for this is that we build networks in order to support and facilitate communication . hence we cannot simply seek the extreme , ‘ perfect ’ solution - because the ideal solution for hindering spreading is one region per node , i . e ., disconnect all nodes from all others ! instead we must consider incremental changes to a given network . we consider two types of ‘ inoculation ’ strategies : inoculating nodes ( which is equivalent to removing them , as far as spreading is concerned ), or inoculating links ( which is also equivalent to removing them ). again we include in the present invention a list of ideas , now useful for hindering spreading : 1 . one can inoculate the centres ( see fig6 )— along with , perhaps , a small neighbourhood around them . 2 one can instead find a ring of nodes surrounding each centre ( at a radius of perhaps two or three hops ) and inoculate the ring . in fig7 , a ring of nodes at one hop from each centre is inoculated . 3 . one can inoculate bridge links . see fig9 . 4 . one can inoculate nodes at the ends of bridge links . see fig8 . we note that ideas 1 and 2 are applicable even in the case that only a single region is present . ideas 3 and 4 may be used when multiple regions are found . note that inoculating a bridge link ( idea 3 ) is not the same as inoculating the two nodes which the link joins ( idea 4 ): inoculating a node effectively removes that node and all links connected to it , while inoculating a link removes only that link . in fig8 , the two nodes at the ends of the bridge link are inoculated , while in fig9 , only the bridge link itself is inoculated . also , with link inoculation , one has the same considerations as with link addition - namely , the height of the link matters . we define the “ link evc ” to be the arithmetic mean of the evc values of the nodes on the ends of the link . ideas 3 and 4 are then almost certainly most effective if the bridging links chosen for inoculation have a relatively high link evc . inoculating a link means removing the link . and “ removing ” means blocking any and all communication over the link . now , given this definition , we can say that inoculating a node means inoculating all links connected to that node . in this way , no communication to or from the inoculated node is possible . this is equivalent to “ removing the node from the graph ”. for our purposes , it is not necessary to shut down a node in order to inoculate it . one must simply close off all communication to & amp ; from the node . another definition of inoculation is possible . if it is possible to detect and block the unwanted information , and thereby to filter the communication over links in some way , then we need not close off all communication on a link in order to inoculate the link . that is , if we can detect the unwanted , harmful communication ( e . g ., a virus ), then it is sufficient to block only that form for communication , and allow other communications through . inoculation of a link may then be defined as : blocking any transmission of “ unwanted ” information over the link . then inoculating a node can be defined as inoculating all links connected to the node ( as before ). geoffrey canright and kenth engø - monsen , “ roles in networks ”. science of computer programming , 53 ( 2004 ) 195 - 214 . geoffrey canright and kenth engø - monsen , “ spreading on networks : a topographic view ”, submitted to european conference on complex systems ( eccs05 ). geoffrey canright , kenth engø - monsen , asmund weltzien , and fahimeh pourbayat , “ diffusion in social networks and disruptive innovations ”. iadis e - commerce 2004 proceedings . lisbon 2004 . m . e . j . newman , “ the structure and function of complex networks ”. siam review , 45 ( 2003 ), 167 - 256 . romualdo pastor - satorras and alessandro vespignani , “ epidemic spreading in scale - free networks ”. phys . rev . lett 86 ( 2001 ), 3200 - 3203 . romualdo pastor - satorras and alessandro vespignani , “ epidemic dynamics and endemic states in complex networks ”. phys . rev . e 63 , 066117 ( 2001 ). m . e . j . newman , “ spread of epidemic disease on networks ”. phys . rev . e 66 , 016128 ( 2002 ). fred brauer , “ a model for an si disease in an age - structured population ”. discrete and continuous dynamical systems b2 ( 2002 ), 257 - 264 . yang wang , deepayan chakrabarti , chenxi wang , and christos faloutsos , “ epidemic spreading in real networks : an eigenvalue viewpoint ”. proceedings , 22 nd symposium on reliable distributed systems ( srds 2003 ), 25 - 34 . a good introduction to many of these definitions may be found in : http :// www . analytictech . com / networks / centrali . htm p . bonacich , “ factoring and weighting approaches to status scores and clique identification ”. journal of mathematical sociology , 2 ( 1972 ), 113 - 120 . the star illustrates this difference to some extent . suppose the graph is a star with n ‘ leaves ’— that is , a graph with one node in the center , linked to each of n other nodes , each of which have no neighbour other than the center node . the degree centrality of the center is of course n , and that of the leaves is 1 . the evc of the center is however only √{ square root over ( n )} larger than the evc of the leaves . hence using evc - which makes the centrality of the center dependent on that of its neighbors - gives a reduction ( by a factor 1 /√{ square root over ( n )}) in the ( potentially large ) difference in degree centrality between leaves and center . e . m . rogers , diffusion of innovations , 3 rd ed . free press , new york ( 1983 ). for a discussion of closely related ideas , see : m . burgess , g . canright , and k . engø . “ a graph theoretical model of computer security : from file access to social engineering ”. international journal of information security , volume 3 , number 2 , november 2004 , pages 70 - 85 .	7
detailed descriptions of described embodiment of the present invention are provided herein . it is to be understood , however , that the present described embodiment of the invention may be embodied in various forms . therefore , specific details disclosed herein are not to be interpreted as limiting , but rather as a basis for the claims and as a representative basis for teaching one skilled in the art to employ the present invention in virtually any appropriately detailed system , structure or manner . in accordance with the described embodiment of the present invention , fig1 shows a cross - sectional view of the invention , showing generally the hollow main housing , the hollow main housing forming a vertical circular opening through the center of the main housing , an input port connected opening into the hollow of the main housing a limited inlet opening between the input port and the hollow main housing , and an output port connected to the opening into the hollow of the main housing . a lesser volume piston adjacent to the limited inlet opening is positioned such that vertical movement of the lesser volume piston will increase or decrease the amount of the flow of fluid which can flow into the hollow main housing through the input opening . the lesser volume piston anchored to the top of a return spring and has a water tight rolling first diaphragm anchored at a vertical location between the constant pressure spring and the lesser volume piston . this rolling first diaphragm is connected to the interior of the hollow main housing around the entire circumference of the interior of the housing below the level of the lesser volume piston . an adjustable control spring connected to a similar rolling second diaphragm is at the opposite end and the interior of the hollow main housing . a this other end a variable pressure spring ( control spring ) attached to the top of the hollow main housing inside the vertical circular opening is attached to the bottom return spring so that the return force of the spring assists movement . this return force assists movement of the valve member in the first direction . the control spring engages the connecting member to resiliently oppose movement of the valve member in the first direction along the system axis . the position of the piston determines the amount of fluid which can be flowing through the controller at any particular moment of time . changes in the input pressure move the piston so that the output pressure remains constant over a wide range of input pressures . a threaded adjustment screw or pin ( hereafter “ pin ”) attached to the top of the upper second spring (“ variable pressure spring ” or “ control ” spring ); a pressure output adjustment knob on top of the threaded adjustment screw or pin ; a thread assembly in the top of the hollow main housing for a variable pressure adjustment screw threaded through the thread assembly ; a spring attachment means to connect the control and return springs ; a lower housing element with a piston sealing means to make the upper piston water - tight ; a plurality of smaller springs connected by a connecting means to create one large spring for the top or bottom spring , and / or one could also use two small springs connected by a connecting means to create one large spring for the top or bottom spring . referring initially to fig1 of the drawing , depicted therein is an example of a completely open flow controller 20 constructed in accordance with , and embodying the principals of the present invention . the flow controller 20 comprises a housing assembly 30 , a first diaphragm 32 , and a second diaphragm 34 . the housing assembly 30 defines a first input housing port 40 and a second output housing port 42 . the first diaphragm 32 and second diaphragm 34 are supported relative to the housing assembly 30 such that the housing assembly 30 and the first diaphragm 32 and the second diaphragm 34 define a main chamber 44 . the first diaphragm 32 and the second diaphragm 34 are both vented to outside atmospheric pressure . the first diaphragm 32 is vented to outside atmospheric pressure through first filter vent 155 . the second diaphragm 34 is vented to outside atmospheric pressure through a second filter vent 156 . the operative part of the valve assembly is comprised of a piston 48 , which in the preferred embodiment is composed of a strong metal such as brass . it creates a valve in conjunction with its movement across the first valve port 46 . the piston 48 is disposed within the main chamber 44 such that the flow controller 20 defines a flow path that extends through the first housing port 40 , the first valve port 46 , the main chamber 44 , the second valve port 76 , and the second housing port 42 . fluid flowing along the flow path causes the piston 48 to move relative to the housing assembly 30 such that a cross - sectional area of a portion of the flow path is altered . in the preferred embodiment , a cylindrical enclosure 200 comprised of a brass tubing encircles the first spring 84 ( lower spring or return spring ) so that the return force assists movement of the piston 48 . also , the preferred embodiment has a gasket 201 comprised of stainless steel at the base of the piston 48 . more specifically , an inlet pressure of the fluid at the first housing port 40 will determine a position of the piston 48 relative to the opening 46 of the input housing port 40 . when the inlet pressure is below a first pressure level , the piston 48 will be in a home position and fully opened as illustrated in fig1 and the valve will be open all the way . when the inlet pressure is above a second pressure level , the piston 48 will be in an end or closed position as illustrated by fig3 . the input pressure level is always kept greater than the output pressure level . the output pressure is kept constant by the combined action of the first diaphragm 32 and second diaphragm 34 adjusted by the pressure of a second spring 82 ( upper spring or control spring ) and a first spring 84 ( lower spring or return spring ). the upper spring is 82 and the lower spring is 84 . the spring pressure of the second spring 82 ( upper spring ) and the first spring 84 ( lower spring ) is adjusted by the adjustment screw or adjustment pin 144 . when the inlet pressure is between the first lower and the second higher pressure levels , the piston 48 will be in an intermediate position between the home position and the end position as shown in fig2 , thereby keeping the output pressure constant . an effective cross - sectional area of the flow path is defined by a spatial relationship between the housing assembly 30 and the piston 48 . when the piston 48 is in the home position and fully open , the first valve port 46 is fully open as it faces the first main port 40 and the effective cross - sectional area of the flow path is at its greatest value . when the piston 48 is in the end position , none of the first valve port 46 is open as it faces the first main port 40 and the effective cross - sectional area of the flow path is at its smallest value . as shown in fig2 , when the piston 48 is between the home and end positions , a portion of the piston 48 faces the first main port 46 , and the value of the effective cross - sectional area of the flow path is somewhere between the greatest value and the smallest value . the effect of the springs and the diaphragms working in concert is to alter the effective cross - sectional area of the flow path , and the volume of fluid allowed to flow along the flow path over time is increased or decreased thereby keeping the output pressure constant at the desired pressure . accordingly , even if the inlet pressure varies within a range of inlet pressures defined by the first lower and second upper pressure levels , the flow controller 20 can maintain a substantially constant volume of fluid flowing along the flow path . to be most effective , the input and output pressure should be at least 5 psi higher in the input pressure than the output pressure . with the foregoing general understanding of the described embodiment of the present invention in mind , the details of operation and construction of the example flow controller 20 will now be described in further detail . referring back to fig1 of the drawing , the example housing assembly 30 of the flow controller 20 comprises a main housing 52 . in the preferred embodiment , “ o ” rings may be used to seal a housing made of multiple parts . an inlet member of the main housing 52 , an outlet member of main housing 54 , and a spring member of main housing 56 comprise the main body of the housing 30 . the inlet member of main housing 52 and outlet member of main housing 54 are rigidly connected to the main housing 50 to allow external inlet and outlet conduits ( not shown ) to be connected to the first and second housing ports 40 and 42 , respectively . the second spring member of main housing 56 is rigidly connected to the main housing 50 . the example flow controller 20 further comprises a sleeve 60 and a cap 62 . the sleeve 60 comprises a first sleeve member 64 and a second sleeve member 66 . the sleeve 60 is arranged within the main chamber 44 , and the first diaphragm 32 is supported by the sleeve 60 and the cap 62 within the main chamber 44 . the second spring member of main housing 56 supports the cap 62 such that a spring chamber 68 is defined between the cap 62 and the second spring housing 56 . the second spring member of main housing 56 further holds the cap 62 against the first diaphragm 32 , the first diaphragm 32 against the sleeve 60 , and the sleeve 60 against the main housing 50 . a connecting member 70 extends between the piston 48 and the first diaphragm 32 and the second diaphragm 34 . as shown by a comparison of fig1 , 2 , and 3 , the connecting member 70 rigidly connects the piston 48 and the first diaphragm 32 such that the piston 48 and the traveling portion 72 of the first diaphragm 32 and the second diaphragm 34 move together . the sleeve 60 defines a first sleeve port 74 , a second sleeve port 75 , and an outer surface 78 . as shown in fig1 , a channel 80 is formed in the outer surface 78 of the sleeve 60 . the channel 80 is substantially aligned with the first main port 40 . the valve members defined by a first valve port and a second valve port , are arranged within the main chamber such that a flow path extends through the first housing port , the first valve port , the first sleeve port , the second valve port , and the second housing port , and the second sleeve port , causing fluid to flow along the flow path such that the fluid causes the valve member to move relative to the sleeve to alter a cross - sectional area of a portion of the flow path fig1 further illustrates that the example flow controller 20 comprises an upper second spring 82 and a lower first spring 84 . the upper second spring 82 ( control spring ) is arranged within the spring chamber 68 and applies a control force to the connecting member 70 and thus to the traveling portion 72 of the first diaphragm 32 and to the piston 48 . the control force opposes movement of the piston 48 in a first direction along a system axis b defined by the housing assembly 30 . the lower first spring 84 is arranged to apply a return force to the piston 48 so that the return force assists movement of the piston 48 in the first direction along the system axis b . the upper second spring 82 is supported under compression between a first valve seat member 86 and a second valve seat member 88 . the first valve seat member 86 is supported by the second spring member of main housing 56 . the second valve seat member 88 engages the connecting member 70 . a position of the first valve seat member 86 relative to the second spring member of main housing 56 is adjustable to allow a bias force to be applied to the upper second spring 82 ( control spring ). the bias force allows the compression on the upper second spring 82 to be adjusted . as described above , the effective cross - sectional area of the flow path is smallest when the piston 48 is in the end ( closed ) position as shown in fig3 . in particular , the effective cross - sectional area of the flow path is defined by the dimensions of the interstitial space 94 . the interstitial space 94 thus always allows a small amount of fluid flow between the first sleeve port 74 and the first valve port 46 , even when the piston 48 is in the end position . the example flow controller 20 thus never completely shuts off the flow of fluid between the first housing port 40 and the second housing port 42 . the first diaphragm 32 is a flexible , fluid impermeable sheet . a perimeter edge of the first diaphragm 32 is rigidly held between the sleeve 60 and the cap 62 . the traveling portion 72 of the first diaphragm 32 is rigidly connected to the connecting member 70 . accordingly , movement of the traveling portion 72 of the first diaphragm 32 is transferred to the connecting member 70 . during use of the example flow controller 20 , the inlet member of main housing 52 is connected to an inlet conduit ( not shown ) that is in turn connected to a source of unregulated , pressurized liquid such as an irrigation pump . the outlet member of main housing 54 is connected to an outlet conduit that is in turn connected to a destination of regulated liquid , such as a sprinkler assembly . the channel 80 extends completely around the first sleeve member 64 and the openings 92 . accordingly , fluid flowing through these openings 92 into the interstitial space 94 flows generally radially inwardly toward the system axis b . the fluid in the interstitial space 94 thus does not act asymmetrically on the second diaphragm 34 in a manner that would force the second diaphragm 34 against the sleeve 60 and thereby inhibit movement of the second diaphragm 34 along the system axis a . pressurized liquid within the main chamber 44 acts on the first diaphragm 32 . above the first pressure level , the force applied by the pressurized liquid on the first diaphragm 32 will displace the traveling portion 72 of the first diaphragm 32 in a first direction indicated by arrow b in fig1 . because the traveling portion 72 is rigidly connected to the connecting member 70 and the connecting member 70 is rigidly connected to the piston 48 , the piston 48 is also displaced in the first direction b . the second diaphragm 34 does not impede the movement of the piston 48 , because the effective area of the second first 32 is smaller than the effective area of the second diaphragm 34 . in the preferred embodiment , the ratio of the effective area is 1 . 05 to 0 . 37 between the first diaphragm 32 and the second diaphragm 34 . with appropriate selection of the springs 82 and 84 and the bias force applied to the upper second spring 82 ( control spring ), the piston 48 will reciprocate along the system axis b as necessary to adjust for fluctuations in the inlet pressure . the flow rate of fluid exiting the main chamber 44 through the second sleeve port 75 and the second housing port 42 will thus be maintained at a substantially constant level set by the values of the springs 82 and 84 and magnitude of the bias force . the flow controller 20 may also be constructed in one type of embodiment without the control spring 82 and the bias spring 84 . in this case , the first diaphragm 32 itself must be constructed to resiliently oppose pressure established by liquid within the main chamber 44 . for the pressures expected in liquid systems such as an irrigation system , however , use of the springs 82 and 84 greatly simplifies the fabrication of the first diaphragm 32 and second diaphragm 34 . the first diaphragm 32 is rigidly connected to the connecting member 70 as follows . in the preferred embodiment example shown , connecting member 70 is a threaded rod having a first end 120 secured to a cross - brace assembly 132 and a second end 124 . depressions 126 and 128 are formed in the first and second valve seat members 86 and 88 , respectively . the second end 124 of the connecting member 70 is configured to engage the depression 128 formed in the second valve seat member 88 . a first nut 130 is threaded onto the connecting member 70 . the threaded member 70 is then inserted through a first diaphragm plate 132 ( cross - brace assembly ), the traveling portion 72 of the first diaphragm 32 , and through a second first diaphragm plate 134 . a second nut 136 is then threaded onto the connecting member 70 and tightened such that the traveling portion 72 of the first diaphragm 32 is rigidly clamped between the first diaphragm plates 132 and 134 . a stop flange 138 extends from the second first diaphragm plate 134 . as shown in fig3 , when the piston 48 is in the end position , the stop flange 138 engages the cap 62 to prevent further movement of the first diaphragm 32 . the stop flange 138 thus prevents damage to the first diaphragm 34 under high pressures above the second pressure level . fig1 further illustrates that the example flow controller 20 further comprises a bias force adjustment assembly 140 comprising an insert 142 , an adjustment screw or pin 144 , and a lock nut 146 . to reduce costs , the spring housing 56 and other components of the controller may be made of plastic or other suitable material . the insert 142 is embedded within the second spring member of main housing 56 to provide an internal threaded surface for engaging the adjustment screw or pin 144 . with the adjustment screw or pin 144 (“ pin ” is defined as either a screw or a pin for purposes of the claims ) extending through the second spring member of main housing 56 and threadingly engaged with the insert 142 , axial rotation of the adjustment pin 144 displaces the pin 144 along a longitudinal axis thereof . a first end 148 of the adjustment pin 144 engages the depression 126 formed in the first valve seat member 86 . as mentioned above , the housing assembly 30 is typically formed by a number of separate components . these components are secured to each other using a plurality of bolts 150 . seals 152 in the form of conventional a - rings , gaskets , or the like are used where necessary to establish a fluid - tight fluid path . referring now to fig4 of the drawing , represented therein is an example irrigation system 220 comprising a water supply 222 , a water distribution system 224 , and a flow control system 226 . the irrigation system 220 is designed to operate within predetermined parameters to distribute water to a particular area to be irrigated . the water supply 222 is or may be conventional and provides a source of pressurized water suitable for irrigation purposes . the parameters of the pressurized water supplied by the water supply 222 need not be constant or known in advance ; to the contrary , the water pressure can be within an operating range defined by a predetermined minimum determined by the requirements of the water distribution system 224 and a predetermined maximum determined by the components of the flow control system 226 . often , the water supply 222 takes the form of a pump operatively connected to a reservoir . the water distribution system 224 is or may be conventional and typically comprises a set of components , such as conduits , sprinkler assemblies , and / or drip assemblies , configured for the particular area to be irrigated . the water distribution system 224 is typically configured to distribute a predetermined quantity of water during a predetermined time period . the predetermined quantity of water and the predetermined time period will be determined with reference to the characteristics of the area to be irrigated and environmental factors such as heat and / or humidity . the example flow control system 226 comprises the flow controller described above . the first housing port 40 is operatively connected to the water supply 222 , while the second housing port 42 is operatively connected to the water distribution system 224 . the flow controller 20 is configured to allow the flow of water from the water supply 222 to the water distribution system 224 to be regulated . regulation of the flow of water from water supply 222 to the water distribution system 224 allows the quantity of water distributed by the water distribution system 224 over the predetermined time period to be approximately equal to the predetermined quantity of water desired . the flow controller 20 thus helps to ensure that the irrigation system 220 operates within the predetermined operating parameters . the flow control system 226 may in one embodiment comprise only the flow controller 20 as described above but may also in other embodiments be configured to include additional components such as an outer housing , pipe fittings , control valves , and the like . the details of the flow control system 226 will thus typically be determined by the details of the water supply 222 and the water distribution system 224 . the described embodiment of the present invention may be embodied in forms other than those described above . the scope of the described embodiment of the present invention should thus be determined by the claims appended hereto and not the foregoing detailed description of the invention . while the described embodiment of the present invention has been described in connection with a preferred embodiment , it is not intended to limit the scope of the invention to the particular form set forth , but on the contrary , it is intended to cover such alternatives , modifications , and equivalents as may be included within the spirit and scope of the described embodiment of the present invention as defined by the appended claims . insofar as the description above and the accompanying drawings disclose an additional subject matter that is not within the scope of the single claim below , the inventions are not dedicated to the public and the right to file one or more applications to claim such additional inventions is reserved .	8
referring generally to fig1 through 6 , a hot melt adhesive application machine 10 is illustrated comprising a base frame or supporting stand 12 having a top cover 13 attached to base 12 by a multiplicity of nuts and bolts 19 as illustrated in the cutaway portion of top cover 13 in fig1 . an open top , adhesive reservoir 14 having an outer reservoir shell 16 is suspended from top cover 13 as best seen in fig6 . thermal insulating material 25 is placed between reservoir 14 and shell 16 to reduce heat loss from the molten adhesive within reservoir 14 . extending upward from top cover 13 is safety guard 18 . positioned above safety guard 18 is a u shaped mounting bracket 22 having main control box 24 attached thereto . mounting bracket 22 includes a handle 26 for lifting and / or carrying machine 10 . a hinged lid 28 is provided atop opening 125 , within the top cover 13 , for loading solid , hot melt adhesive into reservoir 14 as shown in fig6 . [ 0027 ] fig8 presents an exploded isometric pictorial of the air motor / pump assembly within machine 10 . air motor 30 is affixed to the top plate 52 of the pump body assembly 40 by four stanchions 54 as seen in fig6 and 8 . stanchions 54 are threaded into the body of air motor 30 and attached to top plate 52 by four flat headed , threaded fasteners 58 . pump body 50 is affixed to the opposite side of plate 52 by four socket - headed screws 56 as illustrated in fig6 and 8 . prior to attaching plate 52 to pump body 50 , pump body 50 is first attached to top cover 13 by four socket - head screws 36 as illustrated in the cutaway portion in fig4 . although an air motor is disclosed herein , any suitable means of driving pump assembly 40 , such as an electric motor may also be used . as best illustrated in fig6 , and 9 , the top portion of the pump body &# 39 ; s four comers are , machined away as best illustrated in fig9 thereby creating four flat land areas 38 into which a threaded bore 42 is provided for attaching pump body 50 to top cover 13 with four socket - head screws 36 as illustrated in the cut - away portion of fig4 . an opening 60 is provided , within plate 52 , through which pump rod 65 passes and attaches to air motor driving rod 20 by coupling 126 as illustrated in fig6 . a pump piston assembly 70 is attached to the opposite end of pump rod 65 as illustrated in fig8 a and is received within pump bore 66 as illustrated in fig6 . threaded into the bottom opening of pump bore 66 is pump check valve assembly 62 . a seal 64 is provided at the top of pump rod bore 68 sealingly engaging pump rod 65 as pump rod 65 reciprocates within pump rod bore 68 . a blind heater bore 67 is provided within pump body 50 receiving therein resistance - heating element 72 . side opening 74 , within pump body 50 is provided for exit of the heating element feed wires 73 which are connected to pump body temperature control 96 . the temperature setting desired for the pump body is manually set as appropriate for the particular adhesive within reservoir 14 . for reference and control purposes a pump body thermometer 98 is provided to give a continuous read - out of the pump body temperature . thermometer 98 is a simple typical stem type thermometer inserted into a stem receiving bore within the pump body ( not shown ). referring now to fig8 a , 8 b , and 8 c , pump rod 65 is attached to air motor 30 , at its top end , by coupling 126 and to piston assembly 70 at its bottom end . the main body 95 , of piston assembly 70 , includes , at its top end , a side opening slot 122 . a second , more narrow “ key way slot ” 121 is cut into the top cover 120 of slot 122 . key way slot 121 generally parallels slot 122 . the bottom end of pump rod 65 terminates with a circular knob 110 extended from said pump rod by a small diameter neck 112 . when piston assembly 70 is connected to pump rod 65 knob 110 slides into slot 122 with neck 112 being received within slot 121 . thus piston assembly 70 has a small degree of freedom to move in a lateral direction but is not free to move axially with respect to pump rod 65 . this lateral freedom of movement by piston assembly 70 permits piston assembly 70 to self align within pump bore 66 as it translates axially therein . coupling 126 connects air driving rod 20 to the opposite end of pump rod 65 in a similar manner as that used to connect piston assembly 70 . extending outward from either side of pump body 50 is at least one heated and insulated , molten adhesive supply hose 100 ( see fig2 ) connecting to a separately heated adhesive applicator 102 . a second heated and insulated supply hose 105 and heated applicator 107 may also be provided . supply hoses 100 and 105 are threadedly connected to pump discharge outlets 106 and 108 as shown in fig6 and 8 . supply hoses 100 and 105 , and applicators 102 and 107 each have separate thermostatically controlled heating elements therein which will be discussed in further detail below . applicators 102 and 107 each include separate , manually adjustable , thermostatic controls 104 and 108 for controlling the temperature of the applicator . supply hoses 100 and 105 each include separate thermostatic controls 110 and 112 having two preset positions , “ high ” and “ low .” however , if desired supply hoses 100 and 105 could be provided with manually controlled thermostatic controls as those provided on applicators 102 and 107 . referring now to fig6 and 7 , attached to pump body 50 are heat transfer fins 80 a , 80 b 82 a and 82 b as best seen in fig7 . as illustrated in fig7 heat transfer fins 80 a and 80 b generally circumscribe the inner periphery of reservoir 14 maintaining a nominal distance or clearance 84 from the inside surface of reservoir 14 . heat transfer fins 80 may be configured hexagonally as illustrated in fig7 or may be curved so as to maintain a constant distance 84 from the inside surface of reservoir 14 . heat transfer fins 80 a , 80 b , 82 a , and 82 b are attached to pump body 50 such that heat energy will be conveyed , by conduction , from pump body 50 into and throughout heat transfer fins 80 a , 80 b , 82 a , and 82 b . thermal energy is then transferred , by conduction , from heat transfer fins 80 a , 80 b , 82 a , and 82 b into the adhesive within reservoir 14 . preferably heat transfer fins 82 a and 82 b have a tapered top edge 86 including a “ knife edge ” profile for severing large pieces of solid adhesive that may be added to reservoir 14 during use of machine 10 . extending horizontally below heat transfer fins 80 a , 80 b , 82 a , and 82 b and generally parallel to the bottom surface of reservoir 14 is plate 88 . octagonally shaped plate 88 is attached to the bottom of pump body 50 by any suitable manner , such as threaded screws . heat transfer fins 80 a , 80 b , and bottom plate 88 generally form a heated supply hopper , having dividers 82 a and 82 b therein , into which solid adhesive shapes may be added for melting . a multiplicity of apertures 78 are provided to permit molten adhesive to pass therethrough and into the molten adhesive reservoir . a gap 85 is also preferred between the bottom of heat transfer fins 80 , 82 , and bottom plate 88 for passage of molten adhesive into the molten adhesive reservoir . [ 0035 ] fig6 b presents an enlarged crossectional view of pump inlet check valve assembly 62 as installed at the bottom of pump bore 66 . check valve assembly 62 comprises an inlet fitting 76 extending upward into the inlet end of pump bore 66 . an inlet passage extends axially through fitting 76 comprising a first bore 78 diverging into a larger diameter second bore 79 . at the juncture of bore 78 and bore 79 a ball seat 90 is provided for receiving therein ball 92 . a diametrically extending roll pin 94 is provided to retain ball 92 within check valve assembly 62 . thus a simple ball check valve is provided within the inlet end of pump bore 66 whereby fluid ( molten adhesive ) may flow into pump bore 66 , as piston assembly 70 moves upward , but is prevented from flowing out of pump bore 66 as piston assembly 70 moves downward . inlet check valve assembly 62 may be threaded into pump bore 66 , installed as a force fitted insert , or any other convenient means . it is preferable to provide an inlet filter 45 ( see fig6 b ) to prevent the entry of any debris , that may have fallen into the adhesive reservoir , from entering check valve assembly 62 . a similar ball check valve is installed within pump piston assembly 70 . referring to fig6 a and 8 , piston assembly 70 comprises a main body 95 having an axial central bore 93 therein . central bore 93 converges into a secondary , blind , axial bore 91 . inserted into central bore 93 is a valve seat fitting 98 having an axial inlet bore 97 terminating with a ball valve seat 99 at its upper end . positioned between valve seat 99 and secondary bore 91 is ball 81 and compression spring 83 biasing ball 81 toward valve seat 99 . at least one fluid passage 61 is provided extending from chamber 87 , within piston body 95 , into pump bore 66 . in operation , as piston assembly 70 moves downward in pump bore 66 , check valve assembly 62 is closed whereby fluid ( molten adhesive ) forces ball 81 , within piston assembly 70 , to open thereby permitting fluid to flow through chamber 87 and passage way 61 of piston assembly 70 and into pump bore 66 above piston assembly 70 and around pump rod 65 . when piston assembly 70 reverses travel , at bottom dead center , and begins to move upward within pump bore 66 , ball valve 81 within piston assembly 70 closes and check valve assembly 62 opens admitting molten adhesive into pump chamber 66 below piston assembly 70 . the fluid atop piston assembly 70 is now forced upward , around pump rod 65 , exiting pump chamber 66 through fluid exit ports 106 and 108 into hose assemblies 105 and 100 respectively . after reaching top dead center the cycle repeats itself . pump rod 65 fits with minimal gap within pump rod bore 68 thereby minimizing by pass flow around pump rod 65 . pressure relief channel 46 redirects any bypass flow back into reservoir 14 ( see fig6 ) thereby reducing hydraulic pressure on seal 64 . in manufacture of pump body 50 pump rod bore 68 is drilled from the top of pump body 50 and pump bore 66 is opposingly drilled from the bottom of pump body 50 whereby both bores meet at mid body . because of the self aligning attributes of piston assembly 70 , the accuracy of aligning the opposingly drilled bores is diminished from that which would be otherwise required for a non self aligning piston assembly . also use of the above described self aligning piston assembly accommodates manufacturing the pump body in one rather than two or more , axially aligned sections each having the bore therein drilled before assembly of the two sections . thus , by use of the above described self aligning piston assembly the need for accurately aligning the separate bores during manufacture is greatly diminished as the self aligning piston assembly , having lateral mobility , will accommodate concentricity errors . turning now to fig1 and 11 , letters a , b , c , d , and e represent the resistance heaters within pump body 50 , supply hose 100 , applicator 102 , supply hose 105 , and discharge applicator 107 respectively . each resistance heater circuit comprises two , in line , resistance heating elements r 1 and r 2 as illustrated in fig1 and 11 . fig1 illustrates the wiring arrangement for 120 volt operation and fig1 illustrates the wiring arrangement for 240 volt operation . when the user desires to operate the hot melt machine on 120 volts , as illustrated in fig1 , the user plugs connector 156 into line connector 150 and connector 160 into connector 152 , as illustrated . when connectors 156 , 150 , 160 , and 152 are connected in this way , each resistive heater , a , b , c , d , and e , is wired in a parallel circuit as illustrated in fig1 a . when the user desires to operate the hot melt machine on 240 volts , as illustrated in fig1 , the user plugs connector 152 into line connector 150 , and leaves connectors 156 and 160 free and unplugged as illustrated . when configured in this way each resistive heater , a , b , c , d , and e is wired in series as illustrated in fig1 a . when wired to operate on 240 volts , as illustrated in fig1 , it is desired to plug connectors 156 and 160 into dead end connectors 154 and 168 , respectively , to prevent the possibility of human contact with the otherwise electrically hot connector pins . connectors 150 , 152 , 154 , 156 , 160 and 168 are located within control box 24 . as shown in fig1 and 11 , hose 1 and applicator 1 are electrically connected to the machine using connector 123 . in a similar manner , hose 2 and applicator 2 are electrically connected to the machine using connector 124 . by virtue of the electrical topology disclosed in fig1 and 11 , the hose and applicator peripherals , when attached , assume either a series electrical arrangement or a parallel electrical arrangement , as is appropriate for a given machine , with no modification of the peripherals themselves . although resistance heaters a , b , c , d , and e are shown in fig1 and 11 as each having two resistance heating elements , any number of heating elements may be employed . when employing more than two resistance heating elements the circuitry must be structured such that all resistive heating elements operate in parallel when operating on 240 volts and operate in series when operating on 120 volts . while we have described above the principles of my invention in connection with specific embodiments , it is to be clearly understood that this description is made only by way of example and not as a limitation of the scope of my invention as set forth in the accompanying claims .	1
the cleaning solution typically consists of tetrammine copper ( ii ) ions in aqueous solution . the solution is commonly produced by mixing 100 grams of cu ( no 3 ) 2 . 3h 2 o and 600 ml of a 28 % by weight solution of nh 4 oh in 8350 ml of deionized water . cupric ions from the dissolved copper nitrate form tetrammine copper ( ii ) ions in the presence of ammonia . tetrammine copper ions then react with metallic copper , on immersed silicon wafers , as follows : cu ( nh 3 ) 4 + 2 + cu ° = 2 cu ( nh 3 ) 2 + 1 . the cu ( nh 3 ) 2 + 1 takes up ammonia to form tetrammine copper ( i ) ions : cu ( nh 3 ) 2 + 1 + 2nh 3 = cu ( nh 3 ) 4 + 1 . tetrammine copper ( i ) ions are soluble in water and remain in solution . the tetrammine copper ( i ) ions are oxidized to tetrammine copper ( ii ) ions by bubbling air through the solution . ammonia lost through evaporation may be replenished as required . high concentrations of copper ( ii ) complexes although not necessary , are preferred , since cleaning times are reduced as the concentration of copper ( ii ) complexes in the cleaning solution is increased . the concentration of ligands used in the cleaning solution is preferably greater than the concentration of cupric ions because four ligands are typically required to surround the cupric ion to form the copper ( ii ) complex . the solution is typically used to clean silicon wafers which have undergone the chemical - mechanical polishing process described in detail by regh et al . in u . s . pat . no . 3 , 436 , 259 . the silicon wafers are rinsed in deionized water following polishing . they are then placed in the cleaning solution of this invention for two minutes . preferably , the cleaning solution has a ph of at least 10 ; and the solution is stirred or agitated by other means . the cleaning is ordinarily done at ambient temperature , but it may be carried out at any compatible temperature with corresponding effect on reaction rates . after cleaning , the wafers are merely rinsed ( with d . i . water ) and dried . while the invention has been particularly shown and described with reference to the preferred embodiments thereof , it will be understood by those skilled in the art that the foregoing and other changes in form and detail may be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention .	7
as shown in fig2 a , a first preferred embodiment of the multi element moving vacuum chamber ( memvc ) assembly generally designated 5 may include mold 6 having mold surface 7 . memvc assembly 5 may also include powder box 8 having disposed therein plastic powder 9 . memvc assembly 5 may further include a bell - shaped vacuum element 11 mounted onto the outer surface of mold 6 and a similar bell - shaped vacuum element 12 mounted onto the outer surface of powder box 8 . vacuum element 11 may include vacuum connection 13 for drawing and releasing vacuum by means of a conventional pump ( not shown ). similarly , vacuum element 12 may also include a vacuum connection 14 for drawing and releasing vacuum , and a vacuum rated seal 15 for maintaining a seal between mold 6 and powder box 8 . mold 6 may be made of a metal such as nickel , a metallic material , or any equivalent material known in the art . plastic powder 9 may be a powder such as thermo plastic urethane ( t . p . u . ), thermo plastic olefinic ( t . p . o . ), poly vinyl chloride ( p . v . c . ), or any equivalent material that may be used with mold 6 to form a cast product . additionally , plastic powder 9 may have a fine or granulated composition , or may be a liquid . vacuum elements 11 and 12 may be shaped in any way necessary to partially or fully seal mold 6 and / or powder box 8 , and may be bell shaped ( as shown in fig2 a ), or any equivalent shape , as would be apparent to a skilled artisan . vacuum rated seal 15 may be placed on vacuum element 12 ( as shown in fig2 a ), or may likewise be placed on mold 6 , powder box 8 , and / or vacuum element 11 . as shown next in fig2 a , in order to cast plastic powder 9 into the shape of mold surface 7 , mold 6 may first be heated in a hot air furnace ( not shown ) to a predetermined optimum molding temperature . as shown in fig2 a and 2b , powder box 8 may then be brought into contact with mold 6 and engaged with it in order to prevent leakage of plastic powder 9 . next , as shown in fig2 b , air present in the enclosed area defined by an outer surface of mold 6 and an inner surface of vacuum element 11 , by mold surface 7 and the inner surface of powder box 8 , and by the outer surface of powder box 8 and an inner surface of vacuum element 12 , may be removed through vacuum connections 13 and 14 to simultaneously form a seal between mold 6 and powder box 8 via vacuum rated seal 15 . the vacuum level may range between atmospheric and absolute vacuum . as shown in fig2 c , mold 6 may now be rotated , at which state plastic powder 9 strikes heated mold surface 7 . after a predetermined time period , rotation of mold 6 is stopped as shown in fig2 d and vacuum within the enclosed area discussed above is released . at this stage in fig2 d , when mold 6 stops rotating , plastic powder 9 on mold surface 7 fuses to form the shape of mold surface 7 . any remaining plastic powder 9 drains back into powder box 8 for subsequent casting , or may be discarded . as shown next in fig2 e , powder box 8 may now be disengaged from mold 6 and returned to its original location ( shown also in fig2 a ). finally , as shown in fig2 f , mold 6 may be rotated to a predetermined orientation to allow an operator to remove the fused layer ( or skin ) on mold surface 7 . next , as shown in fig3 a , a second preferred embodiment of the multi element moving vacuum chamber ( memvc ) assembly generally designated 16 may include mold 17 having mold surface 18 . memvc assembly 16 may also include powder box 19 having disposed therein plastic powder 21 . memvc assembly 16 may further include a bell - shaped vacuum element 22 mounted onto the outer surface of mold 17 , and powder box 19 may be formed to hold vacuum pressure ( i . e . vacuum loading ), when engaged with mold 17 ( discussed below ). vacuum element 22 may include vacuum connection 23 for drawing and releasing vacuum by means of a conventional pump ( not shown ). similarly , powder box 19 may also include a vacuum connection 24 for drawing and releasing vacuum , and a vacuum rated seal 25 for maintaining a seal between mold 17 and powder box 19 . mold 17 may be made of a metal such as nickel , a metallic material , or any equivalent material known in the art . plastic powder 21 may be a powder such as thermo plastic urethane ( t . p . u . ), thermo plastic olefinic ( t . p . o . ), poly vinyl chloride ( p . v . c . ), or any equivalent material that may be used with mold 17 to form a cast product . additionally , plastic powder 21 may have a fine or granulated composition , or may be a liquid . vacuum element 22 may be shaped in any way necessary to partially or fully seal mold 17 , and may be bell shaped ( as shown in fig3 a ), or any equivalent shape , as would be apparent to a skilled artisan . vacuum rated seal 25 may be placed on powder box 19 ( as shown in fig3 a ), or may likewise be placed on mold 17 and / or vacuum element 22 . as shown next in fig3 a , in order to cast plastic powder 21 into the shape of mold surface 18 , mold 17 may first be heated to a predetermined optimum molding temperature . as shown in fig3 a and 3b , powder box 19 may then be brought into contact with mold 17 and engaged with it in order to prevent leakage of plastic powder 21 . next , as shown in fig3 b , air present in the enclosed area defined by an outer surface of mold 17 and an inner surface of vacuum element 22 , and by mold surface 18 and the inner surface of powder box 19 , may be removed through vacuum connections 23 and 24 to simultaneously form a seal between mold 17 and powder box 19 via vacuum rated seal 25 . the vacuum level may range between atmospheric and absolute vacuum . as shown in fig3 c , mold 17 may now be rotated , at which state plastic powder 21 strikes mold surface 18 . after a predetermined time period , rotation of mold 17 is stopped as shown in fig3 d and vacuum within the enclosed area discussed above is released . at this stage in fig3 d , when mold 17 stops rotating , plastic powder 21 on mold surface 18 fuses to form the shape of mold surface 18 . any remaining plastic powder 21 drains back into powder box 19 for subsequent casting , or may be discarded . as shown next in fig3 e , powder box 19 may now be disengaged from mold 17 and returned to its original location ( shown also in fig3 a ). finally , as shown in fig3 f , mold 17 may be rotated to a predetermined orientation to allow an operator to remove the fused layer ( or skin ) on mold surface 18 . it should be evident from the above discussion that for the second embodiment of memvc assembly 16 , instead of vacuum element 22 being mounted on mold 17 and powder box 19 being capable of vacuum loading , a vacuum element may likewise be mounted on powder box 19 ( which may not capable of vacuum loading ) and mold 17 may instead be designed with vacuum loading capabilities , as would be evident to a skilled artisan . as shown in fig4 a , a third preferred embodiment of the multi element moving vacuum chamber ( memvc ) assembly generally designated 26 may include mold 27 having mold surface 28 . memvc assembly 26 may also include powder box 29 having disposed therein plastic powder 31 . in memvc assembly 26 , mold 27 and powder box 29 may each be formed to hold vacuum pressure when engaged with each other ( discussed below ). in other words , mold 27 and power box 29 may be capable of vacuum loading . powder box 29 may include vacuum connection 32 for drawing and releasing vacuum by means of a conventional pump ( not shown ). additionally , powder box 29 may include vacuum rated seal 33 for maintaining a seal between itself and mold 27 . mold 27 may be made of a metal such as nickel , a metallic material , or any equivalent material known in the art . plastic powder 31 may be a powder such as thermo plastic urethane ( t . p . u . ), thermo plastic olefinic ( t . p . o . ), poly vinyl chloride ( p . v . c . ), or any equivalent material that may be used with mold 27 to form a cast product . additionally , plastic powder 31 may have a fine or granulated composition , or may be a liquid . vacuum connection 32 and vacuum rated seal 33 may be placed on powder box 29 ( as shown in fig4 a ), or may likewise be placed on mold 27 . as shown next in fig4 a , in order to cast plastic powder 31 into the shape of mold surface 28 , mold 27 may first be heated to a predetermined optimum molding temperature . as shown in fig4 a and 4b , powder box 29 may then be brought into contact with mold 27 and engaged with it in order to prevent leakage of plastic powder 31 . next , as shown in fig4 b , air present in the enclosed area defined by mold surface 28 and the inner surface of powder box 29 may be removed through vacuum connection 32 to simultaneously form a seal between mold 27 and powder box 29 via vacuum rated seal 33 . the vacuum level may range between atmospheric and absolute vacuum . as shown in fig4 c , mold 27 may now be rotated , at which state plastic powder 31 strikes heated mold surface 28 . after a predetermined time period , the rotation of mold 27 is stopped as shown in fig4 d and the vacuum within the enclosed area discussed above is released . at this stage in fig4 d , when mold 27 stops rotating , plastic powder 31 on mold surface 28 fuses to form the shape of mold surface 28 . any remaining plastic powder 31 drains back into powder box 29 for subsequent casting , or may be discarded . as shown next in fig4 e , powder box 29 may now be disengaged from mold 27 and returned to its original location ( shown also in fig4 a ). finally , as shown in fig4 f , mold 27 may be rotated to a predetermined orientation to allow an operator to remove the fused layer ( or skin ) on mold surface 28 . in the first , second and third preferred embodiments of the memvc assembly discussed above , it should be noted that mounting separate vacuum elements on mold 6 and powder box 8 ( first embodiment ), and on mold 17 ( second embodiment ), may virtually eliminate pressure on these members ( 6 , 8 and 17 ) related to vacuum loading . therefore , for the first and second embodiments , it may only be necessary to modify mold 6 and powder box 8 , and mold 17 , respectively , in order to attach vacuum elements 11 and 12 , and 22 , respectively . on the contrary , for the second and third embodiments discussed above , it may be necessary to reinforce powder box 19 , and mold 27 and powder box 29 , respectively , in order for these members ( 19 , 27 and 29 ) to withstand the pressure associated with vacuum loading . moreover , in the first through third embodiments discussed above , it may be necessary to attach one or more latches onto the respective molds , powder boxes , and / or vacuum elements , in order to permit access to the mold surface for removal of the cast skin , and / or introduction of additional plastic powder between cycles . additionally , in the first through third embodiments discussed above , molds 6 , 17 and 27 , respectively , may be heated in a hot air furnace ( not shown ) to a predetermined optimum molding temperature , or may instead be heated to the optimum molding temperature by any equivalent method known in the art . although particular embodiments of the 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 those particular embodiments , and that various changes and modifications may be effected therein by one skilled in the art without departing from the scope or spirit of the invention as defined in the appended claims .	8
the following description is merely exemplary in nature and is in no way intended to limit the disclosure , its application , or uses . for purposes of clarity , the same reference numbers will be used in the drawings to identify similar elements . as used herein , the phrase at least one of a , b , and c should be construed to mean a logical ( a or b or c ), using a non - exclusive logical or . it should be understood that steps within a method may be executed in different order without altering the principles of the present disclosure . as used herein , the term module refers to an application specific integrated circuit ( asic ), an electronic circuit , a processor ( shared , dedicated , or group ) and memory that execute one or more software or firmware programs , a combinational logic circuit , and / or other suitable components that provide the described functionality . as used herein , the term circuit module may be used to refer to a combination of electronic circuits having a predetermined function that is established during semiconductor fabrication — in contrast with fpgas , plds and cplds that have their functions determined after fabrication using special programming . in addition , the circuit module may optionally include software or firmware programs that are run on a processor associated with the circuit module and / or by a processor that is external to the circuit module and that is shared with other components of the device . the predetermined functions may include functions that otherwise cannot be performed by a general purpose processor of the device with software upgrades . a logic structure of the circuit modules may also be configured and fixed during semiconductor fabrication . therefore , the term circuit module as used herein generally excludes the use of fpgas , plds and cplds ( unless used in addition to the circuit modules described above ) since their logic structures are altered after fabrication . fpgas , plds and cplds may also not be suitable for consumer applications described herein due to their cost , power consumption , and / or processing speed . furthermore , fpgas , plds and cplds are not suitable for implementing the predetermined functions of the circuit modules described herein since the intended functions of the circuit modules are known in advance , which is contrary to the reasons for using fpgas , plds and cplds in the first place . for example only , one circuit module may provide a wireless network interface with application specific circuits that are configured to provide a physical layer ( phy ) device and a medium access control ( mac ) device . the wireless network interface may rely on a local processor or may share a processor with other components of the device . other examples are presented below . the term circuit module is being used to describe a subset of the larger term modules that may include components that are software - based programs that run on processors and that rely on existing enabled circuits of the device . the present disclosure relates to devices and methods for manufacturing an ic , soc or sip with both enabled and disabled circuit modules . one or more of the circuit modules are enabled when sold by the ic , soc or sip manufacturer ( hereinafter , “ ic supplier ”) to a device manufacturer or a retailer . in other words , the device manufacturer or a retailer may select the circuit modules that are to be enabled . the parties negotiate a suitable price based on the enabled circuit modules . later one or more of the disabled circuit modules can be selectively enabled by the purchaser as will be described below . drivers , enabling codes or passwords , enable gates or registers , or receive other data or code are requested and received after the sale by the purchaser or the device to enable a previously disabled circuit module . after incorporating the ic , soc or sip in the device , the device manufacturer may sell the device directly to the purchaser or to a retailer who sells the device to the purchaser . the purchaser has full use of the enabled circuit modules of the ic , soc or sip in the device . the ic supplier ( or the device manufacturer or the retailer ) may let the purchaser know that the device can be upgraded . in other words , the purchaser may receive information about disabled circuit modules in the device . after the sale , the purchaser may want to enable one or more of the disabled circuit modules in the device . the purchaser may purchase one or more of the previously disabled circuit modules from the ic supplier , the device manufacturer and / or the retailer as will be described below . in some implementations , data services may also be sold ( for example only , when the enabled circuit module provides a wireless network interface ). furthermore , revenue sharing can occur with the ic supplier when the purchaser upgrades indirectly via the retailer or device manufacturer . for example only , one cellular phone manufacturer may want a low cost ic , soc or sip with a basic feature set ( of enabled circuit modules ). another cellular phone manufacturer may want the basic feature set and an integrated fm tuner circuit module . another cellular manufacturer may want the basic feature set and an integrated bluetooth transceiver circuit module . still another manufacturer may want the basic feature set and an integrated wifi and / or wimax network interface circuit module . another manufacturer may want the basic feature set and an integrated global positioning system ( gps ) circuit module . another manufacturer may want the basic feature set and all of the additional features mentioned above . the ic supplier can negotiate different pricing levels for each of these customers . after purchasing the device , the purchaser may want to add additional features that were not initially selected and purchased by the device manufacturer or the retailer . the purchaser can contact the ic supplier , device manufacturer and / or retailer who can identify available upgrade options for the device . alternately , the ic supplier , the device manufacturer or the retailer may initiate contact with the purchaser . if the purchaser selects one of the upgrades , the purchaser may need to provide a device id ( either manually or automatically ) ( such as a serial number of the ic , soc or sip or the device ) and payment before the circuit module is enabled . if the ic supplier , device manufacturer and / or retailer sells the additional features , they will receive incremental revenue that is mostly profit . referring now to fig1 , a device 100 may include an ic , soc or sip 104 . the ic , soc or sip 104 may include a control module 106 , and one or more circuit modules 110 - 1 , 110 - 2 , . . . and 110 - n that may be selectively enabled or disabled . the circuit modules 110 - 1 . . . 110 - n may each have a predefined function . the ic , soc or sip 104 may include a basic feature set including one or more enabled circuit modules 114 that perform the basic feature set . the ic , soc or sip may include an external interface 115 such as a serial port , a cellular transceiver , a parallel port , a wired or wireless network interface , a transceiver or any other suitable interface . the ic , soc or sip 104 many include semiconductor memory 116 . the device 100 may also include other components 120 that may or may not be implemented by the ic , soc or sip 104 . for example only , the other components 120 may include volatile or nonvolatile memory 134 , a display 136 , a speaker 140 , a user input 142 such as a keypad or touchpad , and / or other modules generally identified at 144 . the ic , soc or sip 104 may also implement a power management module 150 and a battery management module 154 . the battery management module 154 may control charging and monitoring of a battery 156 . the power management module 150 may provide one or more supply voltages to other components of the device 100 . the power management module 150 may conserve power by setting the one or more circuit modules 110 - 1 . . . 110 - n to a low power consumption level or mode when they are disabled . the power management module 150 and / or battery management module 154 may be implemented separately from the ic , soc or sip 104 . the control module 106 and the external interface 115 may be implemented separately from the ic , soc or sip 104 . referring now to fig2 a - 2c , exemplary implementations for enabling initially disabled circuit modules 110 in the ic , soc or sip 104 associated with the device 100 are shown . for example only , in fig2 a the external interface 115 of the device 100 includes a universal serial bus ( usb ) or network interface 115 - 1 that transmits data to and / or receives data from a computer 164 . while a usb or network interface 115 - 1 is shown , any other interface may be used . the network interface may comprise an ethernet interface . the computer 164 communicates with a router 166 and a modem 167 such as a broadband modem . the modem 167 transmits and receives data packets via a distributed communications system ( dcs ) 168 , such as the internet , to a server 172 . the server 172 may provide a web page 173 or other interface that provides a user interface for enabling previously disabled circuit modules 110 in the ic , soc or sip 104 associated with the device 100 , as will be described further below . in this exemplary implementation , a browser of the computer 164 is used to access the web page 173 and forwards purchaser information to the server 172 . the web page 173 may also request an id or serial number from the ic , soc or sip 104 . the purchaser information may be automatically generated when the device 100 is connected to the computer 164 . alternately the purchaser may enter the information via the user input 142 . the web page 173 may initiate a dialog with the purchaser and provide a list of disabled circuit modules 110 in the ic , soc or sip 104 that the user may select and enable , along with descriptions of the circuit modules and / or pricing information . once the selections are made , the purchaser may input payment for the selected items . once payment is confirmed , the web page 173 may initiate download of driver software , enabling code , passwords or other data or code that can be used to enable the previously disabled circuit modules 110 . encryption and decryption using keys may also be used . hashing or other techniques may also be used . instead of ( or in addition to ) using the usb or network interface 115 - 1 and the computer 164 in fig2 a , the device 100 may provide an interface that can be used to directly interface with the web page 173 on the server 172 . for example only in fig2 b , the external interface 115 of the device 100 may include a wireless network interface ( wni ) 115 - 2 that wirelessly transmits data to and / or receives data from an access point ( ap ) 174 . the ap 174 communicates with the router 166 and the modem 167 . the modem 167 transmits and receives data packets via the dcs 168 between the server 172 and the device 100 . the server 172 may provide the web page 173 for enabling previously disabled circuit modules 110 in the ic , soc or sip 104 associated with the device 100 as described above and below . in this exemplary implementation , the control module and operating system of the device 100 are used to access the web page 173 and forward purchaser information to the server 172 . the purchaser information may be automatically generated by the device 100 . alternatively the purchaser may enter the information using the user input 142 of the device 100 . the web page 173 may initiate a dialog with the purchaser and provide a list of disabled circuit modules 110 in the ic , soc or sip 104 that the user may select and enable , along with descriptions of the circuit modules and / or pricing . once the selections are made , the user may input a payment method for the selected items . once payment is confirmed , the web page 173 may initiate download of driver software , enabling code , passwords or other information that can be used by the device 100 to enable the previously disabled circuit modules 110 . instead of ( or in addition to ) using the wlan interface 115 - 2 , a cellular transceiver may be used to interface with the web page 173 on the server 172 . for example only in fig2 c , the external interface of the device 100 includes a cellular transceiver 115 - 3 that wirelessly transmits data to and / or receives data from a cell 176 . the cell 176 communicates with a mobile telephone switching office ( mtso ), which communicates with a central office 180 . the central office 180 may provide a connection to the dcs 168 via a network interface 182 . alternately , the cell 176 or mtso 178 may provide a direct connection to the network interface 182 . the server 172 may provide the web page 173 for enabling previously disabled circuit modules 110 in the ic , soc or sip 104 associated with the device 100 . in this exemplary implementation , the control module and operating system of the device 100 are used to access the web page 173 and forward purchaser information to the server 172 via the cellular network . the purchaser information may be automatically generated by the device 100 . alternately the purchaser may enter the information using the user input 142 of the device 100 . the web page 173 may initiate a dialog with the purchaser , provide a list of disabled circuit modules 110 in the ic , soc or sip 104 that the user may select and enable and pricing . once the selections are made , the purchaser may input a payment method for the selected items . alternately , the purchaser may be automatically charged through the corresponding cellular account . once payment is confirmed , the web page 173 may initiate download of driver software , enabling code , passwords or other code or data that can be used by the device 100 to enable the previously disabled circuit modules 110 as described herein . referring now to fig3 , an exemplary cellular phone 200 is shown . the cellular phone 200 includes digital processing and control module 206 , an analog processing and control module 210 , and a transceiver control module 214 . the digital processing and control module 206 performs processing and control of digital signals . the analog processing and control module 210 performs processing and control of analog signals such as baseband signals . the transceiver control module 214 transmits and receives baseband signals from the analog processing and control module 210 and includes two or more transceivers . the transceiver control module 214 also transmits and receives rf signals via antennas . the transceiver control module 214 may include a cellular transceiver circuit module 220 , a cellular third - generation ( 3g ) ( or global system for mobile communications ( gsm )) transceiver circuit module 224 , a multiple in multiple out ( mimo ) transceiver circuit module 226 , a global positioning system ( gps ) circuit module 228 , a bluetooth transceiver circuit module 230 , a wlan transceiver circuit module 232 and / or other transceiver circuit modules . the cellular , gps , bluetooth and wlan transceiver circuit modules 220 , 228 , 230 and 232 selectively communicate with antennas 240 , 242 , 246 and 248 via switches 250 , 252 , 256 and 258 , respectively . the 3g transceiver circuit module 224 selectively communicates with antennas 260 and 262 via switches 266 and 268 , respectively . the mimo transceiver circuit module 226 communicates with an array of antennas 280 via a switch 282 . as can be appreciated , the wireless network interfaces disclosed herein may be compliant with one or more of the following ieee standards 802 . 11 , 802 . 11a , 802 . 11b , 802 . 11g , 802 . 11h , 802 . 11n , 802 . 16 , and 802 . 20 . a cellular user may input information into the cellular phone 200 using a touch screen 290 and / or a keypad 294 . the touch screen 290 allows a user to input information using a display 340 . the touch screen 290 communicates with a touch screen control module 296 , which interprets the inputs and communicates with the digital processing and control module 206 . the keypad 294 allows a user to input alphanumeric information to the analog processing and control module 210 . a user headset 302 , which may include a speaker and a microphone ( both not shown ), may receive voice signals from the user and output audio signals to the user . a vibrator 310 may be used to vibrate the cellular phone 200 to silently alert the user that an incoming call or message was received . the vibrator 310 may be controlled by the analog processing and control module 210 . the cellular phone 200 may include an fm tuner circuit module 314 that can be used to select fm stations . the fm tuner circuit module 314 receives fm signals via an antenna 316 and outputs fm signals to a stereo / audio coder / decoder circuit module 320 . the coder / decoder circuit module 320 receives control signals from the analog processing and control module 210 and outputs decoded audio signals to an audio amplifier 330 and speakers 334 . the speakers 334 may optionally be internal to the cellular phone 200 and / or a jack may be provided for external speakers . the display 340 communicates with a display control module 342 , which receives display signals from the digital processing and control module 206 . the cellular phone 200 also may include a video encoder circuit module 350 that encodes video signals . an output of the video encoder circuit module 350 is input to a video amplifier 352 . the video encoder circuit module 350 may perform any suitable video encoding . for example only , the video encoder may perform ntsc , pal and secam encoding . the video encoder circuit module 350 may also perform 3 - d encoding . the cellular phone 200 also may include a serial interface such as a universal serial bus ( usb ) interface 360 , a parallel interface , or any other suitable interface that allows connection to a computer . the cellular phone 200 also may include a camera circuit module 370 , which may include a charge coupled device ( ccd ) sensor . a removable simulation circuit module 380 may be provided to configure the cellular phone 200 for a particular geographic region and / or cellular protocol . additional volatile or nonvolatile memory 381 may be provided . the cellular phone 200 may also include a power management module 420 and a battery management module 440 . the battery management module may control charging and monitoring of a battery 450 . the power management module 420 may provide one or more supply voltages to other components of the cellular phone 200 . one or more circuit modules of the cellular phone described above may be implemented by an ic , soc or sip 452 . more particularly , the ic , soc or sip 452 implements circuit modules of the basic feature set which are enabled . the ic , soc or sip 452 may also implement one or more circuit modules that are disabled at the time of sale to the purchaser . the ic , soc or sip 452 may be sold by the ic supplier to a device manufacturer , retailer or purchaser with the basic feature set enabled . some of the circuit modules will be included in the basic feature set . others of the circuit modules will not be enabled when sold to the device manufacturer , retailer or purchaser . as can be appreciated , this will allow the device manufacturer to purchase the ic , soc or sip at a desired price point from the ic supplier . furthermore , the ic supplier can use the same die to build ics or socs for multiple different device manufacturers ( retailers or purchasers ) and applications and at different price points . under normal circumstances , the revenue stream to the ic supplier ends when the ic supplier sells the ic , soc or sip to the device manufacturer . however , the ic supplier ( or manufacturer or retailer ) may enable other circuit modules in the ic , soc or sip after retail sale and generate additional revenue . for example , the ic supplier , device manufacturer or retailer may charge an additional amount for each circuit module that is enabled . for example only , the ic supplier , manufacturer or retailer may charge less than $ 15 for enabling a circuit module . for example only , the ic supplier , device manufacturer or retailer may charge less than $ 10 for enabling a circuit module . for example only , the ic supplier , device manufacturer or retailer may charge less than $ 5 for enabling a circuit module . for example only , the ic supplier , device manufacturer or retailer may charge less than $ 1 for enabling a circuit module . as can be appreciated , the incremental charge for enabling the circuit module will be mostly incremental profit . referring now to fig4 , a business method 500 according to the present disclosure is shown . in step 502 , a device manufacturer purchases or otherwise procures the ic , soc or sip from the ic supplier with enabled circuit modules and at least one disabled circuit module . in step 504 , the device manufacture assembles the ic , soc or sip into the device and sells or provides the device to a retailer . in step 508 , the retailer sells or provides the device to a purchaser . it should be understood that the device may be provided to the purchaser by the retailer or any other party via a sale or other methods . for example , a device may be given to the purchaser on a free - of - charge promotional basis . in step 512 , the purchaser desires to upgrade the device and contacts the ic supplier , the retailer or the device manufacturer . for example , the purchaser may access a web site of the retailer , the ic supplier or the device manufacture as described above . alternately , contact may be initiated by the ic supplier , retailer or device manufacturer to inform the purchaser that the device may be upgraded . in step 516 , the purchaser optionally supplies a unique id associated with the device or other security information and pays for enabling a previously disabled circuit module . in step 520 , the retailer , the ic supplier or the device manufacturer downloads a driver , key , password or other enabling code or data to the purchaser ( as described herein ) after confirming payment . in step 524 , the device enables the previously - disabled circuit module . it should be understood that , in some situations , the purchaser may upgrade the device by specifying the additional service ( s ) or feature ( s ) that s / he desires . the retailer , the ic supplier or the device manufacturer may then enable the appropriate circuit module ( s ) to allow such additional service ( s ) or feature ( s ) to be effected on the device . in such situations , the enabling of appropriate circuit module ( s ) is transparent to the purchaser . for example , referring back to fig3 , the basic feature set may include the cellular transceiver circuit module 220 , the usb interface 360 , the display control module 342 and the display 340 , the power and battery management modules 420 and 440 , the digital and analog processing and control modules 206 and 210 , the vibrator 310 , the headset 302 and the keypad 294 . the remaining circuit modules may be initially disabled and may be selectively enabled after sale to the purchaser as described above . in other examples , circuit modules may be selectively enabled to subsequently implement services and / or features , such as , higher performance processors with higher or different speeds and / or processing power , higher performance web browsers , higher data rates , higher bandwidth or throughput , etc . still other combinations of enabled and disabled circuit modules are contemplated . there are a variety of ways to selectively disable / enable the circuit modules . for example only , each of the selectively enabled circuit modules may include a local enabling module ( em ) ( for example only , as shown at 600 in the mimo transceiver circuit module 226 in fig3 ) arranged in the corresponding module . the enabling module 600 may require a password , key or other enabling code to be received to enable the circuit module . alternately , the enabling circuit 600 may require a register or gate to be set to a particular value . encryption / decryption and / or hashing can be used as well . alternately , another type of enabling circuit 604 may be used to pull signals to / from the sub - circuit or circuit module ( such as to the fm tuner circuit module 314 ) to a reference potential ( such as ground ) to disable and open the connection to enable the circuit module . in another alternate implementation , a driver is installed in one or both of the digital and analog processing and control modules 206 and 210 to enable the circuit module . alternately , at least one of the digital and analog processing and control modules 206 and 210 may include a register or gate that can be set to a particular value to enable the circuit module . in other implementation , the power management module may selectively provide power to enabled circuit modules and cut off power to disabled circuit modules . drivers may be provided to enable the circuit modules . still other methods of enabling and disabling the circuit modules may be used . referring now to fig5 , a device 550 according to another exemplary implementation of the present disclosure is shown . the device 550 includes a device control module 552 including an activation managing module 556 . the device 550 further includes an initially disabled circuit module 558 that can be selectively enabled based on enable data . the disabled circuit module 558 includes an activation module 560 that communicates with the activation managing module 556 . the device 550 includes first applications by 564 - 1 , 564 - 2 , . . . , and 564 - a ( collectively first applications 564 ) that are enabled when the device is sold . the device 550 further includes one or more second applications 566 - 1 , 566 - 2 , and 566 - b ( collectively second applications 566 ) that are fully or partially disabled when the device is sold because they require enablement of the circuit module 558 . the second applications 566 are executed by the circuit module 558 after the previously disabled circuit module 558 is enabled using the enable data . if the purchaser attempts to launch one of the second applications 564 before the disabled circuit module 558 is enabled , a message may be generated stating that the second application 566 requires enablement of the disabled circuit module 558 . an instruction message may be provided for enabling the disabled circuit module 558 . for example , a website may be identified in the message , a phone number or other information may be provided . in use , the purchaser may launch one of the applications 566 that requires the disabled circuit module 558 . the application 566 sends a message to the circuit module 558 to determine whether or not it is enabled . the activation module 560 responds that it is not enabled since the disabled circuit module 558 still requires enablement . the purchaser may then initiate enablement of the disabled circuit module as described herein . in response to the request , enable data is received by the activation managing module 556 . the enable data may be encrypted using any suitable approach . the enable data may include authorization data , such as , payment confirmation , device purchase confirmation and / or other types of information that may be used to indicate that enablement of the disabled circuit module is permitted . for example , the enable data may be encrypted by hashing using a device specific identification ( id ). the device specific id may comprise a serial number ( sn ) of the device , a medium access control ( mac ) address , etc . alternatively , the enable data may be created by hashing of shared secret key or by signature using public / private key cryptography . when enable data is received and hashing is used , the activation managing module 556 may hash the received enable data with the device - specific id to recover a secret key and / or other data such as usage limiting data . the usage - limiting data may include application - specific limits , time limits or other usage limits . any suitable hash algorithm may be used such as for example only , md5 and secure hash algorithms ( sha ) may be used . referring now to fig6 , a method for upgrading the device of fig5 is shown . control begins with step 600 . in step 602 , a purchaser of the device 550 requests use of a disabled application 566 . in step 604 , the purchaser or the device 550 sends a request to a remote upgrade provider . the remote upgrade provider may be the retailer , the ic supplier or the device manufacturer . the purchaser may use the device 550 to send the message . for example , the disabled circuit module may be partially enabled to allow this function . for example only , if the disabled circuit module is a wireless network interface , it may be partially enabled when sold such that it can handle wireless transactions relating to the request for enablement and / or the receipt of the enable data but not other more general use . alternately , other interfaces of the device may be used . for example , the request may be made via a usb interface , another receiver of the device , etc . alternately , the request for enablement may be sent in other ways ( not using the device ). in other words , the purchaser may send a message via a browser of another computing device to a web page of the ic supplier , device manufacturer or retailer . alternately , the purchaser may use a phone to contact the ic supplier , device manufacturer or retailer to request activation . the purchaser may also receive and enter the enable data into the device manually . still other methods of requesting enablement of the disabled circuit module may be used . in step 608 , the remote upgrade provider generates and sends enable data to the purchaser . the enable data may be encrypted and may be specific to the particular requesting device . in step 612 , the remote provider handles billing the purchaser for the enablement of the disabled circuit module 558 . in some implementations , data services may also be enabled ( for example only , for wireless network services ). in step 616 , the device receives the encrypted enable data and sends the key to the circuit module . in step 620 , the device is allowed to use the previously disabled applications and circuit module 558 . referring now to fig7 , an exemplary camera including an initially disabled circuit module 718 that provides a wireless network interface according to the present disclosure is shown . skilled artisans will appreciate that while a specific functional block diagram is shown , the camera may have other implementations . the camera 650 includes a lens 654 . the lens 654 focuses light on a charge coupled device ( ccd ) sensor 656 . a front end signal processor 658 receives an output of the ccd sensor 656 . an image processor and control module 660 receives an output of the front end signal processor 658 . the image processor and control module 660 may include a driver 664 that operates an autofocus ( af ) and shutter 668 . the image processor and control module 660 communicates with an audio coder / decoder ( codec ) 670 , which provides audio output signals to a speaker 674 and receives audio signals from a microphone 678 . the image processor and control module 660 also communicates with a user input interface 680 that receives outputs of user input devices 684 . the user input device 684 may comprise as a keypad , control buttons , etc . that are used to control the camera 650 . the camera 650 may also comprise high - speed memory 668 such as sdram for storing data and / or code during processing . the camera 650 may also include flash memory 690 that communicates with the image processor and control module 660 via a flash memory interface 691 . the flash memory 690 may be used to store content such as video , audio and / or still pictures . the camera 650 may also comprise a universal serial bus ( usb ) interface 692 . a display interface 694 provides an interface for a display 696 . in some implementations , the display 696 may include a touch screen . a storage media interface 702 provides an interface between other types of storage media 706 and the image processor and control module 660 . for example , the storage medium interface may comprise a serial digital ( sd ) interface for sd memory . the camera 650 may include a wireless receiver 710 with an antenna 712 that receives wireless signals from a remote transmitter or transceiver 714 . the image processor and control module 660 includes an activation managing module 714 that manages enablement of the disabled circuit module . the camera 650 may comprise a circuit module 718 that is initially disabled . for example only , the circuit module may provide a wireless network interface that is initially disabled . however , the circuit module 718 may have other functions . the circuit module 718 includes an activation module 720 . the circuit module 718 may comprise a physical layer ( phy ) module ( not shown ) that provides an interface to a medium and a medium access control ( mac ) module ( not shown ) that provides an interface between the physical layer module and a host . the mac module may have a mac number that can be used as a unique id . alternately , the device or one or more ics may have a serial number that can be used as the unique id . in other implementations , the unique id may be a number stored in silicon that is inaccessible to users . the circuit module 718 may communicate with an antenna 722 . in some implementations , a network transceiver 728 ( such as an access point ) transmits in - band or out - of - band signals including encrypted enable data . the circuit module 718 receives the encrypted enable data . the circuit module 718 may operate in a restricted feature mode that allows reception of the in - band or out - of - band enable data but is otherwise not operational . alternately , the remote transmitter or transceiver 714 transmits enable data to the receiver 710 . the activation managing module 714 may comprise a time limiting module ( tlm ) 730 that selectively limits the amount of time that the disabled circuit module is enabled . for example , the circuit module 718 may be enabled for a day , week , month or other period . the activation managing module 714 may comprise a usage limiting module ( ulm ) 732 that selectively limits usage . for example , the circuit module may be enabled for a predetermined amount of data exchanged or a predetermined number of sessions . the activation managing module 714 may comprise an application limiting module ( alm ) 734 that selectively limits the second applications that the disabled circuit module can use . for example , the circuit module 718 may be enabled for one or some of the second applications but not others of the second applications . alternately , all of the second applications can be enabled . as can be appreciated , one or more of the tlm 730 , the ulm 732 and the alm 734 may be implemented by the activation module 720 . alternately , both the activation managing module 714 and the activation module 720 may be combined into a single activation module that is implemented by one circuit module ( such as the circuit module 718 ) or by a device control module ( such as the image processor and control module 660 ). as can be appreciated , the circuit module 718 may be implemented as a first integrated circuit and other components of the camera 650 ( such as the image processor and control module 660 and / or other components ) may be implemented as a second integrated circuit . alternately , the circuit module 718 and the image processor and control module 660 and / or other components of the camera may be implemented as a soc or a sip . referring now to fig8 , a method for controlling the use of an initially disabled circuit module according to the present disclosure is shown . the disabled circuit module may be enabled in a variety of ways . for example , the disabled circuit module may be enabled for use with all of the second applications 566 and with no time - based or data - based usage restrictions . alternately , the disabled circuit module may be enabled for use with certain ones of the second applications 566 and not others of the second applications 566 . alternately , the disabled circuit module may be enabled for a predetermined time and / or a predetermined amount of data throughput . the method begins in fig8 with step 840 . in step 842 , the method determines whether the initially disabled circuit module 558 has been enabled . if step 842 is true , control continues with step 844 . in step 844 , control determines whether there are application limits , usage limits and / or time limits for using the now - enabled circuit module 558 . in step 846 , control determines whether there are application - based limits on the enable data . if the enable data designates that only certain ones of the second applications can be used , control continues with step 850 and enables only designated ones of the second applications for use with the enabled circuit module . if the enable data does not limit use based the type of application , control continues with step 854 and all of the second applications are enabled . control continues from steps 850 and 854 with step 856 . in step 856 , control determines whether there are usage - based limits . if step 852 is true , control continues with step 860 where control determines whether the usage monitor was previously started . in step 860 is false , the usage monitor is started in step 862 . in step 864 , control determines whether usage is up . usage may be based on a predetermined number of sessions , a predetermined amount of data transferred and / or other criteria . if step 864 is false , control continues with step 872 . if step 864 is true , control continues with step 866 and the circuit module is disabled . in step 868 , control determines whether the circuit module has been disabled . if step 868 is false , control returns to step 856 . if step 868 is true , control ends with step 870 . if step 856 is false , control continues with step 872 and determines whether there are time - based limits for using the circuit module . in step 874 , control determines whether the time monitor was previously started . in step 874 is false , the time monitor is started in step 875 . in step 876 , control determines whether time is up . if step 876 is false , control continues with step 868 . if step 876 is true , control continues with step 866 and the circuit module is disabled . referring now to fig9 , a method for distributing the device of fig5 is shown . control begins with step 900 . in step 902 , the ic supplier manufactures an ic / soc / sip with the initially disabled circuit module . in step 904 , the device manufacturer manufactures the device with the initially disabled circuit module . in step 906 , the device manufacturer installs applications that require the circuit module to operate . alternately , the applications can be provided at the time of and / or after enablement of the circuit module . in step 908 , the device manufacturer distributes the device and promotes features and applications relating to the circuit module . in step 912 , the purchaser purchases the device . in step 914 , the purchaser launches the application that requires the disabled circuit to be enabled . in step 916 , the circuit module is enabled as described herein . in step 918 , the ic supplier and / or device manufacturer collects and shares revenue associated with the enabled circuit module . if a data service is involved , revenue sharing with a data service provider may occur . the method ends in step 920 . as can be appreciated , when the purchaser launches the application , the device may not be supported by a data service ( such as a wifi service provider ). if the request is made using the data service , the data service may initially allow the request even though the device is a guest without data privileges . when the circuit module is enabled , the data service may also be initiated and the data service provider may share in the revenue with the ic supplier , the device manufacturer and / or the retailer . referring now to fig1 , a method for creating enable data according to the present disclosure is shown . the method begins with step 1020 . in step 1022 , the method determines whether the purchaser requests activation . if step 1022 is false , the method returns to step 1022 . if step 1022 is true , the method determines whether there are limits on use of the requested circuit module in step 1024 . if step 1024 is false , control continues with step 1026 and generates enable data by hashing a specific id for the device with a key that is used to enable the circuit module . if step 1024 is true , control continues with step 1034 and generates enable data by hashing the device specific id and usage limit limiting data with the secret key . the usage limiting data may include the application - specific limits , the time limits and / or the usage limits . control continues from steps 1026 and 1034 with step 1030 . in step 1030 , the method includes sending enable data to the purchaser . as previously mentioned , alternative methods of creating enable data may be used including , for example , sharing of a secret key and public key cryptography . it should be understood that the term “ purchaser ” as used herein is not necessarily limited to an end user of a device . a purchaser may include any entity or party that is part of a product development and distribution chain . referring now to fig1 a - 11d , various other exemplary implementations incorporating the teachings of the present disclosure are shown . referring now to fig1 a , the teachings of the disclosure can be implemented to enable and disable one or more modules 1236 of a high definition television ( hdtv ) 1237 as described above . the hdtv 1237 includes an hdtv control module 1238 , a display 1239 , a power supply 1240 , memory 1241 , a storage device 1242 , a network interface 1243 , and an external interface 1245 . if the network interface 1243 includes a wireless local area network interface , an antenna ( not shown ) may be included . the hdtv 1237 can receive input signals from the network interface 1243 and / or the external interface 1245 , which can send and receive data via cable , broadband internet , and / or satellite . the hdtv control module 1238 may process the input signals , including encoding , decoding , filtering , and / or formatting , and generate output signals . the output signals may be communicated to one or more of the display 1239 , memory 1241 , the storage device 1242 , the network interface 1243 , and the external interface 1245 . memory 1241 may include random access memory ( ram ) and / or nonvolatile memory . nonvolatile memory may include any suitable type of semiconductor or solid - state memory , such as flash memory ( including nand and nor flash memory ), phase change memory , magnetic ram , and multi - state memory , in which each memory cell has more than two states . the storage device 1242 may include an optical storage drive , such as a dvd drive , and / or a hard disk drive ( hdd ). the hdtv control module 1238 communicates externally via the network interface 1243 and / or the external interface 1245 . the power supply 1240 provides power to the components of the hdtv 1237 . referring now to fig1 b , the teachings of the disclosure may be implemented to enable and disable one or more modules 1236 of a vehicle 1246 as described above . the vehicle 1246 may include a vehicle control system 1247 , a power supply 1248 , memory 1249 , a storage device 1250 , and a network interface 1252 . if the network interface 1252 includes a wireless local area network interface , an antenna ( not shown ) may be included . the vehicle control system 1247 may be a powertrain control system , a body control system , an entertainment control system , an anti - lock braking system ( abs ), a navigation system , a telematics system , a lane departure system , an adaptive cruise control system , etc . the vehicle control system 1247 may communicate with one or more sensors 1254 and generate one or more output signals 1256 . the sensors 1254 may include temperature sensors , acceleration sensors , pressure sensors , rotational sensors , airflow sensors , etc . the output signals 1256 may control engine operating parameters , transmission operating parameters , suspension parameters , etc . the power supply 1248 provides power to the components of the vehicle 1246 . the vehicle control system 1247 may store data in memory 1249 and / or the storage device 1250 . memory 1249 may include random access memory ( ram ) and / or nonvolatile memory . nonvolatile memory may include any suitable type of semiconductor or solid - state memory , such as flash memory ( including nand and nor flash memory ), phase change memory , magnetic ram , and multi - state memory , in which each memory cell has more than two states . the storage device 1250 may include an optical storage drive , such as a dvd drive , and / or a hard disk drive ( hdd ). the vehicle control system 1247 may communicate externally using the network interface 1252 . referring now to fig1 c , the teachings of the disclosure can be implemented to enable and disable one or more modules 1236 of a set top box 1278 as described above . the set top box 1278 includes a set top control module 1280 , a display 1281 , a power supply 1282 , memory 1283 , a storage device 1284 , and a network interface 1285 . if the network interface 1285 includes a wireless local area network interface , an antenna ( not shown ) may be included . the set top control module 1280 may receive input signals from the network interface 1285 and an external interface 1287 , which can send and receive data via cable , broadband internet , and / or satellite . the set top control module 1280 may process signals , including encoding , decoding , filtering , and / or formatting , and generate output signals . the output signals may include audio and / or video signals in standard and / or high definition formats . the output signals may be communicated to the network interface 1285 and / or to the display 1281 . the display 1281 may include a television , a projector , and / or a monitor . the power supply 1282 provides power to the components of the set top box 1278 . memory 1283 may include random access memory ( ram ) and / or nonvolatile memory . nonvolatile memory may include any suitable type of semiconductor or solid - state memory , such as flash memory ( including nand and nor flash memory ), phase change memory , magnetic ram , and multi - state memory , in which each memory cell has more than two states . the storage device 1284 may include an optical storage drive , such as a dvd drive , and / or a hard disk drive ( hdd ). referring now to fig1 d , the teachings of the disclosure can be implemented to enable and disable one or more modules 1236 of a mobile device 1289 as described above . the mobile device 1289 may include a mobile device control module 1290 , a power supply 1291 , memory 1292 , a storage device 1293 , a network interface 1294 , and an external interface 1299 . if the network interface 1294 includes a wireless local area network interface , an antenna ( not shown ) may be included . the mobile device control module 1290 may receive input signals from the network interface 1294 and / or the external interface 1299 . the external interface 1299 may include usb , infrared , and / or ethernet . the input signals may include compressed audio and / or video , and may be compliant with the mp3 format . additionally , the mobile device control module 1290 may receive input from a user input 1296 such as a keypad , touchpad , or individual buttons . the mobile device control module 1290 may process input signals , including encoding , decoding , filtering , and / or formatting , and generate output signals . the mobile device control module 1290 may output audio signals to an audio output 1297 and video signals to a display 1298 . the audio output 1297 may include a speaker and / or an output jack . the display 1298 may present a graphical user interface , which may include menus , icons , etc . the power supply 1291 provides power to the components of the mobile device 1289 . memory 1292 may include random access memory ( ram ) and / or nonvolatile memory . nonvolatile memory may include any suitable type of semiconductor or solid - state memory , such as flash memory ( including nand and nor flash memory ), phase change memory , magnetic ram , and multi - state memory , in which each memory cell has more than two states . the storage device 1293 may include an optical storage drive , such as a dvd drive , and / or a hard disk drive ( hdd ). the mobile device may include a personal digital assistant , a media player , a laptop computer , a gaming console , or other mobile computing device . it should be further understood that other types of consumer electronic devices , such as , personal computers , laptop computers , digital picture frames , etc . may be implemented to include features as described in the present disclosure . as can be appreciated , while certain components of the integrated circuits described above may be described as modules , these components may also comprise circuit modules . in other words , these components may include shared circuits and circuits that are unique to the component . these unique circuits of the circuit modules may be located at distinct locations of the integrated circuit . the unique circuits may be selectively enabled as described above . those skilled in the art can now appreciate from the foregoing description that the broad teachings of the disclosure can be implemented in a variety of forms . therefore , while this disclosure includes particular examples , the true scope of the disclosure should not be so limited since other modifications will become apparent to the skilled practitioner upon a study of the drawings , the specification , and the following claims .	8
as discussed in relation to in fig6 supra , the relative pathlength varies considerably depending upon the wavelength of light used . fig9 a , 9 b and 9 c illustrate three alternate sampling configurations which optimize the pathlength relative to the wavelength ( s ) selected . as those skilled in the art will appreciate , the relative positioning of the source and detector on finger / thumb 11 will influence the internal volume of tissue sampled spectrophotometrically . in fig9 a the source 21 and detector 23 are placed relatively close to one another . thus , the average optical pathlength 22 travelled by the sampled light ( via partial transmission ) is quite short . dashed lines ( e . g ., 24 ) represent some of the theoretical paths followed by light emitted by a point source placed against finger / thumb 11 . if , in the case of glucose , optical information is desired in the 2000 nm region or longer , then the average optical pathlength 22 should be in range of 0 . 5 - 3 mm . in addition to the 2000 - 2400 region , this optical sampling configuration enables measurement of spectral data over the entire wavelength region from 700 to 2400 nm . in fig9 a the internal volume sampled will be relatively small , consisting of the epidermis 13 and dermis 15 and the outermost portions of the subcutaneous tissue 17 . although the sampling configuration in fig9 a enables sampling of spectral data from 700 to 2400 nm , the spectral data acquired in the 700 - 1400 nm region is not acquired under optimal conditions . given similar signal - to - noise ratios , spectral data in the 700 - 1400 nm range , obtained by the sampling geometries illustrated in fig9 b and 9c , will contain more analyte information than spectra obtained from the geometry illustrated in fig9 a . with similar intensity values at the detector , the information content of the spectra from fig9 a is less , due to the fact that a smaller portion of the internal volume of finger / thumb 11 is sampled by the light . in the configuration shown in fig9 a , 100 % of the light is not forced to transverse the greater distances illustrated by fig9 b and 9c and , thus , does not contain as much information from the deeper subcutaneous tissue . in fig9 b the detector 23 and source 25 are separated by a greater distance and the resulting average partial transmission pathlength 26 is longer . if the average pathlength 26 is assumed to be in the range of 3 - 7 mm , then the amount of light successfully transversing this distance with wavelengths longer than 2000 nm will be negligible in comparison to those which transverse a 0 . 5 - 3 mm pathlength . however , this pathlength represents a reasonable pathlength for light in the region from 1400 to 2000 nm , and also enables measurement of wavelengths below 1400 nm . fig9 c depicts a transmission measurement through finger / thumb 11 . the finger thickness of an average individual is , approximately , 1 cm . the influence of the bone in transmission is poorly understood and , thus , the ray tracings go around the bone for simplicity . the resulting optical information received by detector 23 from source 29 will be in the wavelength region from 700 to 1400 nm . the spectral information above 1400 nm will be negligible due to water absorbance at these longer wavelengths . the geometric configurations shown in fig9 a , 9 b and 9 c enable procurement of optimal spectral data for glucose in each wavelength region ( i . e . 700 to 1400 , 1400 to 2000 , and 2000 to 2400 ) in the best possible manner . for clarification the spectral range of interest is divided into 3 regions : region 1 from 700 - 1400 nm ; region 2 from 1400 - 2000 nm ; and region 3 from 2000 - 2400 nm . fig1 a , 10 b and 10 c are plots showing the spectral regions that can be recorded by each of the three source - detector configurations . fig1 a is the spectral data which can be recorded using the source - detector configuration shown in fig9 a . as previously described , the configuration shown in fig9 a can sample all three regions as shown in fig1 a . fig1 b depicts the spectral data obtained when using the optical configuration illustrated in fig9 b , which spectral data is in regions 1 and 2 , but not in region 3 . fig1 c shows the spectral data generated by using the optical configuration shown in fig9 c . in this case , useful spectral information is available only in region 1 . fig1 is a plot of the resulting spectra from the source detector arrangements illustrated in fig9 a , 9 b and 9 c . the resulting spectra contains the maximal amount of analyte information due to optimization of sampling path in each of the three wavelength regions . the spectrum of fig1 can be further improved by removal of the spectral variations introduced by melanin and other patient variations . specifically , spectra which is indicative of the internal tissue glucose ( independent of the individual , and without such factors as degree of pigmentation , age , skin thickness , and differences in peripheral - skin temperature ) is uniquely useful when doing quantitative measurements . as the intrinsic volumes sampled by the various source - detector geometries illustrated in fig9 a , 9 b and 9 c are different , these differences can be used to remove many undesired influences ( e . g . melanin ). returning to fig9 a , 9 b and 9 c , it can be seen that all source - detector combinations require the light to transverse epidermis 13 and dermis 15 twice . this is true whether the measurement is made through skin only or the fingernail . in the 700 nm to 1100 nm region ( i . e ., region 1 ) the spectral information obtained by using source 21 with detector 23 will correspond to skin information twice , plus a small amount of information on the underlying tissue . in comparison , the spectral information obtained by using source 29 with detector 23 will contain skin information twice , plus a large amount of information on the underlying tissue . the differences in the volumes sampled by the different sampling geometries can be used to cancel out or minimize skin specific differences . as melanin resides solely in the outer layers of skin , the spectra obtained via the two sampling configurations can be processed to yield spectra which minimizes spectral variations which are the result of pigmentation differences . specifically , beer &# 39 ; s law and the relationship of mean optical pathlength with the length of the physical path can be utilized by a ratio and subtraction process to yield the desired spectra . the coefficient values to be used in association with beer &# 39 ; s law are determined by experimental investigation and are instrument / configuration dependent . differences in peripheral skin temperature can also be removed by using differences in the volumes sampled by the various sampling configurations . the skin temperature of the hand varies greatly from person to person and is also dependent upon the environment . despite peripheral skin temperature variations , body core temperature remains quite constant . the internal tissue of the hand will be maintained at relatively constant temperature due to constant exposure to core temperature blood . thus , the temperature differences between people &# 39 ; s hands exist in the dermis and epidermis while the underlying tissue remains well thermostated . as temperature differences are present in the outermost layers of the skin , the difference in the volumes sampled can again be used to help minimize spectral variation not associated with analyte concentration . thus , skin temperature differences can be compensated for in a manner similar to melanin . the sampling configurations illustrated in fig9 a , 9 b and 9 c satisfy objectives 1 and 2 of the invention , but do not reduce all possible spectral variations between patients . specifically , the spectral information obtained by transmission through the finger ( i . e . use of source 29 and detector 23 ) will be sensitive to tissue thickness differences . however , such differences in tissue thickness can be minimized by performing the sampling by partial transmission sampling and by sampling from the same side of the tissue , wherein the tissue can be a finger , thumb , or other body part . with reference to fig1 and 13 , finger / thumb holder 33 includes a bottom plate 35 and a pair of guide rails 37 . positioned substantially in the center of plate 35 is a detector 39 and a plurality of sources 41 1 - 4 , 43 1 - 4 and 45 1 - 4 . the average light path from sources 41 1 - 4 to detector 39 is approximated by path 47 ; from sources 43 1 - 4 to detector 39 , by path 49 ; and from sources 45 1 - 4 to detector 39 , by path 51 . as was illustrated in fig9 a , 9 b and 9 c , the optical sampling of the body part must maximize and compensate for the optical propagation characteristics of different wavelengths . in fig1 light path 47 represents an optical pathlength of 0 . 5 - 3 mm , which is the same pathlength as illustrated in fig9 a . light path 49 is similar to that shown in fig9 b , and light path 51 is similar to that shown in fig9 c . in either sampling geometry the relationship between the source and detector determines the length of the optical path and the depth of the internal volume sampled . for each distance a plurality of light sources is used to increase the intensity at detector 39 , and to reduce the total measurement time . a variety of embodiments can be utilized to enable sampling of the finger / thumb in an optimal manner . fig1 illustrates a device 61 using fiber optics to introduce light into the finger / thumb 11 at three different sampling geometries . in the device shown , housing or ring 63 supports six different fiber optic probes 65 a and 65 b , 67 a and 67 b , and 69 a and 69 b which introduce the light into the tissue in three different source - detector configurations . detector probe 71 , also supported by housing 63 receives the light which has transversed the tissue . fiber probes 65 a - 69 b and detector probe 71 are all spring loaded , via springs 73 , to enable repeatable interactions between the tip of each fiber , as indicated at 75 in fig1 , and finger / thumb 11 . each fiber probe is independently spring loaded to enable the sampling device to compensate for the elliptical shape of the finger . as also indicated in fig1 , representative probe 65 a is held by a hollow fiber holding device 77 which includes a hollow stem 79 and a shoulder 81 . stem 79 is held in bore 83 by collar 85 which , in turn , is slidably received in bore 87 in housing 63 . spring 73 is captured between collar 85 and cap 89 which is threaded into housing 63 ( by threads not shown ) or otherwise suitably secured . bore 87 has an internal shoulder 91 to prevent collar 85 from falling out . probes 65 b - 69 b and detector 71 have the same structure as probe 65 a . fig1 a illustrates , on an enlarged scale , the end of a typical probe ( e . g . 65 a ), including metal sheath 93 , surrounding external cladding 95 , which in turn surrounds optical fiber 97 . the angular relationship between fiber optic probes 65 a and 65 b , and detector fiber 71 is , approximately , 30 degrees . this geometrical configuration allows , as discussed above , sampling of the spectral region from 700 to 2400 nm . probes 67 a and 67 b simultaneously introduce light into finger / thumb 11 at 90 degrees relative to detector fiber 71 . the average optical pathlength will be approximately 3 to 7 mm . the configuration composed of probes 67 a and 67 b , and fiber 71 will enable sampling of the spectral region from 700 to 2000 nm . the remaining two probes , 69 a and 69 b , introduce light into finger / thumb 11 on the opposite side of the finger , at approximately 165 degrees relative to fiber 71 . light detected by detector fiber 71 from these 2 probes has propagated through the majority of finger / thumb 11 . for glucose , the spectral region measured by this configuration will be from 700 to 1400 nm . in operation , only one source pair - detector configuration ( e . g . 65 a / 65 b - 71 ) is coupling light into finger / thumb 11 at any one time . the operation of the sources is performed in a manner to determine the optical path transversed by the light . if all sources are active at a given point in time then it would be impossible to determine from which point a given photon of light originated . the introduction of light into the finger from two geometrically similar locations ( e . g . probes 65 a and 65 b ) increases the total light entering finger / thumb 11 , which increases the total amount out of finger / thumb 11 and onto the detector fiber 71 . increasing the intensity at the detector , provided the operation remains linear , is desirable as it reduces total measurement time . a modified version of finger sampling device 61 is illustrated in fig1 . device 661 includes a housing or ring 663 having an outer cylindrical surface 665 and two semi - cylindrical surfaces 667 and 669 , interconnected by plainer surfaces 671 and 673 . as illustrated , the diameter of surface 667 provides a support for finger / thumb 11 . positioned between surfaces 665 and 669 are two fiber optic probes 65 a and 65 b and a detector 71 . probes 65 a and 65 b ( which are angularly positioned relative to detector 71 by , approximately , 30 °) contact fingernail 13 a . as previously explained , fingernail 13 a is basically optically inert in the region from 700 mm to 2400 mm . though only two probes are illustrated , additional ones could be provided . fig1 illustrates a sampling device where all optical sampling is performed through the fingernail . the device could be modified to include small tungsten - halogen sources or other configurations . the end result is a sampling device which makes optimal use of this “ window ” into the body . fig1 illustrates a sampling device like that of fig1 and 15 , except modified for use of small tungsten - halogen light sources such as manufactured by welsh alan . six light sources , such as source 101 a , are arranged on circular housing 103 ( which has the same configuration as housing 63 ) in the same pattern as probes 65 a - 69 b are arranged relative to detector 71 . light source 101 a is secured in socket 105 provided on the end of hollow electrical support stem 107 . stem 107 includes a circular collar 109 fixed thereto , which is slidably received in bore 111 provided in housing 103 . spring 113 is captured between collar 109 and end cap 115 ( suitably secured to housing 103 ), to bias source 101 a into engagement with finger / thumb 11 . lip 117 prevents collar 109 from being pushed out of bore 111 . as described previously , this geometry enables spectral measurement over different regions . in operation , the light sources closest the detector will be turned on and spectral data acquired in the 700 to 2400 nm region . next , the sources at 90 degrees to the detector will be energized and spectral data from 700 to 2000 nm will be recorded . finally , the sources opposite the detector will be turned on and spectral data from 700 to 1400 nm recorded . due to the fact that not all wavelengths need to be recorded and the fact that relatively small number ( e . g . 20 ) will produce good measurement results , a discrete set of light emitting diodes ( leds ) can be utilized instead of broadband sources such as 101 a of fig1 and 17a . currently , leds are commercially manufactured in the wavelength region from 400 to approximately 1550 . however , in the future , diodes will likely become commercially available over the entire spectral region from 400 to 2400 nm . as leds emit wavelengths with a narrow bandwidth ( i . e ., typically less than 10 nm ) further dispersion of the spectra is not necessary . as further dispersion is not necessary a simple inexpensive detector or multiple detectors can be used to record the various wavelength intensities . as illustrated in fig1 - 21 , finger sampling device 121 includes a first set of probes 123 a , 123 b , and a second set of probes 125 a , 125 b , mounted at 9 ° intervals around housing 127 . probes 123 a and 123 b each include a hollow stem portion 129 ( fig1 ) of circular cross - section and a disc shaped head 131 ( fig2 ). secured to head 131 near its perimeter ( by conventional means not illustrated ) are a plurality of leds 133 1 - 12 . secured to the center ( also by conventional means not shown ) is a detector 135 . detector 135 and leds 133 are connected to suitable electrical connectors such as 136 a , 136 b and 136 c . stem portion 129 also includes a circular collar 137 which is slidably received in bore 139 of housing 127 . probe 123 is biased into engagement with finger / thumb 11 by spring 141 which , in turn , is captured between collar 137 and cap 143 ( secured by suitable conventional means , not shown , to housing 127 ). cap 143 has a circular opening 145 dimensioned to slidably receive stem 129 . finally , each bore 139 has a shoulder 147 at its inner end to retain collar 137 . probes 125 a , 125 b are substantially identical to probes 123 , except that they do not include any detectors . thus , each probe 125 includes a hollow stem portion 151 , collar 153 and disc shaped head 155 . collar 153 is slidably received in bore 157 and biased by spring 159 , which is captured between collar 153 and cap 161 . cap 161 has a circular opening 163 for slidably receiving stem 151 . bore 157 includes internal shoulder 165 . as with those on probes 123 , each led on probes 125 represents a narrow bandwidth source predetermined to obtain important spectral information enabling measurement of the concentration of the analyte ( e . g ., glucose ). considering only the region from 400 to 1550 nm , the region over which leds currently operate , the spectral information ( similar to that illustrated in fig1 ) is obtained by three separate operations using the specific regions of 400 to 1100 nm , 1100 to 1400 nm , and 1400 to 1550 nm . the procurement of spectra in the 400 to 1100 nm region requires the measurement of both short pathlength and long pathlength spectral data , which can be measured at the same time , as illustrated in fig2 a . the leds 133 1 - 12 on probe 123 a are energized in a manner such that the intensity associated with each led can be determined . specifically , the leds are energized in accordance with hadamard transform optical coding techniques . this is done because if every led was turned on at the same time it would be impossible to differentiate between specific wavelengths . for each led on probe 123 a , the light propagating through the tissue is measured by both detectors 135 simultaneously ( detector 135 on probe 123 a and detector 135 on probe 123 b ). thus , detector 135 / 123 a will measure those photons having transversed a short partial transmission path 171 , while detector 135 / 123 b will measure those photons having transversed the entire finger . solid line 173 illustrates the average path that the light will travel . dashed lines 171 a and 173 a represent the average short and long paths between a second led on probe 123 a and detectors 135 . the combination of information from these two detectors can be used to remove for skin specific components and result in spectral information ready for analysis , for the reasons discussed above in reference to fig9 a - 11 . the leds on probe 123 b are not energized . spectra in the region from 1100 to 1400 nm does not require compensation for skin differences because the affects of melanin and other skin components are not present at wavelengths above 1100 nm . thus , maximizing the amount of light into the finger while also maximizing the amount of information recorded from the finger is desired and achievable . this can be performed by energizing ( again in accordance with hadamard transform optical coding techniques ) those leds on the 1100 to 1400 nm range on probe 123 b . the light emitted from such leds is recorded by detector 135 / 123 a . fig2 b illustrates this concept , with lines 175 and 177 representing a couple of the theoretical pathlengths . as previously discussed , light propagation through tissue at wavelengths longer than 1400 nm becomes heavily influenced by water absorbance . measurement of wavelengths between 1400 and 1550 nm can be performed by energizing the leds in probes 125 a and 125 b . the light emitted from these leds will be simultaneously measured by detectors 135 / 123 a and 135 / 123 b . fig2 c illustrates this arrangement with representative theoretical light paths 179 , 181 , 183 , 185 , 187 , 189 , 191 and 193 . the end result of the preceding process is measurement of the spectral data from 400 to 1550 nm in the least possible time , with the highest possible signal - to - noise ratio and containing the spectral information necessary for analyte measurement . the use of multiple detectors and light sources will improve the signal - to - noise ratio of the recorded data for a given measurement time due to the ability to signal average two measurements simultaneously , and the ability to use hadamard transform techniques . fig2 and 23 , similar to fig1 and 13 , show finger / thumb sampling device 201 using partial transmission with path optimization by separation of the sources and detector . sampling device 201 includes base 203 having a finger support surface 205 , a pair of guide rails 207 ( for positioning finger / thumb 11 ) and a post 209 . device 201 also includes an arm 211 ( which is hinged to post 209 and biased toward surface 205 by spring 213 ), shutter control 215 , and temperature control device 217 . shutter control 215 includes a rotating disc 221 ( having gear teeth 223 on the perimeter thereof ), gear 225 and motor 227 . temperature control 217 includes an electrical heating pad , a temperature sensing device ( e . g ., a thermocouple ) and associated conventional electronics ( all not illustrated ). disc 221 , which is supported by housing 229 in any convenient manner ( not shown ), has a plurality of openings ( typically circular ) 231 , 233 1 - 4 , 235 1 - 4 , and 237 1 - 4 , as best illustrated in fig2 . housing 229 includes a series of openings 241 , 243 a and 243 b , 245 a and 245 b , and 247 a and 247 b , which are always aligned with , respectively , openings ( 251 , 253 a and 253 b , 255 a and 255 b , and 257 a and 257 b ) provided in base 203 . in operation , light is introduced into finger / thumb 11 by fiber optic sources ( not shown ), the ends of which are received in openings 243 a , 243 b , 245 a , 245 b , 247 a , and 247 b . the distances between the fiber optic sources and the fiber optic detector ( also not shown ) which is received in opening 241 is optimized for pathlength for the reasons discussed above . the light introduced into finger / thumb 11 from the fiber optics received in openings 243 a and 243 b is partially transmitted with an average pathlength of 0 . 5 to 3 mm , as illustrated by theoretical paths 261 . when these fibers are emitting light , the detector fiber receives light from 700 and 2400 nm . openings 245 a / 255 a and 245 b / 255 b are separated from aligned openings 241 / 231 / 251 by a greater distance , to optimize the pathlength 263 for recording wavelengths in the 1400 to 2000 nm region . when this second set of fibers are emitting light , the majority of the light received by the detector fiber will be in the wavelength region from 700 and 2000 nm . openings 247 a / 257 a and 247 b / 257 b are at the greatest distance from detector opening 241 / 231 / 251 and , thus , have the longest average pathlength 265 . fibers coupled to these source openings enable the measurement of wavelengths between 700 and 1400 nm . by placement of the source fibers and detector fiber on the same side of the finger / thumb the influence of finger thickness on the resulting spectral data is minimized . by reducing the influence of finger / thumb thickness , between patient differences are minimized and more accurate analyte measurements can be made . in operation only those fibers at a given distance will emit light into finger / thumb 11 at a given time . shutter system 215 controls which fibers are illuminating finger / thumb 11 at any one time . the blocking or passage of light is controlled by disk 221 and the angular orientation of openings 233 1 - 4 , 235 1 - 4 , and 237 1 - 4 relative to each other . central opening 231 allows transmission of light at all times . in operation disk 215 is rotated to position a , b , or c . in position a , disk 215 allows illumination of the finger by fibers connected to openings 243 a and 243 b . in fig2 the disk is shown in position a and shows the complete propagation of light via path 261 . if disk 215 is rotated to position b , the light would follow paths 263 , as shown by the dotted lines . rotation of disk 215 to position c would enable light to travel paths 265 , as shown by the dashed lines . thus , the use of the rotating disk forms a simple reliable shutter system to enable introduction of the light in a easily controlled manner . in addition to pathlength optimization for the various wavelengths , the sampling device shown in fig2 and 23 is thermostated to control finger temperature . control of the sampling devices temperature is performed by temperature control device 217 ( including a heating pad , a temperature sensing device , typically a thermocouple , and associated electronics ). the temperature control unit 217 is attached to plate 203 . with reference to fig2 , the tissue , typically a finger or thumb , is compressed firmly against surface 205 by arm 211 and spring 213 . compression of the finger with approximately 1 kg / cm 2 will , as discussed previously , minimize the influence of arterial pulsation in the optical sampling area . this force is not so extreme as to be painful to the patient . other methods can be used to remove arterial pulsations , such as finger cuffs which are inflated to a pressure which occludes arterial pulsations . however , this cuffing technique has not proven as desirable , as application of force on the finger reduces movement of the tissue relative to the sampling device . previous configurations ( except the embodiment of fig1 - 21 ) have involved the use of one detector , one wavelength separating device ( e . g . aotf , grating , etc .) and multiple sources . fig2 , 25 , 26 and 27 illustrate sampling configurations which utilize one source , multiple detectors , and multiple wavelength separating devices . fig2 and 25 illustrate sample device 701 , which includes a base 703 , a finger support surface 705 , and a pair of guide rails 707 for positioning finger / thumb 11 . like sampling device 201 , but not illustrated , device 701 includes an arm , secured to a post and biased into engagement with the finger / thumb 11 by a spring . positioned within base 703 is a single broadband light source 709 and 24 band - pass optical filters , 6 of which are illustrated in fig2 ( i . e ., 711 1 , 711 5 , 713 1 , 713 5 , 715 1 , and 715 5 ). these band - pass optical filters are constructed of specially coated glass which permits only the preselected wavelengths ( either a single wavelength or a band of contiguous wavelengths ) to pass . the other wavelengths are attenuated or not permitted to pass through . each of the band - pass filters is coupled to a detector ( i . e ., 717 1 - 8 , 719 1 - 8 , and 721 1 - 8 ). the detectors are electrically connected an analog to digital converter via wires such as indicated by 723 in fig2 . in operation , broadband source 709 is energized with some of the light partially transmitted through finger / thumb 11 , as illustrated , by traces 725 , 727 and 729 . the light then passes through the band - pass optical filters which reduce the broadband light into preselected wavelengths ( as indicated above ). these discrete wavelengths are then detected on the detectors 717 1 - 721 8 . with the use of 24 detectors , 24 wavelengths are measured . the actual measurement of these intensity values could be one at a time , through standard sample and hold electronics or by hadamard transform optical coding . although 24 detectors are illustrated , the number could be increased or decreased . this design is based on the fact that accurate analyte measurement can be obtained with a certain number of preselected wavelengths . see fig8 . sampling device 731 , illustrated in fig2 and 27 , includes a base 733 , having a finger support surface 735 , a pair of guide rails 737 , and a post 739 . device 731 also includes a temperature control device 740 , and an arm 741 , which is hinged ( not shown ) to post 739 and biased toward surface 735 by spring 743 . filter wheel assembly 745 , which is secured to surface 747 of base 733 , includes a rotating filter wheel 749 ( having gear teeth 751 on the perimeter thereof ), gear 753 , and stepper motor 755 . filter wheel 749 , which is supported by housing 757 in any convenient manner ( not shown ) is provided with 24 band - pass filters 759 1 - 24 , each of which passes wavelength subsets ( λ 1 , λ 2 , λ 3 . . . λ 24 ). housing 757 also includes openings 761 , 763 and 765 ( which are aligned with , respectively , openings 771 , 773 and 775 in base 735 ) and central opening 767 ( which is aligned with opening 777 in base 735 ). as illustrated , detectors 781 , 783 and 785 are positioned in the lower end of openings 771 , 773 and 775 . light source 787 is positioned relative to aligned openings 767 , 777 . detectors 781 , 783 and 785 are connected to an analog to digital converter via signal line 789 . in operation , light is introduced into finger / thumb 11 via broadband source 787 via a light pipe , a portion of which is partially transmitted as indicated by paths 791 , 793 and 795 . light with a wavelength λ , which traverses path 791 passes through filter 759 1 , and is detected by detector 781 . similarly , light with a wavelength λ 2 , which traverses path 793 , passes through band - pass filter 795 2 to detector 783 . finally , light with a wavelength λ 3 , which traverses path 795 , passes through band - pass filter 795 3 to detector 785 . as filter wheel 749 has eight discrete positions ( i . e ., a - h ), once the intensities of wavelengths λ 1 , λ 2 , and λ 3 have been measured , stepper motor rotates wheel 749 from the position illustrated in fig2 to the position where position b is aligned with detectors 781 , 783 and 785 . in this position the intensities of wavelengths λ 4 , λ 5 and λ 6 are then measured . wheel 749 is rotated through the remaining positions until all 24 wavelengths are measured . regardless of the exact finger sampling device used , each enables optimization of the path used for optical sampling vis - a - vis the light propagation characteristics of the measured wavelengths . the associated instrumentation needed to generate and subsequently measure these “ optimized ” wavelengths can take a variety of forms . fig2 illustrates in a box diagram the general configurations that such instrumentation can take . the three major categories involve dispersion options followed by source options , and finally those options available for detectors . the ten configurations are discussed below . fig2 schematically illustrates configurations 1 through 4 , where the light is dispersed or separated before it interacts with the finger . in all cases the light sources generates light with a band width broader than desired for the noninvasive measurement . in most cases the light source will be a broadband light source such as a tungsten halogen lamp . the broadband light is subsequently separated or dispersed and only the wavelengths of interest interact with the finger . the dispersion of the light can be performed by a number of devices . dispersion devices in common use are aotfs , fourier transform interferometers , and filter wheels . fig3 and 37 illustrate the use of an aotf to disperse the light before it interacts with the tissue . the light of fig3 and 37 then propagates through the tissue and is subsequently detected by multiple detectors . this corresponds to configuration 2 in fig2 . fig3 schematically illustrates configurations 5 and 6 , where the light source is capable of emitting light of a narrow bandwidth and subsequent dispersion of the light is not necessary . some light sources having these characteristics are light emitting diodes , lasers of all types , and tunable lasers . although a tunable laser is a single unit , it is considered as multiple sources in this description . fig1 and 34 illustrate configuration 6 and describe a noninvasive measurement device incorporating multiple sources and multiple detectors . fig3 schematically illustrates configurations 7 through 10 , where the light is dispersed following its interaction with the finger . the light source emits light of a bandwidth greater than desired for noninvasive measurement and subsequent separation of the light is required . the separation of the light can be performed by numerous commercially available components . fig2 - 27 illustrate configuration 8 wherein the dispersion of light is performed by selective optical filtering . fig3 illustrates configuration 9 wherein the dispersion of the light is performed by an aotf following interactions with the finger . fig3 illustrates a variation of configuration 10 wherein the light is separated by an aotf . two detectors are employed in order to record both the light having propagated through the finger as well as the intensities of the light source via a background fiber . as one skilled in the art will recognize an infinite number of instrument configurations can be realized for measurement of the appropriate spectral information . for clarity four instrument examples are illustrated and their operation described . fig3 illustrates a noninvasive analyte monitor 301 using multiple small tungsten - halogen light sources . again , partial transmission with separation of the detector and sources for optimization of the various paths within the finger is employed . monitor 301 includes a finger sampling device 303 which , like sampling device 201 , includes a base 305 , finger support surface 307 , a pair of guide rails 309 ( for positioning finger or thumb 11 ), arm 311 , support arm post 313 , spring 315 for biasing finger / thumb 11 into engagement with surface 307 , and temperature control 317 . the light sources 321 a and 321 b , 323 a and 323 b , and 325 a and 325 b and detector light pipe 327 are received in base 305 to make contact with finger / thumb 11 in a repeatable manner , as illustrated . light sources 321 a - 325 b are connected to ( via signal line 330 ) and controlled by conventional electronics in housing 331 . as those skilled in the art will appreciate , those light sources at a given distance from the detector light pipe 327 will be energized simultaneously . thus , for measuring long path wavelengths , sources 321 a and 321 b will be on at the same time . the light enters the tissue of finger / thumb 11 and propagates through , with a portion exiting into light pipe 327 . light pipe 327 is composed of fused silica and serves to transport the light from the finger / thumb 11 to imaging optics 333 which , in turn , directs the light 335 onto the aperture of aotf crystal 336 . the specific wavelength or wavelengths transmitted by aotf 336 is determined by the rf signals introduced onto the crystal by tunable rf source 338 via signal line 339 . as those skilled in the art will appreciate , a piezoelectric crystal ( linbo 3 ) is bonded to the teo 2 crystal on a specific crystal face to inject an acoustic wave in the required direction . the light 341 exiting aotf 336 is detected by detector 343 which , in the preferred embodiment , is a thermoelectrically cooled indium gallium arsenide detector . other suitable detectors ( such as insb , lead sulfide and germanium / silica ) may also be used . thermoelectric cooling is performed by cooler 345 . the resulting analog signal from detector 343 is communicated to a / d converter 347 by signal line 349 . central processing unit 351 ensures that the intensity seen by detector 343 is within its linear dynamic range , via pre - established intensity limits . if the intensity is not within range then a signal is sent to rf source 338 , via signal line 353 , to increase or decrease the rf power to aotf crystal 336 until the intensity observed by detector 343 is within its linear operating range . with reference to fig8 some wavelengths need to be measured at relatively high resolution ( i . e . narrow bandwidth ), while some can be measured at low resolution . by introduction of one or several rf frequencies the bandwidth of the light transmitted by aotf 336 can be altered . the aotf driver electronics 354 , connected between central processing unit 351 and rf source 338 , will be instructed by central processing unit 351 to allow measurement of the exact frequencies needed , at the resolution needed and at the appropriate signal - to - noise ratio . the wavelength transmitted and subsequently recorded is controlled by the frequency of the rf signal applied to aotf crystal 336 . the resolution can be decreased by simultaneous introduction of several rf frequencies onto aotf crystal 336 . the signal - to - noise ratio can be controlled by the length of time a specific wavelength is recorded . after a given wavelength or wavelengths are recorded , central processing unit 351 generates a signal to cause tunable rf source 338 to change the frequency being generated , and the next wavelength ( s ) is ( are ) recorded . following measurement of all wavelengths using a given source - detector configuration ( e . g ., 321 a and 321 b / 327 ), central processing unit 351 signals , via signal line 355 , source driver electronics 331 to switch off the current to sources 321 a and 321 b , and to turn on sources 323 a and 323 b . the process is then repeated , and repeated again for sources 325 a and 325 b . the wavelength intensity values from a / d converter 347 are communicated to central processing unit 351 and then transmitted via signal line 359 for storage in memory storage unit 361 . following measurement of all necessary wavelength intensity values in the manner set forth above , all these intensity values are processed by spectral processing algorithms stored in module 363 to produce a processed spectra , such as shown in fig1 . the resulting processed spectra is devoid of or has minimal patient to patient differences and is ready for quantitative analysis . quantitative analysis of the processed spectra is preformed by central processing unit 351 in conjunction with the multivariate calibration model and algorithms stored in module 365 and the processed spectra stored in memory storage unit 361 . the analysis process determines the concentration of the analyte . the multivariate methodology used is disclosed in u . s . pat . no . 4 , 975 , 851 , the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference . the concentration value is subsequently transmitted via signal line 376 for display by unit 375 . for example , glucose concentration would be displayed in mg / dl units on screen 377 . concurrent with the concentration determination , processed spectra is examined to determine if it is an outlier . outliers are spectra not representative of the calibration samples . the outlier detection methods used are also disclosed in u . s . pat . no . 4 , 975 , 851 . in simple terms , if the spectra is unique or dissimilar from those used to develop the model then the accuracy of the measurement is not well defined . the determination of measurement accuracy is performed by central processing unit 351 while using the processed spectra stored in memory storage unit 361 and the outlier detection algorithms stored in module 367 . the result of the analysis can be displayed by unit 375 as a bar graph 379 indicating accuracy . memory storage unit 361 and modules 363 , 365 and 367 are interconnected by signal line 381 . fig3 illustrates the major components of a robust noninvasive glucose monitor 401 employing a broadband light source and fiber optics . the optical sampling of finger / thumb 11 is performed with the same structure and in the same manner as previously discussed in reference to fig2 and 23 . the optical illumination is performed by a broadband light source 403 , typically a tungsten halogen source , which is coupled by any suitable conventional method to a group of source fibers 405 a and 405 b , 407 a and 407 b , and 409 a and 409 b . source 403 is also coupled to background fiber 411 for the reasons explained below . the filament used in source 403 is elongated , so the distance from the filament to each fiber is constant . illumination of source 403 is controlled by electronics 412 . the source fibers are connected from source 403 to shutter box 215 , as previously described in connection with fig2 and 23 . in operation , shutter box 215 allows light from fibers located at the same distance from the detector to be simultaneously transmitted into finger / thumb 11 . as shown , illumination of finger / thumb 11 is with those fibers closest to the detector fiber 413 . as before , rotation of disk 215 is controlled by motor 227 which , in turn , is coupled to shutter driver electronics 415 via signal line 417 . the light having propagated through finger / thumb 11 is collected by detector fiber 413 which may be a single fiber or a fiber optic bundle . detector fiber 413 is connected , by fiber coupler 421 , to imaging optics 423 , which focuses the light 425 onto a portion of the aperture of aotf crystal 427 . aotf crystal 427 is , preferably , made of teo 2 and has an aperture of , approximately , 0 . 5 cm .× 0 . 5 cm . background fiber 411 is coupled to light source 403 in a conventional manner ( not shown ), such as used for source fibers 405 a - 409 b . at its opposite end , fiber 411 is connected onto imaging optics 429 by coupler 431 . the light from both detector fiber 413 and background fiber 411 are imaged simultaneously onto the aperture of aotf 427 . the optical transmission properties of aotf 427 are controlled by the rf signals incident to the crystal , which are produced by radio frequency source 435 coupled to the piezoelectric crystal on aotf 427 by signal line 437 . rf source 435 is , in turn , controlled by driver electronics 439 via signal line 441 . electronics 439 are controlled by central processing unit 443 via signal line 445 . the desired wavelengths of light are transmitted through aotf 427 and are incident upon two detectors 451 and 453 , which are matched so as to have similar response curves . in the preferred embodiment the detectors are composed of indium gallium arsenide and are thermoelectrically cooled by thermoelectric cooler 455 to improve performance . the two detectors receive the light from aotf 427 and convert the light intensity into a series of electrical signals indicative of the light transmitted by , respectively , background 411 and detector 413 fibers . the electrical signals which correspond to the intensity values at the detector are transmitted to electronics 457 via signal lines 459 and 461 . within electronics 457 is an a / d converter and computational hardware that ensures that both detectors are functioning within their respective operational range . if the intensity of the light received from aotf 427 is not within the established linear operating range of the detectors , the rf power incident onto aotf 427 is changed until the response is within such range . for each wavelength recorded ( for both background 411 and detector fiber 413 ), rf source 435 generates a different rf frequency . the digital numbers corresponding to the intensity values at each wavelength from both detectors 451 and 453 are communicated from electronics 457 to central processing unit 443 via signal line 463 . the digital intensity values are subsequently stored in memory module 465 until all wavelength intensities have been recorded . following measurement of all necessary wavelength intensity values , these values are processed by spectral processing algorithms stored in module 467 . the result is a final processed spectra , such as previously illustrated in fig1 . the intensity values from the proposed spectra are also stored in memory module 465 for subsequent processing . the final processed spectra is the spectral data which has been processed to minimize between patient differences and is now ready for quantitative analyte measurement . quantitative analysis of the processed spectra is preformed by central processing unit 443 in conjunction with the multivariate calibration model and algorithms stored in module 469 and the stored processed spectra stored in module 465 . the analysis process , carried out in the manner set forth in u . s . pat . no . 4 , 975 , 581 , determines the analytes concentration . the concentration value is subsequently displayed by unit 471 , connected to central processing unit 443 via signal line 472 . for example , glucose concentration would be displayed in mg / dl units by display 473 . concurrent with the concentration determination , the processed spectra is examined to determine if it is similar to those used to generate the calibration model . if the spectra is unique or dissimilar from those used to develop the model then the accuracy of the measurement is poorly defined . the determination of measurement accuracy is performed by central processing unit 443 while using the processed spectra stored in module 465 and outlier detection algorithms stored in module 475 . the result of this analysis is displayed on accuracy bar graph 479 . central processing unit 443 , and modules 465 , 467 , 469 and 473 are interconnected by signal lines 481 . robust noninvasive monitor 501 , fig3 , is based on finger sampling device 121 , illustrated in fig1 - 20 . the leds and detectors on finger sampling device 121 are controlled in the manner as described in reference to fig2 a , 21 b and 21 c . the activation of the leds is controlled by led driver electronics 511 via signal lines 512 a , b , c , d , and e . the electrical signals from the detectors are transmitted ( via signal lines 512 b , c , d , e and f ) to and processed by detector electronics 513 . the resulting intensity values are communicated to central processing unit 515 , via signal line 517 , and subsequently stored in memory unit 519 . following completion of irradiation / measurement phase , the stored wavelength intensity values are processed by central processing unit 515 . the spectral processing is performed as described in reference to fig3 and 33 . the processing uses memory module 519 , spectral processing module 521 , multivariate model and algorithm module 523 and outlier detection module 525 . the results of the spectral analysis are displayed on screen 531 and accuracy bar graph 533 of display unit 355 . modules 519 , 521 , 523 and 525 are connected to central processing unit 515 via signal lines 537 . display 535 is connected to central processing unit 515 via signal line 539 . driver electronics 511 is coupled to central processing unit 515 by signal line 541 . all components are located in housing 543 . whereas this preferred embodiment has focused on the use of leds , those skilled in the art will recognize that any single or selected wavelength emitting device could be used in a similar manner . for example , the leds could be replaced by a combination of a tungsten light source with a selective filter on the output side . it is also recognized that small diode lasers or other lasers could be used in place of the leds . thus , the apparatus and associated methodology described in fig3 is applicable to any light sources generating a discrete number of wavelengths . fig3 is an illustration of a finger sampling device which utilizes a single broadband source which is transmitted through a wavelength separating device . similar to previous ones , sampling device 801 includes a base 803 , finger support surface 805 , guide rails 807 , post 809 , hinged pressure arm 811 , bias spring 813 , and temperature control 815 . device 801 also includes a wavelength separating device 817 , coupled to base 803 via light pipe 819 . preferably device 817 is an aotf . however , a filter wheel or other device which has the ability to separate broadband light into specific wavelengths could be used . the specific wavelength that is emitted from device 817 is then partially transmitted through finger / thumb 11 as illustrated by traces 821 , 823 and 825 . after partial transmission through finger / thumb 11 the light at the selected wavelength is then detected by detector rings 831 , 833 and 835 supported ( by means not shown ) on disc 837 . fig3 shows the equi - distant nature of the detector rings . thereafter , the wavelength is changed and another specific wavelength is partially transmitted through finger / thumb 11 . the process is repeated until all desired wavelengths are transmitted . fig3 illustrates the major components of a robust noninvasive glucose monitor 841 employing a single broadband light source and the sampling device of fig3 and 32 . monitor also includes broadband light source 843 coupled to source electronics 847 which are controlled by central processing unit 845 via electrical connections 849 and 851 . aotf 817 is , as with the embodiment of fig2 , coupled to central processing unit 845 via tunable rf source 853 , aotf driver electronics 855 and signal lines 857 , 859 and 861 . also , as with the embodiment of fig2 , monitor 841 includes memory storage unit 863 , module 865 ( in which are stored spectral processing algorithms ), module 867 ( in which is stored the multivariate calibration model and spectral processing algorithms and outlier detection module 869 . memory unit 863 and modules 865 , 867 and 869 are interconnected via signal line 871 . signals from detectors 831 , 833 and 835 are transmitted to analog - to - digital converter 877 . the digital values from converter 877 are transmitted to central processing unit 845 via electronic bug 875 and processed in the manner disclosed with monitor 301 ( fig3 ). the result of the analysis is transmitted via signal line 879 for display by unit 881 as a specific value on display 883 and a bar graph 885 indicating accuracy . whereas this specification has focused on the noninvasive measurement of glucose , those skilled in the art will appreciate that changes can be made to the preferred embodiment to measure other analytes . it is recognized that the wavelength region used for measurement will vary between the different blood analytes of interest . for example , acceptable accurate results for bilirubin and hemoglobin are possible through use of the 300 - 1000 nm region . specifically , bilirubin has a significant absorption peak at approximately 454 nm and oxygenated hemoglobin has a peak at approximately 410 nm . alcohol , another analyte of significant interest , has a sharp spectral absorbance at 1190 nm . thus , the method of sampling and the associated optical instrumentation may be changed to optimize measurement accuracy for any number of analytes without affecting the scope of this invention . whereas the drawings and accompanying description have shown and described the preferred embodiment of the present invention , it should be apparent to those skilled in the art that various changes may be made in the form of the invention without affecting the scope thereof .	0

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